Kinetic contours in infants' visual perception

3-month-old infants' perception of "camouflaged" forms that are only visible when moving was studied. Displays were used in which figure and ground had an identical random dot texture, and no edge indicated the form of the figure. The form was invisible when stationary. Discrimination of 2 different forms was tested (a) when the forms were visible only through motion, and (b) when the forms appeared as stationary white figures on black ground. The babies discriminated the forms in both conditions. Furthermore, when infants were habituated to one of the moving forms and subsequently presented with the same and a new static form, they looked longer at the new form. This indicates that they recognized the static form as either the same or different from the moving form seen before, although the optical sources of information were completely different. At 3 months, infants can therefore effectively use kinetic information to organize the visual input in higher-order structures.     

Tactual habituation and discrimination of form in infancy: a comparison with vision

Tactual discriminative abilities out of the control of vision are studied in 5-month-old infants, and compared with their visual discriminative abilities. The relevance of a habituation/reaction to novelty procedure in the tactual modality is tested. An infant control procedure is used in both modalities on 2 independent samples of 32 infants each. Habituation and discrimination occur tactually as well as visually, the duration of holds decreasing more than the duration of looks. Accumulated holding time is 3 times longer than accumulated looking time. Analogies and discrepancies between tactual and visual habituations are discussed, and the problem of sensory dominance is raised. Such results are basic to studies on cross-modal transfer, from vision to touch as well as from touch to vision.     

The cues that infants use to distinguish discontinuous quantities: evidence using a shift-rate recovery paradigm

A novel experimental method, shift-rate recovery, was developed and used in a series of three experiments. These examined the extent to which 6-month-old infants (N = 131) find perceptual cues such as density and length useful in the discrimination of linearly arranged sets containing large numbers of objects. Results showed that infants discriminated between arrays that differ in number and density, with length held constant, when the arrays were presented either simultaneously or successively. On the other hand, infants discriminated only between arrays that differ in number and length, with density held constant, when the arrays were presented simultaneously. Infants were, however, able to perform a successive length discrimination when the arrays were continuous rather than consisting of discrete items. These findings support the conclusion that infants are able to discriminate between large number sets by relying on absolute cues such as density (but not length) and on relative cues such as optical one-to-one correspondence.     

Infants' Forgetting of Correlated Attributes and Object Recognition

Infants as young as 3 months of age can encode the relations among object features. Because object recognition depends critically upon a match between perceived feature configurations and representations of the object in long-term memory, the present experiments focused on infants' long-term memory for feature correlations. In 3 experiments with 72 3-month-olds, we documented the forgetting functions of different feature correlations, examined their relation to infants' memory for individual features, and replicated the findings with different stimuli. Infants were trained to activate a mobile composed of two kinds of blocks that differed in color, the figures displayed on them, and the figures' colors and were tested after different delays with recombinations of either the block colors, the figures, or the figure colors. Infants remembered some of the original feature combinations for up to 3 days but forgot all of them after 4 days. Even after 4 days, however, infants remembered the individual features that had entered into the original combinations. These results demonstrate that very young infants not only encode the relations among object features but also remember them for several days. Moreover, there is a dissociation in memory between features and feature relations: Feature relations are forgotten sooner than the individual features that comprise those relations.     

Recognition of maternal axillary odors by infants

A series of 5 experiments was conducted to determine whether neonates, at approximately 2 weeks of age, can recognize their parents through axillary odors alone. Breast-feeding infants discriminated between their mother's axillary odor and odors produced by either nonparturient or unfamiliar lactating females. In contrast, breast-feeding infants displayed no evidence of recognizing the axillary odors of their father. Likewise, bottle-feeding infants appeared unable to recognize the odor of their mother when presented along with odors from a nonparturient female or an unfamiliar bottle-feeding female. Several hypotheses were presented in an attempt to account for the differential reactions to maternal odors by breast-feeding versus bottle-feeding infants. It was tentatively concluded that, while breast-feeding, infants are exposed to salient maternal odors and thereby rapidly become familiarized with their mother's unique olfactory signature.     

Infants' developing understanding of social gaze

Young infants are sensitive to self‐directed social actions, but do they appreciate the intentional, target‐directed nature of such behaviors? The authors addressed this question by investigating infants’ understanding of social gaze in third‐party interactions (N = 104). Ten‐month‐old infants discriminated between 2 people in mutual versus averted gaze, and expected a person to look at her social partner during conversation. In contrast, 9‐month‐old infants showed neither ability, even when provided with information that highlighted the gazer’s social goals. These results indicate considerable improvement in infants’ abilities to analyze the social gaze of others toward the end of their 1st year, which may relate to their appreciation of gaze as both a social and goal‐directed action.     

