Cognitive control in cued task switching with transition cues: Cue processing,task processing,and cue–task transition congruency

We investigated the processes underlying performance during cued task switching with transition cues. To this end, transition cueing and explicit cueing were compared in a design controlling for sequential effects in the two preceding trials in order to further examine the contribution of cue processes, task processes, and cue–task transition congruency during transition cueing. The study confirmed that the task-switch cost in transition cueing is larger than the task-switch cost in explicit cueing and showed that this larger switch cost is mainly due to cue processing. We also successfully decomposed performance in transition cueing into cue processing, task processing, and cue–task transition congruency on both a theoretical (Experiment 1) and an empirical basis (Experiments 2–3). Our empirical dissociation also demonstrates that cue–task transition congruency affects performance during both cue processing and task processing. We discuss the importance of our findings in relation to the different theories on task switching.     

Personality and relationship quality during the transition from high school to early adulthood

The post-high school transition period is believed to be associated with considerable changes in social networks, yet longitudinal studies documenting these changes are scarce. To address this gap, the current research explored 3 relevant issues. First, changes in participants' relationship characteristics during the transition from high school were examined. Second, the roles of personality traits as antecedents of these changes were studied. Third, the association between change in relationship characteristics and personality during the transition was explored. A sample of over 2,000 German emerging adults, surveyed before leaving school and then 2 years after the transition from high school, was assessed on personality traits and a multidimensional assessment of the quality of their relationships. Findings indicated that participants experienced mostly positive changes in relationship quality during the transition from high school and that antecedent personality at school was an important predictor of the nature of this change. Finally, change in relationship quality was found to be associated with personality change during the post-school transition. Findings indicated that personality traits may influence transition success and that change in relationships during this transition may influence personality development. The implications of the research for post-school transition success are discussed.     

Switch detection in preschoolers' cognitive flexibility

The current study addressed the role of switch detection in cognitive flexibility by testing the effect of transition cues (i.e., cues that directly signal the need to switch or maintain a given task goal) in a cued set-shifting paradigm at 5 years of age. Children performed better, especially on switch trials, when transition cues were combined with traditional task cues (i.e., cues that directly signal the relevant task on a given trial) relative to conditions without transition cues. This effect was not influenced by explicit knowledge of transition cues or transition cue transparency, suggesting that transition cues did not need to be semantically processed to be beneficial. These findings reveal that young children’s difficulties in set-shifting situations stem partially from failures to monitor for the need to switch.     

Should Counseling Be Considered a Health Care Profession? Critical Thoughts on the Transition to a Health Care Ideology

The counseling profession has increasingly identified with health care ideology. The logical justifications for this transition are critically examined. Ideological and practical consequences of the health care transition are also considered. The author concludes that the usual ways of justifying the transition to health care are insufficient and that this transition has generally had negative consequences for the counseling profession.     

Accommodating a new identity: Possible selves,identity change and well‐being across two life‐transitions

We examined the role of desired, feared, and expected possible future identity structures in the restructuring of identity after two life transitions. A longitudinal study was conducted on 86 young adults during the transition from school to university and 143 adults during the transition to parenthood. In both samples, pre‐transition desires and expectations about the restructuring of identity predicted post‐transition actual identity structures. Post‐transition emotional well‐being was higher among those whose post‐transition identity structures more closely matched their initial desires and less closely matched their initial fears, and among those who reported a greater magnitude of identity change. We propose that possible future identity structures play an important role in the identity accommodation process during life‐transitions, and that they have significant implications for well‐being. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Research on the transition marking between the broken line and solid line of expressway

