Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Fear generalization is a phenomenon that conditioned fear responses extended to safe stimuli which shares perceptual similarity with threat stimuli. Moderate fear generalization is beneficial for human survival, but excessive fear generalization leads to maladaptation to environment. Rules that underlie fear generalization have been investigated by related researches based on perception, and been widely applied to studies in various domains. This paper reviews the study of the generalization of fear based on perception. Here, we begin with Pavlovian fear conditioning and the gradient of fear generalization, which lays the foundation for theoretical approaches used today. Then we review the research of fear generalization based on perception in multiple sensory channels (i.e., visual, auditory, context). Third, we summarize the neural circuits of fear generalization which involve hippocampus, amygdala, insula, and prefrontal cortex. Last but not least, we briefly clarify the difference between perception-based and concept-based fear generalization which receive increased interests. Further studies should extend this work in many ways, such as combining concepts-based fear generalization, using Just-Noticeable-Difference Threshold to ensure that the generalization stimuli can actually be discriminated, increasing the explicitness and divisity of stimuli, as well as applping hormonesand multi-modal data analysis methods.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： The ability of recognizing ambiguous expressions is proposed to be a generally used social skill, which plays a crucial role in human social interaction. Emotion context information as a main factor which affects ambiguous expression recognition, including text description, emotional expression, color background, olfactory signal and personality factors, were reviewed in this paper. We aim to reveal the mechanisms underlying the process of ambiguous expression which was influenced by emotion context information. In the future research, the following topics should be considered: highlighting the dominant research status of ambiguous expression, defining emotional context information clearly, exploring new research paradigms and identifying brain regions that affect the transfer of valance, in order to broaden the research field of ambiguous expression recognition.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Helping behaviors are critically important for human social development. However, most moral neuroscience studies have concentrated on immoral and negative behaviors such as killing, murder and harm. The neural mechanism of helpful intention processing in moral judgment is still unclear. Functional MRI studies have demonstrated the involvement of the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ) in the attribution of mental states. Previous studies have found that the role of intention processing in harmful moral judgment can be modulated by changing the cortical excitability of RTPJ with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Will the RTPJ play a critical role in the intention processing during moral judgment of helpful behavior? In order to explore the potential causal role of RTPJ in helpful moral judgement, the present study manipulates the cortical excitability of RTPJ with cathodal tDCS. We hypothesize that inhibiting the neural activity of RTPJ with cathodal tDCS could influence the role of intention processing in helpful moral judgment. To test the hypothesis, 18 healthy right-handed adults participated in this study. All participants underwent both cathodal and sham tDCS sessions in random order. Participants were counter-balanced in 2 separate days with a 1 week interval between both stimulations. To assure the target cortex to be activated completely, a relatively weak current (1.5 mA) was constantly delivered over the RTPJ for 20 min. For the sham tDCS, the stimulation only lasted for 15 sec. After stimulation, participants read stories in a 2 (intention: positive vs. neutral) × 2 (outcome: positive vs. neutral) design and were asked to make moral judgment about how much praise the actor deserves. We analyzed the praise score and reaction time by a 2 (intention) × 2 (outcome) × 2 (tDCS: cathodal, sham) repeated measures ANOVA. Results showed that actors with positive intentions were judged more praiseworthy than those with neutral intentions, and actors producing positive outcomes were judged more praiseworthy than those causing neutral outcomes. However, there was no significant interaction between intention and outcome. For the reaction time, judgments of positive intentions were faster than that of neutral intentions. The responses to positive outcomes were faster than neutral outcomes. Most importantly, the moral judgments were faster under cathodal tDCS than sham tDCS stimulation, especially under the positive intention condition rather than the neutral intention condition. The present study assessed the potential effect of the tDCS on helpful intention processing in moral judgment. Our findings indicate that the response times of moral judgment in the positive intention condition were shorten after receiving the cathodal stimulation, suggesting that altering the cortical excitability in the RTPJ could influence human’s socio-cognitive ability. These results demonstrate the critical role of RTPJ in intention processing during helpful moral judgment, which provides us a better understanding about the role of RTPJ in moral judgment and helping behaviors.