Working memory in very-low-birthweight children at the age of 11 years

The aim of this study is to investigate the working memory (WM) of very-low-birthweight (VLBW, ≤ 1500 g) children at the age of 11 years using Baddeley’s WM model. A regional cohort of 95 VLBW children was assessed for the domains of the WM model (central executive [CE], visuospatial sketchpad [VS], and phonological loop [PL]) using subtests from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children (WMTB-C) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). VLBW children were categorized into three groups according to their degree of brain pathology (normal, minor, or major) in neonatal brain magnetic resonance imaging at the term age, and the WM performance was compared between groups to test norms. The structure of the WM model was studied by analyzing correlations among domains. Even VLBW children with normal cognitive development (general ability index ≥ 85) performed worse compared to the test norms (M = 100, SD = 15) on CE (M = 87.64, SD = 20.54, p < .001) and VS (M = 91.65, SD = 11.03, p < .001), but their performance on PL was above the norm (M = 110.79, SD = 13.79, p < .001). VLBW children with major brain pathology performed significantly worse on VS and PL compared to the other groups. The correlations among the WM domains of the VLBW children differ from earlier findings in normative populations. To conclude, the WM of the VLBW children in the study differ—especially in the CE and VS subtest scores—from the normative population irrespective of the degree of brain pathology and level of cognitive development.     

Attentional Predictors of 5‐month‐olds' Performance on a Looking A‐not‐B Task

In the first year of life, the ability to search for hidden objects is an indicator of object permanence and, when multiple locations are involved, executive function (i.e. inhibition, cognitive flexibility and working memory). The current study was designed to examine attentional predictors of search in 5‐month‐old infants (as measured by the looking A‐not‐B task), and whether levels of maternal education moderated the effect of the predictors. Specifically, in a separate task, the infants were shown a unique puppet, and we measured the percentage of time attending to the puppet, as well as the length of the longest look (i.e., peak fixation) directed towards the puppet. Across the entire sample (N = 390), the percentage of time attending to the puppet was positively related to performance on the visual A‐not‐B task. However, for infants whose mothers had not completed college, having a shorter peak looking time (after controlling for percentage of time) was also a predictor of visual A‐not‐B performance. The role of attention, peak fixation and maternal education in visual search is discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contrasting behavioral looking procedures: a case study on infant speech segmentation

This paper compared three different procedures common in infant speech perception research: a headturn preference procedure (HPP) and a central-fixation (CF) procedure with either automated eye-tracking (CF-ET) or manual coding (CF-M). In theory, such procedures all measure the same underlying speech perception and learning mechanisms and the choice between them should ideally be irrelevant in unveiling infant preference. However, the ManyBabies study (ManyBabies Consortium, 2019), a cross-laboratory collaboration on infants’ preference for child-directed speech, revealed that choice of procedure can modulate effect sizes. Here we examined whether procedure also modulates preference in paradigms that add a learning phase prior to test: a speech segmentation paradigm. Such paradigms are particularly important for studying the learning mechanisms infants can employ for language acquisition. We carried out the same familiarization-then-test experiment with the three different procedures (32 unique infants per procedure). Procedures were compared on various factors, such as overall effect, average looking time and drop-out rate. The key observations are that the HPP yielded a larger familiarity preference, but also reported larger drop-out rates. This raises questions about the generalizability of results. We argue that more collaborative research into different procedures in infant preference experiments is required in order to interpret the variation in infant preferences more accurately.     

Footshock/ECS induced state dependent learning in rats parametric evaluation of ECS intensity and time of testing

Rats were given a footshock followed by ECS of either low or high intensity. Controls received neither footshock nor ECS. Twenty-four hours later all subjects acquired a simple position habit in a water maze. Then, independent subgroups were reversal trained at 24-hr intervals up to 144 hr post-treatment. Compared to controls, rats given footshock, and ECS showed memory for training at the initial test followed by amnesia, memory recovery, and finally amnesia at subsequent tests. The alternating pattern of retention appeared to be a function of ECS intensity. In a second experiment, rats were first maze trained then given footshock and ECS 24 hr later. Like the results of the first experiment, ensuing tests indicated an alternating retention function in experimental animals again influenced by ECS intensity. Several possible explanations of these results were discussed, and it was suggested that the altering retention function observed in the experimental animals resulted from a footshock and ECS induced state dependency effect that subsided and recurred spontaneously up to 144 hr post-treatment.     

图片命名中词汇频率效应的眼动研究

在延时命名范式的基础上,通过控制熟悉性并运用连续图片命名的眼动记录技术,考察图片的注视时间,将词汇提取的过程单独地呈现出来。实验结果表明,在控制熟悉性及延时命名的条件下,图片名称的频率仍影响着图片的注视时间,表现出频率效应,但对出声输出的快慢没有影响,从而进一步证实了图片命名频率效应的“词汇通达假设”。     

广告心理学中的眼动研究和发展趋势

通过眼动分析可以比较深入地考察人们在观看广告时的心理活动。早在二十世纪二十年代国外已经有人进行了这方面的研究。本文对国外的广告心理学的眼动研究进行了较为全面的回顾．同时对这个领域的研究现状和发展趋势进行了简要的评述与展望。     

几何解题过程的眼动及视觉工作记忆模型:OGRE模型

简要介绍了一个几何解题过程的眼动及视觉工作记忆模型——跟动的几何推理引擎模型（OGRE）,对该模型的特点及其在其它认知过程中的应用进行了讨论。     

科普杂志目录编排效果的眼动研究

该研究探讨了读者在阅读科普杂志目录时的眼动特征。实验仪器为美国应用科学实验室生产的Model504型眼动仪。实验设计为2(插图颜色:彩色、黑白)×2(插图注解:有、无)×2(文字颜色:黑、蓝)。被试为大学生。研究发现:(1)被试对彩色插图的注视时间和注视次数比黑白插图的多;(2)被试对有注解的插图注视时间和注视次数要比无注解插图的多。实验结果表明,所阅读目录中的信息量决定读者的注意力。