Über die Messung der psychischen Ermüdung mit Hilfe des Flimmertests

Ohne ZusammenfassungErklärung der Abkürzungen Add.-Lstg. Additionsleistung - AZ Arbeitszeit - B/sec Anzahl der Blitze je Sekundes - KP Kurzpause - Lstg. Leistung - M Mittelwert (arithm. Mittel) - TZ Teilzeit - Vfr. Verschmelzungsfrequenz = Flimmergrenze - VL Versuchsleiter - Vp. Versuchsperson - Vpn. Versuchspersonen - Mittlere Abweichung vom Mittelwert - M Mittlerer Fehler des Mittelwertes     

Do current connectionist learning models account for reading development in different languages?

Learning to read a relatively irregular orthography, such as English, is harder and takes longer than learning to read a relatively regular orthography, such as German. At the end of grade 1, the difference in reading performance on a simple set of words and nonwords is quite dramatic. Whereas children using regular orthographies are already close to ceiling, English children read only about 40% of the words and nonwords correctly. It takes almost 4 years for English children to come close to the reading level of their German peers. In the present study, we investigated to what extent recent connectionist learning models are capable of simulating this cross-language learning rate effect as measured by nonword decoding accuracy. We implemented German and English versions of two major connectionist reading models, Plaut et al.'s (Plaut, D. C., McClelland, J. L., Seidenberg, M. S., & Patterson, K. (1996). Understanding normal and impaired word reading: computational principles in quasi-regular domains. Psychological Review, 103, 56-115) parallel distributed model and Zorzi et al.'s (Zorzi, M., Houghton, G., & Butterworth, B. (1998a). Two routes or one in reading aloud? A connectionist dual-process model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 1131-1161); two-layer associative network. While both models predicted an overall advantage for the more regular orthography (i.e. German over English), they failed to predict that the difference between children learning to read regular versus irregular orthographies is larger earlier on. Further investigations showed that the two-layer network could be brought to simulate the cross-language learning rate effect when cross-language differences in teaching methods (phonics versus whole-word approach) were taken into account. The present work thus shows that in order to adequately capture the pattern of reading acquisition displayed by children, current connectionist models must not only be sensitive to the statistical structure of spelling-to-sound relations but also to the way reading is taught in different countries.     

Antecedents of counterproductive behavior at work: a general perspective

Counterproductive work behaviors have predominantly been investigated at relatively narrow levels, with the focus limited to subsets of the behavioral domain as well as to specific explanatory approaches. This study took a broader perspective with respect to both dependent and independent variables. A sample of German employees from 2 organizations reported on their levels of general counterproductive behavior (GCB). In predicting GCB, M. R. Gottfredson and T. Hirschi's (1990) theory of self-control as a general explanation for deviant acts was tested and compared with several alternative approaches. Results from simple and moderated hierarchical multiple regression analyses involving 24 predictors of GCB strongly support hypotheses derived from self-control theory. Little support is found for any effects on individual differences in GCB beyond the direct and conditional impact of internal control.     

On the advancement and software support of decision‐making in focused ultrasound therapy

Focused ultrasound therapy (FUS) is a modern and promising way for minimally invasive cancer treatment. Recent advances in treatment technology, bio‐physical models, and numerical simulation methods have given rise to a significant curative potential. However, clinical routine of FUS still features classical planning approaches, which widely fail in exploiting this potential. The structure of FUS planning problems strongly suggests interactive multi‐criteria decision‐making concepts in order to improve treatment quality. This research work introduces an multi‐criteria decision‐making approach to FUS planning and explains how to bridge the conceptual gap between the clinical state of the art and this new planning paradigm.     

Psychometric Evaluation of the Italian Adaptation of the Test of Inferential and Creative Thinking

This article describes the psychometric properties of the Italian adaptation of the Analyse des Schlussfolgernden und Kreativen Denkens (ASK; Test of Inferential and Creative Thinking) for measuring inferential and creative thinking. The study aimed to (a) supply evidence for the factorial structure of the instrument, (b) describe its reliability in terms of internal consistency, and (c) explore its convergent and discriminant validity. The examinees were 284 high school students and adult graduates. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine the dimensional structure. The 2-factor model provided an acceptable fit for the empirical data. As expected, stronger correlations were found among the subscales within the same construct domains compared to correlations among the subscales from the different construct domains. The psychometric qualities of the ASK appeared fairly good, thereby suggesting that it might be helpful in several application fields, including academic and professional guidance, human resource selections, and job placement.     

Effects of wakeful resting versus social media usage after learning on the retention of new memories

Communication and information sharing via social media platforms is a common and popular activity. The majority of existing studies indicate that social media usage has detrimental effects on learning and memory. However, it is an open question as to whether social media usage affects memory even after learning. To test this, healthy young adults learned and immediately recalled a vocabulary list. Subsequent to recall, participants either wakefully rested for 8 min or used social media for 8 min. A delayed recall test took place after the wakeful resting condition and the social media condition and again after 1 day. Our results showed that social media usage, compared with wakeful resting, had detrimental effects on memory performance over both retention intervals. We assume that social media usage interfered with memory consolidation of learned vocabularies and suggest that learners opt for wakeful resting over social media usage as a learning-break activity.     

A dual-route perspective on eye movements of dyslexic readers

This study assessed eye movement abnormalities of adolescent dyslexic readers and interpreted the findings by linking the dual-route model of single word reading with the E-Z Reader model of eye movement control during silent sentence reading. A dysfunction of the lexical route was assumed to account for a reduced number of words which received only a single fixation or which were skipped and for the increased number of words with multiple fixations and a marked effect of word length on gaze duration. This pattern was interpreted as a frequent failure of orthographic whole-word recognition (based on orthographic lexicon entries) and on reliance on serial sublexical processing instead. Inefficiency of the lexical route was inferred from prolonged gaze durations for singly fixated words. These findings were related to the E-Z Reader model of eye movement control. Slow activation of word phonology accounted for the low skipping rate of dyslexic readers. Frequent reliance on sublexical decoding was inferred from a tendency to fixate word beginnings and from short forward saccades. Overall, the linkage of the dual-route model of single word reading and a model of eye movement control led to a useful framework for understanding eye movement abnormalities of dyslexic readers.     

Differential outcomes facilitate same/different concept learning

Commonly recognized, the training procedure one employs often affects the results they obtain. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that abstract-concept learning is affected by employing a differential-outcomes procedure. The differential-outcome effect has been shown to occur for item-specific strategies but has not been established for relational strategies. To test whether different-outcome expectancies can facilitate a relational strategy, eight pigeons were trained and tested in a two-item same/different task with pictures. After pecking an upper picture, they pecked a lower picture if the pictures were the same or a white rectangle if the pictures were different. Two groups of pigeons were rewarded with either different outcomes (sounds and food amounts) or same outcomes. Both groups were trained to criterion with successively larger picture sets (8–1,024 items) and were transfer tested with novel pictures following each acquisition. With the smallest training sets, neither group showed any novel-stimulus transfer. But after acquiring the task with 32 pictures, the different-outcomes group responded more accurately to novel pictures than the same-outcome group. As the training set-size increased, both groups’ transfer performance converged and became equivalent to training performance. These results show for the first time that training with different outcomes facilitates abstract-concept learning.