Serial dependence refers to an attractive bias in perception and cognition toward recent past experiences. Although it is stable within individuals, whether perceptual learning can modify this stability remains unclear. Here we investigated the modifiability of serial dependence across low-level and high-level visual processings, using orientation grating (Experiment 1) and facial expression (Experiment 2) respectively. Participants in the experimental group underwent five consecutive days of intensive perceptual training, while participants in the control group did not. All participants performed a serial dependence test and a discrimination test before and after training in the two experiments. The results showed that participants in the experimental group improved discrimination abilities and reduced the magnitude of the serial dependence effect after training for both low-level and high-level stimuli, whereas participants in the control group did not show these effects. This research provides direct evidence that perceptual learning can modify serial dependence across different levels of visual processings.

Depression,known as a neuropsychiatric disorder,is generally manifested as an emotional disorder.However,recent studies have shown that processing of depressed individuals in visual percep-tion have been altered.From the perspectives of contrast sensitivity,visual motion perception,face per-ception and binocular rivalry,previous studies regarding visual processing of depressed individuals were reviewed.Furthermore,the neural basis of impaired visual perception for the depressed individuals was reviewed as well.In the future,researchers could attempt to use the tasks of visual perception as objec-tive diagnostic methods when distinguishing depressed individuals from non-depressed individuals,ba-sing upon different subtypes of depression.

Serial dependence is such a phenomenon that the current processes of human brain, such as perception, decisions, and memory, are systematically biased by the recent past. While serial dependence effects have been extensively found, the roles of stimulus duration and spatial distance in serial dependence remain unclear. Here, we investigated how spatiotemporal factors jointly influenced serial dependence effects by manipulating stimulus durations and spatial locations in three independent experiments, in which participants were required to report perceived orientations of grating stimuli via an adjustment task. When the grating stimuli were presented at the center, increasing stimulus durations weakened serial dependence effects (Experiments 1A and 1B). Furthermore, when introducing spatial distance, in Experiment 2 we found that shorter durations induced serial dependence only in close spatial proximity while longer durations yielded serial dependence effects across a broader spatial field. These results reveal that serial dependence dynamically integrates temporal and spatial information under varying environmental demands.

Subthreshold depression (StD), a subclinical depression state, exhibits high prevalence and elevates the risk of developing major depressive disorder. Previous studies have found that individuals with StD were impaired in facial emotional expression recognition, and yet these studies primarily used static rather than dynamical facial emotional expressions with relatively highly ecological validity. It remains unclear whether StD could be associated with impaired recognition of dynamic facial emotional expressions and whether the abnormalities could be stable over time. Forty-six individuals with StD and forty-five non-depressed individuals performed a dynamic and a static facial emotional expression recognition task, and they also performed a follow-up assessment with the same tasks as the initial assessment after a 4-month interval. In the dynamic task, StD individuals showed lower recognition thresholds only for the angry emotional expression at both the initial and follow-up assessments, compared to the non-depressed individuals. In the static task, the StD group demonstrated significantly higher accuracy only for angry expressions at the initial assessment but did not at the follow-up assessment. These results indicate that the dynamic facial expression recognition task, recruiting higher ecological validity relative to the static task, may be a potential tool as an auxiliary objective marker for depression.

The perception of facial expression plays a crucial role in social communication, and it is known to be influenced by various facial cues. Previous studies have reported both positive and negative biases toward overweight individuals. It is unclear whether facial cues, such as facial weight, bias facial expression perception. Combining psychophysics and event-related potential technology, the current study adopted a cross-adaptation paradigm to examine this issue. The psychophysical results of Experiments 1A and 1B revealed a bidirectional cross-adaptation effect between overweight and angry faces. Adapting to overweight faces decreased the likelihood of perceiving ambiguous emotional expressions as angry compared to adapting to normal-weight faces. Likewise, exposure to angry faces subsequently caused normal-weight faces to appear thinner. These findings were corroborated by bidirectional event-related potential results, showing that adaptation to overweight faces relative to normal-weight faces modulated the event-related potential responses of emotionally ambiguous facial expression (Experiment 2A); vice versa, adaptation to angry faces relative to neutral faces modulated the event-related potential responses of ambiguous faces in facial weight (Experiment 2B). Our study provides direct evidence associating overweight faces with facial expression, suggesting at least partly common neural substrates for the perception of overweight and angry faces.

