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Structural Priming from Simple Arithmetic Equations to Specific Chinese Structure 2015, (5): 1026-1031.  Abstract ( )   PDF (462KB) ( )   Structural priming refers to the phenomenon that structures which people recently have processed tend to affect how people subsequently produce or understand structures. Different from sentence priming, structural priming can be primed by abstract structures in addition to sentences. Scheepers et al. (2011) firstly primed subjects using simple arithmetical equations, providing evidence of abstract structural priming effect from arithmetic equations (either high or low attachment) to English relative-clause (either high or low attachment). This pioneering research also offered evidence of domain generality of structure representation. Furthermore, Scheepers & Sturt (2014) extended this structural priming effect to be directional, which means arithmetic can prime language and vice versa. Besides, previous research has found a potential link between linguistic cognition and other cognitive domains involving structured representations like musical cognition (Patel, 2003), mathematical cognition (Dehaene, Spelke, Pinel, Stanescu, & Tsivkin, 1999), and sequential processing (Lelekov, Franck, Dominey, & Georgieff, 2000). Based on the study of Scheepers et al. (2011), this paper investigates the structural priming by employing simple arithmetic equations. To prove whether arithmetic expressions produce similar structural priming effect on Chinese sentences, we selected one Chinese specific structure NP1+YOU+NP2+HEN+(AP), asking Chinese participants (adults and children, respectively) to finish two tasks, namely sentence completion task and sentence comprehension task. Altogether, this study covered both adults and children participants, each with the same two tasks. In this research, we mainly explored the following four questions: 1) Whether there is structural priming effect from arithmetic equation to Chinese specific sentence production; 2) Whether there is structural priming effect from arithmetic equation to Chinese specific sentence comprehension; 3) Whether children and adults show different structural priming effect in the two tasks; 4) Whether arithmetic and language share similar structural representations. Results of the sentence completion tasks showed that both adults and children tended to produce more low-attachment sentences than high-attachment sentences in baseline conditions; even the tendency was slightly more obvious for adults. However, the priming effect in adults was not as significant as in children in the sentence completion task. In other words, children generally showed a higher degree of structural priming effect than adults in equal conditions. On the contrary, results of the sentence comprehension tasks showed that both adults and children tended to produce more high-attachment sentences than low-attachment sentences in baseline conditions, also with greater tendency in adults. Similarly, in this task, children also outperformed adults for having been less affected by baseline tendency of the specific Chinese structure so as to show greater significant priming effect. All the above results showed that: 1) there was structural priming effect from arithmetic equation to Chinese specific sentence production; 2) there was structural priming effect from arithmetic equation to Chinese specific sentence comprehension; 3) children showed greater structural priming effect than adults in the two tasks; 4) arithmetic and language shared similar structural representations to some extent. Related Articles | Metrics

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Effects of Instructed and Spontaneous Reappraisal on Emotional Arousal and Memory 2015, (5): 1032-1038.  Abstract ( )   PDF (273KB) ( )   It is well known that arousal modulates memory. Such as, relative to neutral ones, emotional and arousing events are generally recollected with greater frequency. This is likely an adaptive function that effectively highlighting important stimuli and events to protect and prepare an organism for similar future occasions. However, painful memory also related to mental disorders in sometimes. Therefore, how to erase or reduce negative emotional memory have recently received considerable study. Given the relationship between arousal and memory, one possible way to reduce emotional memory maybe is to decrease arousal responses to emotional events. Humans have the unique ability to monitor and voluntarily regulate their emotional states. One particular form of emotion regulation, cognitive reappraisal, has been proved to be could decrease physiological and subjective arousal effectively. For example, it was observed that, in laboratory experiments, voluntary instructed reappraisal (IRE) decreases skin conductance responses successfully. In addition to IRE, the individual differences in spontaneous use of reappraisal (SRE) are also known to influence arousal response. It was found that SRE could reduce subjective arousal ratings to emotional words and inhibit the ability of arousal to induce memory enhancement. All of these researches provide a possibility that both IRE and SRE maybe could exert effects on emotional arousal and memory. Therefore, firstly, the aim of this study focuses on the modulating effects of IRE on arousal and emotional memory. Secondly, we also want to know if the modulating effects of IRE are related with the individual differences in SRE. A sample of 28 college students (11 male and 17 female) completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire firstly, and then viewed emotionally neutral and negative pictures while they attempted to either decrease emotion arousal elicited by the pictures by IRE or to simply watch the pictures. Concurrent changes in emotional arousal were assessed respectively with skin conductance responses (SCR) and self-report arousal ratings of participants. Picture memory was assessed with an immediate recall test and a two weeks delayed recognition test. It was found that, (1) compared with simply viewing pictures, IRE generated significant decreased self-report arousal and SCR responses; and in line with this, participants showed decreased recognition for pictures presented during the IRE condition. (2) In the watch condition, the level of SRE negatively related with SCR and recognition in for negative pictures. (3) The SCR degree was significant lower in participants with high level of SRE (HR) than in participants with low level of SRE (LR), and only LR but not HR participants showed significantly decreased SCR and recognition for pictures in the IRE condition. In conclusion, our results suggest that IRE could exert down-regulation influences on emotional arousal and subsequent memory. Meanwhile, individual differences in SRE is an important factor in affecting the modulation effects on changes of emotional arousal and memory which induced by SRE. That is, for HR individuals, the habitual use of reappraisal maybe could spontaneously reduce the arousal response to emotional events, and IRE induced no significant effect on emotion states and memory to pictures; and for LR individuals, though they showed more arousal responses to emotional pictures, IRE could significant decrease SCR, subjective arousal ratings and recognition. Related Articles | Metrics

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The effect of cognitive reappraisal and distraction in regulating negative emotion: ERPs study 2015, (5): 1039-1044.  Abstract ( )   PDF (1067KB) ( )   The process model of emotion regulation was proposed by Gross (1998), who held that emotion regulation generated during emotion producing process. The process was that individual influenced the emotional occurrence, experience and expression. Emotion regulation, especially for negative emotional adjustment, is an important cognitive function for human to adapt to the environment. Reappraisal and distraction are generally considered as effective cognitive emotion regulation strategies, which have attracted much attention from researchers. But several problems still exist in the research: the cognitive emotion regulation processing activities and emotional response are always confused; the attention to the emotional response is lack when the same or similar negative stimuli appear again after regulation; a lot of research is dependent on the self report of feeling. On that basis, we adopt the event-related potentials technique (ERPs), separated the cognitive emotion regulation processing activities and emotional response, and paid attention to the emotional response when the same or similar negative stimulus appeared again after regulation. Fifteen participants of university students were instructed to complete the task of emotion regulation (reappraise, distract, and simply attend) to negative emotional pictures. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were recorded using a 64-electrode elastic cap and the Neuroscan ERP workstation. Based on the overall average map and the research literatures, we divided the ERP components by the time windows in which they occurred: in the emotion induction phase, we analysed the LPP among 300~1000ms on the Pz electrode; in the phase of negative emotional pictures appearing again, we analysed the LPP among 300~2000ms (and 8 little time windows: 300~500 ms, 500~700 ms，700~900 ms，900~1100 ms，1100~1300 ms，1300~1500 ms，1500~1700 ms，1700~2000 ms)on the Pz electrode. Repeated measure ANOVAs were conducted on the behavioural data and the measurements derived from ERP waveforms. The results showed that the strength of negative emotional experience and LPP amplitude （300-1300ms）after reappraisal were lower than these of simple attention; after distraction, the participants’ negative emotional experience strength became lower than that of attention condition, but the LPP amplitude enhanced. The results demonstrate that the influences of reappraisal and distraction to negative emotional experience and brain electrical activity are different. When the negative emotional pictures show again, cognitive reappraisal is more effective than distraction. Our discoveries also provide electrophysiological evidences for the research on the comparison of reappraisal and distraction. Related Articles | Metrics

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An Eye Movement Study about the Influence of Base-rate and Cognitive Styles on Bayesian Reasoning 2015, (5): 1045-1050.  Abstract ( )   PDF (603KB) ( )   The debate about the function of base-rate in Bayesian reasoning has never been stopped. There are three main viewpoints: (1) people overweight the base-rate; (2) people neglect the base-rate completely; (3) people take it into account, but think poorly of its function. Considering the majority existing studies use the posterior probability and reaction time to infer the reasoning process reversely and lack support of the real-time data, the study provided eye-movement evidences for the process of Bayesian reasoning by using Eye View Monitoring Systems for the first time. The research hypothesized that the eye-movement targets induced by different levels of base-rate and cognitive styles will be significantly different. Thirty-five college students were sampled for this experiment. In order to examine the effects of two different levels of base-rate (e.g. high vs. low) and two kinds of cognitive styles (e.g. the field dependence cognitive style vs. the field independence cognitive style) on Bayesian reasoning , the study recorded the total fixation duration and numbers of fixation by using Eye View Monitoring Systems. The inference materials were about illness which were divided into four area of interests (AOI), AOI1 was about the base-rate, AOI2 was about the hit-rate, AOI3 was about the false alarm rate, and AOI4 was the area where the question located. The results were as follows: (1) when compared the total fixation duration and numbers of fixation, the main effect of base-rate and cognitive style were not significant, but the interaction between them was significant, and the simple effect analysis showed: a. when the base-rate was low, the total fixation duration and numbers of fixation of the group with the field dependence cognitive style were more than those of the group with the field independence cognitive style; b. the total fixation duration and numbers of fixation of the group with the field independence cognitive style in high base-rate level were more than those in low base-rate level; (2) when compared the total fixation duration and numbers of fixation, the main effect of AOI was significant, the order of the extent of each AOI was paid attention to was: AOI2＞AOI3＞AOI1＞AOI4. These results indicated that: (1) in the process of Bayesian reasoning, the probability information were differently followed with interest, the order was: hit-rate＞false alarm rate＞base-rate, and the base-rate was not neglected completely but was just underweighted. (2) people with different cognitive styles held different process ways, generally speaking, people with the field independence cognitive style intended to think rationally while those with the field dependence cognitive style were always influenced by the external information. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Role of the Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Time Perception: TMS Evidence 2015, (5): 1051-1057.  Abstract ( )   PDF (1166KB) ( )   Previous studies claimed the possible role of the right DLPFC in working memory, usually based on evidence from lesion and imaging studies. In the present study, we explored the role of the right DLPFC in time process, using the repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) technique. If the right DLPFC indeed plays a role in working memory function during time perception, the change of activity in this region will have more effect on the supra-second intervals which involve working memory function than the sub-second ones. In the first experiment, we explored the role of the right DLPFC in a time reproduction task. The experiment included a baseline condition before rTMS and a post-rTMS condition performed immediately after the cessation of the rTMS train. In each condition, participants need to perform a time reproduction task, which included a time perception and a time reproduction phase. Sixteen undergraduates participated in the rTMS group. Repetitive TMS trains of 10 Hz and 9.5 minutes duration were applied over the right DLPFC of participants. A sham stimuli group (16 participants, without rTMS) was involved to exclude the practice effect and the placebo effect, as well as to test whether the effect of 10 Hz rTMS over the right DLPFC could last to the end of the experiment. To further identify whether the function of the right DLPFC in timing is associated with working memory, we carried out the second experiment with the same rTMS parameters. It is demonstrated that sub-second intervals could be processed depending on the automatic system, while the supra-second intervals were cognitively controlled, involving working memory function. Thus the second experiment was a time discrimination task with sub- and supra-second intervals as standard intervals. Twelve undergraduates participated in the time discrimination task, which consisted of two blocks (short vs. long interval block). The two blocks were counterbalanced between participants. All participants were tested both in baseline and post-rTMS conditions. In the control group, no significant differences were found between the baseline and the post-test condition in the reproduction of both standard intervals; while the duration of 1.5 s was over-estimated in the post-rTMS condition, comparing with the baseline condition. In the discrimination task, the point of subjective equality of 1500 ms duration was smaller in the post-rTMS condition than that of baseline condition; no significant differences between baseline and post-rTMS condition were found in the discrimination of 600 ms. It demonstrated that the right DLPFC played a role in supra-second interval (1500 ms) but not in sub-second interval (600 ms), suggesting it might be involved in the working memory process in the scaler timing theory. To sum up, the estimation of supra-second interval was affected by the application of rTMS over the right DLPFC in both temporal reproduction and discrimination tasks; meanwhile, it did not affect the discrimination of sub-second interval. The results suggested the important role of the right DLPFC in working memory function. No significant differences were found between baseline and post-rTMS condition in the estimation of longer interval (4500 ms), which could be estimated with timing strategy. Related Articles | Metrics

