Créativité verbale et valence émotionnelle : « Je deviens plus créatif quand je vois un mot positif ! »

IntroductionThe modulating effect of emotion on creativity is one of the most current topics in cognitive research. Emotion, and particularly positive emotion, is supposed to be conducive of creativity and to enhance the processes of creative thinking.ObjectiveThis work aimed to study the modulating effect of emotional valence of the task material (words-stimuli) as well as the emotional valence of the task instructions on verbal creativity performance.MethodAn experiment was conducted on a set of 27 stimuli-words and six instructions-phrases selected on the basis of pretest valence ratings. The valence of the stimuli-words (negative, neutral and positive) was crossed with the valence of the instructions-phrases (negative, neutral and positive) in a 3 × 3 factorial design. However, only five experimental conditions were considered relevant and used in the Experiment. Three components of verbal creativity identified in the literature were measured: fluidity, flexibility and originality.ResultsResults showed that positive instructions and words increased verbal creativity, especially the originality of the responses, which is considered as a basic component of creativity. Conversely, negative valence had an inhibitory and obstructive effect on verbal creativity.ConclusionThis study supports previous research showing the existence of a significant influence of emotional valence of words on cognitive functioning, and adds to the very little (or absent) research on the modulating effect of the valence of instructions and on the relationship between verbal creativity and emotional valence, a relationship that can be fostered in education.     

Avoidant instructions induce ironic and overcompensatory movement errors differently between and within individuals

Giving avoidant instructions can ironically result in the forbidden act being carried out, especially when the person is anxious or cognitive loaded. However, the consistency with which individuals make ironic errors across conditions remains unexamined. Forty participants were instructed to avoid moving a cursor above, below, left, and right when tracing an invisible line connecting two points while rehearsing seven-digit numbers on half of trials. Results showed that, without cognitive load, 26 participants made consistent overcompensatory movements, 10 made consistent ironic errors, and 4 showed no distinct error bias, with levels of somatic anxiety predicting this pattern. However, 21 (52.5%) participants changed their error tendency when cognitive loaded, indicating that movement effects of avoidant instruction were not experienced as general phenomena but rather differed between and within individuals. Overcompensatory errors made by participants grouped as overcompensatory performers under low load were significantly larger than the ironic errors made by participants grouped as ironic performers under low load, yet, paradoxically, ironic performers reported higher state and trait anxiety. Overall, results demonstrate a clear experimenter bias inherent in the use of avoidant instructions to direct participants' motor control.     

Audiovisual speech from emotionally expressive and lateralized faces

Emotional expression and how it is lateralized across the two sides of the face may influence how we detect audiovisual speech. To investigate how these components interact we conducted experiments comparing the perception of sentences expressed with happy, sad, and neutral emotions. In addition we isolated the facial asymmetries for affective and speech processing by independently testing the two sides of a talker's face. These asymmetrical differences were exaggerated using dynamic facial chimeras in which left- or right-face halves were paired with their mirror image during speech production. Results suggest that there are facial asymmetries in audiovisual speech such that the right side of the face and right-facial chimeras supported better speech perception than their left-face counterparts. Affective information was also found to be critical in that happy expressions tended to improve speech performance on both sides of the face relative to all other emotions, whereas sad emotions generally inhibited visual speech information, particularly from the left side of the face. The results suggest that approach information may facilitate visual and auditory speech detection.     

The Prevention of Reading Difficulties

The purpose of this article is to provide practical advice about methods to prevent reading failure that is grounded in the new knowledge we have acquired about reading and learning to read over the past 2 decades. Recent research on reading is used to establish a set of facts about reading and reading growth that is relevant to establishing instructional objectives and methods for the prevention of reading difficulties. Within the context of our current understanding of the reasons many children find it difficult to learn to read, the article also identifies the instructional conditions that need to be in place to prevent the development of reading difficulties in all but a very small proportion of children. The article concludes with a discussion of issues and procedures for the early identification of children who are likely to experience difficulties learning to read.     

