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The Influence of Semantic Integration between Items on Associative Recognition: Evidence from ERPs Study LV Yuan; LIANG Jiuqing; GUO Chunyan 2015, 47 (4):  427-438.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00427 Abstract ( 1016 )   PDF (1448KB) ( 2461 )   Peer Review Comments According to dual-process theory, recognition memory is supported by two distinct retrieval processes known as familiarity and recollection. Evidence coming from studies using event-related brain potentials (ERPs ) showed that FN400 old/new effect (300~500 ms, anterior) is related to familiarity and parietal old/new effect (400~800 ms, posterior) is related to recollection. Opinions about how familiarity and recollection support item recognition and associative recognition are changed with time. At beginning, it was found that both familiarity and recollection have contribution to item recognition, but associative recognition is mainly supported by recollection. However, results coming from source memory and associative memory indicated that when items, which are shown simultaneously, can be integrated or engage integrated processing, familiarity also affects associative recognition. The current experiment aims to give a further discussion about how familiarity and recollection affect associative recognition by manipulating the semantic integration between items. The present study used study-recognition paradigm. During study phase, subjects were required to learn two kinds of materials with different integration level. One kind of picture-pairs can be linked by four character Chinese idioms, which have high integration level. We called those picture-pairs as idiom condition. The other kind of pictures can’t be linked by four character Chinese idioms, which have low integration level. We called those picture-pairs as non-idiom condition. In idiom condition, subjects were required to report the idioms linked with picture-pairs. In non-idiom condition, subjects were required to report the names of pictures presented on the screen. In both conditions, subjects were required to remember the picture-pairs and the relationship between the pictures composing the picture-pairs. During test phase, subjects were required to judge if picture-pairs were presented in the same pairing as at study, were rearranged from at study, or were entirely new. ERPs results at test phase showed that old/new effects were obtained in both conditions at 200~800 ms period. Idiom condition has larger distribution than non-idiom condition. But only idiom condition showed old/rearrangement effect at 400~800ms period. The ERPs evoked by old judgments and rearrangement judgments in idiom condition were more positive than that in non idiom condition. However, there was no significant difference between the two conditions for new judgment. Topographic maps analysis showed that there were no significant distribution differences between old/new effects and old/rearrangement effects in both conditions. All results above indicate that item integration affects the efficiency of memory in associative recognition. Highly integrated items result in better recognition performance. Increasing the semantic integration of items can enhance the effects of familiarity and recollection in associative recognition, and can also enhance the effects of conceptual priming in associative recognition. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Bilingual Cognitive Control Mechanism of Highly Proficient Cantonese-Mandarin Speakers: Evidence from A Dual-task Switching Paradigm LIU Xiaoyu; HE Chaodan; CHEN Jun; DENG Qinli 2015, 47 (4):  439-454.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00439 Abstract ( 1246 )   PDF (485KB) ( 2580 )   Peer Review Comments Recent studies have been focused on the relationship between bilingual cognitive control in language switching and general cognitive control in task-switching. So far, however, evidences for whether the two mechanisms are same or not are still controversial. Among which, two major arguments have been achieved: (1) bilingual cognitive control works out as a set of processes which are fully subsidiary to the general cognitive control mechanism; (2) the bilingual cognitive control in language-switching is compulsory independent from general cognitive control in task-switching. To investigate the bilingual cognitive control mechanism of highly proficient Cantonese-Mandarin speakers and its relationship with the general cognitive control in task-switching, a dual-task switching paradigm was conducted in two experiments, including letters-digital classification task and picture naming task in simple and mixed contexts. Besides, phonological similarity of Cantonese and Mandarin were specifically controlled in the two experiments to ascertain sources of the switch cost in bilingual performance. 