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Using Think/No-think Paradigm to Study Motivated Forgetting: Behavior and Brain Mechanism 2015, (5): 1058-1066.  Abstract ( )   PDF (428KB) ( )   Motivated Forgetting is an important aspect of effective memory system. People have motivations to limit the time they spend thinking about unpleasant experiences, thus they eventually forget those memories. TNT, think/no-think paradigm is proposed to study the process of motivated forgetting based on go/no-go experimental paradigm. This paradigm emphasizes individuals' subjective suppression of unwanted memories reduces their later conscious recall. In recent years, a plenty of TNT behavioral studies have consistently indicated that memory suppression can produce negative control effect, thus verify the feasibility of the implementation of motivated forgetting in a laboratory context. In this review, we summarized some main characteristics of negative control effect in order to help future research implemented by TNT could obtain the inhibitory control processes to study motivated forgetting. Recent discussion on the neural mechanisms of motivated forgetting has accumulated a great deal of research evidences. Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are two widely used brain techniques to determine these inhibitory control processes of motivated forgetting. First, ERP studies of motivated forgetting using TNT paradigm have revealed a smaller Parietal Episodic Memory effect, appears 400-800 ms after target stimulus onset during the memory retrieval suppression. What’s more, ERP evidences have indicated that N2, which indexes cognitive control are larger during retrieval suppression. Recent EEG studies of motivated forgetting have revealed an increase of alpha and theta oscillations of memory suppression. More interestingly, fMRI evidences have showed that suppressing awareness of an unwelcome memory was achieved by inhibitory control processes mediated by the lateral prefrontal cortex. These mechanisms interact with brain regions that represent experiences in memory, disrupting traces that support retention. Moreover, suppressing retrieval of unwanted memories not only modulates medial temporal lobe regions involved in explicit retention, but also neocortical areas underlying unconscious expressions of memory. However, considering EEG and fMRI measure different aspect of brain activities, the neural mechanism revealed by fMRI and electrophysiology indices supported by EEG of motivated forgetting needs an integrated review. In this review, we firstly summarized current existing TNT researches using EEG and fMRI techniques, and then proposed a multi-modal functional network model of motivated forgetting. In this model, we suggested some potential relationship between the neural mechanism revealed by fMRI and electrophysiology indices supported by EEG. Therefore, our multi-modal functional network model provided a more comprehensive understanding of inhibitory control processes of motivated forgetting. Based on this model, we then outlined some future research directions of TNT paradigm. Most importantly, we think the application of simultaneous EEG-fMRI technology is expected to reveal the dynamic process of motivated forgetting induced by memory suppression. Finally, because the ability of memory inhibition can represent individual’s mental health, future research on the neural mechanisms of motivated forgetting will have broad clinical applications. The purpose of this review, obviously, is to give a more integrated perspective of current researches of motivated forgetting used TNT paradigm. However, far more work need to be done to test our multi-modal functional network model of motivated forgetting. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Object-Based Spatial Correspondence Effect：Affordance or Spatial Location Coding? Song xiao-Lei 2015, (5): 1067-1073.  Abstract ( )   PDF (637KB) ( )   Abstract When participants make left and right key-press responses to a non-location stimulus feature, but the stimuli occur in left and right locations, performance is better when the stimulus and response locations correspond than when they do not. This phenomenon, known as the Simon effect, has attracted considerable interest because it indicates that stimulus location is processed automatically when the task goal includes selecting the correct one of two spatially distinct responses. Subsequent studies have shown that key-press responses do not yield object-based correspondence effects for all judgements of stimulus properties, particularly when the objects are centred such that the graspable part does not vary in distinct left and right locations from trial to trial. Of most concern for the present study is evidence that the correspondence effects are obtained only when the required judgements involve a stimulus attribute related to grasping. Two experiments using spatial Simon task paradigm were conducted to determine whether an object-based correspondence effect for flashlight stimuli reported by Pellicano et al. (2010) is due to a grasping affordance provided by the handle or spatial coding of the asymmetry of feature markings on the flashlight. The experimental design adopted was 2 (correspondence: handle-to-response position corresponding vs. non-corresponding) × 2 (functional state: active vs. passive) within-subjects design. In Experiment 1 the stimuli were the same as those from their Experiment 2, whereas in Experiments 2 the stimuli were modified versions with the graspable handle removed. Participants in all experiments performed upright/inverted orientation judgements on the flashlight stimuli. Experiment 1 of the present study was designed to verify Pellicano et al.’s (2010) results and obtain initial evidence as to whether participants attend to the row of strips. Experiment 2 provided a test of the grasping-affordance and spatial coding accounts by removing the handles from the flashlight, which also increased the asymmetry of the row of strips. The results of Experiment 1 replicated those of Pellicano et al.: A small but significant object-based correspondence effect was evident, mainly when the torch was in an active state. With the handle of the flashlight removed in Experiment 2, making the barrel markings more asymmetric in the display, the correspondence effect was larger. The spatial coding account predicts a larger correspondence effect when the handle is removed, whereas the grasping-affordance account predicts an effect that is reduced in size, or at least no larger, than that in Experiment 1. The results are in agreement with a spatial-coding account and difficult to reconcile with a grasping-affordance account. Keywords: grasping; functional affordance; Simon effect; spatial coding; spatial correspondence Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effect of Imaging Intergroup Contact on Implicit Attitudes and Explicit Attitudes Duan HaiJun 2015, (5): 1074-1080.  Abstract ( )   PDF (761KB) ( )   In recent years, many studies proved that imagined intergroup contact is a new, effective indirect contact strategy for improving intergroup attitudes and promoting more positive intergroup relations. Beneficial effect of imaging contact was significant for published studies, and emerged across a broad range of target outgroups and contexts. Previous research has shown that majority and minority group members react differently to intergroup contact. However, prior actual contact experiences with an outgroup member may impact implicit and explicit intergroup attitudes. Based on these considerations, this study designed two experiments to explore whether simply imagining positive contact with outgroup members is able to improve explicit and implicit intergroup attitudes for both majority and minority groups who have different prior contact experiences. In these two experiments, we selected two different ethnic groups. All participants were allocated randomly either to be in an imagined positive contact condition or no-contact control scenes, and finished dependent measures including prior contact, explicit attitudes and implicit attitudes assessed by Single Category Implicit Association Test(SC-IAT). Experiment 1 was conducted with a 2 (imagined contact: imagined positive contact, neutral imagined scene) × 2 (prior contact: low, high) between-subjects design. Participants were 96 Han undergraduates (46 females) as majorities, but 8 participants who got high error rate in SC-IAT or univariate outliers were excluded from the analysis. On the basis of experiment 1, experiment 2 altered participants who were 104 Uyghur undergraduates (52 females) as minorities, but 9 participants were excluded from the analysis. Dependent variables were the aggregate score of explicit attitudes and the SC-IAT score (D-measure). The valid data was analyzed using ANOVA. Results of experiment 1 and 2 showed: (1) There was a main effect of the imagined contact on the implicit attitudes in both majorities and minorities. Imagined positive contact was significantly positive than the imagined neutral scene condition on the implicit attitudes (D-measure) for both majority and minority groups, but not on the explicit attitudes. (2) There was a main effect of the prior contact on the explicit attitudes in majority and minority groups. High prior contact was significantly positive than low prior contact on the explicit attitudes for both majority and minority groups, but not on the implicit attitudes. Prior contact experiences had more influence on attitudes than the efficacy of imagined contact. These results indicate that imagined positive contact is an effective manner for improving implicit intergroup attitudes in majority and minority groups. However, exlplicit attitudes are mainly affected by prior contact, and its efficacy is stronger than imagined contact. If ingroup has had low prejudice for out-group members, explicit attitudes would be very difficult to be further improved by imagined contact. Therefore, these findings are highlights of theoretical and practical possibilities for future imagined contact research. Related Articles | Metrics

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A brief analysis of the Embodiment and Culture of Metaphor 2015, (5): 1081-1086.  Abstract ( )   PDF (536KB) ( )   Lakoff and Johnson (1980,1999) put forward the Conceptual Metaphor Theory ,which has been completely different from the traditional sense of the metaphorical concepts. According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, there is both embodiment and culture in metaphor, and neither of them can live without each other. Hence, it is important for us to understand how embodiment and culture works for metaphor, and how embodiment and culture affect metaphor through their close and seamless cooperation. The construction of Metaphor is based on our physical experience, the physical experience is not only closely related with our state of mind, also shape the nature of metaphor. In the process of metaphorical mapping, its "source domain" comes from the our sensorimotor system, and the sensorimotor system plays a more crucial role in shaping the concepts than the other systems , it is the involvement of the sensorimotor system in the conceptual system that keeps the conceptual system very much in touch with the world. The production of conceptual metaphor is a process metaphorical link, which is formed in human body by neurological contact, each metaphor concept based on the experience of the body is a kind of neural structure, and it is the neural structures formed the metaphorical links in the process of metaphor . Based on our cultural background, metaphor is an integral part of the world of culture. In most of time, how we understand of the concept of metaphor will be influenced by the culture we lived in. Metaphor is the reflection of culture in language, and heritage in the cultural through language. Different nationalities and different regions have their shared culture or unique culture, it has formed the different forms of metaphor, and the same or different connotation of metaphors. In different cultures, the same connotation of the concept of metaphor is likely to be the same or similar, and the same metaphor meaning may also be taken up by different metaphorical expressions. The relationship of embodiment and culture of metaphor is inseparable .There is always have a participation of culture in the process of metaphor , and experience of our body is exist based on the broad background of the cultural, Culture is involved in all of the things we experiences, we are using cultural experience our world by way of experiences .And embodied experiences and the metaphorical thinking is conditioned by culture all the time, culture affects how embodiment experiences metaphorical thinking. The embodiment and culture of metaphor is not only mutual fusion, but also inseparable, culture is responsible for the preparation work before physical experience, and the embodiment is responsible for the process of physical experience. We can hardly apart the embodiment of metaphor from the cultural foundation, and which embodied foundation will be chose is closely linked with the culture coherence. Our physical and cultural experience provides many possible foundation for metaphor, but it is depending on the culture to choose which or in which give priority to. Under different cultural background will not only produce the same metaphorical concept, also can produce the different ways of understanding and experience metaphor. Related Articles | Metrics

