第二语言水平对双语者语言抑制能力的影响——来自英语–汉语单通道双语者和英语–美国手语双通道双语者的证据

采用同形异义词干扰任务考察第二语言水平对英语–汉语单通道双语者和英语–美国手语双通道双语者语言抑制能力的影响。结果发现:(1)高水平英语–汉语单通道双语者的语言抑制能力较强,但低水平英语–汉语单通道双语者与英语单语者的语言抑制能力没有显著差异,说明少量的双语经验不足以导致双语认知优势;(2)不同水平的英语–美国手语双通道双语者的语言抑制能力差异不显著。所以如此,与英语–美国手语双通道双语者不存在口语和手语的双语表征加工竞争有关。整个研究表明,双语认知优势效应与双语者的二语水平以及通道经验有关。     

家庭环境对中学生阅读能力的影响:阅读投入、阅读兴趣的中介作用

采用学生阅读能力测试卷和学生阅读状况调查问卷,对随机选取的559名中学生进行调查,并运用结构方程模型探讨了家庭环境影响阅读能力的内在机制。结果发现,家庭环境影响阅读投入的路径系数为0.18,阅读投入影响阅读兴趣的路径系数为0.51,阅读兴趣影响阅读投入的路径系数为0.80,阅读投入影响阅读能力的路径系数为0.46,各路径系数均达到显著水平(p0.05)。结果表明,(1)家庭环境通过阅读投入的完全中介作用影响阅读兴趣;阅读兴趣通过阅读投入的完全中介作用影响阅读成绩;(2)家庭环境对阅读能力的影响是通过阅读投入和阅读兴趣的循环互动作用实现的。     

The Effect of Recipient Identifiability and Neediness on Children's Sharing Behavior

The identifiable victim effect refers to people's greater willingness to share resources with identified targets (about whom they have some identifying information) than to share with unidentified or statistical targets. Previous research examining adults' behavior suggests that identifiable targets arouse in the perceiver an intense emotional reaction that, in turn, increases sharing especially when the target is perceived as needy. In the current research, we examine whether the spontaneous reaction toward an identifiable, needy target and the increase in sharing with such a target appears in young children's sharing behavior and when in early childhood it develops. The results suggest that adding identifying information about a needy recipient increases sharing only in older children (above the age of 5.5) and in children who have acquired higher levels of theory of mind (independent of age). Mediation–moderation analysis suggests that theory of mind mediates the relation between age and sharing mainly when a specific, needy recipient is presented. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of semantically related distractors during encoding and retrieval of words in long-term memory

We examined the influence of divided attention (DA) on recognition of words when the concurrent task was semantically related or unrelated to the to-be-recognised target words. Participants were asked to either study or retrieve a target list of semantically related words while simultaneously making semantic decisions (i.e., size judgements) to another set of related or unrelated words heard concurrently. We manipulated semantic relatedness of distractor to target words, and whether DA occurred during the encoding or retrieval phase of memory. Recognition accuracy was significantly diminished relative to full attention, following DA conditions at encoding, regardless of relatedness of distractors to study words. However, response times (RTs) were slower with related compared to unrelated distractors. Similarly, under DA at retrieval, recognition RTs were slower when distractors were semantically related than unrelated to target words. Unlike the effect from DA at encoding, recognition accuracy was worse under DA at retrieval when the distractors were related compared to unrelated to the target words. Results suggest that availability of general attentional resources is critical for successful encoding, whereas successful retrieval is particularly reliant on access to a semantic code, making it sensitive to related distractors under DA conditions.     

Why misinformation is reported: evidence from a warning and a source-monitoring task

People report suggested misinformation about a previously witnessed event for manifold reasons, such as social pressure, lack of memory of the original aspect, or a firm belief to remember the misinformation from the witnessed event. In our experiments (N?=?429), which follow Loftus's paradigm, we tried to disentangle the reasons for reporting a central and a peripheral piece of misinformation in a recognition task by examining (a) the impact a warning about possible misinformation has on the error rate, and (b) whether once reported misinformation was actually attributed to the witnessed event in a later source-monitoring (SM) task. Overall, a misinformation effect was found for both items. The warning strongly reduced the misinformation effect, but only for the central item. In contrast, reports of the peripheral misinformation were correctly attributed to the misinformation source or, at least, ascribed to guesswork much more often than the central ones. As a consequence, after the SM task, the initially higher error rate for the peripheral item was even lower than that of the central item. Results convincingly show that the reasons for reporting misinformation, and correspondingly also the potential to avoid them in legal settings, depend on the centrality of the misinformation.     

