儿童表征深度的微观变化:路线、速度及来源

以往研究表明,表征深度的发展是一个随年龄增长而单调上升的过程,但这些年龄尺度上的横断研究难以说明表征深度变化的发生过程及其机制.本研究采用微观发生法,以齿轮推断任务为材料,探讨了68名小学五年级儿童表征深度的变化路线、速度及来源.结果表明,在整个实验期间,儿童的表征深度发生了显著变化;其变化路线主要体现为从最基本的一级水平向更高级的二、三级水平的递增过程,但这种变化路线的个体间差异较大;变化速度体现出先快后慢的特点;上述变化特点与练习及自我解释、练习模式的特征以及任务难度等因素有关.     

使用微观发生法促进儿童的认知发展

微观发生法是研究儿童认知发展的一种新的方法,本文在简要介绍微观发生法的主要特征的基础上,着重探讨了在教学实践中如何使用微观发生法促进儿童的认知发展。结合国内外相关的研究成果,主要从教学活动实施的基本要求、教学活动安排的整体原则和教学活动实施的具体环节三个方面对有关问题进行了详细的阐述。     

二年级小学生“记”“忆”策略的微观发生研究

采用微观发生法,以33名小学二年级学生为被试,以记忆书面语词的分类材料为任务,对儿童记忆过程中"记"、"忆"策略的不同发展规律进行了5个期间的测查.结果发现:(1)分类记忆策略的发展既有突变过程也有渐变过程:分类记策略有生成缺陷,表现为训练后的突然变化;分类忆策略则是一个可以自发形成的渐变过程,如果加以适当的训练也会发生突然的增长.(2)在材料熟悉度较低的情况下,会使少量儿童产生分类记、忆策略使用缺陷现象.     

社会创造性的微观变化：基于虚拟仿真技术的研究

本研究将微观发生法设计和虚拟仿真技术相结合,考察了不同特质社会创造性大学生跨情境、跨时间的状态社会创造性的变化特点。结果表明：（1）在四种具体社会问题情境中,个体策略新颖性的变化表现出了跨情境的多样性特点,而策略实用性的变化则主要表现出了跨情境的一致性特点;（2）个体特质社会创造性对其状态社会创造性的表现的影响主要体现在策略的实用性上。     

问题表征与知识建构研究及其意义

人类智能有相互区别又联系的"三重"信息加工、知识建构与智慧生成.以该三重智能构想为基础在信息加工层面研究了问题的表征,提出关系-表征复杂性模型,分别用关系复杂性(包括水平的和等级的复杂性)解释任务难度,用表征复杂性(表征广度和深度)衡量表征能力.在知识获得层面,结合建构主义与认知心理学的技术和微观发生法等思路,可以探讨知识微观建构中可能发生的具体变化,如策略性知识在一般性和特殊性之间循环,程序性知识向概念性知识的转化等.     

国外儿童科学思维发展的新探索

儿童科学思维是发展心理学研究领域的重要的研究课题。最近十年,儿童科学思维发展的研究经历了显著的变化。文章对儿童科学思维发展的研究进行简要回顾,主要阐述有关儿童科学思维发展的特殊领域知识、一般领域策略、概念和策略的整合模型以及微观发生法,并在此基础上,对儿童科学思维发展研究进行简单的评价和展望。     

表征变化及其影响因素的微观发生研究

Karmiloff-Smith的表征重述理论认为表征重述是人类获取知识的重要途径,并且表征变化的过程包括程序、元程序和概念化三个阶段。采用微观发生法（包括前测、练习和迁移3个阶段,共8个期间）,以数字分解组合任务为研究材料,探讨了120名小学一、二年级儿童问题解决中的表征变化及所受年龄和练习模式等因素的影响。结果表明,前测中存在发展性差异,即二年级儿童达到概念化阶段的人数显著多于一年级儿童,但前测处于程序阶段的儿童接受5次解题练习过程中以及在近迁移题目上都没有表现出年级差异,而在远迁移题目上二年级儿童的完成情况好于一年级儿童。练习模式对表征变化的影响主要体现在三个方面：（1）从变化的路线看,与简单模式相比,复杂模式更能促进儿童的表征发生变化,而且这时儿童表征变化的路线更丰富,表征变化发生循环的人数比例也更高。（2）从变化的速度看,复杂模式下儿童在插入难题的两次练习期间表征变化比较迅速,其余期间变化较小;简单模式下儿童在第二次和第三次练习期间表征变化比较迅速,随后变化比较平稳。（3）从变化的广度看,练习中所获表征能力（在最后三次练习中达到元程序或概念化阶段）的推广,无论是在近迁移题还是远迁移题上两种练习模式之下的被试没有明显差异;但两组被试在近迁移题上的表现均好于远迁移题     

