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Effects of spatial distance on visual working memory consolidation LI Tengfei, MA Nan, HU Zhonghua, LIU Qiang 2017, 49 (6):  711-722.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00711 Abstract ( 4076 )   PDF (578KB) ( 5379 )   Peer Review Comments  During past years, visual working memory (VWM) consolidation has been studied extensively. Consolidation of visual information into VWM is widely considered to occur with capacity limit. Previous studies have demonstrated that two colors could be consolidated in parallel and two oriented gratings could be consolidated only in serial. Some researchers provided a bandwidth hypothesis for these results: because of the difference between the informational demands for color and for oriented grating, two colors could be consolidated in parallel without exceeding the bandwidth limit, whereas two oriented gratings could only be consolidated in serial because of exceeding the bandwidth limit. But other researchers recently realized that different positions of stimulus could affect the VWM consolidation as well. In the present study, we used change detection paradigm and sequential-simultaneous manipulation to examine whether the spatial distance between memory items could affect the VWM consolidation. In Experiment 1, we briefly presented two masked color patches (targets) within one of three levels of spatial distance (4.6°, 8.5° and 11.1°). A probe color then appeared, and participants needed to judge whether the probe color matched any one of the targets. The results showed that no difference was found between sequential and simultaneous presentations in 4.6° and 8.5° spatial distance conditions, while the performance for sequential presentation was better than simultaneous presentation in 11.1° spatial distance condition. These results suggested that two colors were consolidated in parallel in 4.6° and 8.5° spatial distance conditions, but in serial in 11.1° spatial distance condition. In Experiment 2, we presented a color target firstly, and then two masked color patches appeared and the participants needed to judge whether the color target matched any one of the two masked color patches. As a result, no difference was found in the three given spatial distance conditions, eliminating the possibility that perceptual encoding led to the results in Experiment 1. Considering that the consolidation for oriented grating was different from the process for color and color might also be a unique visual feature, we attempted to use oriented grating to replicate the results of Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, we briefly presented two masked oriented gratings (targets) within three levels of spatial distance (4.6°, 8.5° and 11.1°). A probe cue then appeared, and participants needed to judge whether the cued sinusoidal grating had been oriented in a cardinal (horizontal or vertical) or an oblique (±45º) orientation. Despite superior performance for sequential over simultaneous presentations in all three spatial distance conditions, we found that the performance for parallel presentation was better than the accuracy’ in 4.6° spatial distance condition. The results suggested that parallel consolidation of oriented gratings into WVM was possible when the spatial distance between memory items was short enough. According to the results, we speculated that consolidation into VWM might be related to the distribution of the visual spatial attention, and the consolidation bandwidth increased with increasing resources of attention which memory items could get. Related Articles | Metrics

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Inhibition of return at different eccentricities in visual field under three-dimensional (3D) world WANG Aijun, LIU Xiaole, TANG Xiaoyu, ZHANG Ming 2017, 49 (6):  723-732.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00723 Abstract ( 1775 )   PDF (516KB) ( 2212 )   Peer Review Comments  It has been well documented that inhibition of return (IOR) is much stronger in the periphery relative to the perifoveal visual field in two-dimensional (2D) space. However, we live in a three-dimensional (3D) space and operate objects that lie at different depth planes. Therefore, it seems to assume that our visual system is able to direct attention to object located at different depths. But now, it remains poorly understood whether IOR is homogeneously distributed throughout the visual field. In the present study, by constructing a virtual 3D environment and presenting the target either closer to or farther from the participants in an adapted version of the Posner spatial-cuing paradigm, we aimed to investigate the IOR at the different eccentricities in 3D space. The experimental design was a two (depth of target: near vs. far) by two (cue validity: cued vs. uncued) by three (stimulus eccentricity: foveal vs. perifoveal vs. periphery) within-participants design, resulting in 12 experimental conditions in total and 48 trials in each of the experimental conditions. The different target distances were simulated by adjusting the binocular disparity. The binocular disparity between the near and far depth planes was ±52.40 min of arc, relative to the fusion plane at which the central location in mid plane was presented (zero disparity). Participants reported that they could clearly perceive both the near and far depth planes when fixating the central location in the mid plane. Results showed that when secondary cued location was located at the central field, regardless of the target appeared at the near or far depth plane, the IOR effect was larger in the periphery filed than in the foveal and perifoveal fileds. When secondary cued location was located at the periphery field, the IOR in near and far depth planes appeared dissociated, specifically, when target appeared at the far depth plane, the IOR effect was reduced in periphery filed. The results indicated that the IOR is heterogeneity in different eccentricities in the visual field under the 3D space. Related Articles | Metrics

