Knowledge Acquisition and Conceptual Change

Dans cet article, je soutiens qu'il est fructueux de penser les réseaux conceptuels en termes de théorie et les processus d'acquisition des connaissances en termes d'articulation ou de restructuration de ces théories. La recherche que mes collègues et moi-même avons entreprise montre que la restructuration d'une connaissance antérieure se fait habituellement lentement et graduellement et qu'elle implique la réinterprétation de certaines croyances que les individus élaborent à partir de leur expérience quotidienne. Pour aider à la restructuration, une formation devrait faire prendre conscience aux étudiants de leurs convictions préétablies et leur proposer un cadre de référence différent en remplacement du celui qu'ils ont construit à partir de leur expérience personnelle.
In this paper I argue that it makes sense to think of conceptual structures as theories, and of the process of knowledge acquisition as the articulation or restructuring of these theories. The research that my colleagues and I have undertaken shows that the restructuring of prior knowledge is usually achieved in a slow and gradual fashion, and that it requires the reinterpretation of certain beliefs, which individuals construct on the basis of their everyday experience. In order to promote restructuring, instruction should aim at making students aware of their entrenched beliefs and at providing them with a different explanatory framework to replace the one they have constructed on the basis of their phenomenal experience.     

The effects of baby bath and massage by fathers on the family system: The sunraysia australia intervention project

Instruction in baby massage and the Burleigh Relaxation Bath technique was given to one-half of our sample of 32 couples who had just had their first child. This brief intervention, given at 4 weeks post-partum, led to beneficial behavioural and psychological effects for the family system when assessed at 12 weeks postpartum. Depression and marital satisfaction were assessed with mothers and fathers at 4 weeks and 12 weeks after the birth of their child, and self-esteem was measured at 12 weeks only. The mothers and fathers who were shown baby bathing and massage techniques showed higher degrees of marital satisfaction and self-esteem, as well as lower levels of depression at 12 weeks post-partum, than parents who did not receive instruction. It seems likely that brief interventions which educate new parents concerning functional techniques of baby care may favourably affect their feelings of competence and be of benefit to the entire family system.     

Stability of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children for a sample of Mexican-American children

Test-retest stability of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) was investigated over a 5$\text{1}\text{2}$-month interval for 42 Mexican-American preschool/kindergarten children. The results indicated that the stability coefficients for K-ABC Global scales and subtests were generally of adequate magnitudes (e.g., .70s and .80s), providing some evidence that the K-ABC is a relatively stable instrument for the sample. The results are discussed in the context of a test-retest study reported in the K-ABC Manual. Global scale stability coefficients were found to range from .76 to .90, and for the subtests the coefficients ranged from .26 to .89. The patterns of gain scores were very similar to the patterns reported in the stability investigation in the K-ABC Manual.     

Mental models of the earth, sun, and moon: Indian children's cosmologies

This study reports data on the acquisition of knowledge about astronomy in children from India. Based on prior research, we hypothesized that the cosmological models that children construct are influenced by both first-order and second-order constraints on knowledge acquisition. First-order constraints are the implicit assumptions that govern the construction of initial cosmological models. Examples of such constraints include the assumptions that the earth is flat and supported. Such first-order constraints are presumed to be universal. Second-order constraints arise from the specific properties ascribed to cosmological objects. For example, representations of the earth's shape and location relative to the sun and moon constrain the kinds of mechanisms that are generated to account for the day-night cycle. We hypothesized that in cultures where both folk cosmologies and the scientific cosmological model are accessible to children, aspects of folk models are likely to be incorporated in children's cosmologies if they provide a psychologically easier way of satisfying first-order constraints. This hypothesis is supported by our findings with regard to universality and culture specificity in children's cosmologies. Indian children's cosmologies honor a variety of universal first-order constraints. These include constraints on the shape of the earth (e.g., support and flatness) and on the relative locations and motions of objects in the cosmology (e.g., continuity). However, many Indian children borrow the idea that the earth is supported by an ocean or a body of water from folk cosmology. This solution to the support constraint on the shape of the earth is not found in American children's initial cosmologies.     

