Preference effects on acquisition and retention of concurrent discriminations by rhesus monkeys

Ten rhesus monkeys were trained on five tasks, each of which consisted of eight concurrently presented object discrimination problems. Sequences of presentation were devised to allow one, two, or three new tasks to intervene between acquisition and retention tests or to provide a 30-day period of no testing. Equivalent and proficient performances were obtained in all retention tests, and no relationship was observed between retention and the initial preference characteristics of various objects. Object pReferences did produce significant influences upon acquisition, but these effects were not as pronounced in early tasks as in later ones. An additional retention test provided support for the contention that monkeys do not necessarily process information about specific object pair discriminations. Rather, they appeared to retain a list of previously rewarded objects even when object pairings were different from those provided during acquisition. Concurrent discriminations involving many distinct objects were resistant to interference and independent of preference characteristics over long retention periods.     

Age differences in the acquisition and retention of concurrent discriminations by monkeys

The performances of adult and aged macaque monkeys were compared on several tasks requiring acquisition and retention of concurrent object discriminations. Cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons between 11-year-old and over-20-year-old animals were conducted on the acquisition of several 16-problem concurrent tasks, and after 2 weeks, retention by the different age groups was also evaluated. Although the retention tests indicated no age-related impairment, acquisition tests showed that aged animals made reliably more errors-to-criterion than did adult animals. The relative contributions of intersession and intrasession improvement and preference phenomena were considered and contrasted to some previously reported age-specific outcomes. Although the present results affirmed the contention that old animals were selectively impaired on intersession task requirements, some earlier interpretations of preference effects were questioned. Old animals did not show a potentiation of specific object preferences; rather, they tended to be nonsystematic in maintaining their selection of initially preferred objects. Concurrent discrimination was indicated to be a behavioral measure that is, under appropriate circumstances, selectively sensitive to aging and may offer an appropriate comparative model of information-processing characteristics.     

Reading training by means of disappearing text: effects on reading performance and eye movements

The Reading Acceleration Program (RAP), which uses adaptively increasing text erasure rates to enforce reading rate improvements, has been positively evaluated in various languages, reader and age groups. The current study compared the established incremental increase of text erasure rate with a training using fixed erasure rates in two groups of young, non-impaired German adults. Eye-tracking measures prior and post training examined training-related changes of eye-movement patterns. Equal gains in reading performance in both training groups led to the conclusion that not the adaptive increase but already text erasure at fixed rates provides an economically efficient tool for the enhancement of reading rates. Furthermore, eye-tracking results suggest that text erasure training affects word processing not only at one specific level, but simultaneously at pre-lexical, lexical, and post-lexical stages. Although these outcomes are promising, further research is necessary to determine the optimal individual erasure rates that preserve good comprehension at varying levels of text difficulty and in different orthographies.     

Sources of errors by capuchin monkeys on delayed response

Six capuchin monkeys were trained on a series of indirect, delayed response problems with delay intervals ranging from 0 to 60 sec. Data were analyzed by sequential state theory in order to quantify random and nonrandom components of the subjects’ response sequences. A tendency of the subjects to repeat responses to the position chosen on the previous trial was a significant source of proactive interference even when effective orienting responses were elicited by the predelay cue. Changes in random and nonrandom response components with increasing delays suggested a two-phase process: the first for delays up to 7 sec characterized by increases in random and nonrandom error-producing responses, and the second for delays greater than 7 sec characterized by increases in random responding only.     

The effects of causality,response alternatives,and context continuity on hypothesis testing reasoning

Two selection hypothesis testing tasks and nine evaluation hypothesis testing tasks which varied systematically with respect to causality, response alternatives, and context continuity were administered to two samples of adults to determine the effects of those variables and to determine the degree to which subjects (Ss) reasoned with material conditional, material biconditional, partial, or partial plus biconditional connectives. On the causal selection task the majority of Ss responded “yes” to all four instances, while on the evaluation tasks all three variables were found to affect performance. Ss responded consistently with the material biconditional connective especially when the tasks called for them to state their expectations or were written with context continuity. Results were interpreted to support the hypothesis that hypothesis testing reasoning in causal contexts begins with the material biconditional connective and involves schemata of controlling variables, probability, and correlations. A strictly “logical” falsification strategy is not viewed as operative. Implications for teaching students how to effectively test hypotheses in science classes are discussed.     

