Time-frequency analysis of EEG signals evoked by voluntary,stimulated and imaginary motions

In order to investigate the characteristics of sensorimotor cortex during motor execution(ME), voluntary, stimulated and imaginary finger flexions were performed by ten volunteer subjects. Electroencephalogram(EEG) data were recorded according to the modified 10-20 International EEG System. The patterns were compared by the analysis of the motion-evoked EEG signals focusing on the contralateral(C3) and ipsilateral(C4) channels for hemispheric differences. The EEG energy distributions at alpha(8—13 Hz), beta(14—30 Hz) and gamma(30—50 Hz) bands were computed by wavelet transform(WT) and compared by the analysis of variance(ANOVA). The timefrequency(TF) analysis indicated that there existed a contralateral dominance of alpha post-movement event-related synchronization(ERS) pattern during the voluntary task, and that the energy of alpha band increased in the ipsilateral area during the stimulated(median nerve of wrist) task. Besides, the contralateral alpha and beta event-related desynchronization(ERD) patterns were observed in both stimulated and imaginary tasks. Another significant difference was found in the mean power values of gamma band(p0.01)between the imaginary and other tasks. The results show that significant hemispheric differences such as alpha and beta band EEG energy distributions and TF changing phenomena(ERS/ERD) were found between C3 and C4 areas during all of the three patterns. The largest energy distribution was always at the alpha band for each task.     

ATTITUDES OF OLDER ADULTS TOWARD A COMPUTER TRAINING PROGRAM

Many older adult have an interest in learning to use computers. The study reported in this article examined whether older adults' attitudes toward computers can be influenced by direct, customized computer training. Thirty older participants who registered for introductory computer courses offered at a SeniorNet computer lab completed the Attitudes Toward Computers Questionnaire (ATCQ) before and after class participation. Attitudes were assessed on seven dimensions. There was borderline statistical significance for the “comfort” attitude dimension, which assesses the respondent's feeling of comfort with the computer and its use. No significant differences were found for the remaining six attitude dimensions. The results underscore the importance of the intervention design in eliciting attitude change. Based upon the findings of this research, several actions have taken place to increase comfort and efficacy and to control attitudinal dimensions, thereby providing more meaningful experiences for the participants.     

Expanding the traditional role of the adult education teacher – The development of relational competences and actions

The article reports the effect of a competence development programme for adult education teachers. The effect has been assessed using electronic questionnaires completed by the teachers before and after the training programme, and by interviews with the teachers over a period of two years. The study shows that while the teachers' competences and actions develop significantly on some dimensions (e.g. to act upon discovering a student who is not thriving), they remain largely the same on other (e.g. to give appreciative feedback). There is a greater change and development in the teachers' actions than in their competences.     

Prediction of learning and comprehension when adolescents read multiple texts: the roles of word-level processing, strategic approach, and reading motivation

Sixty-five Norwegian 10th graders used the software Read&Answer 2.0 (Vidal-Abarca et al., 2011) to read five different texts presenting conflicting views on the controversial scientific issue of sun exposure and health. Participants were administered a multiple-choice topic-knowledge measure before and after reading, a word recognition task, and a reading motivation inventory that included two dimensions: Science reading self-efficacy, focusing on readers’ beliefs about their capabilities to comprehend what they read in science, and science reading task value, focusing on readers’ beliefs about how important, useful, and interesting it is to comprehend science texts. In addition, strategic reading pattern was assessed in terms of the degree of non-linear reading behavior. Multiple regression analysis showed that word recognition skills strongly predicted learning from the texts, as assessed by participants’ increase in topic knowledge. However, when multiple-text comprehension indicated by performance on open-ended short-essay questions was the dependent variable, not only word recognition but also strategic reading pattern and science reading self-efficacy emerged as unique predictors when topic knowledge was controlled for. Science reading task value was not related to performance. This study provides new evidence that new literacy competencies needed in a knowledge society, such as synthesizing or integrating across multiple conflicting sources of information, still largely involve word-level, strategic, and motivational processes that may profitably be targeted through systematic instruction.     

