The effects of assertive training on performance in highly anxious adolescents

The effects of assertive training on measures of assertiveness, state anxiety, and mathematics performance in highly anxious adolescents were investigated. A group of 96 highly anxious 9th graders was assigned to one of four treatment groups. Pretest and posttest assessment included the Adolescent Self-Expression Scale (a measure of assertiveness), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Mathematics Problems and Concepts subtests of the California Achievement Test. Experimental treatment consisted of four assertive training sessions, while placebo treatment for the control groups consisted of four career development training sessions. Posttest was administered to all four groups. A MANOVA was used to analyze all of the data on the students who took the pre- and posttest and attended two or more training sessions. Assertive training resulted in increased assertiveness and decreased state anxiety, with no significant effect on mathematics performance, and no significant effect due to sex. It was concluded that assertive training is a counseling technique which can be used effectively with 9th graders.     

Middle School Learners' Use of Latin Roots to Infer the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words

This study investigated how middle school students leverage information about bound Latin roots (e.g., voc in advocate and vociferous) to infer meanings of unfamiliar words, and how instruction may facilitate morphological analysis using roots. A dynamic assessment of morphological analysis was administered to 29 sixth graders (n = 17 intervention students) and 30 seventh graders (n = 18 intervention students). Qualitative analyses of analytic strategies revealed patterns of morphological problem solving that included direct (i.e., direct application of roots to analyze unfamiliar words) and indirect routes (i.e., use of known words that carry the roots to analyze unfamiliar words). Intervention students applied a direct route at higher rates than control students. Correlational analyses revealed a small but significant treatment effect on establishing meaning memory representations for roots and a significant, positive treatment effect for use of roots to infer unfamiliar word meanings. Overall results show promise for use of bound Latin roots for morphological problem solving.     

小学二年级学生的字形预视效应

字形信息在汉语阅读中具有重要作用。小学二年级是儿童阅读流畅性发展的重要时期,而对注视点右侧字词的预加工及所获得的预视效应是影响流畅阅读的重要因素。本研究考察了字形信息在二年级学生预加工中的作用。实验1采用副中央凹启动范式发现,在词汇识别任务中,二年级学生在100ms副中央凹启动时间下,表现出字形预视效应。实验2采用边界范式发现,在句子默读任务中,二年级学生能够获取副中央凹处的字形信息。结果表明,二年级学生在阅读中能够使用副中央凹处的字形信息,促进随后中央凹处的词汇加工。     

小学二年级学生的字形预视效应

字形信息在汉语阅读中具有重要作用。小学二年级是儿童阅读流畅性发展的重要时期,而对注视点右侧字词的预加工及所获得的预视效应是影响流畅阅读的重要因素。本研究考察了字形信息在二年级学生预加工中的作用。实验1采用副中央凹启动范式发现,在词汇识别任务中,二年级学生在100ms副中央凹启动时间下,表现出字形预视效应。实验2采用边界范式发现,在句子默读任务中,二年级学生能够获取副中央凹处的字形信息。结果表明,二年级学生在阅读中能够使用副中央凹处的字形信息,促进随后中央凹处的词汇加工。     

Dimensional separability or flexibility of attention? Age trends in perceiving configural stimuli

The hypothesis that perceptual development proceeds from less to greater dimensional separability was tested by giving a speeded classification task to first and fouth graders. In Experiment 1, children sorted line drawings of a cartoon figure into two piles according to his eyes (open or closed) or his mouth (smiling or frowning). First graders exhibited the pattern characteristic of integral dimensions: An interference effect was found when dimensions were combined orthogonally and a facilitation effect when dimensions were correlated, relative to a condition in which only one dimension varied. Fourth graders exhibited an optional separable pattern: There was facilitation in the correlated condition but no interference in the orthogonal condition. These results support the hypothesis that development proceeds toward greater flexibility of attention rather than simply toward increasing separability. A flexible field hypothesis of visual attention was suggested to explain how older children can exercise such optional separability. This hypothesis correctly predicted the asymmetrical relation between dimensions found in Experiments 2 and 3: For both first and fourth graders, the eyes of a cartoon figure (open or closed) and his location (right or left) were nonseparable when the eyes were relevant and separable (or optional separable) when location was relevant.     

The influence of a reading task on children’s eye movements during reading

In the present study, second graders (n= 23), fourth graders (n= 16), sixth graders (n= 24) and adults (n= 21) read texts adopted from children’s science textbooks either with the task to answer a “why” question presented as the title of the text or for comprehension when their eye movements were recorded. Immediately after reading, readers answered a text memory and an integration question. Second graders showed an effect of questions as increased processing during first-pass reading, whereas older readers showed the effect in later look-backs. For adult readers, questions also facilitated first-pass reading. Text memory or integration question-answering was not influenced by the reading task. The results indicate that questions increase the standards of coherence for text information and that already young readers do modify their reading behaviour according to task demands.     

