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Effect of Word Segmentation on Beginners’ Reading: Evidence from Eye Movements SHEN De-Li,BAI Xue-Jun,ZANG Chuan-Li,YAN Guo-Li,FENG Ben-Cai,FAN Xiao-Hong 2010, 42 (02):  159-172.  Abstract ( 1363 )   Unlike English (and other alphabetic writing systems), Chinese is written without spaces between successive characters and words. There is no obvious visual cue to demarcate the word except punctuation marks. Given this, it is intriguing how readers target saccades and how words are recognized in Chinese writing systems. Bai et al. (2008) monitored native Chinese readers’ eye movements as they read text that did or did not demark word boundary information. They found that inserting spaces between words (or highlighting word boundaries) did not facilitate reading Chinese, but more importantly, did not interfere with reading. Bai et al argued that facilitatory and inhibitory factors trade off against each other when words are clearly marked (in contrast to normal unspaced text presentation). For the adults, the normal unspaced text will be extremely familiar, but word identification may be hindered due to poor word demarcation. In contrast, the word spaced text will be visually unfamiliar but word identification will be facilitated due to good word demarcation. The beginning readers have less experience in reading text without spaces, so the familiarity of the format is comparatively limited compared with the adults. We therefore predict that the interword spaced text may have a greater facilitatory effect for Chinese beginner readers than for adults. Three experiments were carried out. 72 third graders participated in the research. Their eye movements were recorded with a SR Research EyeLink II eyetracker (sampling rate = 500 Hz) that monitored the position of the right eye every two milliseconds. In experiment 1, four spacing conditions were included: normal unspaced condition; single character spaced condition (text with spaces between every character); word spaced condition (text with spaces between words); and nonword spaced condition (text with spaces between characters that yielded nonwords). In experiment 2, highlighting was used to create analogous conditions: normal Chinese text, text with highlighting used to mark words, text with highlighting that yielded nonwords, and text with highlighting to mark each character. In experiment 3, reading skills of third graders was manipulated to further examine whether the word spaced effect might be mediated by the reading skills. The pattern of data in all three experiments was very similar. Global fixation counts and total reading time measures indicated that there were no significant difference between word spaced and normal unspaced condition, however, the reading time was longer and fixation counts were more in nonword spaced condition. Furthermore, there is no reliable interaction effect between the presentation condition and the reading skill of third graders on most of the eye movement measures except the total sentence reading time, however, the simple effect test showed that the reading time was longer in the nonword spaced condition for the unskilled readers than skilled readers. To sum up, the present study indicated that sentences in a word spaced format were as easy to read for third graders as unspaced text. This is the same effect that has been previously observed with skilled adult readers (Bai et al., 2008). Although word-spaced text was equally easy for skilled and unskilled readers, the unskilled readers were extremely disrupted by the nonword spaced condition. These data suggest that unskilled readers are more dependent on the low level visual cue of text for initiating normal linguistic processing. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Mechanism of Language Switching in Language Comprehension: Evidence from the Sub-lexical Level CUI Zhan-Ling,ZHANG Ji-Jia 2010, 42 (02):  173-184.  Abstract ( 1150 )   When bilinguals switch from using one language to another (in laboratory tasks), there is generally a transient cost to performance, namely, the switching cost. Switching cost is the main aspect which is always mentioned in exploring the essence of the language switching mechanism. Such cost might be caused by different mechanisms. Therefore, the researchers focused on where this cost arises from. Two perspectives are involved in this issue: one argues that language switching cost emerges from the word-recognition system itself whereas the other holds the view that it is externally caused, i.e. according to the task control processes. If it is consistent to the externally-caused view, it might reflect that language switching cost is no different from task switching cost in general. In other words, the language switching process is the same as task switching process. Up to now, most research focused on alphabetic characters and their orthographic specificity, i.e. letters unique to one language. This study focused on ideogram characters such as Mandarin characters and language specificity. Letters with language specificity contain a certain degree of semantic information(analogous to orthographic specificity, such as YiFu in Mandarin characters, i.e. “口” \ “扌”.). The study aimed to explore the mechanism of language switching at the sub-lexical level while Chinese-English bilinguals were performing semantic categorization tasks. 