24 undergraduates who are highly proficient Cantonese-Mandarin speakers participated in the two experiments. They were asked to classify letters or digits in Cantonese in letters-digital classification task and name the picture in Mandarin or Cantonese according to which half of the screen the stimuli would appear. Specifically, pictures in experiment 1 shared high phonological similarity between Cantonese and Mandarin; while pictures in experiment 2 shared low phonological similarity. All the participants were tested individually on computers during the whole experiment. Reaction time and error rates were analyzed by subject and item variance. In Experiment 1, the data showed that the reaction time was shorter and the error rates were lower in non-switch condition in both tasks. Participants showed a symmetric code switching cost in picture naming task and symmetric task switching cost in letters-digital classification task, but no significant correlations was found between switch costs in linguistic and non-linguistic switching tasks. In Experiment 2, the data revealed a typical language switching cost as well as same pattern of the switch costs in the linguistic and non-linguistic switching. Besides, no significantly correlation was found in switch costs of the two tasks. Under different phonological conditions, high proficient Mandarin-Cantonese bilingual showed a symmetric code switching cost in picture naming task, with shorter reaction time in high phonological similarity than low phonological similarity. This indicated that switching process might be modulated by the phonological similarity, however code-switching cost is not affected. No matter what phonological conditions were, they showed symmetric task switching cost, which suggested that the pattern of task switch cost might be similar or same to that of code switch cost. The data of the two experiments suggested that the patterns of the switch costs in the linguistic and non-linguistic switching tasks appeared to be similar or same, though switch costs of the two tasks were not significantly correlated. Based on the qualitative and quantitative results, the study indicated that language cognitive control mechanisms of high proficient Mandarin-Cantonese bilingual are closely related, yet not completely subsidiary to the general cognitive control mechanism. Meanwhile, as evidences revealed that phonological similarity did not exert any significant effect on the language switching cost, the study supposed that the switching cost might not come from the word-recognition system itself. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Role of Core Beliefs Challenge, Subjective Fear, and Intrusive Rumination in Association Between Severity of Traumatic Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Adolescent Survivors After the Yaan Earthquake ZHOU Xiao1; WU Xinchun1; YUAN Xiaojiao2; CHEN Jieling1; CHEN Qiuyan2 2015, 47 (4):  455-465.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00455 Abstract ( 2322 )   PDF (433KB) ( 5357 )   Peer Review Comments The Yaan earthquake in 2013, another destructive natural disaster that occurred in Sichuan, China after the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, has caused widespread loss of life and property. Adolescent survivors of this earthquake experienced significant psychological reactions, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often considered to be the most frequent one in the aftermath of disasters. Many researchers, to date, have examined the reason for the high prevalence of PTSD, and found that the severity of traumatic exposure was a precondition of PTSD. However, not all the traumatized people been exposed to traumatic events would experience PTSD. This can be attributed to the differences in cognitive reaction. The shattered world assumption suggests that the extent of core beliefs being challenged by traumatic event can activate the development of different cognitive reactions and elicit the development of PTSD. According to the cognitive evaluation theory, people exposed to traumatic events can also take different strategies to cope the traumatic clues, and negative coping strategies, such as intrusive rumination, are important risk factors for PTSD. What calls for special attention is that both the shattered world assumption and the cognitive evaluation theory emphasize the effect of cognition after traumatic exposure in the developing process of PTSD, and they also share the same limit in clinical intervention for PTSD by ignoring the role of emotion. Thus, some researchers suggest that more attention should be paid to people’s emotive reactions, such as fear, in the PTSD study. And based on the model of fear network, traumatic exposure can make people experience more fear for the trauma, which may in turn increase the likelihood of the appearance of PTSD. While traumatic exposure, core beliefs challenge, intrusive rumination and subjective fear were theoretically speculated as important risk factors, the specific paths how traumatic exposure elicits PTSD by these factors are unclear. Furthermore, the predictive utility of these risk factors has not been evaluated in an integrated model, and the relationship between cognitive reactions and emotive reactions in the developing process of PTSD has not been examined. In addition, previous researchers mainly studied the general adults or college students, and few focused on the adolescent survivors after disaster. Regarding the above limitations, the current study aimed to explore the role of core beliefs challenge, intrusive rumination, and subjective fear in the association between traumatic exposure and PTSD among adolescent survivors six months after the Yaan earthquake. 