Tracing children's vocabulary development from preschool through the school‐age years: an 8‐year longitudinal study

In this 8‐year longitudinal study, we traced the vocabulary growth of Chinese children, explored potential precursors of vocabulary knowledge, and investigated how vocabulary growth predicted future reading skills. Two hundred and sixty‐four (264) native Chinese children from Beijing were measured on a variety of reading and language tasks over 8 years. Between the ages of 4 to 10 years, they were administered tasks of vocabulary and related cognitive skills. At age 11, comprehensive reading skills, including character recognition, reading fluency, and reading comprehension were examined. Individual differences in vocabulary developmental profiles were estimated using the intercept‐slope cluster method. Vocabulary development was then examined in relation to later reading outcomes. Three subgroups of lexical growth were classified, namely high‐high (with a large initial vocabulary size and a fast growth rate), low‐high (with a small initial vocabulary size and a fast growth rate) and low‐low (with a small initial vocabulary size and a slow growth rate) groups. Low‐high and low‐low groups were distinguishable mostly through phonological skills, morphological skills and other reading‐related cognitive skills. Childhood vocabulary development (using intercept and slope) explained subsequent reading skills. Findings suggest that language‐related and reading‐related cognitive skills differ among groups with different developmental trajectories of vocabulary, and the initial size and growth rate of vocabulary may be two predictors for later reading development.     

Electrophysiological difference between the representations of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory

Causally related concepts like “virus” and “epidemic” and general associatively related concepts like “ring” and “emerald” are represented and accessed separately. The Evoked Response Potential (ERP) procedure was used to examine the representations of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory. Participants were required to remember a task cue (causal or associative) presented at the beginning of each trial, and assess whether the relationship between subsequently presented words matched the initial task cue. The ERP data showed that an N400 effect (250–450 ms) was more negative for unrelated words than for all related words. Furthermore, the N400 effect elicited by causal relations was more positive than for associative relations in causal cue condition, whereas no significant difference was found in the associative cue condition. The centrally distributed late ERP component (650–750 ms) elicited by the causal cue condition was more positive than for the associative cue condition. These results suggested that the processing of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory recruited different degrees of attentional and executive resources.     

Perception of parents as demonstrating the inherent merit of their values: Relations with self‐congruence and subjective well‐being

This study focuses on the parenting practice of inherent value demonstration (IVD), involving parents' tendency to express their values in behaviours and appear satisfied and vital while doing so. Data from Chinese college students (n = 89) confirmed the hypothesis that offspring's perception of their parents as engaged in IVD predicts offspring's subjective well‐being (SWB) through sense of self‐congruence. Importantly, these relations emerged also when controlling for fundamental autonomy‐supportive (FAS) parenting practices such as taking children's perspective, minimising control and allowing choice. These findings are consistent with the view that parents concerned with their children's sense of autonomy may do well to engage in IVD in addition to more fundamental autonomy‐supportive practices. Future research may examine the role of IVD in promoting authentic values that serve as an internal compass that guides children to act in ways that feel self‐congruent.     

Do People Use Their Implicit Theories of Creativity as General Theories?

This study examines whether people use the general implicit theories of creativity or not when applying them to themselves and others. On the basis of the actor–observer asymmetry theory, the authors propose that conception of creativity would be differently constructed depending on the targets of attention: general, self, and other. Three studies attempted to examine this hypothesis. In the preliminary study, a measure was developed to assess the characteristics that describe general creativity. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses found the conceptual factors of general creativity. In Study 2, the common and specific factors of general, self, and others’ creativity concepts were compared through invariance tests. As a result, it was revealed that the invariance test failed, which means that the general conception of creativity may not be applicable to monitor self and others’ creativity in a consistent way. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed at the end of the study.     

人与世界:以事观之——杨国荣教授访谈

以事观之,主要是从"事"这一角度出发来对人和世界加以理解,而不是对"事"本身做出某种终极的哲学论述。现实世界与真实存在的生成过程,与人所从事的多样活动——人所作的多样之事——无法相分。西方没有类似"事"这样的概念,这表明了中国哲学的独特意义:中国哲学包含不少其他文化传统所缺乏的概念,后者有助于我们更深入地理解现实世界和人类生活。就意识层面而言,作为意识主体的自我和作为反观对象的自我之间的关联,实在地发生于做事过程。在事的展开过程中,知识与价值的问题密切联系在一起,做事既需要解决做什么的问题,也需要解决怎么做的问题。从事的角度来看,儒道两家的理想人格呈现出不同特点。道家以自然为第一原则,主张"为无为",儒家则更重视参与活动的合目的性。从事的角度来理解世界和人,既着眼于大的哲学问题,也关注于伦理学、语言哲学等具体领域的思考。     

医院和医疗保险的经济学分析

随着医疗卫生体制改革的深入,应对老龄化危机,降低不断提高的医疗服务费用,提高医疗服务质量,提高医疗服务可及性和公平性,是我们面对的切实问题。医院是提供医疗卫生服务的场所,也是提供医疗卫生服务的主体单位,了解医院的经济学特性和组织特点,有利于我们对市场经济环境下的医院行为有所了解,为卫生体制改革和医疗保险改革提供理论依据。     

干细胞研究中的多向立体思维方法

干细胞研究取得了里程碑式的进展,在临床疾病的预防和治疗中具有广阔的应用前景,这些研究成果凝聚了各国研究人员的集体智慧,多向立体思维方法得到了充分体现。