56 undergraduates participated in each experiment. The participants in experiment 1 were asked to judge if an action which was described by a verb presented on a screen was performed with mouth or with hand. In experiment 2, the participants were asked to classify the sex of the person described by a noun word presented as “male” or “female”. There were two kinds of words, either with-marker words (with a semantic radical)or without-marker words (without a semantic radical). All the participants were tested individually on computers, and each session lasted for 15~20 minutes. Reaction time for correct responses and error rates were analyzed by subject and item variance. The results showed shorter reaction time and lower error rates with the with-marker Mandarin characters, no matter whether the word was a verb or a noun. It indicates that the semantic radical had an influence on the process of stimulus with a marker. However, the switching cost of with-marker words was not significantly different from that of without-marker words. This result indicates that the semantic radical did not affect the process of language switching. For alphabetic characters, the semantic radical also differentially affected the process of with-marker words and without-marker words; however, there is no influence on the switching cost of these two kinds of stimuli. In short, the study showed that switching cost is not affected by semantic specificity. On a sub-lexical level, the switching cost does not come from the word-recognition system but is caused by external sources. Because language information did not affect the language switching cost, the mechanism of a language switch is the same as that of a task switch in general, both for Mandarin and alphabetic characters. Related Articles | Metrics

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Influence of Working Memory Capacity on Processing English Temporary Syntactic Ambiguity Sentences for Chinese-English Bilinguals CHEN Bao-Guo,XU Hui-Hui 2010, 42 (02):  185-192.  Abstract ( 1265 )   Working memory capacity and sentence processing are closely related. The capacity-constrained theory argues that there is a general verbal working memory system that supports language processing. Alternatively, the separate processing resources theory states that there are two kinds of working memory systems that support the on-line and off-line language processing separately. The capacity of working memory measured by the Daneman and Carpenter Reading Span Test (1980) only influences off-line language processing. This study presents an eye-tracking experiment that investigated whether the working memory capacity of adult learners of English as a second language had an effect on the on-line and off-line processing of English sentences. The sentences contained verbs that were temporarily ambiguous between a main verb and a reduced relative clause. Participants were 31 Chinese-English bilinguals who are less proficient English readers. The reading span test of Daneman and Carpenter (1980) was used to differentiate high-span and low-span readers. The first-pass fixation duration of reading different regions of sentences was used as the index of on-line processing; whereas the regression numbers and total fixation times were used as the index of off-line processing. Results showed that the first-pass durations were significantly different on ambiguous and disambiguated regions between high and low working memory capacity readers; the regression patterns from disambiguated regions to ambiguous regions and to subject noun phrase regions between high and low working memory capacity readers were similar; the total fixation times were significantly different on the ambiguous and disambiguated regions between high and low working memory capacity readers. These results suggest that different working memory capacity affects the on-line as well as the off-line syntactic processing of syntactically ambiguous English sentences for less proficient second language readers. Furthermore, these results support the capacity-constrained theory of working memory. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effect of Chinese Phonological Association on False Memory QU Zhe,DING Yu-Long 2010, 42 (02):  193-199.  Abstract ( 1465 )   False memory is a type of memory illusion where one claims to remember things that never happened. The Deese-Roediger-McDermott, or DRM, paradigm has been extensively adopted to investigate the factors influencing false memory. Using English words, previous studies have found phonological as well as semantic false memories. To investigate whether there is any effect of Chinese phonological association on false memory, two experiments were conducted in the present study. In experiment 1, subjects first studied several lists of Chinese characters with same syllables, and then took a recognition test. There were three types of characters in the test: studied items, lures (which had same syllables with studied items), and intruding items (which had no relationship with studied items). Subjects’ task was to judge whether each testing item was “old” or not. Results showed that the proportion of lures labeled as “old” was significantly higher than that of intruding items. In experiment 2, lists of Chinese characters with only same onsets or same rhymes were presented in the study phase. Accordingly, the lures in the test phase shared same onsets or same rhymes with the studied items. Compared with intruding items, more proportion of lures labeled as “old” was found again. Moreover, the proportions of lures labeled as “old” did not have significant differences either between the same-onset and same-rhyme conditions, or between the two experiments. These results demonstrate that Chinese phonological association does have an effect on false memory, and this effect remains unchanged even when the phonological similarity increases. The present study suggests that false memory can result from low level perceptual-based processing, and that Chinese phonological network can be activated easily, but only to a limited extent. Related Articles | Metrics

