Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-11-03
Abstract： As high-level cognitive processes, executive functions (EF) refer to a set of top-down neurocognitive processes served for conscious, goal-directed control of thought, action and emotion, which is crucial for children’s academic success and mental and physical health. It includes inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility. Although abundant related theories and studies existed, some limitations still remained. Firstly, EF are measured with a single task in previous studies, which are rarely incapable of decomposing different components of EF. They are lack to systematically investigate the unity and diversity of EF from an integrative view; Then, rare studies use longitudinal design to examine the stability of the unity and diversity of children’s executive functions during middle childhood. The present attempted to address these issues mentioned above.
From the perspective of a unity/diversity framework of EF, combined with latent-variable analysis and network analysis, the present study followed 756 students from grade 3 to 4 (Mage = 9.25 years, 51.85% girls) to systematically and comprehensively explore the unity and diversity of EF during middle childhood. They were recruited to measure six tasks related with three main components of EF.
The results showed that: The structure of children’s EF in middle childhood included inhibitory control and combined factor of working memory and cognitive reflection; These six tasks were organized into one stable components through at least age 10; The unity and diversity of EF met full metric invariance.
These findings highlight the importance of understanding the unity and diversity of EF among middle childhood from a developmental perspective, and provide new sight on the measuring means of EF.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Experimental Psychology submitted time 2023-06-25
Abstract： The facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) is a stable perceptual structure of all faces. It is calculated by dividing the face width (the distance between the left and right zygion) by the face height (the distance between the eyebrow and the upper lip). Previous studies have demonstrated that men's facial width-to-height ratio is a reliable clue to noticing aggressive tendencies and behavior. Individuals with higher fWHR were considered by observers as more aggressive than those with lower fWHR. The researchers proposed that this may be related to facial expression. Observers more readily saw anger in faces with a relatively high fWHR and more readily saw fear in faces with a relatively low fWHR. However, it is unclear what the neural mechanism of fWHR is, particularly in the absence of attention. The present study investigated this issue by recording visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), which indicates automatic processing of visual information under unattended conditions.
Participants performed a size-change-detection task on a central cross, while random sequences of faces were presented in the background using a deviant-standard-reverse oddball paradigm. High fWHR faces (deviant stimuli) were presented less frequently among low fWHR faces (standard stimuli), or vice versa. Forty-one and twenty-five Chinese participated in Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. We hypothesized that faces with high fWHR would elicit a larger vMMN compared to faces with low fWHR. If the above result is related to the fact that high fWHR faces appear angrier and low fWHR faces appear more fearful, then high fWHR faces displaying an angry expression would evoke vMMN and low fWHR faces displaying a fearful expression would evoke vMMN.
In Experiment 1, faces with neutral expressions were used. The occipital-temporal vMMN emerged in the latency range of 200~500 ms for faces with high fWHR and in the latency range of 200~250 ms and 300~350 ms for faces with low fWHR. More importantly, faces with high fWHR elicited a higher vMMN than those with low fWHR faces in the 300~350 ms latency range. In Experiment 2, faces with expressions of fear and anger were used. Results showed that high-fWHR faces displaying an angry expression elicited a vMMN in the 200~250ms and 300~400ms latency ranges, while low-fWHR faces displaying a fearful expression elicited a vMMN in the 250~400ms latency range, especially in the left hemisphere. Comparing Experiment 1 and 2, we found that faces with high fWHR displaying an angry expression elicited smaller vMMN than those displaying a neutral expression.
In conclusion, the present findings suggest that the facial width-to-height ratio is associated with automatic processing and provide new electrophysiological evidence for the different mechanisms underlying high and low fWHR faces under unattended conditions. The results might be related to facial expressions. Consistent with previous studies, the current finding demonstrates that automatic processing of high and low fWHR is promoted by expressions of anger and fear, respectively. At the same time, due to the automatic processing of facial expressions, the automatic processing of faces with high fWHR was weakened by angry faces relative to neutral faces.
