Age,Emotion Regulation Strategies,Temperament, Creative Drama,and Preschoolers' Creativity

Based on Yeh's (2004) Ecological Systems Model of Creativity Development, this study investigated the effects that age, the use of emotion regulation strategies, temperament, and exposure to creative drama instruction have on the development of creativity among preschool children. Participants were 1164‐ to 6‐year‐old preschool children. This study categorized the emotion regulation strategies used by preschool children and developed a creativity test which includes the measurement of usefulness, an indicator of creativity that has, until now, been ignored. The main findings are that (a) 6‐year‐olds outperform 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds in terms of creativity; (b) emotion regulation strategies as well as a positive temperament have positive effects on children's creativity; (c) creative drama instruction contributes to children's creativity; and (d) age group, emotion regulation strategies, temperament, and creative drama instruction can collectively predict children's creativity.     

Parameter identification in multinomial processing tree models

Multinomial processing tree models form a popular class of statistical models for categorical data that have applications in various areas of psychological research. As in all statistical models, establishing which parameters are identified is necessary for model inference and selection on the basis of the likelihood function, and for the interpretation of the results. The required calculations to establish global identification can become intractable in complex models. We show how to establish local identification in multinomial processing tree models, based on formal methods independently proposed by Catchpole and Morgan (1997) and by Bekker, Merckens, and Wansbeek (1994). This approach is illustrated with multinomial processing tree models for the source-monitoring paradigm in memory research.     

The dynamics of development on the Dimensional Change Card Sorting task

A widely used paradigm to study cognitive flexibility in preschoolers is the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task. The developmental dynamics of DCCS performance was studied in a cross-sectional design (N = 93, 3 to 5 years of age) using a computerized version of the standard DCCS task. A model-based analysis of the data showed that development on the DCCS task is best described as a discontinuous change in performance on the post-switch phase of the task. In addition to a perseveration group and a switch group, a transitional group that showed shifts between perseverating and switching during the post-switch trials could be distinguished. Computational models of performance and development on the DCCS task cannot, in their current forms, explain these results. We discuss how a catastrophe model of the developmental changes in task performance could be used to generate specific hypotheses about the variables that control development of DCCS performance.     

Modeling developmental transitions in adaptive resonance theory

Neural networks are applied to a theoretical subject in developmental psychology: modeling developmental transitions. Two issues that are involved will be discussed: discontinuities and acquiring qualitatively new knowledge. We will argue that by the appearance of a bifurcation, a neural network can show discontinuities and may acquire qualitatively new knowledge. First, it is shown that biological principles of neurite outgrowth result in self-organization in a neural network, which is strongly dependent on a bifurcation in the activity dynamics. Second, the effect of a bifurcation due to morphological change is investigated in an Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) network. Exact ART networks with quantitative differences in network structure at the category level show qualitatively different dynamical regimes, which are separated by bifurcations. These qualitative differences in dynamics affect the cognitive function of Exact ART: Representations of learned categories are local or distributed.     

A dynamical model of general intelligence: the positive manifold of intelligence by mutualism

Scores on cognitive tasks used in intelligence tests correlate positively with each other, that is, they display a positive manifold of correlations. The positive manifold is often explained by positing a dominant latent variable, the g factor, associated with a single quantitative cognitive or biological process or capacity. In this article, a new explanation of the positive manifold based on a dynamical model is proposed, in which reciprocal causation or mutualism plays a central role. It is shown that the positive manifold emerges purely by positive beneficial interactions between cognitive processes during development. A single underlying g factor plays no role in the model. The model offers explanations of important findings in intelligence research, such as the hierarchical factor structure of intelligence, the low predictability of intelligence from early childhood performance, the integration/differentiation effect, the increase in heritability of g, and the Jensen effect, and is consistent with current explanations of the Flynn effect.     

Finite mixture distribution models of simple discrimination learning

Through the application of finite mixture distribution models, we investigated the existence of distinct modes of behavior in learning a simple discrimination. The data were obtained in a repeated measures study in which subjects aged 6 to 10 years carried out a simple discrimination learning task. In contrast to distribution models of exclusively rational learners or exclusively incremental learners, a mixture distribution model of rational learners and slow learners was found to fit the data of all measurement occasions and all age groups. Hence, the finite mixture distribution analysis provides strong support for the existence of distinct modes of learning behavior. The results of a second experiment support this conclusion by crossvalidation of the models that fit the data of the first experiment. The effect of verbally labeling the values on the relevant stimulus dimension and the consistency of behavior over measurement occasions are related to the mixture model estimates.     

Children’s strategy use when playing strategic games

Strategic games require reasoning about other people’s and one’s own beliefs or intentions. Although they have clear commonalities with psychological tests of theory of mind, they are not clearly related to theory of mind tests for children between 9 and 10 years of age “Flobbe et al. J Logic Language Inform 17(4):417–442 (2008)”. We studied children’s (5–12 years of age) individual differences in how they played a strategic game by analyzing the strategies that they applied in a zero, first, and second-order reasoning task. For the zero-order task, we found two subgroups with different accuracy levels. For the first-order task, subgroups of children applied different suboptimal strategies or an optimal strategy. For the second-order task only suboptimal strategies were present. Strategy use for all tasks was related to age. The 5- and 6-year old children were additionally tested on theory of mind understanding and executive functioning. Strategy-use in these children was related to working memory, but not to theory of mind after correction for age, verbal ability and general IQ.