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Constructing Causal Inference for Local Coherence in Expository Text Comprehension WU Li-Mei,MO Lei 2010, 42 (02):  200-215.  Abstract ( 1122 )   Inference provided necessary insurance for correct comprehension and fluent reading. A prevailing way to clarify the meaning of inference was through its function for comprehension (i.e., inference for local coherence, inference for global inference, and predictive inference). Based on the evidence from narrative text experiments, Minimalist Hypothesis, Memory-based text processing view and Constructionist theory had different predictions on the cognitive process and properties of the generation of inference for global inference and predictive inference. However, they had a clear consensus that inference for local coherence could be coded on-line during reading. In view of both agreement between opposing theoretical positions and the evidence from narrative studies, it was somewhat surprising that evidence for the generation of local causal inference is not clear when comprehension of expository text was considered. For expository text on highly technical topics, participants weren’t able to produce online scientific causal inferences for local coherence expect when inferential strategies were explicitly encouraged; whereas for expository text on more familiar topics, participants generated causal inferences to maintain local coherence. Thus it raised a question that whether the construction of causal inference for local coherence could be realized voluntarily in expository comprehension like that in the narrative reading. This research was designed to throw some light on the question. Three experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 was to explore whether participants could compute immediately causal inference for local coherence while all necessary premises were presented explicitly and compactly. In experiment 2, necessary premises were expressed implicitly with two examples. Experiment 3 varied the availability of the premises by manipulating the distance between critical pieces of information. Participants read the short expository on familiar topic and finished a probe task after reading each passage. All materials were presented on a monitor controlled by computer. Participants read the passages in a self-paced manner, advancing the text one line at a time by pressing the space bar. Participants were instructed to read carefully so that they would be able to judge whether the probe word appeared in the text. The reading times of the line containing the conclusion were recorded and analyzed. The results showed that in the reading of expository on familiar topics, the causal inference for maintaining local coherence was computed spontaneously when the conclusion was followed by all necessary premises, being presented explicitly or implicitly; the causal bridging inference was impaired by separating the premises and the conclusion with two sentences. The present findings indicated that the construction of causal inference for local coherence in expository was differ from that in the narrative comprehension. Also, it implied that the activation of causal inference to maintain local coherence might be a strategic process followed by the principle that costing little recourse to means much. We argued that with such principle, it might provide a relatively general interpretation for different conclusions from the researches of causal inference in narrative and expository text comprehension. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Functions of Goal State and Temporal Information on Situation Model Processing LU Zhong-Yi,TONG Yu-Guang,ZHANG Li-Fang 2010, 42 (02):  216-226.  Abstract ( 1061 )   Situation model is the deep representation of text reading combined with readers’ background knowledge, which involves several dimensions, of which goal state and time representation are most important. A goal is an effective mechanism of foregrounding, and tracing the goal helps to comprehend the causality of the story (Zwaan, 1998). Although recent research of time representation focuses on the temporal shift and temporal distance, most studies repeatedly verified Anderson, Garrod, and Sanford’s (1983) scenario model and Zwaan’s (1996) strong iconicity assumption. Kelter et al. (2004) found the far-close effect of temporal distance and differentiated tracking as temporal distance from a fresh start as temporal shift. Claus et al. (2006) preliminarily explored the relationship between temporal representation and the construction of flashback events. To date, however, no study investigated the relationship between goal state and time representation, and in fact, whether temporal information is continuity or interruption counters for utilizing, continuously tracking, and integrating goal information. Hence the present study is to explore the functions of goal state and temporal information on situation model processing. A total 174 eighth grade students participated in this study, with 60 participants in experiment group 1, 60 in experiment group 2, and 54 in experiment group 3, respectively. Using moving window and recording the time of recognition sentence technique, three experiments were designed to explore the functions of goal state and temporal information on situation model processing on Pentium III computer, using E - Prime software. Subjects were required to self-regulate their reading. When subjects finish reading one sentence and press the space key, next sentence emerged and the former sentence disappeared. After finishing one text, the emergence of a red "?????" prompted subjects to answer a comprehensive question about the text. The reaction time of probe sentences were recorded and analyzed with repeated measure MANOVA. The results of experiment 1 indicated that the goal state and temporal shift were interrelated to each other. In the conditions of null goal and completed goal, the larger temporal shift took the subjects more time to read the probing sentence; furthermore, different time shifts (small and large) have varied effects on situation model processing. In the condition of uncompleted goal, however, there was no significant difference in the time used for the probing sentence with small or large temporal shift. In experiment 2, reading with the probing sentence in the condition of uncompleted goal was faster than that in the condition of null goal and completed goal; reading with the probing sentence in the condition of small temporal distance was faster than in the