Cognitive imitation in typically-developing 3- and 4-year olds and individuals with autism

Individuals diagnosed with autism suffer from numerous social, affective and linguistic impairments. It has also been suggested that they have a global imitation deficit. That hypothesis, however, is compromised by the fact that individuals with autism suffer from various motor impairments. Here we describe an experiment on cognitive imitation, a type of imitation that doesn’t require motor learning. Nine male autistic subjects and 20 typically-developing 3- and 4-year olds were trained to respond, in a prescribed order, to different lists of photographs that were displayed simultaneously on a touch-sensitive monitor. Because the position of the photographs varied randomly from trial to trial, sequences could not be learned by motor imitation. In three different imitation treatments, including a ghost control, autistic subjects learned new sequences more rapidly after observing a model execute those sequences than when they had to learn new sequences entirely by trial and error. Moreover, the performance of autistic subjects did not significantly differ from the performance of typically-developing controls. The result of this and other studies suggests that individuals with autism suffer from a specific novel motor imitation deficit.     

The Relations of Effortful Control and Impulsivity to Children's Sympathy: A Longitudinal Study

The relations of children's (n = 214 at Time 1; M age = 6 years at Time 1) dispositional sympathy to adult-reported and behavioral measures of effortful control (EC) and impulsivity were examined in a longitudinal study including five assessments, each two years apart. Especially for boys, relatively high levels of EC and growth in EC were related to high sympathy. Teacher-reported impulsivity was generally modestly negatively related to measures of teacher-reported sympathy for boys, and a decline in impulsivity was linked to boys’ sympathy. Some findings suggested a positive association between impulsivity and children's self-reported sympathy. EC, especially when reported by teachers, was more often a unique predictor of sympathy than was impulsivity. Results generally support the argument that sympathetic individuals, especially boys, are high in EC and that EC is a more consistent predictor of sympathy than impulsivity.     

Information repetition in evaluative judgments: Easy to monitor,hard to control

The sampling approach [Fiedler, K. (2000a). Beware of samples! A cognitive-ecological sampling approach to judgment biases. Psychological Review, 107(4), 659–676.] attributes judgment biases to the information given in a sample. Because people usually do not monitor the constraints of samples and do not control their judgments accordingly, systematic judgment biases occur. Three experiments demonstrate this for an obvious sampling constraint, the emptiness of merely repeated information. When evaluating stock market shares, participants did not correct for the repetition of positive or negative information about a share. Although original and repeated information was reliably distinguished in estimates of occurrence (successful monitoring), preferences were misled by mere repetition of success and failure reports (unsuccessful control). This effect could even override a share’s actual success rate. Explicit instructions to ignore repetitions provided no remedy; however, a cognitive load manipulation reduced repetition’s undue influence. Possible reasons for and benefits of this lack of direct metacognitive control are discussed.     

Impairments in inhibition or cognitive control in psychological disorders

Contributions to this special issue of Applied & Preventive Psychology richly elucidate connections between a variety of psychological disorders and performance in a number of tasks that are used to reason about inhibitory deficits. This commentary calls attention to the different uses of the concept of inhibition – vernacular, neural, operational, and theoretical – and suggests that the term cognitive control avoids claims about dampened memory representations that are difficult to support. Central findings from the reviews are summarized; evidence concerning suppression-induced forgetting is featured and directions to foster application are discussed.     

儿童执行功能对数学能力的预测模型

使用数点数广度任务(C-span)、Stroop任务、威斯康星卡片分类任务(WCST)测查儿童的执行功能,用《小学儿童数学能力测查量表》(一年级)、《韦克斯勒儿童智力测量》分别测查儿童的数学能力和智力,对64名小学一年级儿童的执行功能(抑制、转换、刷新)和数学能力的关系进行了研究,相关分析和回归分析发现,数学能力与执行功能任务测量都有显著相关,抑制、转换和刷新都分别对数学能力存在显著回归效应;在此基础上,建立了执行功能及其对儿童数学能力的预测模型。结果表明,抑制控制、转换和刷新都能对数学能力产生直接影响,但抑制控制还通过转换和刷新对数学能力产生间接影响。说明儿童数学能力的认知差异,主要在于抑制控制能力的差异,而抑制控制的差异又导致转换和刷新能力表现的差异。     

4～7岁儿童内在动机的追踪研究

把内在动机看作是一种特质,将其划分为物为定向内在动机和人为定向内在动机.对110名儿童进行了为期三年的追踪(从4岁到7岁).在儿童4岁和7岁时,实验室的自由游戏情境中对他们进行录像观察,编码他们的两种内在动机.由父母报告他们对儿童的控制.结果表明:(1)儿童从4岁到7岁,物为定向内在动机和人为定向内在动机均呈显著上升趋势.(2)在儿童4岁、7岁时,物为定向内在动机和人为定向内在动机均呈显著负相关.(3)在儿童4岁、7岁时,物为定向内在动机均显著高于人为定向内在动机.(4)在儿童4岁和7岁时,父母控制与儿童物为定向内在动机和人为定向内在动机均无显著相关.     

降压达标治疗中的个体化原则与优化治疗

为了提高高血压患者的降压达标率、最大程度地降低靶器官损伤,一方面应强化生活方式的改变,包括戒烟限酒、低盐饮食、减轻体重和适量运动,另一方面,由于原发性高血压的发病是由多种复杂因素的不同组合引起,应根据不同个体的高血压发病机制及病因的差异,在指南的指导下,应用不同种类抗高血压药物(单用或联合用药),采用针对个体的优化治疗,才能更有效地使降压治疗达标。     

中国古代堕胎考略

中国见于史书记载的堕胎行为从汉代就开始了,并且形成三种堕胎技术。唐宋以后,由于人口增长的压力,堕胎在一些地区出现了普遍化倾向,导致堕胎的公开化和职业化。但由于传统重生育、反堕胎观念的存在,堕胎技术一直受到歧视,得不到完善,人们为此付出了长期的血的代价。     

国外有关学习时间分配决策能力的研究概述

学习时间分配决策是记忆监控的核心内容之一。文章围绕学习时间分配决策能力的新近研究,重点介绍了如下问题：（1）儿童学习时间分配决策能力的发展;（2）学习时间分配决策机制的探讨,特别对最新的理论模型——学习层次模型和最近学习区假设进行了比较详细的介绍;（3）对今后研究发展的趋势进行了展望。