The role of disbalance between “natural school” and informational overloading in genesis of stress reactions

Data obtained during 15 years supervision over teenagers indicate the influence of the socialeconomic deformations of the former Soviet society. We use the term natural school to denote the whole ontogenesis of human beings including the first 3- to 5-year period of a child's life when children perceive a surrounding microcosm, their bodies and abilities, and acquire a basic fund of native language skills and habits. Natural school balances a person's mental and physical activities and through the trials and mistakes provides every person with a sphere of friends, important for coping with stress by sharing sorrows and joys. The twentieth century brought informational overloading, the triad, consisting of: (1) enormous mass of information; (2) deficit of time for using it; and (3) high motivation of activity. These conditions restrict the physical activity (hypodynamy) and contact with children of the same age (social deprivation). The influence over a person's development takes place mainly in ones youth, when one seeks his/her place in society. Subsequent stress situations cause the following psychopathological reactions: anxiety, anxiety and frustration, vegeto-dystonic reactions and somatic discomfort, panic attacks, neurosis. Later, disorders of autonomic regulations and somatic discomfort leads to psychosomatic diseases. Preventive measures, like skills minimizing hypodynamy and tools to improve soul's confession seem to be a way of minimizing disbalance and decreasing psychosomatic disorders.     

Rasch models for item bundles

This paper discusses the application of a class of Rasch models to situations where test items are grouped into subsets and the common attributes of items within these subsets brings into question the usual assumption of conditional independence. The models are all expressed as particular cases of the random coefficients multinomial logit model developed by Adams and Wilson. This formulation allows a very flexible approach to the specification of alternative models, and makes model testing particularly straightforward. The use of the models is illustrated using item bundles constructed in the framework of the SOLO taxonomy of Biggs and Collis.The work of both authors was supported by fellowships from the National Academy of Education Spencer Fellowship.     

Response-reinforcer independence and the economic continuum: A preliminary analysis

Three pigeons were exposed to 1-hr and 4-hr sessions during which they earned food under a fixed-ratio 50 schedule of reinforcement while obtaining additional food according to either a variable-interval or a variable-time schedule. Postsession food was provided after the 1-hr sessions. The frequency of the variable-interval and variable-time food presentations was varied under the two session durations. The various combinations of within-session earned and unearned food, as well as the postsession food, defined conditions on the open-to-closed economy continuum. Key pecks tended to increase as the frequency of either variable-interval or variable-time food decreased. An economic-continuum analysis based on an independence quotient as a measure of response-reinforcer independence is presented to account for the effects.     

The functional independence of mands and tacts

This study demonstrates functional independence in the acquisition of mands and tacts. Some subjects first learned to mand the experimenter's placement of objects with the prepositional phrases “On the left” and “On the right.” They were regularly tested for collateral appearance of tacts with these same phrases. Other subjects learned to tact the location of objects with these prepositional phrases and were regularly tested for collateral appearance of mands. All subjects were next trained in the repertoire that had not been trained in the first condition (either tact or mand). After all subjects had learned both to mand and to tact correctly, another assessment of mand-tact independence was undertaken. Mands (tacts) were reversed and testing assessed collateral reversal of tacts (mands). The results demonstrated that tacts and mands, even when incorporating identical response forms, were functionally independent during acquisition. Subsequent modification of one repertoire (by reversal training) produced collateral reversal in three of nine subjects.     

Two kings and two kingdoms: the Church of Scotland,the monarchy,national identity and establishment

The debate about Scottish independence raises questions about church–state relations and religious establishment in Scotland as well as about national identity. This article surveys and summarises attitudes in the Church of Scotland on these subjects over the 450 years since the Scottish Reformation. It identifies and explores several key themes, notably the spiritual independence of the church and national recognition of religion. They were hotly debated topics during the reign of King James VI, enshrined in law in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution and prompted the use of the royal veto by Queen Victoria. The Articles Declaratory of the Church of Scotland, embodied in the Church of Scotland Act of 1921, which provide a unique definition of church establishment, will have to be renegotiated in the event of Scottish independence. There are competing views within the Kirk about the constitutional position of Christianity and more specifically of the Church of Scotland in an independent Scotland.     

