The impact of children’s lexical and morphosyntactic knowledge on narrative competence development: A prospective cohort study

The authors investigate the contribution of children's early comprehension of relational terms and morphosyntactic knowledge to the development of narrative competence in kindergarten and Grade 1. Narrative competence was assessed through the cohesion, coherence, and structure of children’s productions. The participants in this study were 714 Italian children. The authors measured their oral narrative competence through a storytelling task at the beginning and end of the kindergarten year. A total of 115 children were randomly selected and followed through Grade 1, and their narrative competence was measured again. According to the path analysis model, early morphosyntactic knowledge contributes to explain narrative competence in Grade 1. Early comprehension of relational terms contributes to narrative competence at the end of the school year. These findings confirm the importance of exploring the influence of early language skills on narrative competence development and suggests early intervention at the level of language antecedents of narrative competence.     

Commuters and marauders: an examination of the spatial behaviour of serial criminals

The demographic characteristics of serial offenders that distinguish between the commuter and the marauder offence styles were examined. Proposed by Canter and Larkin (1993) these two styles represent competing models of criminal spatial behaviour under which the home base plays a role in offence site selection. Data on serial burglars, arsonists and sex offenders were extracted from the criminal records maintained by the NSW Police Service. The offence style of each offender's crime series was identified in order to relate the offence style to the demographic variables, and to examine the offender's first and last offences in a series. A commuter offence style was more likely to be adopted by burglars and generally by adult males. A marauding offence style was apparent in sex offenders and metropolitan based offenders. There was a progression in the distance travelled to offend across all crime types, as the last offence was located further from the home base by comparison with the first. These findings serve to validate the conceptual distinction between commuter and marauder offence styles. Several implications for further research are addressed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mereotopological Connection

The paper outlines a model-theoretic framework for investigating and comparing a variety of mereotopological theories. In the first part we consider different ways of characterizing a mereotopology with respect to (i) the intended interpretation of the connection primitive, and (ii) the composition of the admissible domains of quantification (e.g., whether or not they include boundary elements). The second part extends this study by considering two further dimensions along which different patterns of topological connection can be classified – the strength of the connection and its multiplicity.     

基于空间分割的手写输入系统的用户绩效模型

为定量估计与提高基于空间分割的手写输入系统用户绩效 ,运用Fitts定律及离散变量的数学期望等方法推导了用户绩效的数学模型。实验验证了该模型在具体界面中能较好地拟合用户在 8次 (8× 2 4字 )训练后的实际操作绩效。应用该模型可较好地拟合用户使用手写系统完成抄写任务的时间、推算输入系统某些参数的最佳设置值 ;并发现当输入系统的其它参数为定值时 ,缩短用户单字手写时间会比缩短系统识别时间能更有效地提高用户绩效。     

Modes of spatial coding in the Simon task*

Many models of the Simon effect assume that categorical spatial representations underlie the phenomenon. The present study tested this assumption explicitly in two experiments, both of which involved eight possible spatial positions of imperative stimuli arranged horizontally on the screen. In Experiment 1, the eight stimulus locations were marked with eight square boxes that appeared at the same time during a trial. Results showed gradually increasing Simon effects from the central locations to the outer locations. In Experiment 2, the eight stimulus locations consisted of a combination of three frames of spatial reference (hemispace, hemifield, and position relative to the fixation), with each frame appearing in different timings. In contrast to Experiment 1, results showed an oscillating pattern of the Simon effect across the horizontal positions. These findings are discussed in terms of grouping factors involved in the Simon task. The locations seem to be coded as a single continuous dimension when all are visible at once as in Experiment 1, but they are represented as a combination of the lateral categories (“left” vs. “right”) with multiple frames of reference when the reference frames are presented successively as in Experiment 2.     

成人空间视角采择的自动性

设计新的空间视角采择任务,考察成人空间视角采择的自动性。结果发现：（1）在other任务中,随着人偶与被试的角度差异增加,反应时和错误率升高。（2）在self任务中,空间关系一致时正确率高于不一致时,且150°-180°间的一致性效应不显著;随着角度差异增加,反应时升高;小球与人偶的空间关系和空间关系的一致性交互作用不显著。本研究结果表明：本实验任务对成人而言是一个有效的空间视角采择任务;成人可以自动地做空间视角采择;人偶与被试的角度差异影响成人空间视角采择的自动性;小球与人偶的空间关系不影响成人空间视角采择的自动性。本研究首次证明了成人可以自动做空间视角采择。     

Serial murderers' spatial decisions: factors that influence crime location choice

The outcome of German serial murderer spatial decision making was measured as the straight‐line distance (km) between murderer home locations and each crime location (i.e. body recovery location). Geographic and series development data, as well as information on age, intelligence, motive, marital status, employment status, and mode of transportation of 53 German serial murderers was collected from police and prosecution service files and judicial verdict records. Potential effects of the aforementioned factors on spatial decisions were assessed. Results showed that 63% of the murderers lived within 10 km of their crime locations. Home‐to‐crime distance was negatively correlated with murderer age and positively correlated with murderer IQ score. Results also showed that the mode of transportation used by murderers had an effect on their spatial decisions. Results are discussed in terms of understanding serial murderer spatial decision‐making and implications for police investigations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.