Paradigms and the research report: Making what actually happens a heuristic for theory

Conclusion The contention is that in providing an account of the intervention process beyond the usual parameters of reporting, Weinstein and her colleagues have helped bring to the fore issues in the conduct and reporting of intervention research which are anomalous to most current theories and accounts. Taken seriously, the issues openly discussed could provide a useful step toward reducing the discrepancy between how we carry out interventions and how we say we carry out interventions. Through attempts to incorporate these issues into theory, we increase the verisimilitude of our ideas and develop a more differentiated filter for our community work. If, as Cronbach asserts, social science is cumulative, not in possessing ever-more refined answers about fixed questions, but in possessing an ever-richer repertoire of questions (1986, p. 91), accounts such as those provided by Weinstein and her colleagues can indeed serve as a heuristic for theory by telling it like it was.     

A mechanism for cognitive dynamics: neuronal communication through neuronal coherence

At any one moment, many neuronal groups in our brain are active. Microelectrode recordings have characterized the activation of single neurons and fMRI has unveiled brain-wide activation patterns. Now it is time to understand how the many active neuronal groups interact with each other and how their communication is flexibly modulated to bring about our cognitive dynamics. I hypothesize that neuronal communication is mechanistically subserved by neuronal coherence. Activated neuronal groups oscillate and thereby undergo rhythmic excitability fluctuations that produce temporal windows for communication. Only coherently oscillating neuronal groups can interact effectively, because their communication windows for input and for output are open at the same times. Thus, a flexible pattern of coherence defines a flexible communication structure, which subserves our cognitive flexibility.     

Implicit learning of what comes when and where within a sequence: The time-course of acquiring serial position-item and item-item associations to represent serial order

Much research has been conducted aimed at the representations and mechanisms that enable learning of sequential structures. A central debate concerns the question whether item-item associations (i.e., in the sequence A-B-C-D, B comes after A) or associations of item and serial list position (i.e., B is the second item in the list) are used to represent serial order. Previously, we showed that in a variant of the implicit serial reaction time task, the sequence representation contains associations between serial position and item information (Schuck, Gaschler, Keisler, & Frensch, 2011). Here, we applied models and research methods from working memory research to implicit serial learning to replicate and extend our findings. The experiment involved three sessions of sequence learning. Results support the view that participants acquire knowledge about order structure (item-item associations) and about ordinal structure (serial position-item associations). Analyses suggest that only the simultaneous use of the two types of knowledge acquisition can explain learning-related performance increases. Additionally, our results indicate that serial list position information plays a role very early in learning and that inter-item associations increasingly control behavior in later stages.     

Memory for what, where, and when in the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Episodic memory is the ability to remember personally experienced past events (Tulving in Organization of memory. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 381–403, 1972). In non-human animals, the behavioural criterion for episodic-like memory is remembering “what” occurred in conjunction with “when” and “where” (Clayton and Dickinson in Nature 395:272–274, 1998). We conducted tests for “what, where, and when” memory in a food-storing bird, the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). In Experiment 1, chickadees found sunflower seeds and mealworms in concealed sites in their home cage. Birds later re-visited these sites after either a short (3 h) or long (123 h) retention interval. Chickadees normally prefer mealworms, but at the long retention interval mealworms were degraded in taste and appearance. Chickadees showed some memory for what kind of food they had encountered and where, but no memory for when food had previously been found. Experiment 2 followed a similar procedure, except that chickadees searched for hidden sunflower seeds and mealworms in trees in an indoor aviary. These more natural conditions increased both the spatial scale of the task and the effort required to find food. In this experiment, birds showed evidence for all three components of what–where–when memory. Unlike some previous studies of episodic-like memory, birds’ behaviour cannot be accounted for by differential memory strength for more recent events. The results show that memory for what, where, and when occurs in food-storing birds outside the corvid family, does not require food caching or retrieval, and that remembering “when” can depend on the nature of the task.     

The ties that bind what is known to the recall of what is new

Cued recall success varies with what people know and with what they do during an episode. This paper focuses on prior knowledge and disentangles the relative effects of 10 features of words and their relationships on cued recall. Results are reported for correlational and multiple regression analyses of data obtained from free association norms and from 29 experiments. The 10 features were only weakly correlated with each other in the norms and, with notable exceptions, in the experiments. The regression analysis indicated that forward cue-to-target strength explained the most variance, followed by backward target-to-cue strength. Target connectivity and set size explained the next most variance, along with mediated cue-to-target strength. Finally, frequency, concreteness, shared associate strength, and cue set size also contributed significantly to recall. Taken together, indices of prior word knowledge explain 49% of the recall variance. Theoretically driven equations that use free association to predict cued recall were also evaluated. Each equation was designed to condense multiple indices of word interconnectivity into a single predictor.     

