热执行功能对儿童标准窗口任务测试的影响

主要考察热执行功能对3~4岁儿童标准窗口任务测试的影响。实验采取3×3的被试间设计。设置了3种条件：标准指示、“强化竞争”指示和无对手指示;将随机抽取的270名被试分为3个年龄段,以检测3~4儿童在窗口任务中的认知发展趋势。结果表明：⑴热执行功能也是影响3~4儿童标准窗口任务测试的一个主要因素;⑵3岁后期是3~4岁儿童在标准窗口任务中所体现出来的认知发展差异的分界年龄;⑶3~4岁儿童在窗口任务中还表现出规则推理能力的差异     

Developmental and acquired dyslexia: A comparison

Jorm (1979a) has drawn attention to similarities between developmental dyslexia and acquired deep dyslexia, an analogy which has been criticized by A. W. Ellis (1979). A series of three experiments compared the two syndromes, using the techniques applied by Patterson and Marcel (1977) to adult deep dyslexics, to study a group of 15 boys suffering from developmental dyslexia. Patterson and Marcel's patients were able to perform a lexical decision task but showed no evidence of phonemic encoding of nonwords; our dyslexic children performed this task very slowly and with reduced accuracy but showed clear evidence of phonemic coding of the nonword items. Patterson and Marcel observed that their patients could not read out orthographically regular nonwords; our dyslexic children were able to do this task, although more slowly and somewhat less accurately than their chronological age or reading age controls. Finally, Patterson and Marcel observed that highly imageable words were more likely to be read correctly than words of equal frequency but low imageability; we observed a similar effect in both our dyslexic group and in their reading age controls. This implies that the imageability effect may not be peculiar to dyslexics but may be characteristic of normal reading under certain conditions. It is concluded that developmental dyslexics differ from the patients studied by Patterson and Marcel in demonstrating a pattern of reading which, though slow, is qualitatively similar to the reading of normal readers of a younger age. As such, our results do not support Jorm's position.     

Deliberate self-harm,clinical history and extreme scoring on the EPQ

Two hundred consecutive admissions to an inpatient psychiatric unit were assessed on the EPQ following recovery from the disturbance for which they were hospitalized. Case-history data was also checked for these patients and extended by using a clinical-history structured interview, also administered within 1 week of discharge. Results showed that for males, high P and high N was associated with a history of deliberate self-harm (DSH) by mutilation. High N was also associated with parental violence. In females, both low E and high N were associated with a history of self-mutilation. High N scores were also more likely to have appeared in court, and high P females were more likely to have a history of bedwetting and of parental violence.None of the associations between extreme scoring on the EPQ and self-mutilation were found for DSH by overdose.     

The role of short-term working memory in mental arithmetic

A series of experiments explored the role of information storage in working memory in performing mental arithmetic. Experiment 1 assessed the strategies people report for solving auditorily presented multidigit problems such as 325 + 46. As expected, all subjects reported breaking down the problems into a series of elementary stages, though there were considerable individual differences with regard to the order of their execution. Strategies of this type necessitate both the temporary storage of information and the mobilization of long-term knowledge. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the effects of delaying the output of individual partial results on calculation accuracy and showed that interim information is forgotten if it is not utilized immediately. Experiment 4 showed that forgetting the initial information is also a source of error and suggested that forgetting increases as a function of the number of calculation stages intervening between initial presentation and subsequent utilization of information. Two simple quantitative models were derived from a general task analysis, one of which assumed a decay process in working storage and the other no decay. The decay model gave a reasonable fit to data from Experiments 2–4, and in doing so it coped appreciably well with the effects of a large variety of task variables (e.g., carrying, the provision of written notes, calculation strategy, output order). The decay model is a tractable analysis of a complex task, and it is suggested that similar analyses may prove fruitful for other problem-solving activities which involve the use of working memory.     

