学前儿童对汉语副词的理解和运用

在汉语中,副词是一种比较独特的词类,它没有具体形象的物体可作为理解支柱,因而儿童对它的掌握较晚。在各类副词中,５、６岁儿童对范围副词的理解最佳,时间副词次之,程度副词最差。三者的差异均有非常显著性意义。即使在每一类副词中,由于儿童概念发展的不均衡性,掌握的顺序也有先后。     

Teaching simple addition to children with mental retardation using a microcomputer

Computer assisted instruction (CAI) was used for improving the efficiency of simple addition (single-digit without carrying) computation in three children with mental retardation. The training program, conducted on a portable personal computer, consisted of demonstrations and repetitive practices on simple addition presented in a vertical format. A number of behavioral instruction techniques such as direct feedback, corrective demonstration, verbal association, and token reinforcement were also included. To evaluate the effects of the CAI package, a multiple-baseline across subjects design with followup was employed. Results showed that performances of children improved with training and were maintained at 1-week, 4-week, and 12-week followups. Generalization of the learned skills was evident when children were assessed on a paper-and-pencil addition test in a vertical format. The skills were also transferable, with initial prompting, to a computerized addition test in a horizontal format. These findings reaffirmed the applicability of CAI and behavioral techniques for teaching math skills to children with mental retardation.     

Teaching spontaneous requests to children with autism using a time delay procedure with multi-component toys

Children with autism were taught spontaneous requests through a time delay procedure. Unlike previous research, which usually employed food as the target stimuli to be requested, the present study used toy pieces from multi-component toys. The procedure involved presenting a child with the target stimulus, with the trainer prompting the child by immediately modeling the request response. When the response was imitated without error, prompting was delayed with the time interval gradually being increased over trials. A spontaneous or imitated response was reinforced by giving the child the requested object. As the stimulus/model interval increased, children with autism were expected to initiate the request by themselves prior to the prompt. The efficacy of the time delay procedure was assessed using a multiple baseline across subject design with three Chinese boys with autism. Results showed that the three children acquired a 100% performance within five to nine sessions of training and the skill was maintained at the one-month and three-month followups. Furthermore, the learned response transferred to various conditions when tested across setting, person, toy, and food items. These results suggest that toys, the multi-component ones in particular, served well as reinforcers for language training. Furthermore these findings confirmed the practical utility of the time delay procedure for promoting spontaneous communication skills in children with autism.     

A Holist Deontological Solution to the All or Nothing Problem

Philosophia - The All or Nothing Problem is a paradox developed in recent debates about effective altruism. One argues that the paradox can be resolved by rejecting some of its claims in favor of...     

Selfish power and unselfish status in Chinese work situations

The present research explored the selfishness of power and status as well as the mechanism in Chinese work situations. By using experimental and survey methods, two studies were designed to investigate the relationships among power, status, and self‐interested behaviour (SIB) as well as the mediating effect of perspective‐taking (PT). Results of the two studies consistently indicated that power increases whereas status reduces SIB. These opposing behavioural effects are partially attributed to the fact that power reduces whereas status increases PT. In addition, our results showed an interaction between power and status on SIB in Study 1 (interaction as a mental function), and a positive correlation between perceived power and status in Study 2 (correlation as a mental perception). Through the discussion from the perspective of the self/other‐orientation trait, as well as the stable effects of power and status on SIB in the two studies, we conclude that power is selfish and status is unselfish in Chinese work situations.     

Belief in Hell and Parenting Priorities Concerning Child Independence and Obedience: Does Economic Context Matter?

This study examines the ways that belief in hell is associated with parental goals concerning child independence and obedience. Further, it assesses how this association is contingent upon economic circumstances of a nation, reflected by a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Multilevel analyses with data from the sixth wave of the World Values Survey (2010-2014) show that belief in hell is associated with a greater likelihood of opposing independence and endorsing obedience. Yet, these observed associations differ across national economic context. Specifically, the negative association between belief in hell and parental endorsement of independence is greater in countries that are more economically developed. Similarly, the positive association between belief in hell and parental endorsement of obedience is greater in countries that are more economically developed. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed regarding the interplay of religion, parental values about child socialization, and social context.     

Bilateral Transcranial Direct Stimulation Over the Primary Motor Cortex Alters Motor Modularity of Multiple Muscles

Abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) has been demonstrated to modulate the motor performance of both healthy individuals and patients with neuromuscular disorders. However, the effect of tDCS on motor control of multiple muscles, which is a prerequisite to change in motor performance, is currently unknown. Using dimensionality reduction analysis, we investigated whether bilateral tDCS over M1 modulates the coordinated activity of 12 muscles. Fifteen healthy men participated in this randomized, double-blind crossover study. Each participant received a 20-min sham and 2-mA stimulation bilaterally over M1 (anode on the right M1 and cathode on the left M1), with a minimum washout period of 4?days. Muscle activation and end-point kinematics were evaluated during a task where participants reached out to a marked target with non-dominant hand as fast as possible, before and immediately after tDCS application. We found decreased similarity in motor modularity and significant changes in muscle activation in a specific motor module, particularly when reaching out to a target placed within arm’s length and improved smoothness index of movement only following 2-mA stimulation. These findings indicate that clinicians and researchers need to consider the simultaneous effect of bilateral tDCS over M1 on multiple muscles when they establish tDCS protocol to change in motor performance of patients with neuromuscular deficits.     

EARSHOT: A Minimal Neural Network Model of Incremental Human Speech Recognition

Despite the lack of invariance problem (the many-to-many mapping between acoustics and percepts), human listeners experience phonetic constancy and typically perceive what a speaker intends. Most models of human speech recognition (HSR) have side-stepped this problem, working with abstract, idealized inputs and deferring the challenge of working with real speech. In contrast, carefully engineered deep learning networks allow robust, real-world automatic speech recognition (ASR). However, the complexities of deep learning architectures and training regimens make it difficult to use them to provide direct insights into mechanisms that may support HSR. In this brief article, we report preliminary results from a two-layer network that borrows one element from ASR, long short-term memory nodes, which provide dynamic memory for a range of temporal spans. This allows the model to learn to map real speech from multiple talkers to semantic targets with high accuracy, with human-like timecourse of lexical access and phonological competition. Internal representations emerge that resemble phonetically organized responses in human superior temporal gyrus, suggesting that the model develops a distributed phonological code despite no explicit training on phonetic or phonemic targets. The ability to work with real speech is a major advance for cognitive models of HSR.     

Differences in Multidimensional Poverty According to Householders’ Gender and Age in South Korea

This study examines multidimensional poverty according to householders’ gender and age in South Korea. Using the counting approach, multidimensional poverty was measured on six dimensions: money, health, housing, employment, social protection, and social relations. The results indicate that the monetary dimension does not cover other deprived dimensions. In terms of poverty rate, female-headed households are more deprived on all six dimensions. The headcount ratio and adjusted headcount ratio gradually decrease as the cutoff value of multidimensional poverty increases. The decreasing tendency is more moderate for female-headed households than for male-headed households, indicating that female-headed households face more weighted poverty dimensions. Our study found that the poverty dimension demonstrates different patterns according to householders’ age. For the older group, health is the second most contributing factor, and for the younger group housing and social protection contributed more to multidimensional poverty than for the older group.