小学儿童在空间概念中的内隐学习实验研究

本研究以一、三、五年级小学儿童为被试,探查小学儿童在不同学习模式下空间概念的发展情况。研究结果如下:(1)不同学习模式下,儿童的认知发展呈现不同的趋势;(2)随认知任务难度的增加,不同学习模式的成绩出现差异;(3)不同学习模式下,不同难度任务的成绩存在差异。     

小学儿童学习时间分配决策水平的发展

利用自由回忆,线索回忆和再认三种提取方式,以儿童任务难度预见（EOL）的判断等级与学习时间分配之间的G相关值作为指标,考察了小学儿童学习时间分配决策水平的发展过程。小学2、4、6年级儿童和成人大学生(作为对照)参与本研究,每个年龄组各24人。主要研究结果表明：（1）总体而言,小学各年级儿童,其学习时间分配的决策都受对任务难度预见等级的制约,对EOL判断等级越高的项目,分配的学习时间越长,说明小学儿童具有一定程度的学习时间分配的决策能力;（2）在自由回忆条件下,小学4年级和小学6年级儿童对EOL的判断等级与学习时间之间的G相关值差异显著,表明儿童的决策水平由小学4年级到小学6年级表现出快速发展的趋势;（3）在线索回忆的条件下,小学2年级和4年级儿童G相关值有显著差异,表明决策水平由小学2年级到小学4年级之间有快速发展的趋势;（4）在再认的条件下,小学各年龄儿童学习时间分配的决策水平没有显著性差异,表明再认条件下小学阶段的决策水平进步不显著;（5）在三种提取方式下,小学儿童对任务难度预见判断等级与首次学习时间之间的G相关值都不同程度地低于与总的学习时间之间的相关值。这说明小学儿童在反复学习的过程中在不断调整自己的学习时间分配,调整的程度有随年龄增长而加大的趋势。小学6年级儿童在任务难度预见判断等级与学习时间之间的G相关值已接近成人水平。     

冲动-思考型儿童在拼图游戏中的问题解决及元认知差异

以小学六年级思考型和冲动型儿童各32名为被试,通过考查儿童在完成不同难度拼图任务时的表现,探讨不同认知风格儿童在问题解决中认知活动和元认知活动的差异。结果发现:(1)在线与离线元认知监控均表现出认知风格与任务难度的交互作用。在简单和中等任务中,思考型的儿童运用更多的在线元认知监控,进行计划和检查的时间更长。离线元认知监控的差异只表现在简单任务中,思考型比冲动型儿童花费更多的时间进行预测和评价;(2)在问题解决结果上,认知风格不同的儿童完成任务的时间没有显著差异;(3)在问题解决过程中,冲动型儿童解决问题的操作步数多于思考型儿童;冲动型儿童更多地使用主体参照策略,而思考型儿童更多使用线索推断策略。     

小学儿童空间物体位置编码( Ⅱ)

采用找物范式研究小学7、9、11岁儿童利用线与线之间的关系对目标物位置进行编码的认知发展。结果表明:交点位置编码和平行线上对应点编码认知成绩的年龄效应显著。实验任务对儿童认知成绩的影响不同,11岁组儿童交点位置编码认知成绩显著好于平行线上对应点编码认知成绩,7岁组和9岁组两个任务的认知成绩差异不显著。     

小学儿童空间物体位置编码(I)

采用找物范式研究小学 7、9、11岁儿童利用点与点之间的关系对目标物位置进行编码的认知发展。结果表明 :两点距离编码和三点共线编码认知成绩的年龄效应显著 ,9岁组和 11岁组儿童的认知成绩显著好于 7岁组儿童的认知成绩。两个不同实验任务对儿童认知成绩的影响不同 ,7岁组儿童两点距离编码认知成绩显著好于三点共线编码认知成绩 ,9岁组和 11岁组两个任务的认知成绩差异不显著。提供编码线索后 ,认知成绩有了较大的改善。     

小学儿童空间物体位置编码（Ⅰ）

采用找物范式研究小学7、9、11岁儿童利用点与点之间的关系对目标物位置进行编码的认知发展。结果表明：两点距离编码和三点共线编码认知成绩的年龄效应显著,9岁组和11岁组儿童的认知成绩显著好于7岁组儿童的认知成绩。两个不同实验任务对儿童认知成绩的影响不同,7岁组儿童两点距离编码认知成绩显著好于三点共线编码认知成绩,9岁组和11岁组两个任务的认知成绩差异不显著。提供编码线索后,认知成绩有了较大的改善。     

