A Note on the Conscious Controls of Motor Units by Children Under Six

A simple form of training the conscious control of motor units in skeletal muscle has been demonstrated in a series of children under age 6. Easy boredom is the chief deterrent in the very young. So long as a child understands and cooperates, he can learn to isolate single units in a period of about 30 min.     

Effect of Practice on Effector Independence

The authors' primary purpose in the present experiment was to determine if practice changes the extent to which simple motor sequences are effector independent. Contralateral and ipsilateral effector transfers were assessed in 24 participants after 1 (200 trials) and 4 (800 trials) days of practice. The response sequence became increasingly effector dependent; the response structure and the scaling of force on the effector transfer tests were no better after 4 days of practice than after only 1 day, even though retention performance improved substantially. Those results are consistent with the notion that participants refine their movements over extended practice by exploiting the unique characteristics of the effectors. The additional practice results in a more effective movement when the same effectors are used but is of little value when different effectors are required.     

Rigid/non-rigid grounding and transitivity

While extant replies to Jonathan Schaffer’s putative counterexamples to the transitivity of grounding have made significant strides against the charge of transitivity failure, the replies pay insufficient attention to the common structure of the counterexamples, overlooking a deeper structural feature that contributes to their prima facie plausibility. Putative counterexamples to the transitivity of grounding, I argue, trade on the distinction between what I call ‘rigid’ and ‘non-rigid’ grounding, and confusion over how rigid and non-rigid grounding react when combined pumps the intuition that the counterexamples’ chained conclusions are false. The rigid/non-rigid grounding distinction also reveals plausible weakening inference rules that have been overlooked in treatments of the logic of grounding.     

Young children’s analogical problem solving: Gaining insights from video displays

This study examined how toddlers gain insights from source video displays and use the insights to solve analogous problems. The sample of 2- and 2.5-year-olds viewed a source video illustrating a problem-solving strategy and then attempted to solve analogous problems. Older, but not younger, toddlers extracted the problem-solving strategy depicted in the video and spontaneously transferred the strategy to solve isomorphic problems. Transfer by analogy from the video was evident only when the video illustrated the complete problem goal structure, including the character’s intention and the action needed to achieve a goal. The same action isolated from the problem-solving context did not serve as an effective source analogue. These results illuminate the development of early representation and processes involved in analogical problem solving. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.     

Motor Response Variations: Peripheral and Central Sources of Error

The purpose of this research was to test the hypothesis that the relative involvement of peripheral versus central nervous system activity during response variations determines the locus of error production in a subsequent criterion response. The hypothesis was tested by comparing ipsilateral and contralateral transfer of a criterion response following response variations that emphasized proportionately different involvement of the peripheral and central systems. When subjects were provided with knowledge of results (KR) to maintain a 30% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), ipsilateral but not contralateral bias errors occurred on a subsequent dynamic response. When subjects maintained a 30% MVC without KR, however, subsequent ipsilateral bias errors were greater than contralateral bias errors. Finally, when subjects imaged a 30% MVC, subsequent bias errors were equivalent across limbs. These results are interpreted as support for the hypothesis.     

尝试提取复杂信息失败的学习：吃一堑长一智？

摘 要：在学习中,提取失败能否产生对知识的有效学习是一个很有意义的研究课题。以事实和概念类知识为实验材料,三个实验采用经典范式探讨了复杂意义条件下的提取失败后的学习效果。结果显示仅在尝试提取事实类题目失败后,促进了知识的保持和迁移;在迁移成绩上延时反馈优于即时反馈的效果。表明尝试提取复杂材料的信息失败后,知识的类型和反馈的时机决定了学习效果。     

Reductive and Emergent Views on Motor Learning in Rehabilitation Practice

To allow different views on motor learning to inform rehabilitation research, the authors aimed to explicate a frequently missed yet fundamental difference in starting point of such views. By considering how rehabilitation in practice answers the question of what parts an activity consists of, reductive and emergent approaches to motor learning are identified and traced throughout rehabilitation practice. The authors show that when a task is cut up along reductive dimensions while also apparently relying on emergent components, this unequally favors the reductive approach and acts to limit the views on motor learning available. By showing the approaches in practice, the authors hope to inspire an awareness that brings both approaches the opportunity to independently inform research so that new theories and practices can proliferate.     

The transfer of Crel contextual control (same,opposite, less than,more than) through equivalence relations

According to Relational Frame Theory (RFT) C_rel denotes a contextual stimulus that controls a particular type of relational response (sameness, opposition, comparative, temporal, hierarchical etc.) in a given situation. Previous studies suggest that contextual functions may be indirectly acquired via transfer of function. The present study investigated the transfer of C_rel contextual control through equivalence relations. Experiment 1 evaluated the transfer of C_rel contextual functions for relational responses based on sameness and opposition. Experiment 2 extended these findings by evaluating transfer of function using comparative C_rel stimuli. Both experiments followed a similar sequence of phases. First, abstract forms were established as C_rel stimuli via multiple exemplar training (Phase 1). The contextual cues were then applied to establish arbitrary relations among nonsense words and to test derived relations (Phase 2). After that, equivalence relations involving the original C_rel stimuli and other abstract forms were trained and tested (Phase 3). Transfer of function was evaluated by replacing the directly established C_rel stimuli with their equivalent stimuli in the former experimental tasks (Phases 1 and 2). Results from both experiments suggest that C_rel contextual control may be extended via equivalence relations, allowing other arbitrarily related stimuli to indirectly acquire C_rel functions and regulate behavior by evoking appropriate relational responses in the presence of both previously known and novel stimuli.     

老年执行功能的认知可塑性和神经可塑性

执行衰退假说认为执行功能的特异性衰退是引起认知年老化的主要原因, 近年来越来越多的研究表明, 老年人的执行功能及其相关脑区(主要为前额叶)存在可塑性, 通过训练执行功能的衰退可得到缓解, 且相关脑区的激活水平、脑容量或神经递质都可发生改变; 部分研究还发现执行功能训练对其它认知能力有一定的迁移效应。这些发现对于认知年老化理论的继续探索和认知干预研究的实践应用都具有重要意义。     

Transfer from “edible” categorization training to feeding behavior in pigeons (Columba livia)1

Abstract: We investigated a transfer from an operant experimental situation to a feeding situation in pigeons using real objects as stimuli. Four pigeons were trained in an operant box to categorize familiar edible items as positives and inedible items as negatives with a go/no‐go procedure. Next, two pairs of unfamiliar edible items were added as stimuli. One of the paired stimuli was arbitrarily assigned as positive and the other as negative. We tested the subjects in their home cages to see whether they would feed on the items they were trained to categorize as positives. In three of the six cases in which categorization training was successful, they continued to peck the positive items. This result suggests that the pigeons transfer what they learned in the operant training situation to the feeding situation.