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Reports of Empirical Studies


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Time course of the integration of the morpho-semantics and the meaning of two-character Chinese compound words CAI Wenqi, ZHANG Xiangyang, WANG Xiaojuan, YANG Jianfeng 2023, 55 (8):  1207-1219.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01207 Abstract ( 3046 )   HTML ( 157 )   PDF (1029KB) ( 3661 )   Peer Review Comments Previous studies have shown that morpho-semantic information can be activated automatically and influence the access of word meaning in compound word recognition. However, the time course underlying the morpho-semantic activation and its subsequent integration is not clear yet. In particular, little is known about how morpho-semantic information involves in word semantic integration processing. The present study examined the time course of morpho-semantic information of the first and the second characters who participated in whole-word semantic integration processing using event-related potential (ERP) technology. We selected three types of two-character words: transparent, opaque compound words, and monomorphemic words. For the transparent words (e.g., 炽热), both two characters’ meanings (both 炽 and 热 mean hot) were identical or similar to the word meaning (炽热 means hot). As for the opaque words (e.g., 风流), the meaning of the first character (风means wind), the second character (流 means flow), and the compound word (风流 means amorousness) were completely different. The monomorphemic words (e.g., 伶俐) were materials as the control condition with two characters that cannot be split into two morphemes. Participants were instructed to complete a visual lexical decision task. ERP results showed that the first character processing revealed the morphological effect in the early (300~400 ms) and the late (460~700 ms) time window, in which two types of compound words induced more negative amplitude than the monomorphemic words. During the second character processing, a significant semantic transparency effect was observed in the early stage (260~420 ms), that the opaque words evoked more negative-going waveform than the transparent ones. Whereas at the late phase (480~700 ms), a reversed morphological effect emerged that the two types of compound words evoked more positive amplitude than the monomorphemic words. The present study shed light on the time course of morpho-semantic integration in Chinese compound word recognition. The results indicated that the morpho-semantic processing began at the early stage of processing the first character. The transparent morpho-semantic of the first character influences the second character’s morpho-semantic activation and subsequently facilitates the semantic access of the compound words. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Effect of inhibition of return on audiovisual cross-modal correspondence ZU Guangyao, LI Shuqi, ZHANG Tianyang, WANG Aijun, ZHANG Ming 2023, 55 (8):  1220-1233.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01220 Abstract ( 2161 )   HTML ( 136 )   PDF (790KB) ( 2475 )   Peer Review Comments Different dimensions of visual and auditory stimuli can map to each other to influence human behavioral responses, a phenomenon known as audiovisual cross-modal correspondence. A common audiovisual cross- modal correspondence is between auditory tones and visual spatial locations, with individuals tending to map high-pitched sounds to high spatial location and low-pitched sounds to low spatial location. When a high-pitch sound is accompanied or preceded by a visual stimulus, the participants respond faster to visual stimuli presented in the high spatial location than to visual stimuli presented in the low spatial location, and vice versa. Researchers have different views on the level at which audiovisual cross-modal correspondence occurs. Some argue that audiovisual cross-modal correspondence occurs at the perceptual level, increasing the perceptual saliency of the stimulus, while others argue that audiovisual cross-modal correspondence occurs at a later semantic or decision level. As inhibition of return (IOR) in the attentional system can affect human perception, this study used a cue-target paradigm to explore the interaction between IOR and audiovisual cross-modal correspondence to elucidate the occurrence level and mechanism of audiovisual cross-modal correspondence. Audiovisual cross-modal correspondence between auditory tones and visual spatial locations was expected to occur at the perceptual level and therefore would be subject to the IOR effect occurring at the same processing level. The present study consisted of 3 experiments. Experiment 1 had a 2 × 2 within-subjects design; we manipulated the spatial cue validity (valid cue vs. invalid cue) and audiovisual cross-modal correspondence (congruent vs. incongruent). During the experiment, a fixation point was first presented in the middle of the screen for 750 ms. The box above or below the fixation point was then bolded for 50 ms, but this cue was not predictive of the spatial location of the target. After a time interval of 250 ms, a fixation point was presented in bold as a central cue. A central cue is commonly used in spatial IOR research, as it facilitates stable occurrence of IOR. The central cue was presented for 50 ms, and then the auditory stimulus (either high or low pitch) was presented for 50 ms. After a 200-ms interval, the visual target was presented for 100 ms in the box above or below the fixation point. The participants were instructed to perform a detection task for the presence of a visual target. The experimental design and procedure of Experiment 2 were identical to those of Experiment 1, except that the sound presented before the visual target was a single tone that was present or absent. Experiment 3 had a 2 × 2 × 2 within-subjects design. Experiment 3 added a factor to Experiment 1, namely, stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the cue and the target (600 ms vs. 1300 ms). In all three experiments, the overall accuracy (ACC) was very high; thus, no further statistical analysis was conducted for the ACC. In terms of reaction time (RT), the results of Experiment 1 showed that both spatial IOR and audiovisual cross-modal correspondence occurred. Importantly, there was an interaction between spatial cue validity and audiovisual cross-modal correspondence. Specifically, when the cue was valid, audiovisual cross-modal correspondence occurred, and when the cue was invalid, there was no audiovisual cross-modal correspondence. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the interaction between cue validity and sound presentation was not significant, and there was no evidence that IOR influenced the sound-induced facilitation effect. The results of Experiment 3 showed that the interaction among spatial cue validity, cross-modal correspondence congruency, and SOA was significant. Specifically, at an SOA of 600 ms, the interaction between spatial cue validity and cross-modal correspondence congruency was significant. When the cue was valid, audiovisual cross-modal correspondence occurred, and when the cue was invalid, there was no audiovisual cross-modal correspondence. At an SOA of 1300 ms, the interaction between cue validity and cross-modal correspondence congruency was not significant, and cross-modal correspondence occurred in both valid-cue and invalid-cue conditions. The results of the analysis of the IOR effect showed that the IOR effect under the 600-ms SOA condition (22 ms) was significantly larger than that under the 1300-ms SOA condition (16 ms). As the SOA increased, the IOR effect size decreased. In conclusion, the present results suggested that the IOR effect, occurring at the perceptual level, moderated audiovisual cross-modal correspondence. When the IOR effect occurred, audiovisual cross-modal correspondence occurred in the cued location, but not in the non-cued location. The alerting effect induced by the sound did not interact with IOR. With the weakening of the IOR effect, the audiovisual cross-modal correspondence in the cued location decreased, and the moderating effect of the IOR effect on audiovisual cross-modal correspondence weakened. The present results support that the audiovisual cross-modal correspondence between auditory tones and visual spatial locations occurs at the perceptual level, and the occurrence of audiovisual cross-modal correspondence conforms to the principle of inverse effectiveness. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Value-directed attentional refreshing and its mechanism LI Haifeng, LIN Shiqing, WAN Bowen 2023, 55 (8):  1234-1242.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01234 Abstract ( 2358 )   HTML ( 155 )   PDF (598KB) ( 2704 )   Peer Review Comments Attentional refreshing is the process of promoting and prolonging the activation of information in working memory (WM) by returning it to the focus of attention. This process can prevent the information in WM from fading over time or being disrupted by distractors. Previous studies have demonstrated that attentional refreshing can be guided by retro-cues or influenced by various experiences, such as reward-related or self-related stimuli. Recent studies have also explored the value effect in WM and found that people tend to prioritize more valuable information in WM, indicating that value may play a role in guiding attentional refreshing during retention. In a groundbreaking study by Atkinson et al. (2022), attentional refreshing was shown to partially explain the value effect in WM. However, the study was unable to determine why high-value information was prioritized for refreshing. It has been suggested that the value effect in WM may be due to a biased attentional refreshing procedure where individuals tend to focus more frequently or for longer periods on the more valuable item during retention, as compared to the other items. To investigate the value-directed attentional refreshing and its underlying mechanism, this study conducted three experiments. The sample size for each experiment was determined using G*power based on prior research, with 24, 23, and 24 participants in Experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively. All experiments were designed with a within-subject design, with the independent variable being the value of the item (high or low). In Experiments 1 and 2, a value-directed memory paradigm and a dot probe task were used to examine whether high-value information was refreshed with higher priority than low-value information. Participants were asked to memorize 6 letters simultaneously (Experiment 1) or sequentially (Experiment 2) that were each assigned a value (e.g., 1 or 9) and perform a dot probe task during the memory retention stage. The probe stimuli appeared in either high- or low-value positions, and participants had to identify whether the two dots were arranged vertically or horizontally. They were then asked to recall the letters they remembered. Experiment 3 combined a value-directed memory paradigm and a blank screen paradigm and used Eeylink to further explore the mechanism of value-directed attentional refreshing. Participants were asked to memorize 4 regular grey graphs simultaneously, each with a corresponding value, and then a blank screen was presented to record their eye movements. Finally, one of the graphs was probed to test their memory. The results of Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 indicated that participants exhibited better recall performance for high-value items compared to low-value items, regardless of whether they were presented simultaneously or sequentially. Furthermore, participants had faster reaction times when responding to the dot probe task at the location of high-value items as opposed to low-value items. Experiment 3 also supported the finding that recall performance was better for high-value items than low-value items. Additionally, the study found that participants tended to have more fixations at the location of high-value items than low-value items during the blank screen period. However, there was no significant difference in fixation duration between high-value and low-value items. The above experiments directly confirmed the value-directed attentional refreshing that high-value information received priority for attentional refreshing in WM retention when compared to low-value information. More importantly, the results indicated that value-directed attentional refreshing might be achieved by increasing the refresh rate of high-value information rather than deploying more time on it. This study contributes to the research on attentional refreshing and provides new insights into how people prioritize information in their daily lives. Moreover, it sheds light on the mechanism of value-directed attentional refreshing and helps develop the time-based resource-sharing model to a certain extent. These findings can aid researchers in developing computational models that simulate people's attentional refreshing process. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Dynamic changes on brain function during early stage of Tai Chi training: A motor imagery-based fMRI study LI Lin, ZHANG Xiaoyou, XU Yakui, ZONG Boyi, ZHAO Wenrui, ZHAO Ge, YAO Meng, ZHAN Zhuxuan, YIN Dazhi, FAN Mingxia 2023, 55 (8):  1243-1254.