中美成人基本认知能力的年龄差异

为了研究中关成人基本认知能力的年龄差异,采用西亚图纵向研究模型的方法对中关被试5种基本认知能力进行测量。结果发现,不同文化下5种能力的成绩存在显著的年龄差异。并且这种差异不能完全用教育上的差异来解释。年龄较大被试在所有基本能力测验上成绩较低。男性被试在归纳推理、空间和数字能力上成绩较好,女性被试在语义和词语流畅性测验上成绩较好。研究表明文化环境和历史等因素对成人认知发展具有一定的影响。     

大学生对年轻人和老年人的年龄刻板印象

采用内隐联想测验(IAT)和相应的外显测量,考察了大学生被试对年轻人和老年人的内隐和外显年龄刻板印象。结果表明:大学生被试在身体特征、个人表达和认知能力等3个方面对老年人都普遍存在明显消极的内隐态度;而在外显测量中,对年轻人和老年人的态度不存在显著差异;内隐和外显的年龄刻板印象测量之间相关不显著,可以用不同的记忆系统理论和联结-命题评价(APE)模型来解释内隐和外显测量不一致现象;不同性别的大学生被试在外显态度测量和内隐联想测验中测得的年龄刻板印象均不存在显著差异。     

大学生对心理健康必备能力认知的年级与性别特点

本研究以200名大学生为被试,以访谈及问卷的方式对大学生心理健康必备能力的认知特点进行了调查研究,在大学生心理健康必备能力认知结构模型的基础上,对大学生心理健康必备能力认知的年龄与性别特点进行了研究。结果表明:大学生对心理健康必备能力的认知得分在自我调控、社会应对、学习和人际交往四个因子上没有显著的年级和性别主效应;在“社会应对”和“学习”两个维度上,性别和年级存在显著的交互作用,进一步分析发现,二年级男生在“社会应对”方面能力的认知得分显著高于女生,在“学习”维度上,一年级女生得分显著高于男生。     

合作意识的认知成份分析

本研究以 2× 2× 2的混合设计 ,采用问卷测量方法检验不同被试间合作意识的认知差异。被试来自两个群体 :青年组包括 133名大学生 ;老年组包括 110名 40— 6 0岁的各业人士。结果验证了实验假设 ,发现人们对合作意识与竞争意识的认知存在差异。在能力维度上 ,人们认为具有竞争意识的人能力更强 ;在个性维度上 ,具有合作意识的人比具有竞争意识的人更加顺从。人们的工作价值观与他们对他人的评价存在显著相关。     

高中生认识论信念调查研究

本研究以526名高中生为被试,运用自行编制的"高中生认识论信念问卷",考察了高中生认识论信念的性别差异、年龄特点以及学校类型差异。结果表明:高中生认识论信念的各个维度上不存在性别差异,但存在着极其显著的学校差异;在整合建构信念、能力信念方面,存在着显著的年级差异;在零散接受信念上存在着学校与年级的交互作用。     

指向性遗忘中认知抑制能力的发展

采用组块提示法,以小学二年级、五年级学生和大学生共104名为被试,考察语词记忆指向性遗忘效应的机制及其发展.结果表明:(1)各年龄段被试都明显存在着指向性遗忘效应;(2)指向性遗忘效应是提取抑制和选择性编码两种机制共同作用的结果,且年幼儿童与年长儿童、成人之间作用情况可能存在差异;(3)小学二年级、五年级学生和大学生之间认知抑制能力差异显著,随年龄增长,认知抑制能力不断增长.     

中小学生认知能力发展水平测验的研究

以皮亚杰的认知发展理论为基础,采用皮亚杰及其学生研究认知发展时的任务为测验题目,编制成测量中小学生认知能力发展水平的测验.通过对2240名中小学生施测,结果表明本测验不仅具有很好的信度和效度,而且也具有适中的难度.然后以一所中学特长班学生为被试,通过对他们进行测量,并将测验结果与同年级普通班学生的认知成绩进行比较,结果存在很明显的差异.最后对中小学生认知能力发展水平测量问题进行了探讨.     

