Elemental versus configural perception in a people-present/people-absent discrimination task by pigeons

In the present experiment, we investigated whether pigeons rely exclusively on elemental information or whether they are also able to exploit configural information in apeople-present/people-absent discrimination task. Six pigeons were trained in a go/no-go procedure to discriminate between 800 color photographs characterized by the presence or absence of people. Thepeople-present stimuli were designated as positive, and thepeople-absent stimuli were designated as negative. After training and a subsequent generalization test, the pigeons were presented with both familiar and novel people-present stimuli containing human figures that were distorted in one of seven different ways. All the pigeons learned the initial discrimination and also showed generalization to novel stimuli. In the subsequent test, performance on all types of distorted stimuli was diminished in comparison with that on the intact original pictures from which they had been derived. At the same time, however, peck rates clearly exceeded the level of responding found for regular people-absent stimuli. This result strongly suggests that responding was controlled by both the constituting target components and their spatial relations and, therefore, points to the dual importance of elemental and configural information.     

Preparatory effects of problem solving versus studying examples prior to instruction

Instructional Science - The Productive Failure (PF) approach prompts students to attempt to solve a problem prior to instruction – at which point they typically fail. Yet, research on PF...     

Target-defining features in a “people-present/people-absent” discrimination task by pigeons

Aust and Huber (2001) demonstrated that in apeople-present/people-absentdiscrimination task, pigeons actually attended to properties of the target (i.e., the human figure). The aim of the present effort was to specify what sort of information contained in the target was used for classification, as well as to investigate whether and in what way the target-defining features interacted. Six pigeons were trained in a go/no-go procedure to discriminate between color photographs characterized by the presence or absence of people. They were then presented with various types of test stimuli that contained some category-relevant features but lacked others. The results showed that properties related to target size and internal structure played an important role and that human silhouettes were insufficient for eliciting a people-present response. Furthermore, some properties of the human figure (e.g., hands/arms) made good predictors of the people-present category, whereas others (e.g., feet/legs or skin color) did not. Responses to test stimuli that belonged to the people-absent category but nevertheless contained some features normally typical for humans (e.g., nonhuman primates) provided evidence that various category-relevant features contributed to classification in an additive way. Taken together, the results suggest that the pigeons made use of a polymorphous class rule involving collections of differently weighted target features.     

The interplay between individual and collective knowledge: technologies for organisational learning and knowledge building

This article presents a framework model that defines knowledge building as a co-evolution of cognitive and social systems. Our model brings together Nonaka's knowledge-creating theory and Luhmann's systems theory. It is demonstrated how collaborative knowledge building may occur – in an ideal situation – within an organisation, when people interact with each other using shared digital artefacts. For this purpose, three different technologies are introduced as examples: social-tagging systems, pattern-based task-management systems, and wikis. These examples have been chosen to demonstrate that knowledge building can occur with respect to both declarative and procedural knowledge. The differences and similarities between these technologies, as far as their potential for organisational knowledge building is concerned, are discussed in the light of the framework model.     

生理方面结构和功能的特殊适应性训练 ——高原(1 880～2 400 m)训练理论和实践的评定

2009年8月6日—8日在中国召开＂中国多巴国际高原训练与健康论坛＂,来自德国、法国、澳大利亚、日本、韩国、及中国台湾地区、香港、大陆的专家围绕国际视角下高原训练的理论与实践主题,就优秀运动员的高原训练和低氧训练的理论与实践进行深入探讨和交流。本刊从不同角度选择了部分大会报告以飨读者。     

Sex-specific response strategies in mental rotation

The present study investigated whether the marked sex difference in the original mental rotation test (MRT) is simply a result of sex differences in response strategies. Thirty-four participants (17 males, 17 females) completed the revised Vandenberg and Kuse MRT [Peters, M., Laeng, B., Latham, K., Jackson, M., Zaiyouna, R., & Richardson, C. (1995). A redrawn Vandenberg & Kuse Mental Rotations Tests: Different versions and factors that affect performance. Brain and Cognition, 28, 39–58.] and a modified MRT. In the modified version, the number of matching figures varied from zero to four, so that participants had to match every single figure to the target, impeding leaps. Both men and women showed reduced performance in the modified version. However, men were clearly more affected than women. Although sex differences in the modified MRT were somewhat reduced, men still outperformed women (original MRT: d = .95, modified MRT: d = .76). The findings suggest that men rely more on a leaping response strategy than women, however, the robust sex differences in MRT was only marginally affected by sex differences in response strategies.     

Perspektivenübernahme als Kompetenz für den Geschichtsunterricht

This study addresses a competency of students’ historical thinking related to taking perspectives. We start by discussing socio-cognitive theories from psychology as well as approaches from history education that focus on this competency. We also present empirical findings concerning relationships between achievement, self-concept and interest in the subject of history and connect these findings with the competency to take historical perspectives. Our research questions target this relationship between indicators of achievement and motivation in the subject of history, the competency of historical perspective taking and students’ socio-cognitive ability to adopt social perspectives in their everyday lives. These questions are investigated using a cross-sectional design with 375 grammar school students in grades 7 and 10. Results indicate that in grade 7 the competency to take historical perspectives relates to students’ ability to coordinate social perspectives in their everyday lives. For 10th graders, however, the adoption of historical perspectives is closely related to subject-specific variables such as interest for history, self-concept, history grade and achievement in a test of historical knowledge. In the last section of this paper, we discuss challenges that arise when students’ competencies in a subject like history are assessed within the context of standard-based testing. Specifically, we raise the issues of reliability, validity, the context-specificity of measurements, the kinds of response formats used and the formulation of progression models of historical thinking.