The Development of Size Sequencing Skills: An Empirical and Computational Analysis

We explore a long-observed phenomenon in children's cognitive development known as size seriation. It is not until children are around 7 years of age that they spontaneously use a strict ascending or descending order of magnitude to organize sets of objects differing in size. Incomplete and inaccurate ordering shown by younger children has been thought to be related to their incomplete grasp of the mathematical concept of a unit. Piaget first brought attention to children's difficulties in solving ordering and size-matching tests, but his tasks and explanations have been progressively neglected due to major theoretical shifts in scholarship on developmental cognition. A cogent alternative to his account has never emerged, leaving size seriation and related abilities as an unexplained case of discontinuity in mental growth. In this monograph, we use a new training methodology, together with computational modeling of the data to offer a new explanation of size seriation development and the emergence of related skills. We describe a connected set of touchscreen tasks that measure the abilities of 5- and 7-year-old children to (a) learn a linear size sequence of five or seven items and (b) identify unique (unit) values within those same sets, such as second biggest and middle-sized. Older children required little or no training to succeed in the sequencing tasks, whereas younger children evinced trial-and-error performance. Marked age differences were found on ordinal identification tasks using matching-to-sample and other methods. Confirming Piaget's findings, these tasks generated learning data with which to develop a computational model of the change. Using variables to represent working and long-term memory (WM and LTM), the computational model represents the information processing of the younger child in terms of a perception-action feedback loop, resulting in a heuristic for achieving a correct sequence. To explain why older children do not require training on the size task, it was hypothesized that an increase in WM to a certain threshold level provides the information-processing capacity to allow the participant to start to detect a minimum interval between each item in the selection. The probabilistic heuristic is thus thought to be replaced during a transitional stage by a serial algorithm that guarantees success. The minimum interval discovery has the effect of controlling search for the next item in a principled monotonic direction. Through a minor additional processing step, this algorithm permits relatively easy identification of ordinal values. The model was tested by simulating the perceptual learning and action selection processes thought to be taking place during trial-and-error sequencing. Error distributions were generated across each item in the sequence and these were found to correspond to the error patterns shown by 5-year-olds. The algorithm that is thought to emerge from successful learning was also tested. It simulated high levels of success on seriation and also on ordinal identification tasks, as shown by 7-year-olds. An unexpected finding from the empirical studies was that, unlike adults, the 7-year-old children showed marked difficulty when they had to compute ordinal size values in tasks that did not permit the use of the serial algorithm. For example, when required to learn a non-monotonic sequence where the ordinal values were in a fixed random order such as “second biggest, middle-sized, smallest, second smallest, biggest,” each item has to be found without reference to the “smallest difference” rule used by the algorithm. The difficulty evinced by 7-year-olds was consistent with the idea that the information in LTM is integrally tied to the search procedure itself as a search-and-stop based on a cumulative tally, as distinct from being accessed from a more permanent and atemporal store of stand-alone ordinal values in LTM. The implications of this possible constraint in understanding are discussed in terms of further developmental changes. We conclude that the seriation behavior shown by children at around 7 years represents a qualitative shift in their understanding but not in the sense that Piaget first proposed. We see the emergent algorithm as an information-reducing device, representing a default strategy for how humans come to deal with potentially complex sets of relations. We argue this with regard to counting behaviors in children and also with regard to how linear monotonic devices for resolving certain logical tasks endure into adulthood. Insofar as the monograph reprises any aspect of the Piagetian account, it is in his highlighting of an important cognitive discontinuity in logicomathematical understanding at around the age of 7, and his quest for understanding the transactions with the physical world that lead to it.     

Long Term Vision Creates Perspective

Column Editor's Note. Leaders need to develop long term perspectives if they are to be successful in leading their organizations into the future. A vision is a good start but the leader needs to be able to anticipate developments, opportunities, changes, and finances if they are to guide their organization through a changing landscape. Successful leaders are able to develop insights into the future and position their organization to positively interact with their environment. While some of these skills are intuitive, leaders are able to develop a long term perspective through several strategies. Interested authors are invited to submit articles for this column to the editor at farrell@uwyo.edu.     

The ‘automatic’ use of context in children's reading

The present investigation examined developmental changes in the automatic use of context in single word recognition. A modified Stroop procedure was used in which children were asked to name the color of the ink of target words. The target was preceded either by a semantically related or by an unrelated word. Results suggested that, in contrast to attentional context effects (Pring and Snowling 1986), the older readers showed significantly more influence from the semantic context than the younger, less-proficient readers. The results are discussed with reference to the connections between a novice reading system and a child's rapidly growing semantic memory system.     

