儿童精细动作能力的发展及与其学业成绩的关系

研究了不同精细动作能力的发展、之间的内在联系及其与儿童学业成绩的关系。被试为151名4－8岁儿童以及30名本科生。精细动作能力的测查包括线条填画任务、图形临摹任务以及筷子技能测验。结果发现：（1）不同精细动作能力的发展速度从高到低依次为线条填画能力、图形临摹能力和筷子使用技能;（2）筷子使用技能与线条填画、图形临摹能力都显著相关,线条填画能力和年龄对筷子使用技能具有显著预测作用;（3）不同学业成绩儿童在各类精细动作能力上都存在显著差异。本研究说明,较基本的精细动作能力是复杂工具性技能发展的基础,同时在小学低年级阶段,儿童的精细动作能力与其学习活动之间存在密切联系。     

儿童筷子使用技能特性的发展及其与学业成绩的关系

本研究考察了我国儿童筷子使用技能特性的发展特点及其与学业成绩的关系．结果发现：(1)在儿童筷子使用技能的精确性、时效性以及稳定性上,4岁组儿童和其他组都存在显著差异,5岁组和7岁、8岁组儿童存在显著差异,8岁组儿童的发展水平与成人仍有显著差异;(2)学业成绩好和差的儿童在筷子使用技能的稳定性上存在显著差异;(3)儿童筷子使用技能的时效性和稳定性与其语文成绩显著相关,与其数学成绩相关不显著。     

空间书写障碍的个案研究

根据书写加工理论,从异形字水平、图解动作模式水平和神经动作执行水平三个方面,综合考察一例空间书写障碍儿童的认知加工特点。结果表明：（1）个案QY的异形字水平出现选择性损伤,在视觉整体特征的知觉加工上存在困难,导致自发书写的汉字难以辨识,存在严重的间架结构问题。（2）个案QY在图解动作模式水平以及神经动作执行水平上表现正常     

失望情境下小学儿童情绪表达规则的运用

以91名小学一、三、五年级儿童为被试,采用故事访谈法探讨了失望情境下儿童情绪表达规则运用的发展特点及其影响因素。结果表明:(1)从一年级到五年级,小学儿童在失望情景下的真实情绪和表面情绪都变得越来越积极,且失望情境下无论是在真实情绪上还是在表面情绪上,都没有表现出显著的性别差异;(2)三种人际关系类型下儿童的表面情绪和真实情绪都表现出极大的差异,而且人际关系类型不同儿童使用表达规则的情况也有很大不同,这可以用儿童情绪调节策略的不同来解释;(3)失望情境下,儿童情绪表达规则的使用受到不同人际类型的影响,这可能与儿童对情绪表达社会影响的不同预期有关;(4)儿童的情绪表达目标不受其所处的人际关系类型影响,且不同人际关系下儿童的情绪表达目标不受其年级、性别的影响。     

幼儿动作发展与动作抑制研究

运用《儿童动作评估检查表》和停止信号任务,通过教师评定和即时行为实验方法,对40名4～6岁幼儿的动作发展水平、动作发展的内部结构、动作抑制的发展趋势和动作抑制与动作一般发展水平之间的关系进行了详细探讨。结果发现,4～6岁幼儿的动作处于一个迅速发展的时期;幼儿在自身与环境的静止或变动情况下,动作发展水平存在不平衡现象,当儿童自身静止并处于静止的环境中时,动作发展水平显著高于儿童自身移动和环境变动状态下的动作水平;男孩与女孩在动作发展的特定条件下存在差异。同时还发现,幼儿的动作反应抑制能力存在明显的年龄发展趋势,随着幼儿年龄的增长,其动作反应抑制能力增强;动作反应抑制能力与一般动作发展水平之间存在显著相关。     

5至8岁儿童对近的未来时间的认知

依据时间认知的分段综合模型,两个实验结合空间、参照点、事件和年龄因素,分别考察5至8岁儿童对未来一周和未来一年时间的认知特点。结果表明在这2种时域内：(1)5至7岁儿童有使用直线性空间标尺和固定时间参照点进行判断的特性;(2)5至8岁儿童表现出”两极化”的认知趋势．其判断受事件性质的影响;(3)5至8岁儿童表现出跨时域的认知差异,认知能力随年龄递增,7岁可能是发展的转折阶段。     

ADHD儿童与正常儿童在视觉—动作方面的比较研究

10岁到13岁男性ADHD儿童在镶嵌图形、眼手协调、视力追踪和数字划销等视觉—动作实验上的分数显著低于同一年龄段的男性正常儿童,显示ADHD儿童的视觉—动作能力比正常儿童差.ADHD儿童与正常儿童相比,知觉方式的场独立性较弱,心理机能分化程度较低.ADHD儿童在长度估计实验上没有发现异常.     

