Further studies of pigeons’ spatial working memory in the open-field task

In Experiments 1 and 2, pigeons’ spatial working memory in an open-field setting was examined under conditions that differed in terms of working-memory load (number of sites visited prior to a retention test) at various delays between initial choices and the retention test. In Experiment 1, pigeons were tested under two conditions of memory load (three or five sites visited prior to the delay) and two delay intervals (15 and 60 min). Accuracy declined as a function of delay but was not affected significantly by memory load. In Experiment 2A, pigeons were tested under three conditions of memory load (two, four, or six sites visited prior to the delay). In separate phases, the delay was 2, 15, and 60 min. Accuracy was not affected by memory load in any of these phases. In Experiment 2B, three conditions of memory load (two, four, or six sites visited prior to the delay) were tested at two delays (2 and 60 min) within a test phase. Accuracy declined with increasing delay, but memory load again had no significant effects. These results are inconsistent with previous suggestions that pigeons’ retention of spatial information may decline as working-memory load is increased. In Experiment 3, cue-manipulation tests confirmed that pigeons’ choice behavior in the open-field task is controlled by memory for previously visitad room locations.     

Sample duration and type of stimuli in delayed matching-to-sample in rhesus monkeys

Two experiments were performed to determine the effect of sample duration (0.1, 2, and 4 sec), delay interval (.03, 4, 8, 16, and 32 sec), and type of stimulus (color and shape) on the matching performance of rhesus monkeys. In Experiment 1, the 15 possible delay-duration combinations were randomly presented in blocks of 15 trials. In Experiment 2, each duration was held constant and the five delays randomly presented. Then each delay interval was held constant with the three durations randomly varied. Matching performance increased as sample duration increased (ps < .01 and .005), while length of delay did not significantly affect performance. The type of stimuli paired in the matching test significantly affected performance (ps < .05 and .10) with the shape/shape choices leading to the poorest performance. Stimulus discriminability and amount of training with brief sample durations were implicated as significant determinants of matching performance.     

The Effects of an Age‐appropriate Intervention on Young Children's Understanding of Inheritance

ABSTRACT The present study explored 4(N = 22) and 7‐year‐olds’ (N = 24) under‐Standing of biological inheritance in cows and horses. An intervention technique adapted from Springer (1995) in which children are taught the basic facts of intrauterine development and birth, in story form, was used in an attempt to improve children's conceptual understanding of inheritance. All children were pre‐tested about inheritance and subsequently half were trained using the intervention (the others were controls). All children were post‐tested within a week of pre‐test, and about 4 weeks later completed delayed post‐tests. Results showed that at pre‐test there were significant age differences in both judgements and explanations of inheritance with 7‐year‐olds exhibiting more sophisticated biological reasoning. Surprisingly, there were no significant improvements for either age in judgements or explanations of inheritance as a function of the intervention at post‐test or delayed post‐test. The findings are discussed with reference to theoretical issues surrounding children's theory of inheritance and the implications for training studies.     

Study Skills for FE Teachers

This article reports the key findings of a project commissioned in 2005 by the UK Department for Education and Skills to consider the use of synchronous digital video for observation, feedback and assessment of teaching practice in post‐compulsory education and training. A protocol for the remote observation of teaching is presented that was developed after consultation with teachers and observers. Twenty‐five lessons were observed, in real time, and judgements of in‐class and online observers compared. The study demonstrated that, in the conditions tested, synchronous digital observation was a viable alternative to face‐to‐face observation for assessment and feedback on teaching performance.     

The Eyes Know Time: A Novel Paradigm to Reveal the Development of Temporal Memory

Temporal memory in 7‐year‐olds, 10‐year‐olds, and young adults (N = 78) was examined introducing a novel eye‐movement paradigm. Participants learned object sequences and were tested under three conditions: temporal order, temporal context, and recognition. Age‐related improvements in accuracy were found across conditions; accuracy in the temporal conditions was correlated with conventional time knowledge. Eye movements tracked the veridicality of temporal order memory in adults and 10‐year‐olds seconds before providing memory judgments, suggesting that these movements reflect implicit access to temporal information. Seven‐year‐olds overall did not show this eye‐movement effect, but those who did were more accurate than those who did not. Results suggest that eye movements capture aspects of temporal memory development that precede overt decision processes—with implications for hippocampal development.     