The visual system often undergoes a relatively stable perception even in a noisy visual environment. This crucial function was reflected in a visual perception phenomenon—serial dependence, in which recent stimulus history systematically biases current visual decisions. Although serial dependence effects have been revealed in numerous studies, few studies examined whether serial dependence would require visual awareness. By using the continuous flash suppression (CFS) technique to render grating stimuli invisible, we investigated whether serial dependence effects could emerge at the unconscious levels. In an orientation adjustment task, subjects viewed a randomly oriented grating and reported their orientation perception via an adjustment response. Subjects performed a series of three type trial pairs. The first two trial pairs, in which subjects were instructed to make a response or no response toward the first trial of the pairs, respectively, were used to measure serial dependence at the conscious levels; the third trial pair, in which the grating stimulus in the first trial of the pair was masked by a CFS stimulus, was used to measure the serial dependence at the unconscious levels. One-back serial dependence effects for the second trial of the pairs were evaluated. We found significant serial dependence effects at the conscious levels, whether absence (Experiment 1) or presence (Experiment 2) of CFS stimuli, but failed to find the effects at the unconscious levels, corroborating the view that serial dependence requires visual awareness.

Binocular rivalry, a visual perception phenomenon where two or more percepts alternate every few seconds when distinct stimuli are presented to the two eyes, has been reported as a biomarker in several psychiatric disorders. It is unclear whether abnormalities of binocular rivalry in depression could occur when emotional rivaling stimuli are used, and if so, whether an emotional binocular rivalry test could provide a trait-dependent or state-dependent biomarker. In the current study, 34 individuals with subthreshold depression and 31 non-depressed individuals performed a binocular rivalry task associated with implicit emotional processing. Participants were required to report their perceived orientations of the rival gratings in the foreground and to neglect emotional face stimuli in the background. The participants were retested after an approximately 4-month time interval. Compared to the non-depressed group, the subthreshold depression group showed significantly longer perceptual dominance durations of the grating with emotional faces as the background (i.e., implicit emotional dominance) at the initial assessment. However, the abnormality was not found at the follow-up assessment. More importantly, we found smaller changes in depressive severity at the follow-up assessment for individuals displaying longer emotional dominance at the initial assessment than for individuals with weaker emotional dominance. The current emotional binocular rivalry test may provide an objective, state-dependent biomarker for distinguishing individuals with subthreshold depression from non-depressed individuals.

Subthreshold depression (StD), as a subclinical state, is highly prevalent and increases the risk for developing major depressive disorder (MDD). Although several studies have reported deficits of contrast sensitivity in MDD patients, it is unclear whether individuals with StD could demonstrate deficits of contrast sensitivity and whether the deficits could remain stable over time. Here we used a contrast discrimination task (a suprathreshold task) and a contrast detection task (a near-threshold task) to compare contrast sensitivity of the StD group with that of matched non-depressed controls. For each task, a spatial four-alternative forced-choice method and a psychophysical QUEST procedure were used to measure contrast discrimination threshold or contrast detection threshold. Participants performed an initial assessment and a follow-up assessment 4 months later. Compared to the non-depressed controls, individuals with StD demonstrated reduced contrast discrimination sensitivity, not only at the initial assessment but also at the follow-up assessment, indicating a stable abnormality. Contrast discrimination thresholds at the initial assessment did not predict changes of depression symptom severity over time. For contrast detection sensitivity, there was no significant difference between the StD group and non-depressed controls. We concluded that contrast discrimination testing might provide a trait-dependent biomarker for depression.

采用基于MATLAB软件环境开发的简体中文版的"自动化运算广度任务"和瑞文推理测验对102名大学生进行施测,其中86名被试平均约8 d后进行重测.结果显示:简体中文版"自动化运算广度任务"的Cronbach′sα内部一致性信度系数为0.670,重测信度为0.666;采用瑞文推理测验作为效度效标,将瑞文推理测验得分与总广度得分的皮尔逊相关分析显示,二者在初测(r=0.33,P<0.01)和重测(r=0.39,P<0.001)均呈显著正相关.结论:简体中文版的"自动化运算广度任务"具有较好的信效度,操作简便,可方便测量个体的工作记忆容量.该任务程序可以在网站免费下载使用.

Adaptation to a natural face attribute such as a happy face can bias the perception of a subsequent face in this dimension such as a neutral face. Such face adaptation aftereffects have been widely found in many natural facial categories. However, how temporally tuned mechanisms could control the temporal dynamics of natural face adaptation aftereffects remains unknown. To address the question, we used a deadaptation paradigm to examine whether the spontaneous recovery of natural facial aftereffects would emerge in four natural facial categories including variable categories (emotional expressions in Experiment 1 and eye gaze in Experiment 2) and invariable categories (facial gender in Experiment 3 and facial identity in Experiment 4). In the deadaptation paradigm, participants adapted to a face with an extreme attribute (such as a 100% angry face in Experiment 1) for a relatively long duration, and then deadapted to a face with an opposite extreme attribute (such as a 100% happy face in Experiment 1) for a relatively short duration. The time courses of face adaptation aftereffects were measured using a top-up manner. Deadaptation only masked the effects of initial longer-lasting adaptation, and the spontaneous recovery of adaptation aftereffects was observed at the post-test stage for all four natural facial categories. These results likely indicate that the temporal dynamics of adaptation aftereffects of natural facial categories may be controlled by multiple temporally tuned mechanisms.