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2023-05-24
Abstract： The left visual word form area (VWFA) of the brain in adults is more sensitive to orthographic information, whereas the right fusiform face area (FFA) is preferentially involved in the processing of facial information. However, the developmental mechanism of the complementary pattern of hemispheric lateralization still needs to be clarified. The neuronal recycling hypothesis postulates that learning to read words and face representation compete for neural processing resources in the left fusiform gyrus (FG), which leads to left hemispheric lateralization of the VWFA in word recognition, and drives the right hemispheric lateralization of FFA in face recognition. The distributed account of hemispheric organization of word and face recognition proposes three key neural computational principles to systematically elucidate a multilevel and bidirectional dynamic processing mechanism of the competitive development of word and face lateralization. Based on recent discoveries of cytoarchitectonic areas and functional organizational features of the FG, a multidimensional computational model of word and face recognition is constructed. Therefore, the cognitive neural processing mechanism of the competitive development of the complementary pattern of hemispheric lateralization in word and face recognition is systematically examined using the neuronal recycling hypothesis and distributed account of the hemispheric organization, combined with the structural and functional characteristics of FG and recent evidence. Further studies are necessary to explore the cortical spatial sites and the functional neurohistological basis of competitive processing between words and faces, the competitive mechanism of Chinese character processing on face processing, the developmental mechanism of the right hemispheric specialization for face recognition, and the mechanisms of brain plasticity changed by learning to read numbers and musical notations.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-04-26
Abstract： Humans are extremely social beings, and we attempt to repair our ruptured relationships when transgressions occur that damage interpersonal cooperation. The expression of guilt andremorse by the transgressor and the forgiveness by the victim are both vital to the repair process. To some extent, transgressors’ remorse is the most prominent elicitor of victims’ forgiveness. Previous studies have demonstrated that forgiveness emerges as early as 5 years old and that young children are capable of forgiving a remorseful transgressor even in the absence of anexplicit apology. Given the emphasis on relationship harmony among Chinese people in a collectivistic culture, parenting and socialization might help children understand peers’ remorse intentions and forgive them at a much earlier age. Furthermore, the high need for personal reputation and social image in peer interactions, which is called “face” (mianzi) by the Chinese, might lead to individuals’ forgiveness decisions being influenced by bystanders who witness or participate in group interactions. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether 4- or 5-year- olds could have the capacity to infer an apology from displays of transgressors’ remorse in order to reveal the influence of remorse on forgiveness and further explore the activation effect of different types of bystanders among the association between remorse and forgiveness. Study 1 was a one-factor (expression of remorse: remorse vs. no remorse) within-subject design. Forty-nine children aged 4 to 5 years (27 girls) were investigated by a classic paradigmof remorse and forgiveness. The “tear picture” game was used to create conditions of expressingremorse and not expressing remorse. Then, children were asked ten questions designed to assess whether they understood the true intention of remorse. Finally, the resource distribution task was used to assess forgiveness behavior. In Study 2, a total of 139 4- to 5-year-old children (80 girls) were recruited to participate in a 2 (expressions of remorse: remorse vs. no remorse) × 4 (types of bystander: no bystander vs. teacher vs. good friend vs. stranger) mixed experimental design. The procedure used in Study 2 was identical to that used in Study 1. The results showed that: In Study 1, both 4-year-old children and 5-year-old children trulyunderstood the intention of the expression of remorse, and they were much more forgiving of a remorseful transgressor than of a transgressor who had not shown remorse. In Study 2, althoughchildren were still more forgiving of a remorseful transgressor than an unremorseful transgressor in the presence of bystanders, bystanders significantly increased the level of forgiveness showntoward unremorseful transgressor and reduced the level of forgiveness for remorseful transgressor. Specifically, for remorseful transgressor, child victims were more forgiving of a transgressor while in the presence of strangers than while in the presence of teachers or good friends; however, for unremorseful transgressor, child victims who were being observed by teachers or good friends showed more forgiveness behavior than did victims who were being observed by stranger bystanders. Furthermore, the results showed that young children were more likely to equallydistribute flowers to remorseful and unremorseful transgressor in the presence of bystanders, especially teachers or good friends. This study successfully revealed that young Chinese children could accurately understand the intention of transgressors’ remorse and thus be willing to perform forgiveness behavior at age 4, which is exactly 1 year earlier than their counterparts in the Western sample. More importantly, we also present a new theoretical hypothesis, namely, the “bystander-activation effect of social expectations”, to propose that the presence of bystanders activates individuals’ socially desirable behaviors, such as “requite injury with kindness” and “egalitarianism”, in the Chinese collectivist culture. Thus, it is easier to understand why bystander onlooking could increase the level of forgiveness for unremorseful transgressor and cause young victims to distribute flowers toremorseful and unremorseful transgressor equally. Furthermore, the greater the authoritative or intimate level of bystanders is, such as teachers or good friends, the stronger the activated social expectations are and the more socially desirable the engaged-in behaviors are. This study provides important enlightenment for understanding the association between remorse and forgiveness andfor rethinking the cross-cultural differences in children’s socialization.