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01243 Abstract ( 1892 )   HTML ( 141 )   PDF (3162KB) ( 2197 )   Peer Review Comments Accumulating evidence suggests that regular engagement in physical activity, especially structured physical exercise with complex movement patterns like Tai Chi, is linked to change in brain function as measured by spontaneous and task-evoked neural activities. However, studies on brain function at the early stage of Tai Chi training have yet been conducted despite the fact that understanding changes in neurological activities of motor skill learning at the early stage would facilitate more effective teaching and coaching. To this end, we conducted a longitudinal study in which functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to collect data on brain function and behavioral measures during the early stage of Tai Chi training at multiple time points. Nineteen college students who had no Tai Chi experience were recruited in this study and they were arranged to attend 14-week Tai Chi training program. Of note, Tai Chi training session was recorded in order to evaluate the quality of Tai Chi form and its skill level (conducted by professor specializing in Tai Chi). Outcome measures were conducted at Week 2, Week 8, and Week 14. Meanwhile, 10 age- and gender-matched college students were considered as control group and they were asked to maintain their unaltered lifestyle with the same outcome measures being arranged at baseline and Week 14. Siemens 3.0 T MRI scanner was used to synchronously collect data on brain function when participants performed a motor imagery task. Group differences on Tai Chi skill level, temporal congruence, and functional activations were investigated using ANOVA while pearson product-moment correlation was performed to examine relationships between them. Behavioral results showed a learning curve on Tai Chi skill level from slow (Week 2 to Week 8) to fast (after Week 8) as the quality of motor imagery gradually improved. fMRI results showed a similiar pattern of change on brain activities, which changed slowly (Week 2 to Week 8) and increased fastly (after Week 8). Such behavioral changes on skill level were significantly linked to functional activations in the left superior temporal gyrus and the left precuneus. Motor skill learning has followed a pattern of “slow first, fast later”, which is supported by changes on brain activities in the left superior temporal gyrus and the left precuneus. In addition, Tai Chi is a type of a motor-cognitive exercise with relatively complex movement and its unique routine provides learners with an opportunity to optimize brain function. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The effect of social value orientation on third-party altruistic behaviors in children aged 10-12 years: The role of emotion CHEN Peiqi, ZHANG Yinling, HU Xinmu, WANG Jing, MAI Xiaoqin 2023, 55 (8):  1255-1269.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01255 Abstract ( 4460 )   HTML ( 322 )   PDF (873KB) ( 5699 )   Peer Review Comments Fairness plays a critical role in maintaining the social order. To understand fairness development, numerous studies have examined children's upholding fairness behaviors, such as resource allocation. In particular, the emergence of third-party altruism in Chinese children at the age of 8−10 is an important turning point in fairness development. Third-party altruism refers to the behavior of individuals voluntarily paying costs to punish violators, which is a form of prosocial behavior. Most previous studies have confirmed that social value orientation (SVO) affects prosocial behaviors, and some cognitive neuroscience studies have found that SVO and emotion together affect prosocial behaviors. However, we do not know the specific mechanisms by which children's SVO and emotions affect their third-party altruistic behaviors. Additionally, because third-party altruism can adopt punishment and compensation, the mechanisms may be different. Therefore, through two experiments, this study aimed to investigate the mechanisms of children's SVO and emotion on third-party altruism and the difference between children's third-party punishment and compensation behaviors in three offer conditions (i.e., high inequality, moderate inequality, and equality). Experiment 1 was based on the third-party punishment task and aimed to investigate the effect of children’s SVO on their emotion and punitive behaviors and to verify the mediating role of emotion. We recruited 233 children aged 10−12 years. After completing the demographic information, they were instructed to complete three third-party punishment tasks revised from the dictator game. The proposer in the dictator game offered one, three, and five coins from 10 coins to the recipient successively. As the third party, children reported the level of pleasure and decided whether to spend any integer of their endowed five coins to punish the proposer in each task. For every coin spent, two coins were deducted from the proposer’s endowment. The results revealed that prosocial children (vs. the pro-self) were more unpleased and spent more coins to punish the proposer, and emotion played a mediating role in the relationship between SVO and third-party punitive behaviors in the high inequality condition but not in the moderate inequality or equality conditions. To deeply understand children’s third-party altruistic behaviors and compare the two kinds of behaviors, we conducted Experiment 2 based on the third-party compensation task. We recruited 238 children aged 10−12 years. The experimental procedure was similar to that of Experiment 1, except that children in Experiment 2 spent coins to compensate the recipient rather than punish the proposer. The results revealed that prosocial children (vs. the pro-self) spent more coins to compensate the recipient in the high and moderate inequality conditions; emotion played a mediating role in the relationship between SVO and third-party compensation behaviors only in the high inequality condition. As for the difference between the two kinds of third-party altruistic behaviors, children in the third-party compensation (vs. punishment) task had less emotional fluctuation when confronted with three offers and spent more coins to maintain a fair order in the moderate unequal condition. These findings suggest that SVO had a stable effect on third-party punishment and compensation in 10- to 12-year-old children under all three offer conditions, and that emotion mediated the relationship between SVO and each kind of third-party altruistic behavior when children were confronted with an extremely unfair offer. Additionally, the children showed different levels of pleasure and behavior in the two third-party altruistic tasks. Our study contributes to revealing the mechanisms of SVO and emotion on two kinds of third-party altruistic behaviors and suggests that prosocial orientation is a critical factor in fostering children’s third-party altruism. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The effect of cumulative risk related to family adversity on social adjustment among left-behind children in China: The mediating role of stress and the moderating role of psychosocial resources FAN Xing-hua, FANG Xiao-yi, ZHAO Xian, CHEN Feng-ju 2023, 55 (8):  1270-1284.