Capturing Flow in the Business Classroom

This study focuses on the flow experience in business education. Flow experience, characterized by concentration, control, and enjoyment, can lead to better learning outcomes. Leading preconditions of flow include the balance of challenge and skill, feedback, and goal clarity. Other situational factors affect the flow experience through the mediating effects of these three factors. In this article, we extend an existing framework linking flow and learning. Using the model as a guide, we start our research effort of flow in business education by conducting a field survey of student learning experience in terms of flow and influential factors. Data were collected using business students taking an introductory Operations Management course. The analysis reveals that flow does exist in classroom learning. Its key dimensions are concentration, sense of control, and enjoyment. The more important leading factor is having clear feedback. Characteristics of both the instructor and students play a role in the flow experience of students during lecture. It is evident that flow theory offers a useful framework for business education research. Suggestions for future research are made.     

Dynamics of emotion,problem solving,and identity: Portraits of three girl coders

ABSTRACT

Background and Context

Women are underrepresented in the field of computer science, a trend that in part can be traced to girls’ early experiences with the discipline.     

你准备好当一名旅游记者了吗？

我是一位有抱负的旅游记者,同时也是一名大一新生。我已经决定将旅游新闻报道当做我的职业。我虽年仅19岁,却有过大量异国旅游经历。我发现旅游和记录这些旅行经历属于我生活中的最爱。我生活中最令人兴奋的事情,其一便是与拥有不同文化背景的人交流、倾听他们的故事,体验他们的生活方式。     

Differential relationships between RAN performance,behaviour ratings,and executive function measures: Searching for a double dissociation

Abstract. In this study, we investigated the relationships between rapid naming of letters, digits and colours, and reading ability and executive function. We gave fifty-six grade three and four children rapid automatised naming tasks using letters and digits as stimuli, executive function measures including the Stroop task, a working memory task and the Trailmaking B task. The latter three tasks were used as measures of executive function. We also administered tests of verbal ability, reading and a behaviour checklist. The rapid naming of letters and digits was significantly correlated with reading, but not with executive function or behaviour ratings. The rapid naming of colours (from the Stroop task) was significantly correlated with the executive function tasks and the behaviour ratings but not with reading. We discuss the implications of this double dissociation for further studies of RAN.     

Paid maternal leave is associated with infant brain function at 3 months of age

The first months of life are critical for establishing neural connections relevant for social and cognitive development. Yet, the United States lacks a national policy of paid family leave during this important period of brain development. This study examined associations between paid leave and infant electroencephalography (EEG) at 3 months in a sociodemographically diverse sample of families from New York City (N = 80; 53 males; 48% Latine; data collection occurred 05/2018–12/2019). Variable-centered regression results indicate that paid leave status was related to differences in EEG power (ps < .02, R²s > .12). Convergent results from person-centered latent profile analyses demonstrate that mothers with paid leave were 7.39 times as likely to have infants with EEG profiles characterized by increased higher-Hz power (95% CI, 1.9–36.9), potentially reflecting more mature patterns of brain activity.     

Analyzing repeat consumption of identical cultural goods: some exploratory evidence from moviegoing

This study offers a preliminary exploration of repeat consumption of identical cultural goods, specifically moviegoing. The term ‘identical’ in this study refers to cases where, for example, individuals view the same film at a movie theater, in a short time interval, on more than one occasion i.e. experiencing the cultural good in precisely the same format. It is not meant to embrace the case of individuals who, for example, view a particular film at a movie theater and then see it some time later in another format, such as via a DVD player. The repeat viewing phenomenon is discussed and then considered empirically. Films aimed predominantly at children attract the highest number of repeat views, while those aimed at an older audience attract significantly fewer repeat views. The profile of repeat viewers of the 10 films which attracted the greatest number of repeat viewers was subject to more detailed scrutiny. In general, repeat viewers tend to be younger but the gender balance differs markedly according to film content. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 3rd European Workshop on Applied Cultural Economics, University of Oviedo in Aviles, Spain 14–16 June 2007 and the 9th International Conference on Arts and Cultural Management (AIMAC), Fundación Universidad Empresa (ADEIT), Valencia, Spain 8–11 July 2007. We are grateful for comments received and the usual caveat applies.