Procedural Text Structure and Reader Perceptions and Performance

This research tested the relationship between text structural variables (on vs. off the causal chain, active vs. static information, and hierarchical structure) and reader perceptions, reading time, and true-false performance for procedural texts. Twenty-four college-age participants each read 3 procedural texts. As predicted, sentences that were (a) on the causal chain, (b) active, and (c) associated with task steps were read more slowly and judged to be more important (p < .05). The results were similar to those previously found with narratives, except for the hierarchical structure variable. Also as predicted, text differences were found such that as the variation in the type of information contained in the text increased, relationships with the structural variables increased.     

A Note Concerning Analysis of Error Scores from Motor-Memory Research

Exception is taken to the statistical analysis for motor memory research suggested by Roy (1976) in his paper on “Measuring change in motor memory. “ The hazardous effects of multicollinearity which result from using AE(or E), CE, and VE as multiple dependent variables in MANOVA are explained and an alternate strategy for statistical analysis is suggested. I would like to express my appreciation to Ken Brewer, Program of Evaluation and Research Design at Florida State University, for his assistance with the major points of this paragraph.     

Reaction Time Analysis of Two Types of Motor Preparation for Speech Articulation: Action as a Sequence of Chunks

Reaction time (RT) prior to speech articulation increased as a function of response complexity. The RT findings formed 2 patterns, each of which was a different Response Complexity × Paradigm (choice RT vs. simple RT) interaction. That result extends previous findings from manual button-pressing tasks (S. T. Klapp, 1995) to a different action modality. Two different types of response programming, INT and SEQ, are assumed in the interpretation. Whereas INT can be identified with response programming within a word, SEQ fits a different interpretation related to timing of onsets of speech units. A critical assumption is that a long response is represented as a sequence of chunks; that organization is subject to manipulation. New findings suggest some modifications of the previous theory.     

Tyrosine ameliorates heat induced delay in event related potential P300 and contingent negative variation

The efficacy of tyrosine, a catecholamine precursor, as a countermeasure in the reduction of cognitive decline during heat exposure (HE) using event-related potential P300, and contingent negative variation (CNV) was evaluated. Ten healthy males, age 20–30 years participated in the study. Volunteers received placebo or tyrosine (6.5 g) 90 min prior to HE (1.5 h in 45 °C + 30% RH). P300 latency was significantly increased (p < 0.01) during exposure with placebo, which was reduced significantly (p < 0.01) after tyrosine supplementation. There was an increase in CNV M100 latency (p < 0.05) and reaction time (p < 0.01) and decrease in M100 amplitude (p < 0.01) during HE with placebo, which returns to near normal level with the tyrosine administration. A significantly higher plasma norepinephrine (p < 0.05), dopamine and epinephrine levels were detected in tyrosine supplemented group post heat exposure. HE increases the brain catecholamine activity thereby reduces the plasma norepinephrine and dopamine level leading to a reduction in cognitive performances. Tyrosine supplementation increases the catecholamine level and reduces the impairment of cognitive performance during HE.     

Curricular Information Demand in Theological Degrees: Operationalizing a Key Concept for Library Services

If seminary libraries exist to support student information needs, then librarians need specific knowledge about how a given school's curriculum shapes such needs. This article puts forward a model of the intended curriculum in master's-level theological education. Based on analysis of the intended theological curriculum (giving special attention to the use of student time), the author posits curricular information demand (CID) as a way to describe with precision how courses and degree programs expect students to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information. CID has a weaker measure based on analysis of syllabi and a stronger measure based on analysis of actual student work. The author presents examples of CID for courses at Austin Presbyterian Theological School. Finally, the author calls for research to analyze the usefulness of the model.     

