THE EFFECT OF RESPONSE EFFORT ON COMPLIANCE IN YOUNG CHILDREN

We evaluated the effect of response effort on compliance with three children who exhibited noncompliance when asked to relinquish a preferred toy. Participants were given access to a preferred toy and then asked to place the toy in a toy bin, which was located either 0.3 m (low effort) or 3 m (high effort) away. We used a reversal design to evaluate the effect of the effort manipulation. Compliance by all three participants was sensitive to the effort manipulation. In addition, compliance by two participants maintained as the distance required to comply with instructions was systematically increased. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TRAINING AND GENERALIZATION OF REACH-GRASP BEHAVIOR IN BLIND,RETARDED YOUNG CHILDREN

The effects of a graduated prompting treatment procedure were analyzed in three phases of an experiment on the training and generalization of reaching-grasp responding in 2- to 4-year-old blind, severely or profoundly retarded children. In Phase 1, we used a multiple-baseline across-subjects design to investigate the effectiveness of the treatment on midline reach-grasp responding. In Phase 2, we used a reversal design to investigate the effects of repeated implementations and withdrawals of the treatment. In both phases, generalization to right and left positions was measured. In Phase 3, in a multiple-baseline across-responses design, the treatment was implemented in right and left positions. Also in Phase 3, shift of stimulus control from toy-sound to verbal instructions was measured. The results showed that (a) the graduated prompting procedure was effective in training reach-grasp responding in all three children; (b) for one child, the effects were durable over repeated applications of the treatment procedure, but were not maintained during withdrawals; (c) for another child, the treatment procedure was effective in teaching reach-grasp responding in all three positions; and (d) for the same child, training of reach-grasp responding generalized to toys presented without sound, given only the verbal instruction.     

EFFECTS OF DIRECT,INTERMITTENT, AND VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURES ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF INSTRUCTION-FOLLOWING BEHAVIORS IN A GROUP OF YOUNG CHILDREN1

A group of young children (mean age: 2.5 yr) were instructed to follow different requests by a teacher in a day-care setting. Experiment I verified that mean group instruction following was low (10%) despite the opportunity for “observational learning”, i.e., the group of 12 children could watch a nonreinforced adult comply with the teacher's request. In Experiment II, when positive consequences were provided contingent on the adult model's behavior, mean group instruction following was relatively unaffected (14%). When direct reinforcement was given to four peer models, each for several sessions, the individual performances of three of the four peer models was elevated (from 50% to 80%); however, the mean performance of the remaining nonreinforced children (N = 7) was only moderately affected (21%). When reinforcement contingencies were again changed, so that each group member was provided direct, but intermittent reinforcement, mean group performance increased substantially to levels of over 70%. Once instruction following was high, presentation of reinforcement only to one peer model sufficed to maintain performance whereas earlier, this same vicarious reinforcement procedure had failed to establish group compliance. The maintenance of instruction-following behavior when reinforcement was applied solely to one child was interpreted mainly in terms of a high resistance to extinction following a history of intermittent reinforcement rather than a “vicarious”- or “self”-reinforcement mechanism. Finally, removal and re-introduction of group intermittent reinforcement, respectively, lowered performance (to levels of 40%) and elevated (to levels of 65%) the group's performance.     

关于幼儿对损人行为的道德判断及有关情绪预期的初步研究

以幼儿易于理解的有关享用财物的小故事,对４、５、６岁儿童作个别随访,综合考察其已获得的道德知识和道德认知的特点,以及相关情绪预期的情况。结果表明：１．幼儿已经获得了有关社会道德的最初步的知识,并能运用这些日常概念水平的知识对行为作道德判断,其道德认知已出现关心他人利益的成分,自我中心主义不突出;２．幼儿假设自己作为损人者的情绪预期与对故事中损人者的情绪预期之间存在明显差异,道德认知与道德情感脱节的现象在前者未有明显表现,却在后者中显现出来。     

USE OF ESCAPE AND REWARD IN THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN DURING DENTAL TREATMENT

A reinforced practice procedure was used to facilitate cooperative behavior in five children, aged 3 to 6 years, during dental treatment. In a multiple baseline design across subjects, the children were rewarded with escape, inexpensive stickers, and praise for cooperative behavior in the presence of the sights, sounds, and some sensations of the dental instruments prior to actual dental treatment. Direct observations of disruptive behavior via a 15-s interval recording system indicated baseline levels as high as 90% were reduced to less than 15% by the final treatment visit. In addition, the procedure was effective in reducing overall heart rate and blood pressure reactivity to dental treatment. All children were rated by the involved dental professionals as more cooperative and relaxed following exposure to reinforced practice.     

