Busy Streets Theory: The Effects of Community‐engaged Greening on Violence

Lack of maintenance on vacant neighborhood lots is associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress for nearby residents. Overgrown grasses and dense brush provide hiding spots for criminals and space to conduct illicit activities. This study builds upon previous research by investigating greening programs that engage community members to conduct routine maintenance on vacant lots within their neighborhoods. The Clean & Green program is a community‐based solution that facilitates resident‐driven routine maintenance of vacant lots in a midsized, Midwestern city. We use mixed effects regression to compare assault and violent crime counts on streets where vacant lot(s) are maintained by community members (N = 216) versus streets where vacant lots were left alone (N = 446) over a 5‐year timeframe (2009–2013). Street segments with vacant lots maintained through the Clean & Green program had nearly 40% fewer assaults and violent crimes than street segments with vacant, abandoned lots, which held across 4 years with a large sample and efforts to test counterfactual explanations. Community‐engaged greening programs may not only provide a solution to vacant lot maintenance, but also work as a crime prevention or reduction strategy. Engaging the community to maintain vacant lots in their neighborhood reduces costs and may increase the sustainability of the program.     

Effects of repeated collaborative retrieval on individual memory vary as a function of recall versus recognition tasks

Our research examines how prior group collaboration modulates later individual memory. We recently showed that repeated collaborative recall sessions benefit later individual recall more than a single collaborative recall session (Blumen & Rajaram, 2008). Current research compared the effects of repeated collaborative recall and repeated collaborative recognition on later individual recall and later individual recognition. A total of 192 participants studied a list of nouns and then completed three successive retrieval sessions in one of four conditions. While two collaborative recall sessions and two collaborative recognition sessions generated comparable levels of individual recall (CRecall-CRecall-I Recall ～ CRecognition-CRecognition-I Recall , Experiment 1a), two collaborative recognition sessions generated greater levels of individual recognition than two collaborative recall sessions (CRecognition-CRecognition- IRecognition > CRecall-CRecall- I Recognition , Experiment 1b). These findings are discussed in terms of two opposing mechanisms that operate during collaborative retrieval—re-exposure and retrieval disruption—and in terms of transfer-appropriate processing across collaborative and individual retrieval sessions.     

Stimulus modality and working memory performance in Greek children with reading disabilities: Additional evidence for the pictorial superiority hypothesis

This study investigated the effects of stimulus presentation modality on working memory performance in children with reading disabilities (RD) and in typically developing children (TDC), all native speakers of Greek. It was hypothesized that the visual presentation of common objects would result in improved learning and recall performance as compared to the auditory presentation of stimuli. Twenty children, ages 10–12, diagnosed with RD were matched to 20 TDC age peers. The experimental tasks implemented a multitrial verbal learning paradigm incorporating three modalities: auditory, visual, and auditory plus visual. Significant group differences were noted on language, verbal and nonverbal memory, and measures of executive abilities. A mixed-model MANOVA indicated that children with RD had a slower learning curve and recalled fewer words than TDC across experimental modalities. Both groups of participants benefited from the visual presentation of objects; however, children with RD showed the greatest gains during this condition. In conclusion, working memory for common verbal items is impaired in children with RD; however, performance can be facilitated, and learning efficiency maximized, when information is presented visually. The results provide further evidence for the pictorial superiority hypothesis and the theory that pictorial presentation of verbal stimuli is adequate for dual coding.     

From Blickets to Synapses: Inferring Temporal Causal Networks by Observation

How do human infants learn the causal dependencies between events? Evidence suggests that this remarkable feat can be achieved by observation of only a handful of examples. Many computational models have been produced to explain how infants perform causal inference without explicit teaching about statistics or the scientific method. Here, we propose a spiking neuronal network implementation that can be entrained to form a dynamical model of the temporal and causal relationships between events that it observes. The network uses spike‐time dependent plasticity, long‐term depression, and heterosynaptic competition rules to implement Rescorla–Wagner‐like learning. Transmission delays between neurons allow the network to learn a forward model of the temporal relationships between events. Within this framework, biologically realistic synaptic plasticity rules account for well‐known behavioral data regarding cognitive causal assumptions such as backwards blocking and screening‐off. These models can then be run as emulators for state inference. Furthermore, this mechanism is capable of copying synaptic connectivity patterns between neuronal networks by observing the spontaneous spike activity from the neuronal circuit that is to be copied, and it thereby provides a powerful method for transmission of circuit functionality between brain regions.     

