Parent coaching at 6 and 10 months improves language outcomes at 14 months: A randomized controlled trial

Previous studies reveal an association between particular features of parental language input and advances in children's language learning. However, it is not known whether parent coaching aimed to enhance specific input components would (a) successfully increase these components in parents' language input and (b) result in concurrent increases in children's language development. The present randomized controlled trial assigned families of typically developing 6‐month‐old infants to Intervention (parent coaching) and Control (no coaching) groups. Families were equivalent on socioeconomic status, infants' gender, and infants' age. Parent coaching took place when infants were 6 and 10 months of age, and included quantitative and qualitative linguistic feedback on the amount of child‐directed speech, back‐and‐forth interactions, and parentese speech style. These variables were derived from each family's first‐person LENA recordings at home. Input variables and infant language were measured at 6, 10, and 14 months. Parent coaching significantly enhanced language input as measured by two social interaction variables: percentage of speech directed to the child and percentage of parentese speech. These two variables were correlated, and were both related to growth in infant babbling between 6 and 14 months. Intervention infants showed greater growth in babbling than Control infants. Furthermore, at 14 months, Intervention infants produced significantly more words than Control infants, as indicated by LENA recordings and parent report via the MacArthur‐Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory. Together, these results indicate that parent coaching can enrich specific aspects of parental language input, and can immediately and positively impact child language outcomes. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/7wqR28gPiwo     

描述性规范提升义务献血的意愿而非行为

描述性规范指大多数人的做法对他人态度和行为的影响。本研究试图利用描述性规范改变公众的义务献血意愿和行为。研究由两个相似实验组成。实验1发现描述性规范促进了被试义务献血的意愿, 但并没有影响实际献血行为; 实验2在实验1的基础上试图通过增加短信提醒来促进义务献血行为, 但是结果同样显示描述性规范促进了被试的献血意愿而非行为。本文对此原因进行了讨论。     

社会知觉视角下道德诉求方式如何提升劝捐效果

如何有效地引导个体“慷慨解囊”一直是理论和实践都关注的热点。基于道德基础理论和刻板印象内容模型, 研究考察了在不同社会知觉(温暖型vs.能力型)的劝捐主体中, 两种道德诉求方式(个体人道诉求vs.群体规范诉求)对劝捐效果的影响及其内在机制。3个实验的结果显示：温暖型(能力型)劝捐主体与个体人道诉求(群体规范诉求)更为契合, 更有利于提升劝捐效果; 温暖型劝捐主体进行个体人道诉求主要通过唤起个体的自我效能而提升劝捐效果, 而能力型劝捐主体进行群体规范诉求则主要通过增强个体的反应效能而提升劝捐效果。     

定向遗忘条件下DRM词的加工深度和情境对错误记忆的影响*

在定向遗忘条件下探讨DRM词加工时产生的错误记忆现象,并探究造成这一现象的深层原因。实验一和实验二分别操纵了词的深、浅加工以及词所处的情境。实验一的结果发现只在深加工时,F指令下的DRM词受到抑制激活,低于R指令下的再认正确率,关键诱词的错误再认也与各指令下DRM词的恢复提取密切相关;实验二的结果发现集中情境和随机情境均会受到遗忘指令的影响抑制DRM词的正确再认,但集中情境下关键诱词的错误再认与各指令下DRM词的恢复提取关联更紧密。在定向遗忘条件下,用FTT理论解释实验一的结果较为合理,用AAT理论解释实验二的结果较为合理。     

Teacher Training: Effects of Directed Rehearsal on the Teaching Skills of Physical Education Majors

Directed rehearsal was used to improve the teaching skills of six preservice elementary physical education teachers during a teaching practicum. The teaching skills lesson introduction, lesson closure, task presentation, and general and specific subject-matter feedback were assessed using a multiple baseline design across behaviors for each teacher. Social validity, in the form of the acceptability of directed rehearsal as a teacher training intervention, was also assessed using a questionnaire. Directed rehearsal was effective in improving the teaching skills of the teachers to either 100% correct implementation or, in the case of subject-matter feedback, to an established rate. In addition, the intervention was acceptable to the teachers and the practicum instructor. These results extend both the error correction and the research on teacher education literatures.     

