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ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B

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    30 November 2004, Volume 36 Issue 06 Previous Issue    Next Issue

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    INHIBITION FOR AMBIGUOUS WORD INAPPROPRIATE MEANING
    Zhou Zhijin, Chen Yongming,Yang Lixia,Chen Hsuan-chih
    2004, 36 (06):  637-643. 
    Abstract ( 3475 )  
    Two experiments were conducted to explore the inappropriate meanings inhibited in ambiguous word processing. Subjects were 128 students (Exp1 and 2) in Beijing University of Science and Technology, and Beijing Agriculture University, China. They were asked to verify whether the test word matched the meaning of the sentence they just read. The test words were present at interstimulus interval (ISI) 200ms and 800ms respectively. The results showed: (1) The inappropriate meanings of homographs and homophones can be inhibited to some extents. (2) At ISI 200ms subordinate (inappropriate) meanings of homophones were inhibited, but subordinate (inappropriate) meanings of homographs cannot be inhibited completely. (3) The main (inappropriate) meanings of homographs and homophones cannot be inhibited completely even if at ISI 800ms.
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    ACCESSING BACKGROUNDED INFORMATION IN TEXT COMPREHENSION: A SITUATION-CONSTRAINED RESONANCE PROCESS
    Wang Suiping, Chen Hsuan-Chih, Mo Lei, Zou Yanchun
    2004, 36 (06):  644-653. 
    Abstract ( 2791 )  
    The present study examined two major models on text comprehension (i.e., resonance and scenario-based). The stimuli included passages about two people in which the characteristic of the supporting role was inconsistent with the subsequent target action carried out by the protagonist. Participants read passages line by line at their own pace and made judgments about probe sentences that were consistent with the characteristics of the supporting role. The probe sentences were presented at three possible locations: after the description of the supporting role’s characteristic, after the filler paragraph but before the first target sentence, and after the first target sentence. In Experiment 1, with the presence of the supporting role in the filler paragraph, the two characters both were the threads of the story. The result showed that subjects recognized the probe sentences following the target sentences faster than those preceding the target sentences, which means that when subjects read a sentence about the protagonist engaging in some action, early characteristics that described the supporting role were reactivated. In Experiment 2, without the presence of the supporting role in the filler paragraph, only the protagonist became the thread of the story. The result showed that early characteristics that described the supporting role were not reactivated by the target sentences. Based on the results of two experiments, we suggested that though we can use resonance to explain the accessing of backgrounded information in text comprehension in some way, but the resonance does not seem to be unlimited. The semantic overlap only offers a possible way to access backgrounded information, whether the information can be activated or not is likely to be constrained by reader’s representation or situation model on earlier portions of text.
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    THE CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE OF KINSHIP WORDS OF NAXI NATIONALITY
    Zhang Jijia, He Xiumei
    2004, 36 (06):  654-662. 
    Abstract ( 2308 )  
    Using the methods of natural classifying and multi-dimensional scale,this paper probed into the conceptual structure of kinship words of Naxi nationality. The subjects were 63 undergraduate students. The results showed that there were 6 categories in the conceptual structure of kinship words of Naxi nationality:(1)parents;(2)elder family members who were the same generation as the parents;(3)brothers and sisters ;(4) brothers and sisters who were connected by marriage;(5)daughter-in-law and son-in-law;(6)grandfathers and grandmothers, children and grandchildren, nephews and nieces. There were two dimensions in the conceptual structure of kinship words of Naxi nationality, one is the same generation/different generation,the other is considerate people/ people who were looked after. There were notable differences between the conceptual structure of kinship words of Naxi nationality and that of Han nationality,these differences came from the languages,family and marriage systems and cultures.
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    SPATIAL SHIFT OF ATTENTION BEFORE ENDOGENOUS SACCADES
    Shen Mowei, Gao Tao, Liu Lichun, Li Peng
    2004, 36 (06):  663-670. 