西方制药之术与药物认知之途

通过描述从巫术到药物学、从化学分析与合成到基因重组,这一既是制药技术的发展过程,也是人类药物认知途径的发展过程,认为药物的本体论经历了从巫术到宏观实物到微观分子的转变,认识途径经历了想象、自然采取与加工、科学实验与人工重组的演化,使制药从古代的神话想象,发展为肉眼可见的日常生活实践,再变为必须借助科学仪器才可观察的细胞、分子、基因层面的相对陌生的科学实践。由此,药物及其知识生产的场域、途径、机制都发生了革命性的变化。     

反向心理调节法

人们面对困境,情绪懊丧。怎样才能从不良情绪中摆脱出来呢?从相反的方向思考问题,常常能使人的心理和情绪发生良性变化,得出完全相反的结论。心理学上把这种运用反向心理调节的过程称为反向心理调节法。     

问题解决中策略的变化：一项微观发生研究

以30名小学三年级儿童为被试,以一种特殊的方程问题为材料,采用微观发生法,先后进行了5次测查,收集了解题后的口语报告资料,从策略变化的路线、速率、广度、来源以及变化模式的多样性等方面详细探讨了问题解决策略的变化过程。结果发现,在面临新的问题时,被试缺乏相应知识和专门的解题策略,这时以使用多种常规策略以及错误策略为主;此后,当被试建构起对问题的正确表征时,就以使用正确策略为主,甚至发现了非常有技巧性和领域专门性的快捷策略,这时策略的数量明显减少;在面临难度较大的迁移题目时,快捷策略的使用率又降低,而更多借助于常规策略。可见,策略的获得是一个由错误到正确、由多种尝试到选择其一、由一般到专门的演化过程,这主要是一个学生自主建构的过程,当然也受到正式和非正式教育提供的知识的影响。值得说明的是,快捷策略的获得受到问题呈现模式的影响。总是呈现相同题目的单一模式有助于快捷策略的发现,而在混合训练中,插入不同性质的题目会干扰快捷策略的发现;但是,当面临迁移问题时,单一训练相比于混合训练的优势会消失。此外,正确使用常规策略是发现快捷策略的前提。     

Repeated assessment of cognition in children and the measurement of performance change.

There is limited understanding of the problems associated with repeated neuropsychological assessment in children, including the statistics used to guide decisions about cognitive change. This study investigated the utility of a computerized assessment battery that was specifically designed for the repeated assessment of cognitive function in children. Eighty-seven participants aged 8 to 12 years completed the battery four times within a 2-hour testing session. The results support the application of this assessment battery for measuring cognitive change in children. A novel method for calculating measurement error is employed, and its use in the detection of cognitive change in individual children is discussed. An estimate of the measurement error within each of the tests is provided, and recommendations are made regarding the application of this assessment battery for measuring cognitive change in children.     

Managing resistance in cognitive behavioural therapy: the application of motivational interviewing in mixed anxiety and depression

While cognitive behavioural therapy is highly effective in the treatment of anxiety and depression, a substantive number of individuals either refuse treatment, fail to respond to treatment or respond only partially. Arguably, ambivalence about change or about engaging in treatment tasks may in part be related to incomplete recovery rates in cognitive behavioural therapy. Motivational interviewing is a client-centred, directive treatment originally developed in the addictions domain whose goal is to enhance motivation for change by understanding and resolving ambivalence. This method has consistently received support for enhancing outcomes in the addictions domain, particularly when used as an adjunct to further treatment. As yet, motivational methods have not been generalized to the treatment of prevalent mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. The present paper presents the application of a treatment targeting motivation (motivational interviewing adapted for anxiety and depression) to the management of resistance in cognitive behavioural therapy for 3 clients with mixed anxiety and depression. Motivational interviewing is conceived as an adjunct to highly effective traditional cognitive behavioural therapy methods, which is indicated for use with clients resistant to and significantly ambivalent about change-based techniques for managing anxiety or alleviating depression.     

Changing negative attitudes towards persons with physical disabilities: an experimental intervention

An experimental study was designed and tested to change negative attitudes towards the physically disabled. A pre‐post‐test intervention was conducted including three conditions: (a) cognitive intervention; (b) cognitive and behavioural intervention involving equal‐status contact with the target group; (c) no‐intervention control. The sample consisted of 70 ninth grade students. Following baseline assessments of attitudes, attitude change was measured immediately following the intervention and at a follow‐up three months post‐intervention. The cognitive intervention provided information about physical disability and challenged stereotypic conceptions about the physically disabled. The behavioural intervention consisted of engaging in three paralympic disciplines under the instruction of a group of disabled athletes. The cognitive intervention alone did not result in significant changes in attitudes towards the physically disabled. However, the combined cognitive‐behavioural intervention resulted in greater attitude change than the no‐intervention condition, both immediately post‐intervention and at a three months follow‐up. The findings are discussed with regard to models of attitude change through equal‐status contact. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The microgenetic method. A direct means for studying cognitive development

Progress in understanding cognitive developmental change mechanisms requires methods that yield detailed data about particular changes. The microgenetic method is an approach that can yield such data. It involves (a) observations of individual children throughout the period of the change, (b) a high density of observations relative to the rate of change within that period, and (c) intensive trial-by-trial analyses intended to infer the processes that gave rise to the change. This approach can illuminate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of change, indicate the conditions under which changes occur, and yield otherwise unobtainable information about short-lived transition strategies. The cost in time and effort of such studies is often high, but the value of the information about change can more than justify the cost.     

