Effects of strategy training on the identification of the main idea of expository passages.

In this study we tested the relative effectiveness of four methods for teaching remedial reading students how to identify the main idea of expository paragraphs. Through strategy training, students learned strategies for identifying the topic and main idea of paragraphs and metacognitive strategies for checking their main idea hypotheses. Classification training provided students with instruction and practice in classifying words, phrases, and sentences under appropriate topics. These treatments were compared with a condition that combined both classification and strategy training with a practice-only control. The results indicated significant effects of strategy training on students' ability to identify the main idea in paragraphs about training content and in paragraphs about new content. Classification training showed positive effects on paragraphs about training content, but the effect did not transfer to new content. These results suggest that comprehension strategies and metacognitive strategies can effectively improve remedial readers' ability to identify the main idea of expository paragraphs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A microgenetic study of simple division.

How simple division strategies develop over a short period of time was examined with a microgenetic study. Grade 5 students (mean age = 10 years, 3 months) solved simple division problems in 8 weekly sessions. Performance improved with faster and more accurate responses across the study. Consistent with R. S. Siegler's (1996) overlapping waves model, strategies varied in their use. Direct retrieval increased, retrieval of multiplication facts remained steady, and addition facts, derived facts, and special tricks marginally decreased. Consistent with previous research, multiplication fact retrieval was the most common strategy, although it was slower and more error prone than direct retrieval. Strategy variability within and across individuals was striking across all of the sessions and underscores Siegler's (1996) assertion that development is in a constant transitional state. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in strategy use on division problems: Mental versus written computation.

Individual differences in strategy use (choice and accuracy) were analyzed. A sample of 362 Grade 6 students solved complex division problems under 2 different conditions. In the choice condition students were allowed to use either a mental or a written strategy. In the subsequent no-choice condition, they were required to use a written strategy. Latent class analysis showed that there were 3 subgroups of students with respect to pattern of strategy choices: primarily using a written strategy (more girls than boys); primarily using a mental strategy (more boys than girls); and using a written strategy on more difficult items but a mental strategy on the easier ones (almost no weak mathematical achievers). Strategy accuracies were analyzed with explanatory item response theory modeling. A between-subjects comparison in the choice condition showed that written strategies were usually more accurate than mental strategies, especially for the weak achievers. A within-subject comparison showed that the performance of students who used mental calculation on a particular item in the choice condition improved if they were required to use a written strategy in the no-choice condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bending the power law: A CMPL theory of strategy shifts and the automatization of cognitive skills.

The shift with practice from use of generic, multistep problem-solving strategies to fast and relatively effortless memory-based strategies, was explored in 2 experiments using pseudoarithmetic tasks. A complete transition to the memory strategy occurred by about the 60th exposure to each problem. The power law of practice did not hold in the overall data for either the mean or the standard deviation of response latency, but it did hold within each strategy (algorithm or retrieval). Learning was highly specific to the practiced problems. These results constitute the 1st clear demonstration of a skill for which the power law does not apply overall. The results do not support the instance theory of automatization (G. D. Logan, 1988) but are consistent with an alternative component power laws (CMPL) theory that assumes that because of intrinsic attentional limitations, only 1 strategy can be executed at a time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurophysiological indices of strategy development and skill acquisition

In order to examine neurophysiological changes associated with the development of cognitive and visuomotor strategies and skills, spectral features of the EEG were measured as participants learned to perform new tasks. In one experiment eight individuals practiced working memory tasks that required development of either spatial or verbal rehearsal and updating strategies. In a second experiment six individuals practiced a video game with a difficult visuomotor tracking component. The alpha rhythm, which is attenuated by functional cortical activation, was affected by task practice. In both experiments, a lower-frequency, centrally distributed alpha component increased between practice sessions in a task-independent fashion, reflecting an overall decrease in the extent of cortical activation after practice. A second, higher-frequency, posterior component of the alpha rhythm displayed task-specific practice effects. Practice in the verbal working memory task resulted in an increase of this signal over right posterior regions, an effect not seen after practice with the spatial working memory task or with the video game. This between-task difference presumably reflects a continued involvement of the posterior region of the right hemisphere in tasks that invoke visuospatial processes. This finding thus provides neurophysiological evidence for the formation of a task-specific neurocognitive strategy. In the second experiment a third component of the alpha rhythm, localized over somatomotor cortex, was enhanced in conjunction with acquisition of tracking skill. These alpha band results suggest that cortical regions not necessary for task performance become less active as skills develop. In both experiments the frontal midline (Fm) theta rhythm also displayed increases over the course of test sessions. This signal is associated with states of focused concentration, and its enhancement might reflect the conscious control over attention associated with maintenance of a task-appropriate mental set. Overall, the results suggest that the EEG can be used to monitor practice-related changes in the patterns of cortical activity that are associated with task processing. Additionally, these results highlight the importance of ensuring that subjects have developed stable strategies for performance before drawing inferences about the functional architecture underlying specific cognitive processes.     