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： With a mere glimpse of a scene, observers can grasp a variety of perceptual and semantic information. This is referred to as scene gist. In recent years, scene gist processing has become an important topic in visual perception domain. Research on this theme can reveal the processing mechanisms for visual information and provide important implications for developing intelligent machine vision. The influencing factors, the controversial issues, and the neural basis of scene gist processing are reviewed. Some important issues, including the primary element of scene gist processing, the relevant theoretical explanations, the modulating factors of the hierarchical processing, the modulatory effect of attention, the timing dynamic characteristics and the construction of the brain function network, should be further explored.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： The traditional distinction between exogenous and endogenous attentional control has recently been enriched with an additional mode of control, termed as reward history. Recent findings have indicated that previously rewarded stimuli capture more attention than their physical attributes would predict. However, an important question is whether reward-based learning (or value-driven) attentional control is fully automatic or driven by strategic, top-down control? Most researchers have suggested value-driven attentional control is fully automatic, not driven by strategic, top-down control. Although previous studies have examined the phenomenon of value-driven attention capture, few studies have distinguished early attentional orienting and later attentional disengagement in the value-driven attentional control process. Therefore, the present study employed a modified spatial cueing paradigm to disentangle attentional orienting and disengagement and manipulated the goal- relevance of reward distractors to investigate the characteristics of value-driven attentional control. In Experiment 1, rewarded distractors were goal-relevant, and we would expect the prioritized orienting to and the delayed disengagement from rewarded distractors (compared with no-reward distractors) to be evident when both were goal-relevant (i.e., part of the target-set); In Experiment 2, rewarded distractors were not goal-relevant, and we would expect prioritized orienting to and delayed disengagement from rewarded distractors (compared with no-reward distractors) not to be evident when both were not goal-relevant. Forty-eight participants (Experiment 1: 24; Experiment 2: 24) with normal or corrected-to-normal vision were tested. During the training phase, the four positions in the search display were all circles of different colors (such as red, green, blue, cyan, orange, and yellow). Targets were defined as a red or a green circle, exactly one of which was presented on every trial. Inside the target, a white line segment was oriented either vertically or horizontally, and inside each of the nontargets, a white line segment was tilted at 45� to the left or to the right. The feedback display informed participants of the reward earned (+10, +0) on the previous trial, as well as total reward accumulated thus far according to their responses. During the test phase, each trial started with the presentation of the fixation display (900 ms), which was followed immediately by the cue display (100 ms). After the cue display, the fixation display was presented again (100 ms), followed by the target display (100 ms). The target display was followed by a gray screen (until response). The feedback display at test informed participants only whether their response on the previous trial was correct. That is, no reward was provided during the test phase. Results showed that: (1) Across Experiments 1 and 2, we observed the significant main effects of reward. (2) In the test phase in Experiment 1, rewarded distractors were goal-relevant and we observed prioritized orienting to and delayed disengagement from rewarded distractors (compared with no-reward distractors) be evident; in Experiment 2, rewarded distractors were not goal-relevant, and we observed prioritized orienting to and delayed disengagement from rewarded distractors (compared with no-reward distractors) not be evident. The present findings demonstrate that: (1) In the training phase, participants have learned the effect of reward. (2) In the test phase, orienting to and disengagement from rewarded stimuli are modulated by current top-down goals. These findings provide a new perspective on the domain of attention to rewarded stimuli by indicating that even the early orienting of attention to rewarded stimuli is contingent on current top-down goals, suggesting early orienting to rewarded stimuli to be more complex and cognitively involved than previously hypothesized.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： The human brain automatically segments continuous experiences into discrete events to better remember ongoing experiences in daily life. This automatic process is known as event segmentation. The time points between different events are called event boundaries—they indicate when one event ends, and another begins. Studies have shown that the event boundaries may enhance the item-context source memory of information at the boundaries but impair temporal order memory in across-event information. Notably, previous studies mainly focused on the boundaries caused by changes in the external environment and rarely paid attention to the subjective boundaries caused by changes in an individual’s internal psychological context. Moreover, Rouhani et al. (2020) first confirmed that reward prediction errors (RPE) could be used as event boundaries to influence memory. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that the RPE event boundary reduces the temporal order memory in across-event information. However, the effects of the RPE event boundary on temporal order and source memory and whether the mnemonic trade-off effect exists are not clear. