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Spacial Representation of Ordinal Chinese Color Word Sequence
Beijing Normal University
Sherry Zhang
Sherry Zhang, junior student in School of Psychology in Beijing Normal University. Being class monitor, she is also a diligent and creative student and among the best of students in terms of academic studies. This report is based on some experiments done by Zhang, under supervision of Dr. Ting Jiang and with indispensible instructions of Jiang and Zhang's mentor, Associate Professor Qingfen Hu.
Abstract：The right hand responds faster than the left hand to larger numbers and vice versa to smaller numbers (the SNARC effect). Accumulating evidence suggests that the SNARC effect may not be exclusive for numerals and can be extended to many other ordinal sequences. Taking advantage of the orderly organization of the color spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet) in Chinese, we tested the effect of task demand (i.e., order-relevant vs. order-irrelevant) on the SNARC effect for this sequence. Across two experiments, we found a reliable SNARC effect for Chinese color words in an order-relevant task (deciding whether the presented color word was before or after the reference color “green”), but not in an order-irrelevant task (graphemic structure judgment). These findings challenged the idea that ordinal information was routinely activated for any ordinal sequences and revealed a task-modulated SNARC effect for ordered organizations with weak quantity representations.
The Temporal Characteristics of Music and Human Time Perception
Peking University
Kang He
Kang He is a senior student from the Department of Psychology, Peking University. He works in the Motor Control Lab which is instructed by Dr. Kunlin Wei.
Abstract： In this study we downloaded 841 pieces of western classic non-vocal music and labeled 193 pieces of stream of monophonic or single voice music. The note matrix extracted from the MIDI file specifies the channel number and onset time of each note, and thus we can obtain the duration of two adjacent notes within each channel. The IOI (from the onset of one note to that of the next note; individual channels separately, from all 841 music pieces and 193 stream pieces) distribution never exceed 3 seconds or less than 40 milliseconds, and there is a preferred peak at about 120 milliseconds. By putting all the IOI (and durations) of notes from all kinds of music together, we hopefully can find the preferred and to-be-avoided intervals/durations in human music creation/perception.
Visual Search for the Shape of Threat
Tsinghua University
Xu Shen
XuShen is a third-year undergraduate student at the Psychology Department of Tsinghua University.His research interests include attention, perception, and the application of Bayesian statistics in psychological research. He has been working with Dr. Xiaoang Wan for one year to investigate the inter-trial effects in visual search. XuShenwasalso the Vice President of the Students' EnglishDebating Association ofTsinghua University, and he has starred in two episodes of the Tsinghua University Sitcom “ZijingApartment.”
Abstract： Previous studies have shown that downward pointing “V”s and triangles convey threat to American and British participants, suggesting that these simple geometric shapes might convey emotional meaning similar to angry faces. In aquestionnaire study,we found that Chinese participants also rated downward pointing shapesas more threatening than upward pointing shapes, suggesting that the downward pointing shapes might be perceived as shapes of threat (SOT) across different cultures. In five visual search experiments, we showed that (1) searching for downward pointing “V”sor triangles was faster and more accurate than searching for upward pointing ones; (2) searching for two connecting downward pointing triangles was more efficient than searching for two connecting upward pointing triangles. These results suggest that the shapes of threat capture attention, and increasing the number of downward pointing shapes might convey more threat. The underlying mechanism is discussed.
To identify links between retrospective reports of peer victimization and measures of negative symptoms in adulthood
Macquarie University
Ms Amelia Scott
Amelia is a third year Honours student with plans to continue in clinical and research training at Macquarie University. Her interests are Developmental Psychology and Neuropsychology. Amelia has helped develop intervention programs for Autistic children through collaboration with the Lizard Centre, and is a qualified Applied Behavioural Analysis therapist. Amelia has also worked with Dementia patients, engaging clients with various forms of recreational therapy. She is currently an intern at the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science. Amelia holds the Judy Ungerer Developmental Psychology Prize.
Abstract: Amelia will be discussing a study conducted at Macquarie University with a participant pool of third year students enrolled in a Psychopathologycourse. The aim of the study was to identify links between retrospective reports of peer victimization and measures of negative symptoms in adulthood. The symptoms measured include social anxiety, general anxiety, stress, depression, and behavioural measures of alcohol use and gambling.
