Older Adults' Acceptance of Information Technology

This study investigated variables contributing to older adults’ information technology acceptance through a survey, which was used to find factors explaining and predicting older adults’ information technology acceptance behaviors. Four factors, including needs satisfaction, perceived usability, support availability, and public acceptance, were found using factor analysis. According to older adults’ self-reported scores, the factors of needs satisfaction and support availability are relatively more important among the four factors. According to linear regression results, the factors of needs satisfaction and perceived usability are significantly related to use intention of information technology.     

Future Selves and Aging: Older Adults' Memory Fears

ABSTRACT

Thoughts about the self in the future, called possible selves, are an important component of the current identity of individuals. This study specifically focused on possible selves in the domain of memory and cognition. Both older and younger groups spontaneously reported possible selves in the cognitive domain, e.g., “learning a new skill,” but younger adults did not spontaneously mention any memory-related possible selves. In contrast, almost 1/3 of our well-educated older adults reported possible selves related to memory—and nearly half had memory or cognitive concerns. Furthermore, every older adult who spontaneously listed a memory self also selected this as his or her “most dreaded” feared self. These people reported engaging in physical and mental exercise to try to prevent this feared self from materializing. Although fears about cognition and memory are important in the self-concept of well-educated older adults, these individuals also appear to have a proactive approach to dealing with such fears.     

Young and Older Adults' Reading of Distracters

We used eye-tracking technology to examine young and older adults' performance in the reading with distraction paradigm. One-, 2- and 4-word distracters that formed meaningful phrases were used. There were marked age differences in fixation patterns. Young adults' fixations to the distracters and targets increased with distracter length, suggesting that they were attempting to integrate the distracters with the sentence and had more and more difficulty doing so as the distracters increased in length. Young adults did have better comprehension of the sentences than older adults and also better recognition memory for target words and distracters.     

Young and Older Adults' Reading of Distracters

Eye-tracking technology was employed to examine young and older adults' performance in the reading with distraction paradigm. Distracters of 1, 2, and 4 words that formed meaningful phrases were used. There were marked age differences in fixation patterns. Young adults' fixations to the distracters and targets increased with distracter length. This suggests that they were attempting to integrate the distracters with the sentence and had more and more difficulty doing so as the distracters increased in length. Young adults did have better comprehension of the sentences than older adults, and they also had better recognition memory for target words and distracters.     

Pro-Nets Versus No-Nets: Differences in Urban Older Adults' Predilections for Internet Use

Enthusiasm for information technology (IT) is growing among older adults. Many older adults enjoy IT and the Internet (Pro-Nets), but others have no desire to use it (No-Nets). This study found that Pro-Nets and No-Nets were different on a number of variables that might predict IT use. No-Nets were older, had less education and income, were retired, in poor health, and less active than Pro-Nets. No-Nets potentially have the most to gain from access to—and training inusing—the Internet as a health management tool. Further research with this population could inform the development of health-related web based interventions.     

Understanding and Changing Older Adults' Perceptions and Learning of Social Media

An exploratory study was conducted to answer the following questions: What are older adults' perceptions of social media? What educational strategies can facilitate their learning of social media? A thematic map was developed to illustrate changing perceptions from the initial unanimous, strong negative to the more positive but cautious and to the eventual willingness to actually contribute content. Privacy was the primary concern and key perceptual barrier to adoption. Effective educational strategies were developed to overcome privacy concerns, including: 1) introducing the concepts before introducing the functions; 2) responding to privacy concerns; and 3) making social media personally relevant.     

Measuring Older Adults' Abuse: Evaluation of Formative Indicators to Promote Brevity

Some literature on elder abuse recommends, and practitioners claim, that there should be better assessment and screening tools. In order to improve the accuracy of measurement instruments, the purpose of this article is threefold: (a) describing the construction of an instrument with formative indicators and the survey design about the sensitive topic of elder abuse, (b) development of an analytic strategy to improve the precision of the measures by (c) evaluating the measurement instrument through quality criteria against outcomes of the instrument. We randomly selected 2,880 home-dwelling older women aged 60 and above from five European Union countries who participated in a survey on elder abuse. Prevalence data on abuse against older women was gathered using a postal (BE, FI, PT), face-to-face (BE, LT), and telephone survey (AT) but using an identical instrument. A table with outcome measures was calculated to evaluate the formative indicators of the measurement instrument, and a decision strategy for item reduction was developed. The results suggest that 12 (35%) of the original 34-indicators instrument can be omitted. The adapted version can provide the same elder abuse prevalence rates (reliability) with the same negative associations in terms of life quality (validity). The results indicate in an applied way how an elder abuse instrument can be evaluated and further developed using formative measures.     