The ties that bind what is known to the recognition of what is new

Recognition success varies with how information is encoded (e.g., level of processing) and with what is already known as a result of past learning (e.g., word frequency). This article presents the results of experiments showing that preexisting connections involving the associates of studied words facilitate their recognition regardless of whether the words are intentionally encoded or are incidentally encoded under semantic or nonsemantic conditions. Words are more likely to be recognized when they have either more resonant connections coming back to them from their associates or more connections among their associates. Such results occur even though attention is never drawn to these associates. Regression analyses showed that these connections affect recognition independently of frequency, so the present results add to the literature showing that prior lexical knowledge contributes to episodic recognition. In addition, equations that use free-association data to derive composite strength indices of resonance and connectivity were evaluated. Implications for theories of recognition are discussed.     

Configural learning without reinforcement: integrated memories for correlates of what, where, and when

In 2 experiments we examined the ability of rats to form configural memories of what auditory stimulus (X or Y) was presented where (Context A or B) and when (morning or afternoon). In both experiments, rats received morning presentations of X in Context A and Y in Context B and afternoon presentations of X in B and Y in A. Subsequently, at midday the rats were exposed to trials where X was paired with footshock whereas Y was not. We then assessed the degree of contextual fear in A and B in the morning and the afternoon. In the morning, rats showed more fear in A than in B, and in the afternoon they showed more fear in B than in A. These results indicate that rats can form configural memories that represent what (X or Y) was presented, where (A or B), and when (morning or afternoon).     

Configural learning without reinforcement: Integrated memories for correlates of what,where, and when

In 2 experiments we examined the ability of rats to form configural memories of what auditory stimulus (X or Y) was presented where (Context A or B) and when (morning or afternoon). In both experiments, rats received morning presentations of X in Context A and Y in Context B and afternoon presentations of X in B and Y in A. Subsequently, at midday the rats were exposed to trials where X was paired with footshock whereas Y was not. We then assessed the degree of contextual fear in A and B in the morning and the afternoon. In the morning, rats showed more fear in A than in B, and in the afternoon they showed more fear in B than in A. These results indicate that rats can form configural memories that represent what (X or Y) was presented, where (A or B), and when (morning or afternoon).     

Classical conditioning of hippocampal theta patterns in the rat.

Electrical stimulation (88 HZ) of the lateral hypothalamus elicited a sustained theta response at hippocampal recording sites of rats immobilized with succinylcholine. By pairing this unconditioned stimulus with a 10-sec presentation of a light, conditioned theta responses were demonstrated in as few as 40 trials. Spectral analysis of hippocampal bioelectric patterns during acquisition, extinction, and reconditioning indicated that the earliest change as a result of conditioning is a loss of power in EEG frequency below 8 HZ, followed by the development of a peak at 8 HZ with further conditioning. Extinction was associated with an increase in power in the frequencies below 8 HZ. When the conditioned rats were tested in the absence of the neuromuscular blocking agent, the conditioned stimulus elicited a theta response that was associated with slow motor activity on 70% of the trials.     

When, where, what: the electromagnetic contribution to the WWW of brain activity during recognition

Recent findings from event-related potential (ERP) as well as hemodynamic studies have provided physiological evidence that recognition memory involves task-related brain processes, notably episodic retrieval mode, and item-related brain processes, notably retrieval success or ecphory. The excellent time resolution of electromagnetic techniques allows to study the time course of these processes on a time range from milliseconds to several seconds. In a series of studies, the time scales within which task- and item-related processes are likely to operate were investigated. The results raise the possibility that both types of processes are further fractionable into short and longlasting components. The cognitive underpinnings of these components have yet to be determined.     

Suppressing where but not what: the effect of saccades on dorsal- and ventral-stream visual processing

Some cognitive processes are suppressed during saccadic eye movements, whereas others are not. In two experiments, we investigated the locus of this interference effect. In one experiment, subjects decided whether pictured items were objects or nonobjects while making saccades of different lengths. Saccade distance had no effect on response time, indicating that saccades do not interfere with object recognition. However, in a second experiment, in which subjects decided whether pictured items faced to the left or to the right, response time increased with saccade distance, indicating that processing was suppressed during the saccade. These results (along with others) suggest that dorsal-stream (where) processes are suppressed during saccades, whereas ventral-stream (what) processes are not. Because the dorsal stream is instrumental in generating saccades, we propose that cognitive saccadic suppression results from dual-task interference within this visual subsystem.     

The recovery of identity and relative position from visual input: Further evidence for the independence of processing of what and where

Four experiments examined the manner in which item identity and relative position are recovered from visual input. A successivesame/different matching paradigm was designed in which each trial contained a prime and a target display. Each display contained a reference object (i.e., a “+”) and a located object (i.e., a letter, which fell to either the right or the left of the “+”). In Experiment 1, subjects carried out identity judgments on the letters. Experiment 2 examined relative position judgments; in Experiment 3, subjects had to judge both item identity and relative position information. Overall, these initial data suggested that identity and positional information are recovered via independent mechanisms and that these operate concurrently. This suggestion was supported by the results of Experiment 4, which in turn disconfirmed an alternative response account of performance.     

A paradigm for exploring what the mind does while deciding what it should do.

