60秒科学

60秒科学是一个电台节目,用一分钟的时间为大家带来新鲜、有趣的科学新闻,听众只需花一分钟便能轻松掌握科技发展新方向。大家喜欢阳光的味道吗?如果衣服上总有一股阳光的气息该多好。衣物洗涤剂、柔顺剂、空气清新剂……所有这些似乎都能做到,然而我们并不知道其香味的秘密。一起来研究一下吧。Got a minute?     

Generalization of visual matching and delayed matching by a California sea lion (Zalophus californianus)

Only a limited number of species have been found capable of generalized matching-to-sample (MTS) after exposure to relatively few training exemplars. We trained a juvenile, experimentally naive California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) in MTS, using a pair of three-dimensional objects as samples. Successful matching to a criterion of 90% correct or better over 2 successive sessions was attained in 12 sessions (269 trials and 70 errors). Two subsequent “partial” transfer tests, in which each of the two training objects was paired with a novel test object, and four additional transfer tests, all with novel objects, were presented following training. An 80% performance criterion over 2 successive sessions was reached, or closely approximated, in from 2 to 4 transfer sessions for all transfer tests; errors to criterion tended to be reduced across the successive novel transfer tests and were as few as five during the final two tests; and performance on the first 48 trials of the last two novel transfers was not significantly different from a near-ceiling level baseline performance measure. Neophobic responses of the sea lion to new objects precluded an unbiased evaluation of immediate (Trial 1) transfer. The sea lion’s short-term memory for sample objects was also measured. Matching performance was maintained at a level of 78% correct responses or better for delays through to 45 sec after removal of the sample object. At a 58-sec delay, the longest tested, performance declined to 69% correct responses. These retention levels are only somewhat below levels reported for dolphins and nonhuman primates tested on visual delayed MTS, but they are above levels typically reported for pigeon subjects.     

Memory for recent actions in the bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): Repetition of arbitrary behaviors using an abstract rule

Little is known about how animals represent their own actions in working memory. We investigated whether bottlenosed dolphins could recall actions they had recently performed and reveal those recollections using an abstract rule. Two dolphins were trained to respond to a specific gestural command by repeating the last behavior performed. Both dolphins proved to be able to repeat a wide variety of behaviors on command and were able to generalize the repeating rule to novel behaviors and situations. One dolphin was able to repeat all 36 behaviors she was tested on, including behaviors involving multiple simultaneous actions and self-selected behaviors. These results suggest that dolphins can flexibly access memories of their recent actions and that these memories are of sufficient detail to allow for reenactments. The repeating task can potentially be used to investigate short-term action and event representations in a variety of species.     

Protection Motivation Theory as an Explanatory Framework for Proenvironmental Behavioral Intentions

Environmental issues have become important topics in the 21st century. Communication practitioners and scholars struggle with effectively communicating the threat of climate change and other changes to the natural world, partially due to the lack of concern by the general public. We present Protection Motivation Theory as a framework for explaining proenvironmental behavioral intentions among a college sample. Participants (N = 607) responded to an online survey, and the results indicate support for the proposed model, with severity (H1), vulnerability (H2), response efficacy (H3), and self-efficacy (H4) positively predicting proenvironmental behavioral intentions and response costs (H5) negatively predicting intentions. Implications for practitioners and scholars are discussed, and areas of future exploration in this domain are identified.     

Liking and Other Reactions After a Get-Acquainted Interaction: A Comparison of Continuous Face-to-Face Interaction versus Interaction that Progresses from Text Messages to Face-to-Face

Increasingly, people are making initial connections through social networking and online dating sites. However, we have limited information about how the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) compares to face-to-face (FtF) for making initial social connections. The purpose of the present study was to compare liking and other affiliative outcomes of dyads who become acquainted in an interaction that progressed from CMC, to Skype, and finally to FtF versus dyads who became acquainted entirely FtF. The dyads engaged in a three-segment, structured self-disclosure task to become acquainted and were randomly assigned to either the continuous FtF condition (n = 48) or the CMC to FtF condition (n = 40). Participants’ reactions were assessed after each segment of interaction. Comparisons after the first segment revealed that those who interacted over CMC-text reported less enjoyment of the interaction, in addition to less liking of, closeness with, and perceived similarity to their discussion partner than those who interacted FtF. However, participants in the CMC to FtF condition increased in their positive reactions over the course of the interaction to a greater degree than did those in the continuous FtF condition, and consequently were able to catch up to them by the end of the final segment of interaction. Overall, our study suggests that although initial communication through online-text may elicit less positive impressions of an interaction partner relative to FtF, these effects may be mitigated upon partners moving quickly to FtF or through other rich channels (video).     

Destination,Imagination and the Fires Within: Design Thinking in a Middle School Classroom

The purpose of the Taking Design Thinking to Schools Research Project was to extend the knowledge base that contributes to an improved understanding of the role of design thinking in K‐12 classrooms. The ethnographic qualitative study focused on the implementation of an interdisciplinary design curriculum by a team of university instructors in a public charter school. Three questions framed the study. How did students express their understanding of design thinking classroom activities? How did affective elements impact design thinking in the classroom environment? How is design thinking connected to academic standards and content learning in the classroom?