Effect of phonological training on reading and writing acquisition

The aim of our study was to determine the effect of training of phonological abilities upon the acquisition of reading and writing during the first year of primary school. An experimental design, with five groups of subjects matched by age, sex, IQ, phonological abilities and reading and writing level was used. Every group received twenty training sessions, over a period of six months. Four groups had different training procedures depending upon the type of task used (phoneme versus concept discrimination) and the way that the task was carried out (using or not using manipulative materials). The fifth group served as control. Post training measures were taken in reading, writing, and mathematics, besides the teacher's estimated scores, twice: immediately after the end of training sessions and two months later. Significant effects on both reading and writing measures were obtained for the groups trained on phonological activities using manipulative materials. The effects were reliable for the two tests. The theoretical implications of the results are discussed and their implications for educational practice are indicated.     

Interocular transfer in pigeons of color discrimination but not motor response training

Adult pigeons with one eye covered were trained to peck a response key using grain as a reinforcer. In subsequent tests, with the trained eye covered and the control eye open, the birds failed to peck the key. The subjects were then divided into two groups for a second experiment. The first group was trained on a single-key, peck/no-peck color discrimination task with the original control eye covered. When tested for interocular transfer of discrimination performance, these birds failed to respond at all. They were then trained to peck a blank response key with the training eye covered and the control eye open. Control-eye tests after this motor response training resulted in excellent transfer of color discrimination performance. The second group of subjects was trained to peck a blank key with first one eye covered and then the other, before monocular discrimination training was begun. These birds showed excellent transfer of discrimination performance during control-eye tests. These results show that, at least in the operant paradigm, motor response training does not transfer interocularly and this lack of transfer may interfere with transfer of discrimination performance.     

ACCURACY AND SPEED OF MEMORY IN DEPRESSED AND ORGANIC AGED

Forty‐three subjects aged 50 and over were tested on a Sternberg recognition‐memory task to explore the relative effects of depression and altered brain function on short‐term memory in later life. Organic, depressed, and control subgroups were compared on accuracy and speed of response. Speed‐of‐memory scanning was differentiated from other speed‐of‐response components; separate estimates of memory efficiency and subjective response criteria were calculated from accuracy data by signal‐detection methods. Organic subjects performed much less accurately and quickly than others, showing great variability of response speeds. Depressed subjects performed less accurately and quickly than controls, particularly on negative trials, but did not differ in rate of memory scanning. Depression was associated with poorer memory efficiency and laxer response criteria (greater tolerance for false‐positive errors). Slower and less accurate responding was also associated with a poorer educational background. Many performance differences were best accounted for by the additive effects of depression and educational background, rather than by either variable individually. The association of laxer criteria with depression alone, however, was discussed in terms of a possible acquiescent response bias in depression.     

Effects of skill training on working memory capacity

In this study we examined the effects of skill training, in particular mental abacus and music training, on working memory. Two groups of participants—children who had received mental abacus training and their controls—participated in Experiment 1. All participants performed the following span tasks: forward digit span, backward digit span, non-word span, operation span, simple spatial span, and complex spatial span tasks. Children (mean age: 12 years) who had received training exhibited greater simple spatial spans, but not other spans. In Experiment 2, the same span tests were given to groups of children (mean age: 12 years) and adults (mean age: 22 years) who had received music training and to their controls. For adults, the experimental group performed better than the control group with respect to both the digit span and non-word span tests. For children, the experimental group performed better than did the control group in all of the span tests. We discuss our results in terms of the domain-specific effects of skill training on working memory.     

Long‐Term Episodic Memory in Children with Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Twenty‐nine grade‐matched 4th–8th‐grade males, 12 with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (age M= 12.2 years, SD= 1.48), and 17 without (age M= 11.5, SD= 1.59), completed two working memory tasks (digit span and the Simon game) and three long‐term episodic memory tasks (a personal event memory task, story memory task, and picture recognition task). In line with clinical observations, children with ADHD performed worse than peers on all working memory tasks, but performed as well as or better than peers on long‐term episodic tasks, demonstrating particularly detailed memory for personally experienced past events. Participants' parents also completed questionnaires about their children's memories in daily life. Parents rated children with ADHD lower than children without ADHD on working and semantic memory (e.g., remembering names, spelling, and math), but rated them as high or higher on memory for events. Implications for theory and educational practice are discussed.     

Phonological awareness in kindergarten: a field study in Luxembourgish schools

The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of a phonological awareness training program in the specific context of the Luxembourgish educational system. The intervention was run by the kindergarten teachers in their classes with minimal external supervision. Forty-one classes of the area around Luxembourg City participated in the study. One hundred and fifty children from 20 kindergarten classes were part of the training group and 157 children from 21 classes formed the control group. At the end of kindergarten, clear training effects were observed for all phonological awareness tasks, except for the highly demanding phoneme deletion task. After 6 months of reading and writing instruction in first grade, no training effects were found in a pseudoword spelling task for the entire training group. Only at-risk children, which had the lowest performance on preschool phonological awareness measures, showed significant training effects. We conclude that early phonological awareness training may be profitably incorporated in kindergarten classroom activities, particularly for at-risk pupils, even when the language characteristics and teaching methods already concur in facilitating the understanding of the alphabetic principle.     

Divergences in learning and memory among wild zebrafish: Do sex and body size play a role?

Given its diverse ecological distribution, zebrafish has great potential for investigations on the effect of habitat characteristics on cognition. Studies were conducted on four wild-caught zebrafish populations to understand the role of native habitat, sex, and body size in determining learning through a novel task associated with a food reward. The habitat variables, namely, the relative abundances of zebrafish and predatory fish and the substrate and vegetation diversity, were quantified during fish sampling. Fish were subjected to a novel task to find a food reward in a maze over successive training trials followed by a test for memory. Performances of subjects were based on time taken to find the food reward and number of mistakes made during trials, and tests for memory. The experiments revealed significant differences in learning rates and memory across populations. Males made significantly fewer mistakes than females only within two populations. No relationship between performance and body size was observed. The differences in learning and memory among wild zebrafish could be due to differences in predation, complexity, and stability of the native habitats. These findings suggest the possible role of multiple interacting factors in determining learning and memory among populations and point to a need for incorporating effects of several factors in future studies.     

Retest effects in matrix test performance: Differential impact of predictors at different hierarchy levels in an educational setting

If tests of cognitive ability are repeatedly taken, test scores rise. Such retest effects have been observed for a long time and for a variety of tasks. This study investigates retest effects on figural matrix items in an educational context. A short term effect is assumed for the direct retest administration in the same test session, and a long term effect is assumed for a retest interval of six months. Using multilevel modeling, we analyze if the magnitude of these effects is not only influenced by individual variation, but also by the cluster structure of students grouped within classrooms. We also investigate if the use of identical versus parallel tests has an impact on the size of the retest effects. Our main results show a negligible short term retest effect, but a large long term retest effect. Using parallel tests does not contribute to understanding individual differences in retest effects. The variation in retest effects is larger between classrooms than between students. Reasoning ability, as measured with a different test, and school grades significantly influences retest effects at the individual level, but at the classroom level, only reasoning ability is a significant predictor.     

Effects of a memory training program in older people with severe memory loss

ABSTRACT

Strategies based memory training programs are widely used to enhance the cognitive abilities of the elderly. Participants in these training programs are usually people whose mental abilities remain intact. Occasionally, people with cognitive impairment also participate. The aim of this study was to test if memory training designed specifically for healthy people is effective in people with severe memory impairment. We carried out a 10-year retrospective case-control study with Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT) and memory complaint measures obtained pre-post training. The case group consisted of 73 people with memory impairment (IM group). The control group (n = 72) was made of individuals with preserved memory and sociodemographic characteristics similar to the case group (PM group). Both groups improved their performance on everyday memory tasks (measured using the RBMT). The IM group improved more than the PM group in everyday memory tasks, especially in prospective memory tasks. Both groups also reduced their level of subjective complaints as a result of training. In conclusion, our results are encouraging with respect to the efficacy of comprehensive memory training programs for older people with severe memory impairment.     

记忆原理与英语听写训练的设计

英语听写训练作为一项检验英语学习者词汇记识情况、强化巩固词汇记识的基本手段,与学习者的记忆能力有着密不可分的关系。本文以认知心理学的基本记忆原理为主要理论依据,结合具体教学实践经验,阐述了如何根据记忆原理来设计及具体实施英语基础教学过程中的听写训练,从而使之成为一种科学有效的教学手段的具体措施。     

Use of Writing Samples on Standardized Tests: Susceptibility to Rule-Based Coaching and the Resulting Effects on Score Improvement

Despite the growing use of writing assessments in standardized tests, little is known about coaching effects on writing assessments. Therefore, this study tested the effects of short-term coaching on standardized writing tests, and the transfer of those effects to other writing genres. College freshmen were randomly assigned to either training (receiving nine hours of rule-based coaching) or a control group. Both groups completed pretest essays on the first day, and posttest and transfer essays (writing in a different genre) on the last day of the experiment. Group membership (training versus control) and an interaction between pretest scores and group membership were significant predictors of posttest scores after controlling for pretest performance. Training also produced higher transfer task scores after controlling for pretest and ACT scores. Implications are discussed.     