Middle school students overestimate normative support for aggression and underestimate normative support for nonviolent problem‐solving strategies

This study tested five hypotheses related to the accuracy of students' perceptions of school norms for aggression and nonviolent problem‐solving strategies with two cohorts (ns = 852 and 968) of 6th‐grade students in 12 schools. Students consistently overestimated peer normative support for aggression and underestimated peer normative support for nonviolent problem‐solving strategies. This effect remained significant in tests of moderation by gender, ethnicity, and aggression level. Tests for moderation by the degree of provocation (e.g., if a student was hit first) and a test measuring actual norms from eighth graders and perceived norms from seventh graders suggested that the discrepancy was not due to self‐serving bias or social desirability. Longitudinal analysis found that the discrepancy remained through 8th grade. The discrepancy between actual and perceived norms has implications for risk and violence prevention, which are discussed.     

Moral values of only and sibling children in mainland China

Seventh graders (N = 346) in Beijing and Shanghai were administered the Chinese Values Survey (M. H. Bond & the Chinese Culture Connection, 1987) and the Rokeach Values Survey (modified version; R. A. Cole, 1972) in 1992. Results showed no statistically significant difference in scores between only and sibling children who rated Chinese values and Rokeach terminal values. The 2 groups appeared to be significantly different in rating Rokeach instrumental values, but the effect sizes accounted for less than 2% of the variance. The stereotype of only children as being "spoiled" was not supported by the data.     

Changes in the semantic constraint of spreading activation of memory across three age groups

28 undergraduate, 34 sixth-grade, and 36 second-grade students studied target words embedded in interchangeable or noninterchangeable sentences, and then performed free recall tests. In an interchangeable sentence the word which was to be remembered and its associated word fitted sensibly, whereas in a noninterchangeable sentence the target word fitted sensibly but its word associate did not. Undergraduates recalled the target words in noninterchangeable sentences better than sixth or second graders for whom a difference was not observed (undergraduates > sixth graders = second graders). In interchangeable sentences undergraduates recalled more targets than sixth or second graders, and sixth graders recalled more than second graders (undergraduates > sixth graders > second graders). The results were interpreted as indicating changes across age groups in the semantic constraint of spreading activation of target words in memory.     

Effects of educational and career exploration system on vocational maturity

An experimental group of 792 tenth graders spent from 1 to 17 hr (average 3 hr) on ECES, a computer-based educational and occupational exploration system.Gains on a test of vocational maturity administered at the beginning and end of the school year were compared with a control group of 1453 tenth graders, matched on relevant variables. ECES users showed larger gains than nonusers in (1) degree of planfulness and (2) knowledge and use of resources for career exploration, as measured by the Career Development Inventory, not in information about education, occupations and career decision making. Gains were related to amount of time spent on ECES but male-female differences were not exhibited.     

FUZZY-TRACE THEORY AND FRAMING EFFECTS IN CHILDREN'S RISKY DECISION MAKING

Traditional theories of cognitive development predict that children progress from intuitive to computational thinking, whereas fuzzy-trace theory makes the opposite prediction To evaluate these alternatives, framing problems were administered to preschoolers, second graders, and fifth graders Consistent with fuzzy-trace theory, results indicated (a) that younger children focused on quantitative differences between outcomes and did not exhibit framing effects (risk avoidance for gains, risk seeking for losses) and (b) that older children assimilated these quantitative differences and displayed framing effects     

中小学生字词再认中场合效应的发展研究

以223名小五、初二、高二学生为被试,探讨对学习项目的加工水平与再认中场合效应的关系以及这种关系的年龄特征。结果表明:(1)当对学习项目进行深加工时,场合因素对三个年级再认效果的影响没有表现出年龄趋势;当对学习项目进行浅加工时,场合因素对小学五年级再认效果的影响显著高于对初二、高二年级的影响,而初二、高二年级的差异不显著;(2)小学五年级学生再认中的场合效应与掩蔽模型的假设一致,初二、高二年级学生的场合效应与加和整体匹配模型的假设一致。     

小学儿童对习俗时间的时距判断

本研究选取“星期”这种习俗时间系统作为实验材料,通过让被试完成范畴性的时距判断任务,即让被试判断某一给定的日期是否属于某一参照日期之后３天中的某一天,探讨了小学儿童对习俗时间的认知加工过程的发展。结果表明,小学儿童对习俗时间的认知加工成绩随年龄的增长而不断提高,在认知加工过程中,具有显著的“距离效应”和“边界效应”,随着两个日期之间时距的增加,反应时逐渐增大,正确率逐渐降低,当两个日期之间的时距为３天时,反应时最长,正确率最低。而且,儿童可以直接运用数字系统来解决习俗时间的问题,他们的认知加工策略包括数字计数、数字运算和表象判断。     