310 adolescent survivors were selected from several junior and senior middle schools in the county of Lushan, the area most severely affected by the Yaan earthquake. Participants completed Traumatic Exposure Questionnaire, Subjective Fear Questionnaire, Core Beliefs Inventory, The Event Related Rumination Inventory and The Revised Child PTSD Symptom Scale six months after the Yaan earthquake. The results found that both the mean level and the prevalence of PTSD were relatively low. The mean level of PTSD of male students was lower than that of female students, and the mean level of PTSD of grade 1 students in senior middle school was higher than that of all the other grade students who participated in the survey. The analysis of structural equation model found that the severity of traumatic exposure had positive effect on PTSD by core beliefs challenge and by that via the multiple mediator effect of intrusive rumination. Moreover, traumatic exposure could positively affect PTSD by the severity of subjective fear via the multiple mediator effect of intrusive rumination. However, the severity of traumatic exposure had no effect on PTSD by intrusive rumination or subjective fear. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis of Changes in Chinese Migrant Workers’ Mental Health: 1995~2011 HUANG Silin; HOU Jiawei; ZHANG Mei; XIN Ziqiang; ZHANG Hongchuan; SUN Ling; DOU Donghui 2015, 47 (4):  466-477.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00466 Abstract ( 1239 )   PDF (644KB) ( 3673 )   Peer Review Comments In 2013 the amount of migrant workers in China reached 268 million, with an increase of 6.33 million compared to that in 2012 (China National Bureau of Statistics, 2014). Increasing literature suggests that migration is an important source of stress and can cause continual change in both one’s physical and mental health. In the past 20 years, many researchers repeatedly investigated migrations’ mental health state, however they did not reach consistent conclusions. Some studies found that migrant workers scored in mental problems higher than Chinese adult norm (Jin et al., 1986) and their mental health level is increasing over time, while others presented that migrant workers’ mental health was actually as well as the adult norm. Traditionally, the method of meta-analysis is preformed to integrate these controversies, but these meta-analyses simply compared the statistic results from different studies and neglected the role of their publication years. In order to resolve the controversies, we used the cross-temporal meta-analysis technique to explore the possible change patterns in Chinese migrant workers’ mental health with time. In the present study we collected and analyzed 70 papers collected data from 1995 to 2011, all using the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) as the measuring tool. Only those that reported the sample size, mean and standard deviation were used and totally 46485 of Chinese migrant workers were included in those papers. Each sample/paper was coded according to the sample size, sampling area, occupation, age and gender, used as independent or control variables. All 9 types of mental problems in SCL-90 were used as dependent variables. The analysis first compared the factorial mean scores of the SCL-90 across data collection years, and then investigated the cross-time changes of different groups separately. Our results showed that the mental health level of Chinese migrant workers increased steadily in the 17 years between 1995 through 2011. Specifically, all 9 types of mental problems correlated with data collection year negatively, the year accounting for 1% to 31% variances of each type of mental problems. The means of 9 types of mental problems decreased in the range between 1% and 39%, among which interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety and paranoid ideation dropped most significantly. There were also significant differences in terms of cross-time changes between groups: migrant workers in the Eastern area, manufacture industry, and female workers showed an increasing trend in mental health, while young workers and male workers exhibited a decrease whereas no change was found for workers in the construction industry. For the first time, the present study integrated different studies and showed that Chinese migrant workers’ mental health was getting better in general. The possible contributions to policy making and societal system construction and implications for future research were discussed. Related Articles | Metrics

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Dose Violent Offenders Have Lower Capacity of Empathy for Pain: Evidence from ERPs GAO Xuemei; WENG Lei; ZHOU Qun; ZHAO Cai; LI Fang 2015, 47 (4):  478-487.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00478 Abstract ( 2295 )   PDF (994KB) ( 12226 )   Peer Review Comments As a typical form of empathy, empathy for pain refers to the perception, judgment of others’ pain, as well as corresponding affective responses. Deficit in empathy for pain may lead to withdrawal, indifference to other’s pain or aggressive behavior.Some contextual factors, especially the observers’ traits, may have an influence on empathy for pain. Previous studies have focused on empathy for pain of special groups like physicians and offenders, but most of these studies are questionnaire surveys and there is little research on the cognitive neural mechanisms.Moreover, observing stimuli in different perspectives also affects empathy for pain, and whether this effect exists in special groups remains unknown. Investigating the capacity of empathy in violent offenders can deepen our understanding about the mechanisms of empathy and provide some supports for their training program. Using a picture-priming paradigm, the present studypresented painful and