Place‐value understanding in number line estimation predicts future arithmetic performance

In multi‐digit numbers, the value of each digit is determined by its position within the digit string. Children's understanding of this place‐value structure constitutes a building block for later arithmetic skills. We investigated whether a number line estimation task can provide an assessment of place‐value understanding in first grade. We hypothesized that estimating the position of two‐digit numbers requires place‐value understanding. Therefore, we fitted a linear function to children's estimates of two‐digit numbers and considered the resulting slope as a measure of children's place‐value understanding. We observed a significant correlation between this slope and children's performance in a transcoding task known to require place‐value understanding. Additionally, the slope for two‐digit numbers assessed at the beginning of grade 1 predicted children's arithmetic performance at the end of grade 1. These results indicate that the number line estimation task may indeed constitute a valid measure for first‐graders' place‐value understanding. Moreover, these findings are hard to reconcile with the view that number line estimation directly assesses a spatial representation of numbers. Instead, our results suggest that numerical processes involved in performing the task (such as place‐value understanding) may drive the association between number line estimation and arithmetic performance.     

Habituation of exploratory activity to new stimuli, to the absence of a previously presented stimulus and to new contexts, in rats

Rats trained to run a shuttle-alleyway for food exhibited exploratory behaviour to a novel visual/tactual stimulus presented in a specific place of the alley. Intermittent presentation of the same stimulus in the same place resulted in reduction of the exploratory activity (habituation), both within and between sessions. The animals also directed exploratory activity to the absence of the previously presented stimulus at the place where the stimulus had been presented before; this latter response also habituated. The presentation (1) of the same stimulus to which the animals had already habituated in another place in the alleyway or when the animals were running in an opposite direction to the previous trials of stimulus presentation, or (2) of another stimulus, resulted, again, in the appearance of exploratory activity. These results lead to the conclusion that the animals code external events, store this information, and use it to detect spatial- and directional-contextual changes and to generate predictions about that specific environment.     

Conceptualizing the multidimensional nature of self-efficacy: assessment of situational context and level of behavioral challenge to maintain safer sex. National Institute of Mental Health Multisite HIV Prevention Trial Group.

A. Bandura (1991) argued that self-efficacy measurement should be specific both to the situation in which the behavior occurs and level of challenge in that situation. Measures consistent with the 2 dimensions were developed with graded challenge levels and differing gender-appropriate situations. Participants were 1,496 controls in the National Institute of Mental Health Multisite HIV Prevention Trial recruited from STD clinics and health service centers (925 women and 571 men). The authors tested 4 separate-sex confirmatory factor analysis models as follows: (a) Condom negotiation efficacy as a unitary construct across situations and gradation of difficulty; (b) situation as preeminent, which transfers across skills whatever the gradation of difficulty; (c) skill as predominant, irrespective of situation; and (d) a multidimensional design that simultaneously accounts for both situation and graded difficulty. Consistent with Bandura's theory, the multidimensional model provided the best fit for both samples.     

Effects of early child‐care on cognition,language, and task‐related behaviours at 18 months: An English study

This study investigated the effects of different characteristics of early child‐care in England on the development of cognition, language, and task‐related attention and behaviour (orientation/engagement and emotion regulation during the Bayley assessment) at 18 months. Data were drawn from a prospective longitudinal study of 1,201 infants. As found in previous studies, socio‐demographic characteristics and maternal caregiving (especially ‘opportunities for stimulation’) were significant predictors of all child outcomes. There were also effects of quantity of individual and group care, and quality of non‐maternal care. Controlling for demographics and maternal caregiving, more hours of group care (nurseries) were related to higher cognitive scores, while more hours of individual care (e.g., grandparents, nannies etc.) were related to lower orientation/engagement scores. Non‐maternal caregiving was observed in a subsample of 345 children, and after controlling for all covariates as well as quantity and stability of care, quality of care was found to be predictive of higher cognitive ability and better orientation/engagement. Although the effect sizes were small in magnitude, in line with other similar studies, such modest effects from a large English sample are important when viewed in light of the widespread use of non‐maternal care during infancy and early childhood.