Facilitation of Sodium Aversion Learning in Sodium-Deprived Rats

Two experiments with rats explored the effects of sodium deprivation induced by furosemide injections upon acquisition of taste aversion to sodium chloride (NaCl). In Experiment 1, rats under either sodium deprivation or a balanced nutrition condition were given access to a limited amount of NaCl solution prior to poisoning. When all rats were tested under sodium repletion, the previously sodium-deprived rats consumed less NaCl than did the nondeprived rats. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2A in which ingestion of a compound solution of NaCl and hydrochloric acid (HCl) was followed by poisoning. Consumption of HCl, however, showed the opposite pattern: the sodium-deprived rats drank more HCl than did the nondeprived rats, a result that was replicated in Experiment 2B. These results suggest that sodium deprivation strengthens the salience of NaCl, thereby facilitating acquisition of aversion to this taste and strongly overshadowing that to a simultaneously presented taste.     

The Neural Basis of Motor-Skill Learning

Recent work indicates that motor-skill learning is supported by four processes: a strategic process that selects new goals of what to change in the environment, a perceptual-motor integration process that adjusts to new relationships between environmental stimuli and the appropriate motor response, a sequencing process that learns sequences of motor acts, and a dynamic process that learns new patterns of muscle activations. These four processes can operate in one of two modes: an unconscious mode, in which one is aware only of the goal of the movement, or a conscious mode, in which one consciously controls detailed aspects of the movement. This article provides an overview of these four processes and two modes, and describes their neural bases.     

表演式学习──表演理论对“最近发展区”的发展

美国当代心理学家、剧作家、表演理论的创始人弗雷德·纽曼（FredNewman）及其同事致力于在实践中发展维果茨基的理论,从表演的维度探讨了zpd的概念,并以此为核心提出了表演式学习的概念,以区别于在当今社会大行其道的工具性学习,即以获取知识和技能为目的的学习。表演理论通过对工具性学习的消极影响的批判及对表演式学习的倡导,在人的教育和发展方面提出了独到见解。     

Head Start Children at Third Grade: Preliminary Special Education Identification and Placement of Children with Emotional, Learning, and Related Disabilities

Although children in Head Start are at risk for emotional or behavioral problems, little is known about their later need for special education. There is evidence that children at risk for emotional disturbance are underidentified or misidentified in other special education categories. We examined special education identification rates for Head Start children at risk for emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, and mental retardation as they complete third grade. Two cohorts of 4136 children across 30 sites were followed as part of a larger study on transition. Diagnosis of each child as being at risk for emotional disturbance or related disabilities was made using clinical cut-offs on teacher ratings and individual testing completed in the spring of third grade. Special education eligibility of these children was determined from school records. Only 31.8% of children considered to be at risk, based on research diagnostic criteria, were actually identified by the schools, and fewer than 6% of children at risk for ED were identified in the school category of ED. Comparisons were made between school-identified and nonidentified children in gender, ethnicity, and school variables; and findings were discussed in relation to underidentification or misidentification of children with emotional disturbance.     

学前数学教法和儿童智能发展的追踪研究

本研究从儿童心理发展的特点和数学学习之间的内在规律出发,综合考查了各类教学法在学前施教的利弊;同时,在活动教法、指导操作法、演示法和讲授法之间做了对比实验,并设计了一整套以指导操作法为主的学前数学教法,以演示为主的数学教法之间进行了长期、深人的跟踪对比实验。结果表明,在其他变量基本被控制的条件下,指导操作法优于其他的教法;实验班儿童的智能发展,特别是数学能力的发展,明显好于对照班的儿童。这个优势一直持续到小学毕业。     

基于示例学习的认知技能获得的研究

本文简要介绍了基于示例学习的认知技能获得的研究,涉及的问题包括示例学习的过程、影响认知技能获得的因素、认知技能获得中的练习和迁移等、在文章的最后,对这一领域的研究趋势进行了展望。     

Greatness and misery in the teaching of the psychology of learning

Overshadowed by more popular disciplines, the study of learning seems to have lost its prominent place in the undergraduate psychology curriculum. In the first part of this essay, we argue that one reason for this state of affairs is the current content of psychology of learning courses, namely, its disproportionate emphasis on facts, procedures, and everyday examples at the expense of functional and conceptual investigations. In the second part of the essay, we outline an alternative approach to the teaching of learning, one that emphasizes basic contents such as the conceptualization of learning as a biological adaptation or the study of temporal regulation, critical methodological issues such as the logic of experimental designs or the difficulties of measuring behavior, and broad epistemological problems such as the role of hypothetical constructs, the advantages of quantitative reasoning, or the origins of knowledge and its integration. By using learning as a means towards more fundamental ends, the splendor of the discipline and its prominent place in the undergraduate curriculum may be restored.     

Lifelong Education: From Conflict to Consensus?

The concept of lifelong education received wide criticism and rejection in many educational circles in the 1970s. Recent developments in educational research and the increasing influence of postmodernist thought, the paper argues, are major factors in the return to favour of lifelong education. While a postmodern society is one characterised more by conflict than by consensus, the paper suggests that consensus on the importance of lifelong education might be one precondition for such a society.     

Embodied AI, Creation, and Cog

This is a reply to comments on my paper Cog, a Humanoid Robot, and the Questions of the Image of God ; one was written by Mary Gerhart and Allan Melvin Russell, and another one by Helmut Reich. I will start with the suggested analogy of the relationship between God and us and the one between us and the humanoid robot Cog and will show why this analogy is not helpful for the dialogue between theology and artificial intelligence (AI). Such a dialogue can succeed only if both our fascination for humanoids and our fear of them are equally accepted. Any avoidance of these emotions, as well as any rejection of the possibility that Cog might one day be humanlike, destroy the dialogue. The interpretation of both scientific theories and religious metaphors as stories replaces seemingly "rational" arguments with the confession of the respective commitments to a body of stories and opens up a space for exchange and friendship between AI-researchers and theologians—an option that usually remains closed.     

What Every Teacher of Science and Religion Needs to Know about Pedagogy

This essay provides practical tips for effective teaching in science-and-religion courses. It offers suggestions for dealing with difficult questions and creating a climate of shared learning. Along with pedagogical advice, it covers fundamental principles for teaching broadly integrative religion-and-science courses. Instructors are encouraged to reflect on their purpose(s) in offering their course and to formulate specific objectives using the techniques and resources outlined here.