Teaching Social Interaction Skills Using Cool Versus Not Cool

We evaluated the cool versus not cool procedure to teach social behaviors to three children diagnosed with autism. The researchers demonstrated each targeted behavior four times (two appropriate and two inappropriate demonstrations). Each participant then had to discriminate and state why the demonstration was appropriate or inappropriate. This was followed by the participant role-playing the targeted behavior with the researchers. We utilized a multiple baseline design to evaluate the procedure and the results indicated that the procedure was effective in teaching each targeted social behavior.     

马基雅弗利主义者的“冷”、“热”执行功能分离现象

目的探讨马基雅弗利主义者是否存在＂冷＂、＂热＂执行功能分离现象。方法选取178位高中学生,用马氏量表筛选出45人,分为马氏高分组（n=20）和马氏低分组（n=25）,分别对两组的＂冷＂、＂热＂执行功能进行测量。结果在＂冷＂执行功能方面,马氏高分组（62.3±3.0）和马氏低分组（44.2±2.4）没有显著差异;在＂热＂执行功能方面,两组被试有显著差异。结论马氏主义者存在＂冷热＂执行功能分离现象。     

Hot and cool executive function in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Cross-sectional developmental trajectories

The development of executive function (EF) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has only been investigated using “cool”-cognitive-EF tasks. Little is known about the development of “hot”-affective-EF and whether it follows a similar developmental pathway. This study employed a cross-sectional developmental trajectories approach to examine the developmental changes in cool (working memory, inhibition, and planning) and hot EF (delay discounting and affective decision-making) of ASD participants (n = 79) and controls (n = 91) relative to age and IQ, shedding more light on the hot–cool EF organization. The developmental trajectories of some aspects of cool EF (working memory and planning) differed significantly as a function of age in ASD participants relative to controls. For both hot EFs, no significant age-related changes were found in either group. These findings extend our understanding regarding the maturation of EF from childhood through adolescence in ASD.     

儿童注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)的“冷”“热”执行功能

近30多年来,对注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)的认知缺损机制的关注一直停留在"冷"执行功能领域,为更全面地揭示其执行缺损机制,文章旨在从"冷""热"执行功能的角度来探讨ADHD的缺陷。论文简要回顾了注意缺陷多动障碍的界定、生理基础和若干理论模型,着重阐述ADHD儿童在经典"冷""热"两类执行功能任务上的表现差异。总结认为ADHD儿童并非在所有类型的"热"执行任务上表现落后,ADHD儿童的表现要视情感和动机的卷入对不同任务情景的作用性质是消极还是积极而定,文章也比较分析了几位研究者相关的理论解释。     

Athletics and executive functioning: How athletic participation and sport type correlate with cognitive performance

ObjectivesThis study aims to further the knowledge regarding the documented link between physical exercise and cognitive function. Specifically, we examined the relationship between the type and level of sports in which college students participate and their executive functioning (EF).DesignWe utilized a 3-way quasi-experimental design, and grouped participants by athletic status (athlete or non-athlete), sport type (self-paced, externally paced, or non-athlete; see Singer, 2000), and level (high-skilled or recreational).MethodsWe evaluated EF by administering a battery of validated tests of decision making, problem solving, and inhibition.ResultsWe found that athletes scored higher on some of the EF measures than non-athletes. Furthermore, we observed that scores varied by sport type according to which subset of EF each test measured. Self-paced athletes scored highest on an inhibition task, and externally paced athletes scored highest on a problem-solving task.ConclusionsOur results suggest that athletes outperform non-athletes on tests of such EF domains as inhibition and problem solving, and that different types of athletic experience may correlate with higher levels of particular EF domains.     

从儿童赌博任务看热执行功能的发展

为考察热执行功能的发展,本研究通过儿童赌博任务检测了60名3～4岁儿童(男女各半)的情感决策。实验结果表明,3岁和4岁儿童在此任务上存在显著的年龄差异,4岁组在各试验组的分数呈上升趋势,他们在试验组2、尤其在试验组4和5中选择有利纸牌的次数显著多于3岁儿童,这反映出情感决策在3～4岁期间发展迅速。此外,儿童在此任务上的成绩存在很多可变性,可能掩盖了性别差异,因而,尽管男孩在最后两个试验组的成绩优于女孩,但性别差异在统计上并不显著。