The Impact of Performance Feedback on Counseling Self‐Efficacy and Counselor Anxiety

Based on the Social Cognitive Model of Counselor Training (L. M. Larson, 1998), this study explored the effects of bogus performance feedback on counseling self‐efficacy and counselor anxiety. After a 10‐minute mock counseling session, 45 master's‐level trainees received either positive or negative bogus feedback regarding their performance. Results showed that (a) participants altered their counseling self‐efficacy depending on the performance feedback they received, and (b) participants reported changes in anxiety following performance feedback.     

The development of mental processing: efficiency,working memory,and thinking

This Monograph aims to contribute to the information processing, the differential, and the developmental modeling of the mind, and to work these into an integrated theory. Toward this aim, a longitudinal study is presented that investigates the relations between processing efficiency, working memory, and problem solving from the age of 8 years to to the age of 16 years. The study involved 113 participants, about equally drawn among 8-, 10-, 12-, and 14-year-olds at the first testing; these participants were tested two more times spaced one year apart. Participants were tested with a large array of tasks addressed to processing efficiency (i.e., speed of processing and inhibition), working memory (in terms of Baddeley's model, phonological storage, visual storage, and the central executive of working memory), and problem solving (quantitative, spatial, and verbal reasoning). Confirmatory factor analysis validated the presence of each of the above dimensions and indicated that they are organized in a three-stratum hierarchy. The first stratum includes all of the individual dimensions mentioned above. These dimensions are organized, at the second stratum, in three constructs: processing efficiency, working memory, and problem solving. Finally, all second-order constructs are strongly related to a third-order general factor. This structure was stable in time. Structural equation modeling indicated that the various dimensions are interrelated in a cascade fashion so that more fundamental dimensions are part of more complex dimensions. That is, speed of processing is the most important aspect of processing efficiency, and it perfectly relates to the condition of inhibition, indicating that the more efficient one is in stimulus encoding and identification, the more efficient one is in inhibition. In turn, processing efficiency is strongly related to the condition of executive processes in working memory, which, in turn, is related to the condition of the two modality-specific stores (phonological and visual). Finally, problem solving is related to processing efficiency and working memory, the central executive in particular. All dimensions appear to change systematically with time. Growth modeling suggested that there are significant individual differences in attainment in each of the three aspects of the mind investigated. Moreover, each of the three aspects of the mind as well as their interrelations change differently during development. Mixture growth modeling suggested that there are four types of developing persons, each defined by a different combination of performance in these aspects of the mind. Some types are more efficient and stable developers than others. These analyses indicated that processing efficiency is a factor closely associated with developmental differences in problem solving, whereas working memory is associated with individual differences. Modeling by logistic equations uncovered the rates and form of change in the various dimensions and their reciprocal interactions during development. These findings are discussed from the point of view of information processing, differential, and developmental models of thinking, and an integrative model is proposed.     

Nordic Experiences: Participants' Expectations and Experiences of Short-Term Study Abroad Programs

The purpose of this study was to investigate Finnish high school students' and teachers' perceptions of the effects of short-term Nordic study abroad programs in which they had participated. The data presented were based on a mixed-methods strategy. The data set consisted of responses from 158 students and 92 teachers to a specifically developed Study Abroad Assessment (SAA) instrument. These data were analyzed quantitatively and, in part, also qualitatively. Additional qualitative data in the form of interviews with six participants were also analyzed.

Four factors emerged from the analysis which represented dimensions of what a short-term study abroad (SA) program may offer to its participants. These dimensions were named “Personal growth,” “Social connectedness,” “Development of Nordic awareness,” and “Impact on career or study opportunities.” Composite variables were created on the basis of these factors. The analysis revealed some statistically significant differences between the groups (Period Scholars; Scholars to Sweden; Teachers) concerning the composite variables. The qualitative part of the study provided information on the benefits and challenges of short-term study abroad that were compatible with previous studies. There is evidence that even short-term study abroad programs in a Nordic context provide participants with some core skills needed later in life, and the benefits of SA were perceived to be greater by those who spent more time in the new environment.     