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01270 Abstract ( 5444 )   HTML ( 537 )   PDF (838KB) ( 7608 )   Peer Review Comments In China, left-behind children (LBC) refer to children (under the age of 16) who remain at rural regions while both of their parents migrate to urban area for work, or one of their parents migrates for work and the other has limited capacity to care for their children. Relative to non-left-behind children (NLBC), LBC are exposed to various risk factors related to family, such as lack of parental care and insufficient family support, which could increase their vulnerability to psychological and behavioral problems. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory and the cumulative risk (CR) model, this study used two-wave data (T1 and T2) and examined the association between cumulative risk related to family adversity (T1) and social adjustment outcomes (T1/T2), in which stress (T1/T2) is a mediator, and examined the moderating role of psychosocial resources (T1) in this association. A two-wave longitudinal household surveys were conducted among six hundred fifty-one families of rural children. A total of 285 children whose both parents migrated for work throughout the study waves were categorized as the LBC group, while 366 children who reported living with their parents at least one of waves were categorized as the control group. All measures in the surveys showed good reliability, including family adversity, stress, psychosocial resources (i.e., psychological capital and social support) and social adjustment (i.e., subjective well-being, depression, positive behaviors and problem behaviors). Data analyses were performed using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 22.0. Results showed that: (1) LBC’s T1 cumulative risk related to family adversity was linearly associated with their T1/T2 social adjustment; (2) After controlling for gender and age, LBC’s T1 cumulative risk related to family adversity was negatively associated with T1 social adjustment (β = −0.42, p < 0.001), and T1 stress mediated this association. The association between stress and social adjustment was moderated by psychosocial resources, with a higher level of psychosocial resources associated with a smaller mediating effect of stress. (3) After controlling for gender and age, T1 stress and T1 social adjustment, T1 cumulative risk related to family adversity were negatively associated with T2 social adjustment (β = −0.23, p < 0.001), and T2 stress mediated this relationship. T1 psychosocial resources moderated the association of T1 cumulative risk related to family adversity on both T2 social adjustment and T2 stress. This showed that with the level of T1 psychosocial resources increasing, the main effect of T1 cumulative risk related to family adversity on T2 social adjustment and the mediation effect of T2 stress decreased and became statistically non-significant. The findings of this study demonstrate the detrimental impact of cumulative risk related to family adversity on social adjustment among LBC, as well as the mediating role of stress and the moderating role of psychosocial resources. Overall, these findings suggest that family risk factors are proximal factors for LBC’s social maladjustment, and future intervention should attend to psychosocial resource promotion. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Association between childhood maltreatment and empathy: A three-level meta-analytic review MENG Xianxin, YU Delin, CHEN Yijing, ZHANG Lin, FU Xiaolan 2023, 55 (8):  1285-1300.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01285 Abstract ( 3159 )   HTML ( 349 )   PDF (1237KB) ( 4282 )   Peer Review Comments A considerable number of studies have discussed the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy, but the results have been mixed. Theoretically, there are four main arguments regarding the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy. Attachment theory suggests that childhood maltreatment predisposes individuals to an insecure attachment style that is detrimental to empathy development. The facial feedback hypothesis and “like-me” hypothesis suggest that neglected children have fewer opportunities to imitate others’ facial expressions, and show deficits in empathy. However, the perception-action model argues that individuals with childhood maltreatment are more likely to empathize with others who have traumatic experiences, while the Russian doll model implies that the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy may not be linear. Empirically, current research has reported an inconsistent correlation between childhood maltreatment and empathy, with r values ranging from −0.451 to 0.86. Therefore, the present meta-analysis aimed to estimate the extent to which childhood maltreatment is associated with empathy and whether these associations vary depending on the study or sample characteristics such as the type of childhood maltreatment, gender, and age. A systematic literature review was conducted using Web of Science, ScienceDirect, PubMed, PsycARTICLES, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), CSTJD (China Science and Technology Journal Database) and WFD (Wan Fang Data). Three-level meta-analyses were performed using R to synthesize the effect sizes and conduct moderator analyses. Publication bias was assessed using funnel plots and Egger's regression tests. No significant publication bias was observed in any of the studies. A total of 46 studies (N = 23039 participants) producing 352 effect sizes were included. The results showed that the correlation between childhood maltreatment and empathy was significantly negative but only to a small extent (r = −0.076, 95% CI [−0.117, −0.035]). Moderator analysis revealed that the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy was moderated by the type of childhood maltreatment. The association between childhood maltreatment and empathy was stronger for physical neglect (r = −0.095) and emotional neglect (r = −0.128) than for physical abuse (r = 0.005). Furthermore, the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy was moderated by the dimensions of empathy. Specifically, the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy was negative for perspective-taking (r = −0.127), fantasy (r = −0.044), and empathic concern (r = −0.148), but positive for personal distress (r = 0.153). In addition, the mean age of the participants moderated the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy, with the mean age predicting a reduced negative association between childhood maltreatment and empathy (β = 0.004). However, the percentage of females did not moderate the observed association, which may indicate consistency in the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy across genders. The results supported the attachment theory, the facial feedback hypothesis, the "like-me" hypothesis, the perception-action model, and the Russian doll model, suggesting that the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy was complicated. These findings not only deepen our understanding of the association between childhood maltreatment and empathy but also produce meaningful practical implications for future research and intervention program design regarding how to promote the development of empathy. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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How to teach resourcefully? The mechanism of teacher dialectical feedback on team creativity of college students ZHANG Jianwei, ZHOU Yufan, LI Linying, LI Haihong, HUA Weijun 2023, 55 (8):  1301-1316.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01301 Abstract ( 1662 )   HTML ( 203 )   PDF (915KB) ( 2018 )   Peer Review Comments Teacher dialectical feedback reflects teachers’ dialectical thinking and accord with college students’ development rules, which is of great significance to boost students’ team creativity. Less attention, however, has been given to the influence of teacher dialectical feedback on team creativity. Therefore, we expect to examine the effect of teacher dialectical feedback on team creativity and explore the underlying mechanism. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a field survey and a longitudinal field experimental study. The results overall provided support for our theoretical model and showed that (1) teacher dialectical feedback was positively correlated with team creativity; (2) team information elaboration mediated the relationship between teacher dialectical feedback and team creativity; (3) the interaction between teacher dialectical feedback and mastery climate significantly predicted team information elaboration, such that the positive relationship between teacher dialectical feedback and team information elaboration was stronger when mastery climate was high rather than low; (4) performance climate also played a moderating role in the relationship between teacher dialectical feedback and team information elaboration, such that the positive relationship between teacher dialectical feedback and team information elaboration was weaker when mastery climate was high rather than low; (5) the indirect effect of teacher dialectical feedback on team creativity through team information elaboration was significantly moderated by mastery climate and performance climate, such that when mastery climate was higher and performance climate was lower, the positive indirect effect is stronger, and vice versa. Drawing upon these findings, our work offers multiple contributions. First, this research expands the existing feedback paradigm and theoretical category of “education and development” by examining the effect of teacher dialectical feedback on team creativity. Second, our study enriches the theory of creativity and broadens the antecedents of team creativity by exploring the effect and mechanism of teacher dialectical feedback on team creativity. Third, this work provides novel insights into the mechanism through which teacher dialectical feedback influences team creativity from the perspective of team information processing. The results suggest that team information elaboration plays an important role for the effects of teacher dialectical feedback. Finally, by exploring the contingent role of team motivational climate, our study revealed the critical boundary condition for the effect of teacher dialectical feedback on team creativity, which provide a more integrative and accurate understanding of whether and when team performs more or less creativity as results of teacher dialectical feedback. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Self-compassion writing facilitates fear extinction MEI Ying, LIU Juntong, LIU Honghong, FU Yang, LUO Xi, LEI Yi 2023, 55 (8):  1317-1329.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01317 Abstract ( 4388 )   HTML ( 445 )   PDF (878KB) ( 5654 )   Peer Review Comments Self-compassion is the tendency to care for and understand oneself, and cultivating this behavior is considered a promising cognitive treatment for anxiety disorders. However, the underlying mechanism of how self-compassion reduces anxiety remains unknown. Given the central role of fear extinction-based exposure therapy for the treatment of anxiety, studying how self-compassion affects fear extinction may help elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Previous studies have found that writing can be an effective way to promote self-compassion and emotional regulation. Thus, this study aimed to test the impact of self-compassion writing on fear extinction. This study contained 56 healthy effective participants, who were randomly assigned into self-compassion and control writing groups. The experimental process included five phases: pre-conditioning, negative event writing, fear conditioning, self-compassion writing, and fear extinction. All the participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before and after the experiment. The PANAS was also assessed immediately after the negative event writing phase to assess the effectiveness of manipulation. Participants were asked to write about an adverse event that made them feel bad about themselves during the negative writing phase. The self-compassion group was guided to respond to three prompts that focus on self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. The control group was asked to write about their daily routines in a factual and unemotional manner. The shock expectancy ratings and skin conductance response (SCR) were recorded as the index of extinction learning. Three-way repeated measure ANOVA was conducted to examine the between-group differences in ratings and SCR across time extinction learning, with writing condition as the between-subject variable (self-compassion, control), and stimuli type (conditioned danger stimuli [CS+], conditioned safe stimuli [CS−]) and extinction phase (early, late) as within-subject variables. The results showed that the writing of negative events successfully reduced the positive affect (PA) of participants. There was no group difference during the fear conditioning phase and all participants successfully acquired fear. After writing intervention, the negative affect (NA) was significantly reduced in both groups. However, compared to the control group, the self-compassion group showed lower shock expectancy ratings in response to danger (CS+) and safety (CS−) cues during both early and late extinction. The SCR results showed that early extinction induced lower response than late extinction in the self-compassion group. Overall, the results demonstrate that self-compassion may promote fear extinction by regulating the response to both danger and safety cues. To our knowledge, this is the first study that uses the fear extinction model to test how self-compassion intervention can influence fear processing. Our results expand our understanding into the psychological and physiological mechanism of how self-compassion can reduce anxiety-related symptoms. These findings have several implications. First, self-compassion writing intervention is independent of control writing as a method to cope with threats. Second, compared to PANAS, shock expectancy ratings might be a sensitive indicator to characterize the effect of self-compassion intervention on anxiety-related symptoms. Finally, self-compassion might could be a reasonable strategy to counter enhanced response to danger cues and inhibited fear response to safety cues. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Psychological richness increases behavioral intention to protect the environment WEI Xinni, YU Feng, PENG Kaiping, ZHONG Nian 2023, 55 (8):  1330-1343.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01330 Abstract ( 3622 )   HTML ( 366 )   PDF (905KB) ( 4397 )   Peer Review Comments Pro-environmental behavior, such as saving energy and taking public transportation, is beneficial to protecting the environment. Previous studies suggested that personality traits, environmental-related values, beliefs, affection, and norms are antecedents of pro-environmental behavior. However, protecting the environment is also rooted in motives for happiness and well-being. Generally speaking, there are three different types of well-being in positive psychology, namely hedonia, eudaimonia, and psychological richness. Based on different conceptions of well-being, research has shown that hedonic values were negatively related to pro-environmental behavior. Eudaimonic values were related to environmental values but it cannot directly predict pro-environmental behavior. Given it’s a new conception, the relationship between psychological richness and pro-environmental behavior is still absent. Thus, the present study aimed at exploring how psychological richness would influence pro-environmental behavior as well as its underlying mechanism and boundary conditions. To reach the goals, we conducted ten studies with different experimental manipulations of psychological richness, multi-source participants, and various assessments of pro-environmental behavior. In correlational Study 1.1, we tested the link between psychological richness and pro-environmental behavior. In experimental Study 1.2~1.4, we manipulated psychological richness by recalling past memory and making the perspective change to explore its potential influence on pro-environmental behavior. In Study 2.1~2.4, the measurement-of-mediation design and experimental-causal-chain design were used to examine the mediating role of self-expansion. Based on the cross-sectional Study 2.1, in Study 2.2 we randomly assigned participants to the psychological richness condition and control condition to complete the task, and investigated whether psychological richness affected personal self-expansion. In Study 2.3, self-expansion was manipulated to explore its effect on pro-environmental behavior. To support our model, Study 2.4 was conducted to test whether psychological richness facilitates pro-environmental behavior through self-expansion. To investigate the moderating effect of nature-self size, we manipulated psychological richness in Study 3.1 and conducted a cross-sectional survey in Study 3.2. As predicted, the present study found that both psychologically rich life and state psychological richness were positively related to pro-environmental behavior. Results indicated that psychological richness motivates people to engage in pro-environmental activities. The increased self-expansion was the reason why people experiencing psychological richness were more willing to protect the environment. Lastly, the results also demonstrated the moderating effect of nature-self size on the association of self-expansion and pro-environmental behavior. Overall, the results extend the research on the effects of psychological richness on personal growth and sustainable social development. First, it suggested that pursuing well-being and behaving pro-environmentally were not in conflict. Namely, living a psychologically rich life motivates people to protect the environment. Second, message framing that promotes psychological richness could encourage individuals to engage in environmentally friendly activities. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Is positivity always beneficial? The effect of positive meta-stereotypes on working memory and their mechanism DONG Tiantian, XU Lulu, HE Wen 2023, 55 (8):  1344-1357.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01344 Abstract ( 4477 )   HTML ( 467 )   PDF (749KB) ( 5747 )   Peer Review Comments Meta-stereotypes are ingroup beliefs regarding the stereotypes that outgroup members hold about the ingroup members. Studies on meta-stereotypes have been conducted with a focus from the negative perspective of it. In comparison, positive meta-stereotypes can have either a boost effect or a choking effect. However, there is a lack of discussion on them, especially in cognitive processing. As the core of cognitive processing, working memory influences many aspects of information processing. Based on the positive meta-stereotypes effect, this study investigates the relationship between positive meta-stereotypes and working memory, as well as their underlying mechanisms. Approach motivation may be closely related to positive meta-stereotypes and working memory. When positive meta-stereotypes are activated, individuals tend to increase approach motivation to prove that they have reached the expectations of others. In addition, approach motivation is an essential factor affecting working memory. The stronger the approach motivation is, the worse the working memory performance will be. However, approach motivation’s role in the relationship between positive meta-stereotypes and working memory remains unknown. Therefore, this study clarifies the relationship between positive meta-stereotypes and working memory and reveals approach motivation’s mediating role in the association between positive meta-stereotypes and working memory. Core self-evaluations refers to the essential evaluation of an individual’s ability and value, which may be a potential moderating variable of the meta-stereotypes effect. According to the Theory of Resource Conservation, core self-evaluations alleviates the harmful influence of external pressure on individuals. Individuals with high core self-evaluations have more resources to combat the adverse impact of pressure after positive meta-stereotypes are activated. To be more specific, when positive meta-stereotypes