信息加工速度的发展模式

选择7～19岁被试140名,对四种不同任务进行操作。结果表明,相同图形的空间调整过程速度除7岁年龄段以外,其余年龄段变化较小;不同图形调整过程速度、不同字母转换过程速度和不同字母的转换差异速度到11岁以后,基本保持不变,而且,图形调整速度和字母转换速度基本相同;词的转换时间比字母的转换时间要长,且13岁到15岁是一个转折点;指数函数能较好地描述选择和反应过程速度随年龄增长而变化的特性,不能较好地描述字母转换过程速度随年龄增长而变化的特性,直线方程则不能很好地描述不同任务加工速度随年龄增长而变化的特性;最后,本研究对信息加工阶段及其年龄差异源进行了讨论。     

信息加工速度的年龄差异机制

选择7-19岁的被试140名,对三种不同任务进行操作.结果表明,在心理旋转任务中,儿童青少年的反应时是青年期反应时的函数,指数函数能较好的描述这种共同的发展变化趋势,但在简单反应时和图形匹配任务中,这种线性关系较差;随着年龄的变化,信息加工速度的下降速率是根据不同的加工任务变化的,简单任务(指简单反应时和图形匹配)下降速度快,复杂任务(指心理旋转)下降速度慢;性别差异随着年龄增长逐步缩小,但不同的加工任务其差异缩小的年龄阶段不同,简单反应时在11岁,图形匹配在13岁,心理旋转在17岁;且性别差异量与年龄不完全是一种函数关系;最后,本研究对信息加工速度的年龄差异机制进行了讨论.     

儿童和青少年信息加工速度发展函数的研究

选择７—１９岁的被试１４０名,对三种不同任务进行操作。结果表明,在句图匹配任务中,儿童反应时是青年反应时的函数,指数函数能较好的描述这种共同的发展变化趋势,但在字母匹配任务中,这种线性关系较差;随着年龄的变化,信息加工速度的下降速率是根据不同的加工任务变化的,简单任务（选择反应和字母匹配）下降速度快,复杂任务（句图匹配）下降速度慢     

幼儿汉语字形和语义与图形加工速度的发展与比较

测量了127名4-7岁幼儿基线速度、汉字字形、语义和图形加工速度的年龄差异.结果发现:(1)基线速度的反应时随年龄增伽而缩短,正确率不发生变化,对不同加工速度的年龄变化具有部分中介作用.(2)幼儿的三类加工速度随年龄加快,4岁儿童汉语加工水平低于图形加工水平.儿童进入小学后汉语加工水平开始提高,达到图形加工水平.(3)学龄前儿童加工汉语刺激的速度及其变化率慢于学龄初期儿童,4岁儿童的汉语语义加工能力要好于字形加工.(4)幼儿汉语空间认知水平低于空间刺激和汉字的言语认知水平.练习是造成图形加工速度、汉字语义加工速度快于汉字字形加工速度的原因之一.     

2~6岁儿童心迷走紧张的发展

考察2岁、4岁和6岁3个组共104名有效被试,在基线状态下的基线迷走紧张以及与年龄相符的中等压力任务下的迷走抑制的发展。结果发现,基线迷走紧张与迷走抑制有不同的发展模式：4岁组、6岁组儿童的基线迷走紧张显著地高于2岁组,而4岁组与6岁组之间没有显著差异,基线心跳周期随年龄的增长而相应增长;迷走抑制没有年龄差异,6岁组的基线对任务的心跳周期变化显著地大于2岁组的心跳周期变化     

6～11岁儿童执行功能发展研究

以168名6~11岁儿童为被试,使用9种执行功能任务研究了儿童三种执行功能成分的发展,三种执行功能是,抑制(Inhibition)、转换(Shifting)和刷新(Updating),结果发现:整个儿童阶段,三种执行功能一直表现出随年龄递增而增长的趋势;不同的执行功能表现出不同的发展速率,其中抑制控制大约在6~7岁表现出一个快速的增长期,记忆刷新从7岁到10岁一直呈线性增长,转换表现出两个快速增长期,第一个快速增长则发生在7~8岁之间,第二个快速增长则发生在9-10岁之间,三种执行功能的发展趋势到大约10岁后趋于平缓,10岁和11岁儿童的表现没有显著性差异;所有执行功能任务测量中没有发现性别主效应,年龄和性别的交互作用不显著。     

