Processing focus structure and implicit prosody during reading: differential ERP effects

Several recent studies have shown that focus structural representations influence syntactic processing during reading, while other studies have shown that implicit prosody plays an important role in the understanding of written language. Up until now, the relationship between these two processes has been mostly disregarded. The present study disentangles the roles of focus structure and accent placement in reading by reporting event-related brain potential (ERP) data on the processing of contrastive ellipses. The results reveal a positive-going waveform (350-1300 ms) that correlates with focus structural processing and a negativity (450-650 ms) interpreted as the correlate of implicit prosodic processing. The results suggest that the assignment of focus as well as accent placement are obligatory processes during reading.     

责任心的多元内涵与结构及其理论整合

责任心研究, 在心理学不同领域有类似的对象、相近的内涵, 但又有不同的概念界定、研究方法和测量工具, 研究结果迥异。文章首先回顾了已有研究对责任心内涵和结构的探索, 试图从整体上把握责任心研究在各领域成果间的关联;其次, 对人格领域、道德领域和认知领域中与责任心相关的的理论进行了分析;最后, 基于对责任三角模型优势和局限的分析, 并结合先前理论的启示, 尝试提出了一个更具综合性的责任心三侧面理论模型, 并探讨了该模型在理论上可能具有的特征。     

Self-perceived employability: Investigating the responses of post-graduate students

This paper reports the further testing of a research instrument to examine the expectations and self-perceptions of employability of business students at post-graduate level, building on previously reported research with undergraduates [Rothwell, A., Herbert, I., & Rothwell, F. (2008). Self perceived employability: Construction and initial validation of a scale for university students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73(1), 1-12]. On this occasion the scale was again found to have a good internal reliability coefficient (α = .84), and discriminant validity from university commitment. Forcing a four-factor solution found components relating to the university’s reputation, individual self-confidence and proactivity, external labor market factors, and finally the individuals’ engagement with study and academic performance. For this multi-cultural post-graduate sample, perceptions of employability were good, but within that they placed significant emphasis on the brand and reputation of the university. Results indicate the potential for further studies with refined scales, particularly the combined scale of employability and ambition.     

英语文章阅读过程中的文章标记效应研究

该研究通过三个实验探讨高职生英语阅读的文章标记效应。实验一探讨文章标记对阅读英语长、短文章的影响,结果发现文章标记对英语长文章主题信息保持的促进作用大于对英语短文章主题信息的促进作用。实验二以EyelinkⅡ型眼动仪为工具,考察被试阅读有、无标记文章的主题句的眼动模式的差异,结果发现被试阅读这两类主题句的眼动模式存在显著差异。实验三考察对被试进行文章结构策略训练对文章标记效应的影响,结果发现训练促进了被试对无标记英语长文章主题信息的保持,研究结果支持策略转换假设。     

A General Factor of Personality in the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III, the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology, and the Personality Assessment Inventory

A General Factor of Personality (GFP) occupies the apex of the hierarchy in three prominent personality disorder inventories. On the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III, a GFP accounted for 41% of the variance in two second-order factors, 31% of the variance in five first-order factors, and 26% of the variance in all 24 scales. On the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology, a GFP accounted for 61% of the variance in six first-order factors and 36% of the variance in all 18 scales. In a cross-validation study of the Personality Assessment Inventory, a GFP accounted for 65% of the variance in two second-order factors, 47% of the variance in five first-order factors, and 27% of the variance in all 18 scales.     

How Are Traits Related to Problem Behavior in Preschoolers? Similarities and Contrasts Between Temperament and Personality

The lack of empirical research relating temperament models and personality hinders conceptual integration and holds back research linking childhood traits to problem behavior or maladjustment. This study evaluates, within a sample of 443 preschoolers, the relationships between children’s maladaptation and traits measured by three temperament models (Thomas and Chess, Buss and Plomin, and Rothbart), and a Five-Factor based personality model. Adequate reliabilities and expected factor structures are demonstrated for most scales. A joint principal component analysis combining 28 temperament and 18 personality scales indicates a six-factor model, distinguishing Sociability, Activity, Conscientiousness, Disagreeableness, Emotionality, and Sensitivity. Regression analyses reveal that although single temperament and personality scales explain from 23% to 37% of problem behavior variance, the six components explain from 41% to 49% and provide a clearer differentiation among CBCL-problem scales. This age-specific taxonomy refines and corroborates conclusions based on narrative reviews and furnishes a more balanced view of trait–maladjustment relationships.

