Instrumental avoidance acquisition by goldfish in a Y-maze using explicit and response-contingent cues

In two experiments, goldfish learned a discriminated avoidance response in a Y-maze. When alternative response alleys were simultaneously and differentially cued at trial onset, the goldfish learned to swim to the alley associated with US omission. When alternative response alleys were not differentially cued at trial onset and the US association cue was contingent upon an initial response to one of the alternatives, goldfish learned, following the initial response, to stay in the initially chosen alley when the response-contingent cue indicated US omission, but to leave the initially chosen alley and swim to the alternative alley when the response-contingent cue indicated US pairing.     

Angle between choice alleys as a critical factor in spontaneous alternation

Rats were tested for spontaneous alternation in a variety of mazes differing in the angle between choice alleys. Uniformly high alternation rates were found at all angles from 330 down to 90 deg. At 45 or 0 deg, the rates approximated a chance 50%, and at angles between 45 and 90 deg the alternation rates were also intermediate. The hypothesis that the spatial distance between goal regions is the critical factor was rejected, and it was concluded that the angle between alleys is the principal factor determining alternation under these conditions. The results support the idea that alternation in the rat is basically a vestibular phenomenon.     

Effects of sex and strain on exploratory locomotion and development of nonreinforced maze patrolling

Continuous recording of locomotion in an enclosed maze with no reinforcement other than that intrinsic to ambulation through the maze provided evidence for a dissociation between the efficiency of patrolling the entire maze and locomotor activity. Patrolling efficiency improved with repeated exposure to a single maze or to two similar maze configurations but not with daily presentation of dissimilar mazes. There were only small strain and sex differences in the development of efficient patrolling, whereas locomotor activity was considerably higher in female Roman high-avoidance (RHA) rats than in female Roman low-avoidance rats and higher in RHA female rats than in RHA male rats.     

Classification and evaluation of problem-solving tasks

Problem-solving tasks are classified on the basis of four task characteristics (ambiguity, number of solutions, complexity, and experience), three process categories (preparation, production, and evaluation), and four general outcome categories (number of solutions, time to solution, quality, and process measures). The classification scheme is compared with recent attempts to define “ideal” characteristics of measures, and seven general criteria are proposed for evaluating problem-solving tasks. Twelve categories of tasks commonly used in research are classified and evaluated. Concept identification, switchlight problems, verbal mazes, and simulations are concluded to be tasks that most closely satisfy all evaluation criteria, although each has some problems. Implications for improvement of measures of problem-solving are indicated.     

开封古街巷胡同的现状和保护对策探析

开封是七朝古都,历史文化名城,市区内星罗棋布着历史所遗留下来的浓郁特色风味的街巷胡同。在日益注重保护历史文化遗产的今天,我们该如何结合开封的实际情况,对市区内的古街小巷和胡同进行保护,使其能得到良好的生存与发展空间,是摆在我们面前的一个严峻问题,本文通过对开封古街小巷和胡同的调查与分析,探讨一下开封古街小巷和胡同的保护与发展等问题。     

Counseling Students' Level of Ego Development and Perceptions of Clients

Several current models of counseling supervision provide an outline of the developmental stages of counseling students' growth in conceptual and behavioral skills. Research based on these models, however, has grouped students by experience level rather than by developmental level. In this study the authors investigated the relationship of 63 counseling students' level of ego development and level of experience with their perceptions of clients. Analysis of structural complexity and content of students' perceptions of eight actual clients and their level of ego development revealed no significant main effects or interaction of either ego level or experience level on the structural complexity of client perceptions. Students at high ego levels described their clients more frequently in interactional terms than did those at low ego levels.     

Maze patrolling by rats with and without food reward

The effects of food reward on rats’ behavior in radial and Dashiell tunnel mazes were examined in two experiments. In the first, with animals at ad-lib body weights, food reward reduced speed of movement at the food locations, but did not affect the patterns of movement in either maze. Exploratory efficiency in the Dashiell maze was unaffected by food reward, and spontaneous patrolling of the radial maze by the nonrewarded animals was comparable to the behavior, reported by others, of rats running for food reward on elevated eight-arm mazes. In the second experiment, with subjects maintained at 80% of ad-lib body weights, there was some evidence for “winstay” learning: food-rewarded rats in the Dashiell maze were relatively more active near the food locations than were the nonrewarded animals, and more rewarded than nonrewarded rats revisited all food locations in the radial maze. Nonetheless, exploratory efficiency in the Dashiell maze was unaffected by food reward, as was patrolling efficiency in the radial maze, which was again comparable to that of rats on elevated mazes. The similarity in behavior of rewarded and nonrewarded animals in these mazes implies that the major determinant of their behavior, whether or not food reward is provided, is a spontaneous tendency to avoid places recently visited.     

