Psychological support for junior high school students: sibling order and sex

This study is a re-analysis of published data on psychological support for 609 junior high school students (317 boys, 292 girls, mean age = 14.1, SD = 0.8) based on the self-report, Psychological Support Scale, to evaluate sibling order as eldest or youngest and sex. In an earlier study, the questionnaire had been modified to be applicable to junior high school students. The study re-examined the data by extracting samples for categories of eldest and youngest siblings, for re-analysis of self-reported psychological support by sibling order and sex. Eldest children reported receiving more psychological support from both mother and father than youngest. Also, eldest boys received significantly greater psychological support from both the parents than the youngest boys or girls.     

Modification of depth and distance perception caused by long-term wearing of left-right reversing spectacles

For 35 to 39 days, four observers wore continuously left-right reversing spectacles which pseudoscopically reverse the order of binocular disparity and direction of convergence. In three tests, we investigated how the visual system copes with the transformation of depth and distance information due to the reversing spectacles. In stereogram observation, after a few days of wearing the spectacles. the observers sometimes perceived a depth order which was opposite to the depth order that they had perceived in the pre-spectacle-wearing period. Monocular depth cues contributed more to depth perception in the spectacle-wearing period than they did in the pre-spectacle-wearing period. While the perceived distance significantly decreased during the spectacle-wearing period, we found no evidence of adaptive change in distance perception. The results indicate that the visual system adapts itself to the transformed situation by not only changing the processing of disparity but also by changing the relative efficiency of each cue in determining apparent depth.     

Investigation of the relationship between social isolation, self-esteem, aggression and computer game play in Japanese adolescents

Some support for expressed concern over the negative consequences of computer game play was obtained by Colwell and Payne (2000) in a questionnaire survey of UK adolescents. A second study was carried out in Tokyo, Japan, to test for generality of findings. There was strong evidence of similarity in relation to play patterns, but in contrast to the UK sample, number of good friends and self-esteem did not relate to game play. A principal components analysis of a scale to measure needs met by game play resulted in the same two previously obtained factors; 'companionship' and 'prefer to friends'. However, in contrast to the UK sample, 'companionship' did not relate to play. A positive relation between the 'prefer to friends' factor and play was obtained for both boys and girls (boys only in the UK), thus providing support for the 'electronic friendship' hypothesis. There was evidence of a positive relation between play and aggression, but a preference for aggressive games was associated with lower aggression scores, and this raises questions for the 'causal hypothesis'.     

Neural correlates for learning to read Roman numerals

This study examined the neuronal correlates of reading Roman numerals and the changes that occur with extensive practice. Subjects were scanned by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) three times the first day of the experiment and once following two to three months of practice. This allowed comparison of brain activations with varying levels of practice on the same day and across the two to three months of training. The results revealed that upon learning that the alphabetical symbols had numeric meaning subjects immediately activated a network of brain areas, many of which have been previously implicated in numerical processing. Subsequent practice led to a change in the pattern of neuronal activity in only a single region of the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the left hemisphere. Implications of these findings are argued with regard to the prevalent neuronal model for the implementation of elementary numerical abilities.     

The effect of repeated writing on memory

Repeated writing, or rehearsal by writing, is a common memory strategy for the Japanese, especially when learning new logographic characters. The to-be-remembered items are written down not as external prompts, as with reminder notes, but to be memorized in the course of writing them down over and over again. In this study, we investigated whether the strategy was effective, and if so, in which condition. Experiment 1 showed that repeated writing improved memory for graphic designs but not for Chinese characters, words, or syllables. Experiment 2 showed that the effect occurred for both Japanese and American subjects, suggesting that it was not the result of a cultural background associated with a logographic language. Instead, the effect seemed to be accounted for by the encoding specificity of visual-motor information, because repeated writing improved free recall— that included writing—but did not improve recognition (Experiment 3). In Experiment 4, the strategy was applied to learning the Arabic alphabet. Finally, similarities between repeated writing and     

Functions of Career Resilience Against Reality Shock,Focusing on Full‐time Employees During Their First Year of Work

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of career resilience in coping with reality shock. Career resilience was defined as psychological traits that help individuals to cope with career risks and promote their own career development. It consisted of five factors: (a) ability to cope with problems and changes; (b) social skills; (c) interest in novelty; (d) optimism about the future; and (e) willingness to help others. Full‐time employees in their first year of employment (N = 233) participated in an online survey to measure career resilience, reality shock, and the degree of career development. The study found that coping with changes and being optimistic about the future could prevent the experience of reality shock. The result also suggested that good social skills prevented experience of reality shock from inhibiting career development.     

Learning expressive percussion performance under different visual feedback conditions

A study was conducted to test the effect of two different forms of real-time visual feedback on expressive percussion performance. Conservatory percussion students performed imitations of recorded teacher performances while receiving either high-level feedback on the expressive style of their performances, low-level feedback on the timing and dynamics of the performed notes, or no feedback. The high-level feedback was based on a Bayesian analysis of the performances, while the low-level feedback was based on the raw participant timing and dynamics data. Results indicated that neither form of feedback led to significantly smaller timing and dynamics errors. However, high-level feedback did lead to a higher proficiency in imitating the expressive style of the target performances, as indicated by a probabilistic measure of expressive style. We conclude that, while potentially disruptive to timing processes involved in music performance due to extraneous cognitive load, high-level visual feedback can improve participant imitations of expressive performance features.