3-6岁儿童颜色及图形视觉辨认实验研究

本研究对120名学前儿童(3—6岁)进行了12种颜色和12种图形的辨认实验。实验刺激用速示器分三种速度(0.01秒、0.05秒、0.1秒)呈现。结果表明:呈现速度对辨认正确率有着明显的影响。3—6岁儿童对颜色和图形的辨认能力均随年龄增长而逐步提高。学前儿童对颜色的辨别,在三种呈现速度条件下,均以对黄、红、绿三色的辨认正确率为最高;对图形的辨认在不同呈现速度条件下出现优势与劣势图形之分。优势图形正确辨认百分比较高,而劣势图形则较低,这种优劣势图形的产生可能与图形的空间结构特性及进行言语“句子化”编码的难易有着密切关系。     

7～11岁儿童自我监控能力的发展及对认知操作的影响

本研究用认知操作的部分内容,探索了儿童在认知操作活动中自我监控能力的发展特点及对认知操作的影响。研究发现:随年龄的增长,初步思考时间除复杂任务外,在其余的操作任务中变化不稳定,停顿与悔步次数不随年龄的增长而变化,但操作任务越复杂,停顿与悔步的次数就越多;在简单积木操作中,短时注视次数逐渐增加,在复杂积木操作中也有增长的趋势,而长时注意次数变化较大;在拼图操作任务中,速度变化较大,在简单与复杂积木操作任务中,速度有下降的趋势,但到了9岁以后,速度下降不快,操作任务越复杂,总反应时就越长,速度越慢。被试操作的准确性越来越好,但任务越复杂,准确性越差;自我监控的计划性和监视性在不同程度上影响了认知操作的速度和准确性     

儿童、中青年及老年人心理旋转能力的比较研究

采用12套不同视觉形状图形,探讨了儿童(7—9岁,均龄8岁)、中青年(23—47岁,均龄31．3岁)及老年人(61—79岁,均龄65．6岁)的心理旋转能力。结果表明不同年龄段被试的心理旋转能力存在明显差异。无论是对图形方位匹配判断的准确性还是完成判断任务的速度,中青年组被试的成绩均明显优于其他两组被试。儿童组被试在完成判断的速度上明显优于老年组,但在准确性方面两者不存在明显差异。各个年龄组的成绩均不存在性别差异。     

小学儿童假设检验思维策略的发展

采用自创的“固定样例”程序,利用自行设计的两种不同任务的图形推理材料,研究了小学儿童假设检验策略的发展。550名不同年级的被试参加了本研究：结果发现,在该研究条件下：(1)答案存在多种可能性的任务Ⅰ明显难于答案确定的任务Ⅱ;(2)小学儿童假设检验能力随年级提高而增长,但增长的速度因任务不同而不同;(3)随着年级的提高,小学儿童使用的不成功策略逐步下降,成功策略显著上升,但这也受任务不同的影响;(4)固定样例程序较好地克服了变化样例程序所带来的假设检验研究的缺陷。     

弱智儿童心理旋转的研究

该研究探讨了一组9~12岁弱智儿童的“心理旋转”能力,该组儿童平均年龄10.1岁,平均智商（IQ）53.8（中度智力残疾）。研究结果与正常儿童（均龄8岁）作了比较。结果显示,弱智儿童的心理旋转能力明显较之正常儿童为差,智力缺陷对视觉图形空间定向能力（心理旋转）有着明显的影响。但无论弱智儿童或是正常儿童的结果均未发现性别差异。     

SEX TRAIT STEREOTYPES OF ADULTS ACROSS DIFFERENT LIFE PERIODS

An attempt was made to identify the stereotypes that young Indian people hold of adults of their community representing the different life periods. Twelve groups of 30 subjects aged 18 to 19 years were the subjects. A 2×2×3 (sex of subjects × sex of target figures to be rated × age of target figures, young, middle-aged, elderly) experimental design was used. Each group rated one target figure on the Adjective Check List (ACL) devised by Gough and Heilbrun (1965). The major findings include (a) a decrease in the number of adjectives attributed to the target figures as a function of increasing age, (b) a greater number of traits to describe male than female target figures, (c) a similar trend for the stereotypes of the different figures, and (d) an increase in the unfavourable evaluation of the adjectives comprising the stereotypes related to the age of the target figures. Possible reasons for the findings were discussed.     

More evidence on size modification in spatial axes systems of varying complexity

Pictorial space can be conceptualized as aggregate space (where figures compete for limited available space) or as axial space (where space is infinite and exists independently of figures). That these two kinds of space concepts follow a developmental sequence was tested by investigating size regulation mechanisms in 7- to 12-year-old children's figure drawings. An earlier longitudinal study had shown that the more figures were drawn and the more complex the spatial axes system, the smaller the figures. Two studies confirmed that object-driven size reduction was the size regulation mechanism in younger children, whereas axes-driven size reduction was the only factor regulating figure size in 12-year-old children. Size reduction occurred in a gradual fashion in younger children, whereas size reduction was more pronounced in crossed axes systems in older children. In addition, 7-year-old children showed a dynamic and fluid interaction between internal and external task demands for size regulation.     

