Effects of cocaine and alcohol, alone and in combination, on human learning and performance.

The acute effects of cocaine hydrochloride (4 to 96 mg/70 kg) and alcohol (0 to 1.0 g/kg), administered alone and in combination, were assessed in two experiments with human volunteers responding under a multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance of response chains. Subjects were intermittent users of cocaine and regular drinkers who were not cocaine or alcohol dependent. Alcohol was mixed with orange juice and ingested in six drinks within 30 min; cocaine was administered intranasally 45 min after completion of drinking. In each component of the multiple schedule, subjects completed response sequences using three keys of a numeric keypad. In the acquisition component, a new sequence was learned each session. In the performance component, the response sequence always remained the same. Results were consistent in both experiments, despite variations in the order in which the drugs were tested alone and in combination. Alcohol administered alone increased overall percentage of errors and decreased rates of responding in the acquisition component, whereas responding in the performance component generally was unaffected. Cocaine administered alone decreased rates of responding but did not affect accuracy of responding in the acquisition component, and enhanced accuracy of responding without affecting rates of responding in the performance component. The combined doses of cocaine and alcohol attenuated the effects observed with alcohol and cocaine alone. These results suggest that, under the conditions investigated in this study, (a) alcohol produces greater behavioral disruption than cocaine or cocaine-alcohol combinations, (b) cocaine and alcohol each attenuate effects of the other, and (c) such attenuation is most pronounced for cocaine attenuating the disruptive effects of alcohol.     

独生与非独生儿童认知发展的比较研究(广州市)

为了研究中国独生子女政策可能造成的独生和非独生儿童的认知能力的差别,分别在广州七所小学一年级和五年级中选择了146名和171名独生与非独生儿童。用11项认知能力测验对这些儿童进行测查。一年级独生儿童在言语记忆和一般常识项目上的成绩优于非独生儿童。研究认为,一年级独生儿童在与一般认知能力有关的项目上具有优势。而五年级的独生儿童在认知作业成绩上,没有表现出显著性的优势。另外,独生男童在一般常识方面优于独生女童。作者用独生儿童受到较大的父母关注和投资来解释一年级独生对非独生儿童在认知方面的优势。随着儿童的自然成熟和学业教育,两者之间的差距会逐渐缩小,从而使五年级独生儿童未能在认知方面表现出明显的优势。     

How well do ratings of academic performance by mothers and their sons correspond to grades,achievement test scores,and teachers' ratings?

Accurate perceptions of their child's academic performance are pivotal for parents' encouragement of their child's academic efforts. In research studies, parents' reports of their child's academic achievement, as well as the child's own reports, are often used as a proxy for teachers' ratings or grades. However, are parents' reports or their child's reports accurate and unbiased? We investigated whether ratings of academic performance made by mothers and their sons corresponded more closely to final grades and achievement test scores than did similar ratings made by teachers for three large samples of boys. Mothers' ratings correlated with final grades as well or better than teachers' ratings but more poorly with achievement test scores than did teachers' ratings. The seventh-grade boys' ratings correlated more poorly with both final grades and achievement test scores than did teachers' or mothers' ratings. Across all three samples combined, mothers were more likely to over-estimate rather than under-estimate the final grade. The same was true of the seventh grade sample of boys. Once the effect of final grade had been controlled, little evidence of a consistent pattern of associations between maternal demographic, parenting, and child behavior variables and either over- or underestimation was found.     

双作业的信息编码方式对作业绩效的影响

采用单作业和双作业操作,探讨了不同信息编码方式对双作业操作绩效的影响。实验结果证明：若采用相同的信息编码方式,同时操作的两种作业就会产生相互干扰,降低双作业操作绩效;相反,若同时操作的两种作业采用不同信息编码方式将有效地减小双作业操作的相互干扰,使双作业操作的绩效得到提高。     

规则多边图形的离散度与图形信号认知绩效的关系

用实验方法研究规则多边图形的离散度与图形信号认知绩效的关系。实验的自变量是图形的离散度参数,因变量是单位时间图形信号的视觉通道信息传递量。实验的刺激材料是２５个离散度为０．３～０．７的规则多边图形。刺激材料的呈现与被试的反应记录都由计算机控制。结果表明：离散度适中（０．５左右）及偏小的图形信号认知绩效较高,离散度从０．５增大到０．６,认知绩效迅速下降,离散度继续增大,认知绩效仍有下降,但趋势平缓。     