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the effects of event boundaries on memory require further examination. This study used behavioral and event-related potentials (ERP) technology in three experiments to explore the effect of RPE event boundaries on temporal order and source memory, respectively, based on behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms. Experiment 1 used a neutral scene picture matching value as materials. The value of successive pictures fluctuates around an average value to form an event, and event boundaries denote when there is a significant shift in the value, which is the reward prediction error. The participants were required to complete two memory tests: a temporal order memory test and a source memory test. The source memory test was presented with a neutral scene picture, and participants were asked to choose a value that matched the learning stage from the two alternatives. We aimed to explore the effect of the RPE event boundary on temporal order and source memory. However, no mnemonic trade-off effect was observed. Therefore, whether other factors might influence the mnemonic trade-off effect that exists is not clear. In Experiment 2, RPE was divided into high and low strength. We aimed to explore the effects of different RPE strengths on temporal order and source memory. After we obtained stable results, in Experiment 3, we used ERP technology to explore the N400 and P600 effects under different conditions at the memory retrieval stage in the high RPE condition to examine the detailed mechanism of the effect of event boundary on memory. The behavioral results showed that the RPE event boundary enhanced only the neutral scene picture-value source memory of information at the boundaries in Experiment 1. High and low RPE event boundaries affect temporal order and source memory differently. The high RPE event boundary enhanced the neutral scene picture-value source memory of information at the boundaries. Further it reduced the temporal order memory of information across-events, which caused the mnemonic trade-off effect between temporal order and source memory in Experiment 2. The ERP results showed that compared to the within-event/non-boundary condition, correctly retrieving information of temporal order and source memory in the across-event/boundary condition induced a larger N400 (350−550ms) effect but did not induce a larger P600 (600−1000ms) effect in Experiment 3. These two memory tests were activated in different brain regions. The temporal order memory in the across-events condition was mainly activated in the anterior region, while the source memory boundary condition was mainly activated in the parietal region. This study can be summarized as follows. The segmentation strength of the event boundary is an important factor affecting the mnemonic trade-off effect between temporal order and source memory. The mnemonic trade-off effect only occurs when the representation difference between events is sufficiently vast, and the segmentation strength of the boundary is sufficiently high. Furthermore, the N400 component is an important index that reflects the integration and segmentation of episodic memory using event boundaries.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Dopaminergic genes have been frequently found to be associated with aggressive behavior, but the results are inconsistent. One reason for the inconsistencies is there might be the U-shaped relationship between dopaminergic genetic variants and aggressive behavior. More specifically, evidence has suggested an inverted U-shaped relationship between dopamine activity and prefrontal cortex (PFC) function (a critical region related to aggression), with both dopaminergic hypofunction and hyperfunction, were related to poor PFC function. It is possible that the relationship between dopaminergic genes and aggression approximates a U-shaped function. However, such U-shaped relationship is rarely investigated in previous studies. Moreover, several concerns have been raised about the ignoring the polygenic traits of aggressive behavior when conducting gene by environment interaction (G×E) research using single loci. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the interaction between dopaminergic genetic variants and maternal negative parenting on adolescent aggressive behavior by adopting the approach of multilocus genetic profile score (MGPS).Participants were 1044 adolescents (mean age 13.32 ± 0.49 years old at Time 1, 50.2% females) recruited from the community. The adolescents completed two assessments with an interval of one year. Saliva samples, mother-reported parenting data and data on peer-nominated aggressive behavior were collected. All measures showed good reliability. The MGPS was created by COMT rs4680 polymorphisms, DRD2 rs1799978 polymorphisms and DAT1 rs27072 polymorphisms. Genotyping in three dopaminergic genes were performed for each participant in real time with MassARRAY RT software version 3.0.0.4 and analyzed using the MassARRAY Typer software version 3.4 (Sequenom). To examine whether negative parenting moderates the effects of MGPS on adolescent aggressive behavior, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. The results found that after controlling for gender, maternal negative parenting was a significant risk factor for adolescent aggressive behavior, with higher negative parenting related to more aggressive behavior. The main effect of the quadratic term of MGPS on adolescents’ aggressive behavior was significant at Time 2, indicating a U-shaped relationship between MGPS and adolescent aggressive behavior. Moreover, the quadratic term of MGPS significantly interacted with maternal negative parenting in predicting aggressive behavior at Time 1 and Time 2, respectively. Specifically, there was a U-shaped relationship between MGPS and adolescent aggressive behavior, indicating that adolescents with higher and lower MGPS exhibited higher levels of aggressive behavior when experiencing higher levels of maternal negative parenting. No significant effect of MGPS on adolescent aggressive behavior when experiencing lower levels of maternal negative parenting existed. This study provides evidence for the molecular mechanisms of multilocus genetic profile scores and gene-environment interactions in adolescent aggressive behavior.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2022-11-08
Abstract：
Dopaminergic genes have been frequently found to be associated with aggressive behavior, but the results are inconsistent. One reason for the inconsistencies is there might be the U-shaped relationship between dopaminergic genetic variants and aggressive behavior. More specifically, evidence has suggested an inverted U-shaped relationship between dopamine activity and prefrontal cortex (PFC) function (a critical region related to aggression), with both dopaminergic hypofunction and hyperfunction, were related to poor PFC function. It is possible that the relationship between dopaminergic gene and aggression approximates a U-shaped function. However, such U-shaped relationship is rarely investigated in previous studies. Moreover, several concerns have been raised about the ignoring the polygenic traits of aggressive behavior when conducting gene by environment interaction (G×E) research using single loci. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the interaction between dopaminergic genetic variants and maternal negative parenting on adolescent aggressive behavior by adopting the approach of multilocus genetic profile score (MGPS).