Cognitive Reappraisal

A central tenet of Beck’s cognitive therapy (or cognitive behavior therapy) of the emotional disorders is that change in negative thought and beliefs is necessary for clinically significant symptom reduction in anxiety, depression, and other psychological conditions. Cognitive restructuring, a uniquely Beckian innovation, is a treatment strategy that directly targets cognitive reappraisal as the change mechanism responsible for symptom reduction. This commentary considers the origins of cognitive reappraisal in Beck’s cognitive therapy through the lens of cognitive restructuring and what treatment process research tells us about the mechanisms of change in cognitive restructuring.     

The process of change in cognitive therapy for depression: Predictors of early inter-session symptom gains

Although cognitive therapy for depression is an efficacious treatment, questions about the aspects of the therapy that are most critical to successful implementation remain. In a sample of 60 cognitive therapy patients with moderate to severe depression, we examined three aspects of therapists’ adherence to cognitive therapy techniques, the patients’ facilitation or inhibition of these techniques, and the therapeutic alliance as predictors of session-to-session symptom improvement across the first five therapy sessions. Two elements of therapist adherence (viz., cognitive methods and negotiating content/structuring sessions) emerged as the strongest predictors of symptom improvement. Patient facilitation or inhibition of therapist adherence also predicted subsequent symptom change. Neither adherence to behavioral methods/homework nor the therapeutic alliance was a significant predictor in parallel analyses. Although alliance scores did not predict subsequent symptom change, they were significantly predicted by prior symptom change. These findings support the model of change that motivates cognitive therapy for depression, and they highlight the potential role of patient facilitation of therapists’ adherence in treatment response.     

Recycling,evolution and the structure of human personality

Lower childhood cognitive ability may be a risk factor for greater cognitive decline in late life and progression to dementia. To assess variation in age-related cognitive change, it is helpful to have valid measures of cognitive ability from early life. Here, we examine the relation between childhood intelligence and cognitive change in later life in two samples, one born in 1921 and the other in 1936. All participants completed the same test of mental ability (one of the Moray House Test series) at age about 11 years, and were re-examined on Raven’s Progressive Matrices at age 77 (1921-born) or age 64 (1936-born). Where possible, the 1921 sample was re-tested at the age of about 80 years old and the 1936 sample re-tested at about 66 years. After taking into account various covariates, including sex, education and occupation, childhood intelligence was a significant predictor of cognitive change in later life. Results were in the direction that participants with lower childhood mental ability experienced relatively greater cognitive decline, whereas those of higher childhood mental ability showed improved performance. This result suggests that higher premorbid cognitive ability is protective of decline in later life.     

Does the level at which cognitive change occurs change with age?

Increased age in adulthood is associated with systematically more negative cognitive change, but relatively little is known about the nature of change at different ages. The present study capitalized on the hierarchical structure of cognitive abilities to investigate possible age differences in the level at which change operates. Reductions in the longitudinal associations between test scores when across-time relations were specified at different levels in the hierarchical structure were used to infer contributions to change from the level of abilities and from the level of a general factor. Although the pattern of influences varied across different cognitive abilities, the results revealed little or no age differences in the relative contributions to change from different levels in the hierarchy.     

Correlates of level and change in the Mini-Mental State Examination

The goal of the current project was to determine (a) the cognitive abilities assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE; M. F. Folstein, S. E. Folstein, & P. R. McHugh, 1975), (b) whether the same abilities are associated with MMSE performance among people of different ages, and (c) whether the same abilities are involved in changes within the same people over time. The authors therefore examined whether the initial levels of 5 cognitive ability constructs (vocabulary, reasoning, memory, space, and speed) predicted initial levels of MMSE performance and whether the initial levels or the changes in these 5 cognitive abilities predicted change in the MMSE performance. The major findings were that 3 cognitive constructs (vocabulary, reasoning, and memory) contribute to performance in the MMSE but that their respective contributions to the MMSE vary as a function of age and time. In particular, individual differences and change in the MMSE are primarily related to individual differences in reasoning among adults younger than about 70 years, whereas both initial level of MMSE performance and longitudinal change in MMSE performance primarily related to initial level and change in memory ability among adults older than 70 years. The results therefore imply that both the level of performance on the MMSE at a single point in time and the change in MMSE over time may represent somewhat different cognitive abilities at different ages.