Does Executive Function Matter for Preschoolers’ Problem Behaviors?

Early problem behaviors are associated with a variety of cognitive deficits: in verbal ability, executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM). Previous studies with different age-groups yield contrasting results: for 2-year-olds, ToM skills appear particularly salient (Hughes & Ensor, 2006), but for 4-year-olds EF appears more important (Hughes, White, Sharpen, & Dunn, 2000). To examine this apparent developmental change in the relative salience of cognitive deficits we followed 122 children from Hughes and Ensor’s (2006) sample at ages 3 and 4. Tests of ToM, EF and verbal ability were included at each time-point and multi-informant, multi-measure, multi-setting ratings provided aggregate measures of problem behaviors. ToM and verbal ability showed non-specific associations with problem behaviors, but associations between EF and problem behaviors were strong and specific. In addition, age-3 EF mediated relations between age-2 verbal ability and age-4 problem behaviors.     

Learning generalization in problem solving by a blue-fronted parrot (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Amazona aestiva</Emphasis>)

Pepperberg (The Alex studies: cognitive and communicative abilities of gray parrots. Harvard University Press, Cambridge;1999) showed that some of the complex cognitive capabilities found in primates are also present in psittacine birds. Through the replication of an experiment performed with cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus) by Hauser et al. (Anim Behav 57:565-582; 1999), we examined a blue-fronted parrot's (Amazona aestiva) ability to generalize the solution of a particular problem in new but similar cases. Our results show that, at least when it comes to solving this particular problem, our parrot subject exhibited learning generalization capabilities resembling the tamarins'.     

儿童社交问题解决与其社交地位关系的初步研究

本研究初步考察了小学儿童的社交问题解决与其社交地位的关系。采用访谈法研究了小学儿童在发动交往、维持交往和解决冲突三种情境中的社交问题解决。结果发现,不同社交地位的儿童对社交目标的选择并无显著差别;而在发动交往时,被拒绝儿童更倾向于借助他人帮助。被忽视和被拒绝儿童比正常儿童更少选择言语沟通和解释策略。被忽视儿童发动交往的有效性低于其他儿童,被拒绝儿童解决冲突的适当性低于受欢迎儿童和一般型儿童。     

Die Differenz von Meinung und Wissen

The Difference between Belief and Knowledge. The assumption that knowledge can be defined in terms of belief is considered to be mistaken. Since Gettier problems are shown to be misconstrued, the question cannot arise whether his conditions for knowledge are sufficient for claiming ``knowledge is justified true belief'. Ayers' conditions for knowledge in addition with a specific stipulation proof to be instructive for elaborating the differences between knowledge and belief. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Consultant Problem Understanding as a Function of Training in Interviewing to Promote Accessible Reasoning

The focus of this article is on how consultants develop a “high-quality” understanding of a teacher's presenting problem situation from interviewing them. A longitudinal quasi-experimental study was conducted with 10 graduate students enrolled on an accredited training program in school psychology in which interviewing and problem-solving skills were taught and practiced. Eight individuals who had been selected for the same training program but who had not enrolled acted as a comparison group to measure possible practice effects. The results indicated that following training consultant use of statements designed to reveal their reasoning to the teacher significantly increased, and was highly correlated with the quality of their subsequent written analyses of the teacher's problem situation.     

Electrifying diagrams for learning: principles for complex representational systems

Six characteristics of effective representational systems for conceptual learning in complex domains have been identified. Such representations should: (1) integrate levels of abstraction; (2) combine globally homogeneous with locally heterogeneous representation of concepts; (3) integrate alternative perspectives of the domain; (4) support malleable manipulation of expressions; (5) possess compact procedures; and (6) have uniform procedures. The characteristics were discovered by analysing and evaluating a novel diagrammatic representation that has been invented to support students' comprehension of electricity—AVOW diagrams (Amps, Volts, Ohms, Watts). A task analysis is presented that demonstrates that problem solving using a conventional algebraic approach demands more effort than AVOW diagrams. In an experiment comparing two groups of learners using the alternative approaches, the group using AVOW diagrams learned more than the group using equations and were better able to solve complex transfer problems and questions involving multiple constraints. Analysis of verbal protocols and work scratchings showed that the AVOW diagram group, in contrast to the equations group, acquired a coherently organised network of concepts, learnt effective problem solving procedures, and experienced more positive learning events. The six principles of effective representations were proposed on the basis of these findings. AVOW diagrams are Law Encoding Diagrams, a general class of representations that have been shown to support learning in other scientific domains.     

Acquisition of hierarchical reactive skills in a unified cognitive architecture

In this paper, we review Icarus, a cognitive architecture that utilizes hierarchical skills and concepts for reactive execution in physical environments. In addition, we present two extensions to the framework. The first involves the incorporation of means-ends analysis, which lets the system compose known skills to solve novel problems. The second involves the storage of new skills that are based on successful means-ends traces. We report experimental studies of these mechanisms on three distinct domains. Our results suggest that the two methods interact to acquire useful skill hierarchies that generalize well and that reduce the effort required to handle new tasks. We conclude with a discussion of related work on learning and prospects for additional research, including extending the framework to cover developmental phenomena.     

Embodied communication: Speakers’ gestures affect listeners’ actions

We explored how speakers and listeners use hand gestures as a source of perceptual-motor information during naturalistic communication. After solving the Tower of Hanoi task either with real objects or on a computer, speakers explained the task to listeners. Speakers’ hand gestures, but not their speech, reflected properties of the particular objects and the actions that they had previously used to solve the task. Speakers who solved the problem with real objects used more grasping handshapes and produced more curved trajectories during the explanation. Listeners who observed explanations from speakers who had previously solved the problem with real objects subsequently treated computer objects more like real objects; their mouse trajectories revealed that they lifted the objects in conjunction with moving them sideways, and this behavior was related to the particular gestures that were observed. These findings demonstrate that hand gestures are a reliable source of perceptual-motor information during human communication.     

Suboptimal tradeoffs in information seeking

Explicit information-seeking actions are needed to evaluate alternative actions in problem-solving tasks. Information-seeking costs are often traded off against the utility of information. We present three experiments that show how subjects adapt to the cost and information structures of environments in a map-navigation task. We found that subjects often stabilize at suboptimal levels of performance. A Bayesian satisficing model (BSM) is proposed and implemented in the ACT-R architecture to predict information-seeking behavior. The BSM uses a local decision rule and a global Bayesian learning mechanism to decide when to stop seeking information. The model matched the human data well, suggesting that adaptation to cost and information structures can be achieved by a simple local decision rule. The local decision rule, however, often limits exploration of the environment and leads to suboptimal performance. We propose that suboptimal performance is an emergent property of the dynamic interactions between cognition and the environment.