幼儿对数的认知及其策略

该研究探查幼儿对基数、数序、运算和解应用题的认知发展过程及其认知策略。着重探查：(1)不同认知任务对幼儿数认知发展的影响;(2)幼儿对基数和数序两者认知发展的顺序;(3)从幼儿主动解决问题的策略探究其认知发展水平。该研究采用定性和定量相结合的研究方法。被试为4、5、6岁城市幼儿园儿童,共92人,男女约各半。全部实验以个别方式进行。主要研究结果表明：(1)幼儿对基数、数序、运算和解应用题的认知成绩均有随年龄发展的趋势,但快速发展的年龄阶段因任务的难度而异;(2)幼儿对基数和数序的认知在4—5岁显示出不同步的发展,对基数的认知成绩优于对数序的认知,而到6岁两者具有同步发展的趋势;(3)幼儿解决问题的策略水平随年龄发展,显示了由外化水平的智力活动向完全内化的智力操作的发展过程,并具有明显的层次性。该研究结果为幼儿数能力的培养和促进提供参考依据。     

4～6岁儿童元记忆监测判断的发展

采用不同难度图对为记忆任务,考察了4～6岁儿童学习难易判断(EOL), 学习判断（JOL）和提取自信心判断(JOC)的发展特点。结果表明：三种元记忆监测水平随年龄增长均不断提高,任务难度不同三种元记忆监测发展水平不同,对低难度任务的元记忆监测显著好于高难度任务;三种元记忆监测在低难度任务下没有发展速度差异,高难度任务下4～5岁时回溯性监测(JOC)发展较快,5～6岁前瞻性监测(EOL/JOL)发展加速;有效元记忆监测存在任务难度差异和年龄差异。     

学习不良儿童元记忆监测与控制的发展

采用2×3×2的混合设计,在自定步调和对项目逐项评定的学习条件下,对小学四~六年级学习不良儿童的元记忆监测与时间分配策略进行了实验研究。结果表明：在对学习材料难度的有效区分上,学习不良儿童与对照组儿童间无差异,不论学习不良组还是对照组,四年级儿童均不能对实验中配对学习材料难度性质做出明确区分,五、六年级儿童能够很好的区分学习材料难度;在学习判断水平上,五、六年级学习不良儿童均低于对照组儿童,四年级两组之间无差异;从对不同难度学习材料的时间分配来看,四年级学习不良儿童与对照组儿童分配在不同难度材料上的学习时间均无显著差别。五、六年级对照组儿童能够根据学习材料的不同难度分配不同学习时间,而且学习时间分配与难度判断之间存在显著相关。五、六年级学习不良儿童能在一定程度上根据学习材料的不同难度分配不同的学习时间,但这种时间分配与难度判断之间相关未达到显著水平,提示他们尚不能在有效元记忆监测基础上对不同难度学习材料进行合理的时间分配     

二语学习对汉语学龄儿童认知控制与词汇通达的作用——年龄和二语熟练程度的影响

学习第二语言对儿童的认知能力和一语发展产生何种影响,是当下二语研究领域的热点问题。本研究通过实验法,选取不同学龄期的汉语母语小学儿童,考察高、低英语熟练程度的学龄儿童在认知控制能力和一语词汇通达上的行为反应表现。结果显示：(1)英语熟练度高的二年级儿童比熟练度低的二年级儿童表现出更小的转换代价和Simon效应量,而英语熟练度不同的中高年级(四年级和六年级)儿童在认知控制任务上的差异并不显著;(2)英语熟练度高的儿童比熟练度低的儿童产词量少,并且英语熟练度高的中高年级儿童对比同年龄组熟练度低的儿童表现出更长的图片命名反应时。研究表明：(1)学龄儿童的认知控制功能随年龄增长而增长,二语学习对学龄儿童的认知控制有促进效应,并且这一效应随儿童年龄增长而逐渐减弱;(2)二语学习会影响儿童的一语词汇通达表现,并且这种影响随年龄增长而不同。     

