Two for the Price of One: Assessment Center Training to Focus on Behaviors Can Transfer to Performance Appraisals

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the training and experience of assessors to record behaviors as part of an actual organizational assessment center (AC) would transfer to another context: performance appraisals. Specifically, we examined the effects of transfer of training on managers' behavioral specificity in comments on performance evaluations. Performance appraisal comments from managers who had received training and participated as an assessor and from managers who had not were compared. Analyses revealed significant differences between managers who were trained as assessors compared with managers who were not, suggesting transfer of training effects. Results provide the first empirical evidence for an added benefit of AC assessor participation and training.     

认知神经心理学理论研究与失语症治疗的关系

该文介绍了词语产出的加工阶段以及在获得性语言障碍病人（失语症病人）身上这些阶段可能的损伤情况。文中特别介绍了两例词汇提取障碍病人的治疗,这不仅有助于了解该障碍,更有助于了解其潜在的理论问题。第一个案例关注使用不同的任务治疗词汇提取障碍,评估治疗效果,探究任务产生作用的原理。第二个案例使用词汇提取障碍的治疗方法探讨一个充满争议的问题：同音词（如,pour/paw）在词汇产出过程中是共用一个语音表征还是各自单独表征     

Word regularity affects orthographic learning

Share's self-teaching hypothesis proposes that orthographic representations are acquired via phonological decoding. A key, yet untested, prediction of this theory is that there should be an effect of word regularity on the number and quality of word-specific orthographic representations that children acquire. Thirty-four Grade 2 children were exposed to the sound and meaning of eight novel words and were then presented with those words in written form in short stories. Half the words were assigned regular pronunciations and half irregular pronunciations. Lexical decision and spelling tasks conducted 10 days later revealed that the children's orthographic representations of the regular words appeared to be stronger and more extensive than those of the irregular words.     

Distinguishing between the precision of attentional localization and attentional resolution

Attentional resolution is a construct that refers to the minimal separation that allows one stimulus to be attended separately from nearby stimuli. The attentional walk task, which requires a series of covert shifts of attention within variably dense arrays of stimuli, was introduced as a method of measuring attentional resolution. Using a cuing task, we show that individual items within arrays that are too dense to support an attentional walk can nonetheless be attended. We note that the precision with which attention can be localized is, in principle, a limitation separate from attentional resolution and conclude that performance in the attentional walk task is better suited for measuring this limitation than for measuring attentional resolution per se.     

I'm sitting here feeling aphasic! A study of recurrent perseverative errors elicited in unimpaired speakers

In this study, the recurrent perseverative errors produced by 44 speakers without impairment were examined in picture naming and reading aloud tasks under a fast response deadline. The proportion of perseverative relative to non-perseverative errors was greater in picture naming, the more error-prone task, than in reading aloud. Additionally, although perseverative errors were less likely to be related to the target than non-perseverative errors, the overall distribution of perseverative and non-perseverative errors in each task was similar. It is concluded that the perseverative errors produced by the participants reflected both the degree and level at which language processing efficiency was reduced in each task. This is consistent with a more recent account of perseveration as a result of normally existing persistent activation overcoming weakened activation of a target at any level of language processing. These results are compared with recent studies of recurrent perseverative errors produced by people with aphasia in light of the cognitive neuropsychological assumption that speakers with and without impairment utilise a common language processing system.     

Examining the Test Of Memory Malingering Trial 1 and Word Memory Test Immediate Recognition as screening tools for insufficient effort

Assessing effort level during neuropsychological evaluations is critical to support the accuracy of cognitive test scores. Many instruments are designed to measure effort, yet they are not routinely administered in neuropsychological assessments. The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) and the Word Memory Test (WMT) are commonly administered symptom validity tests with sound psychometric properties. This study examines the use of the TOMM Trial 1 and the WMT Immediate Recognition (IR) trial scores as brief screening tools for insufficient effort through an archival analysis of a combined sample of mild head-injury litigants ( N = 105) who were assessed in forensic private practices. Results show that both demonstrate impressive diagnostic accuracy and calculations of positive and negative predictive power are presented for a range of base rates. These results support the utility of Trial 1 of the TOMM and the WMT IR trial as screening methods for the assessment of insufficient effort in neuropsychological assessments.     

认知损伤的评估

该文介绍了作为认知损伤临床评估最优方法的必要条件。评估的一个重要目的是将关于功能区域的优势和劣势的假设公式化,并据此设定适当的康复目标,评价康复的结果。为了达到这一目的,评估应该开始于康复之前,贯穿于康复过程,并持续到康复结束以后。文中比较了两种评估方法：量表法和假设检验法。为了考察认知损伤及其引起的障碍的变化,测验应该具有信度、敏感性和效度。量表法通常不具备这三个必要条件,而假设检验法在这方面更好。该文以一例获得性失语症的词语产出损伤评估为例,介绍了假设检验法的应用     

Great Expectations: Perceptual Challenges of Visual Surveillance in Lifeguarding

The presence of lifeguards on beaches and at pools has the potential to prevent many drowning incidents. This article examines the visual components of the lifeguard's job, discussing some of the major challenges they face during surveillance. These include optical challenges (turbidity and turbulence of the water, light refraction, and glare), scene challenges (elevated set size affecting clutter and perceptual ‘blindnesses’), stimulus challenges (searching for multiple targets that are complex, dynamic, ill‐defined, and rare), and attentional challenges, including but not limited to vigilance issues. The differences between basic laboratory research and the lifeguarding task are explored, with recommendations for future study. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.