non-painful stimuli toviolent offenders and ordinary (control) participants and simultaneously recorded their ERP data. The experiment consisted of two blocks and the participants were asked to view stimuli in first-person and other-person perspectives, respectively. Painful or non-painful pictures were presented for 1000ms, which werefollowed by a fixationlasting randomly for 1500-1700ms. In order to make sure that the participants viewed the pictures carefully, only 10% pictures were randomly chosen and needed participants’ responses. These pictures were accompanied by a response screen showing that “Painful picture: F; Non-painful picture: J”. The screen disappeared after a button pressing.For the remained trials, the participants just needed to view pictures carefully. The results showedthat the latencies and amplitudes of N110, P2 and P300 were different between violent offenders and control group. When viewing painful pictures, violent offenders had longer latency of N110 and P2 than what, and the amplitude of P2 was larger than what. When they viewed pictures under other-person perspective they also had longer latency of N110 than what?. Furthermore, for the amplitude of P300, control grouphad smaller amplitude when viewing painful pictures in both perspectives, while for violent offenders this effect only existed under other-person perspective. Our results indicated that violent offenders might have lower capacity of empathy for pain than control group. The present study supports the Communications Model of empathy for pain and expands previous studies to some extent. This may also provide some empirical support for the training program of offenders. However, we also have some limitations that need further investigations in the future. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Pattern and Neural Correlates of Unintentional Stereotype Activation YANG Yaping; WANG Pei; YIN Zhihui; CHEN Qingwei; FENG Xiaying 2015, 47 (4):  488-502.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00488 Abstract ( 1382 )   PDF (939KB) ( 3280 )   Peer Review Comments Ample previous studies have provided behavioral and electrophysiological evidences about stereotype activation. It is an open question whether stereotype activation is an unintentional process and what the characteristics of brain activity in this process are. Adopting priming Stroop paradigm, the present study aimed to investigate the pattern and the neural correlates of unintentional stereotype activation by recording both behavioral and ERP data. Thirty young participants (16 female) were recruited in this experiment. The prime word was a social category label (“Men” / “Women”) and a Korean character (“?”/“?”) in the prime and “no-prime” control conditions respectively. The target word was either a stereotypic trait word associated with one of the gender categories or a scene-descriptive word. Thus, the target word was consistent, inconsistent or irrelevant with the gender stereotype. A trial in this experiment began with a 300 ms fixation cross, followed by the prime which was presented on the screen for a period of 300 ms. The prime was followed by an ISI of 500ms, after which the target word came for 300ms. After the presentation of the target a blank was presented and lasted until the participants responded. And then, the inter-trial interval (ITI) was randomized between 600 and 800 ms. All words appeared in the center of the computer screen. The participants were told that 360 words with red, green or blue would appear on the screen in random order. For each word appearing on the screen, they were asked to decide as fast as possible whether a word was red, green or blue by pressing the “Q”,”P” and the “space” button respectively. The button labels of “red”, “green” and “blue” were pasted on the “Q”, “P” and “Space” of the computer key board before the experiment. The responses were counterbalanced across the participants. Behavioral results showed that the reaction time for consistent, inconsistent and irrelevant targets was almost the same in the “no-prime” condition. However, in the prime condition, the participants made significantly faster responses for the consistent targets, compared to the inconsistent; the reaction time for the irrelevant targets was faster than the inconsistent targets but slower than the consistent targets. ERPs results indicated that the N400 amplitude was significantly affected by the target types, but the tendency was obviously different across the prime and the “no-prime” conditions. In the “no-prime” condition, the irrelevant targets elicited the significantly largest N400 amplitude; the N400 amplitudes evoked by the consistent and the inconsistent targets were almost same. However, in the prime condition, the N400 elicited by the inconsistent targets was significantly larger than the consistent targets over the fronto-central area, and the N400 elicited by the irrelevant targets was larger than the consistent targets but smaller than the consistent targets. These results indicated that the process of stereotype activation was an unintentional automatic process. This unintentional stereotype activation effect with “double-edged knife” pattern started at the post-perceptual processing stage and the N400 ERP component reflected the unintentionally access of stereotypical knowledge in the memory representation. The N400 ERP component could be a sensitive indicator to investigate unintentional stereotype activation. Related Articles | Metrics

