Achievement motivation in the social context: Implicit and explicit Hope of Success and Fear of Failure predict memory for and liking of successful and unsuccessful peers

The authors examined relations between implicit and explicit Hope of Success (HS) and Fear of Failure (FF) and memory and liking for successful and unsuccessful peers. Implicit motives were expected to predict memory and explicit motives to predict liking of peers. Results from 106 American and 79 Singaporean students supported the implicit–explicit motive distinction as well as a link between HS and the successful peer and between FF and the unsuccessful peer. In both samples, explicit HS predicts liking while implicit HS predicts memory about the successful peer, and implicit FF predicts memory about the unsuccessful peer. Findings indicate achievement motives affect interest in and reaction towards peers and provide evidence for differential validity of implicit and explicit motives.     

当代客观化人格测验的技术—— 基于实验的行为评估:维也纳研究小组开发的多种计算机化测验介绍

目前多数人格测验(特别是在中国使用的人格测验)基本上都是人格问卷, 基于实验的行为评估类客观化人格测验应用很少; 而后者近来在德语圈国家中则有复苏的迹象。因此, 本文综述了此类客观测验相对于人格问卷来说所具有的特点和优势, 如, 被试很难在这类客观化人格测验中作伪。本文介绍了维也纳研究小组所做的几个测验, 并讨论了这些测验的心理测量学性质和缺点。最后, 还列举了这些测验的实际应用。     

Transverse diffusivity of cerebral parenchyma predicts visual tracking performance in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis

This study investigated the relation between cerebral damage related to multiple sclerosis (MS) and cognitive decline as determined by two classical mental tracking tests. Cerebral damage in 15 relapsing–remitting MS patients was measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Fractional anisotropy, longitudinal and transverse diffusivity were defined in the cerebral parenchyma. Cognitive performance of the MS patients was assessed with the oral response format of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). A significant correlation was found between performance on the SDMT and the fractional anisotropy in the brain. This correlation was predominantly induced by transverse diffusivity. Transverse diffusivity refers to the diffusion across fibers rather than along the fibers and is believed to be a specific marker for axonal loss and demyelination associated with MS. No significant association between DTI-measures and PASAT performance was found and this negative finding was mainly attributed to psychometric qualities. These results indicate that diffusivity along the non-principal diffusion direction, a possible signature of MS-related white matter pathology, contributes to information processing speed as measured with the SDMT, a task that requires close visual tracking and a widely used clinical marker for cognitive decline in MS.     

基于关系-表征复杂性模型的数学应用题表征能力测验

基于关系-表征复杂性模型,从每道应用题涉及集合关系的嵌套程度角度事前分析其关系复杂性,编制了难度序列变化的应用题测验,以考察问题表征能力。采用该测验测查了四至七年级共165名学生,考察事前分析的合理性及表征水平随年龄的变化。结果表明:(1)事前分析对两个事后难度指标(错误率和Rasch模型分析的任务难度)的解释率分别为73.7%、78.7%;该测验得分与测查思维水平层次变化的SOLO分类测验上的得分有较高相关(r=0.65)。(2)四年级的应用题表征水平显著低于五、六、七年级,其他三个年级差异不显著;而且随着问题关系复杂性的增加,年级差异增大。这说明基于关系-表征复杂性模型的事前分析是合理的,据此编制的测验能够测查表征水平随年龄的变化。     

脑电双频指数（BIS）对脊柱侧凸矫正术中唤醒时间的影响

探讨脑电双频指数（bispectral index,BIS）监测不同镇静深度对脊柱侧凸矫正术中唤醒时间的影响,60例行脊柱侧凸矫正手术的患者随机分为三组,Ⅰ组BIS30～40,Ⅱ组BIS40～50和Ⅲ组BIS50～60,评价各组患者的唤醒时间及不良事件发生率。结果显示Ⅰ组唤醒时间为（18．13±2．3）min,明显长于Ⅱ组和Ⅲ组的唤醒时间。而当BIS为40～50时,患者术中的不良事件发生率明显低于另外两组。所以,使用BIS进行全麻镇静深度的监测,在唤醒前将镇静深度维持在BIS40～50是合适的。     

The effect of development and individual differences in pointing comprehension of dogs

In spite of the rather different procedures actually used in comparative studies to test the ability of different species to rely on the human pointing gesture, there is no debate on the high performance of dogs in such tasks. Very little is known, however, on the course through which they acquire this ability or the probable factors influencing the process. Important developmental questions have remained unsolved and also some methodological concerns should be addressed before we can convincingly argue for one interpretation or another. In this study we tested 180 dogs of different age (from 2 months to adults) to investigate their performance in the human distal momentary pointing gesture. The results, analyzed at both the group and the individual levels, showed no difference in the performance according to age, indicating that in dogs the comprehension of the human pointing may require only very limited and rapid early learning to fully develop. Interestingly, neither the keeping conditions nor the time spent in active interaction with the owner, and not even some special (agility) training for using human visual cues, had significant effect on the success and explained individual differences. The performance of the dogs was rather stable over time: during the 20 trials within a session and even when subsamples of different age were repeatedly tested. Considering that in spite of the general success at the group level, more than half of the dogs were not successful at the individual level, we revealed alternative “decision-making rules” other than following the pointing gesture of the experimenter. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