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： The approximate number system (ANS) underlies the ability to approximately represent numerical magnitude or to estimate the number of a quantity without counting. ANS acuity is a reliable predictive factor of mathematical achievements and is most likely not influenced by educational or cultural factors of general cognitive processing. It is well established that individuals with mathematics anxiety (MA) perform normally in general cognitive tasks but significantly below-average in mathematical tasks such as numerical magnitude processing, computation and mathematical problem solving. Previous behavioral study reported significant negative correlations between MA level and ANS acuity but it remained unclear whether MA individuals are deficient in their ANS functioning. The current study explored the approximate number processing in individuals with mathematics anxiety at a neural level and gathered electrophysiological evidences for ANS deficiency in MA individuals. We selected 31 individuals with high math anxiety and 29 individuals with low math anxiety who were matched for mean general intelligence, rapid visual perception ability, visual searching ability and mean general anxiety level. The participants completed a dot array task both actively and passively as their electroencephalogram (EEG) data were recorded. In the active dot array task, the participants were required to make judgements on the relative quantities of blue and yellow dots while the ratio of the dots were manipulated to be high or low. In the passive viewing task, the participants were required to complete an irrelevant task to ensure that proper attention was paid to the stimuli while the ratio was also manipulated. We found that the behavioral performances of the two groups were comparable in both active and passive viewing tasks. However, event-related potential (ERP) analysis revealed that the high anxiety group had larger P2p amplitudes at the occipital electrodes than the low anxiety group in both active and passive viewing tasks. Furthermore, time-frequency analysis was performed and significant ratio effects were found in the low anxiety group in δ band (1~5 Hz) event-related synchronization (ERS) and β band (29~34 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD) while no ratios effects were found in the low anxiety group. The current study provided electrophysiological evidences for ANS deficiencies in individuals with MA. The findings of this study have important theoretical implications for the causes of the impaired mathematical abilities in MA individuals as well as for effective interventions for MA.
Subjects: Psychology >> Statistics in Psychology submitted time 2022-07-30
Abstract： Meta-analysis is a crucial tool for accumulating evidence in basic and applied research. In the open science era, meta-analysis becomes an important way for integrating open data from different sources. Meanwhile, because of the great researchers’ degree introduced by multiple-step and multiple-choices in each step of meta-analysis, the openness and transparency are crucial for reproducing results of meta-analysis. To (1) understand the transparency and openness of meta-analysis reports published in Chinese journals and (2) improve the transparency and openness of future meta-analysis by Chinese researchers, we developed a Chinese version of checklist for meta-analysis, which was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis protocols (PRISMA) and the principle of openness and transparency, and then surveyed the methods and results of 68 meta-analysis papers in mainstream Chinese psychological journals in last five years. Our results revealed that openness and transparency of Chinese meta-analysis reports need to be improved, especially in the following aspects: the date/time and limitation of literature search, the details of screening and data collection, the flow chart of article screening, the details of effect size transformation, and the evaluation of individual research bias. The checklist we present, which lists almost all aspects that an open meta-analysis should include, can be used as a guide for future meta-analysis.