Identifying g: A review of current factor analytic practices in the science of mental abilities

Factor analysis is arguably one of the most important tools in the science of mental abilities. While many studies have been conducted to make recommendations regarding “best practices” concerning its use, it is unknown the degree to which contemporary ability researchers abide by those standards. The current study sought to evaluate the typical practices of contemporary ability researchers. We analyzed articles reporting factor analyses of cognitive ability tests administered to adult samples over a 12 year period. Results suggest that, in aggregate, the science of mental abilities seems to be doing well with respect to the issues of sample size, number of indicators (relative to number of factors) and breadth of indicators. Further, our results suggest that the majority of ability researchers are using methods of factor analysis that allow for the identification of a g factor. However, 14.57% failed to use a method that allowed a common factor to emerge. These results provide insights regarding the methodological quality of the science of mental abilities, and will hopefully encourage further “introspective” research into the science of mental abilities.     

Testing the latent factor structure and construct validity of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory

Recent efforts have aimed to develop relatively short measures of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality, particularly for when time and/or space is limited. We evaluate the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), a non-proprietary FFM measure with two items per dimension. We use a latent variable methodology to examine the TIPI’s factor structure and convergent validity with the 50-item International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) FFM measure. We provide correlations between the scale scores and latent factors, and compare each measure’s pattern of correlations with measures of other individual difference constructs. Results were favorable in terms of the factor structure and convergent validity of the TIPI, particularly regarding the correlations between the respective latent factors of the TIPI and the IPIP–FFM measures.     

Labels as features (not names) for infant categorization: a neurocomputational approach

A substantial body of experimental evidence has demonstrated that labels have an impact on infant categorization processes. Yet little is known regarding the nature of the mechanisms by which this effect is achieved. We distinguish between two competing accounts: supervised name-based categorization and unsupervised feature-based categorization. We describe a neurocomputational model of infant visual categorization, based on self-organizing maps, that implements the unsupervised feature-based approach. The model successfully reproduces experiments demonstrating the impact of labeling on infant visual categorization reported in Plunkett, Hu, and Cohen (2008) . It mimics infant behavior in both the familiarization and testing phases of the procedure, using a training regime that involves only single presentations of each stimulus and using just 24 participant networks per experiment. The model predicts that the observed behavior in infants is due to a transient form of learning that might lead to the emergence of hierarchically organized categorical structure and that the impact of labels on categorization is influenced by the perceived similarity and the sequence in which the objects are presented. The results suggest that early in development, say before 12 months old, labels need not act as invitations to form categories nor highlight the commonalities between objects, but they may play a more mundane but nevertheless powerful role as additional features that are processed in the same fashion as other features that characterize objects and object categories.     

A semantics-based approach to the "no negative evidence" problem

Previous studies have shown that children retreat from argument-structure overgeneralization errors (e.g., * Don't giggle me ) by inferring that frequently encountered verbs are unlikely to be grammatical in unattested constructions, and by making use of syntax-semantics correspondences (e.g., verbs denoting internally caused actions such as giggling cannot normally be used causatively). The present study tested a new account based on a unitary learning mechanism that combines both of these processes. Seventy-two participants (ages 5–6, 9–10, and adults) rated overgeneralization errors with higher (* The funny man's joke giggled Bart ) and lower (* The funny man giggled Bart ) degrees of direct external causation. The errors with more-direct causation were rated as less unacceptable than those with less-direct causation. This finding is consistent with the new account, under which children acquire—in an incremental and probabilistic fashion—the meaning of particular constructions (e.g., transitive causative = direct external causation) and particular verbs, rejecting generalizations where the incompatibility between the two is too great.