Negative Numbers are not yet Automatically Associated with Space in 6th Graders

ABSTRACT

The metaphor of the mental number line accounts for numerous empirical effects of spatial-numerical associations. In the present study, we aimed at investigating directional spatial-numerical associations reflected by SNARC-like digit-direction and sign-direction congruency effects as well as the sign-digit compatibility effect when 6^th graders performed magnitude comparisons of multi-symbol numbers (i.e., positive and negative numbers). As spatial-numerical associations were associated with sensorimotor experiences, we used whole-body and finger tapping responses to manipulate the extent of motor responses. We only observed a SNARC-like digit-direction congruency effect, but neither a sign-direction congruency nor a sign-digit compatibility effect. This indicates that 6^th graders may already have developed spatial-numerical associations for absolute number magnitude, but not yet for polarity signs. Furthermore, not observing a sign-digit compatibility effect seemed to suggest that 6^th graders may not yet process multi-symbol numbers in the same parallel componential way as adults do. We argue that while 6^th graders are able to process negative numbers, they are not yet automatically associated with space or integrated in the place-value structure of the Arabic number system like multi-digit numbers are at this age.     

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.     

Relationships between academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety in children and young adolescents

To test the hypothesis that academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety are negatively related when both are differentiated into academic subject areas, two self-report inventories measuring academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety were administered to fourth and seventh graders. Each inventory was differentiated into the subject areas of reading, math, social studies, and science to determine whether the relationship between academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety would vary according to subject area. The results supported the hypothesis and showed that the relationship is differentiated according to subject area. Fourth and seventh graders differed in the pattern of relationships. For seventh graders, negative correlations between academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety occurred only within corresponding subject areas, while for fourth graders the negative correlations occurred both within corresponding and between noncorresponding subject areas. Implications for assessment and school intervention are advanced.     

Influence of consonantal context on the reading of vowels: evidence from children

When college students pronounce nonwords, their vowel pronunciations may be affected not only by the consonant that follows the vowel, the coda, but also by the preceding consonant, the onset. We presented the nonwords used by Treiman and colleagues in their 2003 study to a total of 94 first graders, third graders, fifth graders, and high school students to determine when these context influences emerge. According to some theories of reading development, early decoding is characterized by context-free links from graphemes to phonemes. However, we found that even children reading at the first-grade level (6-year-olds) were influenced to some extent by a vowel's context. The effect of context on vowel pronunciation increased in strength up to around the fifth-grade reading level (8- and 9-year-olds), and sensitivity to coda-to-vowel associations emerged no earlier than did sensitivity to onset-to-vowel associations. A connectionist model of reading reproduced this general pattern of increasing context effects as a function of training.     

Transposed-letter similarity effects in naming pseudowords: Evidence from children and adults

There is growing empirical evidence that shows that transposed-letter pseudowords (e.g., relovution) are perceptually very similar to their base words. This is a finding that has important implications for the choice of an input coding scheme in visual word recognition and naming. In the present experiment, we examined the presence of transposed-letter effects for pseudowords by using the naming task in a transparent orthography (Spanish): The pseudowords were created by transposing two letters or by replacing two letters (e.g., relovución vs. retosución). Since it has been suggested that transposed-letter effects may be greater for developing than for adult readers (Castles, Davis, & Forster, 2003), we recruited beginning readers (second graders, i.e., 7-year-olds), intermediate readers (fourth graders, i.e., 9-year-olds), and adult readers (college students). Results showed that developing and adult readers frequently mispronounced transposed-letter pseudowords (lexicalisations, mostly). Interestingly, the difference between the transposed-letter pseudowords and the replacement-letter pseudowords vanished when measuring the correct naming times. We examine the implications of these findings for models of visual word recognition and naming.     

The development of automaticity in accessing number magnitude

This study traces developmental changes in automatic and intentional processing of Arabic numerals using a numerical-Stroop paradigm. In Study 1, university students compared the numerical or physical size of Arabic numerals varying along both dimensions. In Study 2, first graders (mean age = 6 years 6 months), third graders (mean age = 8 years 4 months), and fifth graders (mean age = 10 years 3 months) were tested to examine developmental changes in numerical and physical comparisons. In the numerical comparison task, a size congruity effect was found at all ages (i.e., relative to a neutral control, congruent physical sizes facilitated, and incongruent sizes interfered with, the numerical comparison). The pattern of facilitation and interference, however, was modulated by age. In the physical comparison task, the incongruity between physical and numerical size affected only older children and adults. These findings strongly suggest that the automatization in number processing is achieved gradually as numerical skills progress.     

Is knowledge base development a necessary and sufficient condition for memory development?

The hypothesis that knowledge base development is an important condition for memory development was tested in two experiments. In Experiment 1 subjects from grades K, 6, and college participated in an incidental learning task where they analyzed words according to one of four featural systems: physical, acoustic, semantic, and imagery. Large developmental differences in recall were found in the imagery and semantic conditions, small differences were observed in the acoustic conditions, and no developmental differences were found in the physical condition. Experiment 2 involved presenting college students and third graders words either from categories highly salient to third graders, e.g., cartoons, games, etc., or from corresponding Battig and Montague categories generated by college students. Free recall and clustering performances showed significant interactions, with third graders superior on the third-grade salient items, and college students superior on Battig and Montague items.