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2019-05-17 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： 暴力再犯危险性评估是当今再犯危险性评估工作中的重点， 其中，攻击性是服刑人员暴力再犯行为稳定的个体因素。对攻击性进行研究， 有助于预防和降低服刑人员在假释或出狱后的暴力再犯行为风险， 关系社会的长治久安。 研究表明，遭受儿童期逆境和携带易感基 因（如 MAOA-uVNTR 低活性等位基因）是导致攻击行为的重要因素。 但在现有的研究中，儿童期逆境的计分方式局限于简单的线性加总，或所依据的统计模型忽略逆境各维度之间的 交互作用和非线性关系；在服刑人员攻击性的评估中未考虑攻击性的亚类， 而且多使用自报告的量表测评， 这些问题制约了评估的有效预测力。 本研究拟通过建立潜在类别模型，分析男性服刑人员和普通成年人群在儿童期逆境上的亚类； 以实验与问卷测量结果、司法行为记录作为攻击性指标，揭示儿童期逆境如何影响个体的主动性攻击、反应性攻击及暴力犯罪行为，重点探讨儿童期逆境潜在类别对主动性攻击和反应性攻击的影响，以及 MAOA-uVNTR、COMT Val158Met、 5-HTTLPR 基因多态性在其中的调节作用。 研究结果有助于找出高攻击性个体的生物遗传指标，从而发现受儿童期逆境经历影响的易感人群，为暴力行为的风险预测以及针对暴力攻击行为的行为矫正和相关药物设计提供理论和实证参考，提高相关工作的效率。
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2018-12-27
Abstract： There is mounting evidence in psychology, neuroscience and behavioral economics to support the notion that human behavior is governed by dual-learning systems, namely, reflective, “cognitive” or reflexive, “habitual” system. The former one is performed automatically, responds quickly and does not consume cognitive resources. The latter one responds slowly and consumes more cognitive resources, but it is also more flexible and sensitive to the changes in the external environment. Both of these learning systems exist in parallel and compete with each other to jointly influence individual's mind and behavior. A widely concerned question in recent years is which system exerts dominant control over specific behavior and what factors determine whether reflective or reflexive system governs behavior. Over the past decades, researchers used navigation learning task, probabilistic classification learning or instrumental learning task and associated computational models to explore the changes of multiple learning systems under acute and chronic stress at both behavioral and neural levels. By reviewing these studies, we summarize the psychophysiological mechanism underlying the stress-induced bias toward habitual behavior, and reinterpret the causal relationship between this shift and drug addiction. Existing research shows that noradrenaline and glucocorticoids act through mineralocorticoid receptors and exert interactive impact on brain regions that subserve dual-learning systems, which is orchestrated by the amygdala. Future studies need to focus on the modulatory role of genetic differences in the effects of stress on learning, and use a variety of technical methods to elucidate its neuroendocrine basis.
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2018-11-22
Abstract： Testosterone is one of the steroid hormones (i.e. androgen). Early research has shown that testosterone played a large role in the human aggressive and impulsive behavior. There is increasing interest in the effects of testosterone on human decision-making, including social (i.e. trust, cooperation, altruism, and competition) and economic decision-making (i.e. risk taking). In general, there is a positive association between testosterone level and risk-seeking behavior in economic decision-making. In the social domain, high testosterone levels are associated with more aggressive, dominant, and fairness behavior. Testosterone administration also reduced interpersonal trust. Note that some findings are hard to replicate, and more research is needed to investigate potential moderators. Future research could fruitfully explore the role of testosterone in consumer decision-making, adolescent’s social behavior and clinical application. "
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2018-11-19
Abstract： Our ability to process emotional prosody, that is the emotional tone of a speaker, is fundamental to human communication and adaptive behaviours. Very early in development, vocal emotional cues are more critical than facial expressions in guiding infants' behavior. However, the processing of emotional prosody in the very early days of life is still far from clearly understood. It is unclear whether the discrimination between prosodies with different emotional categories is present at birth. Furthermore, it is unknown whether there is a preferential orientation (negativity bias versus positivity preference) in neonates. Here, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the ability of neonates (from 1 to 6 days old) to discriminate different types of emotions conveyed by speech prosody. The experiment was conducted in the neonatal ward of Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China. Electroencephalogram recording was carried out when the infants were in a state of active sleep. Using an oddball paradigm, the current study investigated the neural correlates underlying automatic processing of emotional voices of happiness, fear and anger in 18 (Experiment 1) and 29 (Experiment 2) sleeping neonates. In Experiment 1, each category of emotional prosody (20%) was separately mixed into emotionally neutral prosody (80%), forming three blocks with different emotions. In Experiment 2, we not only repeated the procedure of Experiment 1, but also reversed the standard and deviation stimuli in the odd-ball