Children show limited movement repertoire when learning a novel motor skill

Examining age differences in motor learning using real‐world tasks is often problematic due to task novelty and biomechanical confounds. Here, we investigated how children and adults acquire a novel motor skill in a virtual environment. Participants of three different age groups (9‐year‐olds, 12‐year‐olds, and adults) learned to use their upper body movements to control a cursor on a computer screen. Results showed that 9‐year‐old and 12‐year‐old children showed poorer ability to control the cursor at the end of practice. Critically, when we investigated the movement coordination, we found that the lower task performance of children was associated with limited exploration of their movement repertoire. These results reveal the critical role of motor exploration in understanding developmental differences in motor learning.     

Children reading spoken words: interactions between vocabulary and orthographic expectancy

There is an established association between children's oral vocabulary and their word reading but its basis is not well understood. Here, we present evidence from eye movements for a novel mechanism underlying this association. Two groups of 18 Grade 4 children received oral vocabulary training on one set of 16 novel words (e.g., ‘nesh’, ‘coib’), but no training on another set. The words were assigned spellings that were either predictable from phonology (e.g., nesh) or unpredictable (e.g., koyb). These were subsequently shown in print, embedded in sentences. Reading times were shorter for orally familiar than unfamiliar items, and for words with predictable than unpredictable spellings but, importantly, there was an interaction between the two: children demonstrated a larger benefit of oral familiarity for predictable than for unpredictable items. These findings indicate that children form initial orthographic expectations about spoken words before first seeing them in print. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/jvpJwpKMM3E .     

睾丸Sertoli细胞构建人工免疫赦免区的研究启示

异源胰岛细胞移植中免疫排斥的问题一直是制约胰岛移植成功运用于临床的主要障碍。最近有研究表明,睾丸Sertoli细胞能够表达有效诱导免疫排斥细胞凋亡的Fas配体。因此,通过人工方式为异休移植细胞构建一个类似的局部免疫赦免微环境将成为可能。     

意识思维和无意识思维对复杂决策的影响

以大学生为被试,以汽车作为实验材料,通过对12条汽车属性信息的操纵,设置出四款优差不同的汽车。通过对汽车的优差选择,探察在属性信息逐条呈现的情况下,有意识思维与无意识思维对复杂决策的影响。研究结果表明:在反应时上,无意识思维下的决策时间要比有意识思维下的决策时间长;在选择的正确率上,有意识思维决策的结果要优于无意识思维决策的结果;在信息回忆量上,有意识思维决策的回忆量要多于无意识思维决策的回忆量,这与无意识思维理论是相违背的。     

指导语形式、材料性质对解决四卡问题的影响

该文通过实验的方法,研究了指导语形式、材料性质对大学生解决四卡问题的影响。结果发现:(1)指导语形式影响大学生对四卡问题的解决,肯定式指导语有助于提高被试的成绩。(2)材料性质影响大学生对四卡问题的解决,具体材料相比抽象材料有促进效应。本实验表明,指导语形式和材料性质都能对大学生解决四卡问题产生影响,两者之间不存在交互作用。     

关于学习倦怠的研究综述

近年来国内外学者开展了一系列学习倦怠的研究,本文拟从学习倦怠概念的界定、学习倦怠的结构及其测量、学习倦怠的影响因素等三个方面,总结了近年来国内外的学者对学习倦怠进行的研究,对其进行了评价,并展望了未来的研究方向。     

Phonemes matter: the role of phoneme-level awareness in emergent Chinese readers

The importance of phonological awareness for learning to read may depend on the linguistic properties of a language. This study provides a careful examination of this language-specific theory by exploring the role of phoneme-level awareness in Mandarin Chinese, a language with an orthography that, at its surface, appears to require little phoneme-level insight. A sample of 71 monolingual Mandarin-speaking children completed a phonological elision task and a measure of single-character reading. In this sample, 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers were unable to complete phoneme-level deletions, whereas 6- to 8-year-old first graders were able to complete initial, final, and medial phoneme-level deletions. In this older group, performance on phoneme deletions was significantly related to reading ability even after controlling for syllable- and onset/rime-level awareness, vocabulary, and Pinyin knowledge. We believe that these results reopen the question of the role of phonological awareness in reading in Chinese and, more generally, the nature of the mechanisms underlying this relationship.     

音高和时长信息感知的范畴特异性及其发展

通过考察不同范畴间相同声音特征和同一范畴内不同声音特征的感知探讨了言语和音乐中音高和时长信息感知的特异性及发展模式。结果发现：同一范畴内不同声音特征的感知显著相关,支持音高和时长信息加工的范畴特异性理论;高一学生只在言语中的音高和时长信息的感知上具有明显的范畴特异性,说明范畴特异性的形成因声音范畴属性的不同而有所差异;高一学生言语中音高信息的感知能力好于对时长信息的感知,而成人却没有差异,可能是受到了母语和第二语言学习经验的影响。     

Testing the effects of an expectancy-based intervention among adolescents: Can placebos be used to enhance physical health?

It has been suggested that the well-known health benefits associated with exercise can be explained by a placebo effect, and that greater effort should be given to convince people that their current behaviors have desirable health consequences. The overall purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of this "mind-set matters" hypothesis through the use of an expectancy-based intervention with adolescents. The study involved a four week randomized controlled trial with 348 Grade 9 adolescents (M (age)?=?14.07 yrs, SD?=?0.30), from four high schools, taking part in either a placebo-intervention condition (n?=?188) or a control condition (n?=?160). Participants in the placebo-intervention condition were informed that what they are already doing in school physical education lessons fulfills current recommendations for an active lifestyle. Participants in the control condition were not given this information. Four weeks after the intervention, adolescents in the placebo-intervention condition did not demonstrate significant changes in physiological health-related measures (diet, weight, body mass index, percentage body fat, heart rate, mean arterial pressure). The findings question the external validity of the "mind-set matters" hypothesis with adolescents, and suggest that simply encouraging adolescents to believe that they are healthy may not enable them to respond with improved indicators of physical health.     

小学教师期望对学生人格的影响:学生知觉的中介作用

以1260名小学生为被试,采用问卷法探讨小学教师期望对人格的影响,以及学生知觉在教师期望对人格影响中的中介效应。结果表明:(1)教师期望各维度与人格的智能特征、认真自控、外倾性和亲社会性均有显著正相关,品行和纪律期望维度与人格的情绪稳定性相关不显著。(2)学业期望对人格的智能特征、外倾性和情绪稳定性预测作用最大,品行期望对认真自控预测作用最大,纪律期望对亲社会性预测作用最大。(3)小学生知觉在教师期望对人格智能特征、认真自控、外倾性、亲社会性影响中起部分中介作用,在教师期望对人格情绪稳定性影响中不存在中介效应。