The peer victimization scales asked participants to recall their “middle” school years (ages 10-14), and rate the frequency of forms of peer victimization. The scales included two separate factors of peer victimisation;relational (such as, “other kids said mean things behind my back”) and physical victimisation (for example, “other kids punched me”.) Responses ranged from 0, “never”, to “4”, most days.
Scores on the victimisation questionnaire were used to create two groups – an upper victimisation group (the upper 25% of peer victimisation scores) and a lower victimisation group (the remaining 75%). The groups were then compared on their mean scores on the symptom measures.
The results of the study indicates significant associations between victimisation and social anxiety, anxiety, stress, and depression. The study found no relationship between victimisation and alcohol use or gambling.
Effect of emotional content on visual working memory capacity (WMC): Dissociation between positive- and negative-valence-laden visual WMC
Renmin University of China
Weizhen Xie
Weizhen Xie ,B.S. in Psychology, Renmin University of China (2006-2013); Visiting student, University of California, Davis (2012); Research assistant in Laboratory for Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Science (since 2011), Laboratory for Translational Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Imaging Research Center, UC Davis (2012), and Laboratory for Basic and Translational Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Mind and Brain, UC Davis (2012).I am interested in studying human emotion and cognition from culture-sensitive and neuroscience-oriented perspectives. I enjoy reading and swimming, and believe that the sun rays could not burn unless brought to a focus.
Abstract：Working memory is a cognitive system that is responsible to store, organize, and integrate goal-directed information over a short retention. Its limited capacity is imperative for most cognitive and affective functions. Previously, studies in working memory capacity (WMC) focused mostly in its relation with cognitive abilities (e.g. fluid intelligence and problem-solving), but rarely is known what our capacity is to remember emotional contents in highly emotive environments and how it could impact our affective abilities (e.g. motivation and emotional regulation). The current study proposes a novel paradigm based on the change localization task to measure how many emotional stimuli participants could remember over one shoot, by using schematic faces instead of color squares as stimuli. Sixty-four participants completedthe color square change localization (CSCL) task and emotional schematic faces change localization (ESFCL) task, whose sequences were counterbalanced between subjects. The results showed that positive contents (e.g. happy faces) preserved, if not facilitated, participants’ WMC which was measured by the CSCL task, while negative contents impeded the performance of those who have higher WMC. In addition, people with lower WMC paradoxically remembered more negative contents than those with higher WMC, suggesting a negative bias for those with lower WMC, which might be maladaptive in terms of emotion regulation. Possibility of future studies in emotional WMC and affective functionality are discussed and suggested.
The importance of the task’s influence on event-based Prospective Memory
Capital Normal University
Xiaoyang Zheng
It’s my great honor to introduce myself to you here. I’m Zheng Xiaoyang , a senior come from Capital Normal University, Department of Psychology. In my college life, I was education of Professional knowledge of psychology in our University, such as Cognitive Psychology or Physiological psychology. In the last four years, I have done some test Related to the courses, like Lightness’s effect on Perception and the difference of Gender roles in Mass advertising. Our Laboratory’s Research direction is Learning and Cognition . In the past year, I focus on Processing Mechanism of Prospective Memory based on Einstein & McDaniel’s Paradigm.
Abstract：Very little is known about influence of motivation factors on prospective memory. This experiment explored the importance of the influence on event-based prospective memory. A group of 8 subjects distinguished the colored Chinese characters in color-stroop task in unequally importance level. The results showed that high importance of prospective memory task could reduce the score of ON-GOING task. The Difficulty of prospective memory task Can regulate the process pattern of ON-GOING task, and this influence could be affected by the importance of prospective memory task .Moreover, this experiment proved The Yerks&Dobson Law again. These results indicated that the process of event-based prospective memory be affected by the importance of task. It was pointed out that the level of motivation influence on the allocation of attention resources , further this influence alter the process of event-based prospective memory.