Effects of runway shift and stay rules on rats’ serial pattern learning in the T-maze

Rats received three-trial series on a T-maze consisting of extended visually distinct left-black and right-striped side runways. During the first phase of training, when allowed to select baited runways within these series, they predominantly alternated their choices. During the second phase, rats received forced-choice serial pattern training of series consisting of two rewarded (R) trials and one nonrewarded (N) trial in two fixed orders, RRN and RNR. In Experiment 1, the rats in the runway shift rule group always received the second R trial when forced down a runway opposite that on the preceding trial in the series and the N trial when forced down the same runway. The rats in the runway stay rule group always received the second R trial when forced down the same runway and the N trial when forced down the opposite runway. In Experiment 2, each rat was conditionally trained with both runway outcome rules as determined by the central alley lighting and the type of food in the side alleys. The rats took longer to reduce their running speed on the N trial within each sequence under the runway stay rule than under the runway shift rule. They also took longer to acquire serial pattern responding for the RNR than for the RRN series only under the runway stay rule condition. When subsequently reexposed to series of free-choice trials on the final phase, rats maintained spontaneous alternating choice patterns under the runway shift rule conditions but either seldom alternated their choices (Experiment 1) or greatly reduced choice alternations (Experiment 2) under the runway stay rule condition. We discussed these effects in terms of rats’ natural foraging strategies and as a factor that interacts with other within- and between-series variables that affect serial pattern behavior.     

Retroactive inhibition in rat spatial memory

Two experiments were carried out in which rats first were given four forced choices on an eight-arm radial maze, then were given interpolated maze experiences, and finally were given a free choice retention test on the first maze. In Experiment 1, interpolated experiences consisted of forced choices made on one, two, or three other mazes, each placed in a different room. Retroactive inhibition (RI) was not found with one and two interpolated mazes but was found with three interpolated mazes. In Experiments 2a and 2b, an attempt was made to produce RI within a single context by using two mazes placed side by side or on top of one another and by using interpolated forced choices that were different, random, or the same with respect to forced choices onMaze 1. These conditions failed to yield any evidence of RI. In Experiment 2c, forced choices were followed by interpolated direct placements on the same maze on different, random, or the same maze arms, and retention tests revealed RI under these conditions. It was concluded that rats encode memories of specific places visited in space and that RI will arise only if (1) memory is greatly overloaded with interpolated information or (2) an interpolated visit is made to exactly that position in space to which an animal must travel in order to achieve a correct choice on the retention test.     

Acquisition and extinction of runway performance under escape,avoidance, and partial-avoidance procedures

The acquisition and extinction of locomotor responses of rats in a straight alley were examined for groups trained under escape, partial-avoidance, and avoidance procedures. During acquisition, one group (escape) received a 0-sec delay between being dropped into the alley and the onset of shock; two groups (partial avoidance) had 0.5- and 1-sec delays; and two groups (avoidance) had delays of 2 and 4 sec. On the final day of acquisition, the partial-avoidance rats displayed higher running speeds than either the escape- or avoidance-trained animals. The 4-sec avoidance group was consistently slower than all other groups. Speeds for all groups decreased during extinction, with rate of decline showing some relation to terminal acquisition level. Relative group performance levels proved to be consistent with a simple arithmetic model based on the assumption that changes in running speeds affect the aversiveness of the situation by altering US duration, CS duration, and effective US length.     