Drivers often cross the solid line unintentionally during the lane-changing, when the sight distance is blocked by the vehicle ahead. There are significant potential risks to change lanes in solid line area, which would cause traffic flow disruption and traffic safety hazards. If the drivers with limited sight distance can be reminded in advance that the lane marking ahead is a solid line, many drivers will refrain from changing lanes in the restricted area, therefore, it is important to help the drivers with limited sight distance to obtain the information of lane marking ahead. There is limited research on this specific issue presently, nor any relevant regulations or manuals available in China. This paper puts forward a novel concept of transition marking, and a creative approach by adding the transition marking between the broken line and the solid line. The transition marking is considered an information carrier to predict the pass-through right of the road ahead. We have studied the form and length of the transition marking and evaluated its effectiveness through the driving simulation experiment. The form analysis shows that the white mutation broken line has better visibility and legibility. The transition marking length is shown to be closely related to the vehicle speed and distance. The simulation results indicate that the transition marking length is negatively correlated with vehicle distance and positively correlated with speed. Based on the simulation results and detailed statistical analysis, the reference value of transition marking length is proposed. The effectiveness evaluation demonstrates that the transition marking reduces the probability of solid-line crossing during lane-changing dramatically by 92%.     

Relatedness with teachers and peers during early adolescence: an integrated variable-oriented and person-oriented approach

The primary aims of the present longitudinal study were to examine (a) patterns of early transition relatedness with teachers and peers in 6th grade, (b) whether pre-transition behavior in 5th grade predicted early transition relatedness in 6th grade, and (c) how unique indicators of early transition relatedness with teachers and peers and patterns of early transition relatedness were associated with school adjustment among 383 rural, lower- to middle-class, White youth. Results suggest that behavioral characteristics in elementary school may contribute to early transition patterns of relatedness with teachers and peers in middle school. Findings also indicate that having a pattern of poor relationships with the primary social partners in the school context is negatively associated with adjustment above and beyond the independent indicators of relatedness. Implications for school practice are discussed.     

Family Concerns and Involvement During Kindergarten Transition

The transition from preschool to formal schooling constitutes an important developmental milestone for children and their families. Very few empirical studies investigating the kindergarten transition for typically developing children have been published, and fewer have examined transition experiences from the perspective of caregivers. The aims of our study were to investigate: (1) parent concerns during transition, (2) perceived needs during transition, and (3) parent involvement in kindergarten preparation activities. Parents/caregivers of 86 general education students transitioning to kindergarten completed a survey assessing their concerns, needs, and involvement in transition preparation activities. Results suggest that although the majority of parents expressed few concerns regarding their child’s kindergarten transition, a subset (i.e., 27.9%) reported significant concerns. The areas of concern most often cited by families in this sample were socio-behavioral in nature. Parents in this sample expressed a desire for various types of information during transition. Parents most often reported engaging in low intensity transition practices characterized by generic forms of contact, rather than more individualized and intensive practices often cited in the literature as best practices. In addition, parent involvement in transition preparation activities differed by family socioeconomic status as well as district locale. This study offers practical suggestions and policy implications for coordinating family and school efforts during children’s kindergarten transition.     

语音情绪变化内隐加工的神经生理机制

人类迅速高效识别语音情绪变化的神经生理机制仍是一个未解之谜。本研究试图通过对被试内隐加工语音情绪变化的即时脑电数据做时域和频域分析, 揭示语音情绪变化加工的神经生理机制。结果发现语音情绪变化诱发N2/P3复合成分, theta频段能量增加和试次间相位相干系数(ITC)增大, beta频段能量降低和ITC增大。这些神经生理指标受情绪变化模式的调节, 情绪变化越激烈, 诱发N2/P3复合成分的潜伏期越早, theta能量和相位变化更强烈。这些结果说明语音情绪变化加工是一个变化检测与整合的过程, 该过程主要由theta和beta频段能量和试次间相位的变化来实现。     

化危为机：青少年学校转折期的过渡

从生命历程的角度看, 学校过渡是青少年成长过程中的重要发展转折点, 对个体的发展轨迹具有重要影响。先前研究多基于缺陷的视角, 将学校过渡视为充满挑战和风险的危机时期, 并发现青少年在这一时期伴随着各种消极的发展结果。但从青少年积极发展的视角来看, 学校过渡可能是青少年获得适应性的、健康发展的重要机遇, 也是发展可塑性表现最为充分的时期。如果青少年的内部和外部资源能够很好的融合, 他们就有可能获得积极的学校过渡。     

Thanatoperience

Near-death experiences (NDEs) can be seen as special cases of psychological transition. They often involve a deep transformation in the sense of self. I examine the NDE as such, according to my phase theory of transition, and I analyze an NDE with the help of that theory. I conclude that the study of NDEs may provide insight into the general psychology of transition.     