Prolonged exposure to an oriented stimulus causes a subsequent test stimulus to be perceived as tilted in the opposite direction, a phenomenon referred to as the tilt aftereffect (TAE). Previous studies have demonstrated that high-level cognitive functions such as attention can modulate the TAE, which is generally well-known as a low-level perceptual process. However, it is unclear whether working memory load, another high-level cognitive function, could modulate the TAE. To address this issue, here we developed a new paradigm by combining a working memory load task with a TAE task. Participants firstly remembered a stream of digits (Experiment 1) or four color-shape conjunctions (Experiment 2) under high/low load conditions, and then recognized the probe stimuli (digits or a color-shape conjunction), which were presented at the center of an adapting grating. After the recognition task (i.e., the adaptation stage), participants performed an orientation judgment task to measure their TAEs. The result of Experiment 1, where the load stimuli were digits, showed that the magnitude of the TAEs were reduced under the condition of the high working memory load compared to that of the low working memory load. However, we failed to replicate the finding in Experiment 2, where the load stimuli were color-shape conjunctions. Together, our two experiments provided mixed evidence regarding the working memory load effects on the TAE and further replications are needed in future work.

目的:探讨女性强制戒毒人员的面部表情知觉敏感性特点.方法:在女子强制隔离戒毒所选取戒毒人员31例,招募在性别和年龄上匹配的健康女性30例,采用QUEST自适应知觉阈限测量程序,分别从面孔表情信号强度(任务一)和面孔表情刺激呈现时间(任务二)两个角度比较女性强制戒毒人员和正常对照组被试在面部表情知觉敏感性方面的差异.结果:面孔表情信号强度任务下,强制戒毒组的知觉阈限在愤怒、恐惧、高兴、平静和悲伤上都显著高于正常对照组;面孔表情刺激呈现时间任务下,强制戒毒组识别出这五种表情的平均时间知觉阈限均显著长于正常对照组.结论:女性强制戒毒人员在面部表情知觉敏感性方面存在缺陷.

Subthreshold depression (StD) is more prevalent than major depressive disorder (MDD) all over the world. Previous studies have indicated that depression is associated with impaired perception of facial expressions. However, for individuals with StD, whether perceptual sensitivity toward facial expressions could be altered and whether these alterations could stabilize over time remain largely unknown. Using the QUEST psychometric procedure, here we assessed recognition thresholds of five facial expressions (angry, fear, happy, sad and neutral) for individuals with StD and non-depressed controls. These subjects were retested after approximately 2-month time intervals. At the initial assessment, individuals with StD demonstrated lower recognition thresholds (i.e., stronger sensitivity) for only sadness compared to non-depressed controls. At the follow-up assessment, we classified the StD group as two subgroups: the non-remitted and the remitted group. For the former, lower recognition thresholds for only sadness were again found; for the latter, there was no significant difference. More importantly, individuals displaying lower recognition thresholds for sadness at the initial assessment were less likely to improve in depressive symptoms at the follow-up assessment. These results indicate that the alteration of perceptual sensitivity toward the sad expression for individuals with StD is associated with the current clinical state.

Emotional labor is characterized by two main regulation strategies: surface acting and deep acting. However, which strategy consumes more energy? To explore this, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure changes in hemoglobin density while participants performed a task requiring them to make the opposite emotional facial expression of that presented in a picture. We found that (1) neither surface nor deep acting led to a significant change in hemoglobin concentration in the prefrontal cortex; (2) making negative and positive facial expressions activated the same left front and middle areas of the prefrontal cortex; and (3) making positive facial expressions activated the rear portion of the prefrontal cortex, but making negative facial expressions did not. Based on these findings and past work, we can infer that deep and surface acting may not significantly differ in terms of the activity in the prefrontal cortex energy consumed. Furthermore, engaging in positive and negative emotional labor appear to utilize some of the same neurological mechanisms, although they differ in others.

The stability of face perception is vital in interpersonal interactions. Recent studies have revealed the mechanism of the stability in the perception of stable attributes of faces (such as facial identity) by serial dependence, a phenomenon in which perception of current stimuli is pulled toward recently viewed stimuli. However, whether serial dependence of perceived emotional expression (a changeable attribute of faces) exists remains controversial, and its exact nature has not been examined yet. To address these issues, we used the methods of constant stimuli and two-interval forced choice tasks in three psychophysical experiments. Participants compared two successive facial expressions selected from a continuum with 50 morphed faces ranging from sad to happy. Experiment 1a and 1b showed that a perceived facial expression pulled toward previously seen facial expressions (i.e., a significant serial dependence effect), independent of response instructions. Furthermore, a stronger serial dependence effect was found when the first facial expression was retained in working memory for a longer delay duration (Experiment 2), and yet a weaker serial dependence effect was observed when a longer delay between decision and response was performed (Experiment 3). These findings indicate that serial dependence facilitates the stability of facial expression perception and is modulated by working memory representations.