Participants were 1044 adolescents (mean age 13.32 ± 0.49 years old at Time 1, 50.2% females) recruited from the community. The adolescents completed two assessments with an interval of one year. Saliva samples, mother-reported parenting data and data on peer-nominated aggressive behavior were collected. All measures showed good reliability. The MGPS was created by COMT rs4680 polymorphisms, DRD2 rs1799978 polymorphisms and DAT1 rs27072 polymorphisms. Genotyping in three dopaminergic genes were performed for each participant in real time with MassARRAY RT software version 3.0.0.4 and analyzed using the MassARRAY Typer software version 3.4 (Sequenom). To examine whether negative parenting moderates the effects of MGPS on adolescent aggressive behavior, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted.
The results found that after controlling for gender, maternal negative parenting was a significant risk factor for adolescent aggressive behavior, with higher negative parenting related to more aggressive behavior. The main effect of the quadratic term of MGPS on adolescents’ aggressive behavior was significant at Time 2, indicating a U-shaped relationship between MGPS and adolescent aggressive behavior. Moreover, the quadratic term of MGPS significantly interacted with maternal negative parenting in predicting aggressive behavior at Time 1 and Time 2, respectively. Specifically, there was a U-shaped relationship between MGPS and adolescent aggressive behavior, indicating that adolescents with higher and lower MGPS exhibited higher levels of aggressive behavior when experiencing higher levels of maternal negative parenting. No significant effect of MGPS on adolescent aggressive behavior when experiencing lower levels of maternal negative parenting existed.
This study provides evidence for the molecular mechanisms of multilocus genetic profile scores and gene-environment interactions in adolescent aggressive behavior.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2022-07-20
Abstract：
The relationship between socioeconomic status and depression is very inconsistent among existing studies. To clarify the overall strength of the association between the two and identify its influencing factors, a meta-analysis of 58 included studies (65 effect sizes) was conducted. The results showed that there was a small and negative correlation between socioeconomic status and depression (r = –0.15, 95%CI –0.18, –0.12 ). In addition, the relationship between socioeconomic status and depression was moderated by measurement tools, types and forms of socioeconomic status, measurement tools of depression, as well as sampling year, but not by gender, age, design types, and individualism index. The results suggest that the disadvantage of socioeconomic status may be an important risk factor for depression. In an era when the gap between the rich and the poor is widening, caring about the survival and development plight of the people at the bottom of the society and establishing a long-term and effective support mechanism can reduce the incidence of depression from a social perspective.
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2022-06-07
Abstract：
Implicit learning is integral to human cognition. It occurs during the learning phase (online periods) and the offline interval after the learning phase (offline periods). The process during the offline periods is referred to as consolidation, which means stabilization or enhancement of a memory trace even without additional practice after the initial acquisition. Some studies have preliminarily explored the effect of sleep on the consolidation of perceptual and motor sequences in implicit learning. However, these studies have failed to achieve a complete separation of motor sequences and perceptual sequences, thus leaving open the question of whether the sequence type moderates the effects of sleep on the consolidation of implicit sequence learning. In addition, previous studies of explicit learning have found that sequences with long length and high complexity were more likely to benefit from sleep than simple sequences, showing a sleep-based offline consolidation effect. Therefore, the question of whether the effect of sleep on offline consolidation of implicit learning of perceptual and motor sequences is moderated by sequence complexity remains unresolved.
The present study addressed these issues through three experiments applying different sequence length levels and complexities using a modified version of the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task, which allows independent manipulation of perceptual and motor sequences. Participants were instructed to press the corresponding key as quickly and accurately as possible according to which color of the target square was the same as that of the surrounding square. In the perceptual sequence group, the target square color followed a sequence, but the finger response orders were randomly assigned. The opposite was true for the motor sequence group. Subsequently, a prediction test was used to estimate the amount of possible explicit knowledge.
Experiment 1 used a short six-element sequence with lower complexity and showed a more robust offline consolidation effect in the motor sequence group compared to the perceptual sequence group. However, sleep does not promote the offline consolidation of both sequences. In Experiment 2, a more complex sequence (sequence length 11) was used. The results showed that participants implicitly learned the motor sequence. In the motor sequence group, participants with sleep performed a better offline consolidation effect than those without sleep. However, participants neither implicitly acquired the sequence nor showed an offline consolidation effect in the perceptual sequence group. Participants performed a small perceptual sequence learning effect in Experiment 1 or 2. Based on this result, the sleep-related offline consolidation of the perceptual sequence was further examined using a more simple sequence of length 4 in Experiment 3. The results showed that participants exhibited improvements in the performance of perceptual sequences learning, but no offline consolidation effect was observed in either group.
