Attention in Children: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

This commentary discusses conceptual and methodological issues in the assessment of attention in children. The five articles in this special issue are important advances in the study of attention in children with brain-related disorders. They provide important guidelines for future studies in this area: specification of the underlying model of attention, selection of tasks according to the model, and the use of multiple tasks in well-defined clinical populations.     

高效率学习的心理机制研究

本课题通过一系列研究,发现要实现高效率学习,应在知识呈现符合学生认识规律的情况下,具备以下五个主要心理要素:选择性注意是实现高效率学习的前提,元认知是高效率学习的监控系统,非智力因素是高效率学习的动力源泉,学习策略是实现高效率学习的保障,内隐认知,特别是内隐学习是高效率学习的特殊形式。     

抑制范式下的情绪注意偏向

与中性信息相比,情绪信息会引起更快更多的注意并具有一种认知加工上的优先权.在注意实验中,与不带情绪色彩的刺激相比,具有情绪意义的刺激更能吸引注意或占用注意资源且引起注意偏向.个体对情绪信息的适度偏向具有重要的社会生活意义.本文介绍了情绪注意偏向的注意成分理论、图式理论、注意资源理论和平行分布处理(PDP)模型,并分别对抑制范式下以不同情绪材料展开的正常被试和特殊被试的情绪注意偏向研究进行了总结概括,同时指出了未来在抑制范式下利用ERPs、fMRI新技术研究不同被试群体情绪与注意关系的可能性.     

A linguistic analysis of fluent aphasia

Fluent aphasia is a general term for those posterior aphasic syndromes which involve little or no motor difficulties and which exhibit rather normal rates of speech output. This paper is a comparative neurolinguistic study of three types of fluent aphasia. Differences as well as similarities regarding language behavior both within and across groups are analyzed. Much attention is given to anomia and to how it is confronted by each group. Various possible paraphasic processes which may be involved in the genesis of neologisms are discussed. Localization information is provided for the patients in the study, and special attention is drawn to prerequisite neuroanatomical involvement for neologistic jargon.     

Group intervention with children of parents with aids

This paper describes a format for group intervention with children of parents with AIDS. Therapeutic factors specific to group work with these children and special issues regarding AIDS are discussed. The stages of development of such groups are outlined, with particular attention paid to themes of grief and loss. Suggestions for future work in this area are given.     

目光注视线索对客体注意的影响及作用机制

目光注视在人类社交以及捕获和维持注意方面发挥重要作用。但是, 目光注视如何与客体交互以引导注意分配至今尚不明确。因此, 本研究采用双框线索范式, 以具有两种注视方向(直视或回避)的面孔或实物作为客体, 通过操纵线索到目标间的SOA来考察目光注视对客体注意的影响及作用机制。实验1发现, 目光注视对客体效应的影响只出现在300 ms SOA时; 进一步分析发现, 客体效应的差异来自于直视条件下被试对无效相同客体位置上的目标比回避条件下反应更快。这表明与回避目光相比, 直视更能捕获我们的注意, 从而产生更大的客体效应。实验2将面孔对比度反转, 排除了低水平物理特征对实验1结果的影响。实验3使用两种注视方向的眼睛叠加杯子作为客体, 以探究目光注视效应是否能扩展到其他客体中, 结果与实验1相同。本研究结果表明, 目光注视能够与客体交互共同引导注意分配, 直视更能捕获注意, 但受SOA的影响, 上述结果支持了感觉增强理论。     

Behavioral variability as a function of noncontingent adult attention,peer availability,and situational demands in three hyperactive boys

Recommendations about placements for children in need of special education are routinely made and carried out without empirical validation for the efficacy of particular approaches nor the appropriateness of an approach for a particular child. A study was designed to examine a methodological model which focuses on empirically deriving recommendations for the most appropriate teaching situation for any given child requiring special education. Prosocial, problem, and task-related behaviors in three hyperactive boys were assessed in eight prearranged situations: (1) group play with one adult supervising; (2) group play with three adults; (3) group teaching with one adult; (4) group teaching with three adults; (5) individual play with low density noncontingent adult attention; (6) individual play with high density noncontingent adult attention; (7) individual teaching with low density noncontingent adult attention; and (8) individual teaching with high density noncontingent adult attention. Behaviors assessed included adult, peer, and target child attention given and received; compliance; aggression; disruption; task involvement; and percent tasks correctly completed of tasks attempted. Data revealed that the most disruptions and least efficient task performance occurred in the group teaching situation with one adult. The most efficient task performance and fewest disruptions in a teaching situation occurred in the individual teaching setting with high density noncontingent adult attention. In addition. overall mean rates of disruptive behavior were higher in group situations than in individual situations. The data strongly validate the need for carefully selecting educational environments for problem children, and that the behavior of such children is, at least, partially influenced by environmental factors.     

Issues in the Assessment of Outcome in Family Therapy

This paper examines several issues in family therapy outcome research. These include the need to consider numerous population and treatment variables, the influence of treatment goals and values upon the research, the difficulties in defining and operationalizing family treatment, the choice between emphasizing integrity of treatment or randomness of sampling, the selection of measurement methods, the controls needed in research design, the extent of generalizability of results, the importance of efficiency of treatment, and the special role of deterioration effects. Throughout, the need for a multivariate schema for conceptualizing this research and special attention to the role of values and assumptions in it are highlighted.     

Conflict Management Assistance and Special Services Providers

Interpersonal conflict over job-related issues can pose a significant threat to the quality of special education and regular education. Several topics relating to the involvement of special services providers (SSPs) involved in addressing conflict within schools and related settings are considered in this article. Issues about assistance provided by these professionals in conflict management receive major attention.     

