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ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

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    Editor-In-Chief Invited
    The Determinant Factor of Memory Performance: Cue Overload, Encoding-retrieval Match and Memory-as-discrimination
    BAI Xuejun; LIU Tuanli; XING Min; GONG Yanbin
    2015, 23 (3):  349-363.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00349
    Abstract ( 811 )  

    One of the most fundamental questions that research on human cognition has to answer is what determines our memory performance. The cue overload hypothesis states that as the number of items in memory associated with a cue increases, the effectiveness of the cue declines, while the encoding–retrieval match hypothesis states that memory performance depends on the extent to which encoded retrieval information matches the to-be-recalled representation. Both hypotheses mentioned above attracted attention of the researchers in different times. Based on the previous researches, the new perspective of memory as discrimination was proposed. Memory as discrimination perspective states that what really determines the probability of recall is the degree to which a cue is uniquely associated with a target, to the exclusion of other potential retrieval candidates, which offers a new sight to the question of ‘what determines our memory performance’. Future research should be engaged in testing this new perspective multifaceted, meanwhile, adopting new technology should be promoted.

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    Conceptual Framework
    The Cognitive and Neural Mechanism of Ambiguity Decision-making
    ZHANG Fenghua; ZHANG Yuting; XIANG Ling; HU Zhujing
    2015, 23 (3):  364-374.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00364
    Abstract ( 852 )  

    So far, numerous studies have focused on the exploration of cognitive and neural mechanism of risk decision-making, but less attention have been paid to that of decision-making under ambiguity. In reality, however, the circumstances of decision-making what we faced are usually ambiguity. Moreover, it still does not reach an agreement on whether decision-making under ambiguity is a kind of special and complicated risk decision-making or a kind of independent decision-making. Hence, it is necessary to reveal the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of decision-making under ambiguity. To solve this problem, firstly, using modified IGT task and GDT task, and applying ERP, biofeedback and genetic measures, we will examine the dissociation of decision-making under ambiguity and risk decision-making among Internet addicts and normal populations; Secondly, by modified IGT task and urn drawing task, and employing ERP and fMRI techniques, we plan to investigate the cognitive and neural mechanism of decision-making under ambiguity; Finally, we will validate the above results from a developmental and clinical perspective. Overall, the findings will help to expand research areas of decision-making under ambiguity, and will provide important theoretical guidance to understand human beings’ decision-making mechanism under ambiguous conditions and clarify the relationship between the decision-making under ambiguity and risk decision- making. At last, the findings have great theoretical and practical values on guiding cognitive diagnosis and therapy for clinical populations such as the addicts and the brain-impaired patients, and on giving insights to the enterprises and the individuals in real decision-making situations.

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    Dynamic Neural Processing Mode of Creative Problem Solving
    ZHAO Qingbai; LI Songqing; CHEN Shi; ZHOU Zhijin; CHENG Liang
    2015, 23 (3):  375-384.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00375
    Abstract ( 538 )  

    Although most previous studies based on the idea of functional specificity have identified the specific brain regions that are involved in creative-related sub-processes, the dynamic neural activities of these regions and the interaction among them are still unclear. Therefore, based on the idea of dynamic functional integration, this project will adopt the time-series analysis and the effective connectivity analysis to detect the dynamic neural processing mode of information selection and novel association formation in creative solutions of semantic problems. The current study not only enriches and develops the research methods that reveal the neural basis of creative problem solving, but also make people better understand the brain mechanism of creative problem solving from the system level and the dynamic information processing perspective, which further promote the development of the neural theory.

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    Regular Articles
    The Cognitive and Neural Mechanism of Temporal Expectation
    QIU Junjie; BI Cuihua; YUAN Xiangyong; HUANG Xiting
    2015, 23 (3):  385-393.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00385
    Abstract ( 551 )  

    Temporal expectation is the ability of individuals to predict when the target stimulus will happen by using time information in the environment. The cognitive models of the temporal expectation can be classified into two categories. The first category, which includes trace-conditioning model, dual-process model, dynamic attending theory and temporal orienting model, focuses on the producing procedure of the temporal expectation. The other category, for example, strategy model and temporal re-orienting model, focuses on explaining the updating procedure of the temporal expectation. Researches about neural substrates of temporal expectation confirmed that different types of temporal expectation activate different cortex areas, which indicates the producing procedure and the updating procedure of temporal expectation are separated. The producing procedure activates the left inferior parietal and premotor areas, while the updating procedure activates the right prefrontal cortex.

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    Imagining the Future: Cognitive Processes and Brain Networks
    XU Xiaoxiao; YU Jing; LEI Xu
    2015, 23 (3):  394-404.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00394
    Abstract ( 441 )  

    Reasonably anticipating and imagining future events or scenes improves individuals’ adaptability and promotes human’s survival and development. In recent years, researchers have investigated the cognitive processes and brain mechanisms of imagining the future, and proposed corresponding concepts and theories. We firstly summarized the widely used thought-sampling procedures and word-cuing paradigms, and then self-referential processing, mental scene construction and other cognitive processes were also elaborated. Moreover, we specifically introduced the default mode network and other-related large-scale brain networks, and proposed one brain network framework for imagining the future. Future research needs to comprehensively investigate dynamic and complex brain networks and their relationships with specific diseases.