Effects of interruption on eye movements and comprehension during reading on digital devices

The growing use of digital devices brings about interruptions during reading. The aim of the present study is to observe the consequences of an interruption on reading behavior and text comprehension when the information that is evaluated is the information that is being read at the time the interruption occurs. Eye movements (mean number of fixations, regressive fixations and mean fixation duration) were recorded while reading four long texts. Reading was interrupted by an arithmetic verification task either in the middle of a paragraph (intra-paragraph condition) or between two successive paragraphs (inter-paragraph condition). The analysis of the eye movements showed more rereading behaviors when an interruption occurred. The participants who understood the text best were also those who reread the most. The comprehension performances were not affected by the interruption, irrespective of its position (inter- or intra-paragraph). This preservation of performance is discussed in relation to LTWM theory.     

Teaching effectiveness as measured by student ratings and instructor self-evaluation

The present study is designed to evaluate teaching effectiveness based on effective teacher behaviors. Operationally, it is measured by assessing levels of agreement between perceptions of instructors and students on reported employment rates and rated ability for specific instructional behavior attributes. Individually-based and organizationally-based factors are incorporated in the study for a possible contribution to teaching effectiveness variance. Findings indicate a lack of agreement between perceptions on abstract instructional attributes but that agreement exists for attributes of a concrete nature. Analysis suggests that individually-based and organizationally-based factors do not contribute to agreement variance.     

The effect of inter-letter spacing on reading performance and eye movements in typically reading and dyslexic children

Recent studies have suggested that an increase of inter-letter spacing may improve reading performance of dyslexic readers by reducing visual crowding. However, these results have been difficult to replicate.This study directly compares reading accuracy and comprehension, as well as reading speed, and number and duration of fixations of 38 dyslexic and 32 typically reading children (10–14 years old) in regular, spaced (+2,5 pt), and condensed (−1,5 pt) conditions using a natural sentence-reading paradigm.Inter-letter spacing did not affect reading accuracy, comprehension, or speed. The lack of effects of inter-letter spacing was observed in both dyslexic and typical readers. Inter-letter spacing did not impact the number of fixations, but increased inter-letter spacing led to shorter fixations in dyslexic children. Decreased inter-letter spacing resulted in longer fixations in both groups.These results do not support the claim that dyslexics are more influenced by crowding than age-matched controls.     

The effects of instructional context and reasoning complexity on mathematics problem-solving

The focus of this study was on the effects of relevance in instructional context and reasoning complexity on mathematics problem-solving achievement, transfer, and attitude. Forty-six fifth graders participated in the five-day study. Students received either contextualized or decontextualized instruction involving either simple or complex reasoning. Two types of achievement questions were used, context-rich and context-poor, which required either single or multiple computational steps to solve. An interaction was found between complexity of treatment and complexity of questions. Students who studied simple problems in decontextualized contexts performed best on one-step questions, while students who studied complex problems in contextualized contexts performed best on multi-step questions (p = .003). A complexity effect was also found for student attitudes toward perceived lesson difficulty (p = .0001) as well as for perceived relevance of mathematics (p = .015). Students who studied simple problems perceived lesson difficulty and mathematics relevance more favorably than those who studied complex problems. These findings suggest that rich mathematical instructional contexts best support mathematics problem-solving, but simple, decontextualized instruction yields the most favorable attitudes.     

汉语二语语音韵律的听辨实验与教学研究

语音是语言学习的重点也是难点.海外的汉语语音教学,缺少现实的语言环境,学生们在规则指引下比较容易习得单字调,但是一旦进入语流,仍然普遍存在洋腔洋调的现象,这是教学中没有重视连续语流的韵律结构造成的.多数学者认为,在构成语音韵律的音长、音高、音强三要素中,音高是决定汉语语音自然度的主要因素.然而,我们通过对德国学生汉语发音的听辨实验发现,音长对于汉语语音的自然度同样重要,音长偏误也是产生洋腔洋调的主要原因之一.因此,对外汉语教学在训练单字调的同时,更要重视训练多音节词的音高与音长模式.本文结合第一作者在澳大利亚的对外汉语教学实践,提出了一些行之有效的语音教学方法.     