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Influence of Emotional Context on Facial Expression Recognition and the Underlying Mechanism Hong-Yan Liu 2015, (5): 1087-1094.  Abstract ( )   PDF (355KB) ( )   Facial expression is a basic form of emotional communication. Correctly recognizing other’ facial expression plays crucial role in social interaction. However, facial expressions usually do not appear in isolation but are often embedded in some emotion-loaded situations. That means, efficient emotion perception from a face could not rely on facial expression alone, but could be affected by the contexts. The purpose of this article was to review the studies addressing the contextual influence on recognition of emotional facial expressions. There are two different types of promotion effect of emotional context on facial expression recognition: (1) emotion-congruent effect in visual modal. When a facial expression appeared in visual context, the emotional context will facilitate the recognition of facial expression with the congruent emotional valence. This effect was demonstrated by decreased response time and increased accuracy at behavioral level, and increased amplitude of N170 and increased activation in left fusiform gyrus at neural level; (2) integration effect of cross-modal emotional information. Studies found that, context from other modals such as auditory and olfactory context could also facilitate the recognition of facial expressions. The inhibition effect of emotional context on facial expression recognition consists of two aspects: (1) emotional conflict effect, which appears when the emotional valence of the target face was incongruent with the distractor context. Studies concerning emotional conflict mainly adopted word-face Stroop and emotional Flanker paradigms. Moreover, the emotional conflict effect could also be induced by cross-modal emotional distractor (e.g., laughing at a fearful face). Neural studies showed that the emotional conflict effect was associated with increased amplitude of the N400 component and a neural network (i.e., amygdala, dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate for conflict monitoring and rostral anterior cingulate for conflict resolution); (2) semantic interference effect. This effect was mainly explored by semantic satiation paradigm, i.e., when a word representing a certain emotional category (e.g., “anger”) was satiated and become semantically inaccessible, the processing to the associated emotional facial expressions (e.g., angry faces) would be interfered. The mechanisms underlying influential effect of emotional context on neutral and ambiguous faces include: (1) inductive effect of emotional context. Studies showed that, emotional context could bias the neutral faces to certain affective tone congruent with the context. While for ambiguous faces, the emotional context could disambiguate them to show processing features similar with the emotion of the context; (2) subliminal affective priming effect. Studies showed that briefly presented emotional context could also affect the recognition of neutral or ambiguous facial expressions. Finally, the article summarized the different mechanisms in the existing literature: (1) the promotion effect of emotional context on emotional facial expressions, and the inductive effect of emotional context on neutral and ambiguous facial expressions could be generalized by emotion-congruent effect; (2) the inhibition effect of emotional context on emotional facial expression recognition includes two dimensions: emotional dimension (i.e., emotional conflict effect) and conceptual dimension (i.e., conceptual interference effect). Furthermore, some suggestions for future studies were proposed. Firstly, future studies should investigate the influence of multi-modal emotional context on facial expression recognition. Secondly, future studies should extend to explore the social emotions (e.g., puzzled) and self-conscious emotions (e.g., self-abased). Thirdly, future studies should explore the preference judgment of facial expressions in emotional context, other than the categorization of emotion. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Neural Mechanism and Influencing Factors of the Subjective Value Computation and Integration 2015, (5): 1095-1102.  Abstract ( )   PDF (327KB) ( )   Decision-making plays a very important role in the history of human social development, and to explore its neural mechanism was only a few decades. There is a growing consensus in decision neuroscience that brain makes simple choices by first assigning a value to all of the options under consideration and then comparing them, and finally choosing the biggest value option to guide decision-making. This understanding then was named the value-based decision theory. It is popular for decision researchers and was used to explain all kinds of human behaviors in the domains of decision-making about value-based decision theory. In our review, we focus on the subjective value computation and integration during inter-temporal choice and risky decision-making because of there are numerous reviews about the value computation and integration of stimulus rewards including food, water, fruit juice, money, erotic stimulus in all kinds of species. These studies emphasized that value computation is not separable with the region of ventral medial prefrontal cortex and there are distributed neural representation to compute the subjective value along the gradient of posterior-anterior axis which is consistent with the view of evolutionary of human brain and individual development. In this review, we summarized that the neural basis of the subjective value computation related with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and so on whereas the neural basis of the subjective value integration related with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and so on in the human brain. Meanwhile, the computation related with time and risk have common neural pattern using multiple-voxel pattern analysis and human brain can integrate distinct attributes and costs to form the subjective value using the model of curve interaction on the regions of VMPFC and OFC. Furthermore, we thought that human brain used distinct regions to compute the value of alternatives of which output signals were input another region (VMPFC) to integrate and form the subjective value. We can modulate the subjective value through self-control, attention and cognitive regulation methods. Self-control changed the subjective value of rewards by executive control mechanism which engages dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex modulates the value computation and integration which engage ventral medial prefrontal cortex. Attention is thought to play a key role in the computation of stimulus values at the time of choice, which suggests that attention manipulations could be used to improve decision-making in domains where self-control lapses are pervasive. We thought that the neural mechanisms used in successful self-control can be activated by exogenous attention cues which modulate stimulus value signals and attention-modulated relative value signals might serve as the input of a comparator system that is used to make a choice. The computational and neurobiological mechanisms of cognitive regulation during decision making used two distinct regulatory mechanisms including value modulation (changing the values assigned to stimuli) and behavioral control modulation (changing how value signals affect behavior) which related with VMPFC and DLPFC. Future research should continue to emphasize multi-voxel pattern analysis, individual differences, aging and gene on the effect of value computation and integration. Related Articles | Metrics

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Adolescents' Self-Concept Impacts on Internet Addiction: Moderating Effect of Negative Online Experience and School Type 2015, (5): 1103-1108.  Abstract ( )   PDF (314KB) ( )   Past research on adolescents’ addiction to Internet had revealed that most of those addicts were low in self-concept and showed withdrawal behavior in social interactions. And among college students who were addicts, there was reported connection between online experience and addictive behavior. To examine effects of self-concept and online experience, to be more specific, the negative online experience, on addictive behaviors while surfing Internet, we conducted the present research in adolescents, who emerged as the predominant group found to be Internet addicts in modern China. Besides, we also investigated the possible influence of school environment given the hot issue on “key school policy” proposed right after the establishment of new China in 1950s. Participants included 4,094 adolescents (1864 males, 2078 females), of which 1830 came from primary school from grade four to grade six and 2263 students were from middle school. We conducted a large online survey on adolescents’ Internet addictive behaviors across 10 different domestic regions, for instance Guizhou, Chongqing, and Jiangsu, etc. The instruments used in this study included the Differentiation of School and Society Situation for Chinese primary and middle school students, which assessed adolescents’ self-concept, the Negative Online Experience scale and Internet Addiction Diagnostic questionnaire, which measured degree of addiction to Internet. The results from current study revealed that adolescents’ self-concept was significantly negatively related to their degree of Internet addiction (β=-.137, p<.001), and their negative online experience could significantly positively predict their degree of Internet addiction (β=.281, p<.001). With regard to school type, there was also a significant main effect (β=.051, p=.001), indicating that students from key schools were more vulnerable to Internet addiction than those from non-key schools. Moreover, there was a significant three-way interaction among self-concept, negative online experience and school type, B=-.064, t (1, 3918) =-2.218, p=.027, η2=.001, such that for students from key schools, their addiction to Internet could be negatively predicted by levels of self-concept but in non-key schools the moderating effect of negative online experience should be carefully examined. The findings had two implications on the issue of adolescents’ addiction to Internet. First, it suggested that adolescents’ online experience could have magnificent impact on their subsequent addicted behavior to Internet, and more importance should be attached to adolescents’ way of handling online interactions and thereby provided necessary and efficient guidance. Second, there was an innovative finding concerning the school environment in which adolescents inhabited. The results demonstrated that students from key schools reported more addictive behaviors than their counterparts, which meant that there was probably some lacking in social activity due to extra burden in key school. For intervention, we should focus on different aspects in terms of different school types. Specifically, for key schools, there should be alternative entertainment; and for non-key schools, there should be educational programs on behavioral regulation while surfing Internet. Despite several limitations, especially with regard to the failure of establishing casual relations in this correlational study, the present work contributed, to a certain extent, to the interpretation and potential intervention of adolescents’ Internet addiction, as well as some insight in the improvement of adolescents’ school environment. Related Articles | Metrics

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Games Training Improves Self-control Ability in Preschool Children: Evidences from ERP 2015, (5): 1109-1115.  Abstract ( )   PDF (735KB) ( )   Self-control is to control impulses, resist temptations and avoid interference from irrelevant something. Early childhood is a period of rapid development in self-control. And self-control on early childhood can predict the performance of adolescence and adulthood, so there is considerable interest in the early interventions of self-control. Several studies have reported that self-control ability can be improved by educational games, but seldom demonstrated neurophysiological changes in preschool children in response to games training related with self-control. The present study used educational games to train preschool children's self-control ability, and used ERPs to examine the neurophysiological effect of games training. Fifty preschool children from kindergarten (25 males; mean age: 4.04) were randomly assigned in terms of classes to either the training group (to-be-trained) or the control (untrained) group. The training group (13 males; mean age: 3.92) receives game training of a semester. Control group (12 males; mean age: 4.16) is free when training group is training. The training program includes six self-designed educational games for improving self-control. And all participants completed tests before and after training. Test program is a visual Go/NoGo task that stimulating pictures consist of mouse pictures with white eyes or red eyes, and EEG is recorded. Electrophysiological data are collected from the scalp using a 64-channel system. These data are submitted to repeated-measure analysis of variance (MANOVA) with factors of Session (before and after training), Group (Untrained and Trained)and electrode site (Fc3, Fcz, Fc4 or P3, Pz, P4). The electrode site includes Fc3, Fcz, Fc4 when N2 is examined. The electrode site includes P3, Pz, P4 when P3 is examined. For the behavioral data of the Go/NoGo task, under the condition of NoGo, subjects do not need any respond. Therefore, there is no reaction time. On accuracy, the results of MANOVA showed that the difference of main effect is significant between before and after training. The accuracy is improved compared with before training. However, there is no significant difference in main effects between training and control groups. And there is also no significant difference in interaction effect between group and session. In addition, ERP data of the Go/NoGo task showed significant difference in amplitude between the training group and control group for the before and after training. After training, the amplitudes of NoGo-N2 components in 330-550ms and NoGo-P3 components in 570-650ms were smaller than before training for the training group, but no difference was found in control group. In addition, the amplitudes of the N2 and P3 are related with self-control, which is demonstrated in the references. Meanwhile, the results of ANOVA indicated that there was no significant difference between two groups before training, which demonstrated self-control ability of two groups were consistent before training. The present study is the first to examine the neurophysiological effect of games training, and provides further evidence for the effects of games training on self-control skill. Preschool teacher may apply game activities to the daily teaching, to promote the development of preschool children's self-control. Related Articles | Metrics

