The effects of source and type of feedback on child witnesses' metamemory accuracy

This study investigated the effect of feedback on the accuracy (realism) of 12‐year‐old children's metacognitive judgments of their answers to questions about a film clip. Two types of judgments were investigated: confidence judgments (on each question) and frequency judgments (i.e. estimates of overall accuracy). The source of feedback, whether it was presented as provided by a teacher or a peer child, did not influence metacognitive accuracy. Four types of feedback were given depending on whether the participant's answer was correct and depending on whether the feedback confirmed or disconfirmed the child's answer. The children showed large overconfidence when they received confirmatory feedback but much less so when they received disconfirmatory feedback. The children gave frequency judgments implying that they had more correct answers than they actually had. No main gender differences were found for any of the measures. The results indicate a high degree of malleability in children's metacognitive judgments. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ideal is typical.

A well-established finding in research on concepts and categories is that some members are rated as better or more typical examples than others. It is generally thought that typicality reflects centrality, that is, that typical examples are those that are similar to many other members of the category. This interpretation of typicality is based on studies in which participants had little knowledge about the relevant categories. In the present study, experienced fishermen were asked to give goodness-of-example ratings to familiar freshwater fish. These fishermen were of two cultural groups with somewhat different goals and ideals. Typicality was well predicted by fishes' desirability and poorly predicted by their centrality. Further, the two cultural groups differed in their typicality ratings in ways that corresponded to their different goals and ideals. For knowledgeable reasoners typicality in natural taxonomic categories appears based on ideals rather than on centrality.     

Children's recall and the cognitive interview: do the positive effects hold over time?

Most studies investigating how the Cognitive Interview affects children's recall have employed short retention intervals (a week or less). In our study children (10–11 years old) saw a film picturing an extraordinary performance by a professional fakir. Half of the children were interviewed after seven days (n = 24) and the other half after six months (n = 25). At each test session, half were interviewed according to the Cognitive Interview (CI), and half according to the Structured Interview (SI). We found that: (a) the children in the CI condition recalled significantly more correct information than the children in the SI condition (both after seven days and after six months), and (b) the children interviewed after seven days recalled significantly more correct information, and less confabulations, compared to the children interviewed after six months. The results suggest that the CI can be used as an investigative tool both after short and long retention intervals. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing children's statements: the impact of a repeated experience on CBCA and RM ratings

This study examined the extent to which the Criteria‐based Content Analysis (CBCA) technique and the Reality Monitoring (RM) technique were affected by the number of times children had experienced or imagined an event. Children (age 10–13, N =87 ) participated in an experiment where half the sample experienced a health examination (either one or four times), and the other half imagined (either one or four times) that they took part in a health examination. One week after the final occasion, the children were interviewed. The results showed that RM was sensitive to both the authenticity of the statements (increased presence of the criteria for real events) and whether the event had been repeatedly experienced/imagined (increased presence of the criteria for the repeated actions). The CBCA did not successfully distinguish the real from the imagined. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The World Mission Conference 2018: An Approach from Germany

World Mission Conferences (WMC) have always included missionary calls and an analysis of the present‐day situation, 1 and frequently have provided important input for the debate on the mission of the churches throughout the world and in Germany. The upcoming WMC in Arusha, Tanzania, therefore raises high expectations. The following considerations attempt to sketch the subject in the context of the situation in the German church and society and to point to possible links with what is known about the programme of the WMC.     

Learning in cod (Gadus morhua): long trace interval retention

Basic knowledge about learning capacities and awareness in fish is lacking. In this study we investigated which temporal gaps Atlantic cod could tolerate between two associated events, using an appetitive trace-conditioning paradigm with blinking light as conditioned stimulus (CS) and dry fish food as unconditioned stimulus (US). CS–US presentations were either temporally overlapping (delay conditioning, CS duration 24 s, interstimulus interval 12 s) or separated by 20, 60, or 120 s (trace conditioning, CS duration 12 s) or 2 h (control, CS duration 12 s). The percentage of fish in the feeding area increased strongly during CS presentation in all delay, 20 s, and 60 s trace groups and in one out of two 120 s trace groups, but not in the control groups. In the 20 and 60 s trace procedures, the fish crowded together in the small feeding area during the trace interval, showing strong anticipatory behaviour. In all the conditioned groups, the fish responded to the CS within eight trials, demonstrating rapid learning. At 88 and 70 days after the end of the conditioning experiments, the delay and 20 s trace groups, respectively, were presented the CS six times at 2-h intervals without reward. All groups responded to the light signal, demonstrating memory retention after at least 3 months. This study demonstrates that Atlantic cod has an impressively good ability to associate two time-separated events and long time retention of learnt associations.     

Maternal well-being and sleep–wake behaviors in infants: An intervention using maternal odor

The development of an organized sleep–wake cycle in young infants is influenced by characteristics of both the infant and the parent, and by the nature of their dyadic interaction. Sleep–wake state organization is influenced first by homeostatic biological regulation, and later by socioemotional regulation. This report describes a feasibility study using an olfactory intervention designed to bridge the transition from physiologic to social regulation in sleep–wake state organization. A sample of 21 mother–infant dyads participated in an one year longitudinal study, after random assignment to either an experimental condition with a maternal odor-laden sleepaid, representational sleepaid (RSA) or a control condition with a neutral sleepaid, Sham Control (SC). Self-report questionnaires measured maternal psychological well-being, and video taping recorded infant sleep–wake behaviors repeatedly throughout the first year. RSA mothers reported significantly better levels of well-being throughout the year. At six and twelve months, mothers who reported more depressive feelings exhibited different nighttime interaction patterns. Infant sleep–wake state organization and sleepaid use changed significantly during the first year but were not altered by the intervention. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Correction to: Non-transitive Better than Relations and Rational Choice

Philosophia - There is a mistake in the definition of the covering criterion on page 6.