BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT FOR PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNITS1

Two studies were conducted to analyze behaviors of staff and patients on a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). In the first study, behavioral observation procedures were employed to assess patient state, physical position, affect, verbal behaviors, visual attention and activity engagement, and staff verbal behavior. On the average, one-third of the patients were judged to be conscious and alert but markedly nonengaged with their environment. In the second study, a member of the hospital staff provided alert patients with individual activities to determine whether a simple environmental manipulation could positively affect behavior of children in intensive care. Employing a reversal design, the activity intervention was found to increase attention and engagement and positive affect, and to decrease inappropriate behavior. Both studies demonstrate that behavioral assessment procedures can provide an empirical basis for designing PICU routines affecting children's psychosocial status, and, thus, complement current procedures designed to provide quality medical care.     

Schedule-induced locomotor activity in humans.

In two experiments, humans received tokens either on a fixed-interval schedule for plunger pulling or various response-nondependent fixed-time schedules ranging from 16 to 140 seconds. Locomotor activity such as walking, shifting weight, or pacing was recorded in quarters of the interreinforcement interval to examine the induced characteristics of that behavior in humans. While performance was variable, several characteristics were present that have counterparts in experiments with nonhumans during periodic schedules of food reinforcement: (a) first quarter rates, and sometimes overall rates, of locomotor activity were greater during intervals that terminated in a visual stimulus and token delivery than those without: (b) overall rates of locomotor activity were greater during fixed-time 16-second schedules than during fixed-time 80- or 140-second schedules; (c) rates of locomotor activity decreased during the interreinforcement intervals; (d) locomotor activity was induced by response-dependent and response-nondependent token delivery. These results showed that the rate and temporal pattern of locomotor activity can be schedule-induced in humans.     

小鼠新颖寻求特质对酒精的运动激活效应的影响

新颖寻求(或感觉寻求)特质与许多成瘾药物的易感性密切相关。例如, 高、低新颖寻求动物对可卡因、苯丙胺和吗啡等成瘾药物的奖赏、运动激活、强化效应的反应存在差异。长期饮用酒精也容易成瘾, 但尚未发现关于新颖寻求特质影响酒精成瘾的报道。本实验采用药物成瘾研究中常用的自发活动模型, 考察了高、低新颖寻求动物在酒精急性处理、慢性处理和激发过程中的行为表现。实验过程中首先采用两种新颖寻求模型, 即新颖环境中自发活动模型和新颖客体偏爱模型, 将昆明小鼠分别区分为高、低自发活动组和高、低新颖客体偏爱组, 连续10天给予酒精(2g/kg/d, i.p.)或等量盐水处理, 戒断2天后所有小鼠接受酒精(2g/kg)激发。实验结果表明, 新颖环境低自发活动小鼠比新颖环境高自发活动小鼠对酒精急性、慢性处理导致的运动激活效应更敏感; 在酒精激发期前者的自发活动水平也高于后者。本实验结果说明新颖环境中自发活动特质影响动物对酒精导致的运动激活效应的反应。     

男性择偶策略改变的前提：自感配偶价值提高

研究分为问卷调查与实验研究两部分。首先,40名女性和33名男性完成有关自感配偶价值评价（SPMV）和择偶偏爱策略的问卷调查,问卷调查结果是实验研究中数据分析的基线。其次,第二部分实验开始后,被试会得到实验者编造的他人潜在择偶对象的积极正面评价,其目的在于提高被试的SPMV。可以假设,男性的SPMV与随意性行为的认同或追求有正相关,男性SPMV的提高将会更加偏爱短期的性策略;女性SPMV与随意性行为不存在相关,女性SPMV的提高不会改变女性的性策略。研究结果显示,SPMV高基线水平的男性更加认可随意性行为,男性SPMV的提高与短期策略选择的增加有关。另外,SPMV提高,而不是一般自尊的提高,与择偶策略的改变具有相关。本研究结果没有证实,与长期稳定的性关系相比,SPMV的基线水平或是提高与女性对随意性行为的认同或追求之间存在相关     

Bi-Directional Relationship Between Self-Regulation and Improved Eating: Temporal Associations With Exercise,Reduced Fatigue,and Weight Loss

ABSTRACT. Severely obese men and women (body mass index ≥ 35 ≤ 55 kg/m²; M_age = 44.8 years, SD = 9.3) were randomly assigned to a 6-month physical activity support treatment paired with either nutrition education (n = 83) or cognitive-behavioral nutrition (n = 82) methods for weight loss. Both groups had significant improvements in physical activity, fatigue, self-regulation for eating, and fruit and vegetable intake. Compared to those in the nutrition education group, participants in the behavioral group demonstrated greater overall increases in fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity. These group differences were associated with changes that occurred after Month 3. Increased physical activity predicted reduced fatigue, β = ?.19, p =.01. A reciprocal relationship between the mediators of that relationship, which were changes in self-regulation and fruit and vegetable intake, was identified. There was significantly greater weight loss over six months in the behavioral nutrition group when contrasted with the nutrition education group. Self-regulation for eating and fruit and vegetable intake were significant predictors of weight loss over both three and six months. Findings enabled a better understanding of psychosocial effects on temporal aspects of weight loss and may lead to more effective behavioral treatments for weight loss.     

