Effectiveness of color in picture recognition memory

Investigations were conducted into the effectiveness of color in picture recognition memory. In the study phase, half of the pictures were presented in color and the other half in black and white. In the test phase, half were presented in the same color mode as the study pictures and the other half in the other mode. In immediate and 1-week-delayed tests, the recognition performance was highest when color pictures were used in both the study and test phases. The recall for the color mode of the study pictures, however, was not as good, even with the color pictures. This suggests that the effectiveness of color in picture recognition is not necessarily due to the memory for colors in the pictures themselves, but is probably due to the distinctiveness of features highlighted by the colors. We also found that in the recall performance for the color mode it was more difficult to detect the deletion of colors than to detect their addition.     

The status of the concept of intelligence

Psychometric studies have shown that “general intelligence” should be broken down into the ability to apply learned solutions to new problems (crystallized intelligence) and the ability to deal with novel intellectual problems (fluid intelligence). This distinction has been amplified upon by studies of individual differences in information processing. Crystallized intelligence depends on the problem-solving schema that people have acquired and upon their efficiency in accessing information in long-term memory. Fluid intelligence is associated with the ability to access and manage relatively large amounts of information in working memory. Measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence are important predictors of objectively measured workplace performance. Studies of actual and simulated workplaces have shown that this is largely due to differences in people's ability to manage information and the speed with which the details of a job can be grasped.     

知识向技能转化的影响因素

将知识向技能的转化过程分为 :陈述性编码阶段、程序性编码阶段 ,并假设存在一些因素影响陈述性编码向程序性编码的转化过程 ,控制好这些关键因素将有利于提高教学质量。为证明此假设 ,设计了四个实验。实验一、二结果表明 ,发现学习和接受学习中原有知识水平、概念地图策略等因素显著影响陈述性编码阶段 ;实验三、四结果表明 ,发现学习和接受学习中变式练习、解题策略指导等因素显著影响程序性编码阶段 ,对以上实验数据的再分析得出这两阶段存在明显的相互制约关系 ,根据以上结论和 E.D.Gagne的信息加工模型 ,构建了一个智慧技能获得的信息加工模型。     

智慧技能的一般教学模型与实验验证

该文给出了智慧技能的一般教学模型 ,将智慧技能的教学分为两个主要阶段 :陈述性编码阶段、程序性编码阶段。为验证此模型在教学实践中的可行性 ,在课堂教学情境中进行了模拟实验。选取同一所学校初二年级的四个班学生共 2 2 2人 ,随机安排四个班分别接受“欧姆定律”四种教案的教学 :发现式新教案、发现式旧教案、接受式新教案、接受式旧教案 ,随后进行迁移能力测验 ,结果表明采用新教案组织教学 ,即按上述模型控制好影响智慧技能的一些关键因素 ,将更利于学生获取智慧技能。     

The effects of nodality on the formation of equivalence classes

A four-member equivalence class (A → B → C → D) can be formed by training AB, BC, and CD. The nodal stimuli, B and C, mediate all of the derivative (transitive and equivalence) relations in the class. The derivative relations AC, CA, BD, and DB are separated by one node, whereas AD and DA are separated by two nodes. How do the number of nodes that separate the stimuli in a derivative relation influence the induction of stimulus control exerted by that relation? Seven college students learned two four-member classes made up of nonsense syllables. After training, all derivative relations were presented repeatedly without informative feedback. Stimulus control exerted by each derivative relation was assessed concurrently. For the 7 subjects, control exerted by the derivative relations increased gradually with repeated presentations. With 6 of the 7 subjects, the one-node relations exerted more control than the two-node relations during the process. However, the disparity between the one- and two-node relations decreased with repeated presentations. Eventually, all derivative relations exerted complete control. The control exerted by derivative relations during induction was inversely related to the number of nodes separating the terms in the derivative relations. These results demonstrate that nodal distance is a determinant of the relatedness of stimuli in equivalence classes. The findings are discussed in terms of remote association, semantic memory networks, and the study of transitive inference.     

Gerbils in space: performance on the 17-arm radial maze.

In Experiment 1 six hungry gerbils received six trials per day on a 17-arm radial maze. During each trial the subjects were allowed to choose freely among the arms, each of which contained a food pellet, until each arm had been visited once or until eight minutes had elapsed. An error was recorded when the subject entered a previously visited arm. The gerbils quickly learned not to re-enter previously visited arms and generally made errors on fewer than 15% of entries, performance comparable to that of the rat and superior to that of other species tested in the radial arm maze. The intertrial-interval duration did not affect accuracy of arm choices during acquisition but did influence asymptotic accuracy. Accuracy did not change systematically over the six trials. A high proportion of arm entries were to nearby arms. Errors occurred most often towards the end of a trial. Odor cues were not important. When the number of trials per day was reduced from six to one, accuracy deteriorated slightly. In Experiment 2 neither the transposition of extramaze cues nor the placement of the maze in a different room had large disruptive effects on accuracy. In Experiment 3 the addition of three explicit intramaze brightness cues aided accuracy, perhaps by permitting the subjects to decompose the large maze into three smaller mazes, although there was no direct evidence that this was the case. Implications of a number of these results for models of spatial maze performance were discussed.     

DO ELEPHANTS EVER FORGET?1

Three adult female elephants (Elephas maximus) were tested on a light-dark discrimination problem with an 8-yr intertrial interval. The first subject took only 6 min to reach criterion and made only two errors, suggesting remarkable retention. The other two subjects were found to have visual anomalies that would have gone undetected without this research.     

Structure in semantic memory: A probabilistic approach using a continuous response task

In the continuous response (CR) task, the subject is given the name of a familiar category and must respond with category examples within a fixed time limit. The response sequence and the interresponse times are the measured variables. A general model is proposed for performance in the CR task. The time taken to generate a response is identified with the shortest search time from among a set of simultaneous search processes. Each response has a generation probability that is a function of the parameters governing the search process durations. Data involving the category states in the United States are used to test the model. The model accounts for the performance of nearly all individuals in these data.This article is based on a dissertation completed at the University of California-Berkeley in partial fullfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in psychology. Portions of the article were presented at the joint meeting of the Psychometric and Classification Societies (June 1984) and at the meeting of the Society for Mathematical Psychology (August 1984). The authors wish to thank Barbara Mellers, Juliet Schaffer, Steve Palmer, and Eleanor Rosch for helpful comments.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE PROCEDURAL COMPONENTS OF SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS ASSOCIATED WITH EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES

This study examined the relation between the procedural components of supported employment programs and employment outcomes for 120 individuals with disabilities. These individuals were involved in supported employment programs established through the Utah Supported Employment Project. The results suggest that successful implementation of supported employment services led to ongoing employment of study participants in community work sites, increased wages, and ongoing opportunities for workers to interact with nondisabled peers. In addition, several procedural components were found to be strongly associated with successful employment outcomes for workers. Results of the study are discussed in terms of the training needs of supported employment program staff and future research for the dissemination of a cohesive technology of supported employment.