are activated, low core self-evaluators will experience stress, reducing working memory performance. The current study comprised three experiments. Experiment 1 aimed to explore the relationship between meta-stereotypes and working memory in college students from rural areas. All participants were randomly assigned to positive meta-stereotypes activation or control conditions. They then completed meta-stereotypes manipulation examination and N-back task. Compared with the control group, the positive meta-stereotypes activation group had a lower working memory accuracy under difficult task conditions. Experiment 2 examined the mediating effect of approach motivation. All participants were randomly assigned to positive meta-stereotypes activation or control conditions. Subsequently, they completed meta-stereotypes manipulation examination, approach motivation measurement and N-back task. The results of Experiment 1 were replicated as approach motivation played a mediating role. Finally, Experiment 3 explored the moderating effect of core self- evaluations. The participants completed core self-evaluations measures and the same measurement as Experiment 2. The results replicated the findings of Experiment 2 and found that core self-evaluations played a moderator. The working memory accuracy of the participants with high core self-evaluations decreased in the difficult task (2-back). The research results support the “stress vulnerability hypothesis”. This study enriches the previous research on meta-stereotypes and its mechanisms on working memory. These findings have theoretical value concerning meta-stereotypes effect and practical value in alleviating the harmful effects of positive meta-stereotypes. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Familiarity promotes resident cooperation with volunteers in waste separation ZHANG Xuan, LIU Ping-Ping 2023, 55 (8):  1358-1371.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01358 Abstract ( 2113 )   HTML ( 333 )   PDF (722KB) ( 2132 )   Peer Review Comments Despite the growing urgency of waste separation as an environmental concern, the rates of contamination from unsorted waste remain high without the monitoring from volunteers. How can we facilitate collaboration between residents and volunteers? To address the dilemma of waste separation, the present study conducted three experiments and one qualitative interview based on the theories of competitive altruism and social influence to investigate the effects of familiarity and age on residents' cooperation, as well as the mediating roles of reputational concern and social distance. Using scenarios, participants were asked to read the instructions (each representing one of the conditions), and then to predict the extent of probability that they would cooperate in each condition. Experiment 1 adopted a 3 (volunteer age group: primary children/younger/older) × 3 (volunteer familiarity: high/low/unfamiliar) within-subjects design to examine the differences in the cooperation of young people (M = 20.16 ± 1.01 years) with volunteers in different conditions. Experiment 2 adopted a 2 (participant age group: younger/older; between-subjects variable) × 3 (volunteer age group: primary children/younger/older; within-subjects variable) × 3 (volunteer familiarity: high/low/unfamiliar; within-subjects variable) mixed design, to examine the age-related differences of the cooperation between younger people (M = 40.63 ± 7.60 years) and older people (M = 68.90 ± 4.97 years) with volunteers in different conditions. The findings of Experiment 1 were replicated. Experiment 3 adopted a 2 (volunteer age group: younger/older) × 2 (volunteer familiarity: high/unfamiliar) within-subjects design, and it lasted for four weeks at an interval of one week for each participant. Experiment 3 aimed to examine the mediating role of reputational concern and social distance in familiarity and cooperation. Experiment 1 showed that participants cooperated more with the high familiar volunteers than with the low familiar or strange volunteers. The higher the familiarity, the greater the cooperative intention. As age and familiarity interact to affect the cooperative intention, participants cooperated more with older volunteers than with primary children in the low familiar condition. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1, and found that familiarity had a significant effect on the cooperative intention of both younger and older adults. Besides, older adults cooperated more with older volunteers while less with strangers than younger adults. Experiment 3 replicated the results of the first two experiments, and examined the underlying mechanism. The mediation analysis showed that social distance and reputational concern play a serial mediating role in the effect of familiarity on cooperation. The results of multiple regression analysis and qualitative interviews showed that the monitoring and feedback of the volunteers, who were familiar with the residents and individual prosociality, played key roles in promoting waste separation. These findings provide suggestions and scientific support for the practice of waste separation and saving management costs. The present study showed that helping residents to become familiar with volunteers in advance, or recruiting people who are familiar with residents as volunteers, will be helpful for waste separation. These strategies can promote the cooperative intention of residents, and help them form the habit of waste separation. Social distance and reputational concern play a serial mediating role in the effect of familiarity on cooperation. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Scaling methods of second-order latent growth models and their comparable first-order latent growth models WEN Zhonglin, WANG Yifan, DU Mingshi, YU Yahui, ZHANG Yuhui, JIN Tonglin 2023, 55 (8):  1372-1382.