Giving Meaning to Movement: A Developmental Study

Recently, researchers have been investigating the effects of kinematics stimulus properties on pattern perception and recognition. However, the stimulus properties that are used to discriminate animate from inanimate objects have received relatively little attention. Earlier research has indicated that the external movement of artificially generated objects is perceived as animate by observers of all ages. In this investigation, children in Grades 1,4, and 7 and university adults were asked to describe what they saw after viewing computer-generated displays of two circular objects that exhibited variations of external and internal movement. We predicted that observers would incorporate and integrate the salient kinematic properties of the objects in a display into a coherent narrative and that their ability to achieve matches among the properties of objects in a display and the properties of objects described in the narrative would increase with age. Moreover, because of their relative insensitivity to the actual properties of objects in the display, we predicted that younger observers would make more animate attributions for nonmoving objects and fewer animate attributions for moving objects than would older observers. The result supported these predictions.     

Creating Brand Meaning: A Review and Research Agenda

In this paper I review, from the perspective of experimental research, studies that have examined how brands acquire cultural meaning, and suggest future research directions. McCracken's (Journal of Consumer Research, 13 , 1986 and 71) model of the meaning transfer process gained influence about thirty years ago, but experimental studies of the processes it posited have been limited in their scope. The review is organized around three questions. First, what should be the dependent variables: the types of meanings that can adhere to brands? Second, what have we learned from studies on the types of visual, sensory, and human cues that are the sources of particular types of brand meaning—our independent variables? Third, what do we know, and need to know, about the inferential and other processes through which consumers “take possession” of these brand meanings from these cues? The review concludes with a research agenda.     

汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童心理机制的初步研究

本研究采用真假字判断与同音判断任务考察了汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童的心理机制。结果显示,对于真假字判断任务,阅读障碍儿童与正常儿童没有显著差异,而在同音判断任务中表现出了显著差异。本研究说明汉语阅读障碍儿童在整体字形表征方面是正常的,同时还支持了阅读障碍为语音表征缺陷的观点。     

The Friendships of Young Children with Developmental Delays: A Longitudinal Analysis

This longitudinal study examined the social interactions of children with mild developmental (cognitive) delays with friends across the early childhood and early elementary years. Results revealed increases in many forms of social exchange with effect sizes in the moderate range, but no changes in sustained interactive play. Social interaction patterns, difficulties in identifying friends to participate in the study, and concerns evident in children's peer and friendship networks suggest the general absence of reciprocal friendships. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that children's limited peer-related social competence constrains all aspects of their development of friendships. Despite these problems, the potential benefits of interventions designed to support relationships at this stage of friendship development for children with delays were noted.     

Metalinguistic Awareness in Children: A Developmental Progression

The purpose of this study was to determine if a developmental order exists in the metalinguistic ability of children to make judgments about the form of language while simultaneously attending to a meaningful linguistic context. The stimulus material consisted of a short story into which 20 nonsense lexical items had been substituted. The 20 stimuli were comprised of phonotactically illegal and legal sequences of phonemes. In addition, the lexical items had been positioned to replace either structure or content words within the story. The participants were 90 Caucasian children who were divided into nine age groupings from 4;0 to 12;11. Baseline data were obtained from 10 adults. All subjects were required to respond to the audio-recorded stimuli by pressing a button whenever a nonsense item was perceived. The data were analyzed for both number of correct responses and reaction times. Results revealed a major shift in metalanguage ability occurring between 7 and 8 years of age. The 8- to 12-year-olds responded correctly to more items and at significantly faster rates than the 4- to 7-year-olds. The adults outperformed the children on all tasks, showing that metalanguage development continues beyond childhood.     

Resilient Children: Individual Differences in Developmental Outcome of Children Born to Drug Abusers

Since 1977, we have been following the neurobehavioral development of two groups of children: a group born to women on methadone maintenance and a drug-free comparison group. This study used the data on the children evaluated at 36 months of age to determine whether distinct patterns of developmental outcome can be identified, and which medical, familial, or environmental characteristics are associated with developmental differences. The children were clustered on four measures at 36 months: head circumference percentile, Merrill-Palmer Scale score, neurological evaluation, and referrals for developmental problems. Three distinct clusters emerged, with methadone children disproportionately frequent in Cluster 3, the group showing the poorest development. Comparisons of the clusters on a wide range of variables revealed consistent differences between Cluster 1 and Cluster 3 children in maternal responsiveness and incidence of neglect and family violence. These findings indicate that distinct developmental patterns do occur within this predominantly lower-class ghetto population; further, that children born to methadone-maintained women are more likely to show poor development. However, when the environment provides nurturance and stability, methadone children can show resilience and develop well.     