A comparison of two group brainstorming procedures.

A modified brainstorming procedure that required Ss (male introductory psychology students) to identify psychologically with significant components of the task (called synectics) was compared to standard brainstorming over 3 sessions and 9 different problems. Each treatment condition was also divided into high- and low-interpersonal-effectiveness groups. The synectics groups were superior to the brainstorming groups on all 9 problems, but the differences were statistically significant for only 4. There were no significant main effects due to group composition, nor were there any interactions. It is concluded that synectics is a more effective group-problem-solving strategy than brainstorming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hazards of mental chronometry: An example from children's subtraction.

Chronometric analyses have frequently been used to infer the strategy people use to solve classes of problems. However, in the many situations in which people use multiple strategies, chronometric analyses can lead to incorrect conclusions about strategy uses. This was illustrated in the context of 2nd and 4th graders' simple subtraction. As in previous studies, the S. S. Woods et al (1975) chronometric model was found to fit the pattern of solution times averaged over strategies. Strategy classifications based on observation of overt behavior and immediately retrospective verbal reports, however, indicated that (a) children rarely used 1 of the 2 approaches posited by the model, (b) they used the other approach no more often on problems where they were posited always to use it than on problems where they were posited never to use it, and (c) they used a greater variety of strategies than posited by the Woods et al model. The findings raised issues about when chronometric methods can be usefully applied, how strategy use can be assessed, and how people choose among multiple strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adults' knowledge about memory: Awareness and use of memory strategies across tasks.

Two studies investigated college students' knowledge about the effectiveness of alternative memory strategies for different tasks and the relationship of this knowledge to strategy use and performance. In Experiment 1 students made paired-comparison judgments of the relative effectiveness of six strategies for increasing performance on one of three memory tasks. For each task some strategies were judged to be significantly more effective than others, whereas across tasks certain strategies were more likely to be judged effective for one task than for another. Experiment 2 examined the relationship of judgments of strategy effectiveness to actual strategy use and memory performance. Results indicated that different strategies were adopted across tasks and students were more likely to adopt strategies subsequently judged effective for that task. Students in Experiment 2 showed clearer discrimination among the strategies and an increased awareness of the efficacy of task-specific strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The perils of averaging data over strategies: An example from children's addition.

Examined children's verbal reports of their strategy on addition problems as well as their solution-time patterns. When solution times on all trials were analyzed together, as in earlier studies, the results were entirely consistent with the view that children always use a strategy of counting up from the larger number (the min strategy). However, this strategy was but one of five approaches that Ss reported using, and most reported using at least three approaches. Considerable converging evidence supported the validity of the children's verbal reports. On trials where Ss reported using the min strategy, the min model was an even better predictor of solution times than in past studies or in the present data set as a whole. When they reported using other strategies, the min model was not a good predictor of performance. Three factors that can lead to incorrect conclusions about data averaged over strategies were identified: relative frequency of each strategy, relative variability of performance generated by each strategy, and independent-dependent variable relations across and within strategies. The influence of these factors was illustrated both with regard to the present data and, for the more general case, through analyses of synthetic data in which each factor's contribution could be independently examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of learning and performance in an associative memory/substitution task: Task constraints, individual differences, volition, and motivation.

The way that cognitive abilities, learning task characteristics, and motivational and volitional processes combine to explain individual differences in performance and learning was investigated. A substitution task was studied over practice, and it was discovered that students used 2 different strategies: a learning strategy focused on memorization and a performance strategy in which students persisted in scanning items. Five experiments investigated strategy differences and the ability and motivational correlates of task performance. First, ability correlates of performance and strategy use were demonstrated. Next, reducing task difficulty increased use of the learning strategy. With periodic memory tests, effective reliance on the learning strategy was increased, and task performance correlations with reasoning ability were lowered. Finally, a combination of self-focus and goal-setting interventions increased both general performance levels and use of the learning strategy. Results are discussed in terms of the goal of developing a more comprehensive understanding of learner differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methods of assessing strategies for judging covariation between events.

