Age-related changes in children's executive functions and strategy selection: A study in computational estimation

Third, fifth, and seventh graders selected the best strategy (rounding up or rounding down) for estimating answers to two-digit addition problems. Executive function measures were collected for each individual. Data showed that (a) children's skill at both strategy selection and execution improved with age and (b) increased efficiency in executive functions contributed significantly to age-related improvement in children's strategy selection skill. These findings have implications for understanding of age-related differences in computational estimation, strategy selection processes, and mechanisms of strategic development in children.     

The influence of relational complexity and strategy selection on children's reasoning in the Latin Square Task

The present study focused on children's deductive reasoning when performing the Latin Square Task, an experimental task designed to explore the influence of relational complexity. Building on Birney, Halford, and Andrew's (2006) research, we created a version of the task that minimized nonrelational factors and introduced new categories of items. The results of two experiments conducted with school-aged children yielded an apparent dilution of complexity effects and suggest that specific inferential strategies can reduce the relational complexity that children need to process. A theoretical account is proposed emphasizing the influence of adaptive selection of strategies that mediate processing capacity constraints in reasoning development.     

Computational exploration of metaphor comprehension processes using a semantic space model

Recent metaphor research has revealed that metaphor comprehension involves both categorization and comparison processes. This finding has triggered the following central question: Which property determines the choice between these two processes for metaphor comprehension? Three competing views have been proposed to answer this question: the conventionality view ( Bowdle & Gentner, 2005 ), aptness view ( Glucksberg & Haught, 2006b ), and interpretive diversity view ( Utsumi, 2007 ); these views, respectively, argue that vehicle conventionality, metaphor aptness, and interpretive diversity determine the choice between the categorization and comparison processes. This article attempts to answer the question regarding which views are plausible by using cognitive modeling and computer simulation based on a semantic space model. In the simulation experiment, categorization and comparison processes are modeled in a semantic space constructed by latent semantic analysis. These two models receive word vectors for the constituent words of a metaphor and compute a vector for the metaphorical meaning. The resulting vectors can be evaluated according to the degree to which they mimic the human interpretation of the same metaphor; the maximum likelihood estimation determines which of the two models better explains the human interpretation. The result of the model selection is then predicted by three metaphor properties (i.e., vehicle conventionality, aptness, and interpretive diversity) to test the three views. The simulation experiment for Japanese metaphors demonstrates that both interpretive diversity and vehicle conventionality affect the choice between the two processes. On the other hand, it is found that metaphor aptness does not affect this choice. This result can be treated as computational evidence supporting the interpretive diversity and conventionality views.     

图-词干扰范式下汉语口吃者的语义编码

采用图-词干扰范式, 通过2个实验考察了汉语口吃者的语义编码。实验1发现, 在基本水平命名中,口吃者与非口吃者均表现出语义干扰效应, 语义相关干扰词的命名时间显著长于语义无关干扰词的命名时间, 口吃者在语义相关干扰条件下所受到的干扰比非口吃者大; 在类别水平命名中, 口吃者与非口吃者的表现类似, 都表现出语义促进效应, 语义相关干扰词的命名时间显著短于语义无关干扰词的命名时间, 语义相关干扰词的命名错误率也显著低于语义无关干扰词的命名错误率。实验2发现, 在基本水平命名中, 当SOA为-200 ms、-100 ms和0 ms时, 语义相关干扰条件下的反应时显著长于在语义无关干扰条件下的反应时, 当SOA为-100 ms和0 ms时, 口吃者的语义干扰效应比非口吃者更加明显。整个研究表明, 口吃者的语义编码出现了延缓, 口吃者比非口吃者需要更多的时间来排除语义干扰词的干扰。研究结果在一定程度上支持了关于口吃的多因素模型。     

无意识目标对道德取向的调节作用

已有研究表明目标可以在无意识的条件下被激活并自动地引导行为以达成目标,但该过程是否通过调节心理准备状态实现尚不清楚。本研究考察了无意识目标对个体道德取向的影响。实验1通过语义启动方式激活被试的成就目标,结果发现,与未激活任何目标的被试相比,激活了无意识成就目标的被试更偏向功利主义道德取向。实验2激活被试母亲的概念,结果发现这部分被试比对照组更偏向道义主义道德取向。上述结果表明,自动激活的目标可以影响个体的道德取向,使个体面对道德情境时能做出更合适的行为以达成目标。     

