8—12岁超常与常态儿童的检测时比较

研究者采用两种视觉检测时任务,比较了8至12岁超常和常态儿童的检测时发展变化特点。结果发现：随着年龄的增长,超常组和常态组儿童的检测时都呈现出逐步减小的趋势,并且对于不同任务的检测时,两组儿童的发展速度不同,但均未表现出性别差异;在不同的年龄段和检测时任务中,超常组儿童的检测时均显著地快于常态组儿童。通过对两组儿童的检测时发展速率的比较还发现,儿童的检测时发展基本上不受学校知识或经验的影响。另外,两组儿童的检测时和智力测验分数之间都有中等程度的负相关。     

检测时与智力关系的研究述评

检测时是信息加工速度的重要指标,它与一般智力测验分数之间存在着稳定的相关,两者之间的相关常被解释为智力个体差异的认知或生理学的基础。文章介绍了检测时与智商之间的相关研究。讨论了研究者对检测时和智力之间相关本质的几种理论解释。同时,总结了从生物学和发展的角度对检测时与智力之间相关的本质理解的研究。在此基础上,文章分了检测时与智力之间关系研究中存在的问题和未来的研究方向     

智力测验分数解释的发展趋势

智力测验分数的解释是智力心理学一个重要的研究领域。智力测验分数解释最基本的一个目的就是为了理解。随着智力理论和智力测验的发展,智力测验分数的解释出现了一些新的特点与趋势即注重智力测验分数解释的理论基础,注重智力测验分数解释的效度丰富化与从有用信息的抽取来解释测验分数的趋向。     

信息加工速度的年龄差异机制

选择7-19岁的被试140名,对三种不同任务进行操作.结果表明,在心理旋转任务中,儿童青少年的反应时是青年期反应时的函数,指数函数能较好的描述这种共同的发展变化趋势,但在简单反应时和图形匹配任务中,这种线性关系较差;随着年龄的变化,信息加工速度的下降速率是根据不同的加工任务变化的,简单任务(指简单反应时和图形匹配)下降速度快,复杂任务(指心理旋转)下降速度慢;性别差异随着年龄增长逐步缩小,但不同的加工任务其差异缩小的年龄阶段不同,简单反应时在11岁,图形匹配在13岁,心理旋转在17岁;且性别差异量与年龄不完全是一种函数关系;最后,本研究对信息加工速度的年龄差异机制进行了讨论.     

小学儿童对习俗时间的周期性特点的认知

本研究探讨了小学儿童对习俗时间周期性特点的认知发展．实验任务是让被试判断两个给定日期之间的时间距离是正向接近还是反向接近。结果表明:儿童对习俗时间的周期性特点的认知成绩随年龄增长而不断提高;随着两个日期之间距离的增大,反应时不断增加,正确率不断降低,在两个日期相互接近的方向发生改变的边界处,反应时最长,正确率最低,表现出显著的“距离效应”和“边界效应”;儿童可以利用数字系统进行判断,他们的认知加工策略包括计数、数字运算和凭借习俗时间的空间表象进行模拟加工等等。     

小学儿童在多选择多特征任务中的决策发展

采用信息公告板技术呈现多选择多特征任务,探查了小学儿童在决策过程的策略和决策能力的发展。结果表明:(1)7-11岁儿童使用信息搜寻策略的灵活性随年龄提高,尤其是9岁到11岁之间。(2)7-11岁儿童运用可代偿和不可代偿加工策略做出正确决策的能力随年龄而发展,11岁儿童能够根据任务特征选择最佳策略。(3)儿童在分别以不可代偿和可代偿加工策略为最佳策略的任务中的发展不同步。     

执行功能与数量加工：回顾与展望

回顾了执行功能与数量加工之间的复杂关系。其中,执行功能的4个子系统——抑制、转换、刷新和双任务协调对数量加工的影响各不相同：抑制可以在一定程度上改变数量加工时的自动激活程度;转换功能则主要依赖注意来进行调节;刷新与数量加工关系的研究成果比较少;而双任务协调与数量加工之间的联系存在争论。文章最后分3个方面进行了研究趋势的展望,认为未来执行功能与数量加工的研究将突破相关研究的局限,通过更精巧的设计和大量特殊被试的研究取得突破性进展。     

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。     

情绪状态对不同年龄儿童定势转换的影响

采用情绪影片引发情绪的方法,考察64名8~12岁儿童在正负情绪状态下定势转换能力的表现。研究为4(年龄)×2(情绪)×3(重复转换条件:重复、短时转换、长时转换)3因素重复测量混合设计。结果表明,情绪状态对任务转换产生了影响,可能是积极情绪比消极情绪对任务定势的长时转换削弱更大。不同年龄的儿童在这两种任务转换条件中没有出现显著的年龄差异,说明8~12岁儿童均已具备在两个任务之间进行即时转换的能力。     