Parent and actometer measures of motor activity level in the young infant

Motor activity level is one dimension of infant temperament for which parental judgment can be validated against a truly independent criterion. Two studies were conducted, the first involving a 27-min sample of behavior in a structured, attention-getting situation, and the second involving a 24-hr sample of in-home behavior. In both studies, parent perception of the 3- or 4-month-old as measured by the Activity Level (AL) scale of the Rothbart Infant Behavior Questionnaire was compared to the composited readings from four mechanical motion recorders (actometers) worn, one per limb, by the infant. The AL scale did not correlate with the actometer measure, r=.05 and R=.00, and the expected convergence of the 3-month version of the IBQ activity scale with its mechanical counterpart was not found. In the 24-hr study, birth order and ponderal index were significantly correlated with 24-hr actometer scores; first-borns and thin infants were most active.     

中国画审美一致性的专业知识效应:一项fNIRS研究

本研究结合fNIRS技术,考察了美术训练学生和普通学生在中国画审美一致性上的差异。行为上,虽然两组被试在审美评分上没有显著差异,但在评分一致性上,美术训练学生相比普通学生在“好看”评分上更一致。脑活动上,美术训练学生右侧颞顶联合区的16通道和24通道的神经活动一致性显著高于普通学生,且美术训练学生的神经活动一致性与“好看”评分呈负相关。本研究揭示了艺术专业知识对中国画审美的重要性,且神经活动一致性可作为中国画审美判断的一项潜在神经标记。     

The role of working memory in syntactic sentence realization: A modeling & simulation approach

This paper examines the effects of working memory size in incremental grammatical encoding during language production. Our experiment tests different variants of a computational-cognitive model that combines an empirically validated framework of general cognition, ACT-R, with a linguistic theory, Combinatory Categorial Grammar. The model is induced from a corpus of spoken dialogue. This methodology facilitates comparison of different strategies and working memory capacities according to the similarity of the model’s produced sentences to the corpus sentences. The experiment presented shows that while having more working memory available improves performance, using less working memory during realization does as well, even after controlling sentence length. Sentences realized with a more incremental strategy also appear to more closely track the naturalistic data. As high incrementality is correlated with low working memory usage, this study offers a possible mechanism by which syntactic incrementality can be explained. Finally, this paper proposes a multi-disciplinary modeling and simulation-based approach to empirical psycholinguistic inquiry.     

On Fodor's First Law of the Nonexistence of Cognitive Science

In his enormously influential The Modularity of Mind, Jerry Fodor (1983) proposed that the mind was divided into input modules and central processes. Much subsequent research focused on the modules and whether processes like speech perception or spatial vision are truly modular. Much less attention has been given to Fodor's writing on the central processes, what would today be called higher‐level cognition. In “Fodor's First Law of the Nonexistence of Cognitive Science,” he argued that central processes are “bad candidates for scientific study” and would resist attempts at empirical analysis. This essay evaluates his argument for this remarkable claim, concluding that although central processes may well be “messier” than input modules, this does not mean that they cannot be studied and understood. The article briefly reviews the scientific progress made in understanding central processes in the 35 years since the book was published, showing that Fodor's prediction is clearly falsified by massive advances in topics like decision making and analogy. The essay concludes that Fodor's Law was not based on a clear argument for why the complexities of central systems could not be studied but was likely based on intuitions and preferences that were common in psychology at the time.     

Cognitive Task Analysis for Implicit Knowledge About Visual Representations With Similarity Learning Methods

Visual representations are prevalent in STEM instruction. To benefit from visuals, students need representational competencies that enable them to see meaningful information. Most research has focused on explicit conceptual representational competencies, but implicit perceptual competencies might also allow students to efficiently see meaningful information in visuals. Most common methods to assess students’ representational competencies rely on verbal explanations or assume explicit attention. However, because perceptual competencies are implicit and not necessarily verbally accessible, these methods are ill‐equipped to assess them. We address these shortcomings with a method that draws on similarity learning, a machine learning technique that detects visual features that account for participants’ responses to triplet comparisons of visuals. In Experiment 1, 614 chemistry students judged the similarity of Lewis structures and in Experiment 2, 489 students judged the similarity of ball‐and‐stick models. Our results showed that our method can detect visual features that drive students’ perception and suggested that students’ conceptual knowledge about molecules informed perceptual competencies through top‐down processes. Furthermore, Experiment 2 tested whether we can improve the efficiency of the method with active sampling. Results showed that random sampling yielded higher accuracy than active sampling for small sample sizes. Together, the experiments provide the first method to assess students’ perceptual competencies implicitly, without requiring verbalization or assuming explicit visual attention. These findings have implications for the design of instructional interventions that help students acquire perceptual representational competencies.