数学学习困难儿童的编码加工特点:基于PASS理论的研究

同时加工和继时加工是PASS模型中的两类编码加工,二者在数学学习中发挥重要作用。使用基于PASS理论的认知评估系统（DN：CAS）单纯型数学困难、混合型数学困难和正常小学生进行两类编码加工的测评,比较研究发现,两类困难学生的两类编码加工水平均显著低于正常儿童,两类困难学生间的同时加工差异不显著,而混合型困难学生的继时加工水平显著低于单纯型困难学生。较低的同时加工水平似乎是两类数学困难的共同特征,继时加工水平的差异则似可作为单纯型与混合型困难的区分指标之一。     

Wilson on Circular Arguments

This paper criticizes Kent Wilson's (`Circular Arguments', 1988) arguments against the analysis of the fallacy of begging the question in epistemic terms and against the division of the fallacy into equivalence and dependency types. It is argued that Wilson does not succeed in showing that the epistemic attitude to the fallacy analysis should be given up. Further, it is argued that Wilson's arguments against the division of the fallacy into two types can be overcome by altering the accounts he criticizes (David Sanford (1971, 1984, 1988) and John Biro (1977, 1984)): fallacy analysis should concentrate on externalized arguments, but this does not mean that either the epistemic attitude or the dependency conception should be given up.     

小学儿童混合情绪理解的发展研究*

旨在探究小学阶段儿童的混合情绪理解发展状况。以能够引发儿童混合情绪的经典故事情景为材料,对小学1-6年级242名儿童采用半结构式访谈法和测验法进行实验,结果表明:小学儿童混合情绪理解水平存在显著的年龄效应,呈现出随年龄增大混合情绪理解水平逐渐提高的发展趋势。对他人和对自身混合情绪理解差异显著,对他人混合情绪的理解是对自身混合理解的基础,同性质和不同性质(冲突)混合情绪的理解能力存在显著差异。不同性质(冲突)混合情绪的理解能力发展较晚。因此,混合情绪理解能力在小学阶段快速发展,呈现出年龄、理解的对象、情绪的性质三个方面的显著差异。     

Go/no‐go procedure with compound stimuli with children with autism

The go/no‐go with compound stimuli is an alternative to matching‐to‐sample to produce conditional and emergent relations in adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this procedure with two children diagnosed with autism. We trained and tested participants to respond to conditional relations among arbitrary stimuli using the go/no‐go procedure. Both learned all the trained conditional relations without developing response bias or responding to no‐go trials. Participants demonstrated performance consistent with symmetry, but not equivalence.     

Development of Rigid Motion Perception in Response to Radially Expanding Optic Flow

A radially expanding flow with a linear positive speed gradient is perceived as a rigid object approaching the observer, whereas such a flow having no or a reduced speed gradient is perceived as a non‐rigid, two‐dimensionally deforming object (De Bruyn & Orban, 1990). We tested elementary school‐aged children (younger children, 6–9 years, and older children, 9–11 years) and adults (20–22 years) to examine the development of the perception of rigidity. The results suggest that the perception of rigidity in response to a radial flow pattern with a speed gradient is similar in older (but not younger) children and adults. The development of rigidity perception from a radial flow pattern may be related to the maturation of the dorsal and ventral visual pathways during the elementary school years. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effectiveness of a Mindfulness-Based Program on School Children's Self-Reported Well-Being: A Pilot Study Comparing Effects With An Emotional Literacy Program

This pilot study aimed to test the well-being effects of a locally developed mindfulness-based program tailored for New Zealand elementary school children in comparison with an active control condition. It was hypothesized that significantly greater well-being change scores would be observed for the mindfulness group. Students (n = 106) between 9 and 11 years old were allocated by their classroom to either the 8-week mindfulness-based program or an 8-week emotional literacy program. Self-reported well-being and mindfulness measures were collected at baseline and upon program completion. Measures were administered at 12 weeks postprogram to the mindfulness group only. One-way analyses of covariance were used for the main analyses, with corresponding baseline scores entered as covariates. Both programs led to significant increases in well-being outcomes, but significantly greater changes were observed for the mindfulness group (general well-being covariate-adjusted change scores were 4.49 [SE = 0.64] for the mindfulness-based program vs. 2.63 [SE = 0.63] for the emotional literacy program). Mindfulness scores significantly increased for the mindfulness group only. There was evidence of student acceptability of the mindfulness-based program and some indication of sustainability of effects at 12 weeks. The study adds to previous research that highlights beneficial well-being effects of mindfulness-based interventions in the classroom. Further research should evaluate potential long-term effects and delivery training.     

