Introduction: Some Remarks on History,Philosophy, and Education

Studies in Philosophy and Education -     

The relationship of phonemic awareness to reading acquisition: More consequence than precondition but still important

Three studies examined the presence of phonemic awareness among Austrian children before reading instruction and its relationship to concurrent and later reading. These children were about 6–7 years of age but in the majority of cases unable to read when they entered school. Testing phonemic awareness with a newly developed, rather simple and natural vowel substitution task revealed that many children showed not a single correct response or little success. In contrast, the few readers at the beginning of grade one exhibited high phonemic awareness and after a few months of reading instruction most of the children scored at least close to perfect in the vowel substitution task. Despite this apparent effect of reading on phonemic awareness there was a specific predictive relationship between initial phonemic awareness differences and success in learning to read and to spell. In agreement with other studies it was found that phonemic awareness differences before instruction predicted the accuracy of alphabetic reading and spelling at the end of grade one independent from IQ and initial differences in letter knowledge and reading. However, closer examination of the relationship between phonemic awareness before instruction and later success in learning to read revealed a specific pattern. Children with high phonemic awareness at the beginning of grade one showed uniformly high reading and spelling achievement at the end of grade one.     

Individual Differences in the Effectiveness of Sexual Harassment Awareness Training1

Little research has investigated the effectiveness of sexual harassment awareness training videos on potential harassers' knowledge, behavior, or attitudes. A laboratory study was conducted that assessed the effects of a sexual harassment awareness training video on several training outcomes: sexual harassment knowledge, touching behavior, and attitudes associated with the likelihood of harassing others. Participants' propensity to harass was measured prior to their participation in the study. Results indicated that video-based training increased knowledge acquisition and reduced the inappropriate behavior of men who had a high propensity to harass. However, the training did not influence participants' long-term attitudes associated with the propensity to harass others. The research and practical implications of the study results are discussed.     

Physical performance in relation to age, sex, birth order, social class, and sports activities of preschool children

Physical performance of 1,194 preschool children, ages 43 to 84 mo. was related to characteristics of physical growth, cognitive performance, and social variables. Correlations between measures of physical growth and physical performance and between motor and cognitive performance were positive and significant. Physical fitness, body coordination, and manual dexterity improved across age groups. Significant sex differences were found, although boys exceeded on some measures and girls on others. Children with older sisters or brothers performed better than only or first-born children, and children who participated in sports activities outside school outperformed those who did not.     

Task-set reconfiguration with binary and three-valued task dimensions

 Recently, we [Kleinsorge & Heuer (1999) Psychological Research, 62, 300–312] introduced the notion of generalizing switching operations to account for a characteristic pattern of shift costs that can be observed when participants have to shift between four tasks that result from an orthogonal combination of the two binary task dimensions kind of judgment (numerical vs spatial) and judgment-to-response mapping (compatible vs incompatible). Specifically, while a change of the kind of judgment always results in costs, a change of mapping results in costs only when the kind of judgment is repeated, but results in benefits when the kind of judgment changes as well. In Experiment 1, we replicated and extended this finding with a combination of two spatial kinds of judgment that were more similar to each other and were more unlikely to result in build-in dependencies of the two task dimensions. In Experiment 2, we extended this design to a combination of nine tasks that resulted from a factorial combination of two three-valued task dimensions. In this experiment, shift costs grew monotonically with the number of task dimensions on which a change took place. This outcome is consistent with the assumption that a generalizing switching operation is a forward-acting process that requires a specific target value to switch to. Received: 17 April 2000 / Accepted: 25 August 2000     

Implicit learning of sequences of tasks

Task sets can be configured in advance of performing a new task. However, the degree to which advance information is actually used for advance configuration depends on the nature of the available information. The role of implicit learning was explored in 2 experiments by means of a modified serial reaction time task with repeated sequences of 4 dimensionally organized tasks. Although there was clear evidence for implicit learning of the sequence (of length 8), the learning was not associated with a reduction of shift costs, either with a short (200 ms) or with a long (1,200 ms) response-stimulus interval. In contrast, a reduction of shift costs was observed when external precues were introduced in a 3rd experiment. According to these results, the sequences of stimulus features that serve as cues for the tasks to perform on the stimuli are learned, but the representation of the features is void of their task-associated meanings.     

Working memory training improvements and gains in non-trained cognitive tasks in young and older adults

Previous studies on working memory training have indicated that transfer to non-trained tasks of other cognitive domains may be possible. The aim of this study is to compare working memory training and transfer effects between younger and older adults (n = 60). A novel approach to adaptive n-back training (12 sessions) was implemented by varying the working memory load and the presentation speed. All participants completed a neuropsychological battery of tests before and after the training. On average, younger training participants achieved difficulty level 12 after training, while older training participants only reached difficulty level 5. In younger participants, transfer to Verbal Fluency and Digit Symbol Substitution test was found. In older participants, we observed a transfer to Digit Span Forward, CERAD Delayed Recall, and Digit Symbol Substitution test. Results suggest that working memory training may be a beneficial intervention for maintaining and improving cognitive functioning in old age.     

Optimal Designs for the Rasch Model

In this paper, optimal designs will be derived for estimating the ability parameters of the Rasch model when difficulty parameters are known. It is well established that a design is locally D-optimal if the ability and difficulty coincide. But locally optimal designs require that the ability parameters to be estimated are known. To attenuate this very restrictive assumption, prior knowledge on the ability parameter may be incorporated within a Bayesian approach. Several symmetric weight distributions, e.g., uniform, normal and logistic distributions, will be considered. Furthermore, maximin efficient designs are developed where the minimal efficiency is maximized over a specified range of ability parameters.