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The modulation of recall task on collaborative inhibition and error pruning: The influence of emotional valence and level of processing KE Chunchun, NIE Aiqing, ZHANG Ruiqing 2017, 49 (6):  733-744.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00733 Abstract ( 1891 )   PDF (425KB) ( 2162 )   Peer Review Comments  Previous research has identified robust collaborative inhibition and error pruning in collaborative memory: The collaborative group has worse recall performance but higher error pruning compared with the nominal group. However, nearly all the prior studies focus on the item recall task but fail to explore such two phenomena in the context retrieval task. Moreover, it is still unclear how emotion influences these two phenomena. In addition, the level of processing is also of our interest. Therefore, in current study we aimed to explore collaborative inhibition and error pruning in two experiments with different levels of processing by using stimuli with different valences in two recall tasks. Two experiments were designed identically, except the level of processing. Each experiment included forty-eight effective participants: Sixteen in the individual group and thirty-two in the collaborative group. The nominal group was constructed by randomly choosing two participants from the individual group. Three emotional valence conditions (positive, negative, and neutral) were set and each contained 20 two-character Chinese words, half red and half green. During the study phase, participants were asked to report the emotional valence of each word (deep encoding task) in Experiment 1, and to identify the displayed color (shallow encoding task) in Experiment 2. During the test phase, participants were instructed to recall the previously studied words (item recall) and the color of each word (context retrieval) individually or collaboratively. Two tasks (item recall versus context retrieval) in Experiment 1 that using deep encoding task revealed robust collaborative inhibition and error pruning but in different patterns: Collaborative inhibition was stronger in item recall, while error pruning was higher in context retrieval. The interaction between recall task and emotional valence was significant in collaborative inhibition: Inhibition in emotional words was stronger than neutral words in item recall, but no difference was found in context retrieval. Results in Experiment 2 that using shallow encoding task also showed significant collaborative inhibition and error pruning, but these two phenomena did not vary significantly in the task type. To conclude, different patterns between the two recall tasks of collaborative inhibition and error pruning showed in deep level of processing give support to the dual-process model. The interaction between recall task and emotional valence in both experiments strengthens the view of trade-off, which also reinforces the dual- process model. The modulation of recall task on the two phenomena is also influenced by level of processing. Related Articles | Metrics

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The overuse of proportional reasoning and its cognitive mechanism: A developmental negative priming study JIANG Ronghuan, LI Xiaodong 2017, 49 (6):  745-758.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00745 Abstract ( 1730 )   PDF (910KB) ( 2108 )   Peer Review Comments  The overuse of proportional reasoning refers to a phenomenon that students improperly use proportional reasoning to solve non-proportional problems (e.g., addition problems in the present study). No research to date has directly illuminated the cognitive mechanism of the phenomenon since it is widely found in different countries and different ages. Therefore, we aimed to explore the potential cognitive mechanism in the current study from a new perspective based on the Inhibitory Control Model. The model suggests that solving a problem successfully not only requires the grasp of the underlying logic but also the inhibition of the misleading strategies. Accordingly, we proposed a hypothesis that the failure to inhibit the improper proportional thinking rather than the failure to grasp the additive logic would lead to students’ overuse of proportional reasoning since they may have already mastered additive thinking. We conducted three experiments with sixth-grade children, eighth-grade adolescents, and young adults (college students) to test this hypothesis using the Negative Priming (NP) paradigm. Participants performed a pair of problems: an addition problem in the prime stage, a proportion problem in the probe stage. The logic of NP paradigm is as follows: if participants inhibited the proportional strategy in the prime stage, they would pay a price to activate it in the subsequent probe stage as revealed by a slower response or a higher error rate. In experiment 1, we used missing-value word problems. For each test trial, an addition problem served as a prime and a proportion problem served as a probe; for each control trial, a neutral problem served as a prime and a proportion problem served as a probe. Participants’ performance was measured on the probe stage and their performance was compared between test-probes and control-probes. We found a NP effect in all the three age groups, but there was no significant difference among them. In experiment 2, we reduced task difficulty and cognitive load by creating a visual reasoning task and replicated the results in experiment 1. In experiment 3, we manipulated the number ratio (integer vs. non-integer) of the tasks, and the other