与年龄相关的认知速度减慢及学习改善过程

该工作应用人机对话方式完成心算、符号数字、数字鉴别和计数四项作业认知速度年老减慢及学习改善过程的研究,被试３５０人,４６—７５岁。研究结果表明：四项认知作业速度随年老进行性减慢;然而,老年人经学习训练认知作业速度可明显改善。上述变化程度与作业所需时间有密切关系,提示年老过程中枢信息加工过程速度的减慢快于外周感觉─运动过程速度的减慢,学习改善作用也可能主要是中枢过程速度的提高。     

学业不良学生类型与特点的聚类分析

该研究运用Ｑ聚类分析对上海市区１４８０名初中预备班学生的能力和个性特征进行分类研究。结果发现１４８０名被试中存有心理发展水平不同的六个主要类别,这些类别与学生学业成绩的优劣关系密切。同时,３５３名差生可分为四个主要类型：即,暂时性困难学生、能力型困难学生、动力型困难学生和整体性困难学生,不同类型的差生具有不同的特点。这为针对不同类型学生的特点制定有效的教育措施提供了依据。     

弱智儿童感知动作技能特点的实验研究

本研究以难易程度不同的两个打洞操作作业 ,对弱智儿童和正常儿童的感知 动作技能进行了多种参数的测查。结果发现 :两类儿童在理解操作要点、操作速度、操作动作协调性以及操作正确性等各个方面都有明显的差异。同时通过比较 ,对弱智儿童感知 动作技能的特点 ,从外部肢体动作方式和内部智力动作方式两方面进行了详细的分析 ,并在此基础上对弱智儿童的感知 动作技能的教育与训练提出了建议 ,这对弱智学校改革教学、提高教学质量具有重要意义。     

Robust estimation of ability in the Rasch model

Estimating ability parameters in latent trait models in general, and in the Rasch model in particular is almost always hampered by noise in the data. This noise can be caused by guessing, inattention to easy questions, and other factors which are unrelated to ability. In this study several alternative formulations which attempt to deal with these problems without a reparameterization are tested through a Monte Carlo simulation. It was found that although no one of the tested schemes is uniformly superior to all others, a modified jackknife stood out as the best one in general, it was also super efficient (more efficient than the asymptotically optimal estimator) for tests with forty or fewer items. It is proposed that this sort of jackknifing scheme for estimating ability be considered for practical work.This research was funded through a grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (78-NI-AX-0047) to the Bureau of Social Science Research, Howard Wainer, Principal Investigator. We would like to thank Ronald Mead, Anne Morgan and James Ramsay for kind, generous, and invaluable help at various stages of the project.     

The impact of demographics and nutritional status on cognitive functioning in an Iranian adults sample

This study investigated the impact of demographic variables and nutritional status on adult cognitive functioning using structural equation modeling. Demographic variables that were considered were height, weight and gender, whilst nutritional status was measured on the Nutrition Assessment Inventory (NAI). Cognitive functions, such as executive cognitive functions, cognitive flexibility, cognitive ability and cognitive vulnerability were measured using the Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory (AEFI), the Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS), the Cognitive Ability Questionnaire (CAQ), and the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale Form A-Revised (DAS-A-R) respectively. Findings indicated that ethnicity and weight variables contribute to 8.8% of the nutritional status variations observed. A SEM analysis showed that nutritional status has an impact on 13% on the measured cognitive abilities of adults. The effects of “healthy nutrition”, “use of complementary nutritients”, “coping with high fat foods”, and “high fat food assumption” subscales of the nutrition scale were found to play a role in cognitive ability. This study shows a fitted SEM for the predictive roles of ethnicity, weight and nutritional status on the cognitive ability in adults.     

A coordinated analysis of the associations among personality traits,cognitive decline,and dementia in older adulthood

There are individual differences in the rates of cognitive decline across later adulthood. Personality traits are among the factors that may account for these differences. The current project investigated whether personality traits were associated with trajectories of cognitive decline, and whether the associations were different before and after dementia diagnosis. The data was analyzed using linear mixed effects regression. Across study aims is a focus on replicability and generalizability. Each question was addressed in four independent longitudinal studies (EAS, MAP, ROS, SATSA), then meta-analyzed, providing estimates of replicability. Results indicated that low neuroticism and high openness were associated with total cognitive function. We detected evidence for cognitive decline in all four samples, and openness was associated with decline post dementia diagnosis.     

大学生主观童年创伤症状对抑郁的影响:抗挫折能力和外向性的多重中介效应

本研究将"童年创伤"定义为"个体14岁以前所经历的,站在主体的角度主观感受到的创伤性事件"。采用问卷调查法对302名大学生进行调查,通过定量加定性的方式探索了童年创伤与抑郁之间的关系。相关分析表明：主观童年创伤症状、外向性、抗挫折能力、抑郁之间两两显著相关;结构方程模型表明：主观童年创伤症状通过外向性、抗挫折能力完全、多重中介作用间接预测抑郁。本研究结果在理论和实践层面对大学生抑郁问题的预防和干预工作提供重要的借鉴依据。     

听觉线索与个体差异对音乐紧张感加工的影响

音乐无他, 张弛而已。音乐紧张感架起了客观音响与主观体验之间的桥梁, 是音乐情绪产生的前提和基础。音乐紧张感加工的影响因素主要来自客体与主体两方面。研究发现, 声学要素与调性结构是影响音乐紧张感诱发的声音线索, 而文化背景与音乐能力是影响听者对紧张感加工的个体因素。未来需要对时间结构与长时程调性结构诱发的紧张感及其机制进行深入探究, 这将有助于深化我们对音乐紧张感与情绪加工的认识。     

Commentary on Corradi et al.’s (2019) new conception of aesthetic sensitivity: Is the ability conception dead?

Corradi et al. (British Journal of Psychology, 2019) argue that their new conception of visual aesthetic sensitivity (as responsiveness to aesthetic features in one’s preferences) presents several advantages in comparison with the current ability view of aesthetic sensitivity, usually defined as the ability to judge aesthetic stimuli in accordance with standards (The Journal of Psychology, 1964, 57 and 49). Although the measure they propose is interesting and presents advances to the field, we point to important issues. Notably, the authors conveniently base their comparison between the two conceptions on psychometric double standards, discard a century of research on aesthetic sensitivity by focusing on Eysenck’s speculations, and disguise an extension of already existing aesthetic preference tests (e.g., The Journal of Psychology, 1952, 33 and 199; Empirical Studies of the Arts, 2005, 23 and 165) as a redefinition of aesthetic sensitivity. We conclude that both aesthetic preference and aesthetic sensitivity research are legitimate objects of study, that the authors present interesting ideas to further the study of aesthetic preferences, but that their approach is not new and that its proposed renaming only adds confusion to the field.     

Mathematical Creativity: A Combination of Domain-general Creative and Domain-specific Mathematical Skills

Creativity is an understudied topic in elementary school mathematics research. Nevertheless, we argue that creativity plays an important role in mathematics, but that more research is needed to understand this relation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate this relation, specifically between domain-general creativity, domain-specific mathematical creativity, and mathematical ability. Measures for these constructs were administered to 342 Dutch fourth graders. In order to examine the nature of the relation between creativity and mathematics, two competing models were tested, using Structural Equation Modeling. The results indicated that models in which general creativity and mathematical ability both predict mathematical creativity fitted the data better than models in which mathematical and general creativity predict mathematical ability. This study showed that both general creativity and mathematical ability are important to think creatively in mathematics.