Mapping numerical magnitudes onto symbols: the numerical distance effect and individual differences in children's mathematics achievement

Although it is often assumed that abilities that reflect basic numerical understanding, such as numerical comparison, are related to children’s mathematical abilities, this relationship has not been tested rigorously. In addition, the extent to which symbolic and nonsymbolic number processing play differential roles in this relationship is not yet understood. To address these questions, we collected mathematics achievement measures from 6- to 8-year-olds as well as reaction times from a numerical comparison task. Using the reaction times, we calculated the size of the numerical distance effect exhibited by each child. In a correlational analysis, we found that the individual differences in the distance effect were related to mathematics achievement but not to reading achievement. This relationship was found to be specific to symbolic numerical comparison. Implications for the role of basic numerical competency and the role of accessing numerical magnitude information from Arabic numerals for the development of mathematical skills and their impairment are discussed.     

数字加工的认知神经基础

数学作为人类最重要的发明,越来越引起认知神经科学家的重视与关注,究竟什么才是人类数学知识的脑基础？脑成像的研究已经证实了一个参与数学运算加工的神经网络,包括顶叶皮质、侧前额叶皮质、内前额叶皮质、和小脑。实验证明：人脑对于数字具有一种模拟表达,类似于将数量在脑内部作为一种内心的数字线上的点来操作。神经心理学的研究证实数字加工的这种数量表达分布于两半球,其优势区位于下顶叶皮质区。     

Differentiating conscientious from indiscriminate responders in existing NEO-Five Factor Inventory-3 data

The mean Inter-Item Standard Deviation (M-ISD; i.e., the mean of several single-scale ISDs) is a post-hoc validity index that statistically differentiates conscientious responders (CRs) from indiscriminate responders (IRs) in psychological questionnaire data. We compared the M-ISD’s effectiveness against four other post-hoc indexes and an embeddable validity scale in three sets of NEO-Five-Factor Inventory-3 data. Results showed the M-ISD has superior classification ability over all other post-hoc indexes and even outperformed the embeddable validity scale. The average classification accuracy of the M-ISD and embeddable scale was 97% and 93%, respectively, whereas only one of the four remaining post-hoc indexes exceeded our classification accuracy criterion of 80%. These findings suggest researchers can use the M-ISD to differentiate valid from invalid data.     

新一代测验理论-认知诊断理论的源起与特征

认知诊断理论被视为新一代测验理论的核心,是认知心理学与现代测量学相结合的产物。对认知诊断的研究已成为当前国外心理学研究的一个重要热点,并引起国内学者的广泛关注。本文从认知诊断的源起、概念、特征,及研究的基础、框架、意义和难点等七个方面对认知诊断的理论与技术作了一个简要述评,以期推进我国心理学界认知诊断的研究工作。     

Bisecting the mental number line in near and far space

Much evidence suggests that common posterior parietal mechanisms underlie the orientation of attention in physical space and along the mental number line. For example, the small leftward bias (pseudoneglect) found in paper-and-pencil line bisection is also found when participants “bisect” number pairs, estimating (without calculating) the number midway between two others. For bisection of physical lines, pseudoneglect has been found to shift rightward as lines are moved from near space (immediately surrounding the body) to far space. We investigated whether the presentation of stimuli in near or far space also modulated spatial attention for the mental number line. Participants bisected physical lines or number pairs presented at four distances (60, 120, 180, 240 cm). Clear rightward shifts in bias were observed for both tasks. Furthermore, the rate at which this shift occurred in the two tasks, as measured by least-squares regression slopes, was significantly correlated across participants, suggesting that the transition from near to far distances induced a common modulation of lateral attention in physical and numerical space. These results demonstrate a tight coupling between number and physical space, and show that even such prototypically abstract concepts as number are modulated by our on-line interactions with the world.     

论王宗传的易学观

王宗传作为南宋以心解《易》的开启者之一,继承义理派传统,提出理乃所以为象者、数生于理、理寓于数、《易》乃假蓍龟之神发明人心之神等观念。体现了他重义理而不废象数的易学观。其易学观体现了当时儒者传承华夏文明正统的学术旨归。     

The Effects of Domain Knowledge and Instructional Manipulation on Creative Idea Generation

The experiment was designed to explore the effects of domain knowledge, instructional manipulation, and the interaction between them on creative idea generation. Three groups of participants who respectively possessed the domain knowledge of biology, sports, or neither were asked to finish two tasks: imagining an extraterrestrial animal and creating a new sport. Participants in each group were randomly assigned to one of three instructions, in order to encourage them to perform the tasks using a specific instance strategy (relying on specific instances), an abstract strategy (relying on abstract principles), or their habitual ways. Based on an analysis of the participants' verbal reports and their creations, the results suggested that domain knowledge enhanced the tendency to use the abstract strategy, and improved the originality and practicality of the generated ideas. Instructions also influenced the strategy participants used in creative idea generation. The instruction to use abstract principles brought forth the most original creations. Moreover, there was an interaction between domain knowledge and instructions. Encouraging participants to use the specific instance strategy blocked the knowledgeable people from developing novel ideas. Other factors, such as age, grade and gender, were found to be unrelated to either the originality or the practicality of the creations. The implications of the results were discussed in detail.     

Behavior of rats under fixed consecutive number schedules: effects of drugs of abuse.

Four rats responded under a simple fixed consecutive number schedule in which eight or more consecutive responses on the run lever, followed by a single response on the reinforcement lever, produced the food reinforcer. Under this simple schedule, dose-response curves were determined for diazepam, morphine, pentobarbital, and phencyclidine. The rats were then trained to respond under a multiple fixed consecutive number schedule in which a discriminative stimulus signaled when the response requirement on the run lever had been completed in one of the two fixed consecutive number component schedules. Under control conditions, the percentage of reinforced runs under the multiple-schedule component with the discriminative stimulus added was much higher than the percentage of reinforced runs under the multiple-schedule component without the discriminative stimulus. All of the drugs decreased the percentage of reinforced runs under each of the fixed consecutive number schedules by increasing the conditional probability of short run lengths. This effect was most consistently produced by morphine. The drugs produced few differences in responding between the multiple fixed consecutive number components. Responding under the simple fixed consecutive number schedule, however, was affected at lower doses of the drugs than was responding under the same fixed consecutive number schedule when it was a component of the multiple schedule. This result may be due to the difference in schedule context or, perhaps, to the order of the experiments.     

Learning from your mistakes: does it matter if you’re out in left foot,I mean field?

Studies have shown that generating errors prior to studying information (pencil–?) can improve target retention relative to passive (i.e., errorless) study, provided that cues and targets are semantically related (pencil–ink) and not unrelated (pencil-frog). In two experiments, we manipulated semantic proximity of errors to targets during trial-and-error to examine whether it would modulate this error generation benefit. In Experiment 1, participants were shown a cue (band–?) and asked to generate a related word (e.g., drum). Critically, they were given a target that either matched the semantic meaning of their guess (guitar) or mismatched it (rubber). In Experiment 2, participants studied Spanish words where the English translation either matched their expectations (pariente–relative) or mismatched it (carpeta–folder). Both experiments show that errors benefit memory to the extent that they overlap semantically with targets. Results are discussed in terms of the retrieval benefits of activating related concepts during learning.