Dynamic categorization and slot-filler representation in 4- and 6-year-old children

This experiment was aimed at studying both the role of narrow/contextualized categories in the acquisition/organization of conceptual knowledge and the dynamics of categorization decisions. A forced-choice categorization task contrasting thematic and taxonomic responding was used in 4- and 6-year-old children. Before response alternatives were presented, a conceptual organization was pre-activated by means of a matching between the target stimulus and a thematically related, taxonomically related or slot-filler related object. Although taxonomic sorting was prominent overall, it varied as a function of age and of the nature of the pre-activated relation. Responses in accordance with the thematic or taxonomic activations occurred similarly in 4- and 6-year-old children. Age-related effects were however at work in the case of a slot-filler activation: 4-year-old children considered the contextual/contiguity relations between the stimuli but did not weight the equivalence relations (i.e., same occurrence of responses based on the kind of object in the slot-filler and in the thematic activation conditions). More diversified processes appeared to be at work in 6-year-old children. Slot-filler categories were this time considered throughout both their contextual/contiguity structure and their equivalence relations. Results were discussed in terms of availability of conceptual organizations, flexibility abilities, dynamic categorization and preferences. The focus was on implication of slot-filler representations in the construction of conceptual knowledge and in the development of categorization. An important point was to determine whether the age-related changes observed in the slot-filler activation condition could be consistent with Nelson's ( 1983 ) idea that slot-fillers would help passing from a schema-based to a conventional superordinate organization.     

Optimization of Blocked Designs in fMRI Studies

Blocked designs in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are useful to localize functional brain areas. A blocked design consists of different blocks of trials of the same stimulus type and is characterized by three factors: the length of blocks, i.e., number of trials per blocks, the ordering of task and rest blocks, and the time between trials within one block. Optimal design theory was applied to find the optimal combination of these three design factors. Furthermore, different error structures were used within a general linear model for the analysis of fMRI data, and the maximin criterion was applied to find designs which are robust against misspecification of model parameters.     

Perception d’attributs des visages parlants par le nouveau-né humain

A visual preference method is used for studying how human newborns can process internal characteristics on speaking faces in a multimodal context. In a first experiment, two mobile faces associated with a speech sound are opposed: one is clear and the other is blurred. A preference for the clear face is observed. A second experiment contrasts two clear faces, showing lip movements respectively congruent and non-congruent with the associated speech sound. No preference is observed in this situation. These results show that newborns process mobile faces by orienting their attention on more information than that corresponding to very low spatial frequencies. It seems however that they cannot detect the correspondences between the lip movements and the associated sounds.     

Are good students desirable friends? Evidence for friendship selection among elementary students / ¿Son los buenos estudiantes amigos deseables? Evidencia para la selección de amistad entre estudiantes de educación primaria

Abstract

This study assesses the relationship between friendship networks and academic performance among third graders from one school in Santiago, Chile. Longitudinal social network analysis (RSiena) was used to test whether friendship selection is driven by academic performance and if befriended peers tend to influence each other on their academic performance, including gender as a covariate. Results show a positive relationship between academic performance and number of friendship nominations received, and a higher probability of same-gender friendships. Students with higher academic achievement are more likely to be nominated as friends, especially by peers with lower academic achievement. These results suggest that elementary students value high performance as a desirable characteristic in their friends.     

Motivation et métacognition : les buts de compétence prédisent les processus métacognitifs en résolution de problèmes mathématiques

This study analyzes the effects of achievement goals on the metacognitive processes as 200 students solve two mathematical problems differing in complexity. Results show that the diverse achievement goals have significant effects both on metacognitive experiences and on metacognitive strategies, coherently across the two problems. Mastery-approach goals predict the feeling of liking the task, mastery-avoidance goals have an effect on the use of metacognitive strategies, whereas neither performance-approach nor performance-avoidance goals are significantly related to metacognitive processes. The results offer a rich picture of the interactions between goals and metacognitive processes, revealing the major role of mastery-avoidance goals.     

Processing ordinality and quantity: ERP evidence of separate mechanisms

We report an event-related potential (ERP) experiment of ordinal processing exploring the relationship between ordinal and numerical information.     

Socio-ecological influences of attitudes toward disability among Kenyan undergraduate students

This study examined personal and contextual variables as predictors of attitudes toward disability at a Kenyan higher education setting. Participants were a convenience sample of 309 undergraduate students at a Kenyan university enrolled in Sociology, Social Work, Psychology, Political Science, and Public Administration majors. Data on attitudes were collected using the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons scale (ATDP: Antonac & Livneh, 1988). A cross-sectional survey design was employed for data collection, and a multiple regression analysis was used for data analysis. Results revealed that the model was significant: F (9, 250)?=?2.784, p?=?0.004. However, only age (β?=?0.173, p?=?0.044) significantly predicted attitudes towards disability, indicating older students held more positive attitudes than their younger counterparts. Older students had a more favourable attitude towards people with disabilities than younger students. Seniority, by age, is highly valued in Africa than perhaps anywhere in the world. Kenyan older adults may be key to enhancing favourable attitudes toward individuals with disabilities in Kenya as well as interventions aimed at changing negative attitudes towards people with disabilities.     

Driving experience, attentional focusing, and the recall of recently inspected events

How does a driver’s perception of roadway events change with experience? A laboratory study addressed this question by comparing novice and experienced drivers as they watched video recordings taken from a moving vehicle. While watching the recordings, the drivers had their eye movements monitored. When the recording was paused, memory for immediately prior events was tested, and recall performance related to what the viewer had been inspecting. The recordings were taken from a vehicle as it travelled along a series of roads, and questions were asked about other road users and about roadway features. The experiment asked about the relationship between driving experience and attentional capture, and about the recall of events recently seen. What attracted attention were objects of central interest such as other road users appearing close to the camera, and moving objects. When the memory test was administered immediately after a hazardous event had occurred, such as a pedestrian stepping into the path of the camera vehicle, then there was evidence of attentional focussing and reduced availability of details about incidental objects. Recall performance generally reflected the pattern of eye fixations, but viewers did not always recall details about fixated objects, and were sometimes able to recall information about objects that were not fixated. Experienced drivers recalled more of the incidental events than the novices, but they were similar in their recall of central events. This supports the association between driving experience and the extent of the effective perceptual field.