Bicultural Minds : A Cultural Priming Approach to the Self-Bias Effect

Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, grant number 2020TQ0174, and the European Research Council, grant number ERC-2012-ADG_20120411. Acknowledgments: We thank the late Glyn Humphreys who supervised this study as part of a larger PhD project.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cultural orientation of self-bias in perceptual matching

This work was supported by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K013424/1), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371017), and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (HKU758412H)Peer reviewedPublisher PD

An investigation of the modulation and underlying mechanisms of the self bias effect

The self bias effect refers to the prioritised processing of self-related information (i.e. faster RTs and higher accuracy) over information about others. This phenomenon has been widely observed across many areas of cognition such as memory, attention and perception. However, current knowledge of the self bias effect is still insufficient. This thesis utilises the perceptual matching paradigm as an experimental instrument to study the self bias effect in three main aspects. First, the impact of social experiences on self bias is examined. This thesis presents data that demonstrate the modulation of self bias as a result of three factors â cultural background, situational cues and major life developments. Comparisons of the self bias between independent and interdependent cultures reveal a difference in the self bias relative to strangers. Priming of interdependent frames of mind reduces the self bias relative to friend in people with low bias, which suggests individual differences in the magnitude of the self bias effect. The transition into motherhood, as a major life development, demonstrates a loss of the self bias effect due to maternal behaviour. Second, in the attempt to explain the robustness of the self bias effect, this thesis investigates the underlying mechanisms of self bias through parallel comparisons of self-related and reward-related stimuli using the perceptual matching task. To further explain the relationship between self and reward processes, electrophysiological responses are also examined with electroencephalogram (EEG) methods. The data demonstrate partial distinctions in the neural pathway that underlie self and reward processes. Third, social psychology methods, in addition to methods from experimental psychology, are used to study the self bias effect from another perspective. However, the data are unable to link the self bias effect with trait characteristics at this stage. This thesis contributes to current understanding of self-related processing by identifying the factors that modulate self bias and exploring the underlying mechanisms of self bias.</p

An investigation of the modulation and underlying mechanisms of the self bias effect

The self bias effect refers to the prioritised processing of self-related information (i.e. faster RTs and higher accuracy) over information about others. This phenomenon has been widely observed across many areas of cognition such as memory, attention and perception. However, current knowledge of the self bias effect is still insufficient. This thesis utilises the perceptual matching paradigm as an experimental instrument to study the self bias effect in three main aspects. First, the impact of social experiences on self bias is examined. This thesis presents data that demonstrate the modulation of self bias as a result of three factors – cultural background, situational cues and major life developments. Comparisons of the self bias between independent and interdependent cultures reveal a difference in the self bias relative to strangers. Priming of interdependent frames of mind reduces the self bias relative to friend in people with low bias, which suggests individual differences in the magnitude of the self bias effect. The transition into motherhood, as a major life development, demonstrates a loss of the self bias effect due to maternal behaviour. Second, in the attempt to explain the robustness of the self bias effect, this thesis investigates the underlying mechanisms of self bias through parallel comparisons of self-related and reward-related stimuli using the perceptual matching task. To further explain the relationship between self and reward processes, electrophysiological responses are also examined with electroencephalogram (EEG) methods. The data demonstrate partial distinctions in the neural pathway that underlie self and reward processes. Third, social psychology methods, in addition to methods from experimental psychology, are used to study the self bias effect from another perspective. However, the data are unable to link the self bias effect with trait characteristics at this stage. This thesis contributes to current understanding of self-related processing by identifying the factors that modulate self bias and exploring the underlying mechanisms of self bias.</p

Apoptotic Caspases Suppress Type I Interferon Production via the Cleavage of cGAS, MAVS, and IRF3

Viral infection triggers host defenses through pattern-recognition receptor-mediated cytokine production, inflammasome activation, and apoptosis of the infected cells. Inflammasome-activated caspases are known to cleave cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS). Here, we found that apoptotic caspases are critically involved in regulating both DNA and RNA virus-triggered host defenses, in which activated caspase-3 cleaved cGAS, MAVS, and IRF3 to prevent cytokine overproduction. Caspase-3 was exclusively required in human cells, whereas caspase-7 was involved only in murine cells to inactivate cGAS, reflecting distinct regulatory mechanisms in different species. Caspase-mediated cGAS cleavage was enhanced in the presence of dsDNA. Alternative MAVS cleavage sites were used to ensure the inactivation of this critical protein. Elevated type I IFNs were detected in caspase-3-deficient cells without any infection. Casp3 mice consistently showed increased resistance to viral infection and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Our results demonstrate that apoptotic caspases control innate immunity and maintain immune homeostasis against viral infection

Enhancing Glioblastoma-Specific Penetration by Functionalization of Nanoparticles with an Iron-Mimic Peptide Targeting Transferrin/Transferrin Receptor Complex

Treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) remains to be the most formidable challenge because of the hindrance of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) along with the poor drug penetration into the glioma parenchyma. Nanoparticulate drug delivery systems (DDS) utilizing transferrin (Tf) as the targeting ligand to target the glioma-associated transferrin receptor (TfR) had met the problem of loss of specificity in biological environment due to the high level of endogenous Tf. Here we conjugated CRT peptide, an iron-mimicry moiety targeting the whole complex of Tf/TfR, to poly­(ethylene glycol)-poly­(l-lactic-<i>co</i>-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (CRT-NP), to open a new route to overcome such obstacle. High cellular associations, advanced transport ability through the BBB model, and penetration in 3-dimensional C6 glioma spheroids <i>in vitro</i> had preliminarily proved the advantages of CRT-NP over Tf-nanoparticle conjugates (Tf-NP). Compared with Tf-NP, NP, and Taxol, paclitaxel-loaded CRT-NP (CRT-NP-PTX) displayed a superior antiproliferation effect on C6 glioma cells and stronger inhibitory effect on glioma spheroids. Favored pharmacokinetics behavior and enhanced accumulation in glioma foci was observed, together with a much deeper distribution pattern in glioma parenchyma compared with unmodified nanoparticles and Tf-NP. Eventually, mice treated with CRT-NP-PTX showed a remarkably prolonged median survival compared to those treated with Taxol, NP, or Tf-NP. In conclusion, the modification of CRT to nanoparticles holds great promise for enhancement of antiglioma therapy

Rapid Spectrophotometric Method for Determining Surface Free Energy of Microalgal Cells

Microalgae are one of the most promising renewable energy sources with environmental sustainability. The surface free energy of microalgal cells determines their biofouling and bioflocculation behavior and hence plays an important role in microalgae cultivation and harvesting. To date, the surface energetic properties of microalgal cells are still rarely studied. We developed a novel spectrophotometric method for directly determining the surface free energy of microalgal cells. The principles of this method are based on analyzing colloidal stability of microalgae suspensions. We have shown that this method can effectively differentiate the surface free energy of four microalgal strains, i.e., marine <i>Chlorella</i> sp., marine <i>Nannochloris oculata</i>, freshwater autotrophic <i>Chlorella</i> sp., and freshwater heterotrophic <i>Chlorella</i> sp. With advantages of high-throughput and simplicity, this new spectrophotometric method has the potential to evolve into a standard method for measuring the surface free energy of cells and abiotic particles