Degree of Language Experience Modulates Visual Attention to Visible Speech and Iconic Gestures During Clear and Degraded Speech Comprehension

Visual information conveyed by iconic hand gestures and visible speech can enhance speech comprehension under adverse listening conditions for both native and non‐native listeners. However, how a listener allocates visual attention to these articulators during speech comprehension is unknown. We used eye‐tracking to investigate whether and how native and highly proficient non‐native listeners of Dutch allocated overt eye gaze to visible speech and gestures during clear and degraded speech comprehension. Participants watched video clips of an actress uttering a clear or degraded (6‐band noise‐vocoded) action verb while performing a gesture or not, and were asked to indicate the word they heard in a cued‐recall task. Gestural enhancement was the largest (i.e., a relative reduction in reaction time cost) when speech was degraded for all listeners, but it was stronger for native listeners. Both native and non‐native listeners mostly gazed at the face during comprehension, but non‐native listeners gazed more often at gestures than native listeners. However, only native but not non‐native listeners' gaze allocation to gestures predicted gestural benefit during degraded speech comprehension. We conclude that non‐native listeners might gaze at gesture more as it might be more challenging for non‐native listeners to resolve the degraded auditory cues and couple those cues to phonological information that is conveyed by visible speech. This diminished phonological knowledge might hinder the use of semantic information that is conveyed by gestures for non‐native compared to native listeners. Our results demonstrate that the degree of language experience impacts overt visual attention to visual articulators, resulting in different visual benefits for native versus non‐native listeners.     

Advances in designing instruction based on examples

This commentary reviews the evidence for nine principles for how to design effective example-based instruction, drawing from the articles in this special issue.     

The Instructional Characteristics of Inclusive Classes for Elementary Students with Severe Disabilities: An Exploratory Study

This exploratory study examined several instructional characteristics of elementary classrooms serving students with severe disabilities including the individuals who provided instruction to students, the instructional behaviors of these teachers, and grouping structures. The analysis focused on the impact of these variables on the academic responding of students and the extent to which they were the exclusive target of instruction by the various teachers. Observation data were collected on six students with severe disabilities participating in general elementary classrooms for reading or math, and at least one other subject area. The academic responding of students was similar across general education teachers, special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and peers; and the instructional behaviors of each of these groups of instructors was similar. Students had higher rates of academic responding during one-on-one and small group instruction, but they also were engaged in instructional tasks during whole class instruction. Finally, academic responding was positively associated with instruction focused on the student, one-on-one instruction, and instructional interactions with teachers. Academic responding was negatively correlated with whole class instruction and instructional behaviors that were not directed at the student.     

Effects of a Peer-Delivered Corrective Reading Program

The effects of a peer-delivered Corrective Reading program (CRP) (Engelmann, Hanner, & Johnson, 1989) with repeated reading on the reading performance of at-risk high school students were examined. High school peer instructors and students in need of reading remediation were randomly assigned to dyads or triads. Peer instructors presented the CRP, conducted repeated reading trials, and took rate and accuracy measures. Pre to post test data were collected on vocabulary and comprehension subtests of the Gates–MacGinitie Reading Tests, oral reading fluency (words read per minute) and accuracy, number of repeated readings on initial and final lessons, and lessons completed. Results indicated that students' performance on the standardized reading assessment increased as did their oral reading fluency. In general, the number of repeated readings decreased from the initial lesson to the final lesson. Implications for further research are discussed.     

数学等值概念获得的过渡性学习者认知发展的实验研究

就数学等值概念获得而言,一般地,过渡性学习者在解决简单问题作业时趋向于使用一种正确策略,而当题目较难时则使用几种不同的错误策略。经过针对性的指导（或输入适当信息）后极易掌握此概念,表现为使用一种正确且充分的策略。同时,“言语一手势失匹配”可能不是过渡性学习者的必然的认知特征。