Cost-effectiveness of online positive psychology: Randomized controlled trial

As yet, no evidence is available about the cost-effectiveness of positive psychological interventions. When offered via the Internet, these interventions may be particularly cost-effective, because they are highly scalable and do not rely on scant resources such as therapists’ time. Alongside a randomized controlled trial of an online positive psychological intervention, a health-economic evaluation was conducted. Mild to moderately depressed adults seeking self-help and recruited in the general population were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n?=?143) and a waitlisted usual care group (n?=?141). Improved clinical outcomes were achieved in the intervention group (at least for depression) at higher costs. When outliers (the top 2.5%, n?=?5 in intervention group, n?=?2 in control group) were removed, cost-effectiveness was increased considerably. For positive psychology, economic evaluations may be a means to nudge policy decision-makers towards placing positive psychological interventions on the health agenda.     

The understanding of die as an object that has numerical functions. A longitudinal study using two children from the ages of 24 to 36 months interacting with an adult / La comprensión del dado como objeto con funciones numéricas. Un estudio longitudinal con dos niños desde los 24 a los 36 meses en interacción con un adulto

Abstract

We investigated the process through which children understand the conventional use of numbers in interaction with an adult. We analysed previous semiotic systems that support, transform and adjust to this new semiotic system — the numerical — and we investigated the communicative-educative basis that makes it possible. We conducted an exploratory and longitudinal study with one boy and one girl at 24, 27, 30, 33 and 36 months of age in a triadic interaction (adult-child-object) with their mothers at home. We adopt the pragmatic-semiotic perspective of the object, which considers that triadic interactions are the unit of analysis of early development. Our results show a great variety of semiotic mediators used by children and adults and both children’s progressive comprehension of the meaning and use of the die as a numerical object.     

How to assess children’s virtue literacy: methodological lessons learnt from the Knightly Virtues programme

Character education is of growing importance in educational discourse. The Knightly Virtues programme draws on selected classic stories to teach eight moral virtues to nine- to 11-year-olds; it has proved to be hugely popular with UK schools. A finding of the trial was the different levels of ‘virtue literacy’ in faith and non-faith schools. This article outlines the key features of this trial which yielded the positive results and details its methodological strengths and potential shortcomings. Overall, statistical concerns are less problematic than the practical concerns of running trials designed to measure the impact of character education interventions. Of greatest theoretical interest is the conflation of general and virtue-specific literacy; in addition, we tease apart differences in understanding and motivation. The article highlights and discusses the challenges of running trials designed to measure character education, as well as providing insights into promising methodological approaches.     

Both non-symbolic and symbolic quantity processing are important for arithmetical computation but not for mathematical reasoning

This study investigated whether numerical processing was important for two types of mathematical competence: arithmetical computation and mathematical reasoning. Thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven Chinese primary school children in third through sixth grades took eight computerised tasks: numerical processing (numerosity comparison, digit comparison), arithmetical computation, number series completion, non-verbal matrix reasoning, mental rotation, choice reaction time, and word rhyming. Hierarchical regressions showed that both non-symbolic numerical processing (numerosity comparison) and symbolic numerical processing (digit comparison) were independent predictors of arithmetical computation but neither was a predictor of mathematical reasoning (assessed by number series completion). These findings suggest that the cognitive basis of mathematical performance varies depending on the type of mathematical competence measured.     

Symbolic representation of the number three: a study with three-year-old children from contrasting socioeconomic environments

The goal of the present study was to compare a range of aspects in children’s symbolic knowledge about the number three among two groups of three-year-olds from contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds. Every child was presented with five tasks that focused on the number three and that had cognitive demands of different complexity: expressing their age, reciting the conventional number series up to three, quantifying a collection of three, and two tasks requiring the use of visually presented quantitative information.The results showed the same order of difficulty of the tasks in both socioeconomic groups and a clear performance difference depending on socioeconomic background. These findings show that symbolic knowledge about the number three does not come in an all or none fashion. Rather, different aspects of this symbolic competence become apparent in response to different tasks, and seem to depend largely on the socioeconomic environment in which children develop.     