Late Development of Early Visual Perception: No Topology-Priority in Peripheral Vision Until Age 10

Topological property (TP) is a basic geometric attribute of objects, which is preserved over continuous and one-to-one transformations and considered to be processed in early vision. This study investigated the global TP perception of 773 children aged 6–14, as compared to 179 adults. The results revealed that adults and children aged 10 or over show a TP priority trend in both central and peripheral vision, that is, less time is required to discriminate TP differences than non-TP differences. Children aged 6–8 show a TP priority trend for central stimuli, but not in their peripheral vision. The TP priority effect in peripheral vision does not emerge until age ˜10 years, and the development of central and peripheral vision seems to be different.     

Conditions of Continuity and Discontinuity in Infant Negative Emotionality: Newborn to Five Months

This study investigated infant and caregiving-environment variables associated with continuity and discontinuity in infant negative emotionality between the newborn period and 5 months of age. Comparisons were made between groups of infants who evidenced similar levels of crying as neonates but differed by 5 months of age. For initially high-crying infants, mother personality traits, marital quality, and infant variables measured neonatally discriminated stable from changing infants. Ratings of mother sensitivity and infant responsiveness made at 5 months of age also related to continuity and discontinuity in negative emotionality over the first 5 months.     

The perception of stimulus shape: the influence of velocity of stimulus movement

46 3-month-old infants were presented with geometric stimuli moving laterally at two different velocities (34.8 degrees/sec; 103.3 degrees/sec). The results were interpreted as evidence that 3-month-old infants could discriminate between geometric forms moving at velocities that, according to previous findings, might interfere with shape discrimination. The findings are discussed in relation to the possible interactive effect of type and velocity of movement on geometric form discrimination.     

对篮球运动员周边视野的实验研究与分析

篮球运动员的视野大小直接关系到其运用技术、战术的合理性与有效性．本文用不同大小、不同亮度以及不同颜色的光标对32名篮球专修学生进行周边视野的测试与分析．结果表明：篮球运动员的周边视野随着测试光标的大小、亮度、颜色的变化而有规律地发生变化．     

Perceptual narrowing of linguistic sign occurs in the 1st year of life

Over their 1st year of life, infants'"universal" perception of the sounds of language narrows to encompass only those contrasts made in their native language (J. F. Werker & R. C. Tees, 1984). This research tested 40 infants in an eyetracking paradigm and showed that this pattern also holds for infants exposed to seen language-American Sign Language (ASL). Four-month-old, English-only, hearing infants discriminated an ASL handshape distinction, while 14-month-old hearing infants did not. Fourteen-month-old ASL-learning infants, however, did discriminate the handshape distinction, suggesting that, as in heard language, exposure to seen language is required for maintenance of visual language discrimination. Perceptual narrowing appears to be a ubiquitous learning mechanism that contributes to language acquisition.     

口译中的英汉数字互译方法及训练

口译中的数字使译员产生压力。数字的准确快速传译是口译中的一项基本技能。目前,国内外研究者对于口译中英汉数字互译提出了不同的口译方法,而对于数字口译中的笔记方法也有不同阐述。经过认真分析一些主要的方法,可以总结和提取出适合不同类型译员和不同情况下使用的方法。使用恰当的数字口译笔记方法,加上译员平时大量针对性的训练,有助于译员成功的完成相关任务。     

The Role of Maternal Affect Mirroring on Social Expectancies in Three-Month-Old Infants

The role of maternal affect mirroring on the development of prosocial behaviors and social expectancies was assessed in forty-one 2- to 3-month-old infants. Prosocial behavior was characterized as infants' positive behavior and increased attention toward their mothers. Social expectancies were defined as infants' expectancy for affective sharing. Mothers and infants were observed twice, approximately 1 week apart. During Visit 1, mothers and infants were videotaped while interacting over television monitors for 3 min. During Visit 2, infants engaged in a live, 3-min interaction with their mothers over television monitors (live condition) and they also viewed a replay of their mothers' interaction from the preceding week (replay condition). The order of conditions was counterbalanced. Maternal affect mirroring was measured according to the level of attention maintenance, warm sensitivity, and social responsiveness displayed. A natural split was observed with 58% of the mothers ranking high and 42% ranking low on these affect mirroring measures (HAM and LAM, respectively). Infants in the HAM group ranked high on prosocial behaviors and social expectancy--they discriminated between live and replay, conditions with smiles, vocalizations, and gazes. Infants in the LAM group ranked low on these variables--they gazed longer during the live condition than during the replay condition, but only when the live condition was presented first; however, they did not smile or vocalize more. These findings indicate that there is a relation between affect mirroring and social expectancies in infants.     