The Impact of Life Transition on Emerging Adult Attachment,Social Support,and Well‐Being: A Multiple‐Group Comparison

Life transitions can induce distress for emerging adults. This study compared a model of the attachment, social support, and well‐being of emerging adults in transition with a model of those not in transition (N = 378). The transition sample reported less life satisfaction and environmental mastery and higher attachment avoidance than the nontransition sample. The transition sample showed weaker mediating effects of social support, suggesting that attachment accounted for additional unique variance for this group. Counseling implications are provided.     

A Comparison of Single-Step and Multiple-Step Transition Analyses of Multiattribute Decision Strategies

Evaluating information is a fundamental component of multiattribute decision making that can be guided by one of many cognitive strategies. Considerable research has examined the factors that influence strategy selection; however, the identification of strategies remains problematic. The search sequence or transitions that a decision maker uses when searching a matrix of decision information can provide important clues to the strategy guiding the processing of decision information. The most common form of strategy analysis is to examine each transition from one piece of information to the next to establish whether these transitions are primarily alternative or attribute based. However, the resulting single-step transition indices often restrict strategy identification to a quantitative measure of compensatoriness and were found to provide conflicting results for the same search data. The current paper proposes a multiple-step transition analysis that records more complex, longer transitions to provide a multivariate profile of the strategy. Empirical support for the advantages of a multiple-step transition analysis over single-step transition indices is also provided.     

Combining Explicit Timing with an Interdependent Group Contingency Program to Decrease Transition Times

ABSTRACT

A sixth-grade teacher and consultant serving as a behavioral specialist developed, implemented, and evaluated the Timely Transitions Game (TTG), a procedure designed to reduce room-to-room transition times. The TTG combined several procedures that have been shown to alter student behavior including explicit timing procedures and an interdependent, group-oriented reward program with randomly selected criteria. Five transition times were measured and recorded each day. At the end of the school day, the teacher randomly selected a transition and a criterion (seconds taken to transition). If the class completed the randomly selected transition in less time than the randomly selected criterion, they earned a letter. When students earned enough letters (e.g., the five letters that spell M-U-S-I-C), they received access to the reward (e.g., listening to music during independent seat-work). Results indicated immediate and sustained decreases in transition times following the implementation of the intervention. Although methodological concerns prevent drawing cause-and-effect conclusions, the current study shows how educators can adapt and combine empirically validated strategies and procedures to remedy presenting problems.     

Autobiographical Misremembering: John Dean is not Alone

Survey respondents were asked to provide knowledge responses to public events and names that occurred as long ago as the 1930s and as recently as the 1980s. Respondents made errors that reflect the use of semantic and lexical memory systems, and reconstructive processes based on a semantic theme. Errors, as well as correct responses, are affected by whether the events originally occurred during the transition phase (early teens to mid-twenties). Responses indicate that events that occur during the transition phase are remembered better than events that occur during other life phases (in contradiction to the differential sampling hypothesis), but that events that occur during the transition phase can also promote error-prone reporting by interfering with other events or by promoting inaccurate reconstructions. The evidence suggests that the transition phase is not a monolithic entity, but that young adolescence differs from older transition phase ages by having a greater concentration on determining general properties of the world. Support is strongest for cognitive accounts of transition phase effects such as the first experience hypothesis, and results challenge physiological and evolutionary accounts that are tied to the transition phase promoting better memory. Finally, the more dramatic observed errors (such as inverting the subject and object of an event) point to possible undocumented instances of autobiographical misremembering. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transition from School to Adult Life: Empowering Youth Through Community Ownership and Accountability

