Shavinina的智能测评观述评

近来Shavinina等人通过一系列研究,提出了一种新的智能结构观,认为智能主要包含两个部分：认知经验和智能表现。在此基础上,他们分析了未来智能测验应遵循的一系列原则,并进行了初步的测验编制尝试,提出了一些富有创意的测验方法,如“完美计算机”、“概念整合”以及“问题建构”等测验。Shavinina等人所提出的新智能观以及关于智能测验的新技术具有很强的启发性,代表了智能研究的又一新方向。     

工作记忆、语境限制强度和句子长度对二语词汇学习的影响

本研究选取初二、高二、大三三个年龄段的被试,考察在句子阅读过程中,工作记忆容量、语境限制强度和句子长度对第二语言词汇学习的影响。研究结果发现,在句子阅读条件下,工作记忆容量是影响第二语言词汇学习的重要因素,高工作记忆容量促进了第二语言词汇的学习;在中等和长句子的条件下,语境的限制性越强,词汇学习的成绩越好;相比初二年龄组被试,高二和大三年龄组被试,在低语境限制性的情况下,阅读的句子越长,第二语言词汇学习效果越差。研究结果说明,个体工作记忆的容量,以及阅读材料等变量,都是影响自然阅读条件下二语词汇学习的重要因素。     

题材个体化和问题重述两策略的效果研究

探讨题材个体化和问题重述作为两种解题策略在解决加、减法应用题中的有效性,采用了４种策略类型×３种数学能力水平×２种问题题材×２种题材情境与解题操作关系的四因素混合设计。结论如下：学生基本上能够独立进行题材个体化和问题重述;在本实验条件下,水平高的学生,运用不同策略没有差异;水平中等的学生运用双策略、水平低的学生运用双策略以及题材个体化策略均产生了积极效果;题材个体化策略对于解决不熟悉题材的应用题将产生积极效果,运用以上两策略解决问题情境与解题操作相矛盾的问题没有帮助。除了应用题陈述图式以外,本实验证明还存在着应用题结构图式;可把题材个体化和问题重述作为解题策略教给学生运用。     

趋避道德动机调节方式的作用

道德动机是推动人们产生和完成具有道德意义和行为的内在动因。在解释道德动机的各种理论中, 道德动机模型(Model of Moral Motive, MMM)是一种比较综合的理论。该模型透过一个新颖的视角, 强调趋避两种动机调节方式在自我、他人和群体背景下产生的道德动机。通过对MMM模型综合性的分析, 并且横向比较了道德基础理论(MFT)和行为/结果双系统模型这两个具有代表性的道德理论, 挖掘出了MMM模型的比较优势, 如强调利他、聚焦于自我的道德动机、群体道德与意识形态之间的联系等。由于MMM模型是基于西方道德观提出的, 未来的研究重点应着重于西方道德动机的心理与脑机制与国人的异同以及文化差异对道德动机的影响。     

PRiME: Integrating professional responsibility into the engineering curriculum

Engineering educators have long discussed the need to teach professional responsibility and the social context of engineering without adding to overcrowded curricula. One difficulty we face is the lack of appropriate teaching materials that can fit into existing courses. The PRiME (Professional Responsibility Modules for Engineering) Project (http://www.engr.utexas.edu/ethics/primeModules.cfm) described in this paper was initiated at the University of Texas, Austin to provide web-based modules that could be integrated into any undergraduate engineering class. Using HPL (How People Learn) theory, PRiME developed and piloted four modules during the academic year 2004–2005. This article introduces the modules and the pilot, outlines the assessment process, analyzes the results, and describes how the modules are being revised in light of the initial assessment. In its first year of development and testing, PRiME made significant progress towards meeting its objectives. The PRiME Project can strengthen engineering education by providing faculty with an effective system for engaging students in learning about professional responsibility. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 conference, Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology, Linking Workplace Ethics and Education, co-hosted by Gonzaga University and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 9–10 June 2005.     