6～11岁儿童执行功能发展研究

以168名6~11岁儿童为被试,使用9种执行功能任务研究了儿童三种执行功能成分的发展,三种执行功能是,抑制(Inhibition)、转换(Shifting)和刷新(Updating),结果发现:整个儿童阶段,三种执行功能一直表现出随年龄递增而增长的趋势;不同的执行功能表现出不同的发展速率,其中抑制控制大约在6~7岁表现出一个快速的增长期,记忆刷新从7岁到10岁一直呈线性增长,转换表现出两个快速增长期,第一个快速增长则发生在7~8岁之间,第二个快速增长则发生在9-10岁之间,三种执行功能的发展趋势到大约10岁后趋于平缓,10岁和11岁儿童的表现没有显著性差异;所有执行功能任务测量中没有发现性别主效应,年龄和性别的交互作用不显著。     

动作的创造性操作与原型效应

对各种不同动作操作水平的被试,进行动作操作图式的操作实验。结果发现：１．经过系列动作的学习,可以形成动作原型。２．动作原型对于动作操作有影响作用,这种原型效应明显地表现在动作的创造性操作上。３．动作操作水平与动作原型效应有密切关系,动作原型效应,在操作水平高的人的动作操作上,表现最为明显。４．动作原型效应受背景条件所制约。     

小学儿童语词抽象概括能力的发展

一、目的为了要了解儿童的思维怎样从具体形象思维发展到抽象逻辑思维,怎样从具体形象的概括逐步发展到词的概括、概念的概括,以及各年龄阶段儿童抽象概括的特点,在研究3—6岁儿童抽象概括能力的发展的基础上,在语词与数概念能力方面拟定了一些实验项目,以期了解7—12岁儿童在不同水平的语词与数概念方面,其概括能力发展的年龄特点。本文着重总结7—12岁儿童在语词概括能力方面的年龄特点,并探明儿童在实物图片概括、词汇     

Fine motor skill proficiency in typically developing children: On or off the maturation track?

Fine motor skill proficiency is an essential component of numerous daily living activities such as dressing, feeding or playing. Poor fine motor skills can lead to difficulties in academic achievement, increased anxiety and poor self-esteem. Recent findings have shown that children’s gross motor skill proficiency tends to fall below established developmental norms. A question remains: do fine motor skill proficiency levels also fall below developmental norms? The aim of this study was to examine the current level of fine motor skill in Irish children. Children (N = 253) from 2nd, 4th and 6th grades (mean age = 7.12, 9.11 and 11.02 respectively) completed the Fine Motor Composite of the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2nd Edition (BOT-2). Analysis revealed that only 2nd grade children met the expected level of fine motor skill proficiency. It was also found that despite children’s raw scores improving with age, children’s fine motor skill proficiency was not progressing at the expected rate given by normative data. This leads us to question the role and impact of modern society on fine motor skills development over the past number of decades.     

The Development of the Ability to Semantically Integrate Information in Speech and Iconic Gesture in Comprehension

We examined whether children's ability to integrate speech and gesture follows the pattern of a broader developmental shift between 3‐ and 5‐year‐old children (Ramscar & Gitcho, 2007) regarding the ability to process two pieces of information simultaneously. In Experiment 1, 3‐year‐olds, 5‐year‐olds, and adults were presented with either an iconic gesture or a spoken sentence or a combination of the two on a computer screen, and they were instructed to select a photograph that best matched the message. The 3‐year‐olds did not integrate information in speech and gesture, but 5‐year‐olds and adults did. In Experiment 2, 3‐year‐old children were presented with the same speech and gesture as in Experiment 1 that were produced live by an experimenter. When presented live, 3‐year‐olds could integrate speech and gesture. We concluded that development of the integration ability is a part of the broader developmental shift; however, live‐presentation facilitates the nascent integration ability in 3‐year‐olds.     

Children's use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity

We report on a study investigating 3–5‐year‐old children's use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity. Children were told three short stories that contained two homonym senses; for example, bat (flying mammal) and bat (sports equipment). They were then asked to re‐tell these stories to a second experimenter. The data were coded for the means that children used during attempts at disambiguation: speech, gesture, or a combination of the two. The results indicated that the 3‐year‐old children rarely disambiguated the two senses, mainly using deictic pointing gestures during attempts at disambiguation. In contrast, the 4‐year‐old children attempted to disambiguate the two senses more often, using a larger proportion of iconic gestures than the other children. The 5‐year‐old children used less iconic gestures than the 4‐year‐olds, but unlike the 3‐year‐olds, were able to disambiguate the senses through the verbal channel. The results highlight the value of gesture to the development of children's language and communication skills.     

