The stability of visual habituation during the first year of life

The short-term reliability and long-term stability of visual habituation and dishabituation in infancy were assessed in a sample of 186 infants from 4 age groups (3-, 4-, 7-, and 9-month-olds) seen for 2 within-age sessions and in a sample of 69 infants seen longitudinally at 3, 4, 7, and 9 months of age. Moderate week-to-week reliability (r's = .30-.50) was observed for duration-based and magnitude of habituation variables at all ages, although better reliability was evident at 4 and 9 months than at 3 and 7 months. In most cases, the reliability of habituation magnitude measures was attributable to the reliability of the peak fixation alone. Data from the longitudinal sample suggested that only the duration of peak fixation was consistently stable across the ages tested, although stability for several measures emerged across the 7-9-month testing. No consistent reliability or stability emerged for the presence or magnitude of dishabituation in either sample.     

A longitudinal study in learning preferences and academic performance in first year medical school

This is a longitudinal study of first year medical students that investigates the relationship between the pattern change of the learning preferences and academic performance. Using the visual, auditory, reading‐writing, and kinesthetic inventory at the beginning of the first and second year for the same class, it was found that within the first year, 36% of the class remained unimodal (single) modality learners (SS), 14% changed from unimodal to multimodality learners (SM), 27% changed from multimodality to unimodal modality learners (MS) and 21% remained as multimodality learners (MM). Among the academic performance through subsequent didactic blocks from Clinical Anatomy, Cell and Subcellular Processes to Medical Neuroscience during first year, the SM group made more significant improvement compared to the SS group. Semi‐structured interview results from the SM group showed that students made this transition between the Clinical Anatomy course and the middle of the Medical Neuroscience course, in an effort to improve their performance. This study suggests that the transition from unimodal to multimodality learning among academically struggling students improved their academic performance in the first year of medical school. Therefore, this may be considered as part of academic advising tools for struggling students to improve their academic performances. Anat Sci Educ 11: 488–495. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

The development of visual expectations in the first year

The development of expectations was investigated by using the Visual Expectations Procedure. In Experiment 1, 128 infants aged 6-, 9-, and 12-months-old saw two 40-trial sequences of a videotaped mechanical toy appearing in various locations. The sequences represented an alternation pattern (i.e., ABAB) or a complex pivot pattern (i.e., ABCBABCB). In Experiment 2, 76 infants aged 4-, 8-, and 12-months-old saw either a left-right alternation or a top-bottom alternation. Reaction time improved and the percentage of anticipations increased between 6 and 9 months in Experiment 1 and between 4 and 8 months in Experiment 2 but not thereafter. Anticipations for the pivot sequence and for younger infants on both sequences were often incorrect (i.e., gaze shifts occurred before stimulus onset but were not directed toward the upcoming stimulus). We conclude that young infants have expectations that reflect some degree of general or procedural knowledge, but it is not clear that this behavior implies specific, articulated expectations about upcoming events.     

Speech perception in infancy predicts language development in the second year of life: a longitudinal study

Infants' early phonetic perception is hypothesized to play an important role in language development. Previous studies have not assessed this potential link in the first 2 years of life. In this study, speech discrimination was measured in 6-month-old infants using a conditioned head-turn task. At 13, 16, and 24 months of age, language development was assessed in these same children using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory. Results demonstrated significant correlations between speech perception at 6 months of age and later language (word understanding, word production, phrase understanding). The finding that speech perception performance at 6 months predicts language at 2 years supports the idea that phonetic perception may play an important role in language acquisition.     

Reciprocity between infants and cargivers during the first year of life

Infants interact reciprocally with their caregivers from the moment of birth. The actions of one affect the other in a manner that resembles an intricate dance. The article proposes a sociocultural model of reciprocity that focuses on the interdependent relationship between infants and their caregivers. Relevant variables include the age, sex, developmental history, and behavioral style of the infant and the caregiver's knowledge of infants' development, level of experience and education, disciplinary style, and temperament. Further, the influence of families and cultural expectations on caregiving practices are discussed within the framework of the model. After a review of the literature, selected activities are suggested to promote infants' interaction with their social world.     