学习不良儿童对情绪表达规则的认知特点

采用儿童对情绪表达规则的认知访谈故事,比较了学习不良儿童和一般儿童对情绪表达规则认知的发展特点。结果发现,学习不良儿童表情调节知识水平显著低于一般儿童,性别差异不显著,组别与年级交互作用不显著,表明两组儿童发展趋势类似,发展水平不同;学习不良儿童报告出较少的社会定向目标,自我保护目标得分与一般儿童差异不显著;学习不良儿童缺少根据不同人际关系类型灵活运用情绪表达规则的知识,而且较少把情绪表达规则的使用和目标联系起来     

Orthographic learning in children with isolated and combined reading and spelling deficits

Dissociations between reading and spelling problems are likely to be associated with different underlying cognitive deficits, and with different deficits in orthographic learning. In order to understand these differences, the current study examined orthographic learning using a printed-word learning paradigm. Children (4th grade) with isolated reading, isolated spelling and combined reading and spelling problems were compared to children with age appropriate reading and spelling skills on their performance during learning novel words and symbols (non-verbal control condition), and during immediate and delayed reading and spelling recall tasks. No group differences occurred in the non-verbal control condition. In the verbal condition, initial learning was intact in all groups, but differences occurred during recall tasks. Children with reading fluency deficits showed slower reading times, while children with spelling deficits were less accurate, both in reading and spelling recall. Children with isolated spelling problems showed no difficulties in immediate spelling recall, but had problems in remembering the spellings 2 hours later. The results suggest that different orthographic learning deficits underlie reading fluency and spelling problems: Children with isolated reading fluency deficits have no difficulties in building-up orthographic representations, but access to these representations is slowed down while children with isolated spelling deficits have problems in storing precise orthographic representations in long-term memory.     

Remapping the cognitive and neural profiles of children who struggle at school

Our understanding of learning difficulties largely comes from children with specific diagnoses or individuals selected from community/clinical samples according to strict inclusion criteria. Applying strict exclusionary criteria overemphasizes within group homogeneity and between group differences, and fails to capture comorbidity. Here, we identify cognitive profiles in a large heterogeneous sample of struggling learners, using unsupervised machine learning in the form of an artificial neural network. Children were referred to the Centre for Attention Learning and Memory (CALM) by health and education professionals, irrespective of diagnosis or comorbidity, for problems in attention, memory, language, or poor school progress (n = 530). Children completed a battery of cognitive and learning assessments, underwent a structural MRI scan, and their parents completed behavior questionnaires. Within the network we could identify four groups of children: (a) children with broad cognitive difficulties, and severe reading, spelling and maths problems; (b) children with age‐typical cognitive abilities and learning profiles; (c) children with working memory problems; and (d) children with phonological difficulties. Despite their contrasting cognitive profiles, the learning profiles for the latter two groups did not differ: both were around 1 SD below age‐expected levels on all learning measures. Importantly a child's cognitive profile was not predicted by diagnosis or referral reason. We also constructed whole‐brain structural connectomes for children from these four groupings (n = 184), alongside an additional group of typically developing children (n = 36), and identified distinct patterns of brain organization for each group. This study represents a novel move toward identifying data‐driven neurocognitive dimensions underlying learning‐related difficulties in a representative sample of poor learners.     

The beneficial effect of synchronized action on motor and perceptual timing in children

We examined the role of action in motor and perceptual timing across development. Adults and children aged 5 or 8 years old learned the duration of a rhythmic interval with or without concurrent action. We compared the effects of sensorimotor versus visual learning on subsequent timing behaviour in three different tasks: rhythm reproduction (Experiment 1), rhythm discrimination (Experiment 2) and interval discrimination (Experiment 3). Sensorimotor learning consisted of sensorimotor synchronization (tapping) to an isochronous visual rhythmic stimulus (ISI = 800 ms), whereas visual learning consisted of simply observing this rhythmic stimulus. Results confirmed our hypothesis that synchronized action during learning systematically benefitted subsequent timing performance, particularly for younger children. Action‐related improvements in accuracy were observed for both motor and perceptual timing in 5 years olds and for perceptual timing in the two older age groups. Benefits on perceptual timing tasks indicate that action shapes the cognitive representation of interval duration. Moreover, correlations with neuropsychological scores indicated that while timing performance in the visual learning condition depended on motor and memory capacity, sensorimotor learning facilitated an accurate representation of time independently of individual differences in motor and memory skill. Overall, our findings support the idea that action helps children to construct an independent and flexible representation of time, which leads to coupled sensorimotor coding for action and time.     