8~12岁儿童同伴信任的发展:特质可信度和面孔可信度的预测作用

研究选取297名8~12岁儿童为被试,考察了特质可信度和面孔可信度对儿童同伴信任的预测作用及其预测力的年龄差异。研究采用同伴互评的方式来测量被试对同伴的信任分数。采用同伴提名的方式测量同伴的特质可信度分数。采用第三方评价的方式,获得同伴的面孔可信度分数。结果发现（1）同伴特质可信度和面孔可信度均能正向预测儿童的同伴信任,同伴的特质可信度和面孔可信度越高,儿童对其信任程度也越高。（2）特质和面孔可信度之间存在显著的交互作用。当同伴的面孔可信度高时,特质可信度对儿童同伴信任的预测作用也更大。（3）特质可信度对同伴信任的预测作用随着年龄增长而变大,而面孔可信度对同伴信任的预测作用不存在年龄差异。     

Traces of the artist: Sensitivity to the role of the artist in children's pictorial reasoning

In three studies we investigated the question of whether children consider the attributes of the artist (sentience, age level, affective style, emotion) when making judgments about the traces (drawings) made by that artist. In Study 1, 2–5‐year‐old children were asked to find pictures drawn by a machine, an adult, an older and a younger child. Results indicated that children younger than 4 years do not consider the artists' attributes when making judgments, but 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds do. Furthermore, whereas the oldest children were adept at both machine‐person (sentience) and person‐person (age) contrasts, 4‐year‐olds succeeded only with person‐person contrasts. In Study 2, videotaped artists displayed differences in degree of agitation (affective style) while drawing, and this attribute was manipulated in the drawing by varying line density, asymmetry, line overlap and line gap, or all four features, across stimuli. Three‐ and five‐year‐old children judged whether a calm or agitated person drew the stimuli. Findings showed that five‐year‐old, but not 3‐year‐old, children easily completed the task. In Study 3, 3‐, 5‐ and 7‐year‐old children judged whether happy or sad artists made paintings of matching emotional tone. Performance on this picture judgment task was contrasted with performance on three theory of mind tasks (false belief, emotion and interpretative). The results indicated that 5‐ and 7‐year‐olds successfully judged the impact of artists' emotions on paintings, but 3‐year‐olds did not. Performance on the picture task was related to that on the false belief task, but not to the emotion or interpretive tasks. Taken together, the results suggest that children's view of visual symbols includes a consideration of the qualities of the artist beginning around 5 years, and there appears to be a common link between judgments of the mind behind the visual symbol in the picture task and judgments of mental state reasoning in the false belief task.     

Individual differences,aging, and IQ in two-choice tasks

The effects of aging and IQ on performance were examined in three two-choice tasks: numerosity discrimination, recognition memory, and lexical decision. The experimental data, accuracy, correct and error response times, and response time distributions, were well explained by Ratcliff’s (1978) diffusion model. The components of processing identified by the model were compared across levels of IQ (ranging from 83 to 146) and age (college students, 60–74, and 75–90 year olds). Declines in performance with age were not significantly different for low compared to high IQ subjects. IQ but not age had large effects on the quality of the evidence that was obtained from a stimulus or memory, that is, the evidence upon which decisions were based. Applying the model to individual subjects, the components of processing identified by the model for individuals correlated across tasks. In addition, the model’s predictions and the data were examined for the “worst performance rule”, the finding that age and IQ have larger effects on slower responses than faster responses.     

Listening comprehension in preschoolers: The role of memory

The current study analyzed the relationship between text comprehension and memory skills in preschoolers. We were interested in verifying the hypothesis that memory is a specific contributor to listening comprehension in preschool children after controlling for verbal abilities. We were also interested in analyzing the developmental path of the relationship between memory skills and listening comprehension in the age range considered. Forty‐four, 4‐year‐olds (mean age = 4 years and 6 months, SD =4 months) and 40, 5‐year‐olds (mean age = 5 years and 4 months, SD =5 months) participated in the study. The children were administered measures to evaluate listening comprehension ability (story comprehension), short‐term and working memory skills (forward and backward word span), verbal intelligence and receptive vocabulary. Results showed that both short‐term and working memory predicted unique and independent variance in listening comprehension after controlling for verbal abilities, with working memory explaining additional variance over and above short‐term memory. The predictive power of memory skills was stable in the age range considered. Results also confirm a strong relation between verbal abilities and listening comprehension in 4‐ and 5‐year‐old children.     

The ontogeny of relational memory and pattern separation

Episodic memory relies on memory for the relations among multiple elements of an event and the ability to discriminate among similar elements of episodes. The latter phenomenon, termed pattern separation, has been studied mainly in young and older adults with relatively little research on children. Building on prior work with young children, we created an engaging computer‐administered relational memory task assessing what‐where relations. We also modified the Mnemonic Similarity Task used to assess pattern discrimination in young and older adults for use with preschool children. Results showed that 4‐year‐olds performed significantly worse than 6‐year‐olds and adults on both tasks, whereas 6‐year‐olds and adults performed comparably, even though there were no ceiling effects. However, performance on the two tasks did not correlate, suggesting that two distinct mnemonic processes with different developmental trajectories may contribute to age‐related changes in episodic memory.     

