Future Thinking in Young Children

ABSTRACT— The study of future thinking is gaining momentum across various domains of psychology. Mentally projecting the self forward in time (i.e., mental time travel) is argued to be uniquely human and of vital importance to the evolution of human culture. Yet it is only recently that developmentalists have begun to study when, and how, this capacity emerges. I begin by outlining the concept of mental time travel, along with newly developed methodologies to test children's ability to mentally project the self into the future. Data suggest that this ability is in place by ages 4 or 5 but also reveal conditions under which children may experience difficulty accurately predicting their future desires. I conclude by discussing how the research on children's mental time travel can be used to further our understanding of the development of future-oriented behaviors, including planning and delaying gratification.     

You Can Lead An Ape To A Tool But...: A Review Of Povinelli’s Folk Physics For Apes: The Chimpanzee’s Theory Of How The World Works.

We reviewed Daniel Povinelli's book, Folk physics for apes: The chimpanzee's theory of how the world works. After a summary of the book's contents, we analyzed two sets of experiments on chimpanzees' folk psychology: one that explored whether chimpanzees understand that others see (i.e., that apes have internal visual experiences) and another that examined whether chimpanzees can distinguish intended from unintended actions. The conceptual scaffolding on which these studies were conceived was sufficiently faulty that their outcomes were virtually assured a priori. We then analyzed two sets of experiments on chimpanzees' folk physics, reinforcing our view that conceptual confusion guaranteed that certain key predictions about the outcome of these studies could not be supported. A unifying reason for this conceptual confusion is that the author devalues understanding that results from programmatic conditioning. We closed the review by relating Povinelli's findings and conclusions to behavior analysis and by explaining why behavior analysts should read this book     

Circularities in the Analysis of Counterfactuals

Expanding on a discussion by Hansson, this paper treats of Goodman's and Lewis' accounts of counterfactual conditionals, comparing the senses in which these theories may be accused of circularity. While I do maintain that in this respect Lewis has an edge over Goodman, the paper's aim is not so much to reach a firm conclusion as to disentangle some previously conflated aspects of the issue. It is also suggested that the importance of avoiding circularity may vary depending on the philosophical purpose of one's analysis. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

非熟练中——英双语者的第二语言的语义通达机制

使用跨语言启动条件下的真假字判断任务,通过变化启动刺激(英文单词)与目标刺激(汉字)采用4个实验研究了中-英非熟练双语者的第二语言的语义通达机制。被试为北京师范大学的学生63名。结果发现,当启动刺激(英文单词)的中文对译词与目标刺激之间的关系是翻译关系时,得到了显著的启动效应(实验一);当两者之间是语义联想关系时,前者对后者没有显著的影响(实验二);当两者之间是形似关系时,前者对后者产生了显著的抑制作用(实验三)：当两者之间是同音关系时,前者对后者产生了显著的促进作用。这一结果表明,对于中国的英语学习者来说,他们的第二语言只能借助其汉语对译词的词汇表征通达其语义概念表征,实验结果在一定程度上支持了Mroll(1994)的层次模型。     

知觉和概念加工范式对内隐与外显记忆发展的影响

控制知觉材料的熟悉性和概念范例的典型性,以考察它们对内隐与外显记忆发展的影响。结果表明：（1）知觉内隐记忆的启动效应不存在年龄和熟悉性效应,而知觉外显记忆成绩则具有明显的年龄和熟悉性效应;（2）在概念内隐记忆任务上,典型范例的启动效应不存在年龄差异,非典型范例的启动效应则存在随年龄而增长的启动效应：无论是典型范例还是非典型范例的外显记忆成绩均随年龄增长而提高。     

中文新异组合概念的解释及影响因素

通过分析600名中国大学生对32个概念组成的160个新异组合概念的解释,考察了中文名词-名词组合概念的解释策略及影响因素。结果表明：⑴关系解释和属性解释是两种主要的解释策略;⑵第一个子概念具有显著属性的组合概念得到更多的属性解释;⑶子概念之间相似性的高低不影响属性解释出现的比率,但影响关系解释出现的比率;⑷生物组合概念比人造物组合概念得到更多的属性解释。其中的新发现既不支持关系竞争理论,也不支持双重加工理论,引出了有待研究的新问题。     

Promoting Student Cognitive Development

This study focused on a theoretically grounded counselor preparation curriculum that was designed to enhance the moral reasoning and cognitive complexity of students as well as teach them the basic skills and theories of counselor education. The curriculum for the counselor training was rooted in a teaching–learning framework that included conditions for facilitating cognitive–developmental growth and skill and theoretical training components. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the developmental effects of the counselor training program as measured in 2 domains of cognitive development: conceptual level and level of moral reasoning. The participants were assessed at 3 different times: prior to entering the counseling program, 1-year into the program, and the month marking the completion of their 2nd year in the program. The Paragraph Completion Method (PCM) and the Defining Issues Test (DIT) were used as estimates of cognitive–developmental level. Analysis of the results revealed a significant gain for the group on the PCM between the 2nd and 3rd assessments and a positive but nonsignificant trend for the DIT.     

Connection Tableau Calculi with Disjunctive Constraints

Automated theorem proving amounts to solving search problems in usually tremendous search spaces. A lot of research therefore focuses on search space reductions. Our approach reduces the search space which arises when using so-called connection tableau calculi for first-order automated theorem proving. It uses disjunctive constraints over first-order equations to compress certain parts of this search space. We present the basics of our constrained-connection-tableau calculi, a constraint extension of connection tableau calculi, and deal with the efficient handling of constraints during the search process. The new techniques are integrated into the automated connection tableau prover Setheo.     

Russia and the West: The Root of the Problem of Mutual Understanding

I examine issues tied to the allegeddifficulties of mutual understanding betweenRussia and the West. I show that some of thebackground to these issues lies in thedifference of culturally grounded differencesin perceptual and conceptual schemata. In theWest, a broadly understood Aristotelianism andin Russia Neoplatonism designate dominantattitudes to the world. The Russian `lunar'consciousness, in comparison with the `solar'consciousness of the West, tends by and largeprecipitously to totalize the world, and theexperienced multiplicity of the real isreferred to its imagined center. The differencebetween Russia and the West, limited to somedegree by mutual similarities, can become thebasis of an axiological and intellectualdialogue important for one side and theother.     

不同阅读水平儿童汉字音形义联结的研究

以小学四年级儿童为被试,通过音义联结、音形联结、形义联结和音形义联结四项测试,对不同阅读水平儿童汉字音形义的相应联结进行了比较研究.结果表明:(1)不同阅读水平儿童在汉字音、形、义联结强度上存在显著差异.(2)低阅读水平儿童汉字字形表征的模糊影响了他们汉字音形、形义的联结强度.