Tracing attention and the activation flow in spoken word planning using eye movements.

The flow of activation from concepts to phonological forms within the word production system was examined in 3 experiments. In Experiment 1, participants named pictures while ignoring superimposed distractor pictures that were semantically related, phonologically related, or unrelated. Eye movements and naming latencies were recorded. The distractor pictures affected the latencies of gaze shifting and vocal naming. The magnitude of the phonological effects increased linearly with latency, excluding lapses of attention as the cause of the effects. In Experiment 2, no distractor effects were obtained when both pictures were named. When pictures with superimposed distractor words were named or the words were read in Experiment 3, the words influenced the latencies of gaze shifting and picture naming, but the pictures yielded no such latency effects in word reading. The picture-word asymmetry was obtained even with equivalent reading and naming latencies. The picture-picture effects suggest that activation spreads continuously from concepts to phonological forms, whereas the picture-word asymmetry indicates that the amount of activation is limited and task dependent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Levels of personality organization and production of associative sequences in process-reactive schizophrenia.

The 1st part of this study was essentially a replication of an earlier study which reported that genetic theory helped clarify the process-reactive dimension of schizophrenia. The Rorschach and Proverbs tests of 40 schizophrenic Ss were scored according to a genetic scoring system and correlated with Elgin Prognostic Scale scores which measured process-reactive status. Results were negative. Ss were also given 2 association tasks in which they were asked to name animals and persons they had known and several measures were obtained from these associative sequences. A significant difference between process and reactive groups was found on total number of associations on both tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of attention and relatedness in emotionally enhanced memory.

Examining the positive and negative pictures separately revealed that emotionally enhanced memory (EEM) for positive pictures was mediated by attention, with no significant influence of emotional arousal, whereas the reverse was true of negative pictures. Consistent with this finding, in Experiment 2 EEM for negative pictures was found even when task emphasis was manipulated so that equivalent attention was allocated to negative and neutral pictures. The results show that attention and semantic relatedness contribute to EEM, with the extent varying with emotional valence. Negative emotion can influence memory independently of these 2 factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

铜曼露天矿生产组织现状及优化

随着技术经济指标的逐步提升和生产设备的升级更新,矿山生产组织逐渐成为制约铜曼露天矿生产效率的重要因素.从生产组织管理角度分析影响生产效率的因素,并通过优化就餐方式、调整润滑油加注时间、改变交接班模式和调整维修人员工作时间等方式优化矿山生产组织.年采剥生产能力预计可提升80万m3以上,可为同类型露天矿山的生产组织管理提供...     

2250mm 热轧生产线加热炉配置及其生产组织探讨

从精准设计的角度出发,针对2250mm 热轧生产线,通过连铸、热轧和加热炉小时产能的匹配分析初步确定该生产线应配置三座步进式加热炉.通过连铸、热轧和加热炉的生产节奏分析进一步验证了三座加热炉是较为紧凑的配置.最后研究了有利于直接热送热装的连铸-加热炉-热轧区段的平面布置,初步探讨并给出了4种加热炉的生产组织模式.     

On the continuity of perceptual experience: Implications for perception and attention.

When an observer views a real-world scene, some objects in the scene are partly occluded by intervening surfaces. Similarly, as the observer moves through the environment, some objects are temporarily occluded and revealed. Yet, although the retinal image is fragmented in space and time, perceptual experience is coherent and continuous. Continuity of experience is achieved by perceptual organization mechanisms, which have their effect before attention. Several experiments are described to illustrate the close interaction between perceptual organization and attention. This interaction determines the representational basis for selection, and is therefore a crucial precursor to understanding object-based mechanisms of visual selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tracking conceptual and semantic processing in the comprehension and production of text and discourse.

Current research on text and discourse processing has focussed on the nature of conceptual and semantic representation and processing, and the relationship between conceptual knowledge and the structure and processing of text or discourse. It is now generally recognized that discourse comprehension involves the construction of a conceptual "situation model" by a listener or reader, that is, a conceptual representation that is appropriate to the content and context of a text or discourse. Current psychological models of discourse production view discourse processing as a process of translating conceptual knowledge structures into "rhetorical" discourse structures that are appropriate to a communicative situation and setting. One important component of such translation is the construction of a conceptual situation model to be communicated to a listener or reader. A second is the construction of a propositional text base to specify precisely the semantic content to be expressed through segments of text or discourse. A third is to define a discourse organization that appropriately guides the reader in constructing a conceptual situation model from the text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

云南铜业股份有限公司生产组织优化的实践与探讨

综述了云南铜业股份公司生产系统实施生产组织优化的过程及取得的良好效果。     

A unique role of endogenous visual-spatial attention in rapid processing of multiple targets.

Visual spatial attention can be exogenously captured by a salient stimulus or can be endogenously allocated by voluntary effort. Whether these two attention modes serve distinctive functions is debated, but for processing of single targets the literature suggests superiority of exogenous attention (it is faster acting and serves more functions). We report that endogenous attention uniquely contributes to processing of multiple targets. For speeded visual discrimination, response times are faster for multiple redundant targets than for single targets because of probability summation and/or signal integration. This redundancy gain was unaffected when attention was exogenously diverted from the targets but was completely eliminated when attention was endogenously diverted. This was not a result of weaker manipulation of exogenous attention because our exogenous and endogenous cues similarly affected overall response times. Thus, whereas exogenous attention is superior for processing single targets, endogenous attention plays a unique role in allocating resources crucial for rapid concurrent processing of multiple targets. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Switching in the cocktail party: Exploring intentional control of auditory selective attention.

Using a novel variant of dichotic selective listening, we examined the control of auditory selective attention. In our task, subjects had to respond selectively to one of two simultaneously presented auditory stimuli (number words), always spoken by a female and a male speaker, by performing a numerical size categorization. The gender of the task-relevant speaker could change, as indicated by a visual cue prior to auditory stimulus onset. Three experiments show clear performance costs with instructed attention switches. Experiment 2 varied the cuing interval to examine advance preparation for an attention switch. Experiment 3 additionally isolated auditory switch costs from visual cue priming by using two cues for each gender, so that gender repetition could be indicated by a changed cue. Experiment 2 showed that switch costs decreased with prolonged cuing intervals, but Experiment 3 revealed that preparation did not affect auditory switch costs but only visual cue priming. Moreover, incongruent numerical categories in competing auditory stimuli produced interference and substantially increased error rates, suggesting continued processing of task-relevant information that often leads to responding to the incorrect auditory source. Together, the data show clear limitations in advance preparation of auditory attention switches and suggest a considerable degree of inertia in intentional control of auditory selection criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of overt attention in emotion-modulated memory.

The presence of emotional stimuli results in a central/peripheral tradeoff effect in memory: memory for central details is enhanced at the cost of peripheral items. It has been assumed that emotion-modulated differences in memory are the result of differences in attention, but this has not been tested directly. The present experiment used eye movement monitoring as an index of overt attention allocation and mediation analysis to determine whether differences in attention were related to subsequent memory. Participants viewed negative and neutral scenes surrounded by three neutral objects and were then given a recognition memory test. The results revealed evidence in support of a central/peripheral tradeoff in both attention and memory. However, contrary with previous assumptions, whereas attention partially mediated emotion-enhanced memory for central pictures, it did not explain the entire relationship. Further, although centrally presented emotional stimuli led to decreased number of eye fixations toward the periphery, these differences in viewing did not contribute to emotion-impaired memory for specific details pertaining to the periphery. These findings suggest that the differential influence of negative emotion on central versus peripheral memory may result from other cognitive influences in addition to overt visual attention or on postencoding processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

全板带型钢厂精炼设备配置及其生产组织研究

基于对某全板带型钢厂2250和1580 2条生产线对应连铸机的产品大纲、工艺路线和生产时间的分析,从精准设计的角度出发,确定了2条生产线的4种精炼设备配置模式。首次提出"生产组织方式出现的频率"理念,以表征不同设备配置模式下产品大纲生产组织方式的灵活度和频率。在此基础上,通过计算给出基于转炉-精炼-连铸采用"一一对应"、2座RH对应1台连铸机、LF-RH"双联法"以及2座RH对应1台连铸机和LF-RH"双联法"同时存在4种模式下27种生产组织方式出现的频率。对此,建立了精炼设备配置模型,最终确定本文提出的2条生产线的精炼设备配置模式为1座双工位LF,3座双工位RH和2座CAS。文章最后给出最终确定的全板带型钢厂炼钢-连铸区段14种基本生产组织方式。     

Is object-based attention mandatory? Strategic control over mode of attention.

Is object-based attention mandatory or under strategic control? In an adapted spatial cuing paradigm, participants focused initially on a central arrow cue that was part of a perceptual group (Experiment 1) or a uniformly connected object (Experiment 2), encompassing one of the potential target locations. The cue always pointed to an opposite, different-object location. By varying cue validity, the strategic incentive to prevent the spread of attention to the entire cue object, and consequently to the same-object location, was manipulated: With invalid cuing and (consequently) equal probability of targets at same-object and different-object locations, a same-object target identification advantage was observed. With highly valid cuing and targets much more probable at the different-object location than at the same-object location, the same-object advantage disappeared. Object-based attention appears to be a default mode that may be ecologically adaptive but can be overridden by strategic control when there is a strong immediate benefit in doing so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of attention in the maintenance of feature bindings in visual short-term memory.

