Worry about Medical Care, Family Support, and Depression of the Elders in Urban China

This study examines the role of family support in reducing the elders’s depression in the face of the perceived inadequate public medical care in urban China. Using data from the Survey on Aging and Intergenerational Relations in Baoding City, this article investigates the overall depression level, somatic symptoms, and affective symptoms, respectively. The findings suggest that perceived inadequate public medical care, which results from dramatic changes in China’s socioeconomic transformation, has a stressful impact on all measures of depression. Family support, by its structure and function, shows both direct and moderating effects in counteracting such stress from the public domain. In light of China’s demographic transition, the state is called upon to adopt a comprehensive strategy in designing its socioeconomic development policy to meet the needs of an aging population

Old Age Support in Contemporary Urban China from Both Parents’ and Children’s Perspectives

This article explores the links between old age support and the characteristics of both parents and children drawing on survey data collected in Baoding, China, in 1994. Three specific forms of support are examined: monetary transfers, in-kind gifts, and help with daily activities. Hierarchical modeling is applied to the analysis from children’s perspective to control for the unobserved family heterogeneity. Results indicate that intergenerational support within families is currently the major source of old age security in Chinese society. Analyses from both parents’ and children’s perspectives support the corporate group/mutual aid model, which largely sees the provision of help as dependent on elderly parents’ needs and children’s capacities. Although living away from children does not affect whether elderly parents receive economic help, it does constrain their receiving help on daily activities. Policy implications of the findings are discussed

Worry about Medical Care, Family Support, and Depression of the Elders in Urban China

This study examines the role of family support in reducing the elders’s depression in the face of the perceived inadequate public medical care in urban China. Using data from the Survey on Aging and Intergenerational Relations in Baoding City, this article investigates the overall depression level, somatic symptoms, and affective symptoms, respectively. The findings suggest that perceived inadequate public medical care, which results from dramatic changes in China’s socioeconomic transformation, has a stressful impact on all measures of depression. Family support, by its structure and function, shows both direct and moderating effects in counteracting such stress from the public domain. In light of China’s demographic transition, the state is called upon to adopt a comprehensive strategy in designing its socioeconomic development policy to meet the needs of an aging population

Mortality of the Oldest Old in China

Objective: This study investigates the role of customary activities, both social and solitary, in mortality among the oldest old in China. Methods: The data come from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.Weibull hazard models analyze the mortality risk of those 80 years of age and older within a 2-year period between 1998 and 2000. Results: Results show that solitary activities, either active or sedentary, are significantly associated with lower mortality risk. The effect of social activities on mortality gradually diminishes with age and is reversed at very old ages when physical exercise, health status, and sociodemographic characteristics are controlled. Discussion: Customary activities, which are less physically demanding, show independent effects on the elderly’s survival.Withdrawal from social contacts may be an adaptive response to challenges faced at very advanced ages. It is important to recognize the unique characteristics of this rapidly growing population

Incidence of Four-Generation Family Lineages: Is Timing of Fertility or Mortality a Better Explanation?

Objectives. This article estimates the percentage of lineages that include four or more generations for a sample of the U.S. population and explores how social status and race are related to lineage depth. Methods. We assembled data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households in order to estimate the proportion of adults in four or more generations for the Wave 2 sample (1992-1994). When necessary, we used various decision rules to overcome an absence of information about specific generations. We examine relationships between lineage depth and sociodemographic variables by using logistic regressions. Results. The data show that 32% of the respondents were in lineages comprising four or more generations. Blacks and individuals of lower social class were more likely to be in four-generation lineages, especially shorter-gapped lineages. Whites and individuals of higher social class were not more likely to be in longer-gapped, four-generation lineages. Discussion. The majority of the adult population in the early 1990s was in three-generation lineages. The verdict is still out on whether population aging results in the wholesale verticalization of lineages. Social differentials in four-generation lineages in the early 1990s were mainly due to differences in the timing of fertility, rather than mortality

Three-dimensional super-resolution correlation-differential confocal microscopy with nanometer axial focusing accuracy

We present a correlation-differential confocal microscopy (CDCM), a novel method that can simultaneously improve the three-dimensional spatial resolution and axial focusing accuracy of confocal microscopy (CM). CDCM divides the CM imaging light path into two paths, where the detectors are before and after the focus with an equal axial offset in opposite directions. Then, the light intensity signals received from the two paths are processed by the correlation product and differential subtraction to improve the CM spatial resolution and axial focusing accuracy, respectively. Theoretical analyses and preliminary experiments indicate that, for the excitation wavelength of λ = 405 nm, numerical aperture of NA = 0.95, and the normalized axial offset of uM = 5.21, the CDCM resolution is improved by more than 20% and more than 30% in the lateral and axial directions, respectively, compared with that of the CM. Also, the axial focusing resolution important for the imaging of sample surface profiles is improved to 1 nm