The combined results of the three experiments showed that sleep does not promote the offline consolidation of perceptual sequences, regardless of the degree of difficulty. For motor sequences, the sequence learning effect significantly increased following sleep but not after waking when the sequence length was long and structural complexity was high. However, sleep-related offline improvements were absent when the sequence length was short. In conclusion, these results indicated that the offline consolidation of implicit sequence knowledge based on sleep is modulated by sequence type and sequence complexity.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2021-10-22
Abstract： Feedback processing plays an important role in behavior modification and knowledge acquisition. Previous research has explored the neurophysiological basis and psychological functions of feedback processing and proposed corresponding theoretical models, but little is known about how working memory (WM) load affects feedback processing. Studies have reported electrophysiological indicators, such as the reward positivity (RewP) and the related theta and delta oscillations, the P3 and the late positive potential (LPP), during brain processing feedback. This study will further examine how WM load modulates these electrophysiological components and their corresponding cognitive functions. In the present study, we used a dual-task paradigm to investigate feedback processing under different WM load conditions. This study included 25 healthy college students and used a 3 (WM load: baseline vs. low WM load vs. high WM load) by 2 (feedback valence: positive vs. negative) within-participant factorial design. During the experiment, participants were asked to perform a simple gambling task and a spatial memory task simultaneously, and the magnitude of the WM load included three conditions: baseline, low WM load and high WM load. The RewP generated in the early stage of feedback processing and the LPP generated in the late stage of feedback processing, as well as the delta and theta oscillations related to feedback evaluation, were analyzed. The behavioral results showed that the accuracy of the low WM load condition was significantly higher than that of the high WM load condition. The electrophysiological results showed that the amplitudes of the RewP were sensitive to feedback valence, with positive feedback evoking larger RewP than negative feedback, but the RewP was not affected by the WM load. There was no difference in the P3 amplitude under the different WM load conditions. For the LPP, there was a significant interaction between the WM load and feedback valence. Further analysis revealed that, in the high WM load condition, the LPP amplitude was larger for positive feedback than for negative feedback. The theta power differences between negative feedback and positive feedback were larger in the low WM load condition than in the high WM load condition. For delta oscillations, the power was increased after positive feedback compared to after negative feedback, but there was no difference at different WM load levels. The RewP results indicate that the participants process feedback valence information well under all three WM load conditions in the experiment. The LPP results suggest that the participants assigned additional emotional motivation to the feedback outcome as a result of their cognitive efforts under high WM load conditions. The ERP results for the time domain dimension showed that the effect of the WM load on feedback processing was most noticeable in the later stages of feedback processing. Moreover, these observations support the argument that the RewP and theta power reflect distinct cognitive phenomena; namely, the RewP reflects the processing of feedback valence in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), whereas theta oscillations reflect the role of the ACC in cognitive control. The WM load selectively modulates the cognitive control process in the ACC.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2021-06-19
Abstract： Visual working memory (VWM) is a limited-capacity cognitive system that is responsible for temporarily storing up to three or four items, maintaining their availability for current cognitive processing. Although VWM capacity is limited, the limit is not fixed. Factors such as the complexity, statistical regularity, real-world spatial regularity, and perceptual grouping principles of memory objects can modulate this capacity. However, the potential influence of higher-order conceptual regularities, such as categorical relationships among memory objects, remains an open and controversial issue. The effect of object category on VWM capacity, if any, has two possibilities: a mixed-category advantage and a same-category advantage. The first is consistent with the neural resource theory, by which the ability to simultaneously process multiple items is limited by the extent to which those items are represented by nonoverlapping neural representations. The same-category advantage is consistent with a prediction yielded by an ideal-observer analysis of VWM, based on the rate-distortion theory. Although the mixed-category advantage is predicted by the neural resource theory, almost all current supporting evidence solely involves faces. On the other hand, although the same-category advantage is consistent with the ideal-observer prediction, there is still lack of direct evidence to support the generalization of this prediction from low-level to high-level features. Hence, in the present study, we used behavioral and electrophysiological methods to explore this issue. Here, we report two behavioral experiments and one event-related-potentials (ERPs) experiment that assess whether category knowledge affects VWM capacity. The experiments were carried out on 60 undergraduate students. A 