目的 检验人际反应指针量表中的个人痛苦维度是否属于共情的情感成分;探讨观点采择、个人痛苦对人际宽恕心理的影响.方法 采用人际反应指针量表中观点采择、个人痛苦分量表及宽恕倾向问卷调查768名在校大学生.结果 (1)观点采择、个人痛苦与人际宽恕两两变量间均呈显著相关(P＜0.01);(2)观点采择对个人痛苦的直接效应显著(βPT→PD=-0.23,P＜0.01);个人痛苦对宽恕的直接效应显著(βPD→FC=-0.24,P＜0.01);观点采择对宽恕的直接效应显著(β PT→FG=0.15,P＜0.01);观点采择对宽恕的间接效应显著(β=0.06,P＜0.01).结论 (1)人际反应指针量表中的个人痛苦是一种负性情感反应,而不是一种情感共情成分;(2)观点采择可直接影响人际宽恕,还可以通过个人痛苦的部分中介作用影响人际宽恕.

The spatial numerical association of response codes effect, referred to as the SNARC effect, reveals that small numbers elicit faster left than right responses, and conversely, large numbers elicit faster right responses. Here, we explored the development of this number-space association by assessing how 7-, 9-, 11-year-olds, and adults differed in spatial orienting of attention on Posner' paradigm. Compared with the previous research, we examined how the cues would affect the level and strength of the SNARC effect in children under the different attentional conditions. Subjects made parity decisions for endogenous attention (Experiment 1) and exogenous attention (Experiment 2). The results showed that adults displayed the SNARC effect in both experiments, relatively speaking, 7- to 11-year-old Chinese children's ability of spatial numerical association progressed gradually. With endogenous attention, the SNARC effect appeared in all age groups except for 7-year-olds for invalid cues. Compared with the endogenous attention condition, the SNARC effect was more significantly affected by cues in the exogenous attention condition. This result might be owing to the fact that the SNARC effect was not demonstrated in 7-year-olds with either valid or invalid cues. Our results suggest that the differences in the spatial orienting of attention are based on the cognitive load associated with processing number information and that this process can be affected by cues. Further, there may be cross-cultural influences on the SNARC effect, as early family training may explain the results seen in this sample of Chinese 7-year-olds. Thus, reaction times decreased with increasing age in the parity judgment task, and reaction times for valid cues were faster than for invalid cues regardless of the age group in both experiments. The SNARC effect was only present for 7-year-olds for valid cues, for endogenous attention.

Adaptation to changes of the environment is an essential function of the visual system. Recent studies have revealed that prolonged viewing of a point-light display of a human walker can produce the perception of a point-light walker facing in the opposite direction in a subsequent ambiguous test. Similar effects of biological motion adaptation have been documented for various properties of the point-light walkers. However, the time course and controlling mechanisms for biological motion adaptation have not yet been examined. The present study investigated whether a single mechanism or multiple mechanisms controlled biological motion adaptation. In Experiment 1, a relatively long duration of initial adaptation to one facing direction of a point-light walker was followed by a relatively short duration of deadaptation in which the adapter was a point-light walker of the opposite facing direction. Chimeric ambiguous walkers were used to test the aftereffect in a top-up manner. We observed spontaneous recovery of the adaptation effects in the post-test period. The Experiment 2 further delineated the build-up and decay of biological motion adaptation that accorded well with the duration scaling law (i.e., effects of adaptation become stronger and longer-lasting as adaptation duration increases). Further analysis indicated that the slower but not the faster component of the adaptation effects complied with the law. These findings suggest that biological motion adaptation is controlled by the multiple mechanisms tuned to differing timescales.

The visual environment changes at multiple timescales. It has been recently demonstrated that visual adaptation is composed of multiple mechanisms operating at differing timescales to accommodate the environmental changes. However, whether multiple adaptation mechanisms correspond to different stages of visual processing remains unclear. To address this issue, in the current study, we compared the timescales of adaptation between the stages of early and mid-level visual processing by tracking the decay of the curvature aftereffect after adaptation to either a compound stimulus or a component stimulus. The results revealed a slower decay for the compound adaptation condition than for the component adaptation condition. Our finding indicates that neural mechanisms for visual adaptation are more sluggish at the mid level than those at the early stage of visual processing.