Emergence and constructvalidation of the big five factors in early childhood: a longitudinal analysis of their ontogeny in Sweden

Researchers have shown that the five major dimensions of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) and two additional factors (irritability and positive activity) are evident from adolescence. This study attempted to replicate and extend these results in a longitudinal study of 102 Swedish children, followed from 2.3 to 15.2 years of age. Item analyses revealed consistently reliable irritability, conscientiousness, and positive activity factors, whereas the internal reliability of the extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness to experience factors increased over time. Irritability and positive activity were not independent of the other factors. Scores on most of the personality factors were fairly stable over time. Over time, children became less extraverted, more agreeable, and more conscientious. Neuroticism and openness to experience increased in Phase III, although openness then decreased in Phase V. Validity of the original factors was demonstrated by correlations with independent assessments of the children's cognitive performance and adjustment to school.     

Joined up thinking? Evaluating the use of concept‐mapping to develop complex system learning

In the physical and natural sciences, the complexity of natural systems and their interactions is becoming better understood. With increased emphasis on learning about complex systems, students will be encountering concepts that are dynamic, ill‐structured and interconnected. Concept‐mapping is a method considered particularly valuable for enabling learning in subject areas that are complex or ill‐structured. Evaluations of concept‐mapping tend to reflect their many applications. Many evaluations that try to measure enhancements in learning use test scores or grade‐point averages as performance indicators, which provide little information on how cognitive processes have developed. In this study, a modification of the Biggs and Collis’ Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy is applied to measure differences in the cognitive and structural complexity of learning outcomes between groups of students who participated in a concept‐mapping activity with those from a cohort that did not. The evaluation demonstrated that the intervention was effective in enabling the great majority of students to achieve better connectivity in thinking, though improvements in overall performance were less significant. Almost all students perceived the intervention to be of value to their learning.     

Locomotor experience: a facilitator of spatial cognitive development

2 studies were designed to test the prediction that spatial search strategies (i.e., "object permanence") may be influenced by locomotor experience. Infants were assigned to 3 groups based on locomotor history: prelocomotor, prelocomotor with walker-assisted experience, and hands-and-knees creeping. Infants in all groups were 8.5 months of age. Results showed that hands-and-knees and walker-assisted locomotor experience facilitated spatial search performance. The longer that infants had been moving, the higher their scores. Furthermore, there were no differences between the hands-and-knees and prelocomotor/walker-assisted groups, suggesting that the relation between locomotor experience and spatial search performance was not merely a function of the maturation of prone progression. A third study found that the quality of locomotion affected object permanence performance: Belly crawlers performed differently than infants with hands-and-knees or walker experience, insofar as they performed at prelocomotor levels regardless of weeks of locomotor experience. Taken together, the pattern of findings suggests that infants with more efficient modes of locomotion are more likely to profit from the experiences generated by locomotion.     

论三坊七巷的“精·气·神”

闽都福州是一座具有2 200多年历史的文化名城,三坊七巷是其最具代表的一个缩影。三坊七巷奇特的建筑＂精＂髓、浓烈的闽都＂气＂息及深厚的文化＂神＂韵,揭示了三坊七巷不仅是空间建筑的存在和一些名人足迹的存在,更是历史的存在形式,是闽都古城福州千百年来＂精.气.神＂的一种特别的呈现方式。从它身上折射出福州独具特色的＂天.地.人＂和谐融合、钟灵毓秀的城市特征和文化性格。通过对三坊七巷＂精.气.神＂的诠释、宣传、推介,唤醒人们对历史文化遗存的保护意识与价值认同,激发榕城儿女热爱家乡、建设家乡的热情与动力。     

An empirical exploration of metacognitive assessment activities in a third-year civil engineering hydraulics course

Threshold concepts are transformative, integrative, and provocative; understanding these difficult concepts allows students to be capable of solving advanced problems. This investigation and evaluation of a metacognitive curricular approach explore variation in students' and teachers' discernment of structural complexity of concepts and its potential for enhancing students' learning and conceptual understanding of threshold concepts. Three trials of a metacognitive assessment activity administered to two cohorts of a civil engineering course (n?=?276 and n?=?264) were investigated. Students were presented with several answers (varying in structural complexity) to a question about a threshold concept and asked to mark each response. Quantitative analyses compared students' and teachers' marking schemes within and across trials, and qualitative analyses explored students' written reflections following the activity. Students' justifications for their marking schemes, their reflections on the activity's usefulness, and the convergence of students' and teachers' marking schemes suggest that the activity supported deep forms of student learning.     