Item type,occlusion, and gender differences in mental rotation

Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of item type in mental rotation. In each experiment, participants completed two computerized mental rotation tasks, one with blocks as stimuli and one with human figures as stimuli. The tasks were formatted either as a multiple-choice psychometric test (Experiment 1) or as a same–different type task (Experiment 2). Aside from the expected replication of a decreased effect of occlusion on women's accuracy when processing human figures compared to block figures, it was hypothesized that response times would increase when processing the complex but familiar human figures, compared to the simple but unfamiliar block figures. In Experiment 1, the results relevant to occlusion were replicated. However, the presence of a speed–accuracy trade-off suggested that participants processed human figures faster but less accurately than block figures. In Experiment 2, both men and women performed faster and more accurately when processing occluded human figures than when processing nonoccluded human figures. The effect of item type, its potential link to embodied cognition, and the role of strategy selection on gender differences in mental rotation are discussed.     

幼儿在辨别过程中图形维度显著性的研究

采用Triad Classification法和等级图形模式研究了4～6岁幼儿在辨别过程中图形维度显著性效应。实验1让幼儿进行自由辨别任务,发现颜色显著性强于形状,局部特征的显著性强于整体特征;随被试年龄增长,整体特征和颜色的显著性逐渐增强;对维度显著性等级模式的信息加工比对整体局部特征等级模式的加工反应时长。实验2进行按指定标准来辨别的任务,发现仍然出现图形维度显著性效应。这些结果说明图形维度显著性效应可能是自动发生的,可能比整体局部特征的认知加工更复杂。     

聋人与听力正常人拓扑性质差异知觉的比较实验研究

分别选取15名聋人与15名听力正常人被试,在两种刺激图对呈现时间条件下,通过考察其对拓扑性质等价和拓扑性质差异图对的反应,本研究对聋人与听力正常人的拓扑性质差异知觉进行了比较研究。研究结果表明:(1)两种呈现时间条件下,被试对拓扑性质等价图对的反应均优于拓扑性质差异图对。(2)对于拓扑性质等价图对,被试在两种呈现时间条件下的反应不存在显著差异;而对于拓扑性质差异图对,被试则对长时间呈现的反应优于短时间呈现。(3)聋人与听力正常人在两种呈现时间条件下对两类刺激图对的反应均不存在显著差异。(4)对于聋人来说,刺激图对长时间呈现和短时间呈现的反应不存在显著差异;而对于听力正常人来说,刺激图对长时间呈现的反应则优于短时间呈现。     

The development of the concepts of masculinity and femininity in young children

Sex-role concepts in 140 children aged 3 to 7 were assessed by means of an instrument that allowed children to categorize attributes as being characteristic of males only, females only, both males and females, or nobody. The children sorted attributes once for adult peer stimulus figures and once for peer stimulus figures. The relationship of gender conservation to the degree of stereotyping of children's response was also investigated. The overlap children saw between characteristics of males and females increased with age over the age span studied. Girls were less sex-typed than boys, particularly those girls whose mothers were employed. Gender conservation was associated with decreased sex-typing. The tendency of children to assign positive attributes to their own sex and negative attributes to the other sex peaked at age 5. Subjects overall were less sex-typed in their views of adults than peers.     

Diagnosis of cognitive impairment onset in older adults based on limitations in language skills / Diagnóstico del inicio del deterioro cognitivo en mayores a partir de limitaciones en las capacidades lingüísticas

Abstract

Progressive decline in language has been described in neuropsychological studies on Alzheimer’s disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). We investigate this decline in its early stages, as well as its manifestations and the linguistic differences between participants at risk of developing MCI and without impairment. Participants were 36 older adults, all aged over 65. They were assessed using 31 subtests grouped into eight areas: fluency, comprehension, oral expression, reading, writing, memory, perceptual organization and processing speed. Our results showed significant differences between participants at risk of developing MCI and without impairment in verbal tests but not in manipulative tests. All participants at risk of developing MCI scored lowest in these eight areas. Our findings illustrate the relevance of investigating language skills in people at risk of developing MCI. Investigating these neuropsychological changes will help design appropriate intervention programmes that affect areas with higher levels of impairment.