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01372 Abstract ( 894 )   HTML ( 30 )   PDF (714KB) ( 932 )   Peer Review Comments Latent growth models (LGMs) are a powerful tool for analyzing longitudinal data, and have attracted the attention of scholars in psychology and other social science disciplines. For a latent variable measured by multiple indicators, we can establish both a univariate LGM (also called first-order LGM) based on composite scores and a latent variable LGM (also called second-order LGM) based on indicators. The two model types are special cases of the first-order and second-order factor models respectively. In either case, we need to scale the factors, that is, to specify their origin and unit. Under the condition of strong measurement invariance across time, the estimation of growth parameters in second-order LGMs depends on the scaling method of factors/latent variables. There are three scaling methods: the scaled-indicator method (also called the marker-variable identification method), the effect-coding method (also called the effect-coding identification method), and the latent-standardization method. The existing latent-standardization method depends on the reliability of the scaled-indicator or the composite scores at the first time point. In this paper, we propose an operable latent-standardization method with two steps. In the first step, a CFA with strong measurement invariance is conducted by fixing the mean and variance of the latent variable at the first time point to 0 and 1 respectively. In the second step, estimated loadings in the first step are employed to establish the second-order LGM. If the standardization is based on the scaled-indicator method, the loading of the scaled-indicator is fixed to that obtained in the first step, and the intercept of the scaled-indicator is fixed to the sample mean of the scaled-indicator at the first time point. If the standardization is based on the effect-coding method, the sum of loadings is constrained to the sum of loadings obtained in the first step, and the sum of intercepts is constrained to the sum of the sample mean of all indicators at the first time point. We also propose a first-order LGM standardization procedure based on the composite scores. First, we standardize the composite scores at the first time point, and make the same linear transformation of the composite scores at the other time points. Then we establish the first-order LGM, which is comparable with the second-order LGM scaled by the latent-standardization method. The scaling methods of second-order LGMs and their comparable first-order LGMs are systematically summarized. The comparability is illustrated by modeling the empirical data of a Moral Evasion Questionnaire. For the scaled-indicator method, second-order LGMs and their comparable first-order LGMs are rather different in parameter estimates (especially when the reliability of the scale-indicator is low). For the effect-coding method, second-order LGMs and their comparable first-order LGMs are relatively close in parameter estimates. When the latent variable at the first time point is standardized, the mean of the intercept-factor of the first-order LGM is close to 0 and not statistically significant; so is the mean of the intercept-factor of the second-order LGM through the effect-coding method, but those through two scaled-indicator methods are statistically significant and different from each other. According to our research results, the effect-coding method is recommended to scale and standardize the second-order LGMs, then comparable first-order LGMs are those based on the composite scores and their standardized models. For either the first-order or second-order LGM, the standardized results obtained by modeling composite total scores and composite mean scores are identical. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Binary modeling of action sequences in problem-solving tasks: One- and two-parameter action sequence model FU Yanbin, CHEN Qipeng, ZHAN Peida 2023, 55 (8):  1383-1396.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01383 Abstract ( 1023 )   HTML ( 40 )   PDF (4580KB) ( 857 )   Peer Review Comments Process data refers to the human-computer or human-human interaction data recorded in computerized learning and assessment systems that reflect respondents’ problem-solving processes. Among the process data, action sequences are the most typical data because they reflect how respondents solve the problem step by step. However, the non-standardized format of action sequences (i.e., different data lengths for different participants) also poses difficulties for the direct application of traditional psychometric models. Han et al. (2021) proposed the SRM by combining dynamic Bayesian networks with the nominal response model (NRM) to address the shortcomings of existing methods. Similar to the NRM, the SRM uses multinomial logistic modeling, which in turn assigns different parameters to each possible action or state transition in the task, leading to high model complexity. Given that actions or state transitions in problem-solving tasks have correct and incorrect outcomes rather than equivalence relations without quantitative order, this paper proposes two action sequence models based on binary logistic modeling with relatively low model complexity: the one- and two-parameter action sequence models (1P and 2P-ASM). Unlike the SRM, which applies the NRM migration to action sequence analysis, the 1P-ASM and 2P-ASM migrate the simpler one- and two-parameter IRT models to action sequence analysis, respectively. An illustrated example was provided to compare the performance of SRM and two ASMs with a real-world interactive assessment item, “Tickets,” in the PISA 2012. The results mainly showed that: (1) the latent ability estimates of two ASMs and the SRM had high correlation; (2) ASMs took less computing time than that of SRM; (3) participants who are solving the problem correctly tend to continue to present the correct actions, and vice versa; and (4) compared with the fixed discrimination parameter of the SRM, the free estimated discrimination parameter of the 2P-ASM helped us to better understand the task. A simulation study was further designed to explore the psychometric performance of the proposed model in different test scenarios. Two factors were manipulated: sample size (including 100, 200, and 500) and average problem state transition sequence length (including short and long). The SRM was used to generate the state transition sequences in the simulation study. The problem-solving task structure from the empirical study was used. The results showed that: (1) two ASMs could provide accurate parameter estimates even if they were not the data-generation model; (2) the computation time of both ASMs was lower than that of SRM, especially under the condition of a small sample size; (3) the problem-solving ability estimates of both ASMs were in high agreement with the problem-solving ability estimate of the SRM, and the agreement between 2P-ASM and SRM is relatively higher; and (4) the longer the problem state transition sequence, the better the recovery of problem-solving ability parameter for both ASMs and SRM. Overall, the two ASMs proposed in this paper based on binary logistic modeling can achieve effective analysis of action sequences and provide almost identical estimates of participants' problem-solving ability to SRM while significantly reducing the computational time. Meanwhile, combining the results of simulation and empirical studies, we believe that the 2P-ASM has better overall performance than the 1P-ASM; however, the more parsimonious 1P-ASM is recommended when the sample size is small (e.g., 100 participants) or the task is simple (fewer operations are required to solve the problem). Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics