身份识别的跨通道研究策略:面孔—语音联合加工

对人身份识别是社会认知的重要方面,面孔—语音特征为对人身份识别提供了丰富的信息。已有的研究主要运用再认、识别范式探讨对面孔—语音的联合加工。对人面孔—语音加工的机制为独立的序列加工或者联合的平行加工,所涉及脑区主要包括颞上沟等区域,然而对二者的探讨并没有统一结论。通过改进研究范式、确定对比基线等方法可以对面孔—语音联合加工进行更深入的研究。     

积极情绪的脑机制

本文梳理了情绪脑机制研究的历史与现状.已有研究表明,积极情绪的加工涉及广泛的脑区.其中,前额叶皮层、伏隔核、基底神经节、杏仁核、腹侧黑质在积极情绪的加工中扮演着更为重要的角色.积极情绪和消极情绪加工有着分离的神经回路,但部分脑区又有重叠.文章最后指出了当前积极情绪脑机制研究面临的一些问题,同时对未来研究提出了建设性的意见.     

时间知觉的脑机制研究

当前时间知觉的脑机制的研究结果出现了定位论和非定位论的研究趋向。支持定位论的证据主要集中在小脑高级功能区运动计时特异化作用及基底神经节分泌的多巴胺对时间知觉的作用；支持非定位论的证据主要集中在脑损伤、脑成像研究中关于多个脑区整合作用机制以及多种神经递质在计时中的作用。上述两种趋向是基于时距长短不同所致，比如对秒以下计时加工的部位在小脑高级功能区，而加工1秒及以上的时距则涉及多个脑区及神经递质的整合作用。时间知觉之脑机制研究正方兴未艾。     

双语脑机制的几个重要问题及其当前研究进展

双语是人脑所特有的重要功能 ,对其脑机制的研究在近几年有了很大的进展。当前 ,加工的观点已经逐渐取代了存储的观点以解释两种语言神经基础的异同。前额叶在双语加工中的作用逐渐受到重视 ,研究者已经发现其在语音分析、执行功能和避免两种语言干扰中的作用。同时 ,研究者在对第二语言的接触时间、第二语言的熟练程度、语言类型等与双语脑机制的关系上取得了一些新的发现 ,但在这些领域还有很多重要问题值得深入研究。我国应该利用自身在研究资源上的优势 ,加强中英文加工的脑机制研究     

发展性阅读障碍的脑机制研究进展

文章从脑功能与脑结构两方面介绍了发展性阅读障碍的脑机制研究.研究发现阅读障碍者左半球背侧通路与腹侧通路激活不足,右侧相应脑区出现代偿性激活;在脑结构方面,阅读障碍者左侧语言区白质和灰质的微结构异常.此外,简要介绍了汉语阅读障碍的脑机制研究.在此基础上,分两个方面分析了该领域的最新进展:功能整合研究和训练干预研究.最后提出了当前研究的局限及有待进一步解决的问题.     

儿童认知脑机制研究进展及其对教育的影响

儿童认知神经科学是21世纪儿童发展心理学研究的一大趋势，将对儿童认知发展的脑机制进行深入的研究。试图从研究背景、研究现状两方面阐述认知神经科学的兴起、儿童认知脑机制研究方法以及国内外有关儿童认知脑机制的研究进展。最后讨论这一领域的系统发展将对儿童教育产生的影响。     

"莫扎特效应"的认知神经科学研究

“莫扎特效应”是近年来音乐心理学乃至音乐教育中的一个热点问题,许多心理学家对之做了解释,但大多只涉及到大脑皮层的神经加工。文章结合认知神经科学的研究成果,从大脑对音乐的认知加工、情绪加工以及两者所共有的加工机制三个方面予以综述,发现莫扎特的音乐能激活大脑的多个脑区,并能挖掘出某些区域潜在的功能,研究的结果有助于人们更好地认识大脑的高级功能。     

大脑偏侧化的模型及新进展

大脑偏侧化是认知神经科学中的一个重要研究领域。许多研究者对大脑的偏侧化提出了多个解释模型。文章首先对此领域中的主要理论模型进行了介绍。在此基础上,对最新的大脑偏侧化相关研究进行了梳理,主要对文盲脑机制研究以及人脸和字词识别的专家化脑区（FFA和VWFA）作了简介,并对此领域进一步研究进行了展望。     

句法加工的fMRI研究

句法加工是语言理解中的重要环节,句法加工的脑机制问题是心理语言学和认知神经科学的重要研究内容。功能性磁共振成像（functional magnetic resonance imaging,简称fMRI）的出现为研究语言加工提供了一种新的信息资源,它能对句子中不同位置发生的大量语义分析操作进行检测,为研究语言的脑机制提供证据。详细阐述了如何运用fMRI来研究各种句法加工,并对当前的句法加工研究及fMRI技术进行了评价。     

竞争与非竞争情景下心算过程脑机制差异研究

随着脑科学研究的发展,越来越多的教育研究者开始探寻学习过程中的大脑机制,进行基于脑的学习研究,希望为教育现象提供新的科学的解释.本研究就是从心算这一重要数学认知方式入手,研究竞争与非竞争情景下心算过程脑机制的差异.研究使用事件相关脑电位检测设备(ERP)对竞争与非竞争情景下的心算过程脑电成分进行对比研究,主要包括N1、P1、N2、P300、LPC这五种脑电主要成分的差异分析,获得不同学习情景对认知加工过程的脑机制差异,从而揭示了竞争组与非竞争组在心算的三个认知加工阶段存在不同的差异以及这些差异存在的可能原因.希望研究能为竞争情境在心算学习中的应用提供脑机制的相关基础研究.     

The neurobiological basis of reading

The results from studies using positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in adults have largely revealed the involvement of left-hemisphere perisylvian areas in the reading process, including extrastriate visual cortex, inferior parietal regions, superior temporal gyrus, and inferior frontal cortex. Although the recruitment of these regions varies with the particular reading-related task, general networks of regions seem to be uniquely associated with different components of the reading process. For example, visual word form processing is associated with occipital and occipitotemporal sites, whereas reading-relevant phonological processing has been associated with superior temporal, occipitotemporal and inferior frontal sites of the left hemisphere. Such findings are evaluated in light of the technical and experimental limitations encountered in functional brain imaging studies, and the implications for pediatric studies are discussed.     

Tracking Adult Literacy Acquisition With Functional MRI: A Single‐Case Study

We evaluated neuro‐functional changes associated with late acquisition of reading in an illiterate adult who underwent 20 longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans during 2 years, while the participant progressed from complete illiteracy to a modest level of alphabetical decoding. Initially, the participant did not activate neural circuits for reading when he was exposed to words; gradually, however, he began to present activation in left occipitotemporal cortex, at the visual word form area. This increase was accompanied by a decrease in face responses. Reading‐related responses also emerged in language‐related areas of the inferior frontal gyrus and temporal lobe. Additional activations in superior parietal lobe, superior frontal gyrus and posterior medial frontal cortex suggested that reading remained dependent on effortful executive attention and working memory processes. Nevertheless, the results indicate that adult plasticity can be sufficient to induce rapid changes in brain responses to written words and faces in an unschooled and illiterate adult.     

A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Foreign‐Language Vocabulary Learning Enhanced by Phonological Rehearsal: The Role of the Right Cerebellum and Left Fusiform Gyrus

Psychological research suggests that foreign‐language vocabulary acquisition recruits the phonological loop for verbal working memory. To depict the neural underpinnings and shed light on the process of foreign language learning, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging of Japanese participants without previous exposure to the Uzbek language using learning of novel Uzbek words. During encoding, spoken Uzbek words and corresponding visual objects were shown, and subjects either overtly repeated the words (phonological rehearsal) or overtly rehearsed numbers (phonological suppression). Phonological rehearsal improved the encoding performance. A learning‐related decrease in rehearsal‐specific activation was found in the left fusiform gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, and right cerebellum. Recollection of the phonologically rehearsed words activated the right cerebellum and left fusiform gyrus more prominently than recollection of the phonologically suppressed words in a performance‐dependent manner. The phonological loop might provide the temporal and fragile registration of the articulatory pattern that is converted into a more durable form in the right cerebellum, which is in turn integrated with the object information in the fusiform gyrus.     

Reading Disability in Chinese Children Learning English as an L2

To examine whether there are common or specific deficits of reading disability (RD) in first (L1) and second languages (L2), Chinese children (9–11 years, N = 76) with or without RD who learn English as an L2 were studied during a visual word rhyming judgment task. Evidence was found for common deficits in L1 and L2 in visuo-orthographic processes in left inferior temporal gyrus and left precuneus, as well as in phonological processes in left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus as children with RD showed less activation than controls in both languages. Furthermore, the visuo-orthographic deficit appears to be a RD effect, whereas the phonological deficit appears to be a reading/performance effect. Some weak evidence for language specific effects was also found.     

