Attentional Processing of Letter Strings by Children

Reading a letter string requires attentional orienting toward the beginning of the string (left-dominant orientation), followed by orienting along the string. These attentional-orienting processes differ according to the lexicality of the letter string: Sequential processes apply when reading nonwords or pseudowords, while words can be processed more globally. The aim of this study was to evaluate the development of these attentional processes involved in reading. We conducted two experiments in 6- (first grade), 7- (second grade), and 9-year-old (fourth grade) children, using a procedure that required the detection of a letter (Experiment 1) or a nonletter (Experiment 2) target in a string of five characters. The target character could occur in the second (left) or fourth (right) position in the string. Results showed an advantage for left nonletter targets as early as age 6 and of left letter targets as early as age 7. In 6-year-olds, only good readers detected a left letter target faster than a right letter target; others detected a right letter target faster. Thus, dominant orienting toward the beginning of the letter string is not fully developed in children before the second year of reading. A possibility is that beginning readers have difficulties inhibiting an attention-orienting bias toward the right visual field in linguistic tasks. The results also showed that the lexicality effect on these attentional processes develops gradually until the fourth year of reading. We believe that the procedure used in this study will be very valuable for evaluating attentional difficulties during reading acquisition.     

The distribution matters: two types of sample-size tasks

Different studies on how well people take sample size into account have found a wide range of solution rates. In a recent review, Sedlmeier and Gigerenzer (1997) suggested that a substantial part of the variation in results can be explained by the fact that experimenters have used two different types of sample-size tasks, one involving frequency distributions and the other sampling distributions. This suggestion rested on an analysis of studies that, with one exception, did not systematically manipulate type of distribution. In the research reported in this paper, well-known sample-size tasks were used to examine the hypothesis that frequency distribution versions of sample-size tasks yield higher solution rates than corresponding sampling distribution versions. In Study 1, a substantial difference between solution rates for the two types of task was found. Study 2 replicated this finding and ruled out an alternative explanation for it, namely, that the solution rate for sampling distribution tasks was lower because the information they contained was harder to extract than that in frequency distribution tasks. Finally, in Study 3 an attempt was made to reduce the gap between the solution rates for the two types of tasks by giving participants as many hints as possible for solving a sampling distribution task. Even with hints, the gap in performance remained. A new computational model of statistical reasoning specifies cognitive processes that might explain why people are better at solving frequency than sampling distribution tasks. Copyright© 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

加工流畅性对学习判断字体大小效应的影响

以自定步调学习时间和习得试验次数为加工流畅性指标,通过操纵不同字号的词对考察了加工流畅性对学习判断字体大小效应的影响。结果发现：（1）字体大小影响学习判断,但不影响回忆成绩;（2）不同字体大小的词对在加工流畅性（学习时间和学习次数）上存在差异,仅自定步调学习时间测量的加工流畅性对学习判断字体大小效应有贡献。这些结果说明学习判断的字体大小效应是一种元认知错觉现象,部分支持了加工流畅性假说。     

Evaluation of publication bias in response interruption and redirection: A meta-analysis

Publication bias is the disproportionate representation of studies with large effects and statistically significant findings in the published research literature. If publication bias occurs in single-case research design studies on applied behavior-analytic (ABA) interventions, it can result in inflated estimates of ABA intervention effects. We conducted an empirical evaluation of publication bias on an evidence-based ABA intervention for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, response interruption and redirection (RIRD). We determined effect size estimates for published and unpublished studies using 3 metrics, percentage of nonoverlapping data (PND), Hedges' g, and log response ratios (LRR). Omnibus effect size estimates across all 3 metrics were positive, supporting that RIRD is an effective treatment for reducing problem behavior maintained by nonsocial consequences. We observed larger PND for published compared to unpublished studies, small and nonsignificant differences in LRR for published compared to unpublished studies, and significant differences in Hedges' g for published compared to unpublished studies, with published studies showing slightly larger effect. We found little, if any, difference in methodological quality between published and unpublished studies. While RIRD appears to be an effective intervention for challenging behavior maintained by nonsocial consequences, our results reflect some degree of publication bias present in the RIRD research literature.     

