The development of procedures for identifying competitive behavior in children

This study identified events in the competitive process that could be employed to discriminate between competition and individual, non-social behaviors. When children competed they overtly sought out information on how they were doing vis-à-vis their fellow competitor. In addition, their performance was a function of some competitive contingency: a reward for surpassing another. The procedures developed in this study were designed to manipulate competitive contingencies while observing their effects on task performance and social comparisons. The investigator could thus infer that competition was present when (1) subjects sought out information on how they were doing, as well as how another was doing on comparable tasks during competitive contingencies, and (2) their task performance was a function of the competitive contingency.     

Factors influencing career maturity in the South African National Defence Force: A diagnostic approach

This study investigated factors influencing the career maturity of young members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). A sample of 310 young SANDF members (females=35%, blacks=90%) completed the following measures: career maturity inventory-revised, the career decision self-efficacy scale, the military hardiness scale, and the seven habits profile. They also completed a biographical information form. Data were analysed using multiple regression to predict career maturity from career decision self-efficacy, self-appraisal, occupational information, goal selection, planning, problem solving, hardiness, control, challenge, commitment, conscientiousness, life balance, pro-active behaviour, life goals, self-management, mutual-benefit thinking, listening, teamwork, continuous improvement and life skills. Findings suggest self-efficacy, occupational information, self-appraisal, commitment, challenge, emotional intelligence and continuous improvement have the strongest influence on career maturity. The results indicated that self-efficacy, life skills and personal drive empower young members to seek employment.     

The development of and interaction among alerting,orienting, and executive attention in children

A sex-balanced sample (N = 96) of children from age 6.5 to age 12.5 completed a modified Attention Network Test. Across these ages, we found evidence for developmental changes to alerting and executive control but stable orienting. Additionally, we found that the youngest members of our sample manifested an interaction between alerting and executive control that is opposite to that typically found in adults; a reversal that diminishes with age to achieve the adult pattern by the older end of the age range of our sample.     

Unique designs,errors and strategies in the Five-Point Test: The contribution of age,phonemic fluency and visuospatial abilities in Italian children aged 6–11 years

Performances on the Five-Point Test of 161 Italian children aged 6 to 11 years were investigated, along with phonemic fluency, visual-motor integration, visual perception, motor coordination, visuospatial memory, and fluid intelligence. Five-Point Test accuracy was significantly related to phonemic fluency and visual-motor integration, while phonemic fluency was linked to motor coordination. The two fluency measures increased linearly with age, but the developmental progression of Five-Point Test accuracy was less influenced by age. Different age effects were also found on the relationship between fluid intelligence and the two fluency measures. The inspection of qualitative aspects of Five-Point Test performance (errors and strategies) suggested that strategy usage enhanced both productivity and accuracy in children; age-related changes were observed in the relationship between the number of errors and the total number of designs produced.     

How fuzzy-trace theory predicts true and false memories for words,sentences, and narratives

Fuzzy-trace theory posits independent verbatim and gist memory processes, a distinction that has implications for such applied topics as eyewitness testimony. This distinction between precise, literal verbatim memory and meaning-based, intuitive gist accounts for memory paradoxes including dissociations between true and false memory, false memories outlasting true memories, and developmental increases in false memory. We provide an overview of fuzzy-trace theory, and, using mathematical modeling, also present results demonstrating verbatim and gist memory in true and false recognition of narrative sentences and inferences. Results supported fuzzy-trace theory's dual-process view of memory: verbatim memory was relied on to reject meaning-consistent, but unpresented, sentences (via recollection rejection). However, verbatim memory was often not retrieved, and gist memory supported acceptance of these sentences (via similarity judgment and phantom recollection). Thus, mathematical models of words can be extended to explain memory for complex stimuli, such as narratives, the kind of memory interrogated in law.     

How Regulatory Orientation and Feelings of Gratitude Shape Online Review Helpfulness

Online review helpfulness ratings are an important indicator of the impact of online reviews. Often times, helpfulness is explained in terms of observable qualities of online reviews that predict helpfulness ratings. This research proposes that focusing on the psychological processes that underlie helpfulness voting informs a better understanding of what shapes review helpfulness ratings. Specifically, because goal orientation influences information processing, consumers’ regulatory orientation interacts with review valence to determine review helpfulness. When review valence and regulatory orientation match, consumers are more likely to express helpfulness through voting. The findings show that this effect occurs at least in part because matching review valence and regulatory orientation instills feelings of gratitude towards the reviewer. As a consequence, consumers are more likely to reward the reviewer with a helpfulness vote to express their feeling of gratitude through actions. However, when reviewers actively state expectations of reciprocal behavior by readers, gratitude is reduced and so is the likelihood that a review receives a helpfulness vote. Evidence from five studies using review data and online experiments show support for these effects.     

Timing in a dual-task in children and adults: when the interference effect is higher with concurrent non-temporal than temporal information

This study used a dual task with participants of different levels of cognitive capacities, assessed with neuropsychological tests, to examine the attentional cost on time judgment of processing concurrent temporal and non-temporal information. Children and adults performed a temporal reproduction task with either an interfering temporal or non-temporal discrimination task. The results showed an underestimation of time in the dual task compared to the single task, the extent of which was directly linked to individual attentional capacities. However, the non-temporal task interfered more than the temporal task on the reproduced durations. Nonetheless, the temporal reproduction task equally affected performance in the non-temporal and the temporal discrimination task. These results reveal the predominant role of the cost of dual-tasking in interference effects on time judgment, and the lesser role of concurrent information, especially of temporal information. This suggests a lack of competition for attentional resources in the processing of multiple durations.     

中国1～4年级小学生视知觉发展研究

该研究对1132名来自中国不同地区的1~4年级小学生施测视知觉发展测验,探究了小学生视动整合能力和去动作的视知觉的发展特点。研究结果表明,1~4年级小学生视知觉随着年级的升高而增强,视动整合能力和去动作的视知觉均从二年级开始呈现发展态势。一到四年级视动整合能力与去动作视知觉能力发展出现差异。视动整合能力在这一阶段整体高于去动作视知觉能力,但去动作视知觉能力发展速率要快于视动整合能力。小学生视知觉能力的发展遵循了由具体到抽象,由动作到符号的发展规律。