    Abstract ( 5120 )  
    This study investigated whether the spatial shift of attention was involved in the process of endogenous saccades with illusory line motion. In Experiment 1, the pattern of spatial attention shift was examined by instructing participants to saccade to the cue. In Experiment 2, whether illusory line motion was affected by pre-attention processing was tested by requiring participants to detect the target while focusing on the fixation. In Experiment 3, participants were required to saccade to the opposite side of the cue, in order to inspect the effect of spatial congruence between saccade and the cue on attention shifts. Therefore, whether detection of the cue was one of the factors in determining attention shift could be confirmed. The main findings are as follows:(1) Spatial shift of attention is necessary to execute endogenous saccades; (2) Attention is not guided by pre-attention processing while the eye is focused on the fixation, and (3) The effect of spatial congruence between saccade and the cue on attention shifts is not significant.
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    THE SPATIAL NUMERICAL ASSOCIATION OF RESPONSE CODES EFFECT OF NUMBER PROCESSING IN DIFFERENT ATTENTION CONDITIONS
    Liu Chao,Mai Xiaoqin, Fu Xiaolan
    2004, 36 (06):  671-680. 
    Abstract ( 2533 )  
    In the present study, three different attention experimental paradigms (without cue, with the endogenous cue, and with the exogenous cue) were used to investigate the SNARC (Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect of numbers in different notations in attended or unattended conditions. The stimuli were Chinese numbers and Arabic numbers in magnitudes from 1 to 9. Subjects’ task was to decide whether the number was odd or even. The results showed that: a) The SNARC effect appeared in the attended condition without any cue, but it did not appear in the unattended condition. Moreover, the influence of unattended condition on number SNARC effect was mainly found in the larger numbers (8, 9); and b) the same results were also found in the conditions with the endogenous cue or with the exogenous cue, and moreover, the exogenous cue had more influence than endogenous cue and Chinese numbers were more influenced than Arabic numbers.
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    EFFECT OF HOLISTIC AND ANALYTICAL FEATURES ON SAME-DIFFERENT JUDGMENT
    Zhou Guomei, Fu Xiaolan
    2004, 36 (06):  681-689. 
    Abstract ( 2478 )  
    In view of the debate on dual-process model of same-different comparison, three experiments adopting three different holistic and local features (relational-attribute, global-local, and abstract-concrete) were conducted to investigate the effects of holistic and local features on “same” judgment and “different” judgment and to explore the mechanism of same-different comparison from the viewpoint of holistic/analytical process. Results showed that: (a) Holistic features could significantly speed up “same” response, which suggested that IR did not run in a way of holistic matching; (b) “same” response was always faster than the slowest “different” response, but sometimes slower than the fastest “different” response, which indicated that the work of slow processor was not always following the end of IR; (c) “different” response time decreased with the increasing number of different features, which gave a further evidence that different judgment was an analytical self-terminate process; (d) “different” response time increased with the different feature changing from top to bottom and from global to local, which suggested that the sequence of different judgment might be from top to bottom and from global to local. All of the results supported the hypothesis that the IR of “same” judgment processed holistic features first, and then worked with the slow processor of “different” judgment together on local features.
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    ERP DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROCESSING OF BODY ACTION AND MENTAL ACTION VERBS
    Zhang Qin, Guo Chunyan, Ding Jinhong,Wang Zhengyan
    2004, 36 (06):  690-696. 
    Abstract ( 2985 )  
    An experiment was conducted to examine the difference between body action verbs and mental action verbs using ERP measurements and lexical decision task. Results showed that mental action verbs were associated with a more positive ERP than body action verbs around occipital sites of the left hemisphere between 200 to 300 ms. Between 300 to 400 ms, ERP differences between two types of verbs were primarily over the left hemisphere and midline site, especially around the central areas. Body action verbs were associated with a more negative ERP than mental action verbs. The neurobiological theory of language representation can partly explain our results.