评“自己讲”、“讲自己”的哲学史观——与张立文先生商榷

近年来,走出中国哲学的合法性危机、探索中国哲学史研究的范式创新是学者们关注较多的话题。在讨论中,也出现了一些有建设性的意见。其中,著名学者张立文先生的“自己讲”、“讲自己”的观点尤其引人瞩目。张先生在此方面的系列观点,对于增进中国学者研究中国哲学的自主性来说,有一定的积极意义。然而,张先生关于“自己讲”、“讲自己”、“中国哲学转生规律”以及“和合学”的论述尚存在诸多待改进的方面。全面、客观地评价“自己讲”、“讲自己”的哲学史观,对于提高中国哲学研究的理论水平来说具有重要意义。     

THE BROTHERS BONHOEFFER ON SCIENCE, MORALITY, AND THEOLOGY

On one level this is a case study in science, religion, and morality, with special attention to the consequences for morality of science's embeddedness in society. On another level this is the science-and-theology dialogue between the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his brother Karl-Friedrich, a physicist. The influence of Karl-Friedrich and the brothers' exchanges on Dietrich's prison theology receives special attention. Because this study is set in Germany in the 1930s and 40s, and Karl-Friedrich's work intersected Germany's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, the discussion leads to Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project. The attention there is to the interplay of science, religion, and morality at the time the bomb was detonated at the Trinity site.     

A note on "MMPI scale development methodology"

Clopton's recent article (1978) in JPA calls attention to methodological problems in the construction of special inventories from the MMPI pool, but overlooks the major problem. It stems from the theoretical correlation between psychopathology and the construct to be measured by the special inventory. This contamination renders the usual validity demonstration questionable. It is pointed out that there is a good number of special inventories that are not subject to the methodological problems noted by Clopton.     

Some aspects of the management of patients with epilepsy in pregnancy

The care of pregnant epileptics calls for a high measure of personal attention and material expenditure. Above all, it means close cooperation between the epileptic specialist, the obstetrician, and the clinical pharmacologist. The need for this collaboration, and its effectiveness, are demonstrated by means of practical examples, with special consideration of blood level.     

Some reflections on postgraduate medical ethics education

Three goals of teaching medical ethics to physicians are reviewed. Components of a basic course in medical ethics are described with special attention to the roles of case conferences, ethics rounds, and role modeling. Obstacles to teaching ethics are also addressed.     

An instance theory of attention and memory

An instance theory of attention and memory (ITAM) is presented that integrates formal theories of attention and memory phenomena by exploiting commonalities in their formal structure. The core idea in each theory is that performance depends on a choice process that can be modeled as a race between competing alternatives. Attention and categorization are viewed as different perspectives on the same race. Attention selects objects by categorizing them; objects are categorized by attending to them. ITAM incorporates each of its ancestors as a special case, so it inherits their successes.     

The exploration of meditation in the neuroscience of attention and consciousness

Many recent behavioral and neuroscientific studies have revealed the importance of investigating meditation states and traits to achieve an increased understanding of cognitive and affective neuroplasticity, attention and self-awareness, as well as for their increasingly recognized clinical relevance. The investigation of states and traits related to meditation has especially pronounced implications for the neuroscience of attention, consciousness, self-awareness, empathy and theory of mind. In this article we present the main features of meditation-based mental training and characterize the current scientific approach to meditation states and traits with special reference to attention and consciousness, in light of the articles contributed to this issue.     

Introduction to special series on college students with ADHD: psychosocial issues, comorbidity, and treatment

Increasing empirical attention has been focused on college students with ADHD in recent years. In this special series, five studies are included that address psychosocial issues, comorbidity, and treatment of college students with ADHD. The nature and results of each study are briefly described. This special series of articles significantly advances our knowledge of critical issues with respect to psychosocial functioning, alcohol/substance use, comorbidity, and treatment of ADHD in college students.     

Finding Direction When You are Lost in Translation

In this article introducing the special issue, factors involved in making the translation from lab findings to clinical practice are discussed. The common themes which pervade all the articles are articulated. Pivotal points of each individual contribution are emphasized. Particular attention is paid to developmental sensitivity, conceptualization, the courage to take on challenging psychiatric conditions, clinical innovation, and clear guidelines for practitioners.     

Areas of use of patient-centered actions

Various forms of patient-centered actions (acceptive listening, paraphrasing, verbalisation of emotional experience), their effects and their possible modes of action are described. The importance of the verbal encoding of prereflexive experience for counselling is dealt with at some length because it generally receives too little attention. The interview and counselling, which are special forms of patient-centered activity, are used as examples to show that patient-centered techniques should be varied to suit the purpose of concrete interactions and therapy sessions.     

The role of attention and familiarity in face identification

How is attention allocated during face identification? Previous work using famous and unfamiliar faces suggests that either no attention or a special attentional mechanism is required. We used a conventional attentional blink (AB) procedure to measure face identification with temporarily reduced attention. The participants viewed a rapid series of face images with one embedded nonface abstract pattern (T1). They judged the texture of T1 and then detected a prespecified face (T2) presented at varying lags after T1. T2 was either famous or unfamiliar, as were distractor faces. Regardless of distractor type, detection of an unfamiliar T2 face was significantly impaired at short versus long T1-T2 lags, indicating an attentional requirement for face identification. Detection of a famous T2 face was unaffected by lag, suggesting that familiarity protects against atemporal attentional bottleneck These findings do not support propositions that face identification is "special" in its need for attentional control