condition of large temporal distance. Additionally, when the temporal distance became larger, the reaction time of reading with probing sentence in the condition of uncompleted goal did not differ significantly from those in the condition of null goal and completed goal. In experiment 3, when the factor of goal was given in the form of flashback events, the main effect of goal state on information integration was significant: reading with the probing sentence with no goal was faster than that in the condition of null goal and completed goal. To conclude, this study found that: (1) in the sequential event structure, uncompleted goal, i.e., the focus of continuously tracking, cannot help the integration of the text information in the condition of increasing temporal shift; uncompleted goal accelerates representing the information and no far-close effects appear. (2) in the sequential texts, in the condition of no goal and completed goal, large-small effects with increasing temporal shift and far-close effects of temporal distance are evidenced; in the process of constructing the flashback events, the reader represents the flashback events as the background of temporal distance, and the goal enhances integration of information. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Prior Knowledge of the Reliability of Sensory Cues Affects the Multisensory Integration in the Early Perceptual Processing Stage LIU Qiang,HU Zhong-Hua,ZHAO Guang,TAO Wei-Dong,ZHANG Qing-Lin,SUN Hong-Jin 2010, 42 (02):  227-234.  Abstract ( 1527 )   According to the statistically optimal integration theory, our brains weigh various sources of sensory information according to their reliabilities during multisensory integration. Recent behavioral studies have proposed that the prior knowledge about the reliability of different modalities can also play an important role in the weighting of different sensory information. The present study aimed to examine whether the prior knowledge affect multisensory integration in the early perceptual processing stage or in the post-perceptual processes stage. Fourteen participants (19-24 years old) were tested when a single letter (“B” or “E”) was presented simultaneously in both auditory and visual modalities. The letter was displayed in one of the two colors. In one condition the visual information presented was always (probability of 100%) congruent with auditory information and this is the same for either color presented (equal-probability condition). In another condition, the probability in which the visual and auditory information was congruent was varied. The probability was 100% (high probability, HP) when the visual letter was in one color and the probability was 30% (low probability, HP) when the visual letter was in another color. Therefore different colors were associated with different probability (different-probability condition). The participants were instructed to press the button 1 for letter B and button 2 for letter E regardless of the color of the visual stimuli and regardless of the auditory information. Each participant completed 240 trials during equal-probability condition and 1500 trials (consisting of 5 experimental blocks) during different-probability condition. Significantly different responses to the congruent audiovisual stimuli were found between HP and LP and the difference was only observed during block 4 and block 5 of difference-probability condition. These results suggested the different probabilities of auditory-visual congruency modulate the response time to auditory-visual congruent stimuli, which suggested the prior knowledge regarding the reliability of sensory cues affects the multisensory integration in the early perceptual processing stage. Related Articles | Metrics

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Chronic Stress Impairs Learning and Memory and Changes Frontal and Hippocampal Synaptosomal Membrane Fluidity in Rats LI Ya,KONG Hong,SONG Qian,CAI Jing-Xia 2010, 42 (02):  235-240.  Abstract ( 1128 )   The effect of chronic stress on learning and memory functions has been one of hot topics in neuroscience. Hippocampus (HP) and frontal cortex (FC) are key brain regions mediating learning and memory, as well as potential targets of stress reactions. Reduced membrane fluidity may represent an important mechanism underlying a variety of structural and functional alterations of the brain. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of chronic stress on spatial learning and memory, as well as membrane fluidity of frontal and hippocampal synaptosomes in rats. A 21-day chronic stress procedure with multiple stressors (footshock, noise, bondage, bondage plus thermal stimulus) was conducted. After that spontaneous behavior and spatial learning and memory performance were tested using open field and Morris water maze tasks. Frontal and hippocampal synaptosomal membrane fluidity and free calcium concentrations ([Ca2+]i) were also examined. The results demonstrated that spontaneous locomotor activities and exploratory behaviors were significantly decreased in stressed animals. Their spatial learning and memory performance were significantly impaired as well. Furthermore, in chronic stressed animals, the frontal and hippocampal synaptosomal membrane fluidity were markedly reduced whereas the [Ca2+]i were significantly increased as compared to control group. Current findings suggest that chronic stress results in behavioral changes and impairment of spatial learning and memory, which could be mediated by the changes of synaptosomal membrane fluidity and free calcium concentrations. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Interaction Effect of Conceptual Category and Property Category on Diversity Effects of Reasoning on Children CHEN Qing-Fei,LEI Yi,LI Hong 2010, 42 (02):  241-250.  