Spatial matching and nonmatching in male and female Wistar rats: Effects of delay-interval duration

Male and female Wistar rats were trained in a delayed matching-to-position procedure in which one of the two levers (sample) was presented. Pressing this lever resulted in its retraction and began a delay interval of random variable duration, which terminated with the occurrence of the first nose poke in the pellet retrieval unit after the delay interval had expired. Both levers were then inserted into the chamber, and food became available when the subject pressed the lever that had previously been pressed (matching response). When the subject failed to make a matching response, time out (5 sec) was presented. In the next experimental condition, nonmatching was reinforced. Males and females required an equal number of trials to attain 80% accuracy during three consecutive sessions under matching and nonmatching conditions. Response accuracy decreased as the delay interval increased, during both conditions. Differences between the sexes were not observed, suggesting that memory functions in male and female rats may only differ when other behavioral differences between the sexes are allowed to interfere with the assessment of memory functioning.     

Pigeons’ memory for event duration: Intertrial interval and delay effects

The effects of within-session variations in the intertriai interval (ITI) and delay on pigeons’ memory for event duration were studied in delayed symbolic matching-to-sample tasks. Pigeons were trained to peck one color following a long (8 sec) sample and another color following a short (2 sec) sample. In the first three experiments, the baseline conditions included a 10-sec delay (retention interval) and a 45-sec ITI. During testing, the delay was varied from 0 to 20 sec, and the ITI that preceded the trial was varied from 5 to 90 sec. When the ITI and delay were manipulated separately (Experiments 1 and 2), the pigeons displayed a choose-short tendency when the delay was longer than 10 sec or when the ITI was longer than 45 sec, and a choose-long tendency when either the delay or the ITI was shorter than these baseline values. These effects occurred whether the sample was food access or light. When the ITI and delay were manipulated together, the pigeons showed a large choose-long error tendency when the short delay was tested together with a short ITI, and no systematic error tendency when the short delay was tested together with a longer ITI. A very large choose-short error tendency emerged on trials with a long delay and a long ITI; a reduced choose-short tendency was present when the long delay was presented together with a short ITI. In Experiment 4, the baseline conditions were a 0-sec delay and a 45-sec ITI. In this case variations in the ITI had a smaller and unidirectional effect: the pigeons showed a choose-long error tendency when the ITI was decreased, but no effect of ITI increases. Two hypotheses were proposed and discussed: (1) that pigeons judge sample durations relative to a background time composed of the ITI and delay, and (2) that the delay and ITI effects might arise from a combination of subjective shortening and proactive effects of samples from previous trials.     

The Influence of Number‐sense on Children's Ability to Estimate Measures

This study aimed at clarifying the relative developmental influences of age, number‐sense and context on primary school children's ability to estimate measures. Children (6‐11 years) were first assessed on three aspects of number‐sense (mental computation, understanding of relative number magnitude and understanding of relations between numbers) and were then assessed on their estimation of length and area within each of two task contexts (a ‘story’ frame and a ‘textbook’ frame). While number‐sense was found to improve with age, estimation did not. However, an ability to use and perceive number relations, together with an understanding of the relative magnitudes of larger numbers, were found to influence children's ability to estimate area. Children of all ages were also found to estimate more accurately in the ‘textbook’ context than in the ‘story’ context. These findings are discussed with reference to the notion of estimation as a situated activity     

Effects of problem solving after worked example study on secondary school children’s monitoring accuracy

Monitoring accuracy, measured by judgements of learning (JOLs), has generally been found to be low to moderate, with students often displaying overconfidence, and JOLs of problem solving are no exception. Recently, primary school children’s overconfidence was shown to diminish when they practised problem solving after studying worked examples. The current study aimed to extend this research by investigating whether practising problem solving after worked example study would also improve JOL accuracy in secondary education. Adolescents of 14–15 years old (N = 143) were randomly assigned to one of five conditions that differed in timing of JOLs, whether practice problems were provided, and timing of the practice problems provided: (1) worked examples – JOL, (2) worked examples – delay – JOL, (3) worked examples – practice problems – JOL, (4) worked examples – practice problems – delay – JOL or (5) worked examples – delay – practice problems – JOLs. Results showed that practice problems improved absolute accuracy of JOLs as well as regulation accuracy. No differences in final test performance were found.     