Menstrual cycle effects on task performance examined in the context of stress research

The study examined the effects of degree of paramenstrual distress, signal frequency, task load and time on task on psychomotor performance across the menstrual cycle. Simple reaction time, choice reaction time and pursuit tracking were the tasks employed, and performance was assessed using the metrics of mean level, variability, and errors of omission and commission. The results showed performance as a function of menstrual cycle phase and paramenstrual distress to be highly task and metric specific, a finding typical of stressor variables: pursuit tracking was affected by phase, with mean performance at its worst premenstrually; choice reaction time was dependent on a complex interaction of experimental variables and measurement metrics; simple reaction time showed no significant effects. Patterns of attention allocation in a time-sharing situation combining both pursuit tracking and choice reaction time components were also investigated. Trends here indicated relatively better performance both menstrually and intermenstrually as components increased in signal/response frequency, with a corresponding deterioration premenstrually. Overall performance capacity appeared to be greatest at menstruation, and the degree of attentional selectivity was least. High distress women performed better on low frequency components, whereas asymptomatic women did better at higher signal rates.     

Career development of special populations: A framework for research

In view of the recent interest in the career behaviors of diverse groups of individuals, this article presents a model for conducting research on the career development of special populations. Available research paradigms are reviewed in terms of their potential impact on such efforts. An alternative framework, designed to make maximum use of available data sources while minimizing potential theoretical bias, is offered. An illustration of research conducted within the recommended framework is presented in which the impact of a variety of career-related variables on the attitudinal and cognitive aspects of vocational maturity is examined from the perspective of two special population groups, disabled and disadvantaged college students. Drawing upon previous research findings, variables under consideration included level of scholastic achievement and endorsement of rational, intuitive, and dependent decision-making styles. Also included were two population-specific variables related to the characteristics of membership in each of the two special groups. The regression analyses conducted to explore the relationships between vocational maturity and these predictor variables indicate, in general, that variance in the attitudinal and cognitive factors of vocational maturity can be at least partially explained by the variables considered. However, the relative contributions of the predictors and the resulting proportions of variance explained differs according to which population and which criterion factor is under examination. These findings are compared with those emerging from previous research, and implications for future efforts are discussed.     

Mental representation of length and weight series and transitive inferences in young children

Forty-eight second graders (8 years of age) were trained on length or weight relationships between adjacent members of a five-term series of colored objects. Feedback was visual and of either minimal or strong salience. Differences in weight were assessed by either a balance scale or a spring scale. Results showed that more salient visual feedback reduced the learning effort for length but not for weight comparisons. After training children were tested on all possible object pairs. Children's comparisons of items by length were very accurate in contrast to their comparisons by weight. An explanation for these findings is suggested by the data from a group of 6-year-olds who were trained on two independent pairs of a four-term series. Test results showed that subjects spontaneously encoded absolute lengths but tended to ignore information about the absolute weight of objects. It is suggested that high test accuracy depends on stimulus material for which the absolute values of the relevant dimension are encoded. The implications for taking test performance as an indicator of “transitive reasoning” ability are discussed.     

Odor production and utilization under conditions of nonreward and small reward

A series of five experiments was conducted to examine odor production and utilization under conditions of contrasting large and small reward. Using daily, eight-trial double-alternation sequences of reward (L)-nonreward (N) or small reward (S), i.e., LLNNLLNN and LLSSLLSS, appropriate patterning was shown only when an empty goalbox was initially encountered on N or S trials (Experiments 1–5). Manipulations designed to increase frustration, for example, preceding double-alternation training with a block of large-reward trials in Experiment 2, or increasing the L vs S ratio in Experiment 3, failed to yield patterning when small reward was presented at the start of the S-trial confinement period. Patterning was shown when small reward was presented at the end of the S-trial confinement (Experiments 4 and 5). Immediate vs delayed (30 sec) S or N trial goalbox removal failed to result in differences in patterning (Experiments 1 and 2). To distinguish odor production from odor use, subjects trained on an LLSSLLSS pattern preceded subjects trained on an LLNNLLNN pattern (Experiment 5). Because patterning failed to develop in the LLSSLLSS subjects and the first subject in the LLNNLLNN group, it was concluded that a discriminably different cue was not produced on S trials under the LLSSLLSS sequence when small reward was delivered at the beginning of the goalbox confinement period. Shifting small-reward delivery to the end of goalbox confinement resulted in the immediate display of patterning by the first LLNNLLNN subject, and the subsequent development of patterning by the LLSSLLSS subjects.     

The factor structure of the Vocational Preference Inventory for black and white college students

This study investigated whether the variables measured by the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) were the same for both black and white students. Kaiser et al. (1969) have noted that the same measurements used with different populations may not measure the same variables and have presented a method of determining the degree of correspondence in the two populations. In the present study, the VPI scores for a group of black students and a group of white students were factor analyzed separately and the black structure was rotated to correspond to the white structure. The correspondence between the variables measured by the VPI for black and white students was found to be very similar. This is to say that the VPI measures the same variables for both black and white college students.