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    EVIDENCE FROM ERP OF DYNAMIC DISSOCIATION OF SHORT-TERM STORAGE AND REHEARSAL
    Wang Yiwen,Lin Chongde,Wei Jinghan, Luo Yuejia
    2004, 36 (06):  697-703. 
    Abstract ( 2508 )  
    Working memory (WM) is a system that is used for temporary storage and manipulation of information. For dissociate the brain areas involved in verbal storage and rehearsal, event-related brain potentials were measured when 14 normal young participants were performing 2-back task, 0-back task and rehearsal task of Chinese characters. The difference wave N430 appeared at the posterior of the scalp by subtraction of ERP in the rehearsal task from that in 2-back task, which probably reflected the short-term storage and its time-course. The difference wave of sustained negative component (SNC) appeared at the anterior of the scalp by subtraction of ERP in 0-back task from that in 2-back task, which is a likely dynamic index of rehearsal processes. Frontal lobe and posterior areas of brain maybe govern the rehearsal and short-term storage, respectively. The dynamic division of both areas possibly is neural base of temporarily maintaining in verbal WM.
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    FUZZY EVALUATION STATISTICS FOR EMOTIONAL ADJECTIVE SEMANTICS
    Feng Sihai,Huang Xiting
    2004, 36 (06):  704-711. 
    Abstract ( 2633 )  
    353 undergraduates were asked to designate values experientially, using a method of fuzzy interval evaluation, to forty-eight adjectives of four kinds of basic emotions, that is, happy, anger, sad, and fear, according to their semantics on intensity and complexity separately. The results as below: first, intensity and complexity are two different dimensions for emotion evaluation and the results of semantic fuzzy evaluation to emotional adjectives on them are not necessarily related; secondly, the semantic fuzzy evaluation of both intensity and complexity are fundamentally consistent with the daily-life understanding of the emotional experience represented by those qualifiers, and the scale values from male subjects correlate very significantly to the results of their female counterparts; thirdly, the difference between the male and female on the evaluation basically lies in different ranks and certainties, which was ascribed to their different experiences on emotion and the individual differences among themselves respectively; fourthly, the certainties of the undergraduates’ semantic fuzzy evaluation to the emotional adjectives were rather high as a whole, and the meaning of those adjectives are fuzzy on the two dimensions to some degree; And lastly, hierarchical clustering procedure was run with these four kinds of adjectives in terms of their fuzzy distance measure and phi-square measure computed by the degree of membership of intensity evaluation, and get to similar categories.
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    THE INSPECTION TIME OF 8~12 YEARS OLDSUPERNORMAL AND NORMAL CHILDREN
    Cheng Li,Shi Jiannong, Liu Zhengkui, Qu Xiaojun
    2004, 36 (06):  712-717. 
    Abstract ( 2684 )  
    Two typical visual inspection time tasks, line inspection time and digital inspection time, were employed in the present experiment. 172 children aged from 8- to 12-years-old (83 intellectual supernormal and 89 normal) were tested individually with the two IT tasks on computer. Meanwhile, in order to get their IQ scores, all subjects were asked to complete Cattell’s culture free test. The schooling effect on speed of information processing was explored in the present study too. The results indicated that the inspection time of supernormal and normal children decreased gradually as their ages increased, but the developmental speeds or developmental curves were different on different inspection time tasks. There were no significant gender differences in the two tasks and three types of ages. Moreover, the inspection time of supernormal children was significantly faster than the normal children on the tasks in different ages. The correlation coefficients between inspection time and IQ scores in both supernormal and normal children were significant. And no schooling effects on children’s speed of information processing (IT) were found. Comparing the developmental speed of the inspection time of the two samples, suggested that the knowledge and experience from schools have no effects on the development of children’s inspection time. And the correlations between inspection time and IQ scores of both groups are significant.
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    THE COMPARISONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC CREATIVITY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND CHINESE ADOLESCENTS
    Hu Weiping, Philip Adey, Shen Jiliang, Lin Chongde
    2004, 36 (06):  718-731. 