Quality of infants' attachments to professional caregivers: relation to infant-parent attachment and day-care characteristics

75 infants (mean age 15 months) were observed 3 times in the Strange Situation with their professional caregivers, mothers, and fathers. Sensitivity of these attachment figures to the infant's signals during free play, as well as a number of day-care characteristics, were assessed. Attachment classification distribution of infant-caregiver dyads did not differ significantly from infant-mother or infant-father attachment classification distributions. The quality of infant-caregiver attachment was independent of both infant-mother and infant-father attachments. About 10% of the infants had 3 insecure attachments. Professional caregivers observed with more than 1 infant did not have similar types of attachment classifications to all infants with whom they were observed. Infants who were securely attached to their professional caregivers spent more hours per week in day-care, and came from a middle-class background. Their caregivers appeared to be younger and more sensitive during free play than caregivers with whom the infants developed an insecure relationship.     

关于测量中有效数字的讨论

文中讨论了有关测量中有效数字在不同文献中的4种定义,分析了有效数字与最大仪器总误差的关系,给出了获得有效数字的具体方法及几个实例,指出了应该注意的几个问题。     

共同愿景视阈下的大学生协同持续发展效能调查报告

高校班级愿景建设与大学生可持续发展效能问卷调查主要面向参与愿景建设的各年级大学生,调查内容涉及大学生对班级愿景的认同度和参与度、对个人发展与组织建设的观念认识、愿景规划的意识与能力等。通过调查发现存在的问题并分析不足,提出构建和完善组织愿景的体系,要强化班级愿景的中期监督和考核环节以及这个环节中的研讨和指导,厘清班级愿景与班级发展战略之间的关系,建立班级愿景动态档案和学生个人愿景的成长档案等。     

教师资源配置不均衡的实证研究——湖北、甘肃、北京小学教师队伍状况比较研究

本研究根据《中国教育统计年鉴.2004》中提供的数据算出湖北、甘肃、北京三地在小学生师比、师校比、师班比等及其他各种比例。发现三地小学教师在女性教师比例,师校比、师班比,学历、职称方面,生师比,教职工在城市、县镇、农村间的分布,代课教师方面都存在明显的差异,呈现出相当不均衡的配置状况。     

How infants use vision for grasping objects

The role of vision was examined as infants prepared to grasp horizontally and vertically oriented rods. Hand orientation was measured prior to contact to determine if infants differentially oriented their hands relative to the object's orientation. Infants reached for rods under different lighting conditions. Three experiments are reported in which (1) sight of the hand was removed (N = 12), (2) sight of the object was removed near the end of the reach (N = 40, including 10 adults), and (3) sight of the object was removed prior to reach onset (N = 9). Infants differentially oriented their hand to a similar extent regardless of lighting condition and similar to control conditions in which they could see the rod and hand throughout the reach. In preparation for reaching, infants may use the current sight of the object's orientation, or the memory of it, to orient the hand for grasping; sight of the hand had no effect on hand orientation.     

Neonatal characteristics and mother-infant interaction in two observational situations.

134 mothers and their newborn infants were studied in order to evaluate the realtionship's between neonatal characteristics and mother-infant interaction. The procedure included a newborn assessment with the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale and 2 mother-infant interaction observations, 1 carried out during feeding and the other during a semistructured situation. The results indicated that there were consistent relationships between infant and maternal behavior; more alert and responsive infants had more responsive and sensitive mothers. These consistencies were found for both infants and mothers across the different situations. Both infant and maternal responsiveness to a variey of social stimuli were noted.     

Marriage, adult adjustment, and early parenting

The impact of parents' marriages, measured prenatally, on their parenting of firstborn, 3-month-old infants was assessed. Though the association between marriage and parenting was the focus, adult psychological adjustment was measured also to rule out the alternative hypothesis that psychological adjustment relates to both marital quality and parenting quality and accounts for any association between them. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses in which parental adjustment was entered first as a covariate were used to test the relation between close/confiding marriages and parenting of 3-month-old infants. From the findings, it was concluded that even when differences in individual psychological adjustment are taken into account, mothers are warmer and more sensitive with their infants and fathers hold more positive attitudes toward their infants and their roles as parents when they are in close/confiding marriages. It is asserted that qualities of marriage play an important part in the development of parent-child relationships.