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    Connotations and Extensions of “Mirrorness”: The Controversies on Mirror Neurons
    CHEN Bo; CHEN Wei; ZHANG Jing; YUAN Tifei
    2015, 23 (3):  405-418.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00405
    Abstract ( 500 )  

    Mirror neurons are considered to be the important findings which had been changing cognitive neuroscience. They provide a uniform perspective of study for lots of mind or cognitive phenomena which can’t be tested by experiments yet. Their crucial role in social cognition leads to researchers’ extensive attentions and drastic controversies. The authors review the main arguments according to the logic relations and properties, and divide them into two categories: one is about the mirror connotations, including the disputations in whether the human brain contains mirror neurons and their origin; the other one focuses mainly on the mirror extensions consisting of the contentions of mirror neuron system and mirror mechanism. The future investigations must abandon the tendency of reductionism that regards mirror neurons as “Holy Grail of Cognitive Science”, but consider them as open complex giant systems which are consisted of multiple sub systems, and transfer our attentions to the mirror mechanism.

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    The Effects of Music Training on Cognitive Abilities
    WANG Hang; JIANG Jun; JIANG Cunmei
    2015, 23 (3):  419-429.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00419
    Abstract ( 1095 )  

    In modern society, more and more children receive music training in order to improve cognitive abilities. Focusing language, spatial, and mathematical abilities, the effects of music training on cognitive abilities were investigated. The results showed that although the relationship between music training and cognitive abilities was complex, music training not only was positively associated with language perception, language production, and spatial visualization abilities, but also could improve these cognitive abilities to a certain extent. The current findings may provide empirical evidence for music education.

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    Quantification of Cognitive Reserve and Application Research in Cognitive Aging
    HE Yan; YU Lin; YAN Zhimin; ZHAO Yuhan
    2015, 23 (3):  430-438. 
    Abstract ( 433 )  

    Cognitive reserve is the ability to optimize performance by utilizing different brain networks. It significantly influences the physiological function, cognitive function and the behavior results. Researches on cognitive reserve mainly focus on its measurement, and the application reaserch of cognitive reserve in cognitive aging. Consensus has been obtained on its quantification and the relationship with cognitive aging. However, controversies exist on its standardization, its relationship with cognitive decline rate and with brain pathology. Future research should not only further refine the quantification of cognitive reserve, explore the pathological mechanism of cognitive reserve, but also pay attention to the intervention of cognitive reserve on aging.

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    “Alone but not lonely” or “Alone and also lonely”: Cultural Differences on Relations between Unsociability and Adjustment Functioning
    DING Xuechen; ZHANG Tian; DENG Xinmei; SANG Biao; FANG Li; CHENG Chen
    2015, 23 (3):  439-447.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00439
    Abstract ( 693 )  

    Social withdrawal refers to the process whereby children remove themselves from opportunities for peer interaction and frequently display solitary behaviors in social contexts. Unsociability or social disinterest, which is one subtype of social withdrawal, refers to the non-fearful preference for solitary activities. It should be noted that unsociability is not necessarily related with emotional adjustment difficulties in individualistic societies such as Canada and USA. However, the definition of adaptive value of specific social behavior varies from culture to culture. For example, unsociability is associated with social, emotional, and school problems in collectivistic societies such as China. Future studies should be aimed at making more comprehensive designs, examining interactions between age and culture, conducting direct comparisons in different cultures, exploring culture-related risk and protective factors, and highlighting impact of the Internet.

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    General Mental Ability Predicts Performance: The State and Mechanism
    LI Yingwu; YU Zhou; HAN Xiao; LIU Tinganxu
    2015, 23 (3):  448-459.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00448
    Abstract ( 1289 )  

    General Mental Ability (GMA) is the most widely used predictor in personnel selection. Previous studies have confirmed that GMA not only directly affect the work knowledge and skills acquisition, but also indirectly affect individual job performance through learning and problem solving. Additionally, GMA has been confirmed to be the best predictor of job performance. Future research on the nature of GMA and the psychological mechanism of GMA predicting performance should draw lessons from cognitive neuroscience paradigm besides the classical testing theory; explore the brain cognitive mechanism of GMA predicting job performance; and collect further evidence of GMA’s predictive validity and generalized predictive validity in China context.

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    The Evolution and Comparison of Personality Tests Based on the Five-Factor Approach
    CHEN Jiyue; XU Jianping; LI Hongyan; FAN Yexin; LU Xiaolan
    2015, 23 (3):  460-478.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00460
    Abstract ( 787 )  

    This review aims to examine different aspects of existing personality tests that have been developed to fit the five factor approach. The analyses indicated that there are more than 30 types of five-factor approach personality tests of various lengths and forms. These tests can be classified into three board categories: self-report inventory, adjective checklist and nonverbal inventory. Each test appears to have unique advantages and disadvantages when applied to different research and practical situations. Their reliability and validity also varies across situations. Taken together, these results suggest that researchers should be careful when choosing personality tests and take into account factors such as the test length, the test purpose, and cultural differences.