Abstract ( 1285 )   Positive diversity effects among adults have been reported in a number of studies using a variety of methods (e.g., Heit, 2000; Kim, Keil, 2003; Osherson, Smith, Wilkie et al., 1990; Lopez, 1995; Sloman, 1993). However, there has been considerable debate about whether children also prefer diverse samples as the basis for induction. Several initial developmental studies, in which children were asked to make inductive inferences about animal categories based on a limited set of examples, suggested that children before 9 years old do not consider the degree of sample diversity when determining whether a sample provides a good basis for generalization (Lopez et al., 1992; Gutheil & Gelman, 1997; Rhodes, Gelman, & Brickman, 2008). In contrast to these null findings, some studies argue that children as young as 5 years old and even younger (4 years old) value sample diversity under certain circumstances (Heit, Hahn, 2001; Lo, Sides, Rozelle, 2002; Shipley, Shepperson, 2006; Wu X, Li H, 2008). Although multiple-exemplar samples were presented in the previous studies, some differences in the methods and materials should be realized, such as property category and conceptual category. In the present study, we further examine diversity-based reasoning in children as well as directly investigating the possible effects of property category and conceptual category on diversity-based reasoning. 5-6 and 8-9 years old children were recruited and each was asked to perform on sixteen tasks in order to analyze the effect of different property categories and conceptual categories on diversity-based reasoning. The experiment used a 2(property category: hidden properties vs. visible properties) ×2 (conceptual category: biological category vs. abiological category) within-subject design. Across four types of tasks, we documented a developmental progression in children’s understanding of diverse samples as a strong basis for generalizations, showing that young children (5~6 years old) consistently failed to consider sample diversity in their inductive reasoning while older children (8~9 years old) preferred to create diverse samples based on which they made inferences about abiological category and hidden properties. What’s more, the inductive strength on diversity-based reasoning is remarkablely affected by property category and conceptual category: in conceptual category, the inductive strength on abiological category is higher than biological category; in property category, the inductive strength on hidden properties is higher than visible properties. These results suggest that the capability of recognizing the value of a diverse sample for inductive reasoning emerges at a relatively late age and is enhanced slowly across young children. However, why the youngest children in our studies performed more poorly than those in other studies is not known yet, and more researches about the impact factors of diversity-based reasoning are required. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Eye Movements Differences During Category Learning Process Between High and Low Creativity Students WO Jian-Zhong,CHEN Wan-Ru,LIU Yang,LIN Chong-De 2010, 42 (02):  251-261.  Abstract ( 1187 )   Theory-based view makes a point of knowledge in category learning and is different with similarity-based view which emphasizes the prototype or exemplar models. There are two main differences between them: the relationship of concepts and the relationship of characters within a concept. Both of them can be explained by the theory-based view, but can not by the similarity-based view. So this study basing on theory-based view and investigated the eye movement differences in category processing between high and low creativity students. Pictures showing reality things or scenes were used in the Target-matching model in the experiment. Forty middle school participants were divide into two group: high or low creativity group. They were asked to choose two pictures that can be classified to the target conception category in the question area from the answer area. The researchers separated two processing period: the first process period and the second process period, and Eye-tracking method was used to record the subjects’ eye fixation data (fixation duration, fixation number, pupil diameter, etc) in the whole experiment. The researchers compared the high creativity group and the low creativity group students with their eye fixation data and found that, in the first process period, the high creativity students processed more on the target conceptions than the classified conceptions, and fixed more on the correct answers than the false ones. There was opposite and non-significant difference between the two kinds of the conceptions in the low creativity group. In the second process period there was more process on the classified conceptions than the target conceptions in both group. The low creativity students processed more on the correct answers than the false ones, the difference was not significant in the high creativity group. In the whole process period, both high and low creativity students processed more on the classified conceptions, but the difference was more significant in the low creativity group. Both high and low creativity students processed more on the correct answers, but the difference was more significant in the high creativity group. Using eye-tracking method, the researchers make a point of processing duration, finding that though had the same choice, the high and low creativity students had different process. It is obviously that the study of classification should pay attention not only to the result but also to the information processing, and the eye tracking method play an important role in it. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Modulating Model for the Impacting Factors in Self-regulated Learning of College Students WANG Jing-Qiong,ZHANG Wei,ZHU Zu-De,ZHEN Shuang-Ju,MAI Yu-Jiao,LI Dong-Ping 2010, 42 (02):  262-270.  