Memory Aging Knowledge and Memory Self-Appraisal in Younger and Older Adults

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among memory aging knowledge and memory self-appraisal in college students and community-dwelling older adults. Participants completed the Knowledge of Memory Aging Questionnaire ([KMAQ] Cherry, Brigman, Hawley, & Reese, 2003 Cherry , K. E. , Brigman , S. , Hawley , K. S. , & Reese , C. M. ( 2003 ). The knowledge of memory aging questionnaire: Effects of adding a ‘don't know’ response option . Educational Gerontology , 29 , 427 – 446 . doi: 10.1080/713844360 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Memory Functioning Questionnaire ([MFQ] Gilewski, Zelinski, & Schaie, 1990 Gilewski , M. J. , Zelinski , E. M. , & Schaie , K. ( 1990 ). The memory functioning questionnaire for assessment of memory complaints in adulthood and old age . Psychology and Aging , 5 , 482 – 490 . doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.5.4.482 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We hypothesized that poorer performance on the KMAQ stereotype scale, suggesting an ageist response bias, would be associated with more negative self-appraisals of memory. Results confirmed that responses on the KMAQ stereotype scale were significantly associated with responses on the MFQ Frequency of Forgetting scale and two shorter scales derived from the full MFQ, the memory self-efficacy scale (Zelinski & Gilewski, 2004 Zelinski , E. M. , & Gilewski , M. J. ( 2004 ). A 10-item Rasch modeled memory self-efficacy scale . Aging & Mental Health , 8 , 293 – 306 . doi: 10.1080/13607860410001709665 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and a revised Seriousness of Forgetting scale after controlling for age and educational level. Implications of these findings for the development of instructional materials to improve memory aging knowledge and memory self-appraisal in adulthood are discussed.     

信息化时代成人自主学习策略建构管窥

信息化时代呼唤自主学习方式。成人教学有必要建构以下相应的自主学习策略:发挥成人自主学习优势,激发他们开展自主学习的意识;突出成人学生的主体地位,提高他们的课堂参与度;尊重成人学习者人格,营造融洽的情感氛围;关注个性差异,促进成人自主学习的个性发展;利用多媒体和网络信息技术,创造良好的成人自主学习环境。     

Not May Not be Too Difficult: The Effects of Negation on Older Adults' Sentence Comprehension

The present research investigated the effects of negation on young and older adults' comprehension of sentences. Participants read sentences, named probe words, answered comprehension questions, and completed the operation-span test. Negation adversely affected comprehension in both age groups such that probe word naming times were marginally slower and comprehension accuracy was reduced for negative sentences. Although older adults' comprehension overall was poorer than young adults, the negation effects were similar for both age groups. Furthermore, age was less predictive of negation comprehension than working memory. Unlike other variables that demonstrate age-related declines in reading comprehension, difficulties in processing negation may not increase with age.     

Very Long-Term Memory for Information Taught in School

Students who completed a Child Development course (N = 1168) from 3 to 16 years prior to retention testing were tested for recognition and recall of facts and application of mental skills. Students who subsequently served as course tutors were also tested for retention. Fact retention was superior to application retention and retention for both question types declined rapidly from year 3 to year 7 after which it stabilized. Recognition items were superior to recall items for high achieving students only. Tutors retained more than non-tutors for eight years after which there were no differences.     