Young Children Use Letter Names in Learning to Read Words

Three studies demonstrated that mental simulations and affect are related to temporal changes in subjective confidence. In Study 1, students' confidence in their midterm exam performance lessened from the first day of class (3.5 weeks before the exam) to exam day, and confidence correlated negatively with upward simulations (i.e., simulations that are better than reality) and negative affect. In Study 2, manipulated upward simulations produced low confidence and negative mood even when the exam was viewed from a distance; students who were forced to think about upward simulations 1 month prior to the exam felt no more confident than did students on exam day. In Study 3, manipulated negative moods produced low confidence and more upward simulations when students anticipated laboratory tasks, and again distal and proximal confidence did not differ. Discussion centers around reciprocal relations between mental simulations and affect, and a possibly integrative account of previous explanations.     

A Mutually Facilitative Relationship Between Learning Names and Learning Concepts in Preschool Children: The Case of Artifacts

Two studies investigated the relationship between learning names and learning concepts in preschool children. More specifically, we focused on the relationship between learning the names and learning the intended functions of artifacts, given that the intended function of an artifact is generally thought to constitute core conceptual information about an artifact's category. We asked whether learning the intended function of a novel artifact facilitates retention of its name and whether learning the name of a novel artifact prompts the search for information about its intended function. In Experiment 1, 3- and 4-year-old children better retained the names of novel artifacts when the intended functions of these artifacts were revealed. The comparison condition involved providing perceptually relevant and conceptually irrelevant information about the objects. In Experiment 2, 4-year-old children who were provided with the names of novel artifacts were more likely to seek out information about the objects' functions than children provided with conceptually irrelevant information about the artifacts. Together, the studies demonstrate the intimate and mutually facilitative relationship between names and concepts in young children.     

A Developmental Investigation of Prospective Memory: Effects of Interruption

The effects of interrupting an event-based prospective memory (PM) task and its associated ongoing task were compared for two groups of children: 8- to 9-year-olds (n?=?35) and 12- to 13-year-olds (n?=?28). Additionally, PM performance was examined as a function of attainment on a battery of tests of executive functioning (viz., Controlled Oral Word Association Test, Letter Number Sequencing Test, Stroop Color and Word Test, and Trail Making Test). A significant main effect of age indicated that the older children correctly carried out intended actions more often than the younger children. Consistent with the prefrontal model of PM, interruption had no impact on PM accuracy in the older group but produced reliable decrements to the accuracy of the younger group. Whereas IQ showed no association with PM performance, reliable relations between PM skills and aspects of their executive functioning were found.     

学龄前儿童握笔姿势的发展性研究

以握笔画圆为测查任务,考察了学龄前儿童握笔姿势的发展趋势及特点.结果表明3.5-5.5岁是儿童握笔姿势的迅速发展期,大部分儿童在5.5岁发展到成熟的握笔姿势,5.5-6.5岁发展相对平缓.学龄前儿童握笔姿势的发展趋势表现为自然阶段和过渡阶段握笔姿势的减少,成熟阶段握笔姿势的不断增多.中美儿童握笔姿势的发展趋势基本一致,但是中国学龄前儿童使用成熟阶段握姿的比率要低于美国儿童.     

6-12岁儿童脑电α波的发展特点

本研究以228名6～12岁儿童为研究对象,采用脑电波超慢涨落分析技术(简称ET),对其12导联脑电波(EEG)进行了记录和分析,重点探讨了α波(8～13Hz)的发展特点.结果表明:①随着年龄的增长,不同频率的α波成分表现出不同的年龄特点.②α波不同成分的比率没有明显的性别差异.③儿童α波的优势成分随年龄变化而改变.④不同年龄被试α波的平均频率存在显著差异,随着年龄的增长,6～12岁儿童α波的平均频率呈明显的上升趋势,但男女之间没有显著的性别差异.     