Abstract ( 2253 )   Self-regulated learning (SRL) is one of the most investigated topics in education and psychology. While most studies focused on the SRL in primary, middle and high school students, little was known about the SRL in college students. Since SRL is the major learning type in college students, understanding the modulating effects of SRL will be of a great help to improve the SRL ability in college students. Existing studies have being focused on how the factors of self-concept, learning attribution and adjustment to learning environment affect SRL in primary, middle and high school students, but no college students. In the context of the social cognitive theory (Zimmerman, 1989), the present study explore the modulating pattern of these factors using the structural equation modeling. A total of 501 students (248 male and 253 female) from four universities in Guangdong Province were enrolled. Participants filled out four validated questionnaires in classroom, including Self-Regulated Learning Scale (SRLS), Self-Concept Scale (SCS), Test about Learning Adjustment of Undergraduate (TLAU) and Multidimensional-Multiattributional Causality Scale (MMCS). It took about 40 minutes to complete the questionnaires. The correlations among factors were calculated with SPSS 12.0 and the structure models among these factors were analyzed with LISREL 8.72. In the analysis of structural equation modeling, two models were constructed; one for the hypothetical model and the other for the competing model. The results showed that better self-concept and better ability to adjust to learning environment were associated with better SRL performance, while external learning attribution such as attributing success and failure to situation and fortunate was associated with worse SRL. Furthermore, the analysis of structural equation modeling showed that learning attribution has a directly impact on self-regulated learning, and the ability to adjust to learning environment has an indirect influence on SRL through learning attribution. In addition, a direct impact from self-concept and an indirect impact from self-concept on SRL through adjustment to learning environment and learning attribution were observed. In line with the social cognitive theory, these findings demonstrated that different factors such as self-concept, adjustment to learning environment and learning attribution have significant impact on SRL. As a motivation system, self-concept not only has direct impacts on college students’ SRL, but also impacts on their learning attribution and adjustment to learning environment, which in turn initiate an impact on their SRL. These findings suggest that in order to improve the SRL performance in college students, it is crucial to establish their positive self-concept, change their irrational learning attribution and provide them with positive learning environment. Related Articles | Metrics

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Differences in Early Face Processing between Shy and Nonshy Undergraduates: Electrophysiological Evidence from an ERP Study HAN Lei,MA Juan,JIAO Ting,GAO Feng-Qiang,GUO Yong-Yu,WANG Peng 2010, 42 (02):  271-278.  Abstract ( 1606 )   Shyness refers to individual’s behavioral inhibition in social situations and a fear for negative evaluation in social situations which is closely associated with social cognition. Face recognition is an important type of social cognitive abilities in social life. In recent years, the majority of the neurophysiologic studies on shyness have focused on the effect of expressional valence and facial new-old effects upon face processing of shy individuals. It has been found that shyness predicted significantly smaller N400 amplitudes in response to anger and to a neutral expression (Marco, et al., 2005). In addition, it has also been reported that there existed greater functional MRI signal response within the amygdala to novel than to familiar faces among healthy young adults who were originally categorized as behaviorally inhibited and temperamentally shy in early childhood (Schwartz, Wright, Shin, Kagan, & Rauch, 2003). Shy adults exhibited greater bilateral amygdala activation during the presentation of strange faces and greater left amygdala activation during personally familiar faces than their bold counterparts (Beaton, et al., 2008). Although these results revealed that shy individuals and nonshy individuals had cognitive and neural differences in facial expression recognition and old-new face recognition, whether there exist cognitive and neural differences in the basic face recognition ability (e.g., face and object recognition) between shy and nonshy individuals remains an issue to be examined. This study investigated into N170 component via the face-object recognition tasks in order to explore the neurophysiologic differences in the early face processing between shy and nonshy undergraduates. The subjects were 17 shy undergraduates and 17 nonshy undergraduates. The major findings of the present study were: (1) the level of shyness interacted significantly with the types of stimuli, with the N170 amplitude of shy undergraduates being greater than that of nonshy undergraduates in face recognition, but this difference did not exist in object recognition. (2) There existed a significant effect of types of stimuli, such that the N170 amplitude elicited by face images was higher than that elicited by object images, and the N170 latency elicited by face images was shorter than by object images. (3) There was significant interaction between the hemispheres of the brain and the types of stimuli. Compared with left hemisphere, the N170 amplitude of right hemisphere was greater in face recognition, but the difference wasn’t significant between left and right hemisphere in object recognition. The findings of this study suggest that nonshy undergraduates have processing dominance in facial configuration, and the N170 amplitude of the nonshy undergraduates is greater than that of the shy undergraduates in face recognition. N170 is the special component in face recognition. The right hemisphere manifests processing dominance in N170 in face processing. Related Articles | Metrics

