The effects of a rectangular rapid-flashing beacon on vehicle speed

In 2008, nearly 31% of vehicle fatalities were related to failure to adhere to safe vehicle speeds (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2009). The current study evaluated the effect of a rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) triggered by excessive speed on vehicle speed using a combined alternating treatments and reversal design. The percentage of vehicles traveling above 41 mph (66 km per hour) decreased by 20%, and speed distributions showed a shift toward lower speeds during the RRFB condition.     

Effects of age and the relationship between response time measures and psychometric intelligence in younger adults

The major goal of the present study was to investigate the potential influence of age on the relationship among performance measures derived from a Hick reaction time task and general intelligence (psychometric g). Participants were 130 male and 130 female younger adults (mean age: 24.6 years) covering a wide range of individual levels of intelligence. Results from structural-equation modelling analyses clearly indicate that there is no evidence for the notion of a general speed factor underlying psychometric g. A much more sufficient model is provided by the assumption that median reaction time (RTmd) and intraindividual variability of reaction time (RTSD), though highly correlated, reflect two distinct sources of variance for psychometric g. While age was negatively associated with RTmd, no such relationship could be established for RTSD.     

Contribution of temporal preparation and processing speed to simple reaction time in persons with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment

Temporal preparation was assessed in 15 Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients, 20 persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 28 healthy older adults. Participants completed a simple reaction time task in which the preparatory interval duration varied randomly within two blocks (short versus long temporal window). Results indicated that AD and MCI patients had difficulty preparing for the shortest preparatory interval of the short temporal window. AD and MCI patients also had difficulty maintaining an optimal level of preparation up to 5 s within the short temporal window. These results suggest that AD and MCI patients might show difficulty preparing for rapidly occurring events and maintaining preparation over time. This phenomenon should be considered when using reaction time measures with such patients.     

自由拦截启动策略与信息利用

手的启动方向自由, 伸手拦截不同速度的运动小球。本研究通过考察手启动时的运动参数, 研究自由启动的情况下的信息利用和拦截策略, 并且考察了人的启动模式。结果发现, 自由拦截时手的拦截区域相对固定, 在物体快速运动情景下启动晚, 而在慢速下启动早, 可能综合利用了接触时间和距离信息, 存在速度伴随效应, 手的拦截启动策略为启动有相对稳定的角度和加速度, 并不随物体运动速度和物体大小的改变而改变。     

基本心理能力老化的认知机制

基本心理能力老化机制是认知老化领域研究热点之一。横断研究与追踪研究表明, 感觉功能、加工速度、工作记忆等信息加工资源的衰退导致了基本心理能力的衰退。但由于相关研究不能进行因果推论, 基本心理能力老化的认知机制尚存在争论。因此本项目拟采用实验室研究和干预实验设计, 通过操纵感觉功能(知觉压力水平)、干预加工速度与工作记忆, 考察基本心理能力的年龄差异的变化, 以期为认知老化理论的深化和拓展提供实验依据。     

Examination of the processing speed account in a population-based longitudinal study with narrow age cohort design

The processing speed account suggests that general slowing of mental processing speed results in an overall decline, especially age-related decline, in other cognitive domains. Support for the speed account comes mainly from cross-sectional studies with participants that vary in age (age-heterogeneous samples). This study investigated how well variations in processing speed predict change of episodic recall in a longitudinal framework and examined with the Narrow Age Cohort (NAC) design. Data were obtained from Betula, a population-based longitudinal study. Both 5-year (n= 490; Time 3 - Time 4) and 10-year follow-up results (n= 608; Time 1 - Time 3) were used. In both samples, which were subjected to prospective dementia screening, we found considerably weaker associations in longitudinal data compared to cross-sectional, and also weaker associations in age-homogeneous than in age-heterogeneous samples. The results provide little support for the speed account.     

教育水平在认知老化中的作用

为考察教育水平在认知老化中的作用,分别使用横断数据和干预数据分析教育水平对认知老化的影响模式。对51名58～83岁的城市社区老年人实施加工速度测验和基本心理能力测验。随机选取25名被试作为干预组接受加工速度训练。被试在前测后第8周接受与前测内容相同的后测。横断分析的结果显示,在特定的认知测验中,教育水平对认知能力的年龄差异有调节作用。干预数据的分析结果显示,加工速度干预效果显著,且对词汇流畅性有迁移作用。但相关分析和回归分析的结果则表明,教育水平在促进老年人干预收益和迁移方面的作用不显著。在获取和应用新知识方面,教育水平的作用并不显著,其在认知老化中的作用可能更多地表现为对固有认知功能的保护。     

化学概念心理表征的初步研究

化学概念表征是化学教育心理学的重要研究对象。化学概念是以命题、表象、产生式和图式等方式表征的。化学概念表征有表象优先性、丰富性、相关性、个体性、可变性等特点。学习者对化学概念理解的本质是形成恰当的心理表征,用“正确度”、“深度”和“速度”等概念,对化学概念的表征可作更为精致的描述。     

Le voisinage orthographique influence la catégorisation de couleur des mots différemment selon l’âge et la vitesse de traitement

The objective of this research was to determine to what extent the effect of higher-frequency orthographic neighbourhood in a word colour-categorization task is changed during aging when processing speed is taken into account. In addition, the effect of the lexicality of the stimuli on colour categorization was examined, as well as its variation according to age and processing speed. Fifty-two young adults (M_age = 21.62) and 52 older adults (M_age = 66.04) participated in this study. For each age group, two sub-groups were created according to the processing speed of the participants as measured by the WAIS Coding subtest. Two conditions of words (written in red, yellow, green or blue) were presented in a colour-categorization task. Half of the words did not have any orthographic neighbours (e.g., pistil [pistil]), while the other half had a higher-frequency neighbour (e.g., tirade [tirade]/TIRAGE [draw]). A control condition with a series of Xs was added to test the influence of the effect of the lexicality of words on the colour-categorization times. As a whole, the results showed slower colour-categorization times for words compared to a series of Xs, which did not vary with age and processing speed. Importantly, the results showed that orthographic neighbourhood frequency interacted with age and processing speed, on colour categorization response times. More precisely, the neighbourhood frequency effect was found to vary differently according to processing speed in each age group. For the fastest young adults, the facilitatory effect of higher-frequency orthographic neighbourhood was obtained, whereas no such effect was found for the slowest young adults. The fastest older adults did not exhibit any effect of higher-frequency orthographic neighbourhood whereas a facilitatory effect was observed for the slowest older adults. Therefore, these data suggest that both aging and the processing speed of the participants influence the interference effect of reading on colour categorization. These findings are discussed in the context of cognitive aging theories and models of written word recognition.