task. Event-related potential data showed that the frontal scalp distribution (F3 and F4) of the neonatal brain could discriminate happy voices from both angry and fearful voices; the mismatch response (MMR) was larger in response to the deviant stimuli of happiness, compared with the deviant stimuli of anger and fear. However, the latter two stimuli, i.e., angry and fearful voices could not be differentiated. The MMR amplitudes at the other four electrodes, i.e., C3, C4, P3, and P4 did not show significant differences across emotional conditions. Note: the MMR is a prototype of the mismatch negativity, i.e. a preattentive component of the auditory ERP that shows a positive (MMR) or negative (MMN) displacement in response to deviant sounds compared to standard sounds in the oddball paradigm. The neural responses recorded here indicate very early preference for positive over negative stimuli, which is contrary to the ‘negativity bias’ phenomenon established in the affective prosody literature of adult and infant studies. It is suggest that the range-frequency hypothesis could help to interpret the transformation from the ‘positivity preference’ during the first half year of life to the ‘negativity bias’ later in development. The present finding provides the first neuroelectrophysiological evidence for the hypothesis of positivity preference in neonatal participants. In addition, this special discrimination between positive and negative prosody in early life may provide a foundation for later emotion and social cognition development. "
Subjects: Psychology >> Other Disciplines of Psychology submitted time 2018-09-13 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract：情绪记忆增强效应在负性情绪记忆研究中被反复证实。尽管厌恶和恐惧同属负性情绪, 提示威胁的存在, 但由于它们的进化意义和生理功能不同, 可能导致它们对记忆的编码、保持、提取三个阶段不同的调节方向或调节强度。本文采用延迟再认任务, 采用事件相关电位考察健康成年被试对唤醒度和效价相当的恐惧和厌恶面孔的记忆编码、保持和提取。结果显示, 1)在记忆编码的早期, 被试主要加强了对恐惧面孔的注意(P1)和结构编码(N170), 而厌恶信息的加工受到了抑制; 2)从记忆编码晚期到记忆保持的整个阶段, 被试对厌恶信息的精细评估(编码阶段P3)和复述保持(保持阶段的负走向慢波)均强于恐惧信息; 3)相比于恐惧面孔, 厌恶面孔可能在工作记忆系统形成了更强的表征, 从而使被试在记忆提取时可回忆起更多的细节, 对记忆提取的信心更足(提取阶段P3)。这后两条发现是导致行为层面上厌恶情绪记忆优于恐惧情绪记忆的原因。本研究为“厌恶比恐惧具有更强的记忆增强效应”提供了高时间分辨率的脑活动层面的证据, 从而进一步揭示了负性情绪增强记忆的认知机制。
Subjects: Psychology >> Applied Psychology submitted time 2018-04-18 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： For humans, both face and body play important roles in conveying emotional information. Previous studies showed that body postures rather than faces could provide more valid information about valence in the recognition of victory and defeat. The present study aimed to compare the processing of the faces and the bodies of victory and defeat. The current study employed emotional expressions of Chinese professional players reacting to victory or defeat to compare the processing of emotional faces and body postures using behavioral and ERP recordings. 80 images (40 winners and 40 losers) were obtained through Google and Baidu image search, using the search keyword “reacting to winning a point” or “reacting to losing a point”, intersected with “tennis” or “table tennis” or “badminton”. In Experiment 1, the behavioral experiment asked participants to rate the valence and intensity of the faces and the body postures on a 9 point scale (valence: 1-the most negative and 9-the most positive; intensity: 1-the least intense and 9-the most intense). In Experiment 2, participants were asked to determine the type of emotion (neutral, happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust) expressed by the faces and the body postures. In the ERP study (Experiment 3), participants were instructed to indicate the valence (positive or negative) of the faces and the body postures. The behavioral results showed that body postures rather than faces facilitated the discrimination between victory and defeat. Compared to body postures, the faces were more complex and involved a variety of facial expressions. The behavioral result of the ERP study showed that body postures rather than faces could provide more valid information about valence. The ERP results showed that the emotional information of body postures could be detected earlier than faces, as reflected by larger N170 amplitudes for winning body postures than losing body postures. However, there was no significant N170 difference between winning faces and losing faces. The emotional effect of faces was reflected by the EPN component, and losing faces elicited larger negative EPN amplitudes than winning faces. On the contrary, winning body postures elicited larger negative EPN amplitudes than losing body postures. Moreover, victory elicited larger LPP amplitudes than defeat under both face and body conditions. These data suggest that the higher rate of discrimination between winning body postures and losing body postures is possibly due to the stimulus evaluation and categorization of body postures at multiple stages of processing. It is hoped that the current results regarding the emotional processing of facial and body expressions will help us understand the mechanisms of the emotional brain.
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