From the Universe of Knowledge to the Universe of Concepts: The Structural Revolution in Classification for Information Retrieval

During the twentieth century, bibliographic classification theory underwent a structural revolution. The first modern bibliographic classifications were top-down systems that started at the universe of knowledge and subdivided that universe downward to minute subclasses. After the invention of faceted classification by S.R. Ranganathan, the ideal was to build bottom-up classifications that started with the universe of concepts and built upward to larger and larger faceted classes. This ideal has not been achieved, and the two kinds of classification systems are not mutually exclusive. This paper examines the process by which this structural revolution was accomplished by looking at the spread of facet theory after 1924 when Ranganathan attended the School of Librarianship, London, through selected classification textbooks that were published after that date. To this end, the paper examines the role of W.C.B. Sayers as a teacher and author of three editions of The Manual of Classification for Librarians and Bibliographers. Sayers influenced both Ranganathan and the various members of the Classification Research Group (CRG) who were his students. Further, the paper contrasts the methods of evaluating classification systems that arose between Sayers’s Canons of Classification in 1915–1916 and J. Mills’s A Modern Outline of Library Classification in 1960 in order to demonstrate the speed with which one kind of classificatory structure was overtaken by another.

Dynamic binding of identity and location information: a serial model of multiple identity tracking

Tracking of multiple moving objects is commonly assumed to be carried out by a fixed-capacity parallel mechanism. The present study proposes a serial model (MOMIT) to explain performance accuracy in the maintenance of multiple moving objects with distinct identities. A serial refresh mechanism is postulated, which makes recourse to continuous attention switching, a capacity-limited episodic buffer for identity-location bindings, indexed location information stored in the visuospatial short-term memory, and an active role of long-term memory. As identity-location bindings are refreshed serially, a location error is inherent for all other targets except the focally attended one. The magnitude of this location error is a key factor in predicting tracking accuracy. MOMIT’s predictions were supported by the data of five experiments: performance accuracy decreased as a function of target set-size, speed, and familiarity. A mathematical version of MOMIT fitted nicely to the observed data with plausible parameter estimates for the binding capacity and refresh time.     

记忆提取促进学习:实验证据与机制解释

人类学习的主流观点认为学习主要发生在编码阶段,记忆提取本身并不产生和促进学习。但最近多项研究对此提出了质疑,他们发现,在学习过程中,记忆提取更能促进学习内容的长时保持。本文首先对记忆提取促进学习的实验证据做简要梳理;之后重点介绍关于记忆提取促进学习的多种解释机制,主要包括:侧重于从理论机制层面解释的记忆失用新理论,强调内在精细机制的精细提取假设,以及解释保持间隔(长、短)与学习方式(重复学习、学习-测试)交互作用的基于分布的二分模型;文章最后分析了当前研究记忆提取作用实验存在的一些问题,提出了今后的研究方向,强调应从多角度揭示记忆提取练习促进学习的机制。     

记忆编码中目标与背景的情绪一致性对记忆提取的影响

摘 要 本研究将经典情绪启动范式和学习-再认范式相结合,探讨学习时启动与目标的情绪一致性对目标再认的影响。在记忆编码阶段,以情绪面孔图片为启动刺激、一般情绪图片为目标刺激,要求被试对目标图片的效价进行判断;在提取阶段向被试呈现一般情绪图片,要求被试判断是否在前一阶段见过。结果表明,编码阶段的加工背景对记忆提取产生了显著影响。一致启动促进了认知加工与记忆编码,提高了再认正确率。ERP结果也表明,在目标刺激呈现后300-500ms,编码时的情绪一致性对再认阶段消极目标诱发的ERP产生了显著影响。     

“提取练习”促进意义学习：实验凭证与教学应用

“提取练习”对记忆保持的促进效应在过去10年获得了研究者的高度关注与认同。在此基础上, 研究者开始将提取练习研究的关注点由记忆保持转向对教学实践更具价值的意义学习上。本文从提取练习对意义材料学习的促进效应、提取练习在意义学习评估指标上的优势以及提取练习与其它意义学习方法的比较三个方面回顾了提取练习促进意义学习的实验证据, 介绍和比较了两种解释提取练习如何促进意义学习的理论假设, 并且梳理了在真实的课堂教学中获得的提取练习促进意义学习的研究成果。综述表明, 提取练习与重复学习和精细加工学习相比, 在促进意义学习方面更具优势, 值得且可以在教学实践中进行推广。但是, 现有研究中纳入的意义学习的评估指标体系、所涉及的知识类型以及与之比较的意义学习方法都较为单一, 且内部机制的解释理论也存在争议, 在以上方面还需要进行深入研究。     

协作抑制的作用机制：来自编码阶段的证据

协作抑制是指当人们在一个记忆小组中一起提取信息的时候,小组提取的信息总量比等量个体提取的信息总量要少。本研究采用经典的协作抑制研究范式和两次提取任务,考察编码方式和学习次数对协作提取任务的影响,进一步将考察协作抑制的产生机制作为总研究目的。结果表明,编码方式相同条件下出现协作抑制,而编码方式不同条件下协作抑制消失,显示协作抑制的出现与否依赖于认知条件的改变;无论是学习一次还是学习两次,在第一次小组提取中出现协作抑制,而在第二次个人提取中协作抑制消失,在使用困难学习材料时也得到同样的研究结果。研究结果支持协作抑制的提取策略破坏假说。     

自传记忆线索提取发展的实验研究

自传记忆是关于个人生活的记忆。发展心理学家以生命历程的视野来研究自传记忆的发生、发展、变化是自传记忆研究的重要组成部分。自传记忆的形成和发展可分为三个阶段 :即童年期遗忘、回忆高峰、自传记忆近因期。本实验采用 2 (提取方式 :顺时、自由回忆 )× 2 (性别 :男、女 )× 8(年龄 :8个年龄组 )混合设计 ,结果发现 :(1 )顺时提取与自由提取两种提取方式对自传记忆的提取存在年龄差异 ,不仅有提取速度的差异 ,也存在提取内容的差异。 (2 ) 8个年龄段两种提取条件下的平均提取速度具有一致的趋同性 ,呈U型曲线 ,存在自传记忆的回忆高峰。 (3)自传记忆的跨生命历程提取不存在性别差异 ,年龄、性别、提取方式间不存在交互作用。 (4) 8个年龄段自传记忆的提取速度、提取内容与个人各年龄的生活主题存在内在关联。 (5)从提取机制支持Conway关于生命历程自传记忆发展的三阶段假设     

Impaired prospective memory but intact episodic memory in intellectually average 7- to 9-year-olds born very preterm and/or very low birth weight

Relatively little is known about episodic memory (EM: memory for personally-experienced events) and prospective memory (PM: memory for intended actions) in children born very preterm (VP) or with very low birth weight (VLBW). This study evaluates EM and PM in mainstream-schooled 7- to 9-year-olds born VP (≤ 32 weeks) and/or VLBW (< 1500 g) and matches full-term children for comparison (n = 35 and n = 37, respectively). Additionally, participants were assessed for verbal and non-verbal ability, executive function (EF), and theory of mind (ToM). The results show that the VP/VLBW children were outperformed by the full-term children on the memory tests overall, with a significant univariate group difference in PM. Moreover, within the VP/VLBW group, the measures of PM, verbal ability and working memory all displayed reliable negative correlations with severity of neonatal illness. PM was found to be independent of EM and cognitive functioning, suggesting that this form of memory might constitute a domain of specific vulnerability for VP/VLBW children.     

The influence of external stimulation in missing knowledge retrieval

We investigated the effects of sensory reduction on the retrieval of information during tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experiences. As conscious access results from severe competition in which external stimuli often have priority, we hypothesised that reducing external stimulation would allow individuals greater access to weakly activated inner knowledge. In Study 1, when participants experienced a TOT while answering a general knowledge question, they were given additional time to find the solution in a restricted (eyes closed?+?silence) or a non-restricted (eyes open?+?ambient noise) external stimulation environment. Results indicated that knowledge was more often retrieved when external stimulation was restricted than when not restricted. This result was replicated in a second study. Using an independent manipulation of the level of auditory and visual stimulation, Study 2 also indicated that the presence of visual stimulation was more disruptive for TOT resolution than the presence of auditory stimulation. Overall, the findings suggest that sensory restriction (especially of visual stimuli) facilitates the retrieval of weakly accessible knowledge through a greater processing of inner stimuli.     

Priming,not inhibition,of related concepts during future imagining

Remembering the past and imagining the future both involve the retrieval of details stored in episodic memory and rely on the same core network of brain regions. Given these parallels, one might expect similar component processes to be involved in remembering and imagining. While a strong case can be made for the role of inhibition in memory retrieval, few studies have examined whether inhibition is also necessary for future imagining and results to-date have been mixed. In the current study, we test whether related concepts are inhibited during future imagining using a modified priming approach. Participants first generated a list of familiar places and for each place, the people they most strongly associate with it. A week later, participants imagined future events involving recombinations of people and places, immediately followed by a speeded response task in which participants made familiarity decisions about people’s names. Across two experiments, our results suggest that related concepts are not inhibited during future imagining, but rather are automatically primed. These results fit with recent work showing that autobiographically significant concepts (e.g., friends’ names) are more episodic than semantic in nature, automatically activating related details in memory and potentially fuelling the flexible simulation of future events.