mPFC Neural Activity During Rats Spatial Working Memory Formation
Capital Normal University
Haofang Lee
Haofang Lee, a third-year undergraduate at the Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, currently is working in the Electrophysiology Lab of the Lab of Learning and Memory. My present interest is on the behavioral neuroscience study concerning working memory, sleeping and decision making. I have done a variety of studies on other fields of psychology, such as school psychology and social psychology, yet behavioral neuroscience is the one that fascinates me the most. For this hard yet fascinating area of psychology, I am still a green hand, but I am always ready to learn more. If you would like more information about our work, feel free to contact me at leehaofang@126.com
Abstract： In recent years, attention has been given to the working memory processing of animals.It is wildly acknowledged that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays an important role in spatial working memory, but the neuronal mechanism underlying the working memory processing still remains unclear.The present study, we implemented method to record the neural activity on the rats mPFC, so as to demonstrate the activity of their working memory processing. We first substantiated anincline in accuracy of their behavioral performances during the training. We then found different classes of neurons responsible for different phase of working memory. We finally identified characteristics of the local field potentials (LFP): we observed the regularization of theta oscillation (phase locked to theta oscillation) after the acquirement of rules. The outcomes demonstrated that the construction of rats spatial working memory is achieved with division of working of different neurons in mPFC. And it substantiated the theta oscillation in delay period may imply the activity in neuron and working memory processing.
Social Class Identification Bias in Different Stratum
Renmin University of China
Shuya Lee
My name is Li Shuya. I’m a junior from Psychology Department in Renmin University of China andthe Vice-President of Student Union in Science School. When I was a freshman ,I joined Undergraduate Innovative Test Program of Renminuniversity of China and began to narrow down my interest for my future research .With a series of studies on social class identification bias ,my team member and Icompletethe project of national level successfully.
Abstract：This research is about social class identification bias.In contemporary China which is undergoing social transition, it is a striking phenomenon that people in middle or high socio-economic status feel they belong to vulnerable groups, which we define it as social class identification bias. The psychological mechanism that causes this phenomenon is not clear yet. The research focus on both the proof and mechanism of social class identification bias and has some results: 1)Data analyses prove the existence of social class identification bias2) Demographic variables of education, personal income, jobs, age and social-economic status has a significant correlation with social class identification bias. 3)Relative deprivation and perception of control can moderate the relationship between SES and social class identification bias.
The Maintenance of Abdominal Disturbance by Psychological Factors
Macquarie University
Mr. Tony Hollins
Tony Hollins is an honours student in the 4th year of the Bachelor of Science – Psychology degree at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Tony has a Master of Education degree and developed a passion for psychology during his thirty years as a school teacher and Learning Centre Director. Tony is currently researching status anxiety as measured by social comparison behaviour under the supervision of Professor Ladd Wheeler. As President of the Macquarie University Psychology Society, Tony leads a team dedicated to engaging students socially, academically and professionally. He is also the undergraduate student representative on the Faculty Learning and Teaching Committee.
Abstract: The Maintenance of Abdominal Disturbance by Psychological Factors
Functional disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) are difficult to treat for medical practitioners as the biomedical model does not account for the clinical condition of illness in the absence of disease. An alternative biopsychosocial model proposes that IBS symptoms (bloating, diarrhoea, abdominal pain) are worsened and prolonged by interaction with dysfunctional emotional and cognitive processing in the Central Nervous System.
This study tested aspects of the Visceral Hypersensitivity Model, which suggests IBS sufferers are hypersensitive to visceral sensations that are interpreted as threatening by dysfunctional cognitions, with symptoms exacerbated and maintained by an anxiety-feedback loop.
Correlations and path analysis were used to assess the significance of hypothetical brain-gut interactions. In this non-clinical sample of mainly young adults, greater social support down-regulated stress, but there was no evidence for the expected relationship between stress and negative appraisal (hypochondrial beliefs), trait or state anxiety or dysfunctional cognitions. Nor was anxiety associated with gut function. Surprisingly, visceral sensitivity down-regulated negative appraisal, which in turn down-regulated the use of dysfunctional cognitions.
Future studies could use a medical measure of gut function a specific visceral hypersensitivity measure, a more direct measure of cognitions, and larger samples for more statistical power.