Maternal interaction,private speech,and task performance in preschool children

This study examined the correspondence between ontogenetic and microgenetic change in private speech, the association of private speech with task performance, and the relationship of maternal interaction during a teaching session to preschoolers' verbal self-regulation and success in independent problem solving. Thirty 4- and 5-year-olds were observed while their mothers assisted them in solving two challenging tasks. In three subsequent sessions, children's private speech and performance were tracked as they worked on tasks requiring skills similar to those taught in the mother-child session. Correspondences between age- and session-related trends in private speech and task performance appeared that are consistent with Vygotsky's assumption that private speech undergoes progressive internalization with increasing cognitive competence. Contrary to Vygotskian assumptions, utterances accompanying action were not replaced by those preceding action (planning statements) with advancing age and task mastery. Private speech predicted gain in task performance more effectively than concurrent performance. A global index of authoritative parenting was a better predictor of private speech and task performance than were microanalytic measures of scaffolding, suggesting that microanalytic indices may miss critical features of maternal teaching behavior that promote transfer of cognitive strategies from adult to child.     

Students' transition into higher education: The role of self-efficacy,regulation strategies,and academic achievements

Transition into higher education (HE) has received increased interest in recent years, since it represents a challenging period for students. The aim of this study was to further understand the associations between self-efficacy, academic achievements, and regulation in first-year university students during their transition into HE. The convenience sample consisted of 374 first-year university students (230 females, 61.5%), aged from 18 to 33 (M = 19.86, SD = 1.51) and recruited from an Italian university. Self-efficacy was assessed using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire; regulation strategies were assessed with the Inventory of Learning Patterns of Students; and a self-reported grade point average was taken as an indicator of each student's academic performance. Result shows that students' self-efficacy was positively associated with self-regulation and negatively associated with a lack of regulation. Students with higher self-efficacy and self-regulation strategies had better academic performance. Female students performed better in academic activities and adopted more external regulation strategies. The findings represent an opportunity for university institutions to consider the interventions they provide to first-year students in order to facilitate the successful transition from secondary school; they also provide researchers with further knowledge about the effect of self-efficacy, and regulation strategies on students' adjustment to HE.     

Different Minds and Common Problems: Geert Hofstede's Research on National Cultures1

This article discusses Geert Hofstede's work on national cultural differences. It explains how Hofstede's model of the dimensions of national culture might be of use to performance improvement professionals as they try to solve familiar, and perhaps not so familiar, problems in international settings. Hofstede's work, first published in 1980, argues that many management theories, such as those of Herzberr, Mausner, and Snyderman (1959), Maslow (1970), and McGregor (1960), are not valid worldwide be cause the authors are subject to cultural bias that is manifested in their own cultural makeup. Hofstede's research has shown that national cultures tend vary on four dimensions: uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, power distance, and individualism. Understanding national cultural differences is important to organizations to expand beyond their own national boundaries and to attempt to win the loyalty and business of customers around the globe.     

The Nature of Scientific Explanation: Examining the perceptions of the nature,quality, and “goodness” of explanation among college students,science teachers,and scientists

Issues regarding scientific explanation have been of interest to philosophers from Pre-Socratic times. The notion of scientific explanation is of interest not only to philosophers, but also to science educators as is clearly evident in the emphasis given to K-12 students' construction of explanations in current national science education reform efforts. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of research on conceptualizing explanation in science education. Using a philosophically guided framework—the Nature of Scientific Explanation (NOSE) framework—the study aims to elucidate and compare college freshmen science students', secondary science teachers', and practicing scientists' scientific explanations and their views of scientific explanations. In particular, this study aims to: (1) analyze students', teachers', and scientists' scientific explanations; (2) explore the nuances about how freshman students, science teachers, and practicing scientists construct explanations; and (3) elucidate the criteria that participants use in analyzing scientific explanations. In two separate interviews, participants first constructed explanations of everyday scientific phenomena and then provided feedback on the explanations constructed by other participants. Major findings showed that, when analyzed using NOSE framework, participant scientists did significantly “better” than teachers and students. Our analysis revealed that scientists, teachers, and students share a lot of similarities in how they construct their explanations in science. However, they differ in some key dimensions. The present study highlighted the need articulated by many researchers in science education to understand additional aspects specific to scientific explanation. The present findings provide an initial analytical framework for examining students' and science teachers' scientific explanations.     