Unimanual performance across the age span

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the age-related changes in the performance of the two hands on the Annett pegboard (Annett, 1970). The current study was part of a large-scale study investigating the development of unimanual and bimanual performance. Three hundred and two right-handed individuals participated in the present study, comprising five different age groups (3-5 year olds, 6 and 7 year olds, 8 and 9 year olds, 10-12 year olds, and 19-24 year olds). All participants completed the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire and the standard Annett pegboard. Analyses revealed significant overall performance differences between the hands, as expected, where the right hand was significantly faster than the left hand. Additionally, significant performance differences between the hands were noted as a function of age. More specifically, the adults showed a much smaller performance difference between the hands than the other age groups. The results are discussed in light of current theories of the development of hand preference and manual asymmetry.     

Developmental differences in drawing performance of the dominant and non-dominant hand in right-handed boys and girls

This paper addresses the development of fine motor skills in the dominant and non-dominant hand. A total of 60 right-handed children, aged 4-12 years old, were divided in five groups of 12 children, with six girls and six boys in each group. The children were presented with drawing tasks that had to be performed with the dominant and non-dominant hand. Small or large targets had to be connected by lines making either a zigzag (discrete) or slalom (continuous) movement. For each task, effects of age group, gender, hand, and target size were examined for drawing time, percentage of stop time, drawing distance, velocity, and errors. Comparison of stop times in both tasks showed that the zigzag task was performed in a discrete way while the slalom task was performed more continuously, except in the youngest children, who performed both tasks in a discrete manner. With increasing age the children performed the tasks faster, more accurate and with shorter stops. No significant differences were found between boys and girls. While a shorter drawing distance and less errors were observed for the dominant hand in both tasks, drawing time and velocity were not significantly different between both hands. However, the percentage of stop time was higher for the dominant hand. Moving to smaller targets resulted in slower and less accurate performance. A significant interaction of age group and hand was found for errors in both tasks, and for stop time and velocity in the slalom task, suggesting differential maturational changes for both hands in discrete and continuous drawing tasks.     

Exploring possible neural mechanisms of intelligence differences using processing speed and working memory tasks: An fMRI study

To explore the possible neural foundations of individual differences in intelligence test scores, we examined the associations between Raven's Matrices scores and two tasks that were administered in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) setting. The two tasks were an n-back working memory (N = 37) task and inspection time (N = 47). The subjects were members of the Aberdeen Birth Cohort 1936, aged in their mid–late 60s when tested for this study. Performance on both tasks was correlated significantly with scores on Raven's Matrices. In the inspection time task there were regions with significant correlations between the neural activity (BOLD response) and performance but not between BOLD response and scores on Raven's Matrices. In the working memory task there were no significant correlations between BOLD response and either performance or scores on Raven's Matrices. Moreover, there was almost no mediation of the Raven's Matrices versus n-back and inspection time scores correlations by the respective BOLD response. These findings partially replicate important aspects of a prominent report in this field [Gray, J.R., Chabris, C.F., & Braver, T.S. (2003). Neural mechanisms of general fluid intelligence. Nature Neuroscience, 6, 316–322.], but have also extended the those finding into both a unique population and a novel functional task.     

Inspection time and the relationship among elementary cognitive tasks, general intelligence, and specific cognitive abilities

The relationship between inspection time (IT) and paper-and-pencil tests of cognitive ability is well documented. However, the extent to which IT relates to cognitive ability through general intelligence or through group factors such as performance has not been fully addressed. Another unresolved issue is whether IT relates to psychometric intelligence independent from other elementary cognitive tasks. The current study examined these issues in a sample of 6–13-year-old twins drawn from the Western Reserve Twin Project (WRTP) (n=568 participants). Analyses suggest that IT and other elementary tasks predict general intelligence. IT also predicts Performance ability while other elementary tasks do not. Furthermore, IT contributes variance to cognitive ability independent from other elementary tasks. These suggest that multiple indices of elementary cognitive ability are necessary to fully understand their relationship with complex psychometric measures.     

Children show limited movement repertoire when learning a novel motor skill

Examining age differences in motor learning using real‐world tasks is often problematic due to task novelty and biomechanical confounds. Here, we investigated how children and adults acquire a novel motor skill in a virtual environment. Participants of three different age groups (9‐year‐olds, 12‐year‐olds, and adults) learned to use their upper body movements to control a cursor on a computer screen. Results showed that 9‐year‐old and 12‐year‐old children showed poorer ability to control the cursor at the end of practice. Critically, when we investigated the movement coordination, we found that the lower task performance of children was associated with limited exploration of their movement repertoire. These results reveal the critical role of motor exploration in understanding developmental differences in motor learning.