1～6秒时距认知分段性特征

时距认知分段性指不同长度时距的加工机制和表征方式是不同的。以往研究者对1 s以上时距认知的分段性仍存在分歧,为了探讨这一主题,本研究设计了实验1和实验2。实验1采用时间复制任务比较高、低工作记忆容量被试在完成1~6 s视、听时距加工的成绩,结果发现,时距长度与工作记忆容量或通道均存在交互作用,被试在复制1 s、2 s的平均复制时距、复制比率及变异系数没有随工作记忆容量或通道而变化,而复制3 s、4 s、5 s及6 s时,高WMC组较低WMC组或听觉组较视觉组,平均复制时距显著更长、复制比率显著更高、变异系数显著更小。实验2采用时间产生任务比较高、低工作记忆容量被试在完成1~6 s视、听时距加工的成绩,结果也发现,时距长度与工作记忆容量或通道均存在交互作用,被试在产生1 s、2 s的平均产生时距、产生比率及变异系数没有随工作记忆容量或通道而变化,而产生3 s、4 s、5 s及6 s时,高WMC组较低WMC组或听觉组较视觉组,平均产生时距显著更短、产生比率显著更低、变异系数显著更小。这意味着1~6 s的时距认知存在分段性,大约2~3 s可能为分段临界点。时间认知的分段性可以用时间工作记忆说解释,该假说是时间认知分段综合模型解释短时距加工分段性的具体表现形式。     

客体和空间工作记忆中三维图形的特征加工时程

采用单探测变化觉察范式，对三维图形的特征在客体和空间工作记忆中的加工时程进行了探讨。实验一的材料是由不同颜色和形状组成的规则立体图形。实验二的材料是由不同颜色和图案组成的六棱柱。实验结果显示：（1）客体和空间工作记忆绩效均随识记项目数的增加而显著下降；（2）随着刺激呈现时间的延长，客体工作记忆绩效显著提高，空间工作记忆绩效无明显增加；且在三种呈现时间条件下，空间工作记忆绩效均高于客体工作记忆；（3）三维图形中颜色特征的检测绩效优于形状、图案和特征捆绑。这些结果表明，视觉工作记忆中三维图形的特征加工存在显著的时程效应，空间位置加工最早完成，其次是颜色加工，然后是形状与颜色-形状的捆绑，最后是图案与颜色-图案的捆绑。     

The detrimental effect of academic procrastination on subsequent grades: the mediating role of coping over and above past achievement and working memory capacity

Background: Academic procrastination is common among university students and its effect on their achievement is worrisome. Although procrastination is often depicted as self-regulation failure, research still needs to examine the self-regulatory mechanisms involved in the relationship between procrastination and achievement.

Objectives: In this prospective study, we sought to (a) unravel the unique effect of academic procrastination on university grades, (b) examine the mediating role of task-oriented and disengagement-oriented coping as a self-regulatory pathway toward achievement, (c) control for the potential confounding influence of past achievement and working memory capacity.

Methods: A sample of 258 university students completed self-report measures of academic procrastination and coping, and performed tests of working memory. Their semester grade point average was collected at the end of the semester.

Results: Results of structural equation modeling showed that academic procrastination negatively predicted subsequent academic achievement, even after controlling for high school achievement and working memory capacity. Furthermore, indirect effects revealed that task- and disengagement-oriented coping explained 70% of the total effect.

Conclusion: These findings outline that the effect of academic procrastination cannot be reduced to a history of academic difficulties or limited cognitive ability and that coping plays an important role in the procrastination – achievement relationship.     

Development of navigational working memory: Evidence from 6‐ to 10‐year‐old children

The ability to learn complex environments may require the contribution of different types of working memory. Therefore, we investigated the development of different types of working memory (navigational, reaching, and verbal) in 129 typically developing children. We aimed to determine whether navigational working memory develops at the same rate as other types of working memory and whether the gender differences reported in adults are already present during development. We found that navigational working memory is less developed than both verbal and reaching working memory and that gender predicts performance only for navigational working memory. Our results are in line with reports that children made significantly more errors in far space than adults, showing that near space representation develops before far space representation.     

The relationships between quantity‐number competencies,working memory,and phonological awareness in 5‐ and 6‐year‐olds

In this study, the interdependencies among phonological awareness, verbal working memory components, and early numerical skills in children 1 year before school entry are addressed. Early numerical skills were conceptualized as quantity‐number competencies (QNC) at both basic (QNC Level 1) and advanced (QNC Level 2) levels. In a sample of 1,343 children aged 5 and 6, structural equation modelling provided support for the isolated number words hypothesis (Krajewski & Schneider, 2009, J. Exp. Child Psychol., 103, 516–531). This hypothesis claims that phonological awareness contributes to the acquisition of QNC Level 1, such as learning the number word sequence, but not of QNC Level 2, which requires the linkage of number words to quantities. In addition, phonological awareness relied on verbal working memory, especially with regard to the phonological loop, central executive, and episodic buffer. The results were congruent with the idea that phonological awareness mediates the impact of verbal working memory on QNCs. The relationships between verbal working memory, phonological awareness, and QNCs were comparable in monolingual and bilingual children.