Preschoolers' Attention to and Memory for Attachment-Relevant Information

This study examined the relation between attachment quality in infancy and attention and memory at 3¹/₂ years. Sixty-eight children participated in 2 attention tasks and 1 memory task. In the first attention task, children were shown several sets of drawings; each set depicted a different mother-child dyad engaged in positive, negative, and neutral interaction. Insecure/avoidant children looked away from the drawings; more than the other children. In the second attention task, children were shown different sets of drawings; each set depicted a mother-child dyad engaged in positive interaction and an adult dyad expressing neutral affect. Insecure/avoidant and insecure/ambivalent children looked away from the mother-child drawings more than the secure children; when children did look at a drawing, insecure children were less likely than secure children to look at the mother-childdrawing. in the memory task, children were read 6 stories in which a mother responds to her child's bid for help. In 2 stories the mother responds sensitively to her child, in 2 stories the mother rejects her child, and in 2 stories the mother provides an exaggerated response to her child. Secure children recalled the responsive stories better than insecure/avoidant children and the rejecting stories better than the insecure/ambivalent children. Findings are discussed in terms of the proposition from attachment theory that attachment experiences influence attention and memory process.     

序列信息加工的工作记忆研究

关于工作记忆如何加工记忆客体的序列信息一直以来都是心理学研究的热点问题,研究者试图从人类认知和行为研究中寻找证据。就前人认为工作记忆中的客体及其序列信息是独立存储的实验证据进行讨论,进一步阐述工作记忆如何加工序列信息提出的多种理论模型,并就各种模型的优缺点做了进一步的分析。     

Achievement After Participation in a Preparatory Program for Verbally Talented Students

Good verbal skills are crucial for success in school and in many career fields. Project LIVE was a program of enrichment and acceleration focused on the development of verbal talent. It was implemented for 3 years with a group of middle-school students who indicated an above-grade-level reading proficiency and came from families having low-to-moderate income levels. Forty-five students participated in the program and received numerous educational services to improve their reading and writing skills. The students showed significant progress on English and/or reading subtests of the EXPLORE, the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT), and the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests. Higher parental expectations for children's academic achievement were another positive outcome of the program. More than two thirds of the students were placed in Honors English in their freshman year in high school, which was considerably higher than the percentage (47%) of high-school freshmen in Honors English in the school district where the majority of the students were from moderate- to high-income families.     

Long-Term Memory for Context-Specific Category Information at Six Months

The ability of 6-month-old infants to remember a functional category acquired in a specific context was assessed in 3 experiments via an operant procedure in which infants learned to perform a specific action (a footkick) to activate an object suspended before them. In Experiment 1, infants trained with different exemplars in the same context transferred responding to a novel exemplar in the same but not a different context 24 hours later. Experiment 2 revealed that infants' reactivated memory of category training remained intact and context-specific after 3 weeks. In Experiment 3, a novel category exemplar was able to reactivate the forgotten memory of category training only in the encoding context. At 6 months, information about the place where categories are constructed is prerequisite for retrieval of a category concept from long-term memory. This requirement insures that early category concepts remain stable over relatively long periods.     

医学信息工程专业发展及课程设置探讨

医学信息工程是以信息技术和医学为主的多学科交叉与融合的新兴综合性学科,但是目前不同学校的专业的课程设置不同,存在一定的分歧。本文分析了国内兄弟院校医学信息工程专业本科阶段开设的课程,提出了我校医学信息工程专业课程设置及人才培养方案。     

批判性思维与长时记忆信息提取

批判性思维对于学生培养各方面能力具有至关重要的作用,体现在纷繁复杂的学科知识面前如何有效地甄别知识、汲取知识、内化知识,提升认知能力。该文基于对批判性思维的探讨研究得出批判性思维对于促进长时记忆,有效地内化知识具有重要影响。文末对于教师如何培养学生批判性思维的教学策略上提出一些建议。     

城市记忆信息资源建设研究

对城市记忆信息资源的概念进行了界定,分析了城市记忆信息资源的特征、分布及类型,并从规划、选择与采集、数字化和共建共享四方面,论述了城市记忆信息资源建设的方法.     

智力落后者的记忆的信息加工研究

对智力落后者的瞬间记忆(VSIM)、初级记忆(PM)、二级记忆(SM)和三级记忆(TM)的研究表明，智力落后者的记忆加工在输入、储存和输出方面存在困难，而组织策略使用的缺乏也是导致其智力低下的一个因素。     

论城市记忆信息资源

在对城市记忆内涵、要素载体及特征进行分析的基础上,对城市记忆信息资源进行定义,并分析其特征、类型、分布、作用与价值。