Kinship does not affect litter defence in pairs of communally nesting female house mice

Communal litter defence by sister and nonsister female mice can provide a valuable experimental paradigm to test whether females invest preferentially in kin. Since females within sister and nonsister pairs have different coefficients of relatedness with the young, the cumulative litter has more fitness value for related than for unrelated partners. Sister and nonsister paired females that gave birth simultaneously (n = 18), or at least within 7 days from each other (n = 12), were tested for maternal aggression on post partum day 7, or 10 days after the first delivery, respectively. Sister (n = 14) and nonsister pairs (n = 16) did not differ in cumulative values of post partum aggression or in the extent to which aggression was balanced within the pair. The aggressive behavior of each female was not correlated with her relative proportion of pups in the litter. Rather, the combined scores of aggression within the pairs were found to be positively correlated with the cumulative litter size. The analysis of mouse litter defence behavior shows that, under conditions of communal nesting, kinship does not seem to affect parental investment in the young significantly. Rather, the cumulative litter size could be used by paired females as a major indicator for parental investment allocation.     

Sample size requirements for estimating pearson, kendall and spearman correlations

Interval estimates of the Pearson, Kendall tau-a and Spearman correlations are reviewed and an improved standard error for the Spearman correlation is proposed. The sample size required to yield a confidence interval having the desired width is examined. A two-stage approximation to the sample size requirement is shown to give accurate results.     

FOK判断与可接近信息之间的关系

通过三个实验,用语义联想集大小不同的中文单字词研究了靶项目联想集的大小与FOK判断等级和准确性的关系。实验一通过两种不同联想集大小的靶子,比较外显的、提取出的信息和内隐的、语义网络中固有的被激活信息量对FOK判断等级和FOK判断准确性是否有不同的影响。实验二和实验三通过不同的靶子呈现时间和学习遍数,比较不同的识记强度对不同大小联想集的靶子的FOK判断等级和FOK判断准确性的影响。实验结果表明：FOK判断等级随外显的、提取出的信息总量的增多而增高,随内隐的、语义网络中固有的被激活信息量的增多而降低。FOK判断准确性随靶子本身的激活强度的增强而增高,随内隐的、语义网络中固有的被激活信息的激活强度的增强而降低,FOK判断准确性取决于这两种激活强度的综合作用。     

A Bayesian predictive analysis of test scores

In the classical test theory, a high-reliability test always leads to a precise measurement. However, when it comes to the prediction of test scores, it is not necessarily so. Based on a Bayesian statistical approach, we predicted the distributions of test scores for a new subject, a new test, and a new subject taking a new test. Under some reasonable conditions, the predicted means, variances, and covariances of predicted scores were obtained and investigated. We found that high test reliability did not necessarily lead to small variances or covariances. For a new subject, higher test reliability led to larger predicted variances and covariances, because high test reliability enabled a more accurate prediction of test score variances. Regarding a new subject taking a new test, in this study, higher test reliability led to a large variance when the sample size was smaller than half the number of tests. The classical test theory is reanalyzed from the viewpoint of predictions and some suggestions are made.     

The perception of self-motion induced by central and peripheral visual stimuli moving in opposite directions

The effects of the size of a stimulus and its eccentricity (central or peripheral) on the visually induced perception of horizontal translational self-motion (vection) were investigated. The central and peripheral areas of the observers' visual field were simultaneously stimulated by random dot patterns that moved in opposite directions. The results of two experiments indicated that the effects of central and peripheral presentations of the moving visual pattern are equivalent, and that vection strength is determined by the stimulus size and speed but not by its eccentricity. These results are consistent with the findings of previous studies that suggested that there are no qualitative differences in the vection-inducing potentials of the central and peripheral areas of the visual field, and are counter to the more traditional hypothesis, which has assumed that the perception of self-motion is specifically assigned to peripheral vision.     

Oral drug self-administration in rhesus monkeys: interactions between drug amount and fixed-ratio size.

During daily 3-hr sessions, 5 rhesus monkeys drank drug solutions and water that were concurrently available. The drug solutions were: 1 milligram per milliliter (mg/mL) pentobarbital (2 monkeys), 1 mg/mL pentobarbital plus 0.5% ethanol (1 monkey), 1 mg/mL pentobarbital plus 1% ethanol (1 monkey), and 8% ethanol (1 monkey). The drug solution and water were available under identical two-component tandem fixed-ratio continuous-reinforcement N schedules. Two variables were manipulated: the size of the fixed-ratio component and the number of liquid deliveries (N) in the second component. Deliveries of the drug solution maintained higher rates of responding than did deliveries of the drug vehicle, water. The number of drug deliveries per session increased with increases in the number of deliveries per fixed ratio and decreased with increases in fixed-ratio size. Analysis of the results in terms of the proportion of deliveries to responses showed that the number of drug deliveries per session was directly related to the size of this quotient. Finally, when fixed-ratio size was repeatedly doubled, the following orderly relationship emerged: The greater the number of available drug deliveries per fixed ratio, the less was the percent decrease in the number of fixed ratios completed per session. It was concluded that increases in the number of liquid deliveries per fixed ratio resulted in increases in reinforcing efficacy.