The Impact of Analogies on Creative Concept Generation: Lessons From an In Vivo Study in Engineering Design

Research on innovation often highlights analogies from sources outside the current problem domain as a major source of novel concepts; however, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not well understood. We analyzed the temporal interplay between far analogy use and creative concept generation in a professional design team's brainstorming conversations, investigating the hypothesis that far analogies lead directly to very novel concepts via large steps in conceptual spaces (jumps). Surprisingly, we found that concepts were more similar to their preceding concepts after far analogy use compared to baseline situations (i.e., without far analogy use). Yet far analogies increased the team's concept generation rate compared to baseline conditions. Overall, these results challenge the view that far analogies primarily lead to novel concepts via jumps in conceptual spaces and suggest alternative pathways from far analogies to novel concepts (e.g., iterative, deep exploration within a functional space).     

人脑加工自我参照任务的时空特点:来自ERP的证据

以自我参照加工任务为范式,实验采用事件相关电位(ERP)技术,探讨了自我参照加工中符合判断和不符合判断加工的时间进程和大脑神经机制。结果发现,自我参照加工在时间上可以概括分为三个阶段:注意分配阶段N1(80~150 ms)波幅出现自我参照结果的差异;语义整合阶段N2(250~450 ms)波幅和潜伏期出现自我参照结果的差异;评价判断阶段P3(450~700 ms)波幅和潜伏期出现自我参照结果的差异。从我们选择的大脑兴趣区激活水平上分析发现,自我信息在大脑中的激活似乎是一个由右及左,由后及前再及后的动态变化过程。研究结果丰富了自我参照加工的已有结果,并且对未来研究具有一定的启示意义。     

The importance of autonomy support and the mediating role of work motivation for well‐being: Testing self‐determination theory in a Chinese work organisation

We examine relations between perceived organisational autonomy support and different types of work motivation and well‐being outcomes in 266 teachers from two government schools in China. We hypothesised that greater autonomy support would be associated with more autonomous forms of employee motivation, and that teacher motivation would in turn mediate the effects of autonomy support on indicators of work well‐being (i.e., job satisfaction, work stress and physical ill symptoms). Results generally supported the hypothesised relations between perceived autonomy support and SDT's five types of motivations. Findings also showed that perceived autonomy support predicted job satisfaction directly and indirectly through the mediating roles of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation and external regulation. Perceived autonomy support predicted work stress directly and indirectly through the mediating roles of external regulation and amotivation. Autonomy support also predicted illness symptoms via the mediating roles of intrinsic motivation, introjected regulation and amotivation. The current findings highlight how perceived organisational support for autonomy relates to motivational differences in a Chinese work context, and the potential relevance of autonomy support for employee well‐being.     

Spiritual coaching in cancer patients: treating the spirit as well as the disease

Interest in the exploration of spirituality in medical practice has been growing recently due to some studies suggesting its role in the improvement of patient well-being and quality of life. This project examined the feasibility of providing spiritual coaching with patients in an outpatient Radiation Oncology clinic setting. The purpose of spiritual coaching was to provide patients with opportunities to explore their current spiritual lives, increase their involvement in spiritually enhancing activities, and expand their spiritual opportunities. Quality-of-life measurements focused on feelings of hopefulness and distress were used in patients undergoing radiation treatment for cancer. This study suggests that there is a potential benefit for spiritual coaching in the care of cancer patients, and future studies will be done to further el ucidate the ationship of spirituality and quality of life in this population.     

Retrieval-induced facilitation: initially nontested material can benefit from prior testing of related material

Classroom exams can assess students' knowledge of only a subset of the material taught in a course. What are the implications of this approach for long-term retention? Three experiments (N = 210) examined how taking an initial test affects later memory for prose materials not initially tested. Experiment 1 shows that testing enhanced recall 24 hr later for the initially nontested material. This facilitation was not seen for participants given additional study opportunities without initial testing. Experiment 2 extends this facilitative effect to a within-subjects design. Experiment 3 demonstrates that this facilitation can be modulated by conscious strategies. These results have implications for educational practice and the theoretical developments of the testing effect, associative memory, and retrieval inhibition.     

The cognitive profile of Chinese children with mathematics difficulties

This study examined how four domain-specific skills (arithmetic procedural skills, number fact retrieval, place value concept, and number sense) and two domain-general processing skills (working memory and processing speed) may account for Chinese children’s mathematics learning difficulties. Children with mathematics difficulties (MD) of two age groups (7-8 and 9-11 years) were compared with age-matched typically achieving children. For both age groups, children with MD performed significantly worse than their age-matched controls on all of the domain-specific and domain-general measures. Further analyses revealed that the MD children with literacy difficulties (MD/RD group) performed the worst on all of the measures, whereas the MD-only group was significantly outperformed by the controls on the four domain-specific measures and verbal working memory. Stepwise discriminant analyses showed that both number fact retrieval and place value concept were significant factors differentiating the MD and non-MD children. To conclude, deficits in domain-specific skills, especially those of number fact retrieval and place value understanding, characterize the profile of Chinese children with MD.