大中小学生内隐序列学习的发展性研究

采用序列学习的研究范式,对大中小学生的序列反应时和序列生成成绩进行测量,结果表明:(1)大中小学生均能在序列学习中获得序列规则。(2)采用比例测量方法,大中小学生的序列反应时无显著差异。(3)大中小学生的序列生成成绩是不同的,包含成绩随着年级升高而上升,排除成绩则不随年级变化;小学生包含和排除成绩无显著差异,而中学生和大学生的差异逐渐加大。说明序列学习的意识成分随年级的升高而增加。     

多媒体学习中线索效应的元分析

作为多媒体学习中一种重要的指导性教学设计形式, 线索能否引导学习者的注意并促进学习效果, 目前结论尚不一致。研究运用元分析技术, 分别以保持测验、迁移测验的成绩作为学习效果的结果变量, 以线索区的注视时间、注视次数作为注意引导的结果变量, 探讨多媒体环境中的线索对学习效果和注意引导的影响, 并通过调节效应检验考察线索效应的边界条件。采用严格标准进行文献检索和筛选后, 共获取43篇符合元分析的文献。在保持测验成绩和迁移测验成绩上, 分别生成了44个(3910人)和41个(3906人)独立效应量; 在对线索区的注视时间和注视次数上, 分别生成了14个(938人)和11个(816人)独立效应量。结果发现, 线索的加入显著提高了保持测验成绩(g = 0.53)和迁移测验成绩(g = 0.36), 同时也增加了学习者对线索区的注视时间(g = 0.50)和注视次数(g = 0.70)。调节效应分析发现：在保持测验成绩上, 静态学习材料、陈述性知识、理工科条件下的线索效应分别高于动态学习材料、程序性知识和文科; 在迁移测验成绩上, 时空线索、静态学习材料、陈述性知识条件下的线索效应分别高于物理线索、动态学习材料和程序性知识; 而在眼动指标上, 线索对注意的引导主要受线索类型的调节, 物理线索条件下学习者对线索区的注视时间和注视次数均高于时空线索。结论认为, 线索的加入确实促进了学习者对学习材料的识记和理解效果, 同时也引导了学习者的注意分配; 但线索效应一定程度上受线索类型、学习材料动态性、知识类型、学科属性等因素的调节。未来研究需进一步考察线索效应的其他边界条件。     

Social presence in online discussion groups: testing three conceptions and their relations to perceived learning

The correlation between three conceptions of social presence (seen as 1. a subjective quality of a medium that determines the quality of the communication and perception of others, 2. self-projection onto the group, and 3. identification with the group) and different aspects of perceived learning in online discussion groups were tested. Six hundreds and fifty nine students completed a web-based questionnaire that was distributed via 50 course Websites. Self projection, perception of others and identification with the group correlated positively with each other. They also correlated positively with most aspects of perceived learning. The subjective quality of the medium did not correlate with these conceptions and also did not correlate with any aspects of perceived learning. Thus, social presence may afford learning by setting a convenient climate. Alternatively, it may contribute only to the socioemotional source of perceived learning while leaving cognitive source unaffected.

教师的存在能否促进视频学习?

随着网络教学和视频学习的普及, 近期大量研究关注视频学习过程中教师角色的作用。真人教师对学习的作用存在不同的理论解释：准社会交往理论、社会存在理论和社会代理理论支持真人教师能够促进学习; 而多媒体学习认知理论、认知负荷理论等则认为教师的存在会阻碍视频学习。汇总以往实证研究发现：第一, 教师对视频学习效果有比较弱的促进效应, 这主要体现在保持测验(d = 0.23)和迁移测验(d = 0.1)中; 第二, 教师对视频学习主观体验的影响主要体现在学习感知(d = 0.49), 学习兴趣(d = 0.5)和学习满意度(d = 2.21)上, 显示中等及大的效应; 第三, 教师的存在会降低学习者对视频学习材料的注视时间(d = -2.02)。未来研究仍需要从真人教师呈现方式、学习者特征、学习材料特征以及测量方式等方面加以探讨。     

班主任教师班级管理效能感对学生学习态度及其与学业效能间关系的影响

研究目的在于验证班主任教师的班级管理效能感对学生学习态度等方面有正向预测作用及其对学生学业效能和学习态度间的关系具有调节作用的假设。通过对109个班级的班主任教师和3066名三到六年级的小学生进行问卷调查,多层线性模型(HLM)分析结果表明:(1)在控制学生性别影响时,学生的学习态度、学习方法和学习技术存在显著的班级水平差异;学生学业效能对学生学习态度、学习方法和学习技术有显著的预测作用,且这一影响强度存在显著的班级水平差异。(2)在控制教师所教年级的影响下,班主任教师班级管理效能的高低对学生学习态度、学习方法和学习技术的班级差异具有显著的预测作用,班主任教师班级管理效能感高的班级,学生学习态度越积极;(3)班主任教师班级管理效能感对学生学业效能与学生学习态度和学习方法之间的关系具有显著的调节作用,班主任教师班级管理效能感越高,学生学业效能对学习态度和学习方法的影响越弱,反之班主任教师管理效能感低的班级,学生学业效能感对学习态度的影响较大。     