Interaction between television and child-related characteristics as demonstrated by eye movement research

Do field independent individuals and good readers exhibit more proficient scanning strategies than field dependents and poor readers? This study sought to answer those questions as well as to determine whether a dynamic rather than a static presentation leads to better scanning techniques. Measurements of the eye movements of third grade chi Idren as they viewed segments of The Electric Company television program were analyzed in terms of time taken to orient to target, percentage of fixations on target, percentage of time on target, direction of attack, and duration of fixation on target.     

Metacognitive awareness as measured by second-order judgements among university and secondary school students

Metacognition and Learning - When compared to high performers, low performers generally have more difficulty to accurately estimate their own performance. This has been explained by low performers...     

Lexical and sub-lexical effects on accuracy, reaction time and response duration: impaired and typical word and pseudoword reading in a transparent orthography

In an opaque orthography like English, phonological coding errors are a prominent feature of dyslexia. In a transparent orthography like Spanish, reading difficulties are characterized by slower reading speed rather than reduced accuracy. In previous research, the reading speed deficit was revealed by asking children to read lists of words. However, speed in list reading sums the time required to prepare an utterance, reaction time (RT), with the time required to say it, response duration (RD). Thus, the dyslexic speed deficit in transparent orthographies could be driven by slow RTs, by slow RDs, or both. The distinction is especially important if developmental readers rely on phonological coding to achieve lexical access because the whole word would have to be encoded before it could be identified. However, while the factors that affect reading RT have been extensively investigated, no attention has been paid to RD. We studied the performance of typically developing and dyslexic Spanish children in an oral reading task. We analysed the impact of word frequency and length on reading accuracy, RT, and RD. We found that accuracy, RT, and RD were affected by word frequency and length for both control and dyslexic readers. We also observed interactions between effects of reader group—dyslexic, typically developing (TD) younger or TD older readers—and effects of lexicality, frequency, and word length. Our results show that children are capable of reading aloud using lexical and sub-lexical coding processes in a transparent orthography.     

Effects of training on New Zealand school counselors as measured by the Personal Orientation Inventory

The Personal Orientation Inventory was administered before and after training to four groups undergoing postgraduate training in school counseling (n = 11, and n = 12) and high school teaching (n = 9, and n = 9). Both groups of counselors increased their scores during training on the Time Competence and Inner-Directed scales, but the changes were significant with the latter scale only. Testing the counselors one year after the completion of the formal coursework revealed that the significant gains on the Inner-Directed scale persisted. Neither of the groups of teachers increased their scores on either of the scales following training. It is argued that the critical difference between the training of the teachers and the counselors was the latter's extensive involvement in a training group, and it is tentatively postulated that this experience was a cause of the gains in scores over time.     

The peer group as a context: mediating and moderating effects on relations between academic achievement and social functioning in Chinese children

The purpose of the study was to examine, in a large sample of Chinese children and adolescents at 9, 13, and 16 years of age, the contextual effects of the peer group on relations between academic achievement and social functioning. Data on informal peer groups, social functioning and academic achievement were collected from multiple sources. It was found that peer groups were highly homogenous on academic achievement. Hierarchical linear modeling analysis revealed that academic achievement and social adjustment were associated at both the within-group individual level and the group level. Moreover, group academic performance moderated the relations between academic achievement and social adjustment such as peer acceptance, social competence, and leadership, suggesting that individual-level relations might be enhanced or exacerbated by group academic norms.     

The peer group as a context: moderating effects on relations between maternal parenting and social and school adjustment in chinese children

This 2-year longitudinal study examined, in a sample of Chinese children (initial M age = 11 years), the moderating effects of the peer group on relations between maternal supportive parenting and social and school adjustment. Data were collected from multiple sources including peer assessments, teacher ratings, school records, and maternal reports. It was found that whereas group prosocial-cooperative functioning strengthened the role of supportive parenting in helping children develop social and school competence, group antisocial-destructive functioning undermined the contributions of supportive parenting to children's social and academic achievement. The results indicated the significance of the peer group as a social context for socialization and development in Chinese children.