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Modules for Math: A Review of Cognitive-Process-Based Training Program for Learning Math 2015, (5): 1116-1122.  Abstract ( )   PDF (952KB) ( )   Modules for Math is a program for improving the foundations of learning math. This is a cognitive enhancement program that was developed by Canadian Psychologist J. P. Das. The theory framework of Modules for Math is Planning- Attention- Simultaneous Processes- Successive Processes (PASS), which is based on the Luria’s working of the brain and Vygotsky’s principles of educating children, mainly internalization of speech that guides self-learning, development of strategies with assistance or prompting, often called ‘scaffolding’ and the idea that learning occurs in collaboration with others. There are five modules in the program; and they present some 50 activities for enhancement of each of the corresponding five basic skills. Each module involves training a specific basic skill, widely used in doing math. Some examples are Number Line, Differentiating Size of numbers and Value, Visual search, Selective attention, Numerosity (counting), Simultaneous verbal and nonverbal reasoning, and Working Memory. Modules in the manual have two parts: a focus on the broad cognitive foundations of these skills (global part) followed by their application to basic curricula in math — a ‘Bridging’ part that closes the gap between cognitive principles and math curriculum by transferring global concepts learned to applications. The program selects for training ‘the elements that are active in the beginning of children’s math learning’ as Geary (2013) mentioned, such as the Approximate number system, Numeral magnitude mapping, and Early explicit knowledge of accurate number system. Geary describes the overall process as ‘attentional control’. The concept can be understood as essentially Planning and Executive processes. A series of related models provide the basic theoretical and applied structure of the cognitive training tasks in the modules. Broadly, Math Proficiency is divided into two major components that depend on each other. These are computing and solving word problems. Planning and Executive Functioning (EF) are the predominant cognitive process for computations or step by step calculations that need to be followed. Similarly, Simultaneous processing is required for comprehension of word problems, but with some help from planning strategies. Attentional control is subsumed in Planning and EF. Simultaneous processing comprises logical-grammatical relations. The last level highlights the two components of EF, Inhibition and Shifting. For word problems, logical and grammatical divisions are to be trained by both non-verbal (matrices-type tests), and verbal–simultaneous tasks and activities in The Modules. Planning/EF and Simultaneous processing are the major processes for learning math, with Working Memory as a sub-set of attentional control. Working Memory may be regarded as an integral part of EF. However, more empirical studies should be designed to understand the different roles played by these components and how they interact with each other. Modules for Math are designed for children beginning to learn math. That is for kindergarten and early years of primary school. However some older children might have missed out in comprehending the basic principles of math and the skills that are required to learn math. The tasks in the modules therefore need to be adjusted upwards for increasing their difficulty levels for older children. Math Modules have a flexible structure to allow additional tasks and activities to expand their use. In order to further understand the basic cognitive functions in math, cognitive neuroscience research should be designed, and evidence for their neural correlates must be examined. Additionally, the effect of cognitive training may be demonstrated in corresponding changes in measures of brain imaging techniques. Such research is on the way together with behavioral evidence and such neural correlates are critical for assuming that changes in both behavior and brain are recorded after a period of cognitive training as in Modules for Math. Thus Modules for Math is a program that opens the door to a better understanding of the basic foundations of Math learning, and consequently for cognitive training. Related Articles | Metrics

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Children’ s Understanding of Economic Phenomenon 2015, (5): 1123-1129.  Abstract ( )   PDF (455KB) ( )   Economic cognition is an important component of children’ s social cognition, and has great impact on children’ s socialization processes. From an early age, children are exposed to a variety of economic phenomena and involved in some simple economic activities in their daily life. While children get older, economic behaviors become increasingly more important for them. The acquisition of economic knowledge can help them understand economic phenomenon, form their own economic opinion, and better deal with all kinds of economic affairs around them. This paper summarized previous research from four aspects. Firstly, we discussed children’s understanding of some basic economic concepts, such as money, bank, interest, income, tax, and ownership. The results demonstrated that children’s understanding of basic economic concepts increased with age, but there were cultural difference (across countries) and some divergence in the developmental trajectory of different economic concepts. Secondly, we reviewed research about children’ s understanding of economic principles, such as the exchange of equal value principle and the fair?distribution principle, from which we concluded that children’s understanding of economic principles also increased with age, and depended on their understanding of basic economic concepts. Thirdly, we listed research about children’s understanding of laws of economics, i. e., the relations of supply, demand, price and sales. Children at about 9 years old had a better grasp of laws of economics than younger children, and children’ s understanding of laws of economics was characterized by three features, that is, by a transition from isolated partial systems, to an increasing integration of understanding; by a transition from understanding of economics as motivated by ethical considerations to a realization that economics has its own logic, distinct from moral considerations, and from one that relies on the motivation of individuals, to one based on an appreciation of the aggregate effects of the actions and desires of groups of people. In addition, cross-cultural studies showed that children’s understanding of laws of economics in China was somewhat different from that in the United States, which may be due to different economic history and market conditions in the two countries. Because the United States carried out market economics earlier than China, American children often resorted to seeking purchase while asking them to reason laws of economics. Finally, we discussed children’s understanding of saving behavior. Although children displayed saving behavior from an early age, they could not understand the saving purpose from different aspects until 12 years old, and at this age, their capability to use saving strategy became more and more skilled. To conclude, we proposed several future directions. First, other important economic phenomena (such as children’ s capability to distinguish value and price, their understanding of the associations between laws of economics and economic behavior) should be investigated. Second, the underlying psychological mechanisms of some economic phenomena should be explored further. Finally, future study should integrate theoretical and educational application studies to identify ways that can promote children’ s economic cognition. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Developmental Study of Semantic Radicals’ Consistency Awareness of Primary School Children 2015, (5): 1136-1140.  Abstract ( )   PDF (310KB) ( )   Semantic-phonetic compounds comprise the vast bulk of the Chinese characters. The semantic radicals are related with the meaning of the whole characters, but inferring the whole characters’ meaning from semantic radicals’ meaning is not always applicable widely. There are almost 200 semantic radicals commonly to be used, the accuracy rate of inferring the whole character’s meaning by virtue of semantic radicals can be up to 60%-100%. The consistency of semantic radicals is one of the important characteristics of Chinese character’s radicals, which manifests the degree from semantic radicals’ meaning inferring the whole characters’ category. Previous studies have revealed that semantic radicals’ consistency affects the whole characters’ processing under many tasks and levels, including lexical decision, single-word semantic category decision and double words semantic category decision. Most of the studies concerned the adults’ mental lexicon and processing models. The developmental characteristics of children’ semantic consistency awareness has not been concerned yet. The present study was to examine children’s semantic radicals’ developmental characteristics. A total of 99 elementary school students were adopted in the study. Two factors mixed design were used: 4(Grade: Grade3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6)×4(priming style: R+S+,R+S-,R-S+,R-S-). Children were asked to judge the semantic category consistency between prime words and target words fast and accurately. The materials included 128 word stimulus pairs, each priming style has 32 word stimulus pairs. The results revealed a significant grade differences, a priming style differences and significant interaction between the grade and the priming style on reaction time and error rate. The reaction time got shorter and the error rate got reduced with the development of grades. Children in different grades showed different performance under four priming style. For children in Grade 3, there is no significant difference among four priming styles on reaction time. For children in Grade 4, the reaction time of R-S+ and R-S- were shorter than R+S- significantly. For children in Grade 5, the reaction time of R+S+ and R-S- were shorter than R+S- significantly. For children in Grade 6, the reaction time of R+S+ was shorter than R+S- and R-S+, also, the reaction time of R-S- was shorter than R+S- and R-S+. The tendency of error rate on consistency judgments showed similar performance. We also get a clear semantic consistency awareness priming effect by calculating the reaction time difference between two priming condition. Based on above findings, the conclusions could be derived from this study: (1) Children’s awareness of semantic radicals was getting strong with the development of grades. Children in Grade 3 have not acquired the consistency awareness of semantic radicals, children in Grade 4 have acquired preliminary consistency awareness of semantic radicals, Children in Grade 5 have made great process in consistency awareness of semantic radicals, children don’t have acquire mature semantic radicals’ awareness until Grade 6. (2) The developmental characteristics of semantic radical’ awareness has a close relationship with cognitive developmental level of children, language knowledge of children and processing strategy. Semantic radicals’ consistency should be taught intentionally. Related Articles | Metrics

