Time-based prospective memory difficulties in children with ADHD and the role of time perception and working memory

Time-based prospective memory (PM) is the ability to remember to perform an intended action at a given time in the future. It is a competence that is crucial for effective performance in everyday life and may be one of the main causes of problems for individuals who have difficulty in planning and organizing their life, such as children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study systematically examines different aspects of time-based PM performance in a task that involves taking an action at a given future time in a group of 23 children with ADHD who were compared with a matched group of typically-developing (TD) children. The children were asked to watch a cartoon and then answer a questionnaire about its content (ongoing task). They were also asked to press a key every 2 minutes while watching the cartoon (PM task). The relationships of time perception and verbal working memory with PM performance were examined by administering appropriate tasks. The results showed that the children with ADHD were less accurate than the TD children in the PM task and exhibited less strategic time-monitoring behavior. Time perception was found to predict PM accuracy, whereas working memory was mainly involved in time-monitoring behavior, but this applied more to the TD group than to the ADHD group, suggesting that children with ADHD are less able to use their cognitive resources when meeting a PM request.     

Not strange but not true: self-reported interest in a topic increases false memory

People are more likely to recall both true and false information that is consistent with their pre-existing stereotypes, schemata and desires. In addition, experts in a particular field are more likely to experience false memory in relation to their area of expertise. Here, we investigate whether level of interest, as distinct from level of knowledge, and in the absence of self-professed expertise, is associated with increased false memory. 489 participants were asked to rank 7 topics from most to least interesting. They were then asked if they remembered the events described in four news items related to the topic they selected as the most interesting and four items related to the topic selected as least interesting. In each case, three of the events depicted had really happened and one was fictional. A high level of interest in a topic increased true memories for the topic and doubled the frequency of false memories, even after controlling for level of knowledge. We interpret the results in the context of the source-monitoring framework and suggest that false memories arise as a result of interference from existing information stored in domain-related schemata.     

Family and School Influences on Youths' Behavioral and Academic Outcomes: Cross-Level Interactions between Parental Monitoring and Character Development Curriculum

The authors examined the joint (interactive) roles of the Second Step curriculum (a validated social-emotional learning and bullying prevention program; Committee for Children, Seattle, WA) and parenting practices on students' behavioral and academic outcomes in Grades 5–8. Participants were 763 parents and their children from 22 schools (8 control and 14 treatment). A 2-level random coefficient model was conducted to assess the effect of parental monitoring on school outcomes, as well as the interaction between character development curriculum and parental monitoring. Results indicated that parental monitoring was a significant predictor of school behaviors and school grades. Furthermore, the Second Step curriculum moderated the relationship between parental monitoring and problem behaviors, prosocial behaviors, and grades at school. Specifically, in schools without the Second Step curriculum parental monitoring predicted higher school grades but had no impact on students' school behaviors. By contrast, in schools with the Second Step curriculum, parental monitoring predicted fewer problem behaviors as well as more prosocial behaviors. The study results highlight the joint influences of the family and the school in children's behavioral and academic trajectories. Results have implications for education and intervention, including improving the school climate, student behaviors, and learning or achievement.     

高中生数学元认知水平调查问卷的设计与编制*

对于元认知能力的评价和测试一直以来都是研究的难点,特别是就数学学科而言,已有研究多围绕数学问题解决过程中元认知监控水平的评价以及能力的培养展开,鲜有全面评价学生数学学习元认知水平的问卷。同时,没有针对高中生编制的元认知水平调查问卷。故本研究在已有研究的基础上,对已有的问卷进行修正和完善,通过征求专家意见与样本测试和数据分析,形成《高中生数学元认知水平调查问卷》。该问卷具有较好的内容效度和结构效度。信度方面,问卷整体的内部信度为0.952,分半信度为0.931,重测信度为0.946,说明问卷具有很好的内部一致性和测量稳定性。     

Visual awareness judgments are sensitive to accuracy feedback in stimulus discrimination tasks

In this study we tested the hypothesis that perceptual awareness judgments are sensitive to accuracy feedback about the previous action. We used a perceptual discrimination task in which participants reported their stimulus awareness. We created two conditions: No-feedback and Feedback (discrimination accuracy feedback was provided at the end of each trial). The results showed that visual awareness judgments are related to the accuracy of current and previous responses. Participants reported lower stimulus awareness for incorrectly versus correctly discriminated stimuli in both conditions; they also reported lower stimulus awareness in trials preceded by incorrect discrimination responses, compared to trials preceded by correct discrimination responses. This difference was significantly stronger in the Feedback condition, in which we also observed post-error slowing for PAS ratings. We discuss the relation between visual awareness and the effects of performance monitoring and interpret the results in the context of current theories of consciousness.     

Encouraging performance monitoring promotes proactive control in children

Monitoring progression towards one's goals is essential for efficient cognitive control. Immature performance monitoring may contribute to suboptimal cognitive control engagement in childhood, potentially explaining why children engage control reactively even when proactive control would be more effective. This study investigated whether encouraging children to actively monitor their performance results in more mature control engagement. Electroencephalography data were collected while children and adults performed a flanker task in three conditions in which they were provided no feedback, standard feedback, or were asked to estimate their own feedback. Both age groups accurately estimated their own feedback. Critically, feedback estimation promoted online performance monitoring and proactive engagement of attention and inhibition during the flanker period in children. These findings indicate that proactive control engagement in childhood can be effectively supported by encouraging performance monitoring.     

Concurrent processing of words and their replacements during speech

Two picture naming experiments, in which an initial picture was occasionally replaced with another (target) picture, were conducted to study the temporal coordination of abandoning one word and resuming with another word in speech production. In Experiment 1, participants abandoned saying the initial name, and resumed with the name of the target picture. This triggered both interrupted (e.g., Mush- …scooter) and completed (mushroom …scooter) productions of the initial name. We found that the time from beginning naming the initial picture to ending it was longer when the target picture was visually degraded than when it was intact. In Experiment 2, participants abandoned saying the initial name, but without resuming. There was no visual degradation effect, and thus the effect did not seem to be driven by detection of the stopping cue. These findings demonstrate that planning a new word can begin before the initial word is abandoned, so that both words can be processed concurrently.     

若干新技术在糖尿病治疗中的应用

糖尿病是严重威胁人类健康的常见病,其治疗手段在不断进展和完善。近年来某些新科学技术在糖尿病治疗中发挥着重要作用,动态血糖监测和胰岛素泵的应用使糖尿病的治疗更加理想。     

元记忆监测研究的横向比较

元记忆监测在记忆活动中发挥重要作用。元记忆自FOK研究开始,到理论框架的提出,各种理论逐渐发展成熟。文章从元记忆监测总过程的视角对近年来EOL、FOK、JOL、JOC等元记忆监测成分的研究范式、认知机制及神经机制进行了横向比较,概述了元记忆监测研究的进展及动态。