Chunking mechanisms in human learning

Pioneering work in the 1940s and 1950s suggested that the concept of 'chunking' might be important in many processes of perception, learning and cognition in humans and animals. We summarize here the major sources of evidence for chunking mechanisms, and consider how such mechanisms have been implemented in computational models of the learning process. We distinguish two forms of chunking: the first deliberate, under strategic control, and goal-oriented; the second automatic, continuous, and linked to perceptual processes. Recent work with discrimination-network computational models of long- and short-term memory (EPAM/CHREST) has produced a diverse range of applications of perceptual chunking. We focus on recent successes in verbal learning, expert memory, language acquisition and learning multiple representations, to illustrate the implementation and use of chunking mechanisms within contemporary models of human learning.     

An event-related potential evaluation of involuntary attentional shifts in young and older adults

Involuntary shifts in attention to irrelevant stimuli were studied in elderly and young volunteers during a dichotic-listening task. Event-related potentials and behavioral measures were recorded. Volunteers heard pairs of tones presented with 2 different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). To-be-ignored tones were presented to the left ear, followed by to-be-attended tones to the right ear. Left-ear tones were a frequent standard (700 Hz) and an infrequent small (650 Hz) and large (500 Hz) deviant. Right-ear tones (1500 Hz) were presented with 2 equiprobable intensities. Volunteers responded to the lower intensity stimulus. Behavioral performance was impaired at the short SOA when to-be-ignored large deviants preceded to-be-attended targets, but more so for the elderly volunteers. Large deviants also elicited the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a for both age groups. It was concluded that the more impaired behavioral performance observed for the elderly was due to greater sensitivity to output from the MMN system by a frontal lobe system responsible for the maintenance of attentional focus.     

Attributional Style and Personality as Predictors of Happiness and Mental Health

This paper contains two studies which set out to examine to what extent attributional style (internal, stable, global) and personality traits predicted happiness and psychiatric symptoms in a normal, non-clinical, population of young people in their early twenties. Two hundred and three participants completed five questionnaires: the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) (version one & version two), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Oxford Happiness Inventory, and Langner 22-Item Measure. Sample 1 (n = 120) completed ASQ version one (in both positive and negative situations) and sample 2 (n = 83) completed ASQ version two (in expanded negative situations). Regressional analysis showed that ASQ (in both versions) was the significant predictor of happiness and mental health accounting for 20% to 38% of variances. The ASQ was significantly associated with extraversion and neuroticism. Further, with happiness and mental health as dependent variables and attributional style, personality traits, and demographic variables as independent variables respectively, extraversion and attributional stability (in positive situations) were the significant predictors of happiness accounting for 59% of the total variance whilst neuroticism and psychoticism were the significant predictors of mental health accounting for 53% of the total variance. The results indicated that optimistic attributional style in positive situations was a stronger predictor of self-reported happiness than mental health and pessimistic attributional style in negative situations was a predictor of both happiness and mental health. Extraverts tended to have optimistic explanatory style for positive outcomes whereas neurotics tended to have pessimistic explanatory style for negative outcomes.     

When is a cause the "same"? Coherent generalization across contexts

Two competing psychological approaches to causal learning make different predictions regarding what aspect of perceived causality is generalized across contexts. Two experiments tested these predictions. In one experiment, the task required a judgment regarding the existence of a simple causal relation; in the other, the task required a judgment regarding the existence of an interaction between a candidate cause and unobserved background causes. The task materials did not mention assessments of causal strength. Results indicate that causal power (Cartwright, 1989; Cheng, 1997) is the mental construct that people carry from one context to another.     

从热力学角度审视和研究亚健康

从中医学及其与热力学的关联分析角度来认识亚健康的现象和实质."整体观念,以平为期"是中医学与热力学共同的理论基础.亚健康是人体处于"无序"的熵增状态,亚健康的干预就是人体从外界吸收"负熵流",降低系统紊乱度,从而达到新的有序状态,恢复健康.亚健康状态可以用热力学基本状态函数刻画,运用中医学的思维模式和热力学的研究方法,可构建基于热力学的亚健康诊断方法,进而为亚健康研究提供一个新的视角.     

小学生快速阅读的眼动研究

用自然实验和实验室实验考察了对小学四年级学生进行快速阅读训练的有效性,结果发现：（1）快速阅读训练可以显著地提高小学生的有效读速;（2）快速阅读训练可以显著减少注视次数、注视点平均持续时间;（3）快速阅读训练可以显著扩大眼跳距离。     

汉语图片命名中获得年龄的作用

不同语种的研究都发现获得年龄是影响图片命名和词汇命名的重要因素。该研究对汉语图片命名中获得年龄的作用进行了初步探讨。研究分为两部分,第一部分让20名大学生对187幅选自Snodgrass和Vanderwart图片集的线条画的名称的获得年龄进行了评定;第二部分以该187幅图片为刺激,30名大学生被试对图片进行命名反应。以命名反应时为因变量,采用多重回归分析,发现除了名称一致性和概念熟悉性,获得年龄是图片命名反应时的主要预测指标,并没有发现词频的效应。文章对此结果进行了讨论。     

《管子》忠思想研究

忠,是中国传统政治文化的重要内容之一。在"忠"思想发展史上,《管子》的贡献就在于对前人"忠"思想做了批判总结,并以儒家思想为基本出发点,对"忠"做了新的界定,使得原本内涵相当丰富的"忠"思想在这里开始出现围绕"君"之事进行定向思考的倾向,从而为未来"忠=忠君"做了理论上的准备。     

个人偏好与社会公德

个人偏好是人的个性中能够表现出来的比较稳定的特征.社会公德作为全社会的基础道德共识,发挥着调节人际关系、限制和引导个人偏好、维护公共利益的职能.个人偏好的自发性和随意性、自我中心的潜在价值取向、偏离"常规"的行为方式等,不可避免地导致对公共秩序的侵蚀.适时更新社会公德规范,使其符合人性化的发展要求;适度限制和矫正个人偏好,使其向维护公共秩序的方向发展,有机协调二者的内在冲突,是建设和谐社会的内在要求,也是实现人的全面发展的必然趋势.     

从诠释学看墨辩研究的逻辑学范式

This article describes the logic paradigm in the “Mobian” 墨辩 (the debate theory of the Mohist school) investigation from the point of view of hermeneutics, discloses the relationship between the overinterpretation tradition in China and the logic paradigm in the “Mobian” investigation, observes the overinterpretation of the “Mobian” by the creators and supporters of the logic paradigm from Liang Qichao and Hu Shi to the modernists, including mathematical logicians, and analyzes Shen Youding’s reflections on the logic paradigm in his later life. Translated by Huang Deyuan (proofread by Hsiung Ming) from Xueshu Yanjiu 学术研究 (Academic Research Journal), 2005, (1): 49–56