Nonmaternal care in the first year of life and the security of infant-parent attachment

Evidence from 2 longitudinal studies of infant and family development was combined and examined in order to determine if experience of extensive nonmaternal care in the first year is associated with heightened risk of insecure infant-mother attachment and, in the case of sons, insecure infant-father attachment. Analysis of data obtained during Strange Situation assessments conducted when infants were 12 and 13 months of age revealed that infants exposed to 20 or more hours of care per week displayed more avoidance of mother on reunion and were more likely to be classified as insecurely attached to her than infants with less than 20 hours of care per week. Sons whose mothers were employed on a full-time basis (greater than 35 hours per week) were more likely to be classified as insecure in their attachments to their fathers than all other boys, and, as a result, sons with 20 or more hours of nonmaternal care per week were more likely to be insecurely attached to both parents and less likely to be securely attached to both parents than other boys. A secondary analysis of infants with extensive care experience who did and did not develop insecure attachment relationships with their mothers highlights several conditions under which the risk of insecurity is elevated or reduced. Both sets of findings are considered in terms of other research and the context in which infant day-care is currently experienced in the United States.     

例谈数学期望在生活中的应用

数学期望是随机变量的重要数字特征之一,文章解析了数学期望在日常生活中的应用,如求职决策问题,投资问题,彩票问题等,从而不断激发学生学习数学的积极性和主动性,让学生在兴趣中学习探索,并应用于生活,让数学改变生活。     

The emergence of gestures in the first year of life in the Infant School classroom

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The psychological literature on the development of gestures during the first year of life has been limited. It has mainly focused on the development of...     

A qualitative review of study behaviour before and during the first year of engineering studies

A review of the study behaviour of first-year Engineering students was undertaken in order to investigate two sets of influencing factors. The first part of the study reviewed these students' selfreported retrospective study behaviour in the context of secondary school Science, while the second part focused on their approaches to the study of Applied Mechanics as a core undergraduate degree course. Utilising qualitative interview data as the source of evidence, the study highlights the following important conclusions: (1) some traditional first-year students embark on their studies as much at risk academically as their nontradition counterparts; (2) many first-year Engineering students encounter workload pressures which lead to their adopting increasingly strategic approaches to their studies in individual courses; (3) the complex, qualitatively different learning needs of these students make it exceedingly difficult to design teaching programmes which will appropriately address these learning needs. The study suggests that these conclusions cannot, in spite of these difficulties, simply be ignored in the hope that they will resolve themselves.     

A reciprocal model of achievement goals and learning related emotions in the first year of undergraduate study

The control-value theory of achievement emotions proposes a bidirectional relationship between learning-related emotions and achievement goals. Studies to date, however, have only provided evidence that achievement goals predict future learning-related emotions. In this study we examined the reciprocal relations between learning-related emotions and achievement goals in 434 undergraduate students in their first year of academic study. Data were collected in three waves: near the beginning of the first and second semesters of first year study and lastly near the beginning of the first semester of the second year. Reciprocal effects were found between mastery goals and both activity- and outcome-focused emotions, whereas reciprocal effects for performance goals were only shown with outcome focused emotions. These were not always present between both first and second, and between the second and third waves of measurement, which may be related to the first year undergraduate context. Our models also demonstrated stability in achievement goals and learning-related emotions between waves of measurement, which tended to be lower between the first and third points of data collection. These findings provide support for the relations between learning-related emotions and achievement goals proposed in control-value theory and that mastery goals are not solely related to activity-focused emotions.     