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Survival-processing Memory Advantage Comes from Natural Selection: Evidence from Cross-age Comparison and Reproduction Scenarios TANG Weihai; XIE Si; LIU Yuxia; BAI Xuejun; LIU Xiping 2015, 47 (4):  503-513.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00503 Abstract ( 1199 )   PDF (460KB) ( 2688 )   Peer Review Comments Words processed under a survival scenario have a remarkable advantage over those processed in other deep processing conditions (e.g. pleasantness rating, self-reference, moving scenario, and intentional learning). This robust phenomenon is known as survival-processing advantage effect. Nairne, Thompson and Pandeirada (2007) suggested that our memory systems were naturally adjusted to process and store fitness-relevant information which was beneficial to surviving and reproducing. However, this evolutionary-based explanation has little empirical support. The current study aimed to confirm this assumption directly. According to the assumption that the survival-processing advantage effect is due to the pressure brought by natural selection, we inferred that it should be equally found among individuals of different ages. Meanwhile, considering the fitness-relevance assumption, processing words in other fitness-relevant contexts using the same paradigm as survival processing should also yield better memory. Two experiments were conducted in the current study. In the first experiment, 300 participants were randomly chosen from five age groups (8, 10, 12, 21, and 64 years old). The participants were then assigned to the primitive hunting scenario or the hunting contest scenario. Primitive hunting scenario described a dangerous surrounding which participants imagined to hunt for the survival of their tribe. By contrast, the hunting contest scenario did not involve life safety. In this scenario, participants were instructed to imagine taking a hunting contest. All the participants were also asked to assess to what extent each word was relevant to the activities in the imaginative scenario. The instructions for the free recall appeared unexpectedly after a two-minute distraction task. In the second experiment, 150 undergraduates were randomly recruited and assigned to one of the five rating tasks: survival, mate selection, pregnancy, raising a child, and self-reference. The survival scenario needed participants imagine to survive without basic materials in foreign grasslands. The mate selection, pregnancy, raising a child scenarios were all related to reproduction. By contrast, the self-reference was unrelated to survival or reproduction and a namely fitness-irrelevant task. The procedures of word assessment and free recall were similar to Experiment 1. In both experiments, the accuracy of free recall, the ratings, and the rating latencies were recorded for analysis. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that the proportion of correct recall was higher in the primitive hunting condition than in the hunting contest condition across age groups. That is, we observed a typical survival-processing advantage effect in all groups. More importantly, there was no significant difference in the amount of survival benefit. Additionally, there were no statistical differences in the rating latencies and the ratings between primitive hunting condition and hunting contest condition within age group. The results of Experiment 2 showed that recall performances in the “mate selection” scenario and the “raising a child” scenario were better than that in fitness-irrelevant task, suggesting a reproduction advantage. The pregnancy condition did not show a memory advantage possibly because pregnancy was less important in terms of evolutionary significance, especially for the younger participants who were lack of experiences about pregnancy. Also, the error rate of free recall, the rating latencies and the ratings were similar to the results of the first experiment. There were no differences between conditions. In accordance with the natural selection explanation, the survival advantages occurred in different ages and the magnitude of the effects did not differ among ages. These results suggested that people prioritized the processing of fitness-relevant information independent of development. However, this conclusion needed to be further verified due to a low power of the ANOVA test. The higher accuracy of free recall found in the scenario of mate selection and raising a child suggested that reproduction-processing and survival-processing had memory advantages compared to fitness-irrelevant processing. Our findings provided good evidence for the natural selection explanation. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Spatial Size Metaphor of Power Concepts: A Perspective from Embodied Cognition TANG Peipei; YE Haosheng; DU Jianzheng 2015, 47 (4):  514-521.