A Sort Card System for Therapists of Working Women

The author discusses the use of a system of sort cards that focus on the dilemmas of working women. The cards are used as a basis for therapy to help women focus on and come to terms with their ambivalences.     

Two types of perseveration in the Dimension Change Card Sort task

In the Dimension Change Card Sort (DCCS) task, 3-year-olds can sort cards well by one dimension but have difficulty in switching to sort the same cards by another dimension when asked; that is, they perseverate on the first relevant information. What is the information that children perseverate on? Using a new version of the DCCS, the experiments in this article reveal that there are two types of perseverators: those who perseverate at the level of dimensions and those who perseverate at the level of values (stimulus features). This novel finding has implications for theories of perseveration.     

Performance Effects of Reward-Related Feedback on the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task

The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) is one of the most widely used measures of preschool executive function, yet relatively little is known about how altering emotional demands of the task affects DCCS performance. This study examined the effects of emotionally evocative reward-related feedback on preschool children's performance on the DCCS in a sample of 105 children aged 3.5–4.5 years. In a within-subjects design, children completed the standard DCCS and a modified version of the DCCS in which sticker rewards were gained or lost after each trial. With a reward at stake, children were more accurate but had slower reaction time on the post-switch DCCS. Another sample (N = 20) of 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds who completed the standard DCCS twice without reward showed no change in performance, indicating results are not due to practice effects. Findings demonstrate preschool children's ability to adjust their approach to the DCCS in the presence of emotionally evocative reward-related feedback by prioritizing accuracy over speed. Trial-by-trial reward-related feedback may facilitate cognitive control in early childhood.     

Relations as rules: the role of attention in the Dimensional Change Card Sort task

Preschoolers are typically unable to switch sorting rules during the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. One explanation for this phenomenon is attentional inflexibility (Kirkham, Cruess, & Diamond, 2003). In 4 experiments with 3- to 4-year-olds, we tested this hypothesis by examining the influence of dimensional salience on switching performance. Results from these experiments demonstrated that it was more difficult for children to redirect attention from attribute-based rule sets, such as color and shape, than from spatial relational rule sets. Overall, these findings point to a role for attention in performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sort task.     

The effect of labeling on preschool children's performance in the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task

Previous research suggests that experimenter-induced labeling of test cards improves preschoolers’ performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task (DCCS), a measure of flexible rule use. Three experiments attempted to further clarify how labeling aids performance on the DCCS. Experiment 1 examined the nature of the labeling effect but failed to show any benefit of labeling on children's performance. Experiment 2 failed to replicate the labeling effect reported by [Kirkham, N. Z., Cruess, L. M., & Diamond, A. (2003). Helping children apply their knowledge to their behavior on a dimension-switching task. Developmental Science, 6, 449–467] despite closely matching their procedures. Experiment 3 demonstrated that labeling procedures designed to counteract the suppression of the post-switch sorting dimension also failed to improve performance on the DCCS. We discuss the implications of these findings for identifying factors that positively affect preschoolers’ cognitive flexibility.     

Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit Graduates Show Persistent Difficulties in an Intradimensional Shift Card Sort

Neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) graduates, a group at risk for attention problems and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, performed an intradimensional shift card sort at 34, 42, 51, and 60 months to assess executive function and to examine effects of individual risk factors. In the “silly” game, children sorted cards (airplanes and dogs) so they were not the same as targets. In the “same” game, they did the opposite. Performance on the “silly” game was poor, especially when it was presented first. Success in following “silly” game rules improved with age and was significantly linked to maternal education and birth weight for gestational age, a measure of intrauterine stress. Degree of central nervous system injury differentiated children who completed the task from children who did not, and it also affected the need to repeat instructions in the “same” game. These results confirm an increased likelihood of impairments in executive function during preschool years in NICU graduates.     

Implications of 3-yr.-olds' successful performance on a no conflict version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort

Moriguchi and Itakura (2005) compared 3-yr.-old children's performance on the standard version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort with performance on a new, No Conflict version. Here, it is noted that the children's successful performance on the No Conflict version is consistent with existing theoretical interpretations of children's performance on the standard version.     