The timing of a time out: the gap year in life course context

Based on biographical interviews from a three-generation study in Norway, this article examines the place of the contemporary ‘gap year’ within life course transition trajectories and intergenerational relations embedded in wider patterns of social inequality. Under the heading of taking a gap year, young people on academic transition trajectories are often granted a time out after upper secondary, during which they can recuperate from competitive school experiences and resolve uncertainties about which type of higher education to pursue. For those following vocational transition trajectories, in contrast, a gap year appears irrelevant and out of the question. The timing of their educational decisions in the life course does not coincide with arrangements for a legitimate break. Whereas a gap year before university may be seen as understandable and even beneficial, a person taking a break before or during vocational education is more likely to be described as a ‘dropout’ or an ‘early school leaver’. Based on empirical analysis, the article discusses similarities and differences between contemporary gap years in Norway and what Erik Erikson described as the institutional moratorium. Young people’s access to the moratorium of a gap year appears to be a privilege unequally distributed in the population.     

初一是培养良好班风和学风的最佳时机

思想教育是一门精妙无穷的育人科学 ,进行思想教育 ,有时需要争分夺秒 ,刻不容缓 ;有时可以节奏舒缓 ,耐心等待 ;有的问题则需具备战略眼光 ,从宏观和微观上把握学生思想变化 ,从而抓住进行教育的有利时机。从初中三年的整体来看 ,小学升入初中 ,是中学生道路上的关键一步 ,是中学思想教育的最佳时机。初一年级的新生 ,一般来自不同的学校。即使毕业于同一学校的初一新生 ,也来自不同的小学教学班。新学期 ,新同学 ,新老师 ,新环境。新 ,使人产生一种既神秘又充满希望的令人激动的感情 ,具有不同思想和学习层次的学生 ,在新的环境中会有新的…     

Preterm infant interaction with the caregiver in the first year of life and competence at age two.

Caregiver-infant interactions were studied for 50 preterm infants and their primary caregivers. Naturalistic observations in the home were made when the infants were 1, 3, and 8 months of age. The social transactions in the first year were related to competence at age 2, thereby extending a previous report showing a moderate association between caregiver-infant interaction and competence at 9 months. The frequency of early social transactions was predictive of the infant's competence at age 2 on the Gesell Developmental Schedules, a sensorimotor scale, a measure of receptive language, and the Bayley Mental Scale. Early social transactions were as predictive of 2-year competence as were caregiver-child transactions at age 2. The study suggests that social transactions as early as 1 month reflect some quality of the relationship between the caregiver and the infant that is important to the child's later mental performance.     

A longitudinal study on the stability over time of school and teacher effects on student outcomes

This paper reviews educational effectiveness theory, concentrating on the time stability of the teacher and school effect. The contribution of longitudinal studies investigating the long‐term effect of schools and teachers to modelling educational effectiveness is discussed. Findings of a longitudinal study on the progress of students (N=1681) in mathematics during their first four years at the primary school are presented. Results of this study reveal that traditional approaches of measuring educational effectiveness tend to overestimate the short‐term effects of teachers and student background factors and underestimate the long‐term effects of teachers and schools. Implications of findings for the theory of educational effectiveness and especially for the concepts of teacher and school effects and their stability are drawn. Finally, suggestions for establishing evaluation mechanisms to improve practice are provided.     

The interplay between input and initial biases: asymmetries in vowel perception during the first year of life

Vowels with extreme articulatory-acoustic properties act as natural referents. Infant perceptual asymmetries point to an underlying bias favoring these referent vowels. However, as language experience is gathered, distributional frequency of speech sounds could modify this initial bias. The perception of the /i/-/e/ contrast was explored in 144 Catalan- and Spanish-learning infants (2 languages with a different distribution of vowel frequency of occurrence) at 4, 6, and 12 months. The results confirmed an acoustic bias at 4 and 6 months in all infants. However, at 12 months, discrimination was not affected by the acoustic bias but by the frequency of occurrence of the vowel.     

培训师期待“年富力强派”

培训师大概是当今最风光的职业之一:论待遇,他们讲一个小时课的报酬动辄上千;论身份,他们要么是来自名校的教授,要么身兼大公司里的高层管理职位,分别作为"学院派"和"实战派"在管理培训市场中各领风骚。从受训者的立场来看,究竟哪一派更受追捧呢?