Investigated method of assessment as one possible source of the poor agreement in research about strategies people use to assess covariation between events. A set of problems was developed in such a way that different judgment rules would produce different decisions about the relationships between events. 116 college students (aged 18–32 yrs) judged these problems and were then asked to explain their judgment strategy. In addition, they were shown model strategies and asked to choose the one like their own strategy and the model that would be the best strategy. Ss whose judgments indicated use of the most sophisticated strategy were quite accurate in reporting their judgment rules. Ss using the less accurate rules most commonly reported using strategies that could not have produced the obtained pattern of problem solutions. These findings suggest that self-report is a weak basis for conclusions about sources of error in covariation judgment. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of practice on character-classification performance.

Presented a character-classification task to 7 male college students under conditions of limited practice consistent with the characterization of memory search as a high-speed internal exhaustive serial comparison process having an average rate of 25-30 symbols/sec. Ss each performed under 3 positive set size conditions on each of 30 sessions. Results indicate that throughout sessions (a) the relationship between set size and response latency remained linear; (b) equality of slopes obtained from positive and negative trials was maintained; and (c) the estimate of scanning rate was stable, and its absolute value almost identical to previous values obtained with limited practice. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of word identification skills in normal and disabled readers.

10 normal and 10 disabled readers in Grades 5 and 6 were required to learn the meaning and pronunciation of unfamiliar words varying in word length and in letter–sound regularity and complexity. Results show that disabled readers were slower to name the unfamiliar words than normal readers, even after 3 sessions of practice. Naming accuracy and latency were found to be more strongly related to both regularity and complexity for disabled readers than for normal readers across 3 test sessions, suggesting that disabled readers were capable of using regular letter–sound correspondences to pronounce printed words but were hampered by weaker knowledge of these correspondences. Performance by both groups on a delayed naming task showed that the differences in naming speed were due to decoding rather than response-execution processes. The effects of word length on naming latency were more pronounced for disabled readers, suggesting that they relied on smaller subword components than normal readers when decoding the stimulus words. Disabled readers were slower at word naming than normal readers in all conditions, suggesting phonological coding and retrieval deficits. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tobacco use disorder]

PURPOSE: To compare first- and fourth-year medical students' opinions about primary care practice. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was made of medical students at New York Medical College (NYMC) and East Carolina University School of Medicine (ECUSOM) over three years (1993-94, 1994-95, and 1995-96). Three consecutive classes of first-year students from both schools (n = 807), two consecutive classes of fourth-year NYMC students (n = 373), and three consecutive classes of fourth-year ECUSOM students (n = 221) were given a self-administered questionnaire about professional aspects of primary care practice. Responses to ten items about primary care practice were the independent variables in a logistic regression analysis. Career choice, categorized as primary care or non-primary care, was the dependent variable. Independent, two-tailed t-tests were employed to compare the responses of the first-year students interested in primary care careers with those of the fourth-year students interested in primary care careers. RESULTS: In all, 639 (79%) of the first-year students and 396 (67%) of the fourth-year students returned completed questionnaires. The first-year students interested in primary care careers were significantly more likely to believe that primary care practice has more prestige, has more intellectual stimulation, needs a large knowledge base, and involves work that is more important than that of non-primary care physicians, and were significantly more likely to disagree with the assertion that in primary care practice, physicians have more control over their working hours. With one exception (prestige of primary care practice), all these independent variables were significant for the fourth-year students as well. The comparison of the first- and fourth-year students indicated that the fourth-year students were significantly more likely to believe that primary care practice has more intellectual stimulation, needs a large knowledge base, and requires knowledge that non-primary care practice may not; they were also significantly more likely to disagree with the assertions that primary care practice is adequately compensated, has more prestige, and allows more control over working hours. CONCLUSION: It appears that students' positive perceptions about primary care practice may change as realistic perceptions about the professional demands on primary care physicians develop during medical school.     

Oropharyngeal control of ingestion in rats: Acquisition of sham-drinking patterns.

Conducted 3 experiments with female Sprague-Dawley rats with esophageal fistulas (3 Ss in Exp I, 3 in Exp II, and 4 in Exp III). Offered a concentrated glucose solution, Ss sham drank relatively small amounts on the 1st session, whether or not such a solution was familiar. Intake rose to high levels over ensuing sham-drinking sessions, showing that the initial small volumes were not attributable to fixed properties of the solution itself. The gradual acquisition of copious sham drinking was not affected by previous "practice" at sham drinking other commodities; it was not simply an alteration in motor habits. The gradual acquisition of the sham-drinking pattern did not occur with more dilute solutions; in response to these, sham drinking was copious and continuous from the onset. The following conclusions are made: (a) Rats must learn to respond, by continuous drinking, to the absence of the postingestive inhibition normally produced by concentrated solutions. (b) No such learning is required in the case of more dilute solutions. This is further evidence that controlling factors with differing properties operate at different levels even of the single commodity, glucose in solution. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental beliefs about managing sibling conflict.