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Weibo Social Moods Measurement and Validation 2015, (5): 1141-1146.  Abstract ( )   PDF (557KB) ( )   Weibo is an increasingly popular form of social media and accumulates vast amounts of information making the measurement of social mood easily. The paper is about how to measure public mood using Weibo directly and efficiently. We proceed in three phases to measure and validate the social mood on Weibo. In the first phase, we create the Weibo Five Basic Mood Lexicon (Weibo-5BML). In perspective of emotional categorical approach, there are five basic emotions including Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust. We collect emotional words as many as possible and ask three psychological graduates to judge every word belong to which kind of basic emotion discretely. At last, we get the formal version of the Weibo-5BML. There are 818 emotional terms in the Weibo-5BML, in which Happiness has 306 terms, Sadness has 205 terms, Fear has 72 terms, Anger has 93 terms, and Disgust has 142 terms. In the second phase, we generate social mood time series. We crawl and analyze minute texts in Sina Weibo using a transparent approach named term-based matching technique, which matches the emotional terms used in each tweet against Weibo-5BML. The Weibo-5BML could capture a variety of naturally occurring emotional terms in Weibo tweets and map them to their respective social mood dimensions. The score of each basic mood dimension is thus determined as the sum of each tweet term that matched the Weibo-5BML each day. Then we obtain five basic social moods daily series from July 1, 2011 to November 30, 2012. In the third phase, we validate the Weibo social moods by different kind of methods. First, we calculate the frequency of each social mood and find the frequency of happiness is higher than other four social moods which correspond to the relevant researches of people expressing happiness more and the hyperpersonal interaction model. Second, we calculate the correlation of five social moods and the result is consistent with the circumplex model of emotion. Happiness is negative correlation with the other four kind of social moods, while the four kinds of social moods are positive correlation with each other. Third, we get the fluctuation of five social moods during a week and the result is similar with other relevant researches. People are happier on weekends than workdays and the unhappiest day is Wednesday. At last, we match the five basic Weibo social moods against the fluctuations recorded by major events of social and popular culture and find these events cause corresponding fluctuation in Weibo social moods. Such as people are happy on both Chinese and Western holiday and the public is angry because of the conflict of Diaoyu Island. People are sad about the fragile life and the dead or injured passengers at the beginning of “7.23 Wenzhou Train Collision”, while angry at the fourth and fifth day because of the cause tracing. All of these results indicate that the social mood on Weibo is effective on capturing the public’s mood. It is useful for combining the psychological theory and techniques of computing science and these text and image information on Internet provide the valuable resources and opportunities for researchers to study the individual or collective characteristics. Related Articles | Metrics

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Reference Point Effect of Self Experience and Vicarious Experience during Outcome Evaluation: An ERPs Study Using Gambling Game 2015, (5): 1147-1154.  Abstract ( )   PDF (757KB) ( )   Risky decision is commonplace. In a wide range of decision people are often faced with risky contexts. In the decisions which include both loss and benefit, individual must have a quick appraisal on the post-decision feedback so as to adjust and improve subsequent decision-making processes. Such feedbacks are not only from one’s own experience, but also from vicarious experience by observing others’ outcome. As the development of event-related potentials (ERPs), researchers are devoted to discovering and interpreting how appraisal of decision outcomes affects decision-making processes using ERPs, which helps to reduce the occurrence of irrational decision. Recently, feedback-related negativity (FRN) has been found to be one of the components that are closely related with appraisal of outcome. The existing studies concerning the representation of FRN on reference point effect are primarily based on the decision made by participants themselves. However, in daily life we may make decision for ourselves and for others; decision can be made not only by ourselves but it can also be made by others. Recently, it is found that when participants are observing others to get negative feedback, the neural activity is similar as when participants get negative feedback themselves. Such mirror processes indicate that FRN may be the same neural processes shared by self-reference and others-reference processes. Although few studies reported that FRN could be still evoked even when participants did not respond or observed others to respond, little is known about whether reference point effect of FRN still appears when decider changes. This topic warrants further investigation. Through two experiments, the current research investigated the influence of bet (i.e., reference point) on brain activity in the processes of appraising one’s own decision (experiment 1) and observing others’ decision (experiment 2). “Bet-feedback” virtual gamble paradigm was used. Two bet conditions (0 Yuan vs. 50 Yuan) and four feedback conditions (+110 Yuan, +60 Yuan, -10 Yuan, and -60 Yuan) were set to formulate an absolute outcome (based on absolute zero point) and a relative outcome (based on the amount of bet). In study 1, participants were required to participate in the gamble task with EEG recorded, whereas in study 2 participants were asked to observe others to gamble, also with EEG recorded. Results indicated that when subjects participated in the gamble task in person, the feedback of losing money evoked more negative FRN than winning money, and just one feedback (-10 Yuan) with bet evoked more negative FRN than without bet. However, when observing others to gamble, no matter losing or wining money with bet evoked more negative FRN than without bet. In conclusion, when behavior is self-relevant, people are more sensitive to loss regardless of losing money with or without bet. However, when behavior is others-relevant, negative appraisal as a result from losing money is affected by with or without bet; and at this moment monitoring does not reflect the feedback per se, but one’s own positive or negative emotion based on the outcome. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Influence of anxiety and the degree of benevolence on advice-taking 2015, (5): 1155-1161.  Abstract ( )   PDF (490KB) ( )   Abstract Advice taking is the hotspot of current research of behavioral decision making. It mainly explores how judges change the initial opinion to form the final decision after receiving other’s advice. Advice taking involves judges and advisors according to the judge-advisor system. Therefore, the factors of decision-makers, advisors and tasks will affect the degree of advice taking. Former researches showed that the decision maker’s emotion plays a critical role in advice-taking. When making decisions, individuals will produce complex emotions, and anxiety emotion is most likely to produce. Since anxiety is an unpleasant experience, individuals with anxiety emotion will seek emotional support in order to get rid of this unpleasant experience, not just cognitive help. The benevolent adviser could give this support to decision makers. In the face of adviser with different degree of benevolence, the degree of advice-taking may different. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of anxiety and the degree of benevolence on advice taking. Two experiments were designed to explore the influence of anxiety and benevolence on people’s advice taking by the classical paradigm of advice-taking. The decision task was estimating the number of coins in a glass. In experiment 1, anxiety emotion was induced by movies video clips. In Experiment 2, participants were selected using Trait Anxiety Inventory. The subjects who had the first 27% score belonged to high level trait anxiety, and the last 27% score belonged to low level trait anxiety. There are 127 college students took part in experiment 1, 120 college students took part in experiment 2. The dependent variable was the level of advice-taking which calculated by the formula of WOA (weight of advice). The statistics result showed that, in experiment 1 the main effects of Anxiety emotion and benevolence were significant（ps<.01）, the interactions were not significant. In the experiment 2, the main effect of trait anxiety was not significant, but the main effect of benevolence was significant（p<.01）. And the interaction between trait anxiety and benevolence was not significant. The results indicated that: Anxiety emotion influenced advice taking. The subjects who feel anxiety were more receptive to advice than subjects in a neutral state. The level of trait anxiety has no effects on advice-taking. People with high level of anxiety are the same receptive to advice as people with low anxiety. The anxiety feeling of trait anxiety individuals is lower than state anxiety individual. So, as to the trait anxiety individuals, their motivation to get rid of anxiety and to avoid failure may be low. Their target to reduce the uncertainty and uncontrollability is also not strong. Thus, as a state of a specific emotional, state anxiety and trait anxiety have different effect on individual advice taking. The degree of benevolence influenced advice taking, the advice with high degree of benevolence were adopted more than the low benevolence. So if we want someone to adopt our recommendations, we need to pay attention to our way of expression. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Characteristics of Chinese People’s Honesty-Humility Personality and Its Implicit and Explicit Relationships Fan YANG CHEN ZHIXIA Bei-Bei CHEN Ji-Xia WU 2015, (5): 1162-1169.  Abstract ( )   PDF (508KB) ( )   Compared with personality model of Big Five, honesty-humility is a new important dimension of HEXACO personality model. This research analyzed the basic characteristics and predictive function of honesty-humility personality. And this research also purposed to discuss the relationships between implicit and explicit honesty personality and humility personality. In experiment 1, we developed the questionnaire of Chinese Honesty and Humility Personality (CHHP). The questionnaire showed good reliability and validity. Based on the subjunctive vocabulary, we found that the honesty personality was structured by four dimensions and they were frank, deception-avoidance, cunning-avoidance and hypocrisy-avoidance. The humility personality was also structured by four dimensions and they were modesty, pompous-avoidance, arrogant-avoidance and vanity-avoidance. In experiment 2, we analyzed the Chinese people’s characteristics of honesty-humility personality on the demographic variables. We had the following conclusions: (1) The level of girls was higher than boys’ in honesty-humility personality. (2) The students who were not the only child in their families got higher scores in humility personality than those who were the only child. (3) The college students from rural area got higher scores in honesty personality than the students from city. We found the predictive function of honesty-humility personality by regression analysis, the result showed that: (1) Honesty personality could explain the 13.7% variation of emotional intelligence. Honesty personality could positively predict emotional intelligence (p<.001). (2) Honesty personality could explain the 4.7% variation of positive coping styles and 5.7% variation of negative coping styles. Honesty personality could positively predict positive coping styles (p<.01) and negatively predict negative coping styles (p<.01). (3) Honesty-humility personality could be combined to explain the 10.6% variation of the motivation of pursuiting of success. Honesty personality could positively predict the motivation of pursuiting of success (p<.001). Humility personality could negatively predict the motivation of pursuiting of success (p<.001). In experiment 3, the questionnaire of Chinese Honesty and Humility Personality (CHHP) and Implicit Associate Tests (IAT) were used to differentiate the participants’ explicit and implicit level of honesty personality and humility personality. We found that implicit effect of honesty personality and humility personality existed. The structural equation model proved that implicit honesty personality and explicit honesty personality were independent of each other, so does humility personality. Results from three experiments suggest that the Chinese people’s honesty-humility personality can be composed of structural equation model, which includes 8 factors in the first-order and 2 factors in the second-order. What’s more, the honesty personality could effectively predict emotional intelligence, coping styles and the motivation of pursuiting of success. Humility personality could effectively predict the motivation of pursuiting of success. At the same time, the result also provides the implicit effect of honesty personality and humility personality. At last, we should pay attention to the separation of implicit honesty personality and humility personality. Related Articles | Metrics

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The effectiveness of positive intergroup contact of new generation rural-to-urban migrants: Based on group identity and identification Min-Quan CHAI Jian Guan 2015, (5): 1170-1177.  Abstract ( )   PDF (808KB) ( )   Intergroup contact is an important strategy in improving intergroup relations. On the basis of common goals, equal status, intergroup cooperation and the support of neutral institution, positively contacting with members of the out-group members can effectively reduce prejudice towards the outgroup, thus increasing confidence to the out-group and finally improving intergroup relations. But current researches challenge the effectiveness of positive intergroup contact, many researchers find in their researches that positive intergroup contact cannot improve intergroup relations, even have harmful effect. According to pressure and coping framework of intergroup contact, there are four coping patterns (engage, fight, flight, freeze) to the pressure of intergroup contact, but only engage pattern is effective. There are many factors having influence on whether individuals engage in intergroup contact, such as individual’s personality, sympathy, levels of anxiousness and knowledge to out-group. The term “new generation rural-to-urban migrants” refers to farmers-turned-workers who were born after 1980. Comparing with the first generation migrants who were born before 1980, researches find the new generation migrants have stronger willingness to become citizens, so they take more contacts with citizens, thus intergroup contact has important influence on new generation migrants’ integration to the city. In consideration of the paradoxical results of positive intergroup contact researches, the effectiveness of new generation migrants’ positive intergroup contact with citizens becomes an interesting and important research domain. This research selects 900 new generation migrants, who were recruited from 8 coastal cities of China, and the perceived of intergroup permeability as measure index to explore the effectiveness of positive intergroup contact, and the influence of perceived group victimhood and group identity to the effectiveness. Perceived group victimhood (PGV) refers to individual’s recognization of victimhood of their group in history or/and current society. Perceived group victimhood can evidently reduce individual’s confidence to out-group, and increase intergroup prejudice, so this research suppose perceived group victimhood has mediation effect to the new generation migrants’ positive intergroup contact. The results of this research suggest: (1)Positive group contact can effectively improve the new generation migrants’ perceiving of group permeability; (2) Perceived group victimhood of the new generation migrants has significant mediation effect to their positive group contact; (3) The new generation migrants’ citizen identity has evident moderation effect to their positive group contact; (4) Group identity of the new generation migrants has no significant effect in the relation of perceived group victimhood and positive group contact. Lastly, this research discusses the effectiveness of group contact and the relation of perceived group victimhood and group identity. Related Articles | Metrics