高校毕业生择业焦虑问卷的跨地区验证和比较

对高校毕业生择业焦虑问卷的结构进行必要的修订和跨地区验证。使用修订后的问卷对内蒙古、陕西、山东、广东等四省区7所大学的1458名2007届毕业生进行调查,考察不同地区毕业生择业焦虑状况。结果表明:修订后的问卷具有较好的心理测量学指标和跨地区普遍适用性;不同地区高校毕业生的择业焦虑在4个维度和问卷总分上均存在显著差异。说明问卷的修订是有效的,可用于不同地区毕业生择业焦虑的测量和心理教育效果的评定;地区间的经济、文化、教育水平的差距可能是导致毕业生择业焦虑差异的主要因素。     

VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS COGNITION: A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN THREE MONOTHEIST CONTEXTS

This study considered representations of divine and human others in the self-understanding of monotheists from three religions. Self-understanding was conceptualized on the basis of semantic and episodic knowledge in narrative response data. Given the importance of social context in the formation of cognitive schemas, the project emphasized self-understanding in a comparative religious design. The sample included sixty nominated religious exemplars who responded to a structured interview. Schemas were subsequently mapped for Jews, Muslims, and Christians by comparison of self and other representations in a computational model known as latent semantic analysis (LSA). Findings indicated that representation of the divine is far removed from parents in cognitive schemas for all participants. Unlike Jews and Christians, Muslims appear to represent human others on the basis of self-understanding which principally references the divine. When considered in a computational semantic space, exemplars generally represent the self in a manner corresponding with divine and peer figures.     

基于ERP的二语句子加工过程的认知神经机制研究进展及其启示

二语句子加工认知神经机制的研究尚处于验证和探索阶段,基本上还集中于对一语和二语的语义违例与句法违例反应的比较,更缺乏动态的二语句子加工认知神经机制的研究。仅就二语语义加工而言,所得结果充满矛盾,这可能与二语习得年龄有关。就二语句法加工研究而言,二语学习者显示出依赖于二语学习年龄的不同模式。同时,二语的句法加工过程依赖于二语和一语的相似性与相异性。其深层原因可能意味着存在一语和二语之间的句法通达问题。为此,应当系统考察语义通达程度和句法通达程度的系统变化对二语加工加工可能会造成怎样的影响,同时应开展以某种语言（如汉语）的母语者其二语（如英语）句子加工认知神经机制和以前者的二语（如英语）母语者为被试开展以前者的母语（如汉语）为二语的句子加工认知神经机制的比较研究。     

生存优势效应的理论解释

生存优势效应指对学习材料进行“生存加工”,其提取正确率最高。研究者试图用主题加工、一致性效应、情绪加工和自然选择等理论对生存优势效应进行解释。研究发现主题加工、一致性效应和情绪加工不足以说明生存优势现象,自然选择理论似乎可以更好地对此加以解释,但目前自然选择理论尚缺乏直接的实验证据支持。文章结合已有研究具体分析了最近的未来研究应该关注的焦点问题,例如,自然选择理论的直接证明,并对直接证明的方案等进行了尝试性的讨论。     

夫妻价值观相似性、沟通模式与婚姻质量的关系*

夫妻相似性和婚姻质量的关系一直是婚姻适应研究领域关注的重要课题,然而至今并没有得到一致的结论,而且两者间的作用机制也没有得到充分探讨。为此,从澳门选取132对夫妻,采用夫妻独立作答的方式,对他们的价值观,沟通模式和婚姻适应进行测查,以探讨夫妻价值观的相似性和差异,以及沟通在夫妻价值观相似性和婚姻质量两者关系间的作用。经t检验、阶层内相关和结构方差模型分析,结果发现:(1)夫妻在价值观方面存在相似性,其实夫妻的相似性明显多于随机配对的夫妻;也存在差异,其中丈夫比妻子更看重权力和成就;(2)丈夫报告的双方回避沟通明显多于妻子,但其报告的婚姻满意度和情感表达明显好于妻子;(3)研究不仅验证了以往研究结果,即夫妻越相似,其婚姻质量就越高,而且进一步发现这种关系通过沟通起作用。最后,研究得出结论,伴侣选择应是相似和互补结合的产物,而沟通是夫妻关系的基石。