小学优等生与学习不良学生智力特征的比较研究

本研究运用 WISC-CR研究了小学阶段一、三、五年级优生与学习不良儿童在智力水平与智力结构上的异同。研究结果表明 :1优生与学习不良儿童在智力水平上有十分显著的差异 ,优生的平均智商为 1 2 0 .1 ,学习不良儿童的平均智商为 97.4;2优生在操作分量表与语言分量表上的得分比较均匀 ,但学习不良儿童的操作智商显著地优于语言智商 ;3优生与学习不良儿童在智力结构上也不尽相同 ,优生在词汇、积木、类同等分测验上的得分高 ,在算术、背数、排列等分测验上的得分较低 ;学习不良儿童在拼图、译码、填图、词汇等分测验上的得分较高 ,在常识、算术、背数等上的得分较低。     

The status of the concept of intelligence

Psychometric studies have shown that “general intelligence” should be broken down into the ability to apply learned solutions to new problems (crystallized intelligence) and the ability to deal with novel intellectual problems (fluid intelligence). This distinction has been amplified upon by studies of individual differences in information processing. Crystallized intelligence depends on the problem-solving schema that people have acquired and upon their efficiency in accessing information in long-term memory. Fluid intelligence is associated with the ability to access and manage relatively large amounts of information in working memory. Measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence are important predictors of objectively measured workplace performance. Studies of actual and simulated workplaces have shown that this is largely due to differences in people's ability to manage information and the speed with which the details of a job can be grasped.     

Teacher Use Of Interventions In General Education Settings: Measurement And Analysis Of The Independent Variable

This study examined the integrity with which 4 general education teachers implemented an intervention designed to improve the academic performance of elementary school students. Treatment integrity was measured daily using permanent products. The results showed that the 4 teachers markedly increased the integrity of the delivered treatment when they were provided with performance feedback. The results suggest that academic performance improved for the group of students as integrity improved.     

Motivational effects of smoked marijuana: behavioral contingencies and low-probability activities.

Six adult male research volunteers, in two groups of 3 subjects each, lived in a residential laboratory for 15 days. All contact with the experimenters was through a networked computer system, and subjects' behavior was monitored continuously and recorded. During the first part of each day, they were allowed to socialize. Two cigarettes containing active marijuana (2.7% delta 9-THC) or placebo were smoked during the private work period and the period of access to social activities. Three-day contingency conditions requiring subjects to engage in a low-probability work activity (instrumental activity) in order to earn time that could be spent engaging in a high-probability work activity (contingent activity) were programmed during periods of placebo and active-marijuana smoking. During placebo administration, the contingency requirement reliably increased the amount of time that subjects spent engaged in the low-probability instrumental activity and decreased the time spent engaged in the high-probability activity. During active-marijuana administration, however, the increases in instrumental activity were consistently larger than observed under placebo conditions. The decreases in contingent activity were similar to those seen under placebo conditions. Smoking active marijuana was thus observed to produce increments in instrumental activity under motivational conditions involving contingencies for "work activities."     

EFFECTS OF PICTURE PROMPTS ON THE ACQUISITION OF COMPLEX VOCATIONAL TASKS BY MENTALLY RETARDED ADOLESCENTS

The effects of using picture prompts on the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of complex vocational tasks were evaluated within a multiple baseline design across subjects and tasks. Five moderately and severely mentally retarded adolescents were first trained to use picture prompts to guide their performance on one or more complex tasks. Following training, posttesting with and without the picture prompts was conducted to evaluate the effects of training and to determine maintenance effects over a 2- to 4-week interval. Generalization of performance across tasks was assessed with three of the students who were provided novel tasks (with and without picture prompts) without training. Results indicated that picture prompts can be successfully used to promote both acquisition and generalization of performance, and that subsequent training time on a novel task was reduced when the use of picture prompts had been previously trained.