试次历史对跨通道非空间返回抑制的影响

个体对刺激的反应不仅受刺激本身的影响, 还会受到先前刺激的影响, 表现为对当前试次中刺激的反应会受到前一试次的影响, 即试次历史。本研究采用“线索-中性线索-靶子”范式探讨前一试次有效性对跨通道的非空间返回抑制的影响。实验1通过连续两个试次间的线索有效性考察在跨通道非空间返回抑制中试次历史的影响。为了在跨通道非空间返回抑制中减小试次历史的影响, 实验2通过延长试次间时间间隔考察跨通道非空间返回抑制中试次历史的作用是否减小。结果发现, 前一试次线索无效时, 当前试次中的返回抑制效应量显著小于前一试次有效时, 这种影响会根据试次中线索和靶子通道的不同而不同。并且当延长试次间的时间间隔可以有效地减少前一试次对当前试次的影响。因此本研究表明, 试次历史能够对跨通道非空间返回抑制产生影响, 并且这种影响可以通过增大试次间时间间隔来减小。     

How the Abstract Becomes Concrete: Irrational Numbers Are Understood Relative to Natural Numbers and Perfect Squares

Mathematical cognition research has largely emphasized concepts that can be directly perceived or grounded in visuospatial referents. These include concrete number systems like natural numbers, integers, and rational numbers. Here, we investigate how a more abstract number system, the irrationals denoted by radical expressions like , is understood across three tasks. Performance on a magnitude comparison task suggests that people interpret irrational numbers (specifically, the radicands of radical expressions) as natural numbers. Strategy self‐reports during a number line estimation task reveal that the spatial locations of irrationals are determined by referencing neighboring perfect squares. Finally, perfect squares facilitate the evaluation of arithmetic expressions. These converging results align with a constellation of related phenomena spanning tasks and number systems of varying complexity. Accordingly, we propose that the task‐specific recruitment of more concrete representations to make sense of more abstract concepts (referential processing) is an important mechanism for teaching and learning mathematics.     

数字空间表征的在线建构：来自干扰情境中数字SNARC效应的证据

尽管已有研究发现数字以空间方式表征在人类记忆系统, 但是人脑如何完成数字的空间表征尚存争议。本研究两个实验在不同比例的数字字母(实验1)和不同比例的数字汉字(实验2)混合情境中考察了数字空间表征特点及其机制, 对上述争议进行了深入研究。结果发现：(1)当数字字母比例为“1 : 1”时, 数字加工中不出现SNARC效应。当数字字母比例为“1 : 6”和“6 : 1”时, 数字加工中均出现SNARC效应。即数字字母比例与数字SNARC效应之间呈倒“U”型关系。(2)数字汉字混合情境中数字汉字比例与数字SNARC效应之间同样呈倒“U”型关系。结果说明：(1)干扰刺激与数字混合呈现会影响数字SNARC效应。(2)干扰刺激加工对数字SNARC效应的影响受到数字与干扰刺激比例的调节, 且具有跨干扰材料的稳定性。研究结果意味着数字的空间表征是人类通过统计学习在线建构的, 支持了工作记忆理论。     

The left digit effect in a complex judgment task: Evaluating hypothetical college applicants

A left digit effect has been broadly observed across judgment and decision-making contexts ranging from product evaluation to medical treatment decisions to number line estimation. For example, $3.00 is judged to be a much greater cost than $2.99, and “801” is estimated strikingly too far to the right of “798” on a number line. Although the consequences of the effects for judgment and decision behavior have been documented, the sources of the effects are not well established. The goal of the current work is to extend investigations of the left digit effect to a new complex judgment activity and to assess whether the magnitude of the effect at the individual level can be predicted from performance on a simpler number skills task on which the left digit effect has also recently been observed. In three experiments (N = 434), adults completed a judgment task in which they rated the strength of hypothetical applicants for college admission and a self-paced number line estimation task. In all experiments, a small or medium left digit effect was found in the college admissions task, and a large effect was found in number line estimation. Individual-level variation was observed, but there was no relationship between the magnitudes of the effects in the two tasks. These findings provide evidence of a left digit effect in a novel multiattribute judgment task but offer no evidence that such performance can be predicted from a simple number skills task such as number line estimation.     

The effects of video modeling with voiceover instruction on accurate implementation of discrete-trial instruction

The present study replicates and extends previous research on the use of video modeling (VM) with voiceover instruction to train staff to implement discrete-trial instruction (DTI). After staff trainees reached the mastery criterion when teaching an adult confederate with VM, they taught a child with a developmental disability using DTI. The results showed that the staff trainees' accurate implementation of DTI remained high, and both child participants acquired new skills. These findings provide additional support that VM may be an effective method to train staff members to conduct DTI.