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Can Authentic Leadership Break Employee Silence? A Moderated Mediation Model 2015, (5): 1178-1186.  Abstract ( )   PDF (529KB) ( )   As a guideline deeply rooted in Chinese employees, silence exists in almost all the organizations in Chinese context. However, there is little research examining the leadership between leadership and employee silence. Based on evolutionary psychological theory and person-context interaction theory, this research built a theoretical model containing authentic leadership, psychological safety, extraversion, conscientiousness, and employee silence. According to evolutionary psychological perspective, the specific psychological mechanisms that people react in different situations are derived from the evolutionary process. The mechanisms that help human survive and evolve are preserved by natural selection. When people are faced with insecurity and threat, the defense mechanism is automatically triggered, managing to escape or avoid this threatened situation; on the other hand, when people encounter comfortable situations, the psychological safety will emerge instead. Based on this theoretical argument, we contend that psychology safety serves as the mediating mechanism between authentic leadership and employees’ silence behavior. Moreover, person-context interaction theory holds that individual characteristics will work together with contextual factors to influence individual behavior. As a result, only when individual characteristics and situational factors are both investigated can we fully reveal the causes of individual behaviors. We therefore propose the moderating roles of employees’ extraversion and conscientiousness between psychological safety and employees’ silence behavior, as well as among the mediating mechanism psychological safety plays. In order to identify these hypotheses, we investigated 222 employees in a large state-owned enterprise group in Henan Province to conduct the empirical study. A sixteen-item scale originally developed by Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing and Peterson (2008) was used to measure authentic leadership, a three-item scale developed by Detert and Burris (2007) was used to measure psychological safety, a six-item scale developed by Wong, Peng, Shi and Mao (2011) was used to measure extraversion, a six-item scale developed by Wong, Peng, Shi and Mao (2011) was used to measure conscientiousness, while a five-item scale developed by Tangirala and Ramanujam (2008) was used to measure employees’ silence behavior. The results showed that: (1) authentic leadership has a significantly negative impact on employee silence; (2) psychological safety mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and employee silence; (3) when employees’ extraversion and conscientiousness are higher, the negative relationship between psychological safety and employee silence will be stronger; (4) when employees’ extraversion and conscientiousness are higher, the mediating effect psychological safety plays between authentic leadership and employee silence will be stronger as well. In the end, we discussed the theoretical implication of this study and future research directions. The current study contributes to the literature in three important ways. First, it verified the effectiveness of authentic leadership in inhibiting employees’ silence behaviors in Chinese context. Second, we introduced followers’ psychological safety as an important mechanism between authentic leadership and subordinates’ silence behaviors, which help open the “black box” of authentic leadership. Finally, in line with person-context interaction theory, we also demonstrated the moderating role of extraversion and conscientiousness both between psychological safety and employees’ silence behavior, and among the mediating mechanism psychological safety plays. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effect of Sexual Objectification on Perceptions of Intelligence: An Eye Movement Study 2015, (5): 1187-1193.  Abstract ( )   PDF (873KB) ( )   Sexual objectification occurs when a woman’s body, body parts, or sexual functions are separated from her entire person, thus reducing her status to that of a mere instrument, as if this was capable of representing an entire person. Numerous studies have demonstrated that sexual objectification affects the perceptions of others, and this is related to both diminished perceptions of mind and dehumanization. Objectification theory holds that when people are sexually objectified, they are perceived as mere objects that lack the mental states. However, there is no direct evidence showing that diminished social perceptions are affected by sexual objectification. Moreover, previous studies have been primarily conducted with samples of white women. Very few have explored non-Western samples. Therefore, in this study, we aim to examine the effect of sexual objectification on perceptions of intelligence and to explore the existence of sexual objectification in the process of perceptions via eye tracking of Chinese college students. A total of 50 (25 women, 25 men) undergraduates, aged18-24, took part in the study. A 2 (picture type: objectified, non-objectified) × 2 (target gender: male, female) × 2 (participant gender: male, female) mixed model design was utilized. Consistent with previous research, in each objectified photograph, the target wore either a swimsuit or underwear. In each non-objectified photo, the target was fully clothed in a long sleeved t-shirt and dark pants. All images were of people of Chinese nationality, who stood and faced the camera with neutral facial expressions. The participants then rated the intelligence of the person portrayed in each picture. Eye movements were recorded while participants individually viewed and rated the picture with an Eyelink 1000 eye tracker. The results showed that both objectified women and men were attributed with less intelligence than non-objectified targets, which is consistent with previous findings suggesting that sexual objectification is related to diminished perceptions of mental capacity and increased dehumanization. Eye movement tracking showed that the fixation count on chests of objectified targets was significantly higher than on objectified targets. The dwell time and first fixation duration for the faces of objectified targets were both significantly shorter than non-objectified targets. But the dwell time and first fixation duration for the chests of objectified targets were significantly longer than non-objectified targets. These results suggested participants focused more on the chests and less on the faces of the objectified targets, which is consistent with the nature of the objectifying gaze. In conclusion, sexual objectification affected perceptions of the intelligence of both women and men. Moreover, people evidenced an objectifying gaze in the process of making their perceptions. Our finding extended the previous research on Fredrickson and Roberts’s (1997) objectification theory, suggesting that the influence of sexual objectification is not limited only to Western women. Further, we also offered direct evidence for the existence of sexual objectification in the process of making intelligence perceptions. Thus, the findings of the present study have important practical significance and considerable cross-cultural implications. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effects of Family-Supported Supervisor Behavior on Work Attitudes: a moderated mediating model 2015, (5): 1194-1200.  Abstract ( )   PDF (480KB) ( )   Family-Supported Supervisor Behavior (FSSB) is a support behavior of family and personal life from supervisor. It always acts as an important organizational work-family resource. Family-supported supervisor behavior is defined as those behaviors exhibited by supervisors that are supportive of families and consists of the following four dimensions—emotional support, instrumental support, role modeling behaviors, and creative work-family management (Hammer, Kossek, Zimmerman, & Daniels, 2007). Recent research has demonstrated that employee perceptions of FSSB are positively related to work attitude over and above the effects of general supervisor support (Hammer, Kossek, Yragui, Bodner, & Hanson, 2009). Conservation of resources (COR) theory posits that those with initial resource reservoirs have a tendency towards accumulation and enrichment of resources over time, that is, a tendency towards resource caravans (Hobfoll，2001；Hobfoll, 2002). Based on conservation of resources theory, the present study was to investigate the mechanism linking family-supported supervisor behavior to work attitudes through work-family enrichment and conflict are moderated by the level of perceived individual boundary control. A total of 368 employees were assessed using family supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) scale, work–family conflict scale, work–family enrichment scale, intention to leave scale, job satisfaction scale and perceived individual boundary control scale. The results indicated that: (1) family-supported supervisor behavior predicted job satisfaction(r =0. 40, p<0.01) and intention to leave(r =-0.23, p<0.01). (2) The positive relation between family-supported supervisor behavior and job satisfaction was partly mediated by work-family enrichment (b=0.23，p<0.01)such that having a supportive supervisor was associated with high work-family enrichment, which, in turn, were related to high job satisfaction. Work-family enrichment was not a significant mediator between family-supported supervisor behavior and intention to leave (b=-0.09，p>0.05), while work–family conflict was not a significant mediator(b=-0.04，p>0.05). (3) Perceived individual boundary control moderated the mediated effect of work-family enrichment．Family-supported supervisor behavior interacted with perceived individual boundary control significant predicted work-family enrichment (b=0.09，p<0.05). When work-family enrichment was entered into the regression equation, the interaction was still a significant predictor of job satisfaction (b=0.10，p<0.05) and work-family enrichment was still a significant predictor of job satisfaction (b=0.11，p<0.05). The positive relation between family-supported supervisor behavior and job satisfaction mediated by work-family enrichment was stronger for employees in having higher perceived individual boundary control (b=0.32，p<0.01) than lower boundary control (b=0.08，p<0.05). With perceived individual boundary control increasing，the effect of family-supported supervisor behavior on work-family enrichment strengthened． All in all, the present study not only revealed how family-supported supervisor behavior influenced work attitude, but also revealed when this effect was strong．The theoretical implications of the findings were discussed. Given that family-supported supervisor behavior is seen as a trainable behavior, organizations should consider encouraging supervisors engaged in these family-supported behaviors, which would develop positive work attitude of employee. This study also can improve the work-family intervention of family-supported supervisor behavior. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Impact Bias in Affective Forecasting: Focalism or Unforeseen Adaptation? 2015, (5): 1201-1206.  Abstract ( )   PDF (685KB) ( )   Over the last 2 decades, a substantial body of research has uncovered the impact bias, which reflect the tendency for people to overestimate the initial impact and/or duration of emotional event (Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson, Blumberg, & Wheatley, 1998；Wilson, Wheatley, Meyers, Gilbert, & Axsom, 2000；Levine, Lench, Kaplan, & Safer, 2012；Wirtz, Kruger, Scollon, & Diener, 2003) . Why do we persistently make these errors in our affective forecasts? One proposal is focalism, the other is unforeseen adaptation. However, the boundary conditions of focalism and unforeseen adaptation remain poorly understood. When is the focalism more important for the impact bias? To answer these questions, two experiments were conducted. With between-subject design in experiment 1 and within-subject design in experiment 2, participants were first asked to predict the affect after different events (being admitted to graduate in E1a, taking facture surgery in E1b, moving to new campus in E2), then experienced the events. All participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, that is, defocusing exercise, adaptation exercise, and control condition. The effects of three conditions on impact bias were compared. In experiment 1, the affect prediction and experience were compared by t - test, results showed that under the condition of defocusing exercise there is no significant difference between affect prediction and experience（E1a: t=0.94，p>0.05; E1b: t=1.67，p>0.05）, which means there was no impact bias. However, under the condition of adaptation exercise (E1a: t=2.24，p<0.05; E1b: t=2.82，p<0.01) and control condition（E1a: t=2.50, p<0.05; E1b: t=3.11，p<0.01）, the affect was overestimated, which means there was impact bias. In experiment 2, first in the participant level, the affect experience was regressed on affect prediction over six time point, in which the regression coefficient βreflected the accuracy of affect prediction. Then, the regression coefficients of three conditions (defocus exercise, adaption exercise, and control condition) were compared by ANOVA. Results showed that the defocusing exercise improved accuracy of affective forecast significantly, however, both adaptation exercise and control condition overestimate the effect of future events（F(2,151) =2.99，p<0.05）. Therefore, in the present study, the focalism is the main source of impact bias. Because the affective tasks of the present study provided clear situational clue, it concluded that when the situational clue is clear, focalism is the main source of impact bias. The present study has important theoretical contribution in that it clarified the boundary condition of focalism and unforeseen adaptation in the impact bias from the viewpoint of information using. The present study is also very important to reduce the impact bias, for example, when the situational clue is clear, the impact bias can be reduced significantly by defocusing exercise. Related Articles | Metrics