工作记忆训练:研究现状及发展前景

工作记忆训练是一种在计算机上进行,通过集中练习、锻炼完成各种工作记忆任务来提高有关认知能力的训练。新近的研究发现,工作记忆训练能提升工作记忆、抑制、注意、阅读和数学等认知功能。还有一些研究发现,通过工作记忆训练可以改变大脑的受体浓度、皮层厚度以及白质结构连通性和灰质量。未来的研究应致力于进一步扩展被试、更准确地阐明工作记忆训练影响认知能力的机制以及提高工作记忆训练外推效度和加强应用研究。     

Age,Gender and Training in Children's Performance of Piaget's Horizontality Task

Six-hundred children from the ages of 5 to 9 years, balanced for sex and age, were administered Piaget's horizontality tasks using a square water bottle. They were then divided into three experimental groups, and re-administered the task with or without instructions. The first group completed the task using gradually specific instructions until the participants performed each item to criterion level. The number of instructions needed to perform to criterion level was recorded (training scores). The second group completed the task with traditional training where the correct answer was demonstrated. The third group completed the task without feedback. After a month, all of the participants were given a post-test consisting of the square water bottle task, as well as a verticality task that required a related principle. Children's pre- and post-test performance scores were classified into six stages. It was found that there was a significant sex difference in the pretest performance of the horizontality task beginning at 8 years of age. The graduated training group evidenced higher stage scores on the post-test than the demonstration group and the control group. The former demonstrated a more integrated understanding of stable external reference frames compared to the other groups.     

Effects of auditory perception training on reading achievement

This study investigated the effect of an auditory training programme with backward readers who were also deficient in one or more auditory perceptual subskills. Thirty subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The experimental group received a nine hour taped programme devised by the experimenter and designed to teach the skills of auditory discrimination, memory, analysis and synthesis and auditory-visual integration. The comparison group listened to stories on tape for the same duration as the experimental group, while the third group served as a control merely being tested at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. It was found that although the training programme significantly improved the performance of the experimental group over the other two groups on a total auditory perceptual test, there was no corresponding improvement in reading, on word recognition or comprehension tests. The particular auditory subskills which appeared amenable to training were auditory discrimination (rhyme) and auditory synthesis (blending and closure).     

基于绩效的企业培训中的协作学习

提高绩效是企业培训的最终目标,培训的协作学习分为学习职务化和学习组织化两个阶段。学习职务化阶段通过开发个体心智模式和个体情境意识提高个体任务绩效;学习组织化阶段,通过开发共享心智模式和小组情境意识提高个体关系绩效,进而提升小组任务绩效。     

LEARNING RESOURCES

An extensive body of research exists that examines the effects of interventions aimed at maintaining or improving memory function among older adults. Slowing the pace of learning, encouragement to organize learning materials, training in the use of imagery, loci mnemonics, and face‐name mnemonics, as well as supportive environments and information about normal age‐related memory changes, have resulted in improved memory performance. This paper reviews the findings of memory intervention research and explicates the ways in which findings of laboratory research can be incorporated into educational activities among older adults.     

前瞻记忆研究综述

随着记忆研究向深度和广度发展,前瞻记忆又成为心理学的热点。前瞻记忆是相对于回溯记忆提出的一种特殊的长时记忆,是指记住在将来某个恰当的时间执行先前意向的行为。前瞻记忆的内涵、分类、影响因素,以及前瞻记忆的加工机制和前瞻的老化问题是目前前瞻记忆研究的重点,而前瞻记忆受哪些因素影响以及如何影响是前瞻记忆研究未来的发展方向。     

Comparison of visual-spatial performance strategy training in children with Turner syndrome and learning disabilities.

This study examined the effects of a verbal mediation strategy on three groups of subjects who had visual-spatial deficits. Thirteen females with Turner syndrome, 13 females with nonverbal learning disabilities, and 14 males with nonverbal learning disabilities, who ranged in age from 7 to 14 years, were taught via a cognitive behavioral modification approach to verbally mediate a spatial matching task. Pretest and posttest performance differences on parallel forms of a visual-spatial orientation task were examined. All three groups showed significant improvement in visual-spatial task performance after the training. There were no significant differences in the degree of improvement among the three groups. The results suggest that children with Turner syndrome may benefit from problem-solving strategy training in a manner similar to children with nonverbal learning disabilities.     

大学生时间管理倾向对前瞻记忆的影响

前瞻记忆是指对意向或计划的记忆。研究采用双任务范式,以n-back任务为进行中任务,考察不同认知负荷水平下时间管理倾向对前瞻记忆的影响。结果发现：在中、高认知负荷条件下,积极时间管理倾向者在前瞻记忆中的表现好于消极时间管理倾向者,说明随着认知负荷的增加,需要有效时间管理策略的调控;前瞻记忆在背景任务为1-back、2-back中的加工需要认知资源参与,但在3-back中对认知资源需求不敏感,说明前瞻记忆采用何种加工方式,取决于特定因素,如背景任务的难度等。     

A Pilot Study in the Field of Professional Further Education — Cooperative Learning in a Multimedia Learning Environment

ABSTRACT

Based on cooperative learning models, the present study investigated the specific effects of performance, interpersonal relations and affective variables in a computer‐based cooperative learning environment. Subjects were male and female adults who studied a multimedia learning program as a professional training task. After randomization 50 subjects worked in cooperative settings, while 25 subjects worked individually as a control group. In keeping with our assumptions, the subjects benefited from being paired. Further advantages for cooperative learning seem likely if instructions are modified and cooperative strategies used.