conditions were the same as those we did in experiment 1 and experiment 2. Again, NP effects were found in missing-value word problem no matter number ratio was an integer or not. However, in the visual reasoning task, the NP effect only existed in the integer ratio condition. These results indicated: First, children, adolescents and adults all need inhibitory control to overcome the overuse of proportional reasoning. This confirms that success in problem-solving requires not only the grasp the underlying logic of the problem but also the inhibition of a misleading strategy. Second, the potential age difference in inhibitory control ability cannot be eliminated though we found no developmental difference in inhibitory control efficiency according to the magnitude of the NP effect in this study. More research with other methods (e.g., ERP, fMRI) is needed to shed light on this. These results also have important implication for mathematic education. Intervention program that aim at improving inhibitory control or meta-cognition ability for students with low math achievement should be considered. Related Articles | Metrics

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Age-related differences of different components of working memory: The predictive effect on strategy utilization in arithmetic DING Xiao, LV Na, YANG Yalin, SI Jiwei 2017, 49 (6):  759-770.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00759 Abstract ( 1669 )   PDF (570KB) ( 2518 )   Peer Review Comments  Arithmetic strategy utilization study is one of research hotspots for mathematical education, which relates to the studies of teaching, psychology, decision-making and so on. Studies showed that arithmetic strategy utilization can predict people’s arithmetic performance and was affected by task characteristics, problem situation, strategy adaptability, cognitive ability, emotion, individual development, etc. Accompany with the deep researches about working memory, more and more evidences indicated that working memory, as a higher level cognitive processing, affected arithmetic strategy utilization. However, those findings did not reach a stable consistency. Consequently, the present study explored the predictive effect of different components of working memory on computational estimation for people with different ages. The present study adopted the choice/no choice paradigm to explore how working memory affected individuals’ arithmetic strategy utilization (including strategy selection and strategy execution) by means of the AWMA and two-digit arithmetic estimation tasks. A total of 53 participants in grade 4 (M = 10.09 years), 49 participants in grade 6 (M = 12.18 years) and 52 undergraduate students (M = 24.40 years) were recruited in this study. The whole experiments included two parts, the AWMA and two-digit arithmetic estimation tasks, which were measured separately, and each participant was asked to complete these tests individually. Major findings were as followings: (1) Significant correlation was obtained between different components of working memory and participants’ age. Except visuo-spatial sketchpad, all the components scores of working memory improved significantly accompany with the growth of their ages. (2) In arithmetic strategy utilization, strategy selection was related with age. It showed that arithmetic strategy selection performances of participants improved significantly with the growth of their ages. (3) For participants with different ages, the different relationships were found between different components of working memory and strategy selection. A significant predictive effect was found for central executive component of working memory. Nevertheless, phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad failed to reach the significant level. More vitally, all participants’ scores in AWMA and strategy execution test at all ages didn’t show significant relationships. In conclusion, age influenced the performance of working memory central executive and phonological loop, and the performance in the strategy selection tasks was promoted along with the growth of the age. Moreover, central executive, but not phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad, has a predictive effect on arithmetic strategy selection for all of people with different ages. Such an effect was not found for different components of working memory on the prediction of individuals’ strategy execution at all ages. These findings have important theoretical implications for understanding the mechanism of working memory system in the use of arithmetic strategies. Related Articles | Metrics

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The effects of emotional design on multimedia learning GONG Shaoying, SHANGGUAN Chenyu, ZHAI Kuihu, GUO Yawei 2017, 49 (6):  771-782.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00771 Abstract ( 3799 )   PDF (658KB) ( 5784 )   Peer Review Comments  Previous studies into multimedia learning have mainly focused on cognitive factors to investigate different instructional conditions and design principles. However, as an important factor influencing multimedia learning, emotion is often neglected in previous research. To date, it is still not clear what the relationship between emotion and learning is, and how we should design multimedia learning materials to foster positive emotions and learning. To answer these questions, the present research designed two experiments to explore the effects of emotional design of multimedia materials on positive emotions and learning. In two experiments, the multimedia learning material was an animation named “The Formation of Lighting”. In experiment 1, one hundred and eleven participants were randomly assigned to four conditions created by two factors: external emotion induction (positive vs. neutral) and internal emotional