Statistical inference for false positive and false negative error rates in mastery testing

This paper describes an asymptotic inferential procedure for the estimates of the false positive and false negative error rates. Formulas and tables are described for the computations of the standard errors. A simulation study indicates that the asymptotic standard errors may be used even with samples of 25 cases as long as the Kuder-Richardson Formula 21 reliability is reasonably large. Otherwise, a large sample would be required.This work was performed pursuant to Grant No NIE-G-78-0087 with the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Huynh Huynh, Principal Investigator. Points of view or opinions stated do not necessarily reflect NIE position or policy and no official endorsement should be inferred. The editorial assistance of Joseph C. Saunders is gratefully acknowledged.     

Problem Solvers Adjust Cognitive Offloading Based on Performance Goals

When incorporating the environment into mental processing (cf., cognitive offloading), one creates novel cognitive strategies that have the potential to improve task performance. Improved performance can, for example, mean faster problem solving, more accurate solutions, or even higher grades at university.¹ Although cognitive offloading has frequently been associated with improved performance, it is yet unclear how flexible problem solvers are at matching their offloading habits with their current performance goals (can people improve goal‐related instead of generic performance, e.g., when being in a hurry and aiming for a “quick and dirty” solution?). Here, we asked participants to solve a cognitive task, provided them with different goals—maximizing speed (SPD) or accuracy (ACC), respectively—and measured how frequently (Experiment 1) and how proficiently (Experiment 2) they made use of a novel external resource to support their cognitive processing. Experiment 1 showed that offloading behavior varied with goals: Participants offloaded less in the SPD than in the ACC condition. Experiment 2 showed that this differential offloading behavior was associated with high goal‐related performance: fast answers in the SPD, accurate answers in the ACC condition. Simultaneously, goal‐unrelated performance was sacrificed: inaccurate answers in the SPD, slow answers in the ACC condition. The findings support the notion of humans as canny offloaders who are able to successfully incorporate their environment in pursuit of their current cognitive goals. Future efforts should be focused on the finding's generalizability, for example, to settings without feedback or with high mental workload.     

Chinese undergraduates' preferences for altruistic traits in mate selection and personal advertisement: Evidence from Q‐sort technique

Human's preferences for altruistic mates have been confirmed by many researchers. Under the deep influence of Confucianism that authorised more parental control over offspring's mate selection, Chinese people's mating strategies and mate preferences may be different from what the evolutionary psychologists have suggested. This study used the Q‐sort technique to assess the roles of altruistic traits in mate selection and personal advertisement. A total of 200 university students participated in the Q‐sort procedures and were asked to sort 50 traits (among which altruistic traits were mixed) according to their importance when choosing (or advertising to) a long‐term (LT) or a short‐term (ST) mate. Our findings were quite different from prior studies. When Chinese participants chose a mate or advertised themselves to a potential mate, kin altruism was considered to be the most important trait; altruistic traits were more preferred by males than by females and females tended to advertise themselves as more altruistic; preferences for altruistic traits showed no difference between LT and ST mate selections (or between personal advertisement to a LT and a ST mate).     

语言——自然选择的一种适应

该文认为人类的语言能力是一种生物学意义上的适应,是自然选择的产物。人类的语言与自然界中其它复杂的生物学适应相类似,也具有特定的机能。语言的特定机能在于编码叙事性信息并与他人分享,这与人类认知活动中因果推理所具有的高度社会性特点相一致。两个新的研究领域,进化博弈理论和分子进化选择理论,都证实了语言是一种受到自然选择的进化适应     

基于基尼指数的双目标CD-CAT选题策略

双目标CD-CAT的测验结果既可用于形成性评估也可用于终结性评估。基尼指数可度量随机变量的不确定性程度,值越小则随机变量的不确定程度越低。本文用基尼指数度量被试知识状态类别以及能力估计置信区间后验概率的变化,提出基于基尼指数的选题策略。MonteCarlo实验表明与已有的选题策略相比,新策略的知识状态分类精度和能力估计精度都较高,同时能有效兼顾题库利用均匀性,并能快速实时响应,且受认知诊断模型和被试知识状态分布的影响较小,可用于实际测验中含多种认知诊断模型的混合题库。     

