The role of pupil size in communication. Is there room for learning?

The eyes are extremely important for communication. The muscles around the eyes express emotional states and the size of the pupil signals whether a person is aroused and alert or bored and fatigued. Pupil size is an overlooked social signal, yet is readily picked up by observers. Observers mirror their own pupil sizes in response, which can influence social impressions. In a landmark study by Hess [1975. The role of pupil size in communication. Scientific American, 233(5), 110–119] it was shown that individuals with large pupils are perceived more positively than individuals with small pupils. In that behavioral study, participants were asked to draw pupils in line drawings of faces with empty irises and they drew large pupils in the happy face, and small ones in the angry face. The current study tested 579 participants (aged 4–80 years old) and extended this work by showing that this association between large (small) pupils and a positive (negative) impression develops over age and is absent in children. Several explanations for how individuals through interactions with close others learn that large pupils mean care, interest and attention and small pupils the opposite, are discussed. To conclude, this study shows that pupil size and emotion perception are intertwined but that their relationship develops over age.     

Regional brain activity change predicts responsiveness to treatment for stuttering in adults

Developmental stuttering is known to be associated with aberrant brain activity, but there is no evidence that this knowledge has benefited stuttering treatment. This study investigated whether brain activity could predict progress during stuttering treatment for 21 dextral adults who stutter (AWS). They received one of two treatment programs that included periodic H₂¹⁵O PET scanning (during oral reading, monologue, and eyes-closed rest conditions). All participants successfully completed an initial treatment phase and then entered a phase designed to transfer treatment gains; 9/21 failed to complete this latter phase. The 12 pass and 9 fail participants were similar on speech and neural system variables before treatment, and similar in speech performance after the initial phase of their treatment. At the end of the initial treatment phase, however, decreased activation within a single region, L. putamen, in all 3 scanning conditions was highly predictive of successful treatment progress.     

面孔倒置效应的研究与理论述评

面孔倒置效应是指, 个体对倒置面孔的再认成绩显著低于对正立面孔的再认成绩, 而且, 与普通物体的倒置效应相比, 面孔的倒置效应更大。研究者们针对面孔倒置效应提出了多种理论假说, 两种主要的理论解释是：第一, 倒置面孔破坏了面孔的结构特征, 影响了面孔的整体加工, 所以, 个体对倒置面孔的再认成绩较差; 第二, 眼睛在面孔加工中起重要作用, 尤其在倒置面孔中的作用更明显, 使得倒置面孔N170波幅较高。ERP和fMRI研究提示, 未来研究需要进一步明确眼睛、注意等在面孔倒置效应中的作用。     

中国人眼对非彩色系表色色差辨别的实验研究

报道了中国人眼对表色色差辨别的实验研究中非彩色系列实验研究结果,并与国外有关结果进行了比较。结果表明,非彩色的明度特性变化,对人眼色差辨别无显著影响,色差值仅随目视评价的感觉等级不同而异。此结果与国外有关报道的结果基本一致。实验结果为中国颜色体系的非彩色系颜色样品提出了色差宽容度：△Ｅ＜１．５。此色差宽容度已被全国颜色标准化技术委员会认定为ＧＳＢＡ２６００３—９４《中国颜色体系》国家标准中颜色样品色差宽容度的技术参数。     

Physiological Correlates of Choice‐Induced Dissonance: An Exploration of HPA‐Axis Responses

Choice can produce a negatively arousing cognitive conflict (called dissonance), which is thought to motivate the chooser to spread their preferences for the relevant options (called Spreading of Alternatives, or SA). The current work aimed to determine the relationship between HPA‐axis activity and both choice‐induced dissonance and its reduction (i.e. SA) among individuals with varying cultural backgrounds. European–Americans and Asians made a choice between two equally attractive CDs either in the presence of a cue indicative of social eyes (i.e. public‐choice condition) or in the absence thereof (i.e. private‐choice condition). As predicted, European–Americans and Asians showed a reliable SA primarily in the private and public choice conditions, respectively. Importantly, a sharp decline of salivary cortisol was observed over the span of 30 min, and, moreover, this decline was reliably predicted by the magnitude of SA regardless of either culture or the choice being private vs. public. These results suggest that although choice‐induced dissonance is too weak to elicit an HPA‐axis stress response, SA is associated with variability in the decline of salivary cortisol during the laboratory task. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

制作眼部视听教材相关法律问题的探讨

讨论了在眼部视听教材制作过程中相关的法律问题,正确运用法律、法规保护医患双方合法权益。患者就医时具有肖像权。应用法学理论,结合实践,同意签字后制作眼部视听教材,取得良好效果。     

Determining the environment: a modal logic for closed interaction

The aim of the work is to provide a language to reason about Closed Interactions, i.e. all those situations in which the outcomes of an interaction can be determined by the agents themselves and in which the environment cannot interfere with they are able to determine. We will see that two different interpretations can be given of this restriction, both stemming from Pauly Representation Theorem. We will identify such restrictions and axiomatize their logic. We will apply the formal tools to reason about games and their regulation.     

Facial Expressions and the Ability to Recognize Emotions from the Eyes or Mouth: A Comparison Between Children and Adults

The authors sought to contribute to the literature on the ability to recognize anger, happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, and neutral emotions from facial information. They aimed to investigate if—regardless of age—this pattern changes. More specifically, the present study aimed to compare the difference between the performance of adults and 6- to 7-year-old children in detecting emotions from the whole face and a specific face region, namely the eyes and mouth. The findings seem to indicate that, for both groups, recognizing disgust, happiness, and surprise is facilitated when pictures represent the whole face. However, with regard to a specific region, a prevalence for children was not found between the eyes and mouth. Meanwhile, for adults, would seem to detect a greater role of the eye region. Finally, regarding the differences in the performance of emotions recognition, adults are better only in a few cases, whereas children are better in recognizing anger from the mouth.     

亲社会行为中的“眼睛效应”

呈现眼睛图片就会使人们的行为发生变化即眼睛效应(the watching eyes effect)。名誉机制和规则心理可以解释眼睛效应,但尚未得出一致的结论。虽然大量研究证明亲社会行为中存在眼睛效应,但任务类型、实验情境、暴露时间、匿名性等客观环境以及被试的群体成员身份和个性特征等因素都会影响眼睛效应的发生及其强度。未来研究可以从具身认知的视角深入探讨眼睛效应的进化心理机制,开展眼睛效应的跨文化研究,探讨其背后的脑神经机制,并扩展眼睛效应的应用型研究。