Construction and Evaluation of a Number Sense Test With Head Start Children.

The reliability and, to a lesser extent, the validity of the newly created Number Sense Test was evaluated with a group of 40 3- to 5-year-old children attending Head Start. Six number sense skills (e.g., counting, number identification, addition-subtraction) and children's feelings about school were assessed both before and after instruction either in 2 of these skills (i.e., counting and number identification) or in insects (i.e., an attention control condition). The Number Sense Test was found to have high internal consistency and to be a valid means of assessing pre- to posttest improvements in instructed skills as a function of condition. Except for addition-subtraction, training effects did not generalize to non-instructed number sense skills. In neither condition did instruction have a harmful effect on children's largely positive feelings about school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encoding of instruments when 10- to 14-year-olds process isolated instrument-implicit sentences: More evidence of improved encoding during childhood resulting from elaborative instructions.

Examined whether 10- to 14-yr-olds infer implied instruments when reading isolated instrument-implicit sentences (IISs; e.g., Her friend swept the floor) as certainly and completely as they do when instructed to generate instruments in response to IISs. On-line instrumental encoding was tested with a procedure that was based on recognition priming of instrument words given some of the letters from the words (i.e., a word fragment). When children read the IISs without instruction to infer the implied instruments, the instrument fragment completion rates were low and less than when inference generation was required or instruments were stated during reading. Children's spontaneous instrumental inferences are less certain than suggested in previous research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Directed forgetting of trauma cues in adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse with and without posttraumatic stress disorder

The authors used a directed-forgetting task to investigate whether psychiatrically impaired adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse exhibit an avoidant encoding style and impaired memory for trauma cues. The authors tested women with abuse histories, either with or without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and women with neither abuse histories nor PTSD. The women saw intermixed trauma words (e.g., molested), positive words (e.g., confident), and categorized neutral words (e.g., mailbox) on a computer screen and were instructed either to remember or to forget each word. Relative to the other groups, the PTSD group did not exhibit recall deficits for trauma-related to-be-remembered words, nor did they recall fewer trauma-related to-be-forgotten words than other words. Instead, they exhibited recall deficits for positive and neutral words they were supposed to remember. These data are inconsistent with the hypothesis that impaired survivors exhibit avoidant encoding and impaired memory for traumatic information.     

Directed forgetting of trauma cues in adults reporting repressed or recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse.

An item-cuing directed forgetting task was used to investigate whether women reporting repressed (n?=?13) or recovered (n?=?13) memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) exhibit an avoidant encoding style (and resultant impaired memory) for trauma cues relative to women reporting no CSA experience (n?=?15). All participants viewed intermixed trauma (e.g., molested), positive (e.g., confident), and categorized neutral (e.g., mailbox) words on a computer screen and were instructed either to remember or to forget each word. The results provided no support for the hypothesis that people reporting either repressed or recovered memories of CSA are especially adept at forgetting words related to trauma. These groups recalled words they were instructed to remember more often than words they were instructed to forget regardless of whether they were trauma related. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application of random-effects probit regression models.

A random-effects probit model is developed for the case in which the outcome of interest is a series of correlated binary responses. These responses can be obtained as the product of a longitudinal response process where an individual is repeatedly classified on a binary outcome variable (e.g., sick or well on occasion t), or in "multilevel" or "clustered" problems in which individuals within groups (e.g., firms, classes, families, or clinics) are considered to share characteristics that produce similar responses. Both examples produce potentially correlated binary responses and modeling these person- or cluster-specific effects is required. The general model permits analysis at both the level of the individual and cluster and at the level at which experimental manipulations are applied (e.g., treatment group). The model provides maximum likelihood estimates for time-varying and time-invariant covariates in the longitudinal case and covariates which vary at the level of the individual and at the cluster level for multilevel problems. A similar number of individuals within clusters or number of measurement occasions within individuals is not required. Empirical Bayesian estimates of person-specific trends or cluster-specific effects are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructional effects on children's use of two levels of standards for evaluating their comprehension.

This study investigated whether providing children with instruction in the use of specific standards for evaluating their comprehension would generalize to their use of other standards and whether the instructional effects would be maintained over time. Eighty 4th graders, average and above-average readers, received instruction in using either 3 higher level "macrostructure" standards or 3 lower level "microstructure" standards, or else they received no instruction. On both an immediate and a delayed posttest, subjects read and evaluated passages containing problems requiring the use of all 6 standards. Children were more likely to identify problems of the types on which they were instructed, but both trained groups identified more noninstructed problems than the control group, indicating generalization of training. Moreover, the training advantage was maintained over time. Although better readers outperformed average readers, the benefits of instruction were equivalent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mnemonic facilitation of learning disabled students' memory for expository prose.

In two experiments, learning disabled adolescents read passages that described North American minerals, using materials that incorporated either mnemonic or nonmnemonic illustrations. In Experiment 1, the students were instructed to remember attribute dichotomies (e.g., hard vs. soft minerals), whereas in Experiment 2, the students had to remember specific attribute values (e.g., Hardness Levels 1–20). In both experiments, students learned significantly more when they studied passages with mnemonic pictures. This was true both on immediate performance tests (Experiments 1 and 2) and following a 1-week delay (Experiment 2). Moreover, in Experiment 2, mnemonic instruction facilitated student's ability to make correct inferences about attribute dichotomies—even though such information was never explicitly presented in the lesson. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual and procedural knowledge of mathematics: Does one lead to the other?