2 (memory load: two or four) × 2 (category: same or different) × 2 (posture: high similar or low similar) within-subject design was used in this experiment 1. The results showed that category knowledge modulates the capacity of the VWM and leads to a same-category advantage. In experiment2, we changed the presentation of MIs from simultaneous to successive and replicated the findings from Experiment 1, demonstrating that category knowledge leads to larger memory capacity in the same-category rather than in the different-category condition, even if the MIs are sequentially presented. In Experiment 3, in addition to Cowan’s K, the electrophysiological index CDA was measured to further explore the processing mechanism underlying the same-category advantage. Our electrophysiology results show for the first time that same-category objects can induce a smaller contralateral delay activity (an index of VWM capacity) than different-category objects. The CDA results combined with behavioral results indicated that category knowledge can help compact the representations of same-category objects and therefore enlarge the total information capacity of VWM. In conclusion, our data clearly demonstrate an advantageous same-category effect on the capacity of VWM, which indicates that categorical relationships among objects play an important role in expanding the capacity of VWM by enabling the grouping of same-category objects. This suggests that VWM capacity is not fixed but can be flexible depending on the type of information to be remembered. Moreover, our data also suggest that the ideal-observer prediction can be extended from low-level to high-level features.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2021-05-23
Abstract： Prosocial behaviour, that is, behaviour intended to benefit others, has been linked to a variety of desirable traits, including positive relationships, better academic performance and lower levels of antisocial behaviours. As such, the origins and the mechanisms underlying the remarkable individual differences in prosocial behaviour are the focus of an increasing number of studies, with numerous research consistently documenting the important role of positive parenting and empathy. Notably, differentiating between cognitive and emotional components of empathy may help further clarify the processes by which parenting eventuates in prosocial behaviour. Although all children may be impacted by parenting, some children benefit more than others from good-quality rearing. Recent research has suggested that the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene rs53576 polymorphism could determine the degree to which a child is influenced by environment. The biological function of rs53576 polymorphism has yet to be delineated, and the literature is mixed with regard to heterozygote (AG) grouping; thus, the implications for AG grouping are not well understood. Therefore, the dummy coding, additive coding, dominant coding and recessive coding models were all investigated in this study to test the nature of gene effect. This study aimed to extend previous studies on the association between parenting and prosocial behaviour by examining the mediating role of cognitive and emotional empathy and the moderating role of the OXTR gene. The participants were 1082 mother–offspring dyads (adolescents’ mean age: 12.32 ± 0.48 years, 50.3% females) recruited from the community. At Time 1, mothers reported their positive parenting via the Chinese version of the Child-Rearing Practices Report (CRPR) and peer-rated adolescents’ prosocial behaviours. At Time 2, adolescent-reported perspective-taking and empathic concern, peer-rated prosocial behaviours and saliva samples were collected. All measures showed good reliability. Genotyping at OXTR gene was performed with MassARRAY RT software version 3.0.0.4 and analysed using the MassARRAY Typer software version 3.4 (Sequenom). Results showed that adolescents who received higher levels of maternal positive parenting exhibited more prosocial behaviours. However, the direct effect of positive parenting on prosocial behaviour became nonsignificant after controlling for baseline prosocial behaviour. Cognitive empathy, but not emotional empathy, mediated the association between positive parenting and prosocial behaviour. Specifically, positive parenting was positively associated with cognitive empathy, which in turn was positively associated with adolescent prosocial behaviour. Further, this mediation was moderated by the OXTR gene rs53576 polymorphism. For adolescents with AA and GG genotypes, positive parenting was related to higher levels of cognitive empathy, which increased prosocial behaviour. However, this mediation effect was not observed among adolescents with AG genotype. In addition, the results revealed evidence for an overdominance model for OXTR rs53576. Moreover, the G × E term predicted cognitive empathy but not prosocial behaviour. This finding suggests that cognitive empathy may be an endophenotype closer along the causal chain to the genotype and that the strength of the G × E effects was greater for empathy than for distal behavioural outcomes. These findings add to our understanding of how empathy and genetic factors contribute to adolescents’ prosocial behaviour within the family context. In addition, these results suggest that cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy are likely to be involved—in somewhat different psychosocial mechanisms—in the development of prosocial behaviour. Notably, the overdominance effect of OXTR should be interpreted with caution until replicated. However, when a three-category polymorphic genotype is used, as is commonly applied when modelling a dominant or recessive effect, both false positive and false negative results can occur, and the nature of the interaction can be misrepresented.