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Self-relevant Criteria Determine the Evaluation of Outcomes in the Self-performance and Other-performance Gambling Task WU Yan,YU Rong-Jun,ZHOU Xiao-Lin,LUO Yue-Jia 2010, 42 (02):  279-287.  Abstract ( 1176 )   Fast outcome evaluation allows for rapid decision-making and adjustment for future behavior. Recent studies utilizing event-related potentials (ERPs) technique to investigate the evaluative processes in the brain, have found a negative deflection mainly at the media-frontal regions of the brain, called as feedback related negativity (also called, media-frontal negativity, MFN). First, MFN was found in the self-performance task, reflecting that the outcomes were first evaluated as worse than what was anticipated. Subsequent studies found the MFN effects were also obtained in the other-performance gambling tasks while perceiving the outcome, reflecting subjective judgments about whether an event has positive or negative value for the monitored individuals. Our previous study found the MFN was larger in their self-performance task than the other-performance gambling task, but the outcomes of both tasks were their self-related outcomes, with females response differing from males. Previous studies didn’t separate these confusing factors and it is not clear whether the MFN amplitude is sensitive to their self-performance outcome or their self-related outcome. So we want to investigate the mechanism of perceiving self-related outcome and other-related outcome separately in both gambling tasks. If the MFN of self-related and other-related outcome shows no difference in the self-performance tasks, besides, the amplitude of MFN in the self-performance gambling task is larger than in the other-performance gambling tasks, these suggest that the MFN is sensitive to the self-response outcome. Nevertheless, we should consider the gender difference. Thirty-two participants (16 males and 16 females) completed the self-performance gambling task and observed the other-performance gambling task, and both gambling tasks included self-related outcome and other-related outcome. The electroencephalogram was recorded from 64 scalp electrodes. All of the data were segmented into 700ms epochs, including a 100ms pre-stimulus baseline period, based on time markers for the onset of the feedback stimuli. The MFN was statistically evaluated using SPSS 16.0 with multiple df repeated measures comparisons. We found that the MFN amplitude was larger in self-performance task than the other-performance task, and the self-related and other-related outcome didn’t show any difference, indicating that the MFN is sensitive to their self-response outcome. Subjects has strong motivation about their self-related outcome, but while perceiving the other-related outcome, in the one hand, they didn’t want to another people to win; in the other hand, they also didn’t want to another people to lose. In the self-performance task, when males perceived their self-related outcomes, the MFN was larger than perceiving other-related outcomes. On the contrary, in the other- performance task, the females elicited larger MFN while perceiving other-related outcomes than self-related outcomes. In both tasks, females elicited larger MFN while perceiving other-related outcomes than males. The results indicate that the MFN is sensitive to social information about affective motivation impacts. All of these results suggest that the evaluation criteria are different between monitoring their self-performance outcomes and other-performance outcomes of social information. Male and female responses vary in different directions of valence and have various significance of affective motivation in terms of whether gains or losses are negative for themselves. Gender differences in complex social behavior, results from the different mechanism of rapid outcome evaluation processing based on individual subjective criteria. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Path to Integrative Agreements: The Role of Motivational Orientation and Information Sharing Quality in Negotiation Process HAN Yu-Lan,ZHANG Zhi-Xue,WANG Min 2010, 42 (02):  288-303.  Abstract ( 1349 )   One purpose of this study was to examine the whole negotiation process from motivational orientation, to negotiation behaviors, then to judgment accuracy, and finally to joint gains. Another purpose was to explore the role of information sharing quality in negotiation. According to the theory of cooperation and competition (Deutsch, 1949, 1973), cooperative negotiators are more inclined to engage in constructive problem solving than individualistic negotiators. Thus, we predicted that cooperatively oriented negotiating dyads would achieve higher joint gains than mixed dyads or individualistically oriented dyads, and mixed dyads would achieve higher joint gains than individualistically oriented dyads. Exchanging information allows negotiators to have accurate insights into each other’s interests, and thus helps them find integrative solutions (e.g., Bazerman & Neale, 1992). However, sharing much information does not necessarily lead to accurate judgments unless such sharing is effective. Thus, we conjectured that both information sharing quantity and quality would be positively related to joint gains, and information sharing quality would be more predictive. We also made hypotheses to confirm judgment accuracy would be positively related to joint gains. Finally, based on the above literature review and hypotheses, we hypothesized that information sharing quality would mediate the relationship between motivational orientation and joint gains and judgment accuracy would mediate the relationship between information sharing quality and joint gains. A simulated one-to-one negotiation called “New Car” was used to collect data. The four negotiating issues were financing, color, warranty, and delivery date. Financing and warranty were integrative issues and color was a compatible issue. Participants were 226 MBA students. They were randomly assigned to a buyer or seller role and then paired to negotiate. Negotiators prepared for 15 minutes based on