维度改变卡片分类任务中的负启动效应及其发生的条件

为了探讨负启动效应在学前儿童规则灵活转换中的作用, 用几个不同负启动版本的维度改变卡片分类任务(DCCS)研究了DCCS中的负启动效应及其在3、4岁儿童中的发展。实验一验证了儿童在负启动版本DCCS任务中的年龄发展趋势, 发现与标准版本一样, 大多数3、4岁儿童都不能通过, 但随着年龄增长负启动会逐渐减少, 更多的儿童能够顺利通过任务。实验二考察了DCCS中负启动发生的条件, 发现在任务的转换前阶段, 无论分类规则间存在冲突还是目标卡片与测试卡片间无关维度值上存在冲突, 负启动都会发生, 由此揭示出能引起选择性注意和主动抑制的冲突是负启动发生的关键。实验三探讨了负启动时主动抑制发生的层面, 发现儿童主动抑制的并非是无关维度中一个或某几个特定的值, 而是整个无关的维度, 表明抑制发生在维度这一更抽象的上位水平上。说明由抑制而产生的负启动或许也应成为儿童认知灵活性发展中需要克服的一个问题。     

Correlates of Vocational Success in Refugee Work Adaptation1

Past research on Indochinese refugees has shown that status inconsistency (loss of socioeconomic status from their last job in Indochina to their most recent job in the United States) has a strong negative effect on acculturation. This study examines refugee adaptation to working in America and the effect of status inconsistency on work performance. After three years in the U.S., there was great improvement in job performance. We had predicted that greater status inconsistency would be associated with poorer vocational performance. The status inconsistency effect was found for those refugees who previously held high-prestige positions in their homeland, but only during the time before they had spent 3 years in America. Previous high-prestige refugees who had lived in the U.S. for less than three years did not stay on their jobs as long as former low-prestige refugees. After three years, however, the former high-prestige refugees outlasted the former low-prestige refugees.     

Automatic shifts of attention in the Dimensional Change Card Sort task: Subtle changes in task materials lead to flexible switching

Two experiments tested a hypothesis that reducing demands on executive control in a Dimensional Change Card Sort task will lead to improved performance in 3-year-olds. In Experiment 1, the shape dimension was represented by two dissimilar values (stars and flowers), and the color dimension was represented by two similar values (red and pink). This configuration of stimuli rendered shape more salient than color. In Experiment 2, attentional weights of each dimension value were manipulated by using two versus four values to represent the dimensions of shape and color. The results indicated that increasing saliency of the postswitch dimension (Experiment 1) and reducing attentional weights of individual dimension values (Experiment 2) lead to a marked improvement in the postswitch sorting accuracy in 3-year-olds.     

Bottom-up and top-down dynamics in young children's executive function: Labels aid 3-year-olds’ performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sort

Executive function (EF) improves between the ages of 3 and 5 and has been assessed reliably using the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS), a task in which children first sort bivalent cards by one dimension (e.g., shape) and then are instructed to sort by a different dimension (e.g., color). Three-year-olds typically perseverate on the pre-switch dimension, whereas 5-year-olds switch flexibly. Labeling task stimuli can facilitate EF performance (0110 and 0060), but the nature of this effect is unclear. In 3 experiments we examined 2 hypotheses deriving from different theoretical perspectives: first, that labels facilitate performance in a more bottom-up fashion, by biasing attention to relevant task rules (Kirkham et al., 2003); and second, that labels aid performance in a more top-down fashion by prompting reflection and an understanding of the hierarchical nature of the task (Zelazo, 2004). Children performed better on the DCCS when labels referred to the relevant sorting dimension (Experiment 1). This was a function of the content of the labels rather than the change in auditory signal across phases (Experiment 2). Furthermore, labeling the opposite dimension only did not have a symmetrically negative effect on performance (Experiment 3). Together, these results suggest external, verbal labels bias children to attend to task-relevant information, likely through interaction with emerging top-down, endogenous control.     