    Abstract ( 1506 )  
    This study administered the Scientific Creativity Test for Secondary School Students to 1190 adolescents aged 11 to 15 from 6 suburban middle schools in England and 1087 adolescents aged 12 to18 from 2 suburban middle schools in China. Result indicated that: (1) the age difference of scientific creativity of adolescents is marked. It has increasing tendency, but decreases at 14. The key periods for the rapid development of adolescents’ scientific creativity are from 11 to 13 and from 14 to 16 years old. (2) The scientific creativity of adolescents has sex difference. English females’ scientific creativity is evidently superior to males’. But Chinese males’ scientific creativity is superior to females’, and the difference is not remarkable. Based on this result and other studies, we proposed the culture model of sex difference of scientific creativity. (3) There is marked difference in scientific creativity between Chinese and English adolescents. Chinese adolescents’ creative problem solving ability is evidently superior to that of English adolescents. But English adolescents’ other scientific creativity and whole scientific creativity are evidently superior to that of Chinese adolescents. (4) There is marked difference in scientific creativity among students in different kind of Chinese schools. Key-middle-school-subjects’ scientific creativity is evidently superior to that of ordinary-middle-school-subjects. The authors think school environment and school education are more important than school type to the development of scientific creativity.
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    CHILDREN’S CREATIVITY DEVELOPMENT AND THE EFFECT OF FAMILY ENVIRONMENT
    Li Jinzhen, Wang Wenzhong,Shi Jiannong
    2004, 36 (06):  732-737. 
    Abstract ( 3980 )  
    Using creativity test as task and 310 school students aged from 9 to 16 as subjects, this study explored the development of children’s creativity and the effect of family environment on creativity. The findings of this study were: (1) Children's creativity increase with their age. But the development of its three dimensions– fluency, flexibility and originality – is unbalanced. Compared with other age cohorts, the fluency and flexibility dimensions of creativity develop faster during the age of 9 to 11 years old; (2) Family environment has not only a direct influence but also an indirect influence on children’s creativity. The indirect influence is done via creative attitude.
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    THE CULTURAL VALUE AND SELF-REGULATORY SYSTEM ON FEEDBACK EFFECTS
    Wang Yongli,Shi Kan
    2004, 36 (06):  738-743. 
    Abstract ( 3088 )  
    Considering the cultural value and self-regulatory system as the mechanism of feedback effects. The study adopted 2×2 (type of feedback and target of feedback)two factors between subjects design, in-basket task as the experimental material. 171 MBA students were selected to participate in the feedback intervention study. The results showed that the cultural value and the self-regulatory system moderated the effects of feedback. For collectivism, they increased their performance if they got group feedback. Negative feedback under prevention focus increased performance, but positive feedback under promotion focus decreased performance.
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    EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON RISK-TAKING BEHAVIORS IN DYNAMIC CONDITION WITH COMPUTER SIMULATION
    Xie Xiaofei, Zhou Junzhe, Wang Li
    2004, 36 (06):  744-749. 
    Abstract ( 3471 )  
    Investigating the different risk-taking behaviors among different achievement motivation groups with the help of computer simulation experiment and questionnaire, combining with the achievement motivation theory (Atkinson 1957) and the Dynamics of Action Model (Atkinson and Birch 1970,1974). The result showed: (1) At the initial stage of dynamic progress, different achievement motivation groups had different behavior preference. High achievement motivation members were inclined to choose tasks at middle difficulty levels and low achievement motivation members were inclined to choose tasks at extreme difficulty levels. (2) In the dynamic progress of risk-taking behavior, the different character of choice tendency from static condition appeared: both the high and the low achievement motivation members chose more difficult achievement tasks, high achievement motivation members chose harder than the low achievement motivation ones, but their increase speed of difficulty level was slower. (3) That the atypical shift is an efficient measurement of achievement motivation was confirmed.
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