An apparatus for linguistic and cognitive studies in young children

An apparatus is described that permits one experimenter to obtain high quality audio and video tape recordings of young children's behavior in cognitive-linguistic tasks while leaving the experimenter free to concentrate on working with the child. The apparatus is portable, robust, relatively child-proof, and distraction-free, features that make it useful for different types of research for a considerable age range of children in a variety of settings such as the child's home, the laboratory, the nursery, and the hospital.     

Beyond the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy: Self-determination in motivation and learning

Researchers have typically portrayed intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as dichotomous. Although this dichotomy has explanatory utility, we present a differentiated view of extrinsic motivation, arguing that the relative autonomy of one's motivated actions is more useful for characterizing the motivational basis of learning than is the undifferentiated intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy. Our concept of autonomous extrinsic motivation is based on a developmental analysis of the processes of internalization and integration. In this article we review extensive research indicating that intrinsic motivation and integrated internalization are facilitated by autonomy supportive social contexts, and that these autonomous forms of motivation, in turn, promote high-quality learning.Preparation of this article was facilitated in part by research grant HD-19914 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Human Motivation Program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Rochester.     

An automated technique for the study of cyclic fluctuations in sexual motivation in an avian species

Diurnal fluctuations in sexual behavior occur in freely interacting pairs of male and female birds. These fluctuations are difficult to interpret because they may reflect fluctuations in the motivation of the male, the motivation of the female, or both. A method was developed to study the sexual motivation of male Japanese quail in response to a standard stimulus. Sexual behavior was elicited by a taxidermic model of a female quail in a squatting posture. Sensors beneath and in the back of the model served to detect when the male mounted and made cloacal contact with the model. The technique allowed continuous recording of male sexual behavior under standard conditions. When males were maintained on a photoperiod with lights on at 0600 h and off at 2200 h, sexual behavior peaked in the early afternoon, with a secondary peak just before lights-out.     

An apparatus for behavioral and physiological study of aversive conditioning in cats and kittens

An apparatus for aversive conditioning of adult cats and kittens is described. Animals are held by a cloth harness and head restraint device in a metal frame with a movable treadmill floor. They are supported in a natural standing position, with freedom to flex and move each leg and to walk or run on the treadmill. Various transducers record respiration, EKG, vocalization, leg flexion, and locomotion on the treadmill.     

Multiple goals,motivation and academic learning

Background: The type of academic goals pursued by students is one of the most important variables in motivational research in educational contexts. Although motivational theory and research have emphasised the somewhat exclusive nature of two types of goal orientation (learning goals versus performance goals), some studies (Meece, 1994; Seifert, 1995, 1996) have shown that the two kinds of goals are relatively complementary and that it is possible for students to have multiple goals simultaneously, which guarantees some flexibility to adapt more efficaciously to various contexts and learning situations. Aim: The principal aim of this study is to determine the academic goals pursued by university students and to analyse the differences in several very significant variables related to motivation and academic learning. Sample: Participants were 609 university students (74% women and 26% men) who filled in several questionnaires about the variables under study. Method: We used cluster analysis ('quick cluster analysis' method) to establish the different groups or clusters of individuals as a function of the three types of goals (learning goals, performance goals, and social reinforcement goals). By means of MANOVA, we determined whether the groups or clusters identified were significantly different in the variables that are relevant to motivation and academic learning. Lastly, we performed ANOVA on the variables that revealed significant effects in the previous analysis. Results: Using cluster analysis, three groups of students with different motivational orientations were identified: a group with predominance of performance goals (Group PG: n = 230), a group with predominance of multiple goals (Group MG: n = 238), and a group with predominance of learning goals (Group LG: n = 141). Conclusions: Groups MG and LG attributed their success more to ability, they had higher perceived ability, they took task characteristics into account when planning which strategies to use in the learning process, they showed higher persistence, and used more deep learning strategies than did the students with predominance of performance goals (Group PG). On the other hand, Groups MG and PG took the evaluation criteria more into account when deciding which strategies to use in order to learn, and they attributed their failures more to luck than did Group LG. Students from Group MG attributed their success more to effort than did the other two groups and they attained higher achievement than Group PG. Group LG tended to attribute their failures more to lack of effort than did the other two groups.     

An investigation of serial learning and retention processes in children

Three studies investigated both serial learning (SL) and retention processes among first through sixth graders. SL processes were evaluated for both pictorial and verbal materials by use of a probing methodology, and retention processes were studied as a function of the amount of intratask interference during original learning. All three SL stimuli considered (prior item, serial position, and prior-item cluster) were found to be functional, although the prior-item stimulus was most frequently used. Additionally, SL rate was found to improve with increasing age. The introduction of interference into SL through acoustic, associative, or semantic similarity facilitated retention in control as well as proactive and retroactive inhibition conditions. Pictorial serial list items improved SL performance only for second, third, and fourth graders, while fifth graders performed better with verbal materials and sixth-grade performance was comparable in both presentation modes.     

An analysis of observational learning in autistic and normal children

The present investigation studied observational learning in autistic children. Fifteen autistic and 15 normal children watched an adult model engage in a set of behaviors under specific verbal instructions. After observing this situation, the children were tested to determine what they had acquired through observation. The results showed that (1) the majority of the autistic and the youngest normal children acquired only some limited features of the observational situation and (2) chronological age was related to the amount of learning through observation in the normal children but not in the autistics. The deficit that the autistic children showed in observational learning may be related to a failure to discriminate or attend to the total stimulus input presented. Their failure in observational learning can be seen to contribute in a major way to the severely impoverished behavioral repertoires of these children.     

Causal relationships among academic delay of gratification, motivation, and self-regulated learning in elementary school children

Academic delay of gratification refers to the postponement of immediate rewards by students and the pursuit of more important, temporally remote academic goals. A path model was designed to identify the causal relationships among academic delay of gratification and motivation, self-regulated learning strategies (as specified in the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire), and grades among 386 Chinese elementary school children. Academic delay of gratification was found to be positively related to motivation and metacognition. Cognitive strategy, resource management, and grades mediated these two factors and were indirectly related to academic delay of gratification.