Minor Illnesses,Temperament, and Toddler Social Functioning

Research Findings: Minor illnesses, such as upper respiratory infections, stomachaches, and fevers, have been associated with children's decreased activity and increased irritability. This multi-method investigation of 110 day care–attending children examined whether experience with recurrent, minor illnesses and negative emotionality worked together to predict young children's social functioning. Minor illness experience was assessed via weekly health screenings conducted by nurses. Toddlers' negative emotionality and social behavior were assessed using mothers' and fathers' reports. The two dimensions of negative emotionality and minor illness experience operated in different ways to predict children's functioning. Toddlers rated as more temperamentally angry displayed less social competence, especially when they also experienced high proportions of minor illness. Temperamentally fearful children exhibited more externalizing problems when they experienced a higher frequency of illness, whereas fearfulness was not associated with externalizing problems for children who were not frequently ill. Practice or Policy: Children's frequent experience with minor illnesses combined with negative emotionality appears to place toddlers at a heightened risk for exhibiting behavior problems. These findings have implications for child and family well-being as well as interactions with child care providers and peers within child care settings. Interventions could be developed to target “at risk” children.     

Examining big brother's purpose for using electronic performance monitoring

We examined whether the reason offered for electronic performance monitoring (EPM) influenced participants' performance, stress, motivation, and satisfaction. Participants performed a data‐entry task in one of five experimental conditions. In one condition, participants were not electronically monitored. In the remaining conditions, participants were electronically monitored but the explanation varied. One group was told that they would be electronically monitored but were given no explanation. Another group was told that EPM would be used to research factors associated with performance. In the developmental condition, participants were told that EPM would be used to provide them with feedback to improve performance, and in the administrative condition, participants were informed that EPM would be used to distribute rewards and punishments. Administrative condition participants had higher motivation and performance yet relatively low stress and dissatisfaction levels. Thus, EPM may enhance performance on simple, repetitive tasks without necessarily producing negative outcomes.     

How spatial abilities enhance,and are enhanced by,dental education

In two studies with a total of 324 participants, dentistry students were assessed on psychometric measures of spatial ability, reasoning ability, and on new measures of the ability to infer the appearance of a cross-section of a three-dimensional (3-D) object. We examined how these abilities and skills predict success in dental education programs, and whether dental education enhances an individual's spatial competence. The cross-section tests were correlated with spatial ability measures, even after controlling for reasoning ability, suggesting that they rely specifically on the ability to store and transform spatial representations. Sex differences in these measures indicated a male advantage, as is often found on measures of spatial ability. Spatial ability was somewhat predictive of performance in restorative dentistry practical laboratory classes, but not of learning anatomy in general. Comparisons of the performance of students early and late in their dental education indicated that dentistry students develop spatial mental models of the 3-D structure of teeth, which improves their ability to mentally maintain and manipulate representations of these specific structures, but there is no evidence that dental education improves spatial transformation abilities more generally.     

Counselor Candidate Personal Change and the Communication of Facilitative Dimensions

This study related counselor candidates' propensity for personal change prior to training and personal change assessed during training with the level of facilitative dimensions communicated by the candidates after training. As hypothesized, the results showed that candidates who provided higher levels of facilitative dimensions subsequent to training had been more open to personal change prior to training and had experienced more personal change during training than did students who communicated low levels of facilitative dimensions. Explanations of the findings and implications for counselor education are discussed.     