The Effectiveness of an Instructional Videotape and Computer Presented Activities on Pre‐reading Skills with Three‐year‐old Children

An instructional videotape designed to improve visual discrimination in three‐year‐old children was produced to be used in conjunction with computer‐presented reading‐readiness activities. The videotape comprised four instructional sequences: discrimination of simple geometric shapes, pairs of houses, matchstick‐men, and biscuits baked in the shape of a man and a dog. There were three treatment conditions: (1) the computer activities alone, (2) video presentation without discussion and the computer activities, and (3) video presentation with group discussion of the contents and the computer‐presented activities. The performance of all groups was measured in terms of their scores on the 50 computer‐presented activities. The effectiveness of the instructional videotape was evaluated in terms of its ability to increase the performance of children on the computer‐presented activities. The results indicated that the performance increased from conditions one to three and hence that an instructional videotape can be effectively used with young children     

Physiotherapy Student Clinical Education: the influence of subjective judgements on observational assessment

The process of assessing students on clinical placements has to date been under‐researched. In particular, while the involvement of subjective judgements in assessing students has been discussed in the literature, there has been no attempt to look for systematic evidence. This paper comprises the first attempt to relate judgement theory to the assessment of vocational education. Preliminary results demonstrate that physiotherapy assessors made subjective judgements of their students, that these contributed to the determination of assessment grades, and that in certain cases these judgements were erroneous. The relationship of these subjective judgements to the awarding of grades via a supposedly objective assessment instrument is not yet known. Given the widespread use of such assessment instruments across different professions, the question raised is whether all observational assessment systems suffer from similar problems. If students are being judged on criteria not included on assessment instruments, perhaps the other criteria being used need to be made more explicit.     

REMEMBERING TELEVISED NEWS:EFFECTS OF VISUAL FORMAT ON INFORMATION GAIN

Nine television news stories were presented to 60 college students under three different visual format treatment conditions: newscaster‐only presentation, newscaster‐plus‐film or newscaster‐plus‐stills. Detailed information gain from the news stories was tested using a 27‐item multiple‐choice questionnaire which was administered immediately after viewing. It was found that overall learning was slightly, though not significantly, poorer from stories accompanied by picture materials than from those presented by the newscaster alone. It is suggested that news editors assumptions about the effects of pictorial material upon news impact may be only partially correct.     

Transforming Feedback: An Application Framework for Group Feedback Videos in Design

This article presents the development and application of group feedback videos (GFVs) in design education. A case study shows how visually‐rich GFVs were developed in a practice‐based design studio subject where learners were required to work in teams and independently calibrate an ability to form judgements on the qualities of their own work. Breaking away from traditional models of individual written feedback, students were instead provided with holistic reviews of project outcomes in a GFV format. Assessment examples were presented from across the cohort with the goal of encouraging open discussion and self‐reflection on studio practice. GFVs supported learning processes through three key characteristics: information richness, group learning and sharing, and formative engagement. What differentiated this approach from previous studies was the focus on audio‐visual group delivery to enhance feedback's richness. By replicating an in‐class group critique session, GFVs allowed commonly summative assessment stages to be seen as formative. This study contributes to existing literature through an application framework that may be used by design educators who are seeking to implement GFV methods within their own studio teaching practice.     

Children's Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour,as Perceived by Children,Parents and Teachers

Within the context of a widespread concern with children's antisocial behaviour, especially bullying, the development of ‘whole‐school’ policies on bullying, and also recent national guidelines which emphasise the importance of fostering children's prosocial behaviours, this research examines the extent to which children, parents and teachers exhibit within‐ and between‐group consensus, both in their perceptions and relative judgements of different forms of child prosocial and antisocial behaviours, and in their responses to such behaviours. Less consensus was found in judgements of prosodal than of antisocial behaviours, both within and between groups, and significant between‐group differences are discussed in the context of the teaching of social behaviour.     

