Number-word sequence skill and arithmetic performance

In two studies, the role of the number‐word sequence skill for arithmetic performance was investigated. In the first, children between 4 and 8 years of age were asked to count forward and backward on the number‐word sequence and to solve arithmetic problems followed by post‐solution interviews about solution procedures. The results demonstrated that the number‐word sequence skill predicted both number of problems solved and strategy to solve the problems. In Study 2 it was found that solving doubles (e.g., 2 + 2 = ?) problems served as a link between the number‐word sequence skill and the number of arithmetic problems solved. The findings suggest that counting on the number‐word sequence may be an early solution procedure and that, with increasing counting skill, the child may detect regularities in the number‐word sequence that can be used to form new and more accurate strategies for solving arithmetic problems.     

Salespeople as knowledge brokers: a review and critique of the challenger sales model

Over the last several years, there has been increasing interest in a new sales training approach – referred to as the Challenger Sales model – to engage customers. This approach, focusing on purposefully generating tension with customers to spark new ways of thinking, has gained traction among leading sales organizations. Although generating tension with customers has received a great deal of interest, researchers have yet to complete a systematic, in-depth examination of the Challenger model. The purpose of this article is to provide a much needed comprehensive review and critique of the approach. By conducting both an empirical and conceptual review of the framework, we offer insight into its novelty, merits and weaknesses.     

潜变量交互效应模型标准化估计中的检验问题

讨论了潜变量交互效应模型是否能直接用统计软件输出的原始估计的t值对模型的标准化估计进行检验的问题,详细介绍了标准化估计的t值计算及其难点,用Bootstrap方法算出标准化估计的标准误和相应的t值（记为t_bs）,并将其与原始估计的t值比较.结果发现,当原始估计t值超过3时,无论用t值还是用t_ bs检验,结果都是显著,即可以使用t值进行检验.而当t值不超过3时,与t_bs很接近,也可以用t值检验,但t值在临界值附近（例如1.5 ～2.5）时,最好还是使用Bootstrap法计算t_bs进行检验.     

Relationship between field dependence-independence and the g factor: What can problem-solving strategies tell us?

IntroductionField dependence-independence (FDI) has been the focus of a great deal of research. However, it is generally studied in relation to either personality or the g factor, with far fewer studies of the interconnections between FDI, the g factor and problem-solving strategies.ObjectiveOur first aim was to study the relationship between FDI and the g factor. Our second was to explain this relationship by analysing problem-solving strategies.MethodOne hundred and seventy 14-year-old performed three tests: the GEFT, the D-70, and a second, prototype g-factor test that enabled us to identify which strategies they used.ResultsResults confirmed the classic link between FDI and the g factor, and attributed this link to greater use of the most efficient strategies.     

A Solution-Based Approach to Couple Therapy

Abstract

Couples often present for counseling as a last resort. As relationships in crisis may not last it is important that treatment be time-effective. Solution-based therapies have been described as brief and time-effective and applied effectively to working with couples. This article presents a case example demonstrating the application of a solution-based approach to therapy with a married African-American couple entering therapy to resolve their relationship difficulties that lead to the initiation of divorce proceedings. The processes of reducing blame and conflict, creating hope and solution building utilizing solution-based interventions are discussed, as well as the treatment outcomes.     

Dreyfus and Deleuze on L’habitude,Coping, and Trauma in Skill Acquisition

Abstract

One of the more important and under‐thematized philosophical disputes in contemporary European philosophy pertains to the significance that is given to the inter‐related phenomena of habituality, skilful coping, and learning. This paper examines this dispute by focusing on the work of the Merleau‐Ponty and Heidegger‐inspired phenomenologist Hubert Dreyfus, and contrasting his analyses with those of Gilles Deleuze, particularly in Difference and Repetition. Both Deleuze and Dreyfus pay a lot of attention to learning and coping, while arriving at distinct conclusions about these phenomena with a quite different ethico‐political force. By getting to the bottom of the former, my hope is to problematize aspects of the latter in both philosophers’ work. In Deleuze’s case, it will be argued that he adopts a problematic position on learning that is aptly termed ‘empirico‐romanticism’. While I will agree with the general thrust of Dreyfus’ foregrounding of habit and skilful coping, even in the political realm, it will also be argued that there are some risks associated with his view, notably of devolving into a conservative communitarianism.     