College Psychotherapy at a Qatari/American Counseling Center

Abstract

The current study assessed how previous experience with therapy impacted college students' perception of a clinician displaying symptoms of burnout. One hundred forty-seven undergraduate students viewed a videotaped therapy vignette depicting segments of three consecutive psychotherapy sessions. The therapist displayed symptoms of burnout (e.g., fatigue, clock watching) in one of the sessions. Participants rated the therapist on the following variables: liking, competence, level of concern, dedication to the field, and whether the client should continue to be treated by that therapist. As predicted, participants who indicated that they had been in therapy in the past rated the therapist significantly lower on four of these dimensions compared with subjects who had no prior experience in therapy. The results suggest that students who have previously been in therapy are more critical of a fatigued and distracted therapist.     

Cognitive Styles—an overview and integration

This review article considered the nature of styles and strategies and then surveyed work on cognitive styles. Different researchers have used a variety of labels for the styles they have investigated. Analysis of the way in which they assessed style, its effect on behaviour and performance, and studies of the relationship to other labels, suggested that the labels may be grouped into two principal cognitive styles. These were labelled the Wholist‐Analytic and Verbialiser‐Imager dimensions. A computer presented method of assessing the position of an individual on these dimensions was described.     

Beyond method: assessment and learning practices and values

This article reports the findings of a survey of 558 teachers in England. It describes how conceptual and empirical insights from the literature informed the construction of questionnaire items to provide answers to questions about the way in which teachers value different classroom assessment practices and how congruent with these values they perceive their practices to be. Results from item, factor and cluster analyses reveal three underlying dimensions of assessment practice, sizeable values-practice gaps on two dimensions that appear to be in tension (promoting learning autonomy and performance orientation), and differences among teachers which show that over half of this sample report that they are unable to sustain practices across all dimensions in line with their values. We conclude that teachers are demonstrably committed to the values (not just the methods) of assessment for learning within a moral framework that gives importance to the quality of students' learning, yet they experience and need to resolve contradictions in order to realize their values.     

Parenting as a Protective Process for School Success in Children from Homeless Families

The role of parenting as a protective process for school success was investigated among 59 African American children 6 to 11 years old from homeless families residing in a Minneapolis shelter. Reliable scores for three dimensions of parenting—parent-child closeness, parent involvement in education, and firm discipline—were derived from ratings based on interviews with parents while they were living at the shelter. After families had left the shelter, children's school success was assessed via three types of indicators: a) performance on a standardized achievement test; b) ratings of school records for the current school semester as well as cumulative school records; and c) teacher assessments of appropriate school behavior. Results suggested that good parenting may be protective for school success in these children. Close parent–child relationships and high parent involvement in the child's education were associated with school success in terms of school records of achievement and behavior in school. Parent's intellectual functioning, education level, psychological distress and firm disciplinary practices were unrelated to child academic success. Future research directions and implications for intervention are discussed.     

Students' mental load,stress, and performance when working with symbolic or symbolic–textual molecular representations

In science education, representations are necessary inter alia for the understanding of relationships between structures and systems. However, several studies have identified difficulties of students when working with representations. In the present study, we investigated students' responses (regarding their preference, test performance, mental load (ML), and stress) toward two kinds of representations: symbolic representations, which only use abstract symbols, versus combined symbolic–textual representations, which additionally comprise textual elements. Therefore, students were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: one group worked on test tasks accompanied by symbolic representations, and the others worked on the same tasks, but with symbolic–textual representations. Thereafter, the students' test performance and ML were assessed. The level of perceived stress and the salivary cortisol concentration were measured before and after the test and again a few minutes later. Additionally, heart rate variability parameters were assessed continuously. We found a strong preference of the test version with symbolic representations. Additionally, the students showed better test performance and lower ML when they worked with symbolic representations. However, the level of perceived stress was comparable between both groups and there was no strong physiological stress response: The cortisol concentration decreased in both groups and the heart rate was relatively similar. However, during the second half of the test, we observed a significantly higher ratio between low and high heartbeat frequencies in the group with symbolic–textual representations and we found an indirect influence of the kind of representation on test performance through its effect on ML. The poorer test performance and higher ML in connection with symbolic–textual representations confirm previous studies, which found that symbolic–textual representations pose major problems for students. Thus, teachers should enable students to understand symbolic–textual representations and consider carefully whether they can use symbolic representations instead, especially when they teach complex content.