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Research on "faking good" and malingering reaction and development in Rorschach Inkblot Test Li-zhinan ZHILI Yi-Qiong LI 2015, (5): 1207-1212.  Abstract ( )   PDF (480KB) ( )   Traditionally, the participants were believed that could not conceal their psychological problems in the Rorschach test. In effect , the participants have a motive to consciously “faking good”. Some research has indicated that the Rorschach is unaffected by deliberate manipulation. But the participants would produce Rorschach protocols with a greater number of popular responses (P), a higher Lambda score (L), a greater number of Personalized answers (PER), a lower total number of responses (R). Recently researchers have found that the Wikipedia-hosted Rorschach article contains a wealth of information, with topics of varying depth and accuracy. For example, the page contains factual portrayals of all ten inkblots and a list of “Popular responses” next to each card. While the prevalence of online information related to the Rorschach as well as Internet users’ reactions to the media coverage surrounding the Rorschach-Wikipedia controversy. Several researchers have started to investigate how the Wikipedia article might impact Rorschach results. The authors concluded that the Wikipedia article may allow examinees to present themselves as having better reality testing than they actually do. And the examinees would exhibit signi?cant perceptual accuracy. However, the Rorschach test results depend on the pooled analysis and structural evaluation of a number of indicators, the above variation usually does not have substantial impact. Many clinicians are quick to point out that projective measures are immune to attempts at deception. This widely held belief likely arose from early studies of malingering and the Rorschach. But it becomes difficult to conclude whether individuals who are attempting to deception without the use of a comparable control group. More recent studies of malingering and Rorschach present mixed results. Some studies have suggested that the Rorschach protocols of individuals identified as malingering do not differ from the Rorschach protocols of individuals responding honestly. In contrast, other studies have raised concerns that some individuals motivated to feign a psychological disorder may indeed be able to produce Rorschach Symptom. Participants instructed to feign mental illness，typically produce fewer total responses, a low number of popular responses and a greater number of Dramatic contents scores. This would suggest that the Rorschach is not as immune to manipulation. Therefore, results suggesting that the Rorschach is susceptible to malingering. However, it is important to bear in mind that the Rorschach as a diagnostic tool has demonstrated mixed results in the literature. A number of studies have compared the utility of the MMPI with the Rorschach test to detect examinees who feign psychological disorders. These results imply that the Rorschach test is significantly distinguishing the coached examinees with MMPI. If the use of the Rorschach test is carried out jointly with MMPI test, concealing reaction can accurately assess the participant’s .In addition; the participants’ reaction should be treated with caution, as much of the sensitive contents of Rorschach test are exposed on the Internet. Finally, the establishment of specialized Rorschach test validity scales can thoroughly solve the participants’ "faking good" and malingering behavior. Related Articles | Metrics

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MPT Model in Event-Based Prospective Memory Hong-Xia ZHANG Xiping Liu 2015, (5): 1218-1222.  Abstract ( )   PDF (890KB) ( )   Remembering to perform an action in the future is called prospective memory (PM). It contains time-based prospective memory(TBPM)and event-based prospective memory (TBPM ). TBPM refers to remembering to perform an action at a specific time or after a certain amount of time has elapsed. And EBPMA refers that one must be performed when a certain event occurs. Both of these memory constitute a crucial form of memory use in our daily lives. This paper mainly introduces EBPM. PM contains two components, the prospective component and the retrospective component. Remembering that you have to do something is the prospective component, whereas remembering what you have to do and when you have to do it is considered the retrospective component. Unfortunately, if a variable affects prospective memory,we cannot determine how the variable affects each of the two different components using traditional accuracy measures. We cannot disentangle the two components clearly and then cannot explore the latent cognitive processes of prospective memory deeply in previous studies. This article presents a detailed discussion and application of a methodology by comparing with the paradigm of Cohen and others in EBPM, called Multinomial process tree (MPT) models. In these models, it is assumed that there are discrete cognitive states that participants attain with certain probabilities during task performance. These probabilities are represented as model parameters that can be estimated from observed raw data via maximum likelihood parameter estimation. The fit of the resulting model to the empirical data can be evaluated via goodness-of-fit tests.MPT model is relatively uncomplicated, do not require advanced mathematical techniques, and have certain advantages over other, more traditional methods for studying cognitive processes. Smith and Bayen first introduced the MPT model for the measurement of EBPM . The model is based on the preparatory attentional processes and memory processes (PAM) theory , which proposes that the prospective component involves processes that draw on our limited resources, and, thus, that these processes are not automatic. And now this theory is supported by many studies.. The authors explained why we appoint the modle in EBPM at first, and then introduced the modle in detail including the theoretical basis, the main content, the calculation method of the data, the validity and the application of the model. At the same time,the limitation in using the model of the problem are also discussed (the permise condition of using the MPT modle is that we should take the nofocal task to ensure that the participants in the experiment distribution of attention resource. Nonfocal tasks are those in which the PM cue is not part of the information being extracted in the service of the ongoing task. By contrast, focal tasks are those in which the ongoing task involves processing the defining features of the PM cue. In nonfocal tasks, prospective remembering is thought to require executive attentional resources to engage in extra monitoring for the cue to perform the intended action.), and the end of the article, we have a summary to full text and puts forward some opinions on future research, for example, how do we distribute the limited resources between ongoing task and PM task. Our goal in the work presented here was to develop and evaluate a formal mathematical model for the investigation of EBPM. Related Articles | Metrics

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The System of Dynamic Model of Intra-group Emotion Intensity Wang Lei Yuan JIANG 2015, (5): 1223-1229.  Abstract ( )   PDF (598KB) ( )   Mass-Emergency (ME), especially negative ME as a kind of sociological phenomenon, attracted attentions of many researchers in sociology, crisis management and psychology. The evolution of ME corresponded with inter-group emotions intensity closely. But previous researches paid little attentions to measure intra-group emotions intensity, let alone the evolution mechanism of it, as a result, people know little about how intra-group emotions intensity varied with time, and then there is no way to monitor the variation trend of it,which is a bad news to the ME-prevention. Most former researches focused on the micro perspective of emotion intensity, or to say, on individual emotion intensity when inter-group emotion transmitted, not on the intra-group emotion intensity of the whole group. Thus their results had a lot of limitations, and always fit the reality bad. In order to improve ecological validity of model which described the transformation law of intra-group emotions intensity, this study adopted 3 kinds of methods, including mathematical modeling, computer simulation and psychological empirical research. In one aspect, mathematical modeling, computer simulation contribute to reveal the law of intra-group emotion intensity changed with time (system of dynamic law). Firstly, The present study defined an inter-group-psychological variable which described emotion intensity of whole groups when inter-group emotion transmitted. And at the same time, a model was built to describe and explored dynamic mechanism of intra-group emotion intensity which consisted of spreaders and stiflers. Besides, sense of group identity was considered into the model, and the model concluded several parameters:Ta(t)indicated the rate of emotion intensity which was above a(a=1,2,3,4,5)1 mean the lowest, 5 mean the highest.Ea indicated the lowest sense of identity level of emotion intensity ”a”.ω indicated unknown parameter.ω1and ω2 indicated rate of spreader and stifler at any point in time. Secondly, this study tested basic hypothesis and ecological validity of the model. In four experiment condition: iner-group positive emotion, iner-group negative emotion, out-group positive emotion and out-group negative emotion. The experiment was conducted in a computer lab, participants were recruited from 20 classes, amount to 686 college students, 3 participants of each class were randomly selected, MP3 material which was used to trigger emotions and was presented to the 3 participants, after the presentation, they can choose to transmit the MP3 to other participants or not, and then report back their choices to experimenter. In the meanwhile, they should also report their emotion intensity after heard that MP3 material, on papers. At last, the intra-group emotion intensity of every time point was calculated, and the result was compared to computer simulation data. Results showed that (1) Model of this study fit the empirical data good, which mean that the model had good ecological validity. The system of dynamic mechanism of intra-group emotion intensity could be described by spreaders, stiflers and group identifications. (2) During the emotion transmission, both the portion of spreaders and inter-group emotion intensity is first rising and then descending as time goes by. But this study found that Compared to the climax time of spreader, intra-group emotion intensity is delayed. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Probabilistic-Inputs, Noisy “And” Gate Model 2015, (5): 1230-1238.  Abstract ( )   PDF (381KB) ( )   Cognitive diagnosis (CD), which is also referred as skill assessment or skill profiling, utilizes latent class models to provide fine-grained information about students’ strength and weakness in the learning process. One major advantage of CD is the capacity to provide additional information about the instructional needs of students. In the past decades, extensive research has been conducted in the area of CD and many statistical models based on a probabilistic approach have been proposed. Examples of cognitive diagnostic models (CDM) include the deterministic inputs, noisy and gate (DINA) model(Junker & Sijtsma, 2001), the deterministic input, noisy or gate (DINO) model (Templin & Henson, 2006), and C-RUM (Hartz, 2002). Currently, the outcome of CDM is a profile with binary element for each examine to indicate the mastery/non-mastery status of every attribute/skill, i.e. the attribute mastery status (AMS). But this coarse classification or diagnosis results unable to distinguish the individual differences between different students subtly, especially those students who are assigned into a same category. So the AMS may not conducive to be used by teachers to make decisions regarding the optimal intervention that should be put into place for the students. In order to obtain a nuanced profile of the student with respect to students’ characteristics, this study proposed the Probabilistic-Inputs, Noisy “And” gate (PINA) model based on the attribute mastery probability (AMP), which means that the AMP was used in CDM instead of the AMS. Firstly, model the AMP as arising from higher-order latent trait resembling the θ of item response models (de la Torre & Douglas, 2004). Then, the multicomponent latent traits model (Embretson, 1980, 1984) has been taken as a template from the PINA model. The results of a series of simulations based on Markov chain Monte Carlo methods showed that the model parameters and AMP-profiles can be recovered relatively accurately. An analysis of the fraction subtraction data is provided as an example. Key words□□cognitive diagnosis, attribute mastery probability, PINA model, higher-order latent traits, multicomponent latent traits Related Articles | Metrics

