Complex learning: the role of knowledge, intelligence, motivation and learning strategies

This work presents the main theories and models formulated with the purpose of offering a global overview on the acquisition of knowledge and skills involved in the initial development of expert competence. Setting from this background, we developed an empirical work whose main purpose is to define those factors in a complex learning situation such as chapter-sized in a knowledge-rich domain. The results obtained in a sample of Master students reveal that the several variables intervening, such as the qualitative organization of knowledge, intellectual ability, motivation, the deliberate use of strategies, and a rich learning environment, contribute in an independent way to provide an explanation for the acquired knowledge.     

The attentional blink effect: influence of negative words in an affective valence categorization task

In this study, we explored the emotional modulation of the Attentional Blink effect. In a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation procedure, a word (Target 1), either positive, negative or neutral, was followed by the word "WATER" (Target 2) in one half of the trials. The task included two conditions. In one of them, participants only had to detect the word "WATER". In double-response trials, participants also categorized Target 1's valence. Results showed that the detection of Target 2 was impaired in the double-response condition, this impairment being greater when negative word appeared as Target 1, as compared to positive and neutral words. However, these effects were independent on the Anxiety-Trait levels of participants. Overall, the pattern of data suggests that cognitive resources are focused on negative stimuli when their negative valence is emotionally salient enough.     

Are there different patterns of cerebral asymmetry between dyslexic subtypes?

The purpose of this research has been to analyze the cerebral asymmetry in dyslexic children and, specifically for demonstrating whether there are different patterns of cerebral asymmetry among subtypes of dyslexia. We used a sample of 89 dyslexic children divided into subtypes obtained from the Jimenez and Ramirez (2002) study. The dual-task method was used to assess hemispheric specialization. The data were compared with that obtained from a control group of normal readers of same age (CA; N= 37) and with a younger reading level control group (RL; N= 40). We found that in the dyslexic group, similarly to the younger reading level group, a high percentage of children showed convergence in the left hemisphere of both linguistic and spatial functions. This pattern was also found in the RL control group. On the other hand, we did not find different patterns of cerebral asymmetry between dyslexic subtypes.     

Individual differences in self-reported thought control: the role of the repressive coping sytle

The purpose of the present research is to assess differences between repressors and non repressors in some aspects associated with conscious thought control. Thus, Sixty-three Spanish university students with different combinations of trait anxiety and defensiveness completed the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire (TCAQ) and the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI). Data analysis showed that subjects with low anxiety (repressors and low anxious) reported higher perceived ability to control unpleasant thoughts and less tendency to suppress than did subjects with high anxiety (high anxious and defensive high anxious). Implications of these results are discussed in relation to recent researches that have explored the association between repression and thought suppression.     

Maximum information stratification method for controlling item exposure in computerized adaptive testing

The proposal for increasing the security in Computerized Adaptive Tests that has received most attention in recent years is the a-stratified method (AS - Chang and Ying, 1999): at the beginning of the test only items with low discrimination parameters ( a ) can be administered, with the values of the a parameters increasing as the test goes on. With this method, distribution of the exposure rates of the items is less skewed, while efficiency is maintained in trait-level estimation. The pseudo-guessing parameter ( c ), present in the three-parameter logistic model, is considered irrelevant, and is not used in the AS method. The Maximum Information Stratified (MIS) model incorporates the c parameter in the stratification of the bank and in the item-selection rule, improving accuracy by comparison with the AS, for item banks with a and b parameters correlated and uncorrelated. For both kinds of banks, the blocking b methods (Chang, Qian and Ying, 2001) improve the security of the item bank.     

The Small Worlds and Floyd's algorithms: a way to study scientific collaboration

Many proposals from the analysis of social networks focused on the study of scientific collaboration have been made recently. The Small Worlds theory seems to be the most efficient to study the inner features of the scientific community. Those researches have demonstrated that small communities are based on some key individuals who connect some groups which, on the contrary, would be disconnected. One of the disadvantages from the perspective of the analysis of networks is the lack of researches of particular nodes. With the implementation of a pseudocode algorithm of Floyd, we try to avoid this. To study how a small community is formed and, as a research of one case, we observe the invisible college which is formed when connecting the fifteen most productive authors of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology .     