One widespread belief about automatic mental processes is that, among other characteristics, they are involuntary. No initial conscious intent is necessary because such processing is stimulus initiated. This claim was studied in the context of a novel task-choice procedure in which subjects were informed as to which of two tasks they should perform on a letter string either well in advance of a target, or when the target appeared. The hypothesis that initial processing of the target occurs without intent predicts that the effect of contrast reduction will be absent when the task cue appears synchronously with the target. This is because initial processing of the target should be completed during the time taken to decode the task cue. The results are inconsistent with this account. Instead, they support an account in which functional target processing is delayed until the subject knows what the task is. Some directions for future investigations are noted.     

Behavior of the rat after removal of the neocortex and hippocampal formation

After surgical removal of the neocortex and hippocampal formation, rats retained most of the movement patterns of locomotion, climbing, grooming, feeding, and fighting. However, forepaw immobility during swimming was abolished. Feeding behavior was suppressed temporarily but recovered partially. The distinctive postures of sleep and walking and a circadian rhythm of motor activity were retained. However, behaviors were often not performed at the appropriate time and place. The normal sequence of grooming behavior was disrupted; food hoarding and social behavior were essentially abolished. Removal of the neocortex alone had much the same effect as removal of neocortex and hippocampus together. Removal of hippocampus alone produced only a mild disruption of behavior. It is suggested that ascending nonspecific projections to the cerebral cortex play an important role in the moment-to-moment control of behavior but are not essential for the sleep-waking cycle.     

A meta-analysis of self-regulated learning in work-related training and educational attainment: what we know and where we need to go

Researchers have been applying their knowledge of goal-oriented behavior to the self-regulated learning domain for more than 30 years. This review examines the current state of research on self-regulated learning and gaps in the field's understanding of how adults regulate their learning of work-related knowledge and skills. Self-regulation theory was used as a conceptual lens for deriving a heuristic framework of 16 fundamental constructs that constitute self-regulated learning. Meta-analytic findings (k=430, N=90,380) support theoretical propositions that self-regulation constructs are interrelated-30% of the corrected correlations among constructs were .50 or greater. Goal level, persistence, effort, and self-efficacy were the self-regulation constructs with the strongest effects on learning. Together these constructs accounted for 17% of the variance in learning, after controlling for cognitive ability and pretraining knowledge. However, 4 self-regulatory processes-planning, monitoring, help seeking, and emotion control-did not exhibit significant relationships with learning. Thus, a parsimonious framework of the self-regulated learning domain is presented that focuses on a subset of self-regulatory processes that have both limited overlap with other core processes and meaningful effects on learning. Research is needed to advance the field's understanding of how adults regulate their learning in an increasingly complex and knowledge-centric work environment. Such investigations should capture the dynamic nature of self-regulated learning, address the role of self-regulation in informal learning, and investigate how trainees regulate their transfer of training.     

释“易，所以会天道人道者也”

《郭店楚简·语丛》"易,所以会天道、人道者也",大概是现存最早和最明确表达"天人合一"思想的命题。《易》的"所以会天道、人道",表明"天"、"人"之间的关系实为一内在关系,二者是不离相即的,而西方哲学则以"外在关系"立论。《周易》是中国最古老探讨"所以会天道、人道"的经典。     

The how and why of what went where in apparent motion: modeling solutions to the motion correspondence problem

A model that is capable of maintaining the identities of individuated elements as they move is described. It solves a particular problem of underdetermination, the motion correspondence problem, by simultaneously applying 3 constraints: the nearest neighbor principle, the relative velocity principle, and the element integrity principle. The model generates the same correspondence solutions as does the human visual system for a variety of displays, and many of its properties are consistent with what is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying human motion perception. The model can also be viewed as a proposal of how the identities of attentional tags are maintained by visual cognition, and thus it can be differentiated from a system that serves merely to detect movement.     

Superior formation of cortical memory traces for melodic patterns in musicians

The human central auditory system has a remarkable ability to establish memory traces for invariant features in the acoustic environment despite continual acoustic variations in the sounds heard. By recording the memory-related mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the auditory electric and magnetic brain responses as well as behavioral performance, we investigated how subjects learn to discriminate changes in a melodic pattern presented at several frequency levels. In addition, we explored whether musical expertise facilitates this learning. Our data show that especially musicians who perform music primarily without a score learn easily to detect contour changes in a melodic pattern presented at variable frequency levels. After learning, their auditory cortex detects these changes even when their attention is directed away from the sounds. The present results thus show that, after perceptual learning during attentive listening has taken place, changes in a highly complex auditory pattern can be detected automatically by the human auditory cortex and, further, that this process is facilitated by musical expertise.     

Spatial memory for food hidden by rats (Rattus norvegicus) on the radial maze: studies of memory for where,what, and when

Rats (Rattus norvegicus) were allowed to hide food items on an 8-arm radial maze by carrying the items from the center to boxes at the end of each arm. Retrieval tests given after rats had hidden 4 items showed that they selectively returned to the maze arms where food had been hidden (Experiments 1 and 2). When rats were allowed to hide pieces of cheese (refed food) and pretzels (less preferred food) on different arms, they both hid and retrieved cheese before pretzels (Experiments 2-5). In Experiment 6, rats chose between arms where cheese and pretzels were hidden,with cheese degraded at one delay interval but not the other. Together, these experiments indicate memory for what and where but not when.