老年人短时记忆特点的研究

本工作以50名青年作对照,对240名65—90岁正常老人的短时记忆特点进行了研究。结果看到:1.在逻辑故事记忆、图象自由回忆、数字广度和指向记忆四项记忆成绩上,均有随年老而衰退的明显趋势。其中除数字广度外,其他三项记忆在入老年后(65岁至90岁)有继续减退的趋势。在逻辑故事、指向记忆和总分上还见到有65岁和70岁组、75岁和80岁组成绩接近的现象;2.老年人顺背数字成绩较好,对刺激序列中末端刺激的正确回忆率较高,均说明老年人的初级记忆受损较少;3.四项记忆成绩比较,青年组故事分节分最高,然后依次为图象自由回忆、顺背数字和指向记忆,而老年组则无此明显顺序;4.文化因素对记忆成绩有明显影响。     

复杂视觉图形辨认的实验研究

实验材料是取样规则不同的两组(有限制组和无限制组)矩阵图形和离散度不同的两组(大离散度组和小离散度组)矩阵图形。每个图形以两种速度及在三个距离上呈现。被试者的任务是从比较图形中再认出先前呈现的那个图形。结果表明:被试者再认无限制组图形的成绩优于有限制组的成绩,小离散度组的成绩也优于大离散度组的成绩。速度因素对辨认的影响大于距离因素的影响。由取样规则所带来的关系参数和离散度这个物理的参数可用于预测图形辨认的成绩。     

关于不舒适眩光的初步研究

根据对视觉功能影响的观点,眩光是视场内由于亮度不均匀,或由于亮度变化的幅度太大,或由于空间和时间上存在极端对比,以致引起不舒适,甚至视力降低或失能,在人们的心理、生理上产生影响。人们在长时间内处于过亮的光源下而发生不舒适感的眩光称     

睡眠剥夺时大鼠电休克阈值的变化

我们在研究睡眠剥夺影响大鼠记忆巩固的实验中,观察到睡眠剥夺引起大鼠条件反射的反应时(R T_(CR))明显缩短。我们认为,这可能反映了动物在睡眠剥夺后脑的兴奋性有所升高,本实验用电休克阈值作指标验证这一看法。     

马克思主义和人本心理学

美国人本主义心理学,就其关于人的价值的观点而论,可以说主要是从心理学角度对人的本质及其实现问题的研究。这当然并不是一个新问题。早在一个多世纪以前,马克思就曾从哲学、心理学和经济学角度对此进行过系统的探讨。     

Effects of behavioral and medical models of consultation on teacher expectancies and instruction of a hypothetical child

Sixty first- and second-grade teachers were randomly assigned to one of four conditions representing variations in consultation where they were required to teach a hypothetical child to add. The first condition involved face-to-face behavioral consultation in which the consultant cued a teacher to verbalize antecedent and consequent conditions that might affect learning and prompted the teacher to specify the kinds of capabilities that the child would need in order to master the academic task targeted for instruction. In the second type of behavioral consultation, face-to-face consultation was augmented by a task analysis report specifying prerequisite skills. The third type, medical model consultation, involved face-to-face consultation focusing on temporally remote environmental circumstances accompanied by a traditional psychological report specifying that the child was of low ability. The control group was asked general questions about the school. Results suggested that behavioral consultation with task analysis was associated with significantly more teaching success than was control, medical model, and behavioral consultation without task analysis. Moreover, behavioral consultation without task analysis was better than medical model consultation. Implications for psychoeducational assessment are discussed within the context of teacher expectations and instruction.     

I. Validity of WISC-R factor scores in predicting achievement and attention for four sociocultural groups

The predictive validity of WISC-R factor scores was examined with samples from the four sociocultural groups of Anglo, Black, Chicano, and native American Papago. The Full Scale IQ and Verbal Comprehension (VC) factor scores were significantly better predictors of achievement as measured by teacher ratings and the Metropolitan Achievement Test. The Perceptual Organization and Freedom from Distractibility (FD) factor scores were also significantly related to achievement, but at a lower level than Full Scale and VC. The correlations of the WISC-R and achievement measures were nearly the same for three of the four groups (exception was native American Papago). The relationship of the FD factor score to ratings of attention was statistically significant, but relatively low. Cautions in interpreting FD as a measure of attention were recommended due to overlap of distributions and low proportion of variance in attention accounted for by FD.     

Effects of peer reporting on cooperative play and aggression of kindergarten children

Kindergarten children were given opportunities to report to their class during “sharing time” the cooperative or friendly behaviors of their peers which had occurred during the day. Children whose cooperative behavior was reported by a peer received a happy face badge as a reward. Later, only peer praise served as a reward for those whose friendliness was mentioned by a peer. Cooperative behavior increased and aggressive acts decreased when peers reported prosocial behavior to the class. A reversal phase, in which unfriendly acts were reported, produced a decrease in cooperation and an increase in aggression. Peer reporting was a natural and inexpensive means of increasing prosocial responses of these children. Anecdotal teacher reports suggested a generalized behavioral improvement.     

Email, voicemail, and privacy: What policy is ethical?

Business people repeatedly asked Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) to recommend a policy to deal with email and voicemail. After many such requests to our organization, we attempted to construct guidelines that we could endorse. This paper outlines the guidelines that we proposed and the public reaction to them. The paper discusses the tensions inherent in a business environment, and the means of identifying ethical behavior for both companies and their employees. A version of this paper was presented at ETHICOMP98, the Fourth International Conference on Ethical Issues of Information Technology, March 25–27, 1998. Erasmus University, the Netherlands. Dr. Woodbury is the former Chair of CPRS. Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. She is also a curriculum developer and faculty member of the Information Group of the Women’s International University (ifu) in Germany in 2000.     

From case management to prevention of scientific dishonesty in Denmark

In 1992, The Danish Medical Research Council established a national committee on scientific dishonesty with the twofold task of handling cases of scientific misconduct and taking preventive initiatives. Scientific dishonesty was proven in only five cases, but in another nine cases lesser degrees of deviations from good scientific practice were found. The experiences from a total of 24 treated cases indicated that three key areas were at the basis of most of the accusations and the deviations from good practice: uncertainty about 1) authorship, about 2) rights and duties to use scientific data and about 3) agreements at the initiation of joint studies. As a consequence guidelines on good practice have been issued on these key subjects. An earlier version of this paper was presented at a symposium, Scientific Misconduct. An International Perspective, organised by The Medical University of Warsaw, 16 November, 1998.