读者的元理解监测为什么不精确？

精确的元理解监测对随后的元理解控制和阅读理解有重要作用,但是,通常情况下,读者的元理解监测并不精确。回顾20余年的元理解监测研究,发现元理解监测的精确性主要受制于阅读材料特征、监测线索与标准测验特征等因素。未来研究应注意元理解监测的判断形式、监测线索及评价标准对元理解监测精确性的交互关联影响。     

Academic achievement in first-year Portuguese college students: the role of academic preparation and learning strategies

This paper analyses the role of academic preparation and learning strategies in the prediction of first-year Portuguese college students' academic achievement, considering students' sex and academic field attended. A sample of 445 first-year college students (68.5% female) from the University of Minho (25.8% enrolled in economics, 35.3% in science/technology, and 38.9% in humanities degrees) participated in the study. Students answered a questionnaire on learning strategies in the classroom at the end of the first semester, which consisted of 44 items organized in five dimensions: comprehensive approach, surface approach, personal competency perceptions, intrinsic motivation, and organization of study activities. Academic achievement (grade point average at the end of first year) and academic preparation (students' higher education access mark) were obtained through the academic records of the university. Results showed that academic preparation was the strongest predictor of first-year academic achievement, and only marginal additional variance was explained by learning strategies as assessed by the self-reported questionnaire. There were sex and academic field differences, but these variables do not seem strong enough to affect the results, although the different percentages of variance captured by each model and the different weights associated to higher education access mark, stimulate the use of these and/or other personal and contextual variables when analysing the phenomenon.     

Combining diversity and dispersion criteria for anticlustering: A bicriterion approach

Most partitioning methods used in psychological research seek to produce homogeneous groups (i.e., groups with low intra-group dissimilarity). However, there are also applications where the goal is to provide heterogeneous groups (i.e., groups with high intra-group dissimilarity). Examples of these anticlustering contexts include construction of stimulus sets, formation of student groups, assignment of employees to project work teams, and assembly of test forms from a bank of items. Unfortunately, most commercial software packages are not equipped to accommodate the objective criteria and constraints that commonly arise for anticlustering problems. Two important objective criteria for anticlustering based on information in a dissimilarity matrix are: a diversity measure based on within-cluster sums of dissimilarities; and a dispersion measure based on the within-cluster minimum dissimilarities. In many instances, it is possible to find a partition that provides a large improvement in one of these two criteria with little (or no) sacrifice in the other criterion. For this reason, it is of significant value to explore the trade-offs that arise between these two criteria. Accordingly, the key contribution of this paper is the formulation of a bicriterion optimization problem for anticlustering based on the diversity and dispersion criteria, along with heuristics to approximate the Pareto efficient set of partitions. A motivating example and computational study are provided within the framework of test assembly.     

On the effectiveness of including meaningful pictures in the formation of equivalence classes

In three experiments, 165 adult participants were trained on 12 baseline conditional discriminations and tested for the formation of three 5-member equivalence classes (A➔B➔C➔D➔E). All experiments included two reference groups; the abstract (ABS) group was trained with all abstract stimuli and the picture (PIC) group with C-stimuli as meaningful pictorial stimuli but A, B, D, and E stimuli as abstract shapes. In Experiment 1, the color of the meaningful stimuli was manipulated. In the ABS, PIC, and black-and-white groups, 33.3%, 80%, and 93.3% formed equivalence classes, respectively. In Experiment 2, participants were exposed to a test block with and without trials that included C stimuli. For the groups with and without C trials in the test, 93.3% and 86.7% formed equivalence classes, respectively, compared to 20% in the ABS group. In Experiment 3, the number of meaningful pictures and their location in stimulus classes were manipulated. One group was trained with 3 pictures (C1/B2/D3, the 3-PIC) while the other groups had 2 pictures (C1/B2 and C1/D3, the 2-PIC). In the second test block for the ABS and PIC groups, 6.7% and 86% of the participants formed equivalence classes, respectively. For the 3-PIC and the 2-PIC groups, 66.7% and 50% of the participants formed equivalence classes, respectively. Results suggest that the effects of meaningful stimuli in equivalence classes (a) cannot be attributed to the use of colorful stimuli in previous studies, (b) occur during training and are not dependent on the presence of meaningful stimuli at test, and (c) are sensitive to stimulus location.