Pre-Motor and Motor Reaction Time Differences Associated with Stretching of the Hamstring Muscles

Pre-motor and motor RT scores were obtained from 24 male Ss using a knee flexion task. It was predicted that an increased arousal state due to proprioceptive feedback from stretched hamstring muscles would shorten pre-motor RT while motor RT would shorten because of changes in muscle tension development due to changes in the series elastic and/or contractile components of the muscle tissue. A finger RT task was also included in order to determine whether other factors not related to changes in the stretch of the hamstring muscles were operative. Motor RT decreased with increased muscle stretch and constituted 46% of leg RT. Pre-motor RT as well as finger RT increased rather than decreased with increased muscle stretch. No relationship was found between pre-motor and motor RT indicating that lags in CNS processing are independent of lags associated with the rate of muscular tension development.     

The effects of initial movement dynamics on human responses to postural perturbations

Falls are a major cause of injury, and often occur while turning, reaching, or bending. Yet, we have little understanding of how an ongoing feet-in place activity at the onset of imbalance, and its associated cognitive and biomechanical demands, influence our ability to recover balance. In the current study, we used an ankle-rocking paradigm to determine how the nature of the baseline task influences the balance recovery response to a backward support surface translation. Fourteen participants were instructed to “recover balance without stepping” and were perturbed at vertical while standing quietly (“S”), while ankle rocking and moving forward (“A_f”), or while ankle rocking and moving backward (“A_b”). The results showed that changes in rocking velocity at the time of the perturbation elicited changes in the incidence of stepping, magnitude of trunk angular displacements (p < .01), and the onset latencies of distal muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus, both p < .01) used to recover balance. In addition, plots of onset latencies across all muscles showed that onset latencies appeared to occur earlier in many muscles when participants held a static position compared to when they performed a dynamic task at the onset of the perturbation. The results suggest that muscle activities used to recover balance are tailored to the nature of the perturbation and the ongoing task, and that onset latencies are later when participants are performing a dynamic as opposed to static task at the time of a perturbation. These findings support previous research suggesting that automatic postural responses are highly adaptable to environmental, situational, and task demands.     

Étude des stratégies d’adultes présentant un retard mental dans la résolution de la Twenty Questions Task

A Twenty Questions problem solving Task was given to 30 mentally retarded adults, 30 mentally nonretarded adults matched on chronological age, and 12 mentally nonretarded children matched on cognitive efficiency. Four strategies were identified on the basis of a subject-by-subject analysis. Results showed group differences of frequency in the use of the strategies. Moreover, results indicated that the more frequent strategy used by the mentally retarded adults is the one which consists in identifying the categories without using them to efficiently reduce the problem space. The interpretation of the results as reflecting a conceptual deficit or a chronicle cognitive sub-functioning of the mentally retarded adults depicted in the literature is discussed.     

Rationality and bounded information in repeated games, with application to the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma

Actions in a repeated game can in principle depend on all previous outcomes. Given this vast policy space, human players may often be forced to use heuristics that base actions on incomplete information, such as the outcomes of only the most recent trials. Here it is proven that such bounded rationality is often fully rational, in that the optimal policy based on some limited information about the game's history will be universally optimal (i.e., within the full policy space), provided that one's opponents are restricted to using this same information. It is then shown how this result allows explicit calculation of subgame-perfect equilibria (SPEs) for any repeated or stochastic game. The technique is applied to the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma for the case of 1-back memory. Two classes of SPEs are derived, which exhibit varying degrees of (individually rational) cooperation as a result of repeated interaction.