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The development of the indexes to identify the rationality of test Q matrices based on DINA model 2015, (5): 1239-1247.  Abstract ( )   PDF (1663KB) ( )   The purposes of cognitive diagnosis (CD) were to detect the internal psychological rules and processing mechanism of human. Through cognitive diagnosis assessment, it would report the features about individuals, such as his/her currently cognitive status, the cognitive procedure, and the processing skills and knowledge structures etc., which would help the teachers and students learn the advantages and weaknesses specifically, and choose a more effective way to teach or learn. As a word, CD would play an important role on individual’s development. More and more attentions should be paid on cognitive diagnosis assessment. With more and more applications of CD in practice, researchers and practitioners found out that the task to identify a test Q matrix was very hard. Even a test Q matrix was established, it was also difficult to evaluate its correctness. Virtually, there might be several possible test Q matrices provided by the experts at the same time. Practitioners always confused about which might be the right. Corresponding to this phenomenon, it needed to find a method to determine which one was the most appropriate one. This study attempted to propose some indexes which might be used for the selection of test Q matrix. In order to verify the effectiveness of the indexes, a comparison study was done. It expected to know the advantages and disadvantages of each indexes, and get an idea that which indexes might be used to choose Q matrices. All these kind of information could be very useful for the applicants. In this study, some test Q matrices with different degree of correctness were provided, and the DINA model was applied. Both Monte Carlo simulation method and real data analysis were used, all the results indicated that: Firstly, according to these eight indexes, the average correct identification rate (ACIR) of the BIC and BIC2 was greater than 95 percent. The ACIRs of the other indexes were less than 90 percent, some indexes were even less than 50 percent. Secondly, the ACIRs varied according to different categories of incorrect Q matrices. Considered with the E error type, the ACIRs of these indexes were relatively low, most of them were less than 50 percent, except from the BIC2 index. Thirdly, weighted by both the size of samples and the number of parameters, the performances of BIC and BIC2 were better than those of the rest. From the above consequences, it showed that the BIC and BIC2 might be the best indexes for the selection of test Q matrix when multiple test Q matrices were supposed. Related Articles | Metrics

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Dynamic Assessment based on Cognitive Diagnose—Taking children’s reasoning ability for example CHEN dezhi 2015, (5): 1248-1255.  Abstract ( )   PDF (353KB) ( )   Dynamic Assessment and Cognitively Diagnostic are two common measurement modes. The former is concerned with the individual potential development, but fails to explain the psychological substance of the potential ability. The latter is able to measure the cognitive process of the current level, but not the potential. However, Practice requires that we not only pay attention to the potential ability, but also the further psychological interpretation of the potential. The study from the basic psychometric model: MRMLC and MLTM for MS, attempts to build the dynamic assessment program based on cognitive diagnose and puts forward the corresponding statistical analysis method. To confirm the feasibility of the assessment program and statistical methods, a case study of children’s reasoning ability is developed. 182 children, who were selected from Grade four to Grade six in one pirmary school participated in the program of Dynamic Assessment based on Cognitive Diagnose. At last, the statistic method proposed by the study was used to analyze and compare the result of the assessment. The results show that (1) the program of dynamic assessment based on cognitive diagnose can be realized and the statistic method is also feasible; (2) the program proposed by this study can not only measure the potential ability, but also the change of the cognitive component and strategies; (3) the comparison of the different grades display that, higher primary school pupils are better and more adept at using more complex, more effective cognitive component and strategies. Related Articles | Metrics

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Measuring of Pain Based on Neurophysiological 2015, (5): 1256-1263.  Abstract ( )   PDF (1231KB) ( )   As a complex and subjective experience, pain is influenced by physiological, psychological, social, and several other factors. As defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain was a kind of unpleasant subjective feelings and emotional experience, which was associated with tissue damage or potential tissue damage. Clinically, the measurement of pain dominantly relies on the patients’ subjective evaluation, which mainly uses a psychophysical method, that is, all kinds of scales. For example, verbal and numerical rating scales, McGill pain questionnaire (MPQ), ratio scale, analogue scale, and some behavioral measurements. Although this traditional method to measure pain and its components is to some extent considered as to be a golden rule, it is not objective, accurate, and universally applicable due to the complexity of pain. Thus, to optimize the assessment and treatment of pain, developing some objective and effective methods to measure pain is an important and urgent scientific problem. Recently, using novel sampling techniques, like eye-movement tracking, electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers have revealed both neurophysiological and neuropsychological mechanism of pain processing, and extracted pain-related neurophysiological signatures, and thus establishing an effective, objective, and accurate evaluation system of pain. In physiology, the skin conductance (SC), skin temperature (ST), heart rate (HR), and pupil diameter (PD) are usually used to investigate the response characteristics from autonomic nervous system, and EMG is used to measure the neuromuscular activity.All these measurements are associated with pain. In EEG studies, laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) have been widely used to investigate the peripheral and central processing of nociceptive sensory input. LEPs can be elicited by intense laser heat pulses that selectively excite nociceptive free nerve endings in the epidermis, which include many components both in time domain and in time-frequency domain. In the time domain, the evoked LEPs mainly include N1, N2, P2, and P4 waves. In the time-frequency domain, gamma (more than 30 Hz) oscillation activity originating from the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) can be elicited by nociceptive stimuli, and has been validated to be associated with pain intensity. In the aspect of fMRI studies, by combining fMRI technology with machine learning theory, an effective and precise assessment of pain may be achieved. Meanwhile, some studies find that using fMRI technology combined with the support vector machine (SVM) and other machine learning algorithm may more precisely assess pain. For example, some pain-related brain areas including the S1, secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), insula, primary motor cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) have been identified. More importantly, the pain and non-pain stimuli can be identified. Taken together, although the accuracy of neurophysiological measuring of pain is not high enough as well as the neurophysiological indexes that are specific for processing of pain remain indeterminate, supplemented to the traditional pain measurement method in both basic research and clinical practice, this neurophysiological system can promote greatly the developments of the researches in the diagnosis and treatment of pain. Therefore, the present paper has important implications in the clinical and basic researches of pain. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Information Processing Flexibility of Obsessive-Compulsive Tendency Individuals 2015, (5): 1264-1271.  Abstract ( )   PDF (382KB) ( )   Abstract Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common clinical psychological disease. A large number of studies have shown that OCD patients have cognitive dysfunction especially in attention, decision making, and information processing and so on. Previous studies of information processing in OCD focus on processing ways, but pay not so much attention to the flexibility of information processing which is a component of executive function. Moreover, OCD patients have deficiency in executive function. So we proposed that information processing flexibility could indirectly reflect the insufficiency of OCD patients in executive function. And it is necessary to explore the characteristics of OCD in the information processing flexible. In order to eliminate the effects of other comorbid factors, we use Padua Inventory to screen high obsessive-compulsive tendency (HOC) and low obsessive-compulsive tendency (LOC) individuals as the research objects from the university students. The final sample includes 11 HOC and 10 LOC participants. By adjusting the individual probability (i.e., before each trial to give clues to prompt probability), the study set the scene of different probabilities used in the Flanker task (consistent stimulus (HHHHH \ SSSSS) and inconsistent stimulus (HHSHH \ SSHSS)), to examine whether the obsessive-compulsive tendencies will have differential information processing ways because of the changes in different probabilities scenarios and to verify the differences of the information processing flexibility between the two groups. The study designed three clues including "+", "-", "?" , representing three kinds of signal probability: 80% (80% of the following stimulation would be consistent), 50%(50% of the following stimulation would be consistent), 20%(20% of the following stimulation would be consistent) .The reaction time and parallel processing index by the Flanker task were used as the dependent variable. The results showed that: (1) Under conditions with different probabilities clues, we found that the LOC participants have apparent differences in reaction time while the HOC participants have not; (2) Compared with the LOC participants, the HOC have a lower parallel processing index. What’s more, the parallel processing indexes of the LOC participants have significant differences under the three probability clues, but the HOC participants have not; (3) On probability forecast effectiveness of reaction time, the differences of the LOC participants on the valid and invalid expected probability were significant, while in the HOC participants were not. And ,the LOC participants showed less reaction time under the condition of valid expected probability than the invalid, suggesting that the LOC participants responds faster with valid expected probability than the invalid. Our findings suggested that: (1) the HOC participants may incline to use centralized information processing way which seems to be relatively slow and single; (2) the LOC participants may have a more flexible information processing way than the HOC. That is, the HOC group may deficit in the flexibility of information processing, showing less respond to the changes of situations than the LOC group; (3) the HOC participants could be less easily and affected by clue hint, and maybe lack in strategic control ability of information processing ways. Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Psychological Thoughts of Kant and Its Contemporary Influence 2015, (5): 1272-1277.  Abstract ( )   PDF (850KB) ( )   Kant's works contain abundant psychological thoughts, but these thoughts are not enough to constitute a subject which possesses its own significance. Only when analyzing them in the system of transcendental philosophy will it be possible to manifest their significance. Kant inherits the separation of rational psychology and empirical psychology from Wolff, but his unique critical studies have the power of solving the problem of dualism, enabling the acquisition of knowledge, and defending the morality and dignity of human beings. Through the refutation of paralogisms which traps our reason, Kant encloses rational psychology in the dust of history, so that people no longer hope to seek knowledge merely from the concept of "cogito". Then Kant eliminates the opposition between "cogito" and the empirical world in the level of substance, releasing psychology from the shackles of theology and metaphysics, and enabling it to develop in the direction of natural science. By explaining that empirical psychology is unable to become a subject which has its own meaning, Kant makes a feasible demonstration for morality and perpetual peace in the field of empirical psychology. Thus, with his introspection and speculation, Kant vests the empirical subject a clear significance direction and a serious social concern. In the past, many psychological historians used to criticize the speculative method which Kant adopted in his studies as well as his negative conclusion drawn from the speculations that psychology could never be a kind of experimental science like physics. However, if we notice that the controversy followed Kant gestated abundant psychology schools, we might then query the criticism mentioned above prudently, and treasure his psychological thoughts in a sympathetic way. The influence of Kant's psychological thoughts is broad and profound. His concepts, such as category and scheme, still remain important and active in the research of contemporary cognitive psychology. Neo-Kantianism has developed a series of influential psychological theories during the process of inheriting and transforming the thoughts of Kant. Piaget puts forward the theory of genetic epistemology, which is based on his unique understanding of Kant's theoretical framework. Since Piaget transformed Kant’s transcendental philosophy with the view of genetics, an increasing number of researchers have been attempting to undertake systematical researches on schema with a stand point of the modern cognitive psychology. Nevertheless, if we are aware that the studies on schema take aim at explaining the general mental process of recognizing specific objects, it would be possible for us to discover that the scheme theory of modern cognitive psychology is completely based on the inheritance of Kant's empirical scheme theory. References | Related Articles | Metrics