This study examined the role of attention in maintaining feature bindings in visual short-term memory. In a change-detection paradigm, participants attempted to detect changes in the colors and orientations of multiple objects; the changes consisted of new feature values in a feature-memory condition and changes in how existing feature values were combined in a binding-memory condition. In the critical experiment, a demanding visual search task requiring sequential shifts of spatial attention was interposed during the delay interval of the change-detection task. If attention is more important for the maintenance of feature bindings than for the maintenance of unbound feature values, the attention-requiring search task should specifically disrupt performance in the binding-memory task. Contrary to this proposal, it was found that memory for bindings and memory for features were equally impaired by the search task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What's in a manner of speaking? Children's sensitivity to partner-specific referential precedents.

Do young children form “referential pacts”? If a person has referred to an object with a certain term (e.g., the horse), will children expect this person to use this term in the future but allow others to use a different expression (e.g., the pony)? One hundred twenty-eight children between 3 and 5 years old co-operated with an experimenter (E1) to move toys to new locations on a shelf. E1 established referential terms for all toys in a warm-up game. Then, either the original partner, E1, or a new partner, E2, played a second game with the same toys. In this game, the experimenters referred to toys using either their original terms from the warm-up game or new terms. Children were slower to react to new terms than old, and this difference in reaction times was greater in the original partner condition (but only on the first trial). Children sometimes protested at the use of new terms, doing so regardless of their interlocutor's identity. We contrast these findings with those for adults and discuss their implications for the debate regarding the nature of referential pacts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of formal thought disorder and referential communication disturbances in schizophrenia.

This study examined the degree to which different types of communication disturbances in the speech of 48 schizophrenia patients and 28 controls were variable and state related versus stable and traitlike. Clinically rated formal thought disorder and 5 types of referential disturbance showed substantial stability within participants over time. The sixth type of referential disturbance, the vague reference, was not stable over time. Formal thought disorder was associated with the severity of core psychotic symptoms in patients, whereas referential disturbances showed little or no association with positive or negative symptom severity. Furthermore, changes in psychotic symptoms over time were accompanied by corresponding changes in formal thought disorder but not referential disturbances. These results support the idea that some types of referential disturbances are traitlike and may be reflective of vulnerability as well as manifest illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of experimental arousal of the affiliation motive on thematic apperception.

"The purpose of this study was to develop a method of scoring thematic apperception stories to measure strength of motivation for social acceptance, or n Affiliation. Imaginative stories were written in response to pictures by two groups of male Ss under experimental conditions designed to differ in the degree to which motivation to be accepted and liked by others would be aroused." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring and modeling the trajectory of visual spatial attention.

In a novel choice attention-gating paradigm, observers monitor a stream of 3x3 letter arrays until a tonal cue directs them to report 1 row. Analyses of the particular arrays from which reported letters are chosen and of the joint probabilities of reporting pairs of letters are used to derive a theory of attention dynamics. An attention window opens 0.15 s following a cue to attend to a location, remains open (minimally) 0.2 s, and admits information simultaneously from all the newly attended locations. The window dynamics are independent of the distance moved. The theory accounts for about 90% of the variance from the over 400 data points obtained from each of the observers in the 3 experiments reported here. With minor elaborations, it applies to all the principal paradigms used to study the dynamics of visual spatial attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-focused attention and emotional reactivity: The role of culture.

Research conducted with European Americans suggests that attention to the individual self intensifies emotional reactivity. We propose, however, that cultural models of the self determine which aspect of the self (individual vs. relational), when attended to, intensifies emotional reactivity. In 3 studies, we predicted and observed that attention to individual aspects of the self was associated with levels of emotional reactivity that were greater in individuals from European American contexts (which promote an independent model of the self) than in individuals from Asian American contexts (which promote an interdependent model of the self). In contrast, attention to relational aspects of the self was associated with levels of emotional reactivity that were similar or greater in individuals from Asian American than in individuals from European American contexts. These findings highlight the importance of considering cultural and situational factors when examining links between the self and emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the control of attention.

An early interest in cognitive processes led me to study with Mike Posner from whom I acquired the intellectual tools to follow Hebb’s (1949) advice that “Everyone knows that attention and set exist so we had better get the skeleton out of the closet and see what can be done with it.” Using variants of the model task Posner developed for exploring the control of visual attention we have demonstrated that endogenous shifts of attention are not generated by unexecuted oculomotor activation, that endogenous and exogenous shifts of attention are fundamentally different on a variety of dimensions and that an aftermath of exogenous (but not endogenous) orienting, inhibition of return, facilitates search by encouraging orienting to novel items. A research strategy for understanding ambiguous forms of orienting (e.g., that controlled by conspecific gaze) is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)