Induction of Relational Schemas: Common Processes in Reasoning and Complex Learning

Five experiments were performed to test whether participants induced a coherent representation of the structure of a task, called a relational schema, from specific instances. Properties of a relational schema include: An explicit symbol for a relation, a binding that preserves the truth of a relation, potential for higher-order relations, omnidirectional access, potential for transfer between isomorphs, and ability to predict unseen items in isomorphic problems. However relational schemas are not necessarily coded in abstract form. Predictions from relational schema theory were contrasted with predictions from configural learning and other nonstructural theories in five experiments in which participants were taught a structure comprised of a set of initial-state,operator → end-state instances. The initial-state,operator pairs were presented and participants had to predict the correct end-state. Induction of a relational schema was achieved efficiently by adult participants as indicated by ability to predict items of a new isomorphic problem. The relational schemas induced showed the omnidirectional access property, there was efficient transfer to isomorphs, and structural coherence had a powerful effect on learning. The “learning to learn” effect traditionally associated with the learning set literature was observed, and the long-standing enigma of learning set acquisition is explained by a model composed of relational schema induction and structure mapping. Performance was better after reversal of operators than after shift to an alternate structure, even though the latter entailed more overlap with previously learned tasks in terms of the number of configural associations that were preserved. An explanation for the reversal shift phenomenon in terms of induction and mapping of a relational schema is proposed. The five experiments provided evidence supporting predictions from relational schema theory, and no evidence was found for configural or nonstructural learning theories.     

Issues in Professional Training to Implement Evidence‐based Parenting Programs: The Preferences of Indigenous Practitioners

Indigenous children have elevated risk for poor health, behavioural, emotional, and social outcomes. Significant evidence exists that parenting programs can reduce family risk factors and improve outcomes for children and families; however, mainstream programs have had slower uptake in Indigenous communities than other communities. Culturally sensitive delivery of evidence‐based programs can enhance engagement of parents, yet the development of a workforce to deliver programs to Indigenous parents faces many obstacles. This project seeks to identify professional training processes that enhance Indigenous practitioners’ skills and confidence in delivering an evidence‐based parenting program. A survey of trained parenting practitioners via an online practitioner network assessed their views of the training and post‐training support processes they had experienced. Respondents were 57 Indigenous and 720 non‐Indigenous practitioners from 15 countries. Most training processes were rated equally helpful by Indigenous and non‐Indigenous practitioners. However, several training processes were identified as important for the delivery of culturally competent training, such as tailoring the pace of training and simplifying the language in teaching resources. Practitioners with higher ratings of the helpfulness of peer support following training reported higher program uptake and implementation. Qualitative themes also focused on the helpfulness of program resources, and having a peer support network and mentoring. Increasing access to appropriate, flexibly delivered training and post‐training support for Indigenous professionals will support the development of a skilled workforce with local knowledge and connections, and further increase the reach of evidence‐based services in Indigenous communities.     

The involuntary capture of attention by novel feature pairings: A study of voice—location integration in auditory sensory memory

Past researchers of the integration of information in memory have typically required participants to attend to and/or commit to memory the stimuli conveying distinct features, rendering difficult the examination of whether the maintenance of the feature pairings can occur involuntarily. To address this issue, the integration of voice and location information in auditory sensory memory was measured using a cross-modal oddball task, in which task-irrelevant auditory deviants are known to capture attention in an involuntary fashion. Participants categorized visual digits presented shortly after to-be-ignored sounds. These sounds consisted in the same phoneme played simultaneously in both ears but in different voices (female in one ear, male in the other). On most trials, the pairing of voice to location was constant (standard sound). On rare and unpredictable trials, the voices swapped locations (deviant sound). In line with past work on attention capture by auditory novelty, the participants were significantly slower to judge the visual digits following the deviant sound, indicating the involuntary encoding of the links between voice and location in auditory memory. These results suggest that voices and locations are integrated in memory and that this binding occurs in conditions in which participants do not intend to commit any information to memory.     

Weak central coherence,poor joint attention,and low verbal ability: independent deficits in early autism

C. Jarrold, W. Butler, E. M. Cottington, and F. Jiminez (2000) proposed that weak central coherence is a primary cognitive deficit in autism and speculated that it may even account for theory of mind impairments. The current study investigated whether weak central coherence could account for deficits in 2 behaviors purported to tap capabilities fundamental to a theory of mind: joint attention and pretend play. Twenty-one children (ages 3-5 years) with autism spectrum disorders were matched to 21 control children on chronological age, nonverbal ability, and gender. Pretend play did not differentiate the groups. Weak central coherence, poor joint attention, and low verbal ability contributed significantly and independently to the prediction of autism group membership, a finding consistent with 3 independent cognitive deficits underlying autism.     

Grouping in short-term verbal memory: Is position coded temporally?