design (positive vs. neutral). External induction of emotions was conducted by means of watching films while internal emotional design was conducted by emotional design of the learning material. In experiment 2, we separately explored the effects of design elements of color (chromatic vs. achromatic) and anthropomorphism (anthropomorphism vs. no anthropomorphism) on learners' emotions, cognitive processes and learning performance. One hundred and seven participants were randomly assigned to four conditions created by the two factors. Findings from experiment 1 showed that both positive external emotion induction and internal emotional design induced learners’ positive emotions and promoted their transfer performance. Positive emotional design reduced learners’ perceived task difficulty. The results from experiment 1 also indicated that positive emotions induced through the emotional design of the learning material maintained the whole learning process compared with those induced through external emotion induction. Experiment 2 found that learners in the condition of positive emotional design generated more positive emotions, showed stronger learning motivation, perceived less task difficulty and had better transfer achievement. Specifically, chromatic design both alone and in conjunction with anthropomorphism induced positive emotions. Anthropomorphic design alone, however, did not affect learners’ emotions. The combination of chromatic design and anthropomorphic design increased learners’ motivation. Chromatic design also reduced learners’ perceived task difficulty. Chromatic design and anthropomorphic design facilitated transfer performance independently as well as together. These findings suggest that internal positive emotional design is a better way to induce learners’ positive emotions and facilitate learning processes as well as learning outcomes than external emotion induction. Emotion should be considered an important factor in the design of multimedia learning materials. Future research needs to explore the effects of more other design elements on learners’ positive emotions and learning outcomes. Direct measures of emotion and cognitive processes during learning are needed to pinpoint the mechanisms underlying the emotional design effect. Related Articles | Metrics

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The intrinsic mechanism of life history trade-offs: The mediating role of control striving WANG Yan, LIN Zhenchao, HOU Bowen, SUN Shijin 2017, 49 (6):  783-793.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00783 Abstract ( 2704 )   PDF (502KB) ( 3164 )   Peer Review Comments  This research integrates the life history theory and motivational theory of life-span development by exploring the intrinsic mechanism of life history trade-offs. Empirical work consists of two studies, both of which demonstrate the fact that control striving should be the intrinsic mechanism of life history trade-offs. Study One: 167 females and 63 males with a mean age of 26.6 years old (SD = 6.81) were measured with the inventories of Mini-K and Optimization in Primary and Secondary Control with the priming of “Recalling the important key events in your past life …” in instructions. The results showed that Optimization, Selective Primary Control (SPC) and Selective Secondary Control (SSC) statistically mediated the effect of childhood economic environment on life history trade-offs respectively, with Compensatory Primary Control (CPC) and Compensatory Secondary Control (CSC) showing the similar statistical tendency. Study Two: 36 females and 35 males with a mean age of 26.9 years old (SD = 3.42) attended experiments in study 2. Through a rigorous experimental design with the priming of mortality cues, results showed that Optimization significantly mediated the effect of the individual’s childhood economic status on delayed rewards under negative environmental condition. Related Articles | Metrics

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Social justice, institutional trust and public cooperation intention ZHANG Shuwei 2017, 49 (6):  794-813.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00794 Abstract ( 2724 )   PDF (761KB) ( 3474 )   Peer Review Comments  Social justice is one of human's long pursuit, as well as core values of social governance in contemporary China. People’s perception of social justice affects their institutional trust, which in turn influences their cooperation with government. However, for the lack of empirical research on the relationship between public cooperation and social justice or institutional trust, there is no evidence of the process from social justice to public cooperation in individual-institution interaction. This research consisting of three studies focused on the mechanism under which social justice has an impact on cooperation through the mediating effect of institutional trust in public good dilemmas by using the methods of laboratory experiment. Furthermore, ultimatum game and impunity game were creatively used in individual-institution interaction to successfully manipulate social justice. Social justice includes distributive justice and procedural justice. In addition, institutional trust is divided into instrumental trust and motive-based trust. Pre-study investigated the ratio of distributive justice in ultimatum game, which was the base of study 1 and study 2. Study 1 aims to find the dual-pathway model from social justice to public cooperation through one pathway of instrumental trust and another pathway of motive-based trust in the organizational context. Moreover, the purpose of study 2 is extending this dual-pathway model to the social context. The results indicated that: First, people with high distributive justice were more likely to participate in public cooperation than those with low distributive