Subtypes of drug-addicts in treatment: empirical support for a distinction between Type A and Type B

This study examines the possibility of replicating and generalizing a multidimensional typology of drug-addicts by means of the evaluation of 320 participants who were receiving outpatient treatment for their problem of addiction. A two-stage cluster analysis was performed, revealing the existence of two typologies of consumers, called type A and Type B. The participants classified as Type B showed various indicators of chronicity (higher mean age, higher unemployment rate), more severity of their problem of drug consumption and of medical aspects, employment support, legal, family/social and psychiatric problems in comparison with Type A. Participants from the latter group reported active employment as their main source of income and they had consumed drugs for fewer years. However, they presented more severity associated with alcohol consumption. In view of these data, Type A is called functional drug-addict and Type B chronic drug-addict. Once the groups of drug-addicts were delimited, a more specific characterization was made, taking seven problem areas into account: medical, employment support, alcohol, drugs, legal, family/social, and psychiatric areas. As a general conclusion, more psychosocial severity was observed in Type B as compared with Type A. Lastly, the implications and usefulness of grouping drug-addicts into typologies is discussed.     

Spatial learning and goldfish telencephalon NMDA receptors

Recent results have demonstrated that the mammalian hippocampus and the dorso-lateral telencephalon of ray-finned fishes share functional similarities in relation to spatial memory systems. In the present study, we investigated whether the physiological mechanisms of this hippocampus-dependent spatial memory system were also similar in mammals and ray-finned fishes, and therefore possibly conserved through evolution in vertebrates. In Experiment 1, we studied the effects of the intracranial administration of the noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 during the acquisition of a spatial task. The results indicated dose-dependent drug-induced impairment of spatial memory. Experiment 2 evaluated if the MK-801 produced disruption of retrieval of a learned spatial response. Data showed that the administration of MK-801 did not impair the retrieval of the information previously stored. The last experiment analyzed the involvement of the telencephalic NMDA receptors in a spatial and in a cue task. Results showed a clear impairment in spatial learning but not in cue learning when NMDA receptors were blocked. As a whole, these results indicate that physiological mechanisms of this hippocampus-dependent system could be a general feature in vertebrate, and therefore phylogenetically conserved.     

The effect of content and physical properties of affective pictures on emotional responses

The aim of this research was to study the influence of both the emotional content and the physical characteristics of affective stimuli on the psychophysiological, behavioral and cognitive indexes of the emotional response. We selected 54 pictures from the IAPS, depicting unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant contents, and used two picture sizes as experimental conditions (120 x 90 cm and 52 x 42 cm). Sixty-one subjects were randomly assigned to each experimental condition. We recorded the startle blink reflex, skin conductance response, heart rate, free viewing time, and picture valence and arousal ratings. In line with previous research (e.g., Bradley, Codispoti, Cuthbert, and Lang, 2001), our data showed an effect of the affective content on all the measurements recorded. Importantly, effects of the size of the affective pictures on emotional responses were not found, indicating that the emotional content is more important than the formal properties of the stimuli in evoking the emotional response.     

Neuropsychological evidence for "word-meaning deafness" in a Spanish-speaking patient

In this paper we present a case of "word-meaning deafness," characterised by serious problems in the comprehension of spoken language, whilst repetition and writing words and non-words from dictation are preserved. This performance indicates the impossibility of correctly accessing phonological representation from the semantic representation of words. Neuropsychological evidence on specific alterations in word-meaning disorders is scarce, and this study contributes new findings with a Spanish-speaking patient. The nature of the processes involved in understanding language and the cerebral mechanisms that might be affected in each case were discussed, in accordance with current neuropsychological theories.