The nature of the mechanisms that code item position in serial short-term verbal recall was investigated with reference to temporal grouping phenomena--effects that arise when additional pauses are inserted in a presented list to form groups of items. Several recent models attempt to explain these phenomena by assuming that positional information is retained by associating items with contextual information. According to two of the models--the Phonological Loop model (Hitch, Burgess, Towse, & Culpin, 1996) and the OSCAR model (Brown, Preece, & Hulme, 2000)--contextual information depends critically on the timing of item presentation with reference to group onset. By contrast, according to the Start-End model (Henson, 1998) and a development from it, which we label the Oscillator-Revised Start-End model (Henson & Burgess, 1997), contextual information is independent of time from group onset. Three experiments examined whether coding of position is time dependent. The critical manipulation was to vary stimulus-onset asynchrony from one group to the next in the same list. Lists of consonants were presented visually, but with vocalization in Experiment 1, auditorily in Experiment 2, and auditorily with articulatory suppression in Experiment 3. The pattern of order errors consistently favoured the predictions of the time-independent models over those of the time-dependent models in that across-group transpositions reflected within-group serial position rather than time from group onset. Errors involving intrusions from previous lists also reflected within-group serial position, thereby extending support for the time-independent models.     

Cognitive control processes underlying time-based prospective memory impairment in individuals with high depressive symptomatology

The current study compared time-based prospective memory (PM) for individuals with high depressive symptomatology (HDS) and low depressive symptomatology (LDS). We examined PM accuracy rate, clock-checking frequency, and decrements in ongoing task performance (i.e., costs to ongoing tasks) associated with an embedded time-based PM task. HDS participants demonstrated numerically lower but statistically comparable clock-checking frequency to LDS participants. However, their PM performance was significantly poorer than that of LDS participants. The pattern of observed costs to ongoing tasks and correlational analyses between ongoing task performance and PM accuracy showed that, relative to LDS participants, HDS participants were restricted in their allocation of attentional resources to support PM. We concluded that although HDS and LDS participants externally controlled their time-based PM task performance (i.e., clock-checking) similarly, the HDS participants lacked the cognitive initiative to allocate attentional resources to internally control PM task performance. Such internal control might reflect time-estimation processes, the resources required to maintain the PM task response intention, and/or the ability to coordinate the PM task response with ongoing task demands. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to have examined time-based PM strategies used by HDS individuals beyond clock-checking. The data suggest that interventions that encourage intermittent strategic reviews of PM goals may be beneficial for individuals with high depressive symptomatology.     

The long-term effects of mild head injury on short-term memory for visual form, spatial location, and their conjunction in well-functioning university students

Research has suggested the presence of subtle long-term cognitive changes in otherwise well-functioning individuals who have previously sustained a mild head injury (MHI). This paper investigated the long-term effects of MHI on visual, spatial, and visual-spatial short-term memory in well-functioning university students. Sixteen students who reported having sustained a MHI were compared to 16 controls on tests of short-term memory (STM) for abstract polygons in haphazardly arranged locations. The three tests differed only in the requirements for recall (shapes for the visual task, locations for the spatial task, and the shapes in their respective locations for the visual-spatial task). MHI participants were selectively impaired on spatial memory, suggesting that tasks of spatial STM may be more sensitive, compared to tasks of visual STM, to the subtle long-term cognitive changes that may be present after a MHI.     

Set-size effects in primary memory: An age-related capacity limitation?

Set size was varied as a factor in the primary memory paradigm developed by Wickens and colleagues (Wickens, Moody, & Dow, 1981; Wickens, Moody, & Vidulich, 1985). In Experiment 1, using adults and teenagers, no proactive interference (PI) was observed at set size 4, consistent with previous research, but PI was observed at set size 10. In Experiment 2, with adults, PI was observed at set sizes 6, 8, and 10, but not at set size 4. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that sets of more than 4 items overload primary memory, so that some items have to be retrieved from secondary memory. In Experiment 3, 8- to 9-year-olds were used with set sizes of 2 and 4. Proactive interference was observed with the larger, but not with the smaller, set. This suggests that primary memory was overloaded by 4 items at this age, indicating that its capacity increases with age.     

Implicit learning differences: a question of developmental level?

A. S. Reber's (1992) proposition that the implicit learning system should demonstrate invariance of intellectual level (IQ) was examined by comparing 20 children with intellectual disability (mean mental age [MA] = approximately 5.8 years) with 20 intellectually gifted children (mean MA = approximately 12.4 years) of similar chronological age (CA; approximately 9.5 years). Implicit learning was assessed using a task involving covariation of 2 incidental cues. Explicit learning was assessed using a task of similar logical structure. Contrary to the IQ-invariance proposition, implicit learning as well as explicit learning varied with intellectual level. A secondary aim was to distinguish the contributions of CA, IQ, and MA to implicit learning. This was done by combining the samples of children in the present study with 2 samples of younger and older children of average ability from a study by M. Maybery, M. Taylor, and A. O'Brien-Malone (1995). Analyses showed that MA is critical to implicit learning.     

The Perspectives of Young People of Parents with a Mental Illness Regarding Preferred Interventions and Supports

Young people of parents with a mental illness are at significant risk of developing a mental illness. This risk may be reduced if appropriate interventions are provided. While there are several supports available, their needs are rarely heard in either intervention development or evaluation. This study presents young people’s perspectives of the types of supports they want. One hundred and seventy-two young people (13–17 years) whose parent has a mental illness completed a self-constructed questionnaire and six of these participants engaged in individual follow-up interviews. Frequency data indicated that youth want to learn how to cope or manage their parent’s mental illness and highlighted a need to access support online. Interview thematic analysis reflected a need for psycho-education, confidential and/or anonymous support, and a preference to access information from health care professionals. Given the diversity of views presented, this study suggests that “not one size fits all”.