听觉词源记忆与再认记忆的差异性研究

该项研究探讨被试对听觉词源检测和再认的差异性,并比较了男女被试的源检测和再认情况.实验以两字汉字词为记忆材料,设计了三个因素.性别因素指男女被试性别水平;声源因素设计了男性和女性两种声源呈现听觉词,为组内设计;学习因素为两个水平的组内设计,水平一是偶然学习,水平二是重复学习,也为组内设计,该因素考查学习效应.研究分别统计两种声源词的再认和源检测成绩,结果分析显示:被试源检测的学习效应显著,而再认的学习效应不显著;两种声源词的源检测差异显著,而再认的差异不显著;同类测试之间存在显著相关,两种测试之间相关不显著;偶然学习条件下,男女被试对男性声源词的源检测差异显著.研究结果提示,源检测的内部认知过程不同于再认,并且两种性别人群的源记忆可能存在某些方面的差异.     

3～6岁儿童情绪伪装认知能力发展及其与错误信念理解的关系

个体的情绪伪装能力是其情绪社会化发展极为重要的方面,选取某幼儿园123名3～6岁儿童为被试,通过“区分外表-真实情绪”任务和“错误信念”任务考察3～6岁儿童情绪伪装认知能力的发展特点,进而探讨情绪伪装认知与错误信念理解的关系.结果表明：（1）儿童情绪伪装认知能力随年龄增长而提高,3～5岁为儿童情绪伪装认知能力的快速发展期;（2）儿童在消极情境下区分内外情绪的能力显著高于在积极情境中的表现;同时,对两种情绪伪装动机（社会适应、自我保护）的认知能力无显著差异;（3）儿童情绪伪装认知和错误信念理解能力显著相关,两种错误信念（意外内容、意外地点）理解都能很好地预测情绪伪装认知能力.     

儿童对情绪表达规则的认知发展

情绪表达规则知识的建构是儿童社会化和情绪健康发展过程中的一项重要任务,该文考察了情绪表达规则的概念及个体对其认知发展的相关理论和测量。同时,对情绪表达规则的认知发展从3个方面进行了探讨：儿童对情绪表达规则认知发展的关键阶段是小学,并且具有显著的年龄差异和性别差异;家庭情绪环境分别从不同方面对儿童情绪表达规则的认知发展水平有显著影响;儿童对情绪表达规则的认知发展水平与其社会能力有显著的正相关。     

Structure of learning environment variables under two instructional conditions

The present study investigated the congruence between the factor structures of the learning environment and cognitive variables for mathematics and English courses in Grade 10. Three common factors were obtained in each course. Procedural characteristics and cognitive factors in mathematics were highly similar to the corresponding factors in English. However, the formative characteristics factor identified in mathematics was not congruent to the corresponding factor in English. Learning environment variables produced two factors. These factors resembled the congruent factor properties for the two courses when the learning environment and cognitive variables were factor analyzed together. Implications for learning and instructional research are mentioned.     

The impact of demographics and nutritional status on cognitive functioning in an Iranian adults sample

This study investigated the impact of demographic variables and nutritional status on adult cognitive functioning using structural equation modeling. Demographic variables that were considered were height, weight and gender, whilst nutritional status was measured on the Nutrition Assessment Inventory (NAI). Cognitive functions, such as executive cognitive functions, cognitive flexibility, cognitive ability and cognitive vulnerability were measured using the Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory (AEFI), the Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS), the Cognitive Ability Questionnaire (CAQ), and the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale Form A-Revised (DAS-A-R) respectively. Findings indicated that ethnicity and weight variables contribute to 8.8% of the nutritional status variations observed. A SEM analysis showed that nutritional status has an impact on 13% on the measured cognitive abilities of adults. The effects of “healthy nutrition”, “use of complementary nutritients”, “coping with high fat foods”, and “high fat food assumption” subscales of the nutrition scale were found to play a role in cognitive ability. This study shows a fitted SEM for the predictive roles of ethnicity, weight and nutritional status on the cognitive ability in adults.     