冲突适应效应研究述评

冲突适应效应指在一致性任务的试次序列中, 被试在前一试次中经历冲突后会使其在当前试次中更好的解决冲突。目前对于该效应有冲突监测理论、特征整合理论和学习理论三种不同的解释。研究者们对冲突适应的产生条件(诱发冲突适应的冲突性质、范围和程度)进行了大量的研究, 同时, 对冲突适应效应的影响因素(工作记忆、注意资源及动机和情绪)也做了探讨。未来的研究应将认知因素和非认知因素结合起来探讨冲突适应效应的产生条件及影响因素, 并加强神经机制的研究, 以更好的揭示冲突适应效应的实质。     

An International Perspective on the Adaptation of CBT Across Cultures

The cutting edge of psychotherapy research today is primarily cross‐cultural and includes two main areas of work. The first area consists of helping/healing approaches that originate within specific cultures, for example, Naikon therapy in Japan, ho'oponopono among Native Hawaiians, curanderismo among Latino people, and many of the specific practices within the world's major religions (e.g., meditation, prayer, recognising blessings, practising compassion, and helping others). The second area involves exploring whether, and if so how, the evidence‐based practices (EBPs) are relevant to the needs of cultures that were not originally in the minds of the EBPs developers. The preceding study by Bennett‐Levy and colleagues is an excellent example of the kind of research needed in this second area: participatory action research that intentionally seeks the expertise of within‐culture members, ideally the counsellors and researchers themselves. The authors ask exactly the kinds of questions that will move the entire psychotherapy field forward towards applications that are helpful to a much wider range of people.     

Executive Function in Young Children and Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence From a Nonverbal Dimensional Change Card Sort Task

In this article the authors compared chimpanzees’ executive function with that of children. They developed a nonverbal dimensional change card sorting task, which indexed the development of executive function. Three pairs of mother and offspring chimpanzees and 30 typically developed 5-year-old children were presented with 2 target stimuli and a test stimulus comprising 2 dimensions (size and shape) on a display; they were required to sort the test stimulus according to 1 dimension (e.g., shape). After 5 consecutive correct trials, the participants had to sort the test stimulus according to the other dimension (e.g., size). The results showed that the chimpanzees often failed to sort the test stimuli according to the first and reversed dimensions. On the other hand, the children were correctly able to use both dimensions. These results indicate that chimpanzees may have less developed executive skills than children.     

空间-数字反应编码联合效应下冲突适应过程的ERP研究

为了考察被试在不能意识到任务中包含冲突的情况下的认知控制过程,将产生SNARC效应的奇偶判断任务看作是一种潜在的冲突任务。大小与反应手一致的视为一致的试次,大小与反应手不一致的视为不一致的试次。根据不一致试次之前一个试次的类型将其划分为iI(不一致—不一致,incongruent-incongruent)试次和cI(一致—不一致,congruent-incongruent)试次两种类型。对冲突适应过程的分析表明iI试次的反应时显著快于cI试次,iI试次和cI试次相比,两者的脑电在大约260~300ms的时间段内在FCz位置上差异最大。偶极子分析表明差异波的产生源定位于背侧前扣带回(dorsal anterior cingulate cortex),这些结果与前扣带回的意识监测理论并不一致。最后结合冲突监测理论和其他解释前扣带回功能的理论对研究结果做了相应的解释,认为冲突适应可以是一个无意识的过程     

A Different Sort of Contextualism

A number of virtue epistemologists endorse the following thesis: Knowledge is true belief resulting from intellectual virtue, where Ss true belief results from intellectual virtue just in case S believes the truth because S is intellectually virtuous. This thesis commits one to a sort of contextualism about knowledge attributions. This is because, in general, sentences of the form X occurred because Y occurred require a contextualist treatment. This sort of contextualism is contrasted with more familiar versions. It is argued that the position: (a) yields a better solution to the lottery problem, and (b) may be grounded in a more general theory of virtue and credit.