justice. Meanwhile, people with high procedural justice were also more likely to participate in public cooperation than those with low procedural justice. Second, both distributive justice and procedural justice positively influenced public cooperation intention (PCI) at the same time. One the other hand, both instrumental trust and motive-based trust partially mediated the relation between social justice and PCI. This fact supported the “dual-pathway model of PCI”. In general, the total effect of distributive justice on PCI was stronger than that of procedural justice. An important theoretical implication of this research is setup of the dual-pathway model to public cooperation intention with organizations and governments in the organizational and social contexts. In addition, the current series of studies provide some useful experimental paradigms (e.g., ultimatum game and impunity game) for manipulating social justice. Regarding the practical implications, this research examines the social psychological motivation mechanism underlying public cooperation in China to help managers and administrators understand how to improve individuals’ cooperation with institution. Related Articles | Metrics

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The role of emotions in crisis news framing and corporate crisis response YUN Yifei, LIU Xiping, CHEN Shiping 2017, 49 (6):  814-828.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00814 Abstract ( 2461 )   PDF (544KB) ( 3496 )   Peer Review Comments  Organizational crisis is a low-probability, high-impact event that threatens the viability of the organization and is characterized by ambiguity of cause, effect, and means of resolution. Crisis communication is aim to collect, process, and disseminate of information required to address a crisis situation. This research intended to investigate whether different versions of crisis news report could induce different emotions, then how different emotional frames would affect individuals’ information processing and judgment differently and how these different emotional reactions influenced their preference of subsequent corporate responses strategies. The current study used 2×2×2 between-subject design. Independent variables were that the type of news frame (anger-inducing vs. sadness-inducing) and the type of corporate response toward the crisis (punishment- focused vs. relief-focused) and the presence of intensive emotional appeals in corporate responses (presence vs. absence). This experiment expected to measure subject’s depth of information processing and the original attitudes towards the company through requiring subjects to read different versions of news report illustrating a crisis. Then, public would evaluate the corporate responses credibility, attitudes toward the company and the degree of blame attribution after reading responses released by responsible organization. The results suggested that (1) Emotions induced by different versions of news report resulted in differences of depth of information processing, that was, anger caused heuristic processing, and sadness caused systemic processing; (2) Participants exposed to anger-inducing crisis news had more negative attitudes toward the company than those exposed to sadness-inducing news; (3) Punishment-focused response was more credible; (4) Both relief-focused response and punishment-focused response promoted participants’ attitudes towards company transforming from quite negative to a little bit positive after reading corporate crisis responses, regardless of the type of news frame; (5) Corporate response presenting intensive emotional appeals was more likely to reduce responsibility attribution degree of anger-inducing participants and improve all participants’ attitudes towards the company; (6) Angry and sadness emotional degree significantly declined after participants receiving company’s responses, but didn’t reach base line. The current results suggested that when a company encountering a public crisis, the type of news frame, the type of corporate response toward the crisis and the presence of intensive emotional appeals in corporate responses could combine together to restrict publics' attitudes toward company. Related Articles | Metrics

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How employee’s unethical behavior leads to coworker-initiated aggression: The perspective of deontic justice WANG Duanxu, ZENG Kai, ZHENG Xianwei 2017, 49 (6):  829-840.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00829 Abstract ( 1875 )   PDF (464KB) ( 2291 )   Peer Review Comments  Organizational behavior researchers have paid close attention to employee’s unethical behaviors and suggest that the third parties’ reactions will determine the follow-up development of these misconducts to a large extent. Coworkers’ tolerance will probably lead to the spread of unethical behavior, while coworkers’ punishment can effectively prevent the recurrence of such behavior. Drawing from deontic model of justice, this study proposed that coworker’s deontic injustice mediated the relationship between employee’s unethical behavior and employee’s victimization, and ethical leadership moderated the impact of employee’s unethical behavior on coworker’s deontic injustice while task interdependence moderated the influence of coworker’s deontic injustice on employee’s victimization. In order to test these hypotheses, data for the current study were collected from 265 employees through questionnaires from a large manufacturing company located in Zhejiang Province of China. All the questionnaires were distributed in envelopes and answered by respondents themselves, to further ensure the reliability and validity, back translation procedure was used. We conducted two-wave surveys with one month interval to minimize the common method bias (CMB). Employee’s