福州三坊七巷传统民居的院落空间形态解析

从形态学角度出发,在福州特殊的文化背景、地域性特征基础上,解析三坊七巷传统民居院落空间的平面形式、空间组织形态、围合方式等的特点;指出三坊七巷传统民居院落空间的九个单元要素特点及独具地域特色的群体空间布局方式,为现代建筑继承传统民居院落特征提供可行的途径。     

The Role of Content Knowledge and Problem Features on Preservice Teachers’ Appraisal of Elementary Mathematics Tasks

The objective of this study was to examine the nature of preservice teachers’ evaluations of elementary mathematics problems using the Mathematical Tasks Framework (MTF), a model designed to discriminate among tasks according to their cognitive complexity. We also tested the relationship between mathematics content knowledge and problem length on the preservice teachers’ evaluations. Twenty-six undergraduate students enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course at a large urban university were introduced to the MTF and cognitive complexity during a class lecture and were subsequently required to sort 32 mathematics problems according to the framework. Results demonstrated that overall, the preservice teachers had more difficulty accurately classifying problems considered to represent high levels of cognitive complexity compared to problems that were less complex. Those with strong mathematics content knowledge, as measured by a standardized test, were able to sort the problems more accurately than those with weaker content knowledge. Two open-ended items assessing content knowledge were not related to sorting performance. Finally, the preservice teachers were influenced by the surface characteristic of task length; the data indicated that the teachers tended to label short problems as less cognitively demanding and long problems as more so. Implications for preservice professional development include an increased emphasis on mathematics content knowledge as well as expert modeling of the identification of deep conceptual principles at the heart of the mathematics curriculum.     

SOCIOMETRY IN SCHOOL ‐‐ II. APPLICATIONS

For the purposes of scoring essays written in a second language, two of the most important considerations are the intelligibility and the structural complexity of the writing.

Various disadvantages are inherent in the use of clauses and/or sentences as a basis for analysing structure in written work; a more satisfactory technique was developed by Kellogg W. Hunt in America, using what he termed a ‘minimal terminable unit’ or ‘T‐unit’.

This technique was applied in the scoring of the NFER open‐ended writing and speaking tests, which formed part of the battery of ‘Tests of English Proficiency forImmigrant Children’.

During the development of these tests, the battery was administered to Asian children, for whom it was found that the average T‐unit length in writing and speech increased with increasing length of stay in Britain. (Average T‐unit length has been found by Hunt and O'Don‐nell to increase with age for children writing and speaking in their native language.) The results of the NFER testing indicated that much of the development of proficiency in both the speech and writing of the Asian children tested took place after three‐and‐a‐half years in Britain. (These findings were essentially a by‐product of test development, and therefore must be viewed with caution.).     

Effects of stimulus change in prepunishment alley segments on self-punitive behavior

Three experiments investigated the effects of stimulus change during extinction on self-punitive behavior. In Experiment 1, changing alley brightness cues in all three segments of the alley prior to extinction eliminated self-punitive behavior. That is, subjects given shock in the third alley segment during extinction did not differ from nonshocked subjects in alley speed or in the number of trials to extinction. In Experiment 2, with shock also administered in the third alley segment, self-punitive behavior was eliminated when the stimulus change was made in segment 1 or in segments 1 and 2 but was obtained when the change occurred in segment 2 or in the lower startbox. In Experiment 3, shock was administered in the second alley segment. Self-punitive behavior was not obtained when the lower startbox cues were changed but was obtained with stimulus change in the upper startbox or in segment 1. The results are consistent with an expanded version of the Mowrer-Brown conditioned-fear hypothesis.     

平遥城内古街巷名文化内涵探析

相对于行政区划而言,街巷的名称是比较固定的.它的形成是一个长期的、复杂的思维过程,是分析、归纳,进而概念化的结果.考其本源,绝大多数的街巷名是居民在生产、生活中约定俗成的,于是它也就同时具有了社会性、时代性、民族性、地域性等特点.平遥古城历史悠久,城中的街巷自然也具有深厚的历史文化内涵、独特的地理文化内涵以及质朴的乡土文化内涵.文章主要从街巷的命名、分类入手,对其中语言、民俗、历史等方面的内涵进行分析,以便更好地发掘和利用.