小学生分数比较中的加工模式:基于反应时和口语报告的研究

选取北京和四川两地53名小学六年级学生分别完成同分子、同分母与异分子异分母三类分数比较任务,收集被试口语报告的策略作为直接证据,并以分数大小和分数距离对反应时的回归分析结果作为间接证据,共同探究被试在分数比较任务中的加工模式,结果发现,（1）在三类分数比较中,被试均采用成分加工模式而非整体加工模式;（2）口语报告的策略与反应时回归分析的结果并不完全吻合,从侧面证明了原有研究方法的不稳定性。     

Dreaming and waking: similarities and differences revisited

Dreaming is often characterized as lacking high-order cognitive (HOC) skills. In two studies, we test the alternative hypothesis that the dreaming mind is highly similar to the waking mind. Multiple experience samples were obtained from late-night REM sleep and waking, following a systematic protocol described in Kahan (2001). Results indicated that reported dreaming and waking experiences are surprisingly similar in their cognitive and sensory qualities. Concurrently, ratings of dreaming and waking experiences were markedly different on questions of general reality orientation and logical organization (e.g., the bizarreness or typicality of the events, actions, and locations). Consistent with other recent studies (e.g., [Bulkeley and Kahan, 2008] and [Kozmová and Wolman, 2006] ), experiences sampled from dreaming and waking were more similar with respect to their process features than with respect to their structural features.     

The efficacy of free‐recall,cognitive load,and closed‐ended questions when children are asked to falsely testify about a crime

The current study evaluated the benefits of free‐recall, cognitive load, and closed‐ended questions on children's (ages 6 to 11; N = 147) true and false eyewitness disclosures. Children witnessed an experimenter find a stranger's wallet and were then asked to make a false denial, false accusation, true denial, or true accusation regarding an alleged theft. Overall, the free‐recall question resulted in longer, more forthcoming and more detailed disclosures from older children and those who made a truthful accusation; however, children under the age of 9 and lie‐tellers mostly relied on the closed‐ended questions to discuss the theft. Although the cognitive load questions resulted in newly recalled information, there were no significant narrative differences between true and false statements on these questions. These findings suggest that forensic professionals should consider a child's developmental level, statement veracity, and disclosure‐type (denial vs. accusation) when examining the efficacy of these commonly used questioning strategies.     

Communicative development in Swedish children 16-28 months old: the Swedish early communicative development inventory--words and sentences

To describe the development of words and sentences in Swedish children 16-28 months old, 900 parental reports on 336 children were analyzed. Subjects were randomly selected from the national birth register, and there was a response rate of 88%. The assessments were made using the Swedish Early Communicative Development Inventory--words and sentences (SECDI--w&s). Age-based norms for productive vocabulary, pragmatic skills, grammar skills, and maximum length of utterance (MaxLU) were determined. We describe the development of feedback morphemes, semantic categories, and single words and tasks. Correlation across measures was significant, and especially strong between vocabulary size and grammar skills. Optimized positive predictive values were high for 25 to 28 month predictions (71%-88%), and vocabulary scores were found to be of particular predictive importance. No significant gender differences were detected. The clinical relevance of the instrument is discussed.     

When can children handle referential opacity? Evidence for systematic variation in 5- and 6-year-old children's reasoning about beliefs and belief reports

Five- and 6-year-olds (N=51) heard stories in which a character sorted items into two locations. Either the character had a false belief about one of the items (e.g., thought a tin contained biscuits, not Lego), or was only partially informed of an item's dual identity (e.g., did not know that a tie was a present). Children found it easier to reject a report of the character's belief that described the true state of affairs when the character had a false belief (e.g., Is Fred's uncle thinking "where shall I put this Lego?"), than to reject one in which an object known to the character was described using a term of which she was ignorant (e.g., Is Mum thinking "where shall I put this present?"). Similarly, children found it easier to predict the character's incorrect sorting of the target items for false belief (with food not toys) than for dual identity (in the wardrobe not with things to take on a visit). Correct reasoning about beliefs and reports of beliefs that misrepresent an object does not imply mastery of the fact that beliefs represent an object in a particular way.     

