Effects of age and schooling on the acquisition of elementary quantitative skills.

The influence of school- and age-related variables was examined separately on 2 tasks involving elementary quantitative skills: conservation of number and mental addition. Performance on these tasks was compared by using a cutoff design with 3 groups of kindergarten and Grade 1 children who differed in age but not amount of schooling (grade), in schooling but not age, or in both age and schooling. The effects of age and schooling were distinct. On conservation of number, performance improved as a function of age but not schooling. On mental arithmetic, accuracy improved with schooling rather than age but children's use of various solution procedures (e.g., retrieval, counting) was not influenced by schooling. Thus, in the domain of elementary mathematical skills, the influence of schooling can be very specific, and age-related variables other than schooling play an important role in the development of elementary mathematical skills. Results illustrate the utility of the cutoff design for investigating instructional and developmental influences on cognitive development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Order of the acquisition of perspective-taking skills.

Gave 3 groups of 60 children (6, 8, and 10 yrs of age) a perspectives task. Results provide some support for the hypothesis that the acquisition of perspective-taking skills in a Piagetian-type perspectives task follows 3 sequential steps: At first young children can correctly represent only the location of the object nearest another observer; later, they can correctly represent a before–behind relationship between objects as seen by another observer; last, they are able to represent a left–right relationship between objects as seen by another observer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Monitoring and planning capacities in the acquisition of music performance skills.

Investigated changes in cognitive capacities that occur as musicians acquire performance skills. A study is presented of child pianists (aged 6–14 yrs) of beginning and intermediate skill levels who performed well-learned musical pieces. Computer-detected pitch errors in the performances provided evidence for skill-related increases in both monitoring and planning: Children with more musical training showed quicker detection and correction of errors, more anticipatory and less perseveratory behavior, and larger range of planning than children with less training. A study of adult musicians' (mean age 27 yrs) advanced performances, which showed heightened sensitivity to melody and repeated pitch structures is also reported. Results show that planning and monitoring capacities increased most during initial stages of musical skill acquisition, whereas sensitivity to musical structure increased across all skill levels. Lists of beginners, intermediates' and adults' musical pieces performed are appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The acquisition of robust and flexible cognitive skills.

The authors introduce a model of skill acquisition that incorporates elements of both traditional models and models based on embedded cognition by striking a balance between top-down and bottom-up control. A knowledge representation is used in which pre- and postconditions are attached to actions. This model captures improved performance due to learning not only in terms of shorter solution times and lower error rates during the task but also in an increased flexibility to solve similar problems and robustness against unexpected events. In 3 experiments using a complex aviation task, the authors contrasted instructions that explicitly stated pre- and postconditions with conventional instructions that did not. The instructions with pre- and postconditions led to better and more robust performance than other instructions, especially on problems that required transfer. The parameters of the model were estimated to obtain a quantitative fit of the results of Experiment 1, which was then successfully used to predict the results of Experiments 2 and 3. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The spouse situation inventory: A role-play measure of coping skills in women with alcoholic partners.

This article reports on the psychometric evaluation of the Spouse Situation Inventory (SSI), a role-play measure of coping skills in women with alcoholic partners. The study examined the generalizability, alternate form reliability, test–retest reliability, and construct validity of the measure in 472 women from both treatment and nontreatment populations. The SSI had acceptable generalizability and reliability. SSI performance also had predicted relationships with measures of general escape coping, alcohol-related coping behaviors, the woman's drinking, the partner's drinking in the treatment group, and the partner's problem recognition in the nontreatment group. The SSI shows promise as a reliable and valid measure of coping skills in this population and has direct implications for development and evaluation of skill training programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal setting interview skills training: Simulated and on-the-job analyses.

In an organization that had an ongoing assigned goal-setting program, the effects of 2 formal training methods, role playing (RP) and videotaping (VTF) and lecture and RP, were studied in simulated goal-setting sessions and back on the job. It was hypothesized that the sales representatives (reps), who were subordinates of the trained sales managers, would report more positive attitudes about goal properties, be