The role of social‐cognitive abilities in preschoolers' aggressive behaviour

This study investigated the relationship between preschool children's social‐cognitive abilities (theory of mind and social information processing; SIP) and their observed physical and relational aggressive behaviour. Children with more advanced social‐cognitive abilities engaged in fewer acts of physical aggression; however, much of the ability of the social‐cognitive variables to predict physical aggression was shared with language ability. In addition, social‐cognitive understanding moderated the connection between language ability and physical aggression. Exploratory examination of gender differences in patterns of association between physical aggression and the social cognitive understanding variables revealed that the relationships were only true for boys. Relational aggression was not associated with social cognitive ability for either boys or girls, but this is likely due to the low frequency of relationally aggressive behaviour observed in this sample.     

Social cognition and aggression in delinquent adolescent males

The relationship of aggression to several social cognitive variables in delinquent adolescent males was investigated. Subjects were fifty-eight institutionalized males identified by peers as high-aggressive or low-aggressive. Participants were administered measures of perspective taking, moral judgment, and person perception. The findings indicated that only perspective-taking ability was significantly related to aggressive behavior in delinquents. High-aggressive delinquents were less able to perceive others' viewpoints than were low-aggressive delinquents. These findings are consistent with previous research concerning perspective taking and aggression, but disconfirm research involving other social cognitive variables and aggression. Results further indicate the importance of studying social cognitive variables as they relate to relevant clinical behaviors.     

Gender and its contribution to the prediction of cognitive abilities at 5 years

Gender-related differences in the prediction of five year-olds' cognitive abilities from measures of distal environment, proximal environment and infant test scores were examined in a random sample of 93 boys and 90 girls. Distal environmental data included maternal IQ, maternal and paternal education. Proximal environmental data included two variables derived from the Home Screening Questionnaire: the Home Questions and the Toy Checklist. The Bayley MDI was administered at age 13 months, whereas WPPSI-R was used as cognitive outcome measure at age 5 years. The relationship between paternal education and child IQ, and between proximal environmental variables and child IQ was significantly stronger for boys than for girls. The associations between proximal environment and IQ in boys, were accounted for by the distal environmental variables. Bayley MDI correlated significantly higher with girls' IQ compared to boys' IQ. Findings are discussed in terms of parental gender-differentiated socialization processes.     

Relationship between physical prowess and cognitive function

There is some evidence about the low relationship between physical prowess and cognitive function (Posthuma, Mulder, Boomsma & de Geus, 2002). The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between cognitive variables (spatial ability, reasoning, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and reasoning and verbal comprehension) and physical prowess in sport performance (agility circuit, coordination circuit, horizontal jump, swimming and sprint racing). Two studies were performance. In the first one we applied a battery of standardized cognitive tests and a battery of physical grading tests to 400 subjects. When we applied factor analysis to the physical prowess and the cognitive variables, we found one general factor in cognitive variables and one general factor in physical prowess. We found a low relationship between both factors (.21). In the second study we compare the cognitive abilities in elite and amateur sport people. Results show that elite gymnastics people present higher cognitive abilities than amateur sportspeople. It should be relevant in order to clarify the total set of variables involved in sport performance.     

Hybrid route choice model incorporating latent cognitive effects of real-time travel information using physiological data