unethical behavior, ethical leadership and task interdependence were gathered at the first wave; coworker’s deontic injustice and employees’ victimization were collected at the second wave; demographic information served as control variables. Finally, 265 valid and paired samples were obtained. The main hypotheses were tested by hierarchical regression and, the bootstrap method was also used to examine the moderated mediation model. The results showed that: (1) employee’s unethical behavior positively related to employee’s victimization; (2) coworker’s deontic injustice mediated the relationship between employee’s unethical behavior and employee’s victimization; (3) ethical leadership moderated the relationship between employee’s unethical behavior and coworker’s deontic injustice; (4) task interdependence moderated the relationship between coworker’s deontic injustice and employee’s victimization. The results of this study further confirmed the moderated mediation hypotheses of ethical leadership and task interdependence, that was, the mediating effects would be exacerbated by ethical leadership, yet mitigated by task interdependence. Moreover, a joint moderated mediation model of ethical leadership and task interdependence have also been proved by the results of this study. Therefore, based on the deontic model of justice, this study explained why and when employee’s unethical behavior leads to employee’s victimization. Overall, this study contributes to the organizational behavior literature in several ways. First, we complement the deficiency of the linkage between employee’s unethical behavior and employee’s victimization by introducing the deontic model of justice. Second, we integrate the research of rational judgments and deontic model of justice by emphasizing that the process of deontic response includes not only deontic judgments but also rational judgments. Third, we provide support for the argument of the positive role of task interdependence in workplace aggression by demonstrating the buffer effect of task interdependence in this study. Finally, we bring a new perspective for the study of aggression behavior by emphasizing the dynamic conversion among the attacker, the victim and the third party. Related Articles | Metrics

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Four questions on “evidence” in evidence-based practice in psychotherapy YANG Wendeng, LI Xiaomiao, ZHANG Xiaoyuan 2017, 49 (6):  841-852.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00841 Abstract ( 2472 )   PDF (450KB) ( 3049 )   Peer Review Comments  Few topics in psychotherapy are as controversial as evidence-based practices (EBP). Certain members of the general public and sometimes even professionals use the term “evidence-based” as a form of rhetoric. They reframe the definition of “evidence” in favor of their particular understanding of psychotherapy. This paper focuses on four fundamental questions about the evidence obtained in EBP in psychotherapy, trying to show the multiple framings of “evidence”. 1. Why does psychotherapy have to be based on evidence? This challenges have been present throughout the development of psychotherapy- initially in the Royal Commission’s investigation of Franz Mesmer’s animal magnetism in 1874; then Hans Eysenck’s doubts about the efficacy of psychotherapy in 1952; and in the 1980 s, the requirement of accountability and managed care in health care and the competition between psychotherapy and psychotropic drugs. With the emergence of empirically supported treatment and EBP, the challenges for psychotherapy continue. Psychotherapy must be shown to be based on evidence, and is often compared to pharmacotherapy implicitly or explicitly. Evidence for efficacy is one of the most important contributions to support and boost the development of psychotherapy. Theoretically, the role of EBP in the social sciences is similar to that of “engineering practice” in the natural sciences. Contemporary risk, audit and information strategies add to the weight of the importance of evidence. 2. What types of evidence are there? EBP’s evidence can be classified into different types, including research-based evidence and practice-based evidence; scientific evidence and local evidence; impact evidence, implementation evidence, attitudinal evidence, economic evidence, and ethical evidence; research-based, manualized, guidelines, standards, principles, databases, and so on. All researchers, practitioners, managers, and even patients are qualified to produce different kinds of evidence. 3. Which type of evidence is the best? EBP does presume that, for a given question, some available evidence may be of better quality than other evidence. Research evidence is one critical — yet not the only — contributor to EBP. Other situational information, stakeholder’s concerns, and practitioner’s experiences are also beneficial to EBP. There is no single criterion for evaluating all forms of evidence. Different types of evidence are meant to solve different questions. The best standard of assessing the quality of evidence is the degree to which the evidence can solve the real problems in real contexts. 4. How is evidence used? EBP consists of mature implementation strategies such as “AAA TIE” (Asking, Accessing, Appraising, Translating, Integrating and Evaluating). It provides an accessible way to apply the evidence to clinical situations. However, some factors, including representativeness of samples, sources of funding, and researchers’ theoretical allegiance create limitations to the process of evidence dissemination. New research designs such as practice-oriented research, trans-diagnostic and trans-treatment research, as well as cultural benchmarking research are all important means to producing more evidence that would suit the needs of practitioners. Related Articles | Metrics