Suggestibility, social support, and memory for a novel experience in young children

This study examined 5- and 6-year-olds' suggestibility and interviewer demeanor as joint predictors of their memory for a novel experience. Session 1 consisted of children taking part in a novel laboratory event. Session 2 took place after approximately a 1-week delay and consisted of children completing both a memory test concerning what happened during the prior event and the Video Suggestibility Scale for Children (VSSC). During the second session, the interviewer behaved either supportively or nonsupportively. Greater acquiescence on the VSSC was associated with fewer correct responses to misleading questions about the laboratory event in the supportive and nonsupportive conditions and with more errors in response to specific questions in the nonsupportive condition. Results indicate that individual differences in children's suggestibility are related to the accuracy of their memory for separate events, although some of these relations may vary depending on the context in which children are interviewed.     

Olfactory context and memory retrieval in 3-month-old infants

Three experiments examineed whether olfactory stimuli can produce context-dependent effects in infant memory. In eash, 3-month-old infants learned to kick to control the movement of an overhead modile in the presence of an ambient odor. Retention was assessed 1, 3, or 5 days later. During the retention test, the olfactory context was either the same odor, a different odor, or “no odor.” At 1 day, infants exhibited retention when tested in the presence of the same odor. Infants in the no odor condition exhibited partial retention, whereas memory retrieval was completely disrupted for infants tested in the presence of the different odor. After the 3- and 5-day intervals, all groups showed forgetting. These results were not consistent with recent studies of 3-month-old infants trained and tested in the presence of a distinctive visual and auditory context. The findings suggest that olfactory stimuli are a silent feature of the environment for 3-month-old infants, but that they function as context cues in a way that differs from other sensory modalities.     

Context specificity of operant discriminative performance in pigeons: II. Necessary and sufficient conditions

Six experiments were performed to explore the necessary and sufficient conditions for producing context specificity of discriminative operant performance in pigeons. In Experiment 1, pigeons learned a successive discrimination (red S+/blue S−) in two chambers that had a particular odor present and between which they were frequently switched. The birds subsequently learned the reversal (blue S+/ red S−) in one of these chambers with a different odor present. When switched to the alternative chamber, although the odor and the reinforcement contingency were still appropriate to the reversal, performance appropriate to the original discrimination recurred in subjects for which the houselights were on during training and testing but not for those for which the houselights were off. This indicated the importance of visual contextual cues in producing context specificity. Experiment 2 showed that the frequent switching between boxes in initial training was of no consequence, presumably because the apparatus cues were highly salient to the subjects. Experiment 3 showed significantly less context specificity when odor cues were omitted. Experiment 4 showed that simply using a different reinforced stimulus in each phase of training was ineffective in producing context specificity. Experiment 5 showed that the generalization test procedure used in Experiment 4 was sensitive to context specificity when discrimination-reversal training was used with different odors in the two training phases. Experiment 6 replicated the results of Experiment 4, but then showed that when different odors accompanied the two training phases, context specificity was obtained with the single-stimulus paradigm. Thus in both single-stimulus and discrimination-reversal paradigms, redundant odor cues potentiated learning about apparatus cues.     

Rarely Occurring Headaches and Rarely Occurring Blindness: Is Rarely=Rarely? The Meaning of Verbal Frequentistic Labels in Specific Medical Contexts

In three experimental studies, factors were examined which might influence the interpretation of verbal frequentistic labels in a specific context (i.e. side effects of medical drugs). In Study 1, we directly assessed subjects' numerical equivalents of three verbal labels (recommended for use by the German Federal Health Agency), which were embedded in stylized leaflets for medical drugs; we compared the estimates with those obtained in a context-free situation. The major findings were that (1) subjects' numerical equivalents for the verbal labels were clearly lower in the context condition than in the context-free situation, (2) subjects'; interpretations appeared to depend on the seriousness of the side effects, but (3) this dependency disappeared when explicit base rates were provided. In Studies 2 and 3, we indirectly examined the influence of the seriousness of the side effects, their frequency, and of the mode of expression (verbally versus numerically) by asking for risk judgments for and choices between drugs. Results of particular importance were that (1) seriousness and frequency of side effects had the same influence on judgments and choices but the mode of expression had no significant effect on either judgments or choices; (2) when subjects’ individual numerical equivalents of verbal labels were used in the leaflets, numerically described drugs were judged equally risky as verbally described drugs but were significantly preferred for consumption. These findings have theoretical relevance for research on the processing of verbal and numerical frequentistic expressions as well as a number of practical implications for the communication of medical information.