Drawing inferences from semantically positive and negative implicative predicates

Subjects were timed while they drew inferences from syntactically affirmative and negative sentences containing the semantically positive and negative implicative predicates remember/forget and bother/neglect, under different linguistic contexts that met the presuppositions of the sentences at varying levels of generality. Different patterns of inference latencies were obtained for the two implicative predicates studied, suggesting that there are important differences among semantically negative implicative predicates that influence their representation and processing. Regardless of these differences, inference latencies for all sentences decreased when they were presented in contexts that met some of their presuppositions, indicating that context can facilitate inferential processing.     

Early interventions with disturbed mother-infant relationships

The aim of this paper is to validate the hypothesis that successful psychodynamic intervention in the case of disturbed mother-infant relationships may be possible. Based on 120 referred cases, three types of intervention emerged: Intervention Group A: These mothers feel numbed when their babies are in an acute state of distress and show active signs of refusing to live. Intervention Group B: These mothers feel concern about an on-going difficulty with their baby and are prepared to explore the problem with the therapist. Intervention Group C: These mothers feel angry when their children show signs of distress and react in a persecuted way toward the baby. Due to the difficulty in helping mothers in this situation, a different approach was explored. Clinical case studies are presented to illustrate each of these types of intervention.     

Quantifying the Interplay of Semantics and Phonology During Failures of Word Retrieval by People With Aphasia Using a Multiplex Lexical Network

Investigating instances where lexical selection fails can lead to deeper insights into the cognitive machinery and architecture supporting successful word retrieval and speech production. In this paper, we used a multiplex lexical network approach that combines semantic and phonological similarities among words to model the structure of the mental lexicon. Network measures at different levels of analysis (degree, network distance, and closeness centrality) were used to investigate the influence of network structure on picture naming accuracy and errors by people with Anomic, Broca's, Conduction, and Wernicke's aphasia. Our results reveal that word retrieval is influenced by the multiplex lexical network structure in at least two ways—(a) the accuracy of production and error type on incorrect productions were influenced by the degree and closeness centrality of the target word, and (b) error type also varied in terms of network distance between the target word and produced error word. Taken together, the analyses demonstrate that network science techniques, particularly the use of the multiplex lexical network to simultaneously represent semantic and phonological relationships among words, reveal how the structure of the mental lexicon influences language processes beyond traditionally examined psycholinguistic variables. We propose a framework for how the multiplex lexical network approach allows for understanding the influence of mental lexicon structure on word retrieval processes, with an eye toward a better understanding of the nature of clinical impairments, like aphasia.     

Toddlers' representations of space: the role of viewer perspective

In the present study, we examined how people code object location when an object is hidden in an enclosed space. On object location tasks involving disorientation, viewers must code the location of an object in relation to the spatial environment because they cannot directly track their changing relation to the object. Recently, we showed that viewers also code their perspective relative to the entire space (inside vs. outside) in such tasks. To determine whether viewers code perspective whenever they must locate an object, we examined young children's performance on a task in which coding perspective would be difficult. Our task involved both disorientation and translation (i.e., movement from inside to outside the space or vice versa). When translation preceded disorientation, performance was comparable to performance on tasks with no translation. However, when disorientation preceded translation, performance was at chance. The implications of these findings for location coding are discussed.     

How normal is grammatical development in the right hemisphere following hemispherectomy? The root infinitive stage and beyond

We examined the morphosyntax of eight left hemispherectomized children at two different stages and compared it to MLU-matched normals. We found that the language of the hemispherectomies paralleled that of their MLU matches with respect to the specific morphosyntactic characteristics of each stage. Our findings provide strong evidence for the presence of functional categories in all early grammars and demonstrate that grammatical development, regardless of its neural substrate, is highly constrained by UG and follows a narrowly determined course. We discuss our findings within a neurobiological framework in which etiology defines the integrity of the remaining hemisphere, which in turn, determines its potential for linguistic reorganization and/or acquisition.