This study examined the correspondence between parents' beliefs about the most effective ways to manage sibling conflict and their responses to their children's spontaneous sibling conflicts. Eighty-eight 2-child, 2-parent families participated in 3 home sessions. Second-born children were 3–5 years old, and firstborn children were 2–4 years older. Parents' use of a particular conflict management strategy was based, in part, on their perception of how effective the strategy was and how well they could carry out the strategy. For example, mothers' use of child-centered strategies was predicted by their belief that parental control strategies were ineffective. Fathers' use of control strategies was predicted by their low confidence in enacting child-centered techniques. Although both mothers and fathers perceived child-centered and control strategies as more effective than passive nonintervention, parents engaged in passive nonintervention most often. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Systematic variability in the quality of moral action, as defined in two formulations.

Investigated whether the often-reported, low-level correlations among moral scores for different situations are due to systematic variations in both contexts and persons' functioning within 2 moral systems: L. Kohlberg's (1981) and an interactional formulation developed by N. Haan (1978). The sample was 119 university students, members of 15 naturally existing friendship groups. First, Ss were individually interviewed; then, as friendship groups, they took part in 5 sessions of about 3 hrs each; 10 groups played moral games, whereas 5 groups discussed hypothetical dilemmas. Ss were reinterviewed individually, soon after the 5 sessions, and again 3–4 mo later. Thus 8 moral scores were secured for each moral system. Measures of characteristic ego functioning and friends' sociometric evaluations were obtained before the sessions along with situationally evoked ego functioning and the groups' functioning during the sessions. Findings show that inconsistent moral performance occurred according to both systems, but variations could be attributed to systematic situational effects of contextual stress, contents of dilemmas, and operational style of friendship groups, and to individual differences in the characteristic and situationally evoked ways of resolving conflict. Differences between the 2 systems in the effects of ego strategies were most striking. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of aptitudes, strategy training, and task facets on spatial task performance.

A pilot study, with 8 high school students, demonstrated that 3 item characteristics accounted for most of the variation in item difficulty in a paper-folding task: number of folds, number of obscured folds, and number of asymmetric folds. Retrospective reports suggested that Ss employed 2 strategies when attempting to solve these items: a visualization strategy and an analytic strategy. In the main experiment, these 2 strategies were demonstrated via motion picture models; 24 Ss received visualization training, and 24 received analytic training. Training effects of the demonstration films were compared with a performance feedback condition given to 8 Ss. All Ss performed 74 paper-folding items and 60 surface development transfer items following treatment. Error and latency data suggested that the treatments affected strategy selection and efficiency on both tasks. Treatment effects depended on item characteristics and response mode as well as on Ss' fluid-analytic/visualization and verbal abilities, as assessed by the Concept Mastery Test, WAIS Vocabulary test, and Raven Progressive Matrices. Sex differences were also noted, with verbal ability being important in the performance of females but not males. Implications for a process theory of human abilities are discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What do students find attractive about the practice of medicine? A pattern of stability over time

There is little consensus about the stability or instability of medical students career preferences during their time in college. These two studies found little change in their perception of the attractiveness of aspects of medical work which may be related to their final career choice. In the first study three successive cohorts of students in a London medical school completed questionnaires about the attractiveness of various medical job-attributes. Each cohort was tested twice such that the pattern of testing covered the entire course. Only data from students who were present at both test sessions were used for the longitudinal study. Comparisons with students in other London schools indicated that the study groups were representative of all London medical students. The second study was cross-sectional comparing final year data from 1983 and 1991 at three London medical schools. The first study results suggest that students enter medical school with values and opinions about their work which remain, on the whole, unchanged until they leave. There were significant decreases in the attractiveness of four attributes, but none became significantly more attractive. The second study revealed little change, five attributes were significantly less attractive 8 years later. In both studies most of the changes related to organisational rather than patient-related attributes. This may reflect greater realism about doctors' work. Comparison of final years students' data with published data from the mid-seventies confirms the overall stability of these values. It is suggested that specialists could use this information to highlight the desirable aspects of their work and so 'sell' their discipline to students and newly qualified doctors.