Association of Behavioral Self-Regulation with Concurrent Functional Capacity Among Stroke Rehabilitation Patients

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the Behavioral Dyscontrol Scale (BDS), a measure of the executive cognitive capacity to use an intention to guide purposeful, goal-directed activity would be strongly associated with concurrent functional status after controlling for age, sex, education, severity of pain, medical comorbidity, depression, and general mental status, in a sample of 246 elderly inpatients receiving rehabilitation services following hospitalization for stroke. Functional status was assessed by rehabilitation nurses' ratings of patients on 11 ADL items and on the Barthel Index. The BDS was the strongest predictor for 11 of the 12 dependent variables. Although it correlated significantly with all outcomes, the MMSE entered only one of the regression models. Of the other covariates, only age and severity of pain made an additional contribution to the prediction of functional ability for more than 1 dependent variable. Consistent with prior results in several other samples, the ability to use intentions to guide purposeful behavior appears to be an important contributor to everyday functioning among older adults.     

成人晚期自我觉知的日常问题解决能力及其与日常认知的关系

本研究采用老年人日常问题解决能力测验,对１８５名被试（５１￣７６岁）予以测定。研究发现：进入成人晚期以后,自我觉知的日常问题解决能力随年龄的增长呈现出一定的下降趋势,但未表现出显著的年龄组间差异,而其个体间差异却日益明显;再有,个体自我觉知的日常问题解决能力与日常认知之间存在较为一致的变化趋势。     

Decision-making competence and cognitive abilities: Which abilities matter?

Decision-making competence is a skill that is associated with numerous positive life outcomes. Even though multiple cognitive abilities have been shown to predict decision-making competence, few studies have incorporated a large test battery tapping into several cognitive abilities concurrently in the same models. The current paper presents a study that sought to investigate which cognitive abilities predicted overall decision-making competence in adults using hierarchical regression analysis. A cognitive test battery, comprising abilities such as general intelligence, executive functions, numeracy, visuospatial ability, and time perception, was administered to 182 participants. Results indicate that both general intelligence, which was consistently the strongest predictor, and numeracy contributed independently to overall decision-making competence. Executive functions did predict overall decision-making competence, while all predictors were included in the models. A novel finding concerns the relationship between time perception and decision-making competence. The complementary roles of these cognitive abilities are discussed.     

MIRT模型中多维能力及其相关矩阵估计的影响因素

多维项目反应理论因其模型本身的天然优势及其兼具因素分析与项目反应理论于一身的优点,而被广大研究者及应用者所重视.本研究在前人研究基础上,重点讨论MIRT多维能力及能力间相关矩阵的参数估计问题.研究采用Monte Carlo模拟方法进行,在三因素完全随机设计（4 ×3×3）下,使用MCMC算法,探讨测验维度数、维度间的相关大小和测验项目数三个因素对MIRT能力及其相关矩阵估计的影响.     

The Effect of Size of Pupil on the Form and Color Fields

The construct validity of the Wallach-Kogan (W-K) creativity test was investigated through an hierarchical factor analysis of intercorrelations among intelligence, creativity, control, and criterion variables for 73 Ss enrolled in grades 3 and 4 of an inner-city parochial school. The results provided considerable support for W-K's theoretical formulations. Creativity and intelligence assessors defined separate domains and remained totally resilient to merger into a superordinate factor. The creativity domain, which was defined by W-K subtests and criterion ratings, included the following factors: general, visual, and verbal creativity plus a weak methods factor for crayon drawings. The intelligence domain, which was defined by WISC subtests, included a relatively strong g factor and the following four primary factors: verbal precision, freedom from distractibility, perceptual organization, and quasi-specific.     

Linguistic Profile of Individuals with Down Syndrome: Comparing the Linguistic Performance of Three Developmental Disorders

An increasing number of studies, addressing the linguistic abilities of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) suggest that they exhibit strengths and weaknesses within the linguistic domain. This article critically reviews the literature on the linguistic profile of individuals with DS, with particular emphasis on the expression and reception of vocabulary and grammar, including nonverbal linguistic expression during infant development. In doing so, attention is given to recent comparative studies of the linguistic abilities of individuals with DS, Specific Language Impairment (SLI), and Williams syndrome (WS). The possibility that deficits in one cognitive system may have consequences in another cognitive system, and that these consequences may define the nature of the impairment in each clinical syndrome is further discussed with suggestions for future research.     

On the Nature of Nonverbal Working Memory Fractionation: A Case of Selective Spatial Short-Term Memory Deficit in a Child

Several lines of research on adult subjects demonstrate a visual/spatial fractionation of nonverbal working memory (WM), while behavioral studies on normal children support the idea of a static/dynamic distinction. In the present paper, we report a child (Z.M.) who failed on nonverbal WM tasks. To verify the nature of his defect, we carried out two experiments: in Experiment 1, Z.M. failed on spatial WM tasks but not on visual WM tasks and was not affected by the static/dynamic format of stimulus presentation; in Experiment 2, this visual/spatial dissociation was extended to the imagery domain. These results are best accounted for within the visual/spatial fractionation of WM and confirmed the role of WM in mental imagery. Clinical and rehabilitative implications of the present findings are also discussed.     

Ongoing development of social cognition in adolescence

Age differences in social cognition between adolescents and young adults were investigated. Two large groups of adolescents and young adults were given tasks of theory of mind and emotion recognition. In addition, to control for possibly related basic cognitive development, working memory, speed of processing, and verbal ability were assessed. A strong age effect was revealed across both measures of social cognition. Adolescents performed with a lower accuracy than adults. Further analyses indicated that those age differences remained significant even after controlling for basic cognitive abilities. Exploratory analyses indicated no influence of pubertal phase on social cognition. Results suggest ongoing development of social cognition across adolescence, independent of individual differences in more basic cognitive abilities.     

Sex differences in the indirect effects of cognitive processes on anxiety through emotion regulation difficulties

Drawing on a gender roles theory of emotion regulation, we examined the specific facets of emotion regulation difficulties through which higher-order cognitive abilities may be related to anxiety. Participants (N = 225) completed self-report measures of emotion regulation difficulties and anxiety, and were administered neuropsychological tests assessing abstract reasoning and inhibition. PROCESS (Hayes, 2012) was used to estimate the direct and indirect effects of both inhibition and abstract reasoning on anxiety symptoms, with six dimensions of emotion regulation difficulties serving as multiple mediators operating in parallel. Results suggest that the relation between higher-order cognitive abilities and anxiety operate through distinct, sex-dependent emotion dysregulation mechanisms. For females, higher levels of inhibition and abstract thinking were associated with poorer clarity of emotions, which in turn, was associated with higher levels of anxiety symptoms. As such, over-attentiveness to, or over-analysis of, emotions may be particularly detrimental among females who have relatively higher abstract reasoning abilities. For males, higher inhibition was associated with greater perceived effectiveness in regulating negative emotions, which in turn, was associated with lower levels of anxiety symptoms. This finding suggests that mood regulation expectancies may be particularly important in understanding the pathogenesis of anxiety in males.     

眼动技术在个体认知能力差异研究中的应用

本文从可能性和可行性两方面介绍和论述了眼动技术在个体认知能力差异研究中的应用。在可能性方面,个体眼动特征具有的良好的重测信度和内部一致性信度;在可行性方面,已有研究利用注视和眼跳相关指标、眼动轨迹和瞳孔直径这三类指标对该问题进行探索,结果均发现这些眼动特征与认知能力之间存在着密切关系。今后研究应继续深入探索两者关系的内在认知和神经机制,并尝试结合人工智能算法开发高信效度的眼动认知测验。