The evolution of transition services for youth with disabilities illustrates the transformation that has occurred from a systems-driven to a youth-centered support approach. This article documents how this shift has occurred. We review research that has influenced the direction of national policies and practices. A chronology of the policies that best represent the seminal foundation for current transition best practices for youth with emotional disturbance (ED) is presented. The field of special education led the way toward articulating the new vision for providing transition support by defining services as the coordination of multiple systems to address life domains (e.g., post-secondary education, employment, independent living, and community adjustment). Promising practices, within the context of the conversion to an ecological model of support that contributes to youth self-determination, include utilization of a youth-centered, strengths-based approach to transition planning, beginning in the middle school years. There remain significant barriers to adoption of the practices that may best support the successful transition of youth. These include lack of coordinated efforts across systems, socioeconomic, and community factors. Committed actions by government, the business sector, and private citizens are essential to address these challenges.     

Investigating Elite End-of-Athletic-Career Transition: A Systematic Review

This article presents a systematic review of the literature investigating factors that contribute to a successful end-of-career transition among elite athletes. The systematic review included 10 studies that focused on elite athlete retirement that in part measured positive outcomes, which fall under the flourishing construct. Results indicated that although there has been an abundance of research examining multiple effects of transition out of sport among elite athletes, there appears to be no current literature explicitly examining flourishing within this elite population. The results of the review have practical implications for sport psychology practitioners who are aiming to facilitate a successful transition for elite athletes through their end-of-athletic-career transition. The findings from the systematic review are discussed, and the article provides recommendations for future research and for current applied practice.     

The effects of auditory streaming on duplex perception

When a formant transition and the remainder of a syllable are presented to subjects' opposite ears, most subjects perceive two simultaneous sounds: a syllable and a nonspeech chirp. It has been demonstrated that, when the remainder of the syllable (base) is kept unchanged, the identity of the perceived syllable will depend on the kind of transition presented at the opposite ear. This phenomenon, called duplex perception, has been interpreted as the result of the independent operation of two perceptual systems or modes, the phonetic and the auditory mode. In the present experiments, listeners were required to identify and discriminate such duplex syllables. In some conditions, the isolated transition was embedded in a temporal sequence of capturing transitions sent to the same ear. This streaming procedure significantly weakened the contribution of the transition to the perceived phonetic identity of the syllable. It is likely that the sequential integration of the isolated transition into a sequence of capturing transitions affected its fusion with the contralateral base. This finding contrasts with the idea that the auditory and phonetic processes are operating independently of each other. The capturing effect seems to be more consistent with the hypothesis that duplex perception occurs in the presence of conflicting cues for the segregation and the integration of the isolated transition with the base.     

Goal construction,reconstruction and depressive symptoms in a life-span context: the transition from school to work

This study focused on investigating the kinds of personal goals young adults have when they are faced with the transition from school to work; the extent to which they reconstruct these goals as a consequence of their success in dealing with this transition; and how their goals influence their depressive symptoms. In order to investigate these research questions, 250 young adults who were facing a transition from school to work were studied at three points of the transition process: while they were still at school; 8 months after their graduation; and 1.5 years after it. At each measurement point, they were asked to complete the Personal Project Analysis, a revised form of Beck's Depression Inventory, and the Work Status Questionnaire. The results revealed that the outcomes of young adults' efforts to deal with the transition from school to work had consequences for the ways in which they reconstructed their goals: Those who were successful in this transition showed a decline in the number of personal goals that did not relate to the next stages of this particular developmental trajectory, whereas those who had problems turned to goals that concerned other life domains, as an alternative, compensatory control strategy. The results also revealed that the impact of personal goals on depressive symptomatology was moderated by individuals' life situations following the transition: Work-related goals reduced individuals' depressive symptoms only among those who had been able to find a job, whereas self-related goals decreased it in a moratorium-type of life situation.