A comparison of EMG and SCL in normal and depressed subjects

Skin conductance level (SCL) and electromyograms (EMGs) recorded from three muscle sites were compared for 15 female hospitalized psychiatric patients meeting diagnostic criteria for primary affective disorder and 15 age- and race-matched controls. The depressed subjects had significantly lower SCL and significantly higher resting EMG levels recorded from one muscle site. Electromyogram and SCL were not found to be significantly correlated with each other or with measures of anxiety or depression for the patients with primary affective disorder. Normal controls, however, showed significant correlations between a measure of depression and both EMG and SCL. These results are discussed with suggestions for future research.     

论学习活动的本质

本文将传统的学习理论关于学习概念的定义分为三种基本类型,即结果论、过程论和活动论,指出传统学习理论的混乱基本上是出于没有对学习活动进行全面而系统的分析,并从学习活动的层次性、多侧面性、心理机制、对环境的适应性等方面对学习活动进行了系统的分析。认为学习活动可以分为五种不同的层次,具有五个不同的侧面,拥有两种作用不同的心理机制,最终得出学习活动的本质定义是：学习是一种多层次、多侧面的、适应性的心理活动,它使个体获得经验,并导致个体的已有的心理结构发生适应性的变化。     

高中学生心理应激及其中介变量的研究

学生的心理应激与心理健康问题日益受到人们的关注。本研究对浙江省范围内的４３７名高中学生进行应激源、中介变量和应激反应方面的调查研究,并在此基础上,对高中学生的心理应激过程作了较详细的探讨。研究表明：（１）高中学生的主要应激源是学习压力及与家庭亲友的人际关系问题,（２）对高中学生的应激反应有影响的中介变量主要是社会支持和“问题解决”、“逃避”等应对策略。本研究结论认为,在高中学生的心理卫生工作中要注意减轻他们的学习压力,加强社会支持系统的建立及积极应对方式的教育。     

Multipotential Abilities and Vocational Interests in Gifted Adolescents: Fact or Fiction?

The widely held view that highly intellectually gifted adolescents are multipotential in their abilities and career interests was investigated in two samples (N = 322 and N = 217) of gifted high school seniors. Three measures of intellectual abilities—verbal, mathematical, and mechanical—and a measure of vocational interest based upon nonacademic talented activities and accomplishments that yielded scores for vocational interest in three areas—Science, Social, and Artistic—were administered. Contrary to the widely held view, a very large proportion of intellectually gifted adolescents reported a differentiated pattern of both abilities and interests, and a very small proportion reported the expected high-flat ability and interest profiles. The findings suggest that the working assumptions of career education and counselling of intellectually gifted adolescents should perhaps be reconsidered.     

An automated positive reward method for measuring acoustic sensitivity in fish

A microcomputer-controlled positive reward operant conditioning paradigm was developed to measure auditory sensitivity of the goldfish (Carassius auratus). Although other procedures have been used to measure hearing sensitivity in fish, all earlier studies have been done with some form of aversive conditioning. Goldfish were trained with a positive reinforcement method to determine hearing thresholds at 200, 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 Hz. The audiogram obtained in this study is in close agreement with thresholds obtained with instrumental avoidance and classical conditioning procedures involving negative reinforcement (shock). The similarity in threshold data validates the effectiveness of the positive reinforcement paradigm described here. The major advantages of the present paradigm are the following: (1) No physical punishment such as electric shock is used, and (2) the versatility of the system allows easy modification for a variety of experiments.     

对上海市区儿童WISC-R及CRT智力测量的因素分析

本文用因素分析方法对学龄期儿童的智力结构进行了发展性探讨。以上海市区六岁、十二岁和十六岁儿童为对象,使用WISC-E测验和CRT测验进行了智力测量。以“一般因素理论”和“g_f-g_c理论”为框架,对其测量结果所进行的因素分析,可以为我们提供许多有价值的信息,是多种探讨智力发展的理论假设之组成部份。本研究的结果表明:学龄期儿童随着年龄的增长,智力因素逐渐分化,导致智力发展上个体差异和年龄差异的形成和发展,为智力发展的“分化理论”提供了一定的证据。     

Numerosity judgments for tactile stimuli distributed over the body surface

A large body of research now supports the claim that two different and dissociable processes are involved in making numerosity judgments regarding visual stimuli: subitising (fast and nearly errorless) for up to 4 stimuli, and counting (slow and error-prone) when more than 4 stimuli are presented. We studied tactile numerosity judgments for combinations of 1-7 vibrotactile stimuli presented simultaneously over the body surface. In experiment 1, the stimuli were presented once, while in experiment 2 conditions of single presentation and repeated presentation of the stimulus were compared. Neither experiment provided any evidence for a discontinuity in the slope of either the RT or error data suggesting that subitisation does not occur for tactile stimuli. By systematically varying the intensity of the vibrotactile stimuli in experiment 3, we were able to demonstrate that participants were not simply using the 'global intensity' of the whole tactile display to make their tactile numerosity judgments, but were, instead, using information concerning the number of tactors activated. The results of the three experiments reported here are discussed in relation to current theories of counting and subitising, and potential implications for the design of tactile user interfaces are highlighted.     

3～6岁幼儿好奇心结构探索与验证性因子分析

以幼儿园3～6岁幼儿为对象,通过80名幼儿教师对480名幼儿好奇心行为特征描述的开放式问卷调查,编制出60个项目的初始问卷,对500名幼儿的初测结果进行探索性因子分析后,形成了33个项目的正式问卷,对1000名幼儿的评价结果进行验证性因子分析,结果表明:教师评价的3～6岁幼儿好奇心结构包括敏感、对未知事物的关注、好问、喜欢摆弄、探索持久和好奇体验6个因子。     

Modelling multiple problem-solving strategies and strategy shift in cognitive diagnosis for growth

Problem-solving strategies, defined as actions people select intentionally to achieve desired objectives, are distinguished from skills that are implemented unintentionally. In education, strategy-oriented instructions that guide students to form problem-solving strategies are found to be more effective for low-achieving students than the skill-oriented instructions designed for enhancing their skill implementation ability. Although the existing longitudinal cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) can model the change in students' dynamic skill mastery status over time, they are not designed to model the shift in students' problem-solving strategies. This study proposes a longitudinal CDM that considers both between-person multiple strategies and within-person strategy shift. The model, separating the strategy choice process from the skill implementation process, is intended to provide diagnostic information on strategy choice as well as skill mastery status. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the parameter recovery of the proposed model and investigate the consequences of ignoring the presence of multiple strategies or strategy shift. Further, an empirical data analysis is conducted to illustrate the use of the proposed model to measure strategy shift, growth in skill implementation ability and skill mastery status.     

The second order approximation to sample influence curve in canonical correlation analysis

A second order approximation to the sample influence curve (SIC) in canonical correlation analysis has been derived in the literature. However, it does not seem satisfactory for some cases. In this paper, we present a more accurate second order approximation. As a particular case, the proposed method is exact for the SIC of the squared multiple correlation coefficient. An example is given. The authors are most grateful to the associate editor and three reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions which improved the presentation of the paper considerably. The first author was partly supported by a RGC earmarked research grant of Hong Kong.