学习不良儿童的家庭资源对其认知发展、学习动机的影响

运用认知测验法和问卷法,综合考察了１６７中学习不良儿童和１６１名一般儿童的家庭 资料对认知发展、学习以机的影响。表明：学习不良儿童的家庭资源、学习动机和认知发展之间存在着因果关系,家族资源通过两种途径对认知发展发生作用,一是通过影响学习动机促进信知发展二是直接对认知发展发生作用。     

初中生自我调节学习发展研究

研究基于自我调节学习理论,以初中生为被试,采用问卷调查的方法,构建了自我调节学习的发展模式,并以此为基础探讨了元认知、认知策略、自我效能感、动机情绪策略和资源管理策略等因素随年级发展变化的规律及作用。结果表明,年级不同其自我调节学习发展模式不同;低年级自我效能感、学习策略对成绩有直接作用,高年级自我效能感对成绩的作用必须以元认知和认知策略为中介,随年级增长元认知的直接作用越明显。     

Cross language learning disabilities and verbal versus spatial memory

The research reported in this talk involves comparisons of verbal and spatial memory tasks across groups of children (and adults) with different types of learning difficulties. The research focuses on children with literacy acquisition problems and investigates whether such problems are related to specific areas of deficit. In the first piece of research, children with dyslexia (literacy learning problems) and dyspraxia (motor deficits) were contrasted on measures of memory (for example, tasks that required the retention of sequences of verbal material or spatial movements) and additional measures of literacy (reading and spelling), phonological (awareness of sounds within words) and motor (fine and gross motor tasks) functioning. The data were consistent with a dissociation between tasks/groups such that dyslexics showed weak phonological processing but intact visuo-spatial processing, whereas children with dyspraxia showed weaknesses on task involving visuo-spatial information, but average levels of performance on tasks that required phonological processing. Similar results were identified amongst adult groups, consistent with a deviant level of functioning rather than a developmental delay. A second line of research contrasted children with or without literacy problems across language backgrounds (English, Arabic, Chinese and bilingual children). Consistent with the dyslexia data, children with poor English literacy skills showed weaknesses in verbal/phonological memory tasks but not in visuo-spatial memory. However, for Chinese-language children, visuo-spatial memory differed between good and poor literacy learners, but there was little evidence for verbal memory differences. In contrast, the Arabic and bilingual children showed differences in both verbal and visuo-spatial areas, although the evidence was consistent with enhanced visual/spatial skills amongst the good literacy groups, rather than poor literacy children showing weaknesses in those tasks. These data suggest that the influence of memory skills on learning may vary with the language of instruction. A final line of enquiry considers whether teaching strategies to children with learning difficulties may overcome some of the identified memory deficits and lead to better levels of learning. English language children with learning difficulties were taught visual and verbal strategies to support retention of materials in short-term memory tasks. In the majority of cases, learning was improved when it focused on visuo-spatial strategies but not when verbal strategies were used. These data support the relationship between learning difficulties and different aspects of short-term memory that may lead to poor levels of learning. It also presents evidence that memory (particularly those related to visuo-spatial) processes are influenced by the context within which learning is taking place, both in terms of the language of instruction and the strategies used to support learning. For some children with educational difficulties based around language-related deficits, visuo-spatial strategies may support acquisition.     

Paired associate learning in Chinese children with dyslexia

A total of 82 Chinese 11- and 12-year-olds with and without dyslexia were tested on four paired associate learning (PAL) tasks, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, rapid naming, and verbal short-term memory in three different experiments. Experiment 1 demonstrated that children with dyslexia were significantly poorer in visual-verbal PAL than nondyslexic children but that these groups did not differ in visual-visual PAL performance. In Experiment 2, children with dyslexia had more difficulties in transferring rules to new stimuli in a rule-based visual-verbal PAL task as compared with children without dyslexia. Long-term retention of PAL was not impaired in dyslexic children across either experiment. In Experiment 3, rates of visual-verbal PAL deficits among children with dyslexia were all at or above 39%, the highest among all cognitive deficits tested. Moreover, rule-based visual-verbal PAL, in addition to morphological awareness and rapid naming ability, uniquely distinguished children with and without dyslexia even with other metalinguistic skills statistically controlled. Results underscore the importance of visual-verbal PAL for understanding reading impairment in Chinese children.