Identification of children at risk of dyslexia: the validity of teacher judgements using ‘Phonic Phases’

We report an investigation of the validity of teachers' ratings of children's progress in ‘phonics’ as a screener for dyslexia. Seventy‐three 6‐year‐olds from a whole school population were identified as ‘at risk’ of dyslexia according to teacher judgements of slow progression through phonic phases. Six months later, children's attainments in literacy and phonological skills were compared with those of their typically developing peers matched on age and gender. Teacher assessments of risk were related to individual differences in performance on a standardised test of reading ability. Teacher assessments overestimated ‘risk of dyslexia’, defined as below‐average reading performance. However, teacher judgements, supplemented by tests of phoneme awareness and rapid naming, allowed a sensitive and specific identification of children who subsequently experienced reading difficulties. These findings show teachers can identify risk of dyslexia; the accuracy of this process can be improved by administering two tests of phonological skills.     

Children's memory for phonemically confusable and nonconfusable letters: changes with age and reading ability

This experiment focused on differences that occur with age and reading skill in the use of phonemic codes in short-term retention tasks where stimuli were presented visually. In 1 condition, individuals recalled 6-letter strings composed of rhyming and nonrhyming letters after a 15-sec delay under conditions that permitted phonemic coding and rehearsal. 2 other conditions were designed to suppress (a) rehearsal of certain types of phonemic codes in the delay interval and (b) both phonemic coding at stimulus presentation and rehearsal. Subjects were grade 2 average readers matched in reading skill with grade 4 disabled readers, grade 4 average matched with grade 6 disabled, and grade 6 average matched with grade 4 superior readers. Average readers showed a decrease in errors with age in all 3 conditions, although performance was always better in the nonsuppression condition. In the latter, memory for nonrhyming letters was always better than memory for rhyming letters. Differential use of phonemic codes by good and poor readers in grades 4 and 6 was less than that found in previous research with younger children. Finally, by comparing the performances of grade 2 average with grade 4 disabled readers and grade 4 average with grade 6 disabled readers, the developmental lag hypothesis of reading disability was examined. Problems with testing the hypothesis are discussed.     

Teachers’ perceptions of play fighting and real fighting in primary school

A sample of 30 teachers were given a questionnaire about how they viewed the relationship between playful fighting and real fighting. In addition, these teachers and 20 children aged five to seven were shown a videofilm of 20 fighting episodes, some playful and some real, and asked to make judgements about them; the responses of teachers and children were compared. Teachers reported difficulty in distinguishing playful from real fighting for about one‐third of occasions ‐ sometimes due to false information from children, and sometimes due to missing the whole of a complex sequence. They also thought that play fighting was about twice as frequent as real fighting, with both much more frequent in boys than girls; and that nearly one‐third of play fighting episodes would turn into real fighting (more often for boys than girls). The video analysis showed that the teachers tended to agree with children about the nature of episodes, but verbally reported a wider range of cues in making their judgements. Results are discussed in terms of some apparent areas of disagreement between teachers, children and outside observers concerning the relative frequency of playful and real fights, and the likelihood of the former turning into the latter.     

Teachers’ Judgements of their Pupils: broad categories and multiple criteria

Twelve secondary school teachers were interviewed using a triadic elicitation technique to identify the most common criteria by which they made day‐to‐day judgements about a single class of 24 year 8 pupils taught by them. Ten common elements were identified from the teachers’ individual bi‐polar constructs to form a common, or average, set of rating criteria. The teachers individually ranked each child against the positive pole of each of the common criteria. Cluster analysis of the teachers’ rankings revealed those constructs which each teacher perceived as being most alike. Examination of the most commonly occurring construct pairings indicated that, on a day‐to‐day basis, the teachers made judgements according to three general groups of criteria: maturity and attitude to school work, personality factors, and academic ability. This was confirmed in the course of respondent validation.     

School Climate Reports from Norweginan Teachers: A Methodological and Substantive Study

Using a set of data derived from 42 schools at two points in time and a widely accepted definition of organizational climate, a number of methodological and substantive issues relating to school climate were explored. Via principal component analysis, four dimensions of school climate were identified. In approaching the key issue, under what conditions it is meaningful to speak of a climate dimension as a characteristic of the school (and not some lower‐level unit), it is tentatively proposed that a climate dimension has a ‘unit reliability’ of .15 or more and an ‘aggregate reliability’ of at least .35 in order to be considered a school characteristic. Furthermore, the “longitudinal relative consistency” or stability of the dimensions was examined. It was found that at least three of the dimensions were relatively enduring over time, as they should be according to the definition of school climate. Multilevel analyses suggested that the teacher reports of school climate were fairly robust and generalizable. The thinking and findings in this article are related to recent work in the school improvement and effectiveness field.