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    Interpersonal Gratitude: An Important Positive Emotion in Social Life
    LIANG Hongyu; CHEN Shi; XIONG Hongxing; SUN Peizhen; LI Fang; ZHENG Xue
    2015, 23 (3):  479-488.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00479
    Abstract ( 925 )  

    Interpersonal gratitude is a cognitive emotion, it refers to the thankful and joyful attitude that a certain individual expresses towards other’s benefaction with kindness. Situational appraisal is the key mechanism for the formation of interpersonal gratitude. Besides, the emotion is also affected by other factors including characteristics of the beneficiary, and the dyadic relationship features, etc. Thus, the researchers have designed various paradigms to induce interpersonal gratitude, such as scripts of plot, and interactions tasks, etc. In addition, the function of interpersonal gratitude has three levels including individual, dyadic and group. In the future, the research focus of interpersonal gratitude can be studying the underlying neurophysiological mechanism, investigating the cultivation of trait gratitude from interpersonal gratitude, extending the study of the function of interpersonal gratitude, as well as exploring the Chinese cultural impact on interpersonal gratitude.

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    Interpersonal Sensitivity: From Social Cognition to Psychological Risk Factor
    LIU Yan; GU Chuanhua
    2015, 23 (3):  489-495.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00489
    Abstract ( 1019 )  

    As a social cognitive capacity, interpersonal sensitivity has become a hot research topic. Interpersonal sensitivity is defined in recent years as a stable and aggregate personality trait characterized by consistent concerns about negative social evaluation, high vigilance and sensitivity to others’ evaluations, and defensive behaviors such as submission and inhibition to avoid negative social evaluation. Researchers found that interpersonal sensitivity is a psychological risk factor for infectious diseases and possibly cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Effective methods for measuring interpersonal sensitivity is in need so as to integrate relevant models, to understand how interpersonal sensitivity affects health, and to improve psychological intervention and disease prevention.

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    Subgroup: Formation, Types, Intermediate Process and Influence
    NI Xudong; DAI Yanjun; YAO Chunxu; ZHANG Hong
    2015, 23 (3):  496-509.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00496
    Abstract ( 524 )  

    Subgroup is the subset triggered by team faultlines and the result of deep research in team diversity, which has captured researchers’ attention gradually. This paper has studied the formation and types of subgroup with the deep look of subgroup’s definition, explored the relationship between subgroup and team performance, elaborating the mediators and moderators during that process. And then we introduced an integrated framework to describe and present that researches should take a closer look into the roles of leadership, emotion, country background, social network and subgroup measures play in the subgroup study.

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    Conducting Psychological Research via the Internet: In the West and China
    WANG Yuqi; YU Zhenkun; LUO Yu; CHEN Jieming; CAI Huajian
    2015, 23 (3):  510-519.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00510
    Abstract ( 608 )  

    With the rapid growth of the Internet, using the Internet to conduct psychological research is receiving increasing attention and acceptance. Internet-based research, which appeared in early 1990s, includes four basic paradigms: non-reactive data collection, Internet-based surveys, Internet-based tests and Internet-based experiments. Compared with the traditional lab research, Internet-based approach has advantages in collecting large and heterogeneous samples. However, there are also some drawbacks such as a lack of control, self-selection and drop-out that need special attention and solutions. Nevertheless, Internet-based approach is useful and promising, particularly in China.

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    Research Methods
    Application of Social Relation Model in Psychology
    XU Tao; ZHANG Minqiang; WANG Xiaoting; HUANG Zhaofeng; JIAO Can
    2015, 23 (3):  520-528.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00520
    Abstract ( 524 )  

    Social Relation Model (SRM) decomposes interpersonal behavior and individual variation into two levels. It takes the complexity and multiplicity into account and improves the ecological validity of the researches in psychology. We introduce the research design of SRM, including round-robin design and block design. Five methods of data analysis and software are available for researchers. Then its application in psychology including the advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The block design, parameter estimation method and multivariate SRM need further study.

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    Factor Mixture Model: An Integration of Latent Class Analysis and Factor Analysis
    CHEN Yushuai; WEN Zhonglin; GU Honglei
    2015, 23 (3):  529-538.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00529
    Abstract ( 665 )  

    Factor Mixture Model (FMM) is a factor analysis model in which the latent population heterogeneity is considered. Combined with latent class analysis (LCA) and traditional factor analysis (FA), the FMM model consistently preserves the advantages of these two statistical methods, and has some unique features as well. Present empirical applications of FMM include the description of latent structure of variables, classification of subjects, and detection of social desirability bias. We suggest to fit data with FA, LCA and FMM respectively, and to choose an optimal model according to the fit indexes and practical implications. By applying FMM to build the measurement model of consciousness of social face, we illustrate the analysis steps and software operation procedures. Future research efforts are needed for some issues on FMM, such as the simplification of analytical process and the selection of fit index.

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