Near‐ and Far‐Transfer Effects of Working Memory Updating Training in Elderly Adults

Age‐related declines in working memory, especially with regard to updating ability, affect many high‐level aspects of cognition in elderly adults. Recent studies have demonstrated that training might improve working memory. We investigated the effects of 20 days of adaptive training of working memory updating in healthy elderly adults. Comparing the performance on cognitive function tests before and after training in a trained group and a non‐trained group, significant positive training effects were observed in a numerical updating task and a digit‐span test, but not in a non‐verbal reasoning test. The results suggest beneficial effects of working memory updating training to working memory tasks that use different content material and task formats than those used during training. However, confirming the results of previous studies, transfer effects to other higher order cognitive processes seem to be absent in elderly adults. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

大学生的恋爱宽恕:问卷编制与特点研究

为编制大学生恋爱宽恕问卷并对大学生恋爱宽恕的特点进行研究,采用自编初始问卷对上海某高校的213名在校大学生进行预测,利用完善后的正式问卷对上海和南京两地的556名在校大学生展开正式施测,通过项目分析、探索性因素分析、相关分析、信效度分析等方法对数据进行处理,并利用编制的问卷对大学生的恋爱宽恕特点进行研究。结果显示:(1)编制的《大学生恋爱宽恕问卷》包含报复、回避、宽恕和消极沉思四个维度,可以解释方差总变异的69.08%;(2)内部一致性系数、分半信度、重测信度、结构效度和外部效度均显示编制的问卷具有良好的信效度指标;(3)编制的问卷能够较好地契合宽恕的定义;(4)大学生恋爱宽恕存在性别差异,其中女大学生的宽恕倾向高于男生;(5)面对恋爱中的伤害,中国大学生更多地采用消极深思的应对方式,而较少采用报复的方式。可见,大学生恋爱宽恕问卷信效度均达到了测量学的要求,中国大学生的恋爱宽恕与西方有所不同。     

高中到大学阶段学生的压力应对变化：一项追踪研究

本研究通过对178名高三学生为期一年的追踪访谈和调查,探讨了当前青少年从高中到大学生阶段所面临的压力源及应对方式的转变。结果显示：压力源存在五种类型,分别是学业压力、未来发展压力、家庭-经济压力、自我评价压力和人际关系压力。学业压力及未来发展压力不管是对高中生还是对大学生都是主要的压力来源。应对方式存在显著的性别差异。与高中阶段相比,大学阶段个体面临的人际关系压力、自我评价压力与家庭-经济压力更高,他们也更倾向于采取相对消极的应对方式。不同阶段压力与应对的关系存在差异。     

Make New Friends but Keep the Old: The Sisterhood Bonds that Have Shaped Me

The relationships in an Asian American psychologist's life have helped to shape her as a person as well as a professional. Specifically, a review of significant female relationships indicates that they have contributed to the author's therapeutic style. In this article, the author explores some of the relationships with other women in her life and illustrates how they have informed her role as a therapist. She concludes with a case vignette illustrating how some of these concepts were applied to a long-term therapy client.     

Prospective memory training in young adults enhances trained-task but not transfer-task performance

ABSTRACT

Training and transfer effects of prospective memory training have not been assessed in healthy young adults yet. The present study examined the effects of an 8-day prospective memory training programme using the Virtual Week computer game in 18–24-year-old students. Using the performance of an active control group as comparison, the study revealed a significant short-lived beneficial training-induced effect on a nearest-transfer task consisting of a different version of the trained task. No evidence was obtained for transfer effects to other tasks measuring prospective memory (near transfer), or to tasks measuring various executive functions or general intelligence (far transfer). These results were compared to those from a previous study in which an identical training and testing protocol was used in 13–15-year-old adolescents. This study did reveal some evidence of near and far transfer. The results of the two studies combined suggest a greater potential for prospective memory training to induce beneficial transfer effects in young adolescents than in young adults.     

Are personality disorders associated with social welfare burden in the United States?

This study examined the association between personality disorders and use of major social welfare services in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (N = 43,093). Social welfare services received and diagnoses of personality, substance use, mood, and anxiety disorders were assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule-DSM-IV-version. Analyses quantified the association between personality disorders and forms of public assistance while controlling for numerous confounds. Logistic regression analyses revealed dependent personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder were significantly associated with increased odds of receiving public assistance. In contrast, persons diagnosed with histrionic, schizoid, and obsessive-personality disorder were not significantly more likely to receive any public welfare service. Development of effective prevention and treatment of personality disorders would likely lead to reductions in overall social welfare burden.     

Gender differences in the effects of post-learning emotion on consolidation of item memory and source memory

Item memory and source memory are two integral elements of episodic memory. Although many studies have examined the effect of emotion on item memory, little research has simultaneously taken into account item memory and source memory. In addition, in the majority of previous studies, learning stimuli are used as the source of emotion, making it difficult to understand whether emotion has an effect on encoding or on consolidation of episodic memory. Furthermore, although gender differences exist in neurophysiological responses to emotional stimuli, in many studies gender differences were neglected and this leaves the picture incomplete regarding the effect of emotion on episodic memory. In this study, we examined gender differences in the effects of post-learning emotion on consolidation of item memory and source memory. Participants learned neutral Chinese nouns, took a memory pretest, and were then randomly assigned to three conditions, in which they either watched a 3-min negative video clip, or watched a 3-min positive video clip, or remained calm and relaxed for 3 min. Thirty minutes after the initial learning, participants took a memory posttest. We found that: (1) For females, post-learning negative emotion enhanced consolidation of item memory; however, neither negative emotion nor positive emotion had a significant effect on consolidation of source memory; (2) For males, neither negative nor positive emotion after learning had a significant effect on either item memory or source memory. Possible reasons for the gender differences, as well as the theoretical significance and practical implications of this study were discussed.     

家庭环境、专业满意度与大一新生心理健康的关系

为探究家庭环境和专业满意度对大一新生心理健康水平的影响。通过南京大学2013级3191名大一学生UPI问卷调查,采用回归方程分析家庭环境中的家庭来源地、家庭经济、是否独生子女、家庭环境认知以及专业满意度对大一新生心理健康的影响作用。结果发现,家庭环境因素和专业满意度均显著影响大一新生的心理健康水平。     

不同年级学生词边界划分的发展研究

汉语书写系统中不存在明显的词边界,中文读者对于词的划分存在较大的差异。词意识和词性均是影响这一差异的因素,本研究从发展的角度来探讨这两个因素是如何作用于词边界划分的。实验分别选取三年级、五年级、八年级及高二年级学生完成词切分任务。结果发现:(1)词切分认同率随年级的升高而降低,切分出来的词单元逐渐增大;(2)词切分认同率随年级变化的趋势会因词性的不同而发生变化,助词、形容词前、连词和介词后的切分认同率与总体趋势保持一致,但形容词前、数词、量词和介词前的切分认同率并未随年级的变化而变化。结果表明,词意识对中文读者词切分的影响受到词性的调节。     

Problem representation and solution strategies in solitaire chess

Abstract

Experimental and computer simulation were used to study problem representation, solution strategies, and the relation between the two when solving problems in solitaire chess. Experimental results showed that subjects produced three kinds of problem representations, corresponding to three kinds of solution strategies; namely, trial-and-error, concentration and decomposition. The three different problem representations reflected different cognitive levels achieved by the subjects in structuring the problem and determined which solution strategy the subjects employed. The three kinds of solution strategies exhibited different kinds of selectivity and different degrees of effectiveness.