Gastrointestinal Disorder Patients’ Cognitive Biases toward Somatic Related Negative Stimulus
Tsinghua University
Kehan Shen
ShenKehan is an undergraduate student in the department of Psychology in Tsinghua University. His research interest is Health Psychology. His GPA ranks the first among all of his classmates in the department. He has been awarded scholarships for his academic achievements in continuous three years. He has also been trained in different research fields and involved in two SRT programs .One program is awarded the third prize in Tsinghua and the other will be posted in an international conference and be indexed by EI. He is also the Vice President of Tsinghua Student Psychological Association and a consultant of Peter K.K Lee Care for Life Hotline
Abstract：The present research aims to explore whether cognitive biases could explain at least partially reasons of gastrointestinal disorders. The digestive system is very sensitive to emotional status and responses. Althougha number of researches suggested that negative mood could lead to somatic symptoms, little of them have been conducted on how cognitive style affects health status. Moreover, someprevious researches focused on the effects of different stages of cognition (e.g. attention) on somatic symptoms, but very few of them were conducted to compare the effects of different stages of cognition specifically on gastrointestinal disorders. We explored the effects of cognitive biases ongastrointestinal disorder patients at three cognitive levels—attention, memory and thinking. Dot-probe task, picture recognition task and ambiguous situation task were adopted in the explorations at the three different levels respectively. A total of 60 participants were randomly assigned into a 2(disorder: organic vs.functional) X2(subjective well-being: low vs. high) between groups design. A control group of healthy participantswas also recruited.All participants in the experimental groups suffer from either organic or functional disorderswith clinical diagnosis. The main findings are: (1) Patients caught the negative stimulus significantly faster than healthy participants in the dot-probe task. (2) In the picture recognition task, patients’ reaction times were significantly longer than that of healthy participants’, and they made more mistakes with negative stimulus. (3) Patients underestimated the possibility of ambiguous events compared to healthy participants. (4) Interactions of disorder type and subjective well-being were different at variouscognitive levels. In conclusion, gastrointestinal disorder patientsshowed obviouscognitive biases inattention, memory and thinking, andtheir behaviorswere affected by disorder types and their subjective well-being status.
A New Understanding for Proactive Coping and Preventive Coping: From A Perspective of Time, Optimism and Stress
Peking University
Qin Ke
Ke Qin, male, was born in Yunnan, February, 1991. He entered Department of Psychology, Peking University in 2009 from Kunming No.3 Middle School, and he is a well-developed student in both physique and virtue. He has been a member of training division of student union. He participated in Chun-Tsung Endowment program with other members.
Abstract： Proactive coping and preventive coping are two important concepts in positive psychology and health psychology. Many variables related to traditional coping have been supposed to be related to proactive coping and preventive coping, including optimism and stress, but few studies have provided empirical evidences for these relationships. In experiment 1 of the study, we examined the time course differences between the two kinds of coping and tested the interactive effect of optimism and future thinking on proactive coping and preventive coping, under different stress levels, with 68 participants. In experiment 2, we tested a model of proactive coping, preventive coping, intention and planning to further prove differences in the time sequences of the two kinds of coping. The results revealed that proactive coping occurs later than proactive coping when faced with stress. The effects of optimism and stress on future-oriented coping were influenced by future thinking, thus the levels of proactive coping and preventive coping were different in each situation. Finally, the model in study 2 suggested that proactive coping and preventive coping could be two stages in one process, in which preventive coping is related to intention process while proactive coping is related to planning process.
Perfectionism, Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms, and Depression in Adolescents: Are the Relationships Independent?
Beijing Normal University
Xing Cao
Cao Xing, 21, a junior at the school of psychology, Beijing Normal University comes from Mianyang, Sichuan province. As a 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake survival, he was impressed by the dedication of psychological workers during the hard time and determined to major in psychology in university. At present, his interest is in clinical psychology, especially the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. He has been in charge of the National Undergraduate Innovative Training Program concerning the influences of perfectionism personality and family environment on adolescents’ obsessive–compulsive symptoms. His future research direction in expectation lies in psychometrics and psychotherapy and counseling.
Abstract： The aim of the present study was to clarify the relationship between perfectionism and specific obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms independent of depression and general anxiety, and the relationship between perfectionism and depression independent of anxiety among Chinese adolescents. A non-clinical sample of 277 adolescents was tested with a measuring battery including the Chinese version of Frost’s Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), the Chinese version of Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Child Version (OCI-CV), Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) and Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses, controlling for gender, grade, depression and anxiety revealed that only doubting/checking and washing symptoms were significantly predicted by maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism respectively. Maladaptive perfectionism positively predicted depression while adaptive perfectionism negatively predicted depression after gender, grade, OC symptoms and anxiety were controlled. Possible reasons for both convergence and discrepancy with previous research and implications for future research and treatment are discussed.
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