工作记忆影响时距加工的初步研究

工作记忆会影响时距加工吗？这是一个值得关注的问题。为此,该研究采用双任务范式,选择1～6秒为考察对象,操纵时距编码阶段的工作记忆负荷,以平均复制时距、比率分数及差异系数为因变量指标,旨在探讨不同工作记忆负荷对时距加工的影响。结果发现,1秒、2秒、3秒平均复制长度、复制准确性及变异性不随记忆负荷的大小而变化,4秒、5秒及6秒的平均复制长度随着记忆负荷变大而缩短、复制准确性随着记忆负荷变大而降低、复制变异性随着记忆负荷变大而增大。这意味着工作记忆对时距加工影响具有选择性,可以由时距加工分层机制假说得以解释。     

潮汕话-普通话双言者的词汇习得年龄效应

采用潮汕话-普通话双言者为被试, 通过3个实验, 考察了词汇习得年龄效应。实验1采用汉字命名和图片命名范式, 证实了在双言者的两种语言中都存在词汇习得年龄效应。实验2和实验3分别采用语义范畴判断及声母监控任务, 在语义层面及语音层面检验了双言者的两种语言的词汇习得年龄效应的特点。结果表明, 在语义任务上发现了词汇习得年龄效应, 在语音任务上未发现。整个研究表明, 语义在汉语词汇习得年龄效应产生中具有重要作用, 支持了语义假设。     

What Is Neurophilosophy? A Methodological Account

The term ``neurophilosophy' is often used either implicitly or explicitly for characterizing the investigation of philosophical theories in relation to neuroscientific hypotheses. The exact methodological principles and systematic rules for a linkage between philosophical theories and neuroscientific hypothesis, however, remain to be clarified. The present contribution focuses on these principles, as well as on the relation between ontology and epistemology and the characterization of hypothesis in neurophilosophy. Principles of transdisciplinary methodology include the `principle of asymmetry', the `principle of bi-directionality' and the `principle of transdisciplinary circularity'. The `principle of asymmetry' points to an asymmetric relationship between logical and natural conditions. The `principle of bi-directionality' claims for the necessity of bi-directional linkage between natural and logical conditions. The `principle of transdisciplinary circularity' describes systematic rules for mutual comparison and cross-conditional exchange between philosophical theory and neuroscientific hypotheses. The relation between ontology and epistemology no longer is determined by ontological presuppositions i.e. ``ontological primacy'. Instead, there is correspondence between different `epistemological capacities' and different kinds of ontology which consecutively results in ``epistemic primacy' and ``ontological pluralism'. The present contribution concludes by rejecting some so-called `standard-arguments' including the `argument of circularity', the `argument of categorical fallacy', the `argument of validity' and the `argument of necessity'. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Juggling Parent Care and Employment Responsibilities: The Dilemmas of Adult Daughter Caregivers in the Workforce

We review findings from our programmatic research on adult daughters who are simultaneously involved in the roles of employee and care provider to an impaired parent. Two opposing theoretical perspectives on the health effects of occupying these two roles are described, and empirical findings that bear on each perspective are presented. Our review reveals that, consistent with the competing demands perspective, parent care and employment often conflict with one another. Consistent with the energy expansion perspective, however, there is evidence that holding these two roles can be beneficial for the health of adult daughters.     

评估职业兴趣的结构

Holland的职业兴趣理论对当今兴趣研究产生了广泛、深远的影响。但是目前,还没有研究考察Holland理论假设在中国的适用性。研究共检验了5个与Holland的6种兴趣类型(RiASEC)有关的假设,其中两个是由本文研究者提出。研究搜集了在中国进行的、与Holland理论有关的研究,并最终选择了9个RIASEC相关矩阵。假定顺序的随机化检验以及方差分析的结果表明,Holland的圆形假设与数据的拟合程度在5个模型中最差;多维标度法结果表明,RIASEC的空间结构图并没有很好地符合Holland的圆形假设。