Evidence of a role for multiple memory systems in behavioral extinction

The acquisition of learned behavior involves multiple memory systems, and hippocampal system damage impairs cognitive learning while leaving stimulus-response habit learning intact. In view of evidence that extinction also involves new learning, the present experiments examined whether multiple memory systems theory may be applicable to the neural bases of extinction. Adult Long-Evans rats were trained to run in a straight-alley maze for food reward. Twenty-four hours later, rats matched for runway latencies during acquisition received extinction training. In a response extinction condition conducive to habit learning, rats performed a runway approach response to an empty food cup. In a latent extinction condition conducive to cognitive learning, rats were placed at an empty food cup without performing a runway approach response. Prior to daily extinction training, neural activity of the dorsal hippocampus was reversibly inactivated via infusion of bupivacaine (0.75%, 0.5 microl/side). Control rats receiving saline infusions displayed extinction behavior in both the response and latent training conditions. In contrast, rats receiving bupivacaine extinguished normally in the response condition, but did not display latent extinction. The findings (1) confirm that learning underlying extinction of the same overt behavior can occur with or without explicit performance of the previously acquired response, (2) indicate that extinction learning produced by response and latent training procedures can be neuroanatomically dissociated, and (3) suggest that similarly to initial task acquisition, the hippocampus may critically mediate extinction in situations requiring the use of cognitive learning, such as when performance of a previously acquired response habit is prevented.     

Developmental study of multiple memory stages in the cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis

The inhibition of predatory behavior observed during the "prawn-in-the-tube" procedure has been extensively used in studies of cuttlefish learning. The present study examines the effect of age on the conditioning of this response in the cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis. Data show that a significant increase in acquisition performance occurs between 15 and 21 days of age. The retention curves in 8- and 15-day-old cuttlefish show a monotonic memory process, presumably reflecting the presence of only short-term memory. In 21-day-old cuttlefish, there are two distinct processes which could be a labile short-term memory, and a subsequent intermediate memory. These mnesic systems seem to become more effective over the course of post-embryonic development. Moreover, the retention curves obtained in the oldest cuttlefish (30- and 90-day-old) bear a close resemblance to that observed in adults. These behavioral findings will allow further work on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of learning and memory in the cuttlefish.     

Satisfiability Decay along Conjunctions of Pseudo-Random Clauses

k-SAT is a fundamental constraint satisfaction problem. It involvesS(m), the satisfaction set of the conjunction of m clauses,each clause a disjunction of k literals. The problem has manytheoretical, algorithmic and practical aspects. When the clauses are chosen at random it is anticipated (butnot fully proven) that, as the density parameter m/n (n thenumber of variables) grows, the transition of S(m) to beingempty, is abrupt: It has a "sharp threshold", with probability1 – o(1). In this article we replace the random ensemble analysis by apseudo-random one: Derive the decay rule for individual sequencesof clauses, subject to combinatorial conditions, which in turnhold with probability 1 – o(1). This is carried out under the big relaxation that k is not constantbut k = log n , or even r log log n . Then the decay of S isslow, "near-perfect" (like a radioactive decay), which entailssharp thresholds for the transition-time of S below any givenlevel, down to S = .     

Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms

Imitation can be defined as the copying of behavior. To a biologist, interest in imitation is focused on its adaptive value for the survival of the organism, but to a psychologist, the mechanisms responsible for imitation are the most interesting. For psychologists, the most important cases of imitation are those that involve demonstrated behavior that the imitator cannot see when it performs the behavior (e.g., scratching one's head). Such examples of imitation are sometimes referred to as opaque imitation because they are difficult to account for without positing cognitive mechanisms, such as perspective taking, that most animals have not been acknowledged to have. The present review first identifies various forms of social influence and social learning that do not qualify as opaque imitation, including species-typical mechanisms (e.g., mimicry and contagion), motivational mechanisms (e.g., social facilitation, incentive motivation, transfer of fear), attentional mechanisms (e.g., local enhancement, stimulus enhancement), imprinting, following, observational conditioning, and learning how the environment works (affordance learning). It then presents evidence for different forms of opaque imitation in animals, and identifies characteristics of human imitation that have been proposed to distinguish it from animal imitation. Finally, it examines the role played in opaque imitation by demonstrator reinforcement and observer motivation. Although accounts of imitation have been proposed that vary in their level of analysis from neural to cognitive, at present no theory of imitation appears to be adequate to account for the varied results that have been found.     

Are we "experienced listeners"? A review of the musical capacities that do not depend on formal musical training

The present paper reviews a set of studies designed to investigate different aspects of the capacity for processing Western music. This includes perceiving the relationships between a theme and its variations, perceiving musical tensions and relaxations, generating musical expectancies, integrating local structures in large-scale structures, learning new compositional systems and responding to music in an emotional (affective) way. The main focus of these studies was to evaluate the influence of intensive musical training on these capacities. The overall set of data highlights that some musical capacities are acquired through exposure to music without the help of explicit training. These capacities reach such a degree of sophistication that they enable untrained listeners to respond to music as "musically experienced listeners" do.