知觉负载影响注意选择和冲突解决的系列效应

研究考察了无关侧抑制项引起的侧抑制效应如何受到当前试次知觉负载和先前试次知觉负载与目标?侧抑制项关系的交互影响。被试在视觉搜索集中搜索目标朝向刺激(水平或竖直朝向)并作辨别反应, 非目标项在低负载条件下彼此朝向一致, 在高负载条件下彼此朝向不一致。在搜索集的左侧或右侧存在一个与当前目标一致或不一致的无关侧抑制项(flanker)。结果发现, 整体上, 在当前试次低负载条件下会产生较大的干扰效应, 而在当前试次高负载下无干扰效应。此外, 先前试次(trial n-1)为高负载条件时, 当前试次(trial n)出现了典型的知觉负载效应, 即低负载条件干扰效应较大, 高负载条件无干扰效应。但是, 先前试次为低负载条件时, 当前试次的干扰效应大小受到先前试次冲突解决状态的影响。先前试次为低负载条件且目标?无关侧抑制项不一致时, 下一试次低负载条件的侧抑制效应显著减小, 与高负载条件没有差异; 反之, 先前试次为低负载且目标?侧抑制项一致条件时, 下一试次低负载条件的侧抑制效应显著增大。先前试次为低负载条件时, 完成了知觉加工的侧抑制项或者引发了冲突效应(不一致条件), 或者促进了对目标的反应(一致条件), 造成不同的注意选择和冲突解决状态, 显著影响了下一试次的行为表现。这说明, 注意选择与冲突控制过程是动态变化的, 除了受到当前试次知觉负载的影响, 也受到先前试次注意选择和冲突解决状态的调节。     

双因子模型MCAT中多级评分项目选题策略的比较

双因子模型假设测验考察一个一般因子和多个组因子,符合很多教育和心理测验的因素结构。“维度缩减”方法将参数估计中多维积分计算化简为多个迭代二维积分,是双因子模型的重要特征。本文针对考察多级评分项目的计算机化自适应测验,首先推导双因子等级反应模型下Fisher信息量的计算,然后推导“维度缩减”方法在项目选择方法中的应用,最后在低、中、高双因子模式题库中比较D-优化方法、后验加权Fisher信息D优化方法(PDO)、后验加权Kullback-Leibler方法(PKL)、连续熵(CEM)和互信息(MI)方法在能力估计的相关、均方根误差、绝对值偏差和欧氏距离的表现。模拟研究表明：(1)双因子模式越强,即一般因子和组因子在项目上的区分度的差异越小,一般因子估计精度降低,组因子估计精度增加,整体能力的估计精度提高;(2)相同实验条件下,连续熵方法的测量精度最高,PKL方法的能力估计精度最低,其它方法的测量精度没有显著差异。     

Forced-choice and conventional personality assessment: Each may have unique value in pre-employment testing

Forced-choice (FC) personality scales are purported to predict criteria such as counterproductive work behavior (CWB) incrementally beyond conventional personality measures in pre-employment testing situations. Unfortunately, the research upon which FC tests’ claims of superiority are founded, relies upon undergraduate participants in highly artificial scenarios. Moreover, the possible predictive advantages of FC personality scales with regards to important contextual performance (CP; Borman & Motowidlo, 1993) criteria have not been investigated. We used a sample of call center employees to investigate the incremental validity of a FC personality scale over a conventional personality scale (and vice versa) with CP measures, and CWB, as criteria. Our FC and conventional personality measures were highly correlated, but each still offered unique predictive value with regards to CP or CWB. Thus, contrary to past research with student samples, in field settings FC personality scales may not be clearly superior to conventional personality scales. Moreover, contrary to widespread concern that FC measures’ predictiveness is attributable to their overlap with general mental ability, the unique predictive value of our FC measure remained even when variance due to general mental ability was statistically controlled.