Children learn when their teacher's gestures and speech differ

Teachers gesture when they teach, and those gestures do not always convey the same information as their speech. Gesture thus offers learners a second message. To determine whether learners take advantage of this offer, we gave 160 children in the third and fourth grades instruction in mathematical equivalence. Children were taught either one or two problem-solving strategies in speech accompanied by no gesture, gesture conveying the same strategy, or gesture conveying a different strategy. The children were likely to profit from instruction with gesture, but only when it conveyed a different strategy than speech did. Moreover, two strategies were effective in promoting learning only when the second strategy was taught in gesture, not speech. Gesture thus has an active hand in learning.     

中文读写能力及其相关因素研究

使用5点量表,本研究在北京地区调查了2187名小学一、三、五年级儿童的中文读写能力及其相关因素。因素分析抽取了8个因素：书面语意义理解、基本知觉能力、书写技能、家庭阅读背景、动作技能、口语能力、朗读和听写、书面表达。对上述因素进行多元逐步回归分析发现,各种读写能力内部相关显著。基本知觉能力、口语能力、家庭阅读背景和动作技能分别对中文读写能力的不同成分有显著解释作用。这个结果对于理解阅读能力发展及其与家庭阅读背景、口语、基本知觉一动作能力之间的关系,以及阅读障碍的内在机制具有重要的理论意义。     

Effects of Gestures on Older Adults' Learning from Video‐based Models

This study investigated whether the positive effects of gestures on learning by decreasing working memory load, found in children and young adults, also apply to older adults, who might especially benefit from gestures given memory deficits associated with aging. Participants learned a problem‐solving skill by observing a video‐based modeling example, with the human model using gesture cues, with a symbolic cue, or without cues. It was expected that gesture compared with symbolic or no cues (i) improves learning and transfer performance, (ii) more in complex than simple problems, and (iii) especially in older adults. Although older adults' learning outcomes were lower overall than that of children and young adults, the results only revealed a time‐on‐task advantage of gesture over no cues in the learning phase for the older adults. In conclusion, the present study did not provide strong support for the effectiveness of gestures on learning from video‐based modeling example. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gesture offers insight into problem‐solving in adults and children

When asked to explain their solutions to a problem, both adults and children gesture as they talk. These gestures at times convey information that is not conveyed in speech and thus reveal thoughts that are distinct from those revealed in speech. In this study, we use the classic Tower of Hanoi puzzle to validate the claim that gesture and speech taken together can reflect the activation of two cognitive strategies within a single response. The Tower of Hanoi is a well‐studied puzzle, known to be most efficiently solved by activating subroutines at theoretically defined choice points. When asked to explain how they solved the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, both adults and children produced significantly more gesture‐speech mismatches—explanations in which speech conveyed one path and gesture another—at these theoretically defined choice points than they produced at non‐choice points. Even when the participants did not solve the problem efficiently, gesture could be used to indicate where the participants were deciding between alternative paths. Gesture can, thus, serve as a useful adjunct to speech when attempting to discover cognitive processes in problem‐solving.     

Preschoolers' interpretations of gesture: label or action associate?

This study explores a common assumption made in the cognitive development literature that children will treat gestures as labels for objects. Without doubt, researchers in these experiments intend to use gestures symbolically as labels. The present studies examine whether children interpret these gestures as labels. In Study 1 two-, three-, and four-year olds tested in a training paradigm learned gesture–object pairs for both iconic and arbitrary gestures. Iconic gestures became more accurate with age, while arbitrary gestures did not. Study 2 tested the willingness of children aged 40–60 months to fast map novel nouns, iconic gestures and arbitrary gestures to novel objects. Children used fast mapping to choose objects for novel nouns, but treated gesture as an action associate, looking for an object that could perform the action depicted by the gesture. They were successful with iconic gestures but chose objects randomly for arbitrary gestures and did not fast map. Study 3 tested whether this effect was a result of the framing of the request and found that results did not change regardless of whether the request was framed with a deictic phrase (“this one 〈gesture〉”) or an article (“a 〈gesture〉”). Implications for preschool children’s understanding of iconicity, and for their default interpretations of gesture are discussed.     

Hands in the air: using ungrounded iconic gestures to teach children conservation of quantity

Including gesture in instruction facilitates learning. Why? One possibility is that gesture points out objects in the immediate context and thus helps ground the words learners hear in the world they see. Previous work on gesture's role in instruction has used gestures that either point to or trace paths on objects, thus providing support for this hypothesis. The experiments described here investigated the possibility that gesture helps children learn even when it is not produced in relation to an object but is instead produced "in the air." Children were given instruction in Piagetian conservation problems with or without gesture and with or without concrete objects. The results indicate that children given instruction with speech and gesture learned more about conservation than children given instruction with speech alone, whether or not objects were present during instruction. Gesture in instruction can thus help learners learn even when those gestures do not direct attention to visible objects, suggesting that gesture can do more for learners than simply ground arbitrary, symbolic language in the physical, observable world.