the given material including their confidential information. Then they bargained for 30 minutes. At the end of negotiation, each dyad completed the Final Contract and submitted to the instructor. Then they were asked to fill out the post-negotiation questionnaire in which motivational orientation, information sharing quantity and quality, and judgment accuracy were measured. Data from both the seller and the buyer were used to create the variables at the dyadic level, and all the analyses were at the dyadic level. T-test showed that the cooperative dyads processed higher quality of information sharing and achieved higher joint gains than the individualistic dyads. Correlation analysis indicated that both information sharing quantity and quality were positively related to joint gains and regression result showed that information sharing quality predicted joint gains better than information sharing quantity. Correlation analysis also indicated that information sharing quality was positively related to priority judgment accuracy and priority judgment accuracy was positively related to joint gains. Combined with the above hypothesis testing, hierarchical regression results showed that information sharing quality fully mediated the effect of motivational orientation on joint gains and priority judgment accuracy partially mediated the effect of information sharing quality on joint gains. This study uncovered the whole negotiation process from motivational orientation to joint gains, providing evidence for existing negotiation theories and improving people’s understandings of negotiation process. It also sheds light on the importance of information sharing quality in negotiation, suggesting that both scholars and practitioners should pay attention not only to how much information negotiators share but also to how effective their information sharing is. In addition, this study tells us that cooperative orientation can improve the quality of information sharing and thus enhance the quality of negotiation outcomes. Related Articles | Metrics

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Is Nationality Important? A New Perspective on the Relationship between Celebrity Endorsement and Advertising Effects ZHANG Hong-Xia,ZHANG Yi 2010, 42 (02):  304-316.  Abstract ( 2167 )   The Chinese market has become a focus of global competition. Many foreign firms seek local celebrities to endorse products or brands in order to enhance brand power and competitiveness in the market. In contrast, some Chinese firms turn to foreign celebrity endorsement to increase the firm’s image and prestige. Interesting questions emerge from this market change: do advertising effects of celebrity endorsement vary according to the nationality of the celebrity endorser (Chinese versus foreign)? Does the fit between endorser nationality and product nationality moderate advertising effects? Do consumers perceive differences regarding attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness of celebrities of different nationalities (Chinese versus foreign) in regard to endorsement of products with foreign symbols and products with Chinese symbols? These questions attract great interest from both academics and practitioners. Stimuli based on the extant literature were confirmed using focus groups and finally a pilot test. For ease of comparison, we chose products that have national symbols (Chinese vs. foreign) and functional characters. We selected celebrity endorsers from KU Ma online surveys and star ranking charts on popular websites in China. Ten celebrities comprising a mixture of Chinese males, Chinese females, foreign males and foreign females were initially selected. These candidates were then rated for general appeal on 7-point Likert scales; the highest scorers were finally selected to be celebrities examined in this study. This study adopted an experimental design approach, using 3 national product symbols (Chinese symbols, foreign symbols, no distinctive symbols) ´ 2 product types (utility, entertainment) ´ 2 celebrity types (Chinese, foreign). Twelve sets of questionnaires incorporating 7-point Likert scales were generated. Four hundred and forty questionnaires were completed by students from 3 universities in Beijing. Regression analyses confirmed the positive influence on consumer purchasing intentions of endorser characteristics such as attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. ANOVA results indicated the fit between celebrity nationality and product nationality has a moderating role in the relationship between endorser characteristics and advertising effects. Specifically, the impact of endorser attractiveness on consumer attitudes was higher when endorser nationality and product nationality were congruent than when incongruent. Endorser trustworthiness exerted more impact on consumer attitudes when nationality was congruent while endorser expertise exerted more impact on consumer purchasing intentions when nationality was incongruent. In relation to advertising effectiveness, foreign celebrities proved more attractive than Chinese celebrities for endorsement of products with Chinese symbols. However, foreign celebrities were seen as less trustworthy and having less expertise than Chinese celebrities in regard to endorsement of products bearing Chinese symbols. In contrast, in the endorsement of products with foreign symbols, foreign celebrities received higher scores in all three aspects, attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise than Chinese celebrities. Foreign celebrities also achieved higher performance scores regarding consumer attitudes and purchasing intentions for products with no distinctive national symbols. Overall, this study has implications for both Chinese and foreign firms in choosing celebrities for product endorsement. Besides endorser characteristics such as attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise, congruence between endorser nationality and product nationality should be carefully evaluated. Related Articles | Metrics