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00514 Abstract ( 1961 )   PDF (405KB) ( 3823 )   Peer Review Comments Metaphor is an important cognitive way for human to understand the world. It’s the main way for human to understand abstract concepts and abstract thinking. Body experience is the foundation of metaphor, through physical experience, human gained the initial concept category. Human achieve the understanding of abstract concepts by mapping it onto the abstract concepts through the isomorphic relation. The isomorphic relationship is the image-schema. It is a structure which builds on our daily physical experience constantly repeated. Humans have many image-schemas, such as "up-down" image-schema, "big-small" image-schema and so on. Through image-schemas, people can understand the abstract concepts by concrete experience. Spatial metaphor is the most common way of human cognition. Most human abstractions are understandings by spatial metaphors. The size is an important dimension of space, is also used to understand the different abstractions commonly. Such as positive vs negative, and importance vs unimportance. The metaphor effects are verified, but even though a lot of the linguistic materials proved the metaphorical relationship between space and power, but it’s still lack of psychological evidence. Based on this situation, current studies use psychological methods investigate the metaphorical effect of power and size systematically. The studies include three experiments: Experiment 1: Classic Stroop Paradigm Variant. Using reaction and correct as dependent variable to investigate the metaphorical effects between size and power. We select some words such as power or powerful, show them on the computer screen in different size, the big is 24, the small is 15. We ask the subjects to judge which one is powerful or powerless. We find out that the subjects judge quicker when the powerful show in big size and when the powerless show in small size; Experiment 2: using social situation paradigm and direct power rating index as dependent variable, further confirm the power and size metaphor. We give subjects some information about a manager, and the organization chart of the company. We ask the subjects to complete a scale about the power of the manager. We find that the manager will be perceived more powerful when the square is big which represent the manager; Experiment 3: through the priming of the power concepts first to investigate whether the cognition of power will influence the after area assessment. We show some words of powerful in the middle of one square as background, then ask the subjects to remember all of them, and estimate the size of the square and the circle. We find that the subjects which ask to remember and estimate the power words, the size is bigger than the subjects which ask to remember the powerless words. Conclusions: There is the metaphor of power and size. The powerful is perceived big, and the powerless is perceived small. When processing power activate “big-small” schema automatically, the schema associate information can influence the power cognition. Space is not only impact on the processing of power, but also affect the processing of power concepts relate to social information. Power and size metaphor has two-way effects. When processing the concept about power, it can be influenced by the spatial size, and also the concept of power processing can affect the perception of space area. Related Articles | Metrics

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Discounting or Priority: Which Rule Dominates the Intertemporal Choice Process? LIU Hong-Zhi; JIANG Cheng-Ming; RAO Li-Lin; LI Shu 2015, 47 (4):  522-532.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00522 Abstract ( 2463 )   PDF (615KB) ( 4179 )   Peer Review Comments Intertemporal choice refers to decisions that involve tradeoffs among outcomes at different points of time (Frederick, Loewenstein, & O'Donoghue, 2002; Prelec & Loewenstein, 1991). It is not only a unique characteristic of human behavior, but is also a relevant matter to policymaking and national welfare. Two families of models on intertemporal choice exist. One is the family of discounting models, such as discounted utility model or hyperbolic discounting model. These models assume that people discount future outcomes by their immediacy and subsequently compare the discounted values. The other is the family of priority models, such as tradeoff model or equate-to-differentiate model. These models assume that people compare the differences between dimensions and make decisions along a single dimension. Considerable debate has occurred regarding the strategy that people adopt when making intertemporal choices. The extant evidence based on outcome tests has been inconclusive. To address this debate, we used a process-test paradigm called process dissociation procedure (PDP) to explore whether the strategy that underlies intertemporal choice is a discounting strategy or a priority strategy. Based on dual-system theory, discounting strategy is presumably driven by an analytic system, whereas priority strategy is presumably driven by a heuristic system. Following the logic of PDP, we proposed the following hypothesis: if decisions are based on discounting (priority) strategy, manipulating the factors that affect this strategy results in the transformation of the contribution of the analytic (heuristic) system, whereas the contribution of the heuristic (analytic) remains unchanged. A total of 423 college students participated in the experiments. Specifically, 154 college students participated in Experiment 1, 102 in Experiment 2, and 167 in Experiment 3. In Experiment 1, to ensure that only the analytic system is affected, we manipulated the decision goal by instructing participants to make decisions in a rational manner. In Experiment 2, we examined the effect of cognitive load on the heuristic system by instructing participants to remember several numbers. In Experiment 3, we manipulated strategy priming to simultaneously affect the analytic and heuristic systems by asking participants to answer priming questions before the experiment. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that the decision goal, which was supposed to affect the analytic system, failed to modify the contribution of the analytic system. The results of Experiment 2 showed that cognitive load, which was supposed to affect the heuristic system, modified the contribution of the heuristic system. The results of Experiment 3 suggested that strategy priming, which was supposed to affect both systems, modified the contribution of the heuristic system but did not affect the analytic system. Overall, the results of the three experiments consistently showed that people may adopt a priority strategy, rather than a discounting strategy, when making intertemporal choices. Our findings provide further evidence for the proposition that the priority strategy of heuristic systems dominates the intertemporal choice-making process. This research deepens our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie intertemporal choice and provides a theoretical foundation for establishing and stipulating intertemporal policies, laws, and regulations. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Mechanisms of Knowledge Heterogeneity on Creativity of Knowledge Teams: An Interactive Cognition Perspective LV Jie; ZHANG Gang 2015, 47 (4):  533-544.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00533 Abstract ( 1367 )   PDF (484KB) ( 2573 )   Peer Review Comments In the current era of knowledge economy, organizations are increasingly dependent on knowledge teams to develop creative solutions and respond to the rapidly changing environment. Knowledge teams integrate the unique knowledge and skills of their members and thus have access to alternative perspectives when seeking solutions to problems. Because of this, knowledge heterogeneity is a typical characteristic of knowledge teams, and is considered by many researchers as an important factor that inspires team creativity. However, we are also led to believe that knowledge heterogeneity does not always impact positively on team creativity, as it may limit the effective knowledge sharing among team members and create a lot of negative issues. Currently, little is known about the complexity of the mechanisms through which knowledge heterogeneity works on team creativity. This study contributes to the existing literature by investigating such a complexity. In our study, we posit that the creativity of knowledge teams is not only influenced by knowledge heterogeneity and individual team member creativity, but also depends critically on the cognitive interactions among team members. The research surveyed 391 valid data from supervisor-subordinate dyads to examine our hypotheses. Using the method of hierarchical linear modeling, we analyzed how cognitive conflicts and task knowledge coordination influenced the relationship between knowledge heterogeneity and team/team-member creativity. The result shows that cognitive conflict mediates the relationship between knowledge heterogeneity and team/team-member creativity. It also shows that the effect of knowledge heterogeneity on creativity is moderated by task knowledge coordination. When the level of task knowledge coordination is high, knowledge heterogeneity is positively correlated to team/team-member creativity. However, when there is low task knowledge coordination, knowledge heterogeneity is not significantly correlated to individual team member creativity, and it presents an inverted U-shape relation with team creativity. Related Articles | Metrics

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Group Members’ Status and Knowledge Sharing Behavior: A Motivational Perspective HU Qiongjing; XIE Xiaoyun 2015, 47 (4):  545-554.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00545 Abstract ( 1579 )   PDF (396KB) ( 3575 )   Peer Review Comments Knowledge sharing has long been recognized as an effective way of making full use of the information and knowledge owned by group members. Although there are still few studies in exploring the relationship between status and knowledge sharing, extant literature has demonstrated contradictory conclusions concerning the effect of status. From a motivational perspective, this study aimed to explore how status would influence group members’ knowledge sharing behavior under different circumstances. Specifically, we speculated that the effect of status on group members’ knowledge sharing behavior was contingent on status stability within groups. When the difference in status was stable, high-status members would demonstrate more knowledge sharing behavior than low-status members. However, when the status difference was unstable, the condition would be reversed. Furthermore, we posited that the extent to which a group member would be influenced by status might depend on his or her concern for status. We predicted that individual status, status stability, and concern for status would have a three-way interaction effect on group members’ knowledge sharing behavior. A 2 (Status: high vs. low) × 2 (Status stability: stable vs. unstable) between-group experiment was conducted to test our hypotheses. A total of 113 college students participated in the experiment and were directed to finish two tests on a computer program. Each participant had two simulated teammates. After the first round of test, “artificial” performance was fed back to each participant. In the second round, each