A Neural Signature Encoding Decisions under Perceptual Ambiguity

People often make perceptual decisions with ambiguous information, but it remains unclear whether the brain has a common neural substrate that encodes various forms of perceptual ambiguity. Here, we used three types of perceptually ambiguous stimuli as well as task instructions to examine the neural basis for both stimulus-driven and task-driven perceptual ambiguity. We identified a neural signature, the late positive potential (LPP), that encoded a general form of stimulus-driven perceptual ambiguity. In addition to stimulus-driven ambiguity, the LPP was also modulated by ambiguity in task instructions. To further specify the functional role of the LPP and elucidate the relationship between stimulus ambiguity, behavioral response, and the LPP, we employed regression models and found that the LPP was specifically associated with response latency and confidence rating, suggesting that the LPP encoded decisions under perceptual ambiguity. Finally, direct behavioral ratings of stimulus and task ambiguity confirmed our neurophysiological findings, which could not be attributed to differences in eye movements either. Together, our findings argue for a common neural signature that encodes decisions under perceptual ambiguity but is subject to the modulation of task ambiguity. Our results represent an essential first step toward a complete neural understanding of human perceptual decision making

A Neural Signature Encoding Decisions under Perceptual Ambiguity

People often make perceptual decisions with ambiguous information, but it remains unclear whether the brain has a common neural substrate that encodes various forms of perceptual ambiguity. Here, we used three types of perceptually ambiguous stimuli as well as task instructions to examine the neural basis for both stimulus-driven and task-driven perceptual ambiguity. We identified a neural signature, the late positive potential (LPP), that encoded a general form of stimulus-driven perceptual ambiguity. In addition to stimulus-driven ambiguity, the LPP was also modulated by ambiguity in task instructions. To further specify the functional role of the LPP and elucidate the relationship between stimulus ambiguity, behavioral response, and the LPP, we employed regression models and found that the LPP was specifically associated with response latency and confidence rating, suggesting that the LPP encoded decisions under perceptual ambiguity. Finally, direct behavioral ratings of stimulus and task ambiguity confirmed our neurophysiological findings, which could not be attributed to differences in eye movements either. Together, our findings argue for a common neural signature that encodes decisions under perceptual ambiguity but is subject to the modulation of task ambiguity. Our results represent an essential first step toward a complete neural understanding of human perceptual decision making

Cognitive and neural bases of visual-context-guided decision-making

Humans adjust their behavioral strategies based on feedback, a process that may depend on intrinsic preferences and contextual factors such as visual salience. In this study, we hypothesized that decision-making based on visual salience is influenced by habitual and goal-directed processes, which can be evidenced by changes in attention and subjective valuation systems. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a series of studies to investigate the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying visual salience-driven decision-making. We first established the baseline behavioral strategy without salience in Experiment 1 (n = 21). We then highlighted the utility or performance dimension of the chosen outcome using colors in Experiment 2 (n = 30). We demonstrated that the difference in staying frequency increased along the salient dimension, confirming a salience effect. Furthermore, the salience effect was abolished when directional information was removed in Experiment 3 (n = 28), suggesting that the salience effect is feedback-specific. To generalize our findings, we replicated the feedback-specific salience effects using eye-tracking and text emphasis. The fixation differences between the chosen and unchosen values were enhanced along the feedback-specific salient dimension in Experiment 4 (n = 48) but unchanged after removing feedback-specific information in Experiment 5 (n = 32). Moreover, the staying frequency was correlated with fixation properties, confirming that salience guides attention deployment. Lastly, our neuroimaging study (Experiment 6, n = 25) showed that the striatum subregions encoded salience-based outcome evaluation, while the vmPFC encoded salience-based behavioral adjustments. The connectivity of the vmPFC-ventral striatum accounted for individual differences in utility-driven, whereas the vmPFC-dmPFC for performance-driven behavioral adjustments. Together, our results provide a neurocognitive account of how task-irrelevant visual salience drives decision-making by involving attention and the frontal-striatal valuation systems. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Humans may use the current outcome to make behavior adjustments. How this occurs may depend on stable individual preferences and contextual factors, such as visual salience. Under the hypothesis that visual salience determines attention and subsequently modulates subjective valuation, we investigated the underlying behavioral and neural bases of visual-context-guided outcome evaluation and behavioral adjustments. Our findings suggest that the reward system is orchestrated by visual context and highlight the critical role of attention and the frontal-striatal neural circuit in visual-context-guided decision-making that may involve habitual and goal-directed processes