This study examined relations between children's conceptual understanding of mathematical equivalence and their procedures for solving equivalence problems (e.g., 3?+?4?+?5?=?3?+?9). Students in 4th and 5th grades completed assessments of their conceptual and procedural knowledge of equivalence, both before and after a brief lesson. The instruction focused either on the concept of equivalence or on a correct procedure for solving equivalence problems. Conceptual instruction led to increased conceptual understanding and to generation and transfer of a correct procedure. Procedural instruction led to increased conceptual understanding and to adoption, but only limited transfer, of the instructed procedure. These findings highlight the causal relations between conceptual and procedural knowledge and suggest that conceptual knowledge may have a greater influence on procedural knowledge than the reverse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's use of the keyword method to learn simple Spanish vocabulary words.

Assessed children's ability to use a mnemonic procedure to learn foreign language vocabulary, the keyword method, using 107 2nd and 5th graders as Ss. To remember a foreign word translation, the keyword method user (a) associates the foreign word to an English word (the keyword) that sounds like part of the foreign word, and (b) remembers a picture of the keyword and translation referents interacting. Ss who were instructed in keyword method use and provided with interactive pictures for each vocabulary item remembered more simple Spanish vocabulary translations than did control Ss not instructed to use the keyword method. Learning the acoustic links without a keyword method instruction did not improve vocabulary learning. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Effect of Age of Acquisition in Visual Word Processing: Further Evidence for the Semantic Hypothesis.

The authors investigated whether the meaning of visually presented words is activated faster for early-acquired words than for late-acquired words. They addressed the issue using the semantic Simon paradigm. In this paradigm, participants are instructed to decide whether a stimulus word is printed in uppercase or lowercase letters. However, they have to respond with a verbal label ("living" or "nonliving") that is either congruent with the meaning of the word (e.g., saying "living" to the stimulus DOG) or incongruent (e.g., saying "nonliving" to the stimulus dog). Results showed a significant congruency effect that was stronger for early-acquired words than for late-acquired words. The authors conclude that the age of acquisition is an important variable in the activation of the meaning of visually presented words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cause and effect theories of attention: The role of conceptual metaphors.

Scientific concepts are defined by metaphors. These metaphors determine what attention is and what count as adequate explanations of the phenomenon. The authors analyze these metaphors within 3 types of attention theories: (a) "cause" theories, in which attention is presumed to modulate information processing (e.g., attention as a spotlight; attention as a limited resource); (b) "effect" theories, in which attention is considered to be a by-product of information processing (e.g., the competition metaphor); and (c) hybrid theories that combine cause and effect aspects (e.g., biased-competition models). The present analysis reveals the crucial role of metaphors in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and the efforts of scientists to find a resolution to the classic problem of cause versus effect interpretations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separable brain systems supporting cued versus self-initiated realization of delayed intentions.

In everyday life, one can link anticipated specific cues (e.g. visiting a restaurant) with desired actions (e.g., ordering a healthy meal). Alternatively, intentions such as “I intend to eat more healthily” present the option to act when one encounters the same cue. In the first case, a specific cue triggers a specific action; in the second, one must act in a more self-initiated manner. The authors compared such scenarios using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were either instructed to respond in a particular manner to target events (cued condition) or told that they would score points for such responses, without being told that they were necessary (self-initiated condition). Although conditions differed only in the wording of instructions, the self-initiated condition was associated with poorer performance and greater activity in a predominantly frontoparietal network. Responses to targets in the self-initiated and cued conditions yielded greater activity in lateral and medial Brodmann area 10, respectively. The authors suggest that these results reflect differing demands for self-initiated versus externally cued behavior following different types of instruction, in line with the distinction between goal intentions and implementation intentions proposed by P. M. Gollwitzer and colleagues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching the mentally retarded job interviewing skills.

Examined the most effective usage of videotape in job interview skill training for 24 mentally retarded young adults utilizing the microcounseling model of instruction. Seven (e.g., open- and closed-ended questions and reflection of content) skill areas were modeled to 3 experimental groups for 6 sessions where the method of videotape utilization differed for each group. Data reveal that the microcounseling model is most effective with the 2 skill areas of eye contact and body posture regardless of the method of videotape utilization. Significant differences occurred in both of these skill areas after modeling Session 2 and remained significant throughout the study. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comprehension of texts with unfamiliar versus recently taught words: Assessment of alternative models.

Used modeling data from a study of M. G. McKeown et al (1983) in which approximately 160 4th graders recalled texts containing words that were either unfamiliar or recently taught to them through an intensive vocabulary instruction program. A suppression model, in which incomplete representations of propositions containing unfamiliar words were used during processing, predicted the pattern of recall of texts containing 11% unfamiliar words better than did a substitution model, in which propositions that contained only familiar words were substituted for those that contained unfamiliar words. A remind model, in which instructed words received additional processing, predicted the pattern of recall of texts containing 11% instructed words better than did a normal model, in which propositions that contained instructed words were processed in the same way as were propositions containing only familiar words. It is suggested that learning words through well-designed, direct instruction makes the instructed words salient and results in a greater ability to use the instructed rather than familiar words during comprehension. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery in children's memory for patterns.