What Neural Substrates Trigger the Adept Scientific Pattern Discovery by Biologists?

This study investigated the neural correlates of experts and novices during biological object pattern detection using an fMRI approach in order to reveal the neural correlates of a biologist’s superior pattern discovery ability. Sixteen healthy male participants (8 biologists and 8 non-biologists) volunteered for the study. Participants were shown fifteen series of organism pictures and asked to detect patterns amid stimulus pictures. Primary findings showed significant activations in the right middle temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule amongst participants in the biologist (expert) group. Interestingly, the left superior temporal gyrus was activated in participants from the non-biologist (novice) group. These results suggested that superior pattern discovery ability could be related to a functional facilitation of the parieto-temporal network, which is particularly driven by the right middle temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule in addition to the recruitment of additional brain regions. Furthermore, the functional facilitation of the network might actually pertain to high coherent processing skills and visual working memory capacity. Hence, study results suggested that adept scientific thinking ability can be detected by neuronal substrates, which may be used as criteria for developing and evaluating a brain-based science curriculum and test instrument.     

Lexical decision with left,right and center visual field presentation: a comparison between dyslexic and regular readers by means of electrophysiological and behavioral measures

This study examined the differences in processing between regular and dyslexic readers in a lexical decision task in different visual field presentations (left, right, and center). The research utilized behavioral measures that provide information on accuracy and reaction time and electro-physiological measures that permit the examination of brain activity during cognitive processing. Two groups of university students, regular and dyslexic readers, were matched on age, gender, intelligence, socioeconomic status, and handedness. A lexical decision task was used in order to examine the processes during word recognition. Subjects were required to decide whether a sequence of letters constituted a real word existing in spoken language or whether the stimulus seen was not an accurate word. For the behavioral measures, it was found that the dyslexics read slower and with more errors than the regular readers. Moreover, the ERP components appeared later in dyslexics as compared to regular readers in this task. The performance of the dyslexics improved and even approached that of the regular readers when the stimuli were presented to the left visual field. Thus, it seems that the dyslexics were relying more on their right hemisphere for linguistic processing, whereas the regular readers were relying more on their language areas in the left hemisphere.     

Language‐Switching Costs in Bilingual Mathematics Learning

Behavioral studies on bilingual learning have revealed cognitive costs (lower accuracy and/or higher processing time) when the language of application differs from the language of learning. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to provide insights into the cognitive underpinnings of these costs (so‐called language‐switching costs) in mathematics. Twenty‐nine bilingual adults underwent a 4‐day arithmetic training in one language, followed by an fMRI test session in which they had to solve the trained problems in both languages. Language‐switching costs were accompanied by increased activation in areas associated with magnitude processing (intraparietal sulcus), visuo‐spatial imagery (precuneus), numerical stimulus recognition (fusiform gyrus) and executive functions (frontal areas). These findings suggest that language‐switching costs in arithmetic are due to additional numerical information processing. Bilingual education programs need to take these findings into account to reduce language‐switching costs in order to fully exploit the potential of bilingual learning.     

Investigation of abnormal left temporal functioning in dyslexia through rCBF,auditory evoked potentials,and positron emisson tomography

The proposed left hemisphere dysfunction in dyslexia was investigated in a review of four studies using regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF; N=152) and combined auditory evoked responses (AERs) with positron emission tomography (PET) (N=20). In contrast to the positive relation that was found between temporal rCBF and orthographic task accuracy, an inverse correlation was found phonemic in normals between task accuracy and left temporal rCBF activation, near Heschl's gyrus. Dyslexics, by contrast, showed a positive correlation between Heschl's gyrus activation (by PET and rCBF) and phonemic processing accuracy. The AER's at C3 for an early positive component (P1) showed that these relationships were true both on hit trials and correct rejection trials, indicating that the perceptual rather than motoric or selective attention aspects of the task were being measured. Methodological issues were emphasized, including the difficulty of interpreting mean differences in brain activity at a given site without considering the separate multivariate structures that might exist in the two populations.     

Sign language and the brain: a review

How are signed languages processed by the brain? This review briefly outlines some basic principles of brain structure and function and the methodological principles and techniques that have been used to investigate this question. We then summarize a number of different studies exploring brain activity associated with sign language processing especially as compared to speech processing. We focus on lateralization: is signed language lateralized to the left hemisphere (LH) of native signers, just as spoken language is lateralized to the LH of native speakers, or could sign processing involve the right hemisphere to a greater extent than speech processing? Experiments that have addressed this question are described, and some problems in obtaining a clear answer are outlined.