participant was given 12 chances to share answers with his or her teammates. After the test, they were asked to fill out a questionnaire on the computer. In this study, we used performance rating to manipulate individual status in groups and manipulated status stability by changing the task type in the second round of test. Knowledge sharing behavior was measured by the times each participant agreed to share his or her answer. We used SPSS 17.0 to analyze our data. Most of our hypotheses were supported by the results. First, status stability would interact with individual status to have a significant effect on group members’ knowledge sharing behavior. F-test showed that in a high status stability condition, high-status members demonstrated more knowledge sharing behavior than low-status members did. However, in a low status stability condition, low-status members tended to share more knowledge with others than high-status members did. It was also revealed that high-status members were more likely to share their knowledge when the status difference was stable than when it was unstable condition. In addition, when the status difference was stable within group, individual’s concern for status would interact with one’s status to impact his or her knowledge sharing behavior, such that the more concern the low-status members had for their status, the less they would share their knowledge within the group. Overall, we discuss individual’s dual motives at different status levels as well as the relationship between group members’ status and knowledge sharing behavior. It contributes to the literature in the following ways. First, it optimizes ecological validity of group study and makes a contribution to explore the interaction process within group. Second, by introducing status stability as a contextual factor, we integrate contradictory theories and develop a more comprehensive understanding of the effect of status. What is more, we supplement the study of status by investigating status from a motivational perspective. The findings have practical implications for group knowledge management. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effect of Review Valence, New Product Types and Regulatory Focus on New Product Online Review Usefulness DU Xiaomeng, ZHAO Zhanbo, CUI Xiao 2015, 47 (4):  555-568.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00555 Abstract ( 1283 )   PDF (634KB) ( 2788 )   Peer Review Comments If new products want to survive in the market, comments and recommendations from earlier adopters are significantly important. Past researchers have shown that people tend to weigh negative information more than positive information during the evaluation process. Product type moderates the effect of review valence on online review usefulness, and readers exhibit a negative bias for utilitarian product reviews only. In addition, regulatory focus theory distinguishes between a promotion focus and a prevention focus. Past researchers have shown that promotion-focused individuals view positive information more important while prevention-focused individuals view negative information more important, and promotion-focused individuals tend to buy more high-technology goods and newly launched purchased items. Thus, what kind of influence will regulatory focus put on review usefulness of incremental innovative products and radical innovative products? We investigate the research questions through two laboratory experiments. Experiment 1 is a 2 (new product type: radical vs. incremental) × 2 (review valence: positive vs. negative) between-subject design, which is to explore the influence of review valence and new product innovativeness on the effect of review usefulness. Experiment 2 is a 2 (new product type: radical vs. incremental) × 2 (review valence: positive vs. negative) × 2 (Regulatory focus: promotion vs. prevention) between-subject design, which is to explore the influence of review valence, new product innovativeness and regulatory focus on the effect of review usefulness. Data were collected from 360 graduate students (160 in Experiment 1 and 200 in Experiment 2). Results of the studies indicate that: The impact of new product type and review valence on review usefulness exists an interaction, and compared with the incremental new products, the usefulness of negative reviews on radical new products are higher, while there is no significant difference between the usefulness of positive reviews on different types of new products. Regulatory focus mediates the effect of review valence on review usefulness, and promotion-focused individuals process the usefulness of positive and negative reviews similar, while prevention-focused individuals consider negative reviews more useful than positive ones. The impact of new product type and review valence on review usefulness show different patterns between individuals with different types of regulatory focus. For promotion-focused individuals, new product type mediates the effect of review valence on review usefulness. However, for prevention-focused individuals, no such moderating effect exists. This paper brings new insight to the field of product review usefulness by incorporating a perspective of incremental new products and radical new products. Regulatory focus theory is introduced to this research, which also extend the externality of this theory. Also, some theoretical and practical contributions are made to the new product marketing strategy. Related Articles | Metrics