Forensic psychology in Iceland: a survey of members of the Icelandic Psychological Society

Forensic psychology is a rapidly growing specialism within psychology. A survey was carried out among the 152 members of the Icelandic Psychological Society (Sálfradingafélagi Islands) about their involvement and role in court work. Out of 101 psychologists who responded to the survey, 39 reported having been involved in court work, of whom 34 had testified in court. The great majority of court work of the psychologists involved assessments relating to child-care and custody proceedings, but there was evidence that Icelandic psychologists are increasingly becoming involved in criminal cases concerning criminal responsibility and the reliability of testimony. They are working much more independently of medical colleagues than before.     

Convergence between physiological,facial and verbal self‐report measures of affective empathy in children

The present study investigated the degree of convergence between three different measures of vicarious affective responsiveness (affective empathy)—verbal self‐report, facial expression and change in heart rate—in typically developing children (N=29, aged 8–10 years), when presented with an emotionally evocative film. Although convergence between physiological and verbal measures was only at chance levels, convergence between facial and physiological measures, and between facial and verbal measures was statistically significant, but low (κ=0.30 and 0.22, respectively, p<0.01). These findings have important implications for the assessment of empathy in children and indicate that generalization of results across methods should be undertaken with caution. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The verbalization of multiple strategies in a variant of the traveling salesperson problem

What kinds of strategies do humans employ when confronted with a complex spatial task, and how do they verbalize these strategies? Previous research concerned with the well-known traveling salesperson problem (TSP) typically aimed at the identification of a generally applicable heuristics that adequately represents human behavior in relation to the abstract task of combining points. This paper adopts a novel perspective in two respects. On the one hand, it addresses the strategies people employ when confronted with a more complex task, involving distractors and feature information rather than identical points. On the other hand, retrospective linguistic representations of the strategies used are analyzed in relation to the behavioral data, using discourse analytic methods. Results show that both the behavioral results and the verbalizations point to a range of strategies related to those proposed for solving abstract TSPs. However, in contrast to earlier accounts in the literature, the participants employ a repertory of multi-faceted strategies and planning processes, simplifying and structuring the problem space across subtasks and processes in flexible ways. These findings provide further insight into the nature of human strategies in spatial problem solving tasks and their retrospective verbalization, highlighting how procedures generally known in the literature may be adapted to more complex tasks, and how they may be verbalized spontaneously.     

Is the truth in the details? Extended narratives help distinguishing false “memories” from false “reports”

The present study examined the effects of fantasy proneness on false "reports" and false "memories", of existent and non-existent footage of a public event. We predicted that highly fantasy prone individuals would be more likely to stand by their initial claim of having seen a film of the event than low fantasy prone participants when prompted for more details about their experiences. Eighty creative arts students and 80 other students were asked whether they had seen CCTV footage preceding the attack on Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh up to, and including, non-existent footage of the actual moment of the attack. If affirmative, they were probed for extended narratives of what they claimed to have seen. Overall, 64% of participants provided a false "report" by answering yes to the initial question. Of these, 30% provided no explicit details of the attack, and a further 15% retracted their initial answer in their narratives. This left 19% of the sample who appeared to have false "memories" because they provided explicit details of the actual moment of the attack. Women scored higher than men and art students scored higher than other students on fantasy proneness, but there was no effect on levels of false reporting or false "memory". Memories were rated more vivid and clear for existent compared to non-existent aspects of the event. In sum, these data suggest a more complex relationship between memory distortions and fantasy proneness than previously observed.     

Rumination and symptom reports in children and adolescents: Results of a cross-sectional and experimental study

This study explores the relationship between a ruminative response style and symptom reports in children and adolescents of grades 5, 7 and 9 from German secondary schools. Questionnaires were used to assess rumination and symptom reports. A group of children and adolescents (N?=?140) were asked to think first about the items before responding to them (increased attention condition), while a second group (N?=?260) served as control group (standard condition). The assumption was that rumination and also additional attention to the symptoms by instruction would increase the reported frequency of experiencing somatic and psychological symptoms. The results showed significant relations between symptom reports and rumination, which increased with grade. There were sex differences for somatic symptom reports with increased symptom frequencies in girls, which were mediated by rumination. Moreover, instructing participants to think first about the items led to an increase in reported symptoms. It is concluded that an increased attention to symptoms of distress increases symptom reports, which may be induced momentarily by instruction and also more generally by a ruminative response style. Conclusions regarding prevention and concerning instructions in symptom report questionnaires are outlined.