The misinformation effect is unrelated to the DRM effect with and without a DRM warning

The misinformation and Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigms are used to study forms of false memories. Despite the abundance of research using these two paradigms, few studies have examined the relationship between the errors that arise from them. In the present study, 160 participants completed a misinformation task and two DRM tasks, receiving a warning about the effect before the second DRM task. Participants demonstrated misinformation and DRM effects (with and without the warning), but susceptibility to these forms of false memory were not significantly related across individuals. The DRM warning reduced the DRM effect, and signal detection analysis revealed that the DRM warning reduced a liberal response bias in this task. Sensitivity and response bias in both DRM tasks were not significantly related to these measures in the misinformation task. These findings suggest that these two forms of false memories are not interchangeable and they appear to be the result of different cognitive processes.     

Information presentation format moderates the unconscious-thought effect: The role of recollection

The unconscious-thought effect occurs when distraction improves complex decision-making. In two experiments using the unconscious-thought paradigm, we investigated the effect of presentation format of decision information (i) on memory for decision-relevant information and (ii) on the quality of decisions made after distraction, conscious deliberation or immediately. We used the process-dissociation procedure to measure recollection and familiarity. The two studies showed that presenting information blocked per criterion led participants to recollect more decision-relevant details compared to a presentation by option. Moreover, a Bayesian meta-analysis of the two studies provided strong evidence that conscious deliberation resulted in better decisions when the information was presented blocked per criterion and substantial evidence that distraction improved decision quality when the information was presented blocked per option. Finally, Study 2 revealed that the recollection of decision-relevant details mediated the effect of presentation format on decision quality in the deliberation condition. This suggests that recollection contributes to conscious deliberation efficacy.     

A scenario for change: reflective practice for post-ordination professional development

The continuing professional development of ordained ministers is an important concept given the ever-changing nature of ministry and society as a whole. Within such a context, professional development needs to cope with continuous change through reflective practice in order to challenge and renew expertise. The proposed scenario for change seeks to embed reflective practice as the central method for the professional development of ordained ministers, thereby extending reflective practice from training and into the mode of lifelong learning. Components of this approach will include: ? Intentional reflective practice as the central methodology.

? Communities of practice as the central location for reflective practice.

? Facilitation as the central mechanism for reflective practice.

     

The effects of acute resistance exercise on young and older males' working memory

ObjectivesThe aim of the current study was two-fold: to examine the effects of acute, moderate intensity resistance exercise (RE) on working memory in young and older males, respectively.DesignA two-study approach with a within-subjects design.MethodsStudy 1 recruited 20 young males aged 21–30 years. Participants underwent two experimental sessions, the exercise session and reading session, in a counterbalanced order. The RE protocol included two sets of 10 repetitions at 70% of 10-repetition maximum of eight muscle exercises. The Sternberg working memory paradigm with two probe types (in-set probes and out-of-set probes) was used as the cognitive task where reaction times (RT) and response accuracy were identified. Study 2 recruited 20 older male adults aged 65–72 years. The methods and experimental procedures were the same as Study 1.ResultsIn Study 1, young males demonstrated shorter RTs after the exercise treatment as compared with the reading treatment for both probe types. In Study 2, older males showed shorter RTs after the exercise treatment as compared with the reading treatment in the out-of-set probes only.ConclusionsWhile acute RE benefited working memory in both young and older males, rather than general facilitation, it was shown to have a disproportionately larger effect on older males for tasks involving higher working memory demands.     

Motivational,volitional and multiple goal predictors of walking in people with type 2 diabetes

BackgroundType 2 diabetes is a major public health problem. Effective diabetes self-management involves people engaging in multiple health behaviours, including physical activity. Walking is an effective, accessible and inexpensive form of physical activity, yet many people with Type 2 diabetes do not meet recommended levels. The present study aimed to: 1) identify demographic, motivational and volitional factors predictive of walking in people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, and 2) test whether accounting for the perceived impact of other goal pursuits (goal facilitation and goal conflict) improved the prediction of walking.MethodsA theory-based cross-sectional study using the Health Action Process Approach was conducted in adults with Type 2 diabetes across Scotland. Assuming a 50% response rate 1000 questionnaires were mailed to achieve the target sample size (N = 500). Demographic information was collected, and intentional (outcome expectations, social support, risk perceptions), motivational (intention, self-efficacy), volitional (action planning, action control) and multiple goal (goal conflict, goal facilitation) factors were assessed as predictors of physical activity in general and walking specifically.ResultsThe final sample comprised 411 respondents. The majority (60%) were non-adherent to physical activity recommendations. Of 411 respondents, 356 provided walking data. Body Mass Index and age were the only demographic and anthropometric factors predictive of walking (overall R² = 0.04). When motivational factors were added, intention and self-efficacy added to the prediction (overall R² = 0.07). When volitional factors were added, only action control was predictive of walking (overall R² = 0.08). Finally, goal facilitation explained an additional 7% variance in walking when added to the model (final overall R² = 0.15).ConclusionThere was low adherence with physical activity recommendations in general and walking in particular. When testing predictors of motivational, volitional and competing goal constructs together, action control and goal facilitation emerged as predictors of walking. Future research should consider how walking can be embedded synergistically alongside other goal pursuits and how action control may help to ensure that they are pursued.