The emergence of symmetry in a conditional discrimination task using different responses as propioceptive samples in pigeons

In Experiment 1, 10 pigeons were exposed to a successive symbolic matching-to-sample procedure in which the sample was generated by the pigeons' own behavior. Each trial began with both response keys illuminated white, one being the "correct" key and the other the "incorrect" key. The pigeons had no way of discriminating which key was correct and which incorrect, since these roles were assigned on a random basis with the same probability of 0.5 for each key. A fixed ratio of five responses was required on the correct key. However, each time the pigeon pecked the incorrect key, the correct key response counter reset. Five consecutive pecks on the correct key was the only way to end this component, and switch off both key lights. Two seconds later, these same keys were illuminated again, one green and the other red (comparison stimuli). Now, if the correct white key had been on the left, a peck at one color produced food, and if the correct white key had been on the right, a peck at the other color produced food. When the pigeons had learned this discrimination, they were exposed to several symmetry tests (simultaneous presentations of both keys illuminated the same color-i.e., both red or both green), in order to interchange the sample with the comparison stimuli. In Experiment 2, the importance of requiring discrimination between the samples and between the comparisons was analyzed. In Experiment 3, we compared the results of Experiment 1 with a slightly different experiment, which resulted in discrimination of key position, an exteroceptive stimulus. The results showed that symmetry emerged only when different responses were used as samples.     

Testing response-stimulus equivalence relations using differential responses as a sample

This study tested the notion that an equivalence relation may include a response when differential responses are paired with stimuli presented during training. Eight normal adults learned three kinds of computer mouse movements as differential response topographies (R1, R2, and R3). Next, in matching-to-sample training, one of the response topographies was used to select a comparison stimulus B (B1, B2, or B3) conditionally upon presentation of sample stimulus A (A1, A2, or A3), and to select stimulus D (D1, D2, or D3) conditionally upon presentation of stimulus C (C1, C2, or C3). After two sample-comparison-response relations (ABR and CDR) were established, 18 sample-comparison relations were tested (BA, DC, RA, RB, RC, RD, AC, CA, AD, DA, BC, CB, BD, DB, AA, BB, CC, and DD). In the RA, RB, RC, and RD tests, the differential responses (R1, R2, and R3) were used as sample stimuli. All subjects made class-consistent comparison selections in the tests. This study provides evidence that responses may become members of an equivalence class.     

Experimental control of nodality via equal presentations of conditional discriminations in different equivalence protocols under speed and no-speed conditions

A within-participant comparison of simple-to-complex, complex-to-simple, and simultaneous protocols was conducted establishing different sets of three 7-member equivalence classes for 4 undergraduate students. The protocols were implemented under either accuracy-only or accuracy-plus-speed conditions while keeping number of presentations of training and testing trials equal. The results partially support previous reports of differential effects on acquisition, with participants completing more blocks in training under the simultaneous than the complex-to-simple and the simple-to-complex protocols. Across the protocols, however, the number of trials completed to criterion did not vary systematically. More important, response speed and accuracy did not decrease as a function of nodal number, with or without the speed contingency, or under any protocol. The latter results challenge the generality of previous reports of the nodality effect and the notion of "relatedness" of equivalence-class members, and support a reinforcement-contingency, instead of a structural, perspective on equivalence-class formation.     

Stimulus equivalence: testing Sidman's (2000) theory

Sidman's (2000) theory regarding the origin of equivalence relations predicts that a reinforcing stimulus common to distinct equivalence classes must drop out of the equivalence relations. This prediction was tested in the present study by arranging class-specific reinforcers, R1 and R2, following correct responding on the prerequisite conditional discriminations (Ax-Bx, Cx-Bx) for two stimulus classes, A1B1C1 and A2B2C2. A class-common reinforcer, R3, was presented following correct responding on the prerequisite conditional discriminations for a further two stimulus classes, A3B3C3 and A4B4C4. Sidman's theory predicts reinforcer inclusion within Classes 1 and 2 only, given this training arrangement. Experiment 1 tested for the emergence of four equivalence classes and of stimulus-reinforcer and reinforcer-stimulus relations in each class. Four of the 6 subjects demonstrated the reinforcer-based relations in all four equivalence classes, rather than in only those classes with a class-specific reinforcer, as Sidman's theory predicts. One of the remaining 2 subjects showed the reinforcer-based relations in three of the four classes. Experiment 2 extended these findings to document the emergence of interclass matching relations based on the common reinforcer R3, in 5 of 6 subjects, such that a Class 3 sample occasioned the selection of a Class 4 sample when the Class 3 comparison was absent, and similarly, a Class 4 sample occasioned the selection of a Class 3 comparison when the Class 4 comparison was absent. These interclass relations emerged despite the simultaneous maintenance of Class 3 and 4 baseline conditional discriminations, so that the Class 3 and 4 stimuli and reinforcer simultaneously were, and were not, part of a single larger equivalence class. These data are irreconcilable with Sidman's theory, and question the utility of the application of the equivalence relation in describing derived stimulus relations.