Investigated the effect of type of pretraining on 8-yr-olds' ability to reproduce irregular shapes from memory. 30 Ss were assigned to 1 of 3 groups, exposed to a series of shapes, and instructed to remember the shape by its printed label or form an image of the shape "in your head," or were given no instruction. When Ss were again shown a selection of the shapes and asked to draw them from memory, it was found that the imagery group made significantly more accurate drawings. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relaxation training, relaxation instruction, and repeated exposure to a stressor film.

Investigated the relative effectiveness of 2 relaxation procedures for reducing stress reactions in a situation of 10 repeated exposures in 1 session to a stressor film. Measures were taken of both autonomic arousal and subjective anxiety. 27 student nurses were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: (a) taped abbreviated progressive relaxation training (rt); (b) relaxation instruction (ri), in which the group was simply instructed to relax without any training; and (c) control (c), neither trained nor instructed to relax. Results indicate that subjective anxiety decreased over showings equally for all 3 groups. Autonomic arousal (using a skin conductance measure) decreased significantly across showings for both groups rt and ri but not for group C. There were no significant differences on any of the measures between groups rt and ri. A comparison of these results with other studies indicates the need to consider carefully the effectiveness of taped relaxation training procedures. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Plasticity of memory for new learning in very old age: A story of major loss?

Longitudinal survivors of the Berlin Aging Study (N = 96, mean age = 84 years, range 75-101 years) were instructed and trained in a mnemonic skill to examine plasticity of episodic memory performance in very old age. Performance gains after mnemonic instruction were modest, and most individuals were unable to further enhance their performance during 4 sessions of mnemonic practice. Whereas the proportion of variance explained by measures from the broad fluid-ability domain (e.g., perceptual speed) increased with training, the proportion of variance explained by crystallized-ability domain (e.g., word knowledge) and sociobiographical variables decreased. Furthermore, prior 6-year longitudinal changes (loss) in perceptual speed predicted individual differences in plasticity. Results suggest that aging-induced biological factors are a prominent source of individual differences in cognitive plasticity in very old age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging, selective attention, and inhibitory processes: A psychophysiological approach.

Investigated the efficiency with which younger and older adults allocate attention to relevant and irrelevant stimuli. The model of attention guiding this research links the orienting response with the allocation of attention and habituation with the inhibition of the allocation of attention. The authors adapted a paradigm developed by W. G. Iacono and D. T. Lykken (1983) in which Ss are instructed unambiguously either to attend or to ignore a series of innocuous tones, and the skin conductance orienting response elicited by each tone is measured. Results revealed that young Ss instructed to ignore the tones habituated more quickly than did those instructed to attend to the tones. However, older adults exhibited nondifferential orienting across the 2 instruction conditions. These results suggest an age-related deficit in the ability to inhibit attention to irrelevant stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Embryo vaccination of chickens with infectious bronchitis virus: histologic and ultrastructural lesion response and immunologic response to vaccination

The present study examined the effects of instruction type and boredom proneness (BP) on vigilance performance, workload, and boredom. Subjects completed the Boredom Proneness Scale and were assigned to high and low groups based on their scores. They then monitored a VDT for critical signals. Half the subjects were instructed to detect "critical" flickers (detection emphasis), and the remaining subjects were instructed to relax but to respond to any flickers observed (relaxation emphasis). Subjects also provided pre- and postvigil ratings of workload, stress, and boredom. A performance decrement was observed for all conditions. Low-BP subjects outperformed high-BP subjects and reported less boredom. Thus the results from the present study provide evidence for the long-sought, elusive link between trait boredom and performance in vigilance. In addition, subjects who received relaxation-emphasis instructions reported lower workload, frustration, and stress for the vigil than did those receiving detection-emphasis instructions. These results are discussed in terms of a recent dynamic model of stress as it relates to sustained attention.     

Modeling epidemiologic studies of occupational cohorts for the quantitative assessment of carcinogenic hazards

Epidemiologic studies of occupational cohorts have played a major role in the quantitative assessment of risks associated with several carcinogenic hazards and are likely to play an increasingly important role in this area. Relatively little attention has been given in either the epidemiologic or the risk assessment literature to the development of appropriate methods for modeling epidemiologic data for quantitative risk assessment (QRA). The purpose of this paper is to review currently available methods for modeling epidemiologic data for risk assessment. The focus of this paper is on methods for use with retrospective cohort mortality studies of occupational groups for estimating cancer risk, since these are the data most commonly used when epidemiologic information is used for QRA. Both empirical (e.g., Poisson regression and Cox proportionate hazards model) and biologic (e.g., two-stage models) models are considered. Analyses of a study of lung cancer among workers exposed to cadmium are used to illustrate these modeling methods. Based on this example it is demonstrated that the selection of a particular model may have a large influence on the resulting estimates of risk.