数目及其呈现方式在不同范围内对时间知觉的影响

采用时间比较法,考察数目及其呈现方式对时间知觉的影响。任务中,首先呈现标准时距,此时变化刺激的数目或呈现方式,然后呈现比较时距,被试的任务是判断比较时距比标准时距长还是短。实验1和实验2分别采用1秒内和1秒以上的时间,结果发现： 1秒内的时间加工中,刺激一个一个连续呈现时,小数引起标准时距的低估,大数导致标准时距的高估,而同时呈现时,刺激的数目对知觉到的时间无影响;数目及其呈现方式影响计时的准确性,而对计时的变异性和敏感性无影响。时间在1秒以上,同时呈现和连续呈现条件下,刺激的数目影响知觉到的时间;计时的     

Preschoolers begin to differentiate the times of events from throughout the lifespan

Three-, 4- and 5-year-old children were presented with simple timelines of past and future and asked to place pictures representing different events at appropriate places. Events came from three rough temporal groupings for both past and future (24 hours, 12 months and several years). Placement of items in the categories improved with age. Three-year-olds placed events that occurred years ago further away on the past timeline than events that had occurred more recently, but they failed to discriminate between the times of future events. Four-year-olds performed no better than 3-year-olds on the past timeline, but successfully differentiated daily events from more remote future events. Five-year-olds differentiated between all three temporal categories of events in both the past and future. The ability to localize events at distinct points in time appears to undergo major transition during the preschool years.     

How much is too much? Understanding the role and function of violence and its manifestation in the consulting room: intensive psychotherapy with a latency-aged boy

The aim of this article is to explore and lend meaning to the role and function of violence in children, in particular boys, who have had disturbing and traumatic early experiences. Psychoanalytic thinking about the role and function of violence, as well as its impact and management in the consulting room, will be central features of this exploration. In a research project involving a single case study, a number of clinical concepts emerged that have potential ramifications for child psychotherapists working with children exhibiting violent and challenging behaviour. The clinical concepts emerged via the application of grounded theory research methodology to clinical data and contribute to the thinking and theory of Meltzer’s use of ‘temperature and distance’ as a means of understanding and regulating emotional states in the therapeutic setting. ‘Time’ and ‘space’ were additional clinical concepts that emerged. These four concepts are considered crucial elements in providing the child psychotherapist with the means to apply transformative and modifying processes to the un-processed and raw externalisation of primitive, violent impulses.     

Negotiating time: the significance of timing in ending inpatient work

This paper discusses work with young people during their stay on an NHS psychiatric inpatient unit, especially focusing on the end of treatment and the appropriate timing of discharge into the community. When approaching the end of an admission, various factors are considered that seem particularly relevant to the decision of when a young person may be ready to leave and cope with the transition back to life outside the unit. Indications of medical stability, in patients where this has been an issue, is a factor of prime importance. Other important factors include family functioning; the availability of adequate ongoing local CAMHS support for the child and family; suitable school provision; and the identity of the child within a peer group. The reality of NHS resources and the demand for inpatient beds is another pressing consideration. The young person's own motivation emerges as crucial at this stage – towards the end of treatment – not only in terms of what is said, and therefore evident verbally, but also through signs of internal shifts in the child that indicate a capacity to re-engage with life outside in a lasting way. Decisions about when to stop are taken with all this in mind and when the decision does not seem straightforward, it can provoke considerable anxiety in the multi-disciplinary team. Clinical material from psychotherapy with a young adolescent boy with anorexia nervosa is used to illustrate some of the dilemmas.     

Testing the hypothesized effect of dysgenic fertility on intelligence with existing reaction time data: A comment on Woodley,te Nijenhuis,and Murphy (2013)

Dysgenic fertility has supposedly resulted in a decline in general intelligence (g) over time. In light of evidence that simple visual reaction time (RT) is inversely related to IQ, Woodley et al. (2013) tested the hypothesized dysgenic effect by subjecting to a meta-regression simple visual RT data collected over 100 years in 15 studies. This analysis found that RT had significantly increased according to a linear function over this time period. Woodley et al. then used this result to estimate the rate at which g had declined over the same period. The present comment points out that there are large gaps in the distribution of RTs analyzed by Woodley et al. with respect to year tested, and that RT in males did not vary as a function of year in the 13 studies published from 1941 on. It is concluded that although existing data are consistent with the idea that g has been adversely affected by dysgenic fertility, it cannot be determined at what rate g has fallen over time.