6-12岁儿童额叶自发脑电频谱相干的特点

EEG频谱相干分析发现额叶发育在童年中期存在可能的加速期。针对这一问题,本研究通过记录75名6至12岁正常儿童静坐和闭目状态下的自发脑电,分析δ、θ、α和β基本脑电频段下31对电极相干的变化情况,系统探索了该年龄段儿童额叶自发脑电频谱相干的变化特点,结果发现:θ波活动普遍强于α和β波活动;6至12岁儿童额叶内、额叶与其他脑叶间相干在整体上表现为随年龄增长而增加的趋势;额叶内、额叶与其他脑叶间相干在各频段均表现为7岁、11岁突增,10岁、12岁表现为高峰。上述结果支持6至12岁儿童额叶发育存在加速变化的结论。     

Psychopathy in Children and Adolescents: The Need for a Developmental Perspective

The current paper introduces the special issue on research attempting to extend the construct of psychopathy to child and adolescent samples. Past special sections and reviews have typically focused on the implications of this research for forensic research and practice. The current special issue focuses on topics relevant for integrating this research within the broader literature on childhood psychopathology. Papers included in this special issue focus on the structure of psychopathic traits in youth, the relation of these traits to other important psychopathological and personality constructs in children and adolescents, and the utility of these traits for identifying a distinct subgroup of antisocial youth who differ on important cognitive processes and on the severity and stability of their problem behavior. These empirical works are followed by commentary provided by two prominent scholars who outline the potential importance of the construct for advancing our understanding of childhood psychopathology. In addition, these scholars provide a discussion of important directions for future research.     

离异家庭儿童发展性研究综述

随着世界各国离婚率的提高,离异家庭对儿童发展的影响已经成为众多学者研究关注的焦点.文章着重介绍和分析了离异家庭儿童发展性研究的进展、离异家庭儿童心理和行为问题的产生机制以及离异家庭儿童发展的影响因素和作用机制.最后对公共政策的制定提出建议.     

模糊痕迹理论:对经典认知发展理论的挑战

近几十年来,推理和记忆的发展涌现出来的大量的实验结果对经典认知发展理论构成了挑战。对此,Reyna和Bminerd提出模糊痕迹理论试图解释以上研究成果。本文对该理论的核心内容和主要应用领域作了介绍。文末,对该理论作了简评。     

Caregivers's Stress Secondary to Raising Young Children with HIV Infection: A Preliminary Investigation

This study examined the impact of caring for a child with HIV infection on biological mothers (also infected with HIV), familial caregivers, and foster mothers. Levels of reported parenting stress, emotional functioning, the impact of the child's illness, and coping strategies utilized were compared. Participants were 35 female caregivers of young children (birth to 5 years) with HIV infection. Demographic variables reflected group differences: biological mothers were younger, foster mothers had greater monthly income, and children who were living with relatives were older. Group differences were noted with regards to parent related stress, anxiety, and depression with foster mothers reporting lower levels. The types of coping strategies utilized were generally similar across groups. Results suggest that young, biological caregivers of children with HIV infection may benefit from careful assessment with regard to their need for psychological intervention.     

Gender Schema and Social Judgments: A Developmental Study of Children from Hong Kong

The purpose of the study was to examine inferences and judgments of gender schematic and aschematic children. Kindergarten, third grade, and sixth grade Hong Kong Chinese children (n = 196) were categorized into schematic and aschematic groups on the basis of their reaction times to gender-stereotypic and counterstereotypic items. The children were then asked to make several inferences and judgments about four male and female targets behaving gender-stereotypically or counterstereotypically. Both age and gender schematicity were related to the children's inferences. Older children and gender-schematic children relied more on individuating information and younger children relied more on the gender label. The results are discussed within the framework of gender-schema theories.     

小学儿童情绪理解的发展特点

本研究以170名二、四、六年级小学儿童为对象,运用情境故事法,从情绪状态理解、情绪原因理解和情绪调控理解三个维度探讨其情绪理解的发展特点.结果发现:小学儿童情绪理解的发展是一个平缓而渐进的过程;小学儿章能够对情绪原因做出情境性解释和心因性解释;小学儿童情绪状态理解和情绪凋控理解性别差异不显著,六年级女生情绪原因理解水平显著高于男生;小学儿童情绪理解成分的发展具有层次性.