Comparison of auditory and visual conditioning stimuli in delay eyeblink conditioning in healthy young adults

Classical eyeblink conditioning (EBC) has been widely used to probe cerebellar function in humans and nonhuman mammals. Although the neural pathways governing behavior in this task are well understood and fairly discrete, it remains unclear in the human literature how conditioned stimuli (CSs) of different modalities (e.g., visual and auditory) influence the exhibition of conditioned responses (CRs). In the present study, therefore, CRs to a visual CS and an auditory CS were examined with the single-cue delay EBC procedure. An initial experiment (N=61) was conducted to identify visual and auditory stimuli that had equal perceived intensities. Using these perceptually equivalent stimuli, a second group of 25 subjects completed auditory and visual EBC procedures in two testing sessions 5–8 days apart. Whereas the acquisition of CRs was similar between the CS modality conditions, the timing of the CRs differed such that earlier CR onset and peak latencies were associated with the visual CS. In addition, CR timing improved across testing sessions, as indicated by the later CR peak latencies exhibited during the second testing session, as compared with the first.     

Teacher Evaluation, Teacher Effectiveness and School Effectiveness: Perspectives from the USA

This article provides historical overviews of the conceptual and research and development focus of teacher evaluation, teacher effectiveness and school effectiveness research in the USA. Pertinent literature is cited and arguments are made that these lines of inquiry have coexisted for nearly four without adequate integration. With the fourth stage of school effectiveness research in process, there is a recognition that within school context variables, particularly teacher effectiveness, have important effects on school improvement and school outcomes. Similarly, there is the recognition that findings from school effectiveness research have relevance for studies of teacher effectiveness and ongoing developments in teacher evaluation. Examples of: (a) new generation, learner-centered teacher evaluation systems in the USA that are informed by teacher and school effectiveness research; and (b) the fourth stage of school effectiveness research are described. It is proposed that these lines of research should be merged as completely as possible.     

Looking for leadership: the potential of dialogic reflexivity with rural early-career teachers

Many early-career teachers (ECTs) begin their teaching careers in rural and remote schools in Australia, and do not stay long, with consequences for their own lives, and for their students, schools and communities. By understanding how first-year ECTs navigate personal (subjective) and contextual (objective) conditions, opportunities to disrupt patterns of ECT attrition may be found. This paper explores the online longitudinal reflections from two rural ECTs. Margaret Archer’s three dimensions of reflexivity were used to analyse what personal, structural and cultural resources were activated by ECTs as they discerned and deliberated the costs of being a rural ECT. The potential for school leaders and mentors to support rural ECTs through dialogic reflexivity, that is the opportunity to discern and deliberate priorities with others, is identified as a role that is significant for ECT support but not straightforward. Prompts for dialogic reflexivity are proposed.     

Action research in graduate management research programs

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how action research may be applied to graduate management research programs. After distinguishing action research from traditional research and establishing that the former is more appropriate for developing managerial competencies than the latter, the paper discusses issues of conducting action research within a graduate management research program. These issues centre on the key concept of distinguishing between action research project and a thesis action research project. Distinctions between action research projects at Masters and PhD levels are noted. It is argued that ideally the core action research project has to be part of the PhD candidate's full-time work. Future difficulties are canvassed.     

Tweeting Fast Matters,But Only if I Think About It: Information Updates on Social Media

Social media have emerged as increasingly important sources through which the public seeks information concerning crises or risks. Despite this increased dependence, little is known about the psychological processes associated with perceptions of source credibility or the desire to seek additional information related to the risk. The current study investigates the role of speed of updates in credibility perceptions and information seeking using Twitter. The results do not provide evidence of a direct relationship between update speed and the outcomes under consideration. They do, however, consistently support a mediation model in which cognitive elaboration mediates the relationship between update speed and perceptions of sender competence, goodwill, trustworthiness, and reader (follower/audience/rater/target) desire for additional information. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications and applied use.     

Perfectionism and depressive symptoms in early adolescence

The Adaptive/Maladaptive Perfectionism Scale (AMPS; K.G. Rice & K.J. Preusser, 2002) was developed on samples of 9‐ to 11‐year‐old children. A primary purpose of the current research was to examine whether the AMPS could be useful in studies of adolescents, and in particular, studies of adolescent depression. This study of 145 early adolescents revealed (1) a somewhat different AMPS factor structure than has been evident in studies of younger children; (2) no significant mean differences between boys and girls on perfectionism, although girls were significantly more depressed than boys; (3) a pattern of perfectionism‐depression correlations that differed somewhat between boys and girls; and (4) several interactions of different dimensions of perfectionism in accounting for depression. Results are discussed by addressing differences between children and adolescents in school cultures, physical and psychological changes from childhood to adolescence, and the importance of considering the positive as well as the negative aspects of perfectionism among school‐age children. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 139–156, 2007.