信息性从众行为和规范性从众行为比较研究

目的:从众可分成两种,即信息性从众行为和规范性从众,探讨它们两者之间的区别。方法:通过瑞文智力测验为材料创造了这两种从众情境,观察大学生被试在两种实验条件下的行为差异。结果:信息性从众和社会规范性从众两者之间存在显著差异(Z=-3.183,P=0.001)。结论:大学生被试的信息性从众行为多于社会规范性从众行为,两者存在统计学上的显著性差异。     

Interacting Constraints and the Emergence of Postural Behavior in ACL-Deficient Subjects

In this study, the authors examined how task, informational, and sensorimotor system constraints influence postural control. Postural behavior of subjects with (n = 15) and without (n = 15) a key sensorimotor system constraint, anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) in 1 knee, was examined during 1 - and 2-legged stance with and without vision. Postural control was assessed on a commonly used postural sway meter and on a dynamic stabilometer. Data on postural sway characteristics were obtained for 30 s under 6 different conditions: standing, with eyes open and closed, on both legs, on the injured leg, and on the noninjured leg. The interaction of task, informational, and sensorimotor constraints was observed only on the dynamic stabilometer and not the postural sway meter. Vision was the most important informational constraint on postural control for subjects on the dynamic stabilometer, particularly for the ACL-deficient group standing on the injured leg. Under more static task constraints, ACL deficiency did not prove a significant disadvantage, because vision was confirmed as a significant source of exproprioceptive information. The results support the functionality of using dynamic tasks such as a stabilometer in assessing postural behavior of subjects with sensorimotor system constraints.     

A high-loaded hemisphere successfully ignores distractors

We used a response competition paradigm to investigate whether a distractor is effectively rejected under conditions where it is projected to a highly-loaded hemisphere. In two experiments we asked right-handed participants to identify a target among five task-relevant letters while they ignored a distractor. We manipulated both the distractor visual-field (low-load/high-load) and the compatibility of the target and the distractor. In the low-loaded visual-field, we presented a distractor with one task-relevant stimulus to one visual-field and the remaining task-relevant stimuli to the opposite visual-field. In the high-loaded visual-field, we presented a distractor and task-relevant stimuli in reverse. In Experiment 1 (left/right), we found a compatibility effect for the low-loaded, but not for the high-loaded visual-field. In Experiment 2, this modulation of the compatibility effect did not appear when the upper/lower visual-field was manipulated. These findings demonstrate that a distractor is successfully ignored when it is presented to a highly-loaded hemisphere.     

An evaluation of intraverbal training and listener training for teaching categorization skills

The effects of vocal intraverbal training and listener training on the emergence of untrained categorization skills were evaluated. Five typically developing preschool children initially learned to name a number of previously unfamiliar visual stimuli. Each child then received one of two types of training. Intraverbal training involved reinforcing vocally emitted category names by the child in the presence of a spoken exemplar name. Listener training involved reinforcing the selection of visual stimuli by the child in the presence of a spoken category name. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of training on each child's intraverbal category naming and stimulus selection. Pre- and posttests were used to assess additional emergent relations. Four of 5 participants did not demonstrate the emergence of any untrained relations. The current findings suggest that additional research is needed to determine the optimal sequencing of conditions in programs designed to teach categorization skills.     

不同认知方式个体图形一致性判断过程中的ERP研究

使用ERP技术对选取的27名右利手大学生（场独立14名,场依存13名）在图形一致性判断过程中的ERP进行分析,结果表明：1）在图形一致性的判断任务中,场依存者的前额叶与中央区在200ms之前的N85与P160峰-峰之差明显大于场独立者,在枕叶区的负波N120波幅明显高于场独立者,这说明场依存者在对图形一致性比较的视觉信息处理的早期阶段即进行了更深度的加工。2）场独立者的N290波幅高于场依存者,而N290潜伏期比场依存者明显的长,这说明场独立者在后期对图形进行了更深入的分析比对。