The proliferation of information systems is enabling drivers to receive en route real-time travel information, often from multiple sources, for making informed routing decisions. A robust understanding of route choice behavior under information provision can be leveraged by traffic operators to design information and its delivery systems for managing network-wide traffic. However, most existing route choice models lack the ability to consider the latent cognitive effects of information on drivers and their implications on route choice decisions. This paper presents a hybrid route choice modeling framework that incorporates the latent cognitive effects of real-time information and the effects of several explanatory variables that can be measured directly (i.e., route characteristics, information characteristics, driver attributes, and situational factors). The latent cognitive effects are estimated by analyzing drivers’ physiological data (i.e., brain electrical activity patterns) measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG). Data was collected for 95 participants in driving simulator experiments designed to elicit realistic route choices using a network-level setup featuring routes with different characteristics (in terms of travel time and driving environment complexity) and dynamic ambient traffic. Averaged EEG band powers in multiple brain regions were used to extract two latent cognitive variables that capture driver’s cognitive effort during and immediately after the information provision, and cognitive inattention before implementing the route choice decision. A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes model was used to test the effects of several explanatory factors on the latent cognitive variables, and their combined impacts on route choice decisions. The study results highlight the significant effects of driver attributes and information characteristics on latent cognitive effort and of route characteristics on latent cognitive inattention. They also indicate that drivers who are more attentive and exert more cognitive effort are more likely to switch from their current route by complying with the information provided. The study insights can aid traffic operators and information service providers to incorporate human factors and cognitive aspects while devising strategies for designing and disseminating real-time travel information to influence drivers’ route choices.     

Personality predicts prospective memory task performance: an adult lifespan study

Do interindividual differences in prospective memory task performance reflect individual differences in personality and lifestyle? Do the cognitive abilities known to change with age retain their power to predict episodic prospective memory task performance after controlling for personality and lifestyle variables, and do personality and lifestyle variables offer predictive power apart from that provided by cognitive ability measures? To answer these questions, we conducted a study with community‐living healthy individuals (n= 141) between 18 and 81 years of age. They completed three different episodic prospective memory tasks – two laboratory tasks and one field task – as well as various measures of personality, lifestyle, and cognitive ability. The results indicated that personality and lifestyle reliably predicted who will succeed and who will fail on all three episodic prospective memory tasks. Conscientiousness predicted performance on two of the prospective memory tasks; socially prescribed perfectionism and neuroticism each predicted performance on one of the prospective memory tasks. Cognitive ability predicted performance on one of the laboratory prospective memory tasks but not on the other two prospective memory tasks. After we controlled for individual differences in personality and lifestyle variables, cognitive ability was no longer able to predict performance on the laboratory prospective memory task. By contrast, controlling for cognitive ability had no influence on the predictive power of the personality and lifestyle variables.     

The relationship between baseline pupil size and intelligence

Pupil dilations of the eye are known to correspond to central cognitive processes. However, the relationship between pupil size and individual differences in cognitive ability is not as well studied. A peculiar finding that has cropped up in this research is that those high on cognitive ability have a larger pupil size, even during a passive baseline condition. Yet these findings were incidental and lacked a clear explanation. Therefore, in the present series of studies we systematically investigated whether pupil size during a passive baseline is associated with individual differences in working memory capacity and fluid intelligence. Across three studies we consistently found that baseline pupil size is, in fact, related to cognitive ability. We showed that this relationship could not be explained by differences in mental effort, and that the effect of working memory capacity and fluid intelligence on pupil size persisted even after 23 sessions and taking into account the effect of novelty or familiarity with the environment. We also accounted for potential confounding variables such as; age, ethnicity, and drug substances. Lastly, we found that it is fluid intelligence, more so than working memory capacity, which is related to baseline pupil size. In order to provide an explanation and suggestions for future research, we also consider our findings in the context of the underlying neural mechanisms involved.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling for Construct Validation of Cognitive Abilities

Although factor analysis is the most commonly-used method for examining the structure of cognitive variable interrelations, multidimensional scaling (MDS) can provide visual representations highlighting the continuous nature of interrelations among variables. Using data (N = 8,813; ages 17-97 years) aggregated across 38 separate studies, MDS was applied to 16 cognitive variables representative of five well-established cognitive abilities. Parallel to confirmatory factor analytic solutions, and consistent with past MDS applications, the results for young (18-39 years), middle (40-65 years), and old (66-97 years) adult age groups consistently revealed a two-dimensional radex disk, with variables from fluid reasoning tests located at the center. Using a new method, target measures hypothesized to reflect three aspects of cognitive control (updating, storage-plus-processing, and executive functioning) were projected onto the radex disk. Parallel to factor analytic results, these variables were also found to be centrally located in the cognitive ability space. The advantages and limitations of the radex representation are discussed.