Subjects: Psychology >> Applied Psychology submitted time 2021-03-25
Abstract： " " " " " " " " "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Experimental Psychology submitted time 2021-02-09
Abstract： 采用注意捕获范式，通过行为和事件相关脑电位（ERP）实验，探讨工作记忆表征精度加工需求对注意引导的影响，行为结果发现，在低精度加工需求条件下，只有一个工作记忆表征引导注意，且处于高激活状态的工作记忆表征产生的注意捕获大于低激活状态；而在高精度加工需求条件下，有两个工作记忆表征引导注意，且处于高、低激活状态的工作记忆表征产生的注意捕获没有差异。ERP结果显示，高精度加工需求条件下诱发的NSW和LPC大于低精度加工需求条件；在高精度加工需求条件下，干扰项与记忆项匹配比不匹配时，诱发更大的N2和更小的N2pc，而在低精度加工需求条件下，干扰项与记忆项匹配和不匹配时诱发的N2、N2pc没有差异。研究表明，工作记忆表征精度加工需求影响注意引导的机制可能是高精度加工需求下，工作记忆表征消耗的认知资源增加，搜索目标获得的资源减少，干扰项捕获的注意增加。
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2020-08-07
Abstract： Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health problems during adolescence. Research has indicated that distal stress and proximal stress as well as their interaction are important predictors of adolescent depressive symptoms. There are two different hypotheses — cumulative stress hypothesis and match-mismatch hypothesis — to understand the interaction between distal stress and proximal stress. It has been suggested that an individual’s genetic susceptibility may determine which of these two hypotheses is relevant, but very little empirical research has considered the impact of genetic predisposition on these issues. Furthermore, recent researchers have paid attention to the cumulative genetic score (CGS) of multiple loci rather than to single polymorphism. The present study was designed to extend prior research by exploring whether the interaction effects of distal maternal negative parenting and proximal peer victimization were consistent with the cumulative stress hypothesis or the match-mismatch hypothesis, for adolescents who carried higher or lower CGS of FKBP5 gene. In this study, 970 adolescents (48.8% male) were followed from Grade 6 to Grade 9. At T1 (Mage = 12.31 years, SD = 0.47), adolescent depressive symptoms were assessed using Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI). Mothers reported their negative parenting via the Chinese version of Child-Rearing Practices Report (CRPR). At T2 (Mage = 15.32 years, SD = 0.47), saliva samples of adolescents were collected and genotyped for three FKBP5 gene polymorphisms. Peer victimization and depressive symptoms were tested using Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale (MPVS) and CDI, respectively. A series of hierarchical regressions and internal replication analyses were conducted to test the three-way interaction among maternal negative parenting, peer victimization and CGS of FKBP5 on depressive symptoms, separately for male and female adolescents. The results showed that, after T1 depressive symptoms were controlled for, maternal negative parenting, peer victimization and CGS had a significant three-way interaction on male adolescent depressive symptoms at T2. Specifically, among male adolescents who had higher CGS, maternal negative parenting negatively predicted depressive symptoms in the context of higher peer victimization, which fitted better with the match-mismatch hypothesis. The interaction between negative parenting and peer victimization was not significant among males with lower CGS, but showed a cumulative stress trend.The three-way interaction was not observed among females. By examining the interaction effect of maternal negative parenting, peer victimization and CGS on depressive symptoms, the present study highlights the important role of individuals’ genetic susceptibility in understanding the distal and proximal stress interactions during adolescence. This underscores the complex environmental and multiple loci underpinnings of depressive symptoms and lends some support for both the cumulative stress and match-mismatch hypotheses on the etiology of depressive symptoms.
Subjects: Psychology >> Medical Psychology submitted time 2020-01-12
Abstract： " Feedback-related negativity (FRN) refers to the electroencephalogram component induced by feedback processing which reflects the individual's sensitivity to reward. Addiction can be broadly classified into substance addiction and behavior addiction. Both types of addicted individuals show pathological patterns in feedback processing. Comparing with the ordinary feedback (such as money), the FRN amplitude induced by feedback of addiction substance significantly increased in individuals with substance addiction. In the control study with non-addicted subjects, substance addicts also showed abnormal patterns relating to addiction when processing monetary feedback stimuli. Similar FRN irregularities were also observed in individuals with behavioral addiction. However, the classification of addiction disorders in most previous studies is not specific enough, and the characteristics of different subtypes of addiction disorders should be further taken into consideration in future studies. Moreover, addicted individuals are often accompanied by other mental disorders (such as depression, anxiety). Further studies should distinguish the influences of comorbid factors and reveal the unique reward processing mechanisms underlying addiction. "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2019-09-25
Abstract： Feedback plays a crucial role in real life. Learning from the information feedback, human being could mater general skills and knowledge for adapt to the environment. As an important factor of feedback processing, feedback interval means the duration between initiation of behavior and the appearance of feedback stimulus. However, the prior research about how the feedback interval modulated feedback processing did not reach consistent viewpoint. Introduced both the behavioral and ERP studies about how feedback interval affects feedback processing, and analyzed the reasons for the results discrepancies among these studies. Finally, we propose the necessity to standardize the definition of feedback interval and the combination of the behavioral and electrophysiological methods in further research. "
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2019-07-29
Abstract： "
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