THE INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION AND DAILY CONTACT ON CHILDREN'S ATTITUDES TOWARDS APHASIC CHILDREN

Summary . The influences upon attitudes towards aphasic children were studied when ordinary children (ages 9–14) were given explanations of, and contact with, children with motoric aphasia. Subjects were 191 elementary school pupils. In one group no explanation about aphasia was given, and no contact with aphasic children was maintained. In a second group, an explanation was given but no contact was maintained. In the third group, a special class of aphasic children was incorporated within the ordinary school. As a result, daily contact between the ordinary and the aphasic children was maintained. A questionnaire for measuring attitudes towards aphasic children was built and its test-retest reliability was found to be 0.91 (df=37, P<001). The attitude scores were analysed by analysis of variance. A significant main effect of treatment method was found (F (2, 173) = 5.38, P<005). As hypothesised, the attitudes of children exposed to daily contact were less negative than those of children exposed to explanation only. The attitudes of children who were exposed neither to explanation nor to contact were the most negative. A significant main effect of age was found (F (2, 173)= 10.84, P<001). It was revealed, as hypothesised, that attitudes towards aphasic children were more negative in younger children than older ones, and only the attitudes of the 13- to 14-year-old children were in the positive region. A significant interaction between age and treatment method was also found (F (4, 173) = 3.81, P<005). The contact was found to be most effective with the youngest children. The implications of the findings for the general question of attitude formation in children and for the specific question of aphasic children's rehabilitation were discussed.     

EFFECTS OF HIGH-PROBABILITY REQUESTS ON THE ACQUISITION AND GENERALIZATION OF RESPONSES TO REQUESTS IN YOUNG CHILDREN WITH BEHAVIOR DISORDERS

The failure to respond to requests in young children often is maintained by the reactions of the adults that encounter this behavior. This failure to respond to requests has been identified as a primary reason for the children's exclusion from community, social, and instructional opportunities. Numerous interventions that target the failure to respond have consisted of punishment and reinforcement procedures. More recently, antecedent interventions have focused on changing the context in which a request is delivered. In the current study, high-probability requests were provided as an antecedent to delivering a low-probability request. The requests were delivered by multiple trainers in an attempt to produce generalized appropriate responding to adults who did not use the high-probability sequence. Results showed an immediate increase in appropriate responding in 2 children when the intervention was delivered. In addition, when the intervention was implemented by more than one adult, spontaneous increases in responding also were observed toward adults who had never implemented the request sequence. Improvements in responding to requests were maintained after the intervention was discontinued.     

幼儿记忆回涨实验研究

以哈尔滨师范大学幼儿园全体幼儿为对象（未经筛选）,采用录音机播放识记材料的方法,对幼儿记忆回涨现象进行了研究。结果发现：幼儿确实存在着不同于艾宾洁斯遗忘曲线的记忆回涨现象,而且年龄不同记忆回涨高峰时间亦不相同;复习与回涨高峰的关系实验结果发现,幼儿记忆回涨高峰期间复习效果最好。     

高压氧对小鼠学习记忆及脑细胞形态结构的影响

实验用两种行为模型（旷场行为模型和Ｙ－迷宫分辨学习模型）观察了幼龄小鼠在不同压力的高压氧处理后,对新异环境的探究行为和自发活动情况,以及学习记忆能力的变化;并用ＸＹ－生物医学电脑图像分析仪分析了与学习记忆相关的脑区（大脑皮层、海马）神经元密度,细胞核面积,胞核／胞浆比值的变化。结果表明：（１）与对照组相比,吸０.１ＭＰａ高压氧的幼鼠学习记忆能力明显提高,相关脑区的神经元密度、细胞核面积、胞核／浆比均显著增加。（２）吸０.２５ＭＰａ高压氧的幼鼠学习记忆能力与对照组相比无明显变化,但其在新异环境中的自发行为明显减少。提示：慢性吸入０.１ＭＰａ高压氧有利于促进幼鼠脑的生长发育,增强脑功能活动。     

ATTENTIONAL FLEXIBILITY AND PERSEVERATION: DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Whereas a growing interest in the development of attentional flexibility (AF) and in perseverative behavior, being one marker of this component, exists in neuropsychological studies and in the domain of developmental psychopathology (e.g., PKU, infantile schizophrenia, autism and Parkinson's disease) (Pennington &; Ozonoff, 1996 Pennington, B. and Ozonoff, S. 1996. Executive functions and developmental psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37: 51–88. [PUBMED][INFOTRIEVE][CSA][Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Stahl &; Pry, 2002 Stahl, L. and Pry, R. 2002. Joint attention and set-shifting in young children with autism. Autism, 6(4): 383–396. [PUBMED][INFOTRIEVE][CROSSREF][Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), only a few studies have concerned themselves with this subject in normal children. It is thus of interest to add more empirical data to the existing literature in this domain. Therefore, the aim of our study was to explore the development of AF and of perseverative errors in young preschool children with normal development, aged 1.5 to 6 years. Using set-shifting tasks of increasing difficulty level, three age groups were compared with respect to their AF skills.Results show a developmental factor underlying AF, with different levels of this form becoming more and more complex with age, ranging from a rudimentary visual form to a complex representational form of flexibility. Overall, few perseverative errors occurred and they decreased with age. Results are discussed from a developmental and neuropsychological perspective.     

幼儿从电视中学单词──项伴随学习的研究

对幼儿从电视中伴随学习单词的可能性及其影响因素进行了初步的探讨。４０名小班幼儿和４６名大班幼儿参加了实验,他们在接近自然的状态下观看有字幕的动画片。结果发现：幼儿在无任何指导的情况下观看有字幕的动画片,能伴随学习到汉字,这表明,电视对幼儿的词汇发展有着积极的影响;不同性别的儿童都能同等程度地从电视中伴随学习到单词;词义的伴随学习受幼儿原有的词汇水平和幼儿对目标词熟悉程度的影响;词音的伴随学习只发生在词汇水平较高的幼儿当中,并且随着幼儿对目标词熟悉程度的增加而增加;词音和词义的伴随学习存在频度效应。     

USE OF SOUNDING OUT TO IMPROVE SPELLING IN YOUNG CHILDREN

We examined the effects of teaching 5 typically developing elementary students to sound out their spelling words while writing them using the cover‐copy‐compare (CCC) method to practice spelling. Each student's posttest performance following practice with sounding out was compared to that student's posttest performance following practice with no sounding out. For every student, posttest accuracy was higher following practice with sounding out, indicating that it is an effective and easily implemented strategy to improve spelling instruction.     

合作游戏训练对学前儿童合作行为的影响

选取两所幼儿园大、中、小班共155儿童为被试,采取实验班和控制班前后测的设计,对实验班儿童进行为期四周的合作游戏训练,探讨合作游戏训练对学前儿童合作行为的影响。结果表明：游戏形式的合作行为训练显著地提高了学前儿童的合作行为水平;不同年龄班、不同性别学前儿童合作行为训练差异不显著。     

PEER-MEDIATED PROCEDURES TO INDUCE SWALLOWING AND FOOD ACCEPTANCE IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Two studies demonstrated a functional relationship between a peer modeling procedure and the treatment of feeding disorders with 2 young children. In the first experiment, the use of a peer model treatment package was shown to induce swallowing in a child with dysphagia who had never swallowed food or liquid. In the second experiment, a child who consistently declined food was induced to increase food acceptance as a function of the same peer modeling package. In the latter experiment, a peer-mediated procedure, consisting of rotated opportunities to consume food with a peer, was found to increase consumption more than did modeling alone. The first experiment used a multiple baseline design across solids and liquids, and the second used a multiple treatment design. The results of both experiments are discussed as new and nonaversive treatments for feeding disorders of young children who are imitative.     

ROLE OF FIRST‐YEAR MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND PATERNAL INVOLVEMENT IN BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN

Drawing on economic models of child development and attachment relationship perspectives, this study examined the effect of maternal employment in the first year after childbirth on subsequent behavioral and cognitive development in low‐income children. Analyses of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 411) revealed that despite the accompanying family income gains, maternal employment in the first year after childbirth adversely affected caregiver‐reported internalizing and externalizing behavior problems of Hispanic, Black, and White children at ages 3 and 5 years. This study also examined how paternal participation in childcare might affect children's outcomes. Results indicate that greater paternal participation eased the adverse impacts of maternal employment on internalizing behavior problems. There was no evidence that maternal employment was associated with children's memory cognitive functioning or that paternal involvement moderated children's cognitive development. These findings suggest that when early intervention programs are designed to assist low‐income families, enhancing supports (e.g., paternal involvement or parental leave) for working mothers during their child's first year may be valuable for young children's healthy development.     

3—6岁不同民族儿童颜色命名发展的比较

该文报告了我国大陆地区的汉族、蒙族、维族、壮族、白族及哈尼族3-6岁儿童的颜色命名发展的水平与差异。采用8种常见色片,即红、橙、黄、绿、蓝、紫及黑、白作为本实验用色样。结果表明：6个不同民族儿童的颜色正确命名率均随年龄增长而提高,不同民族儿童的颜色正确命名率存在一定差异。从总平均结果值来看,汉族儿童正确命名率为75．7％,蒙族为74．9％,哈尼族为59．8％,壮族为57．8％,白族为56．3％,维族为42．9％。对不同颜色的正确命名难易程度是不同的,但总的发展趋势是一致的,正确命名颜色的先后发展次序是：先是黑色、红色、白色,然后是黄色和绿色,再后是蓝色,最后是紫色与橙色。对儿童给予早期颜色命名教育可以明显提高和促进其颜色命名能力的发展。