Progamming time in serial tapping responses as a function of pathway constraint

Summary This study varied the accuracy demand within a linear series of targets to investigate the effect of movement-pathway constraints on response-programming time. Sidaway, Christina, and Shea (1988) have suggested that constraints placed upon movement initiation by the demand for response precision may play an important role in determining the length of the programming process. By varying the subtended angles of a series of three targets, this experiment tested the specific prediction of Sidaway et al. that programming time may be a function of the target, within a line of targets, that subtends the smallest angle at the start position. It is this target that demands the greatest precision in the movement pathway. Subjects participated in a series of conditions in which the size and placement of the target that imposed the maximal constraint was varied. In each condition the subjects were required to strike a series of three targets with a stylus in a simple reaction-time paradigm. Analysis of the reaction-time results revealed a significant effect of size of constraint, but no effect of position of constraint. Analysis of the movementtime data dispelled movement-duration and movement-velocity interpretations of the results and intimated a possible online trajectory-correction process.Portions of these data were first presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society in Atlanta, Georgia, November 1989.     

Explicit syllable and phoneme segmentation in the young child

To write a language, one must first abstract the unit to be used from the acoustic stream of speech. Writing systems based on the meaningless units, syllables and phonemes, were late developments in the history of written language. The alphabetic system, which requires abstraction of the phonemic unit of speech, was the last to appear, evolved from a syllabary and, unlike the other systems, was apparently invented only once. It might therefore be supposed that phoneme segmentation is particularly difficult and more difficult, indeed, than syllable segmentation. Speech research suggests reasons why this may be so. The present study provides direct evidence of a similar developmental ordering of syllable and phoneme segmentation abilities in the young child. By means of a task which required preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children to tap out the number of segments in spoken utterances, it was found that, though ability in both syllable and phoneme segmentation increased with grade level, analysis into phonemes was significantly harder and perfected later than analysis into syllables. The relative difficulties of the different units of segmentation are discussed in relation to reading acquisition.     

Overall nutrient intake of preschool hyperactive and normal boys

Studies examining the relationship between sugar intake of hyperactive children and behavior problems have reported inconsistent results. We hypothesized that if the problem behaviors of attention deficit-disordered children with hyperactivity (ADDH) are exacerbated by food, then this might be due to differences in their background nutrition relative to non-ADDH children. Parents and day care workers of 24 ADDH and 27 non-ADDH preschoolaged boys were trained to keep food diaries for 21 days. Analysis of the last 14 days for each child revealed no differences in overall nutrient intake between the two groups. On the other hand, for 5 ADDH and 3 non-ADDH children the within-subject correlations between daily behavior and sugar intake were significant. We concluded that nutrition-behavior interactions are more likely a function of idiosyncratic sensitivities, rather than a general tendency for ADDH children to eat differently from non-ADDH children.This research was funded by the Alberta Mental Health Research Advisory Council, and by the National Health Research and Development Program of Health and Welfare Canada. We think Jeannine Fraser for help with data analyses.     

NONVOCAL LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN ADOLESCENTS WITH SEVERE PHYSICAL DISABILITIES: BLISSYMBOL VERSUS ICONIC STIMULUS FORMATS

This study compared training in two language systems for three severely handicapped, nonvocal adolescents: the Bliss symbol system and an iconic picture system. Following baseline, training and review trials were implemented using an alternating treatments design. Daily probes were conducted to assess maintenance, stimulus generalization, and response generalization, and data were collected on spontaneous usage of either language system throughout the school day. Results showed that students required approximately four times as many trials to acquire Bliss symbols as iconic pictures, and that students maintained a higher percentage of iconic pictures. Stimulus generalization occurred in both language systems, while the number of correct responses during responses generalization probes was much greater for the iconic system. Finally, students almost always showed more iconic responses than Bliss responses in daily spontaneous usage. These results suggest that an iconic system might be more readily acquired, maintained, and generalized to daily situations. Implications of these findings for the newly verbal person were discussed.     

閃光信号的頻率选择实驗研究

一、問題 在現代生产技术中,人和机器可以看作是一个統一的系統。这一系統的中心环节是人。人凭借自己的感官从仪表和信号得到有关机器的运轉状态和生产过程的变化的信息,經过一系列的思惟活动,然后作出判断,并通过操作活动对机器和生产过程进行控制和調节。关于人和机器的这一方面的关系,以及关于机器、仪表、信号和操纵装置的設計如何适应人的感知、思惟和运动的特点,以便使“人机系統”达到最高效率的研究,已經形成一个新的学科分支,即“工程心理学”。本研究所涉及的閃光信号的頻率选择問題,就是属于工程心理学的范围。     

关于汉語拼音方案中的省略字和一些变化規則的研究

一、汉語拼音方案的科学性及优越性 汉語拼音方案是利用拉丁字母和北京音組織起来的中国化的文字的基础。汉語拼音字母中的复韵母和鼻韵母是由两个或两个以上的单韵母組成的。除开带ng的鼻韵母本身較难拼音之外其余的复韵母本身都可以进行拼音的。所以在拼音字母中,只要掌握26个(实际应用是25个)名称音的字母之后,其余的复韵母和鼻韵母几乎都可以利用邏輯記忆     

老子:从反讽的立场看

老子哲学的最大特征是对现实的批判性反思,这种反思植根于他对历史的深切认识、对其生活时代虚假的社会礼俗的反感与厌倦,由此表现为对个体主观自由的认同和追求,表现为对个人道德的重视和强调。这种反思在语言层面上被赋予“正言若反”的特征,最终落实为“无”的形上体认。如此恰似苏格拉底开启的反讽传统。从反讽的立场可见老子哲学的世界品格。     

Changes in Reporting of Suicide News After the Promotion of the WHO Media Recommendations

Media recommendations on suicide reporting are available in many countries and in different languages. Hong Kong newspapers have been found to be noncompliant with WHO recommendations. A booklet containing WHO media guidelines Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, and an awareness campaign were launched in November 2004 in Hong Kong. Content analysis was then conducted to compare the reporting of suicide news before and after the launch. Results indicate that certain reporting styles were changed in accordance with the recommendations; namely, lessened use of pictorial presentations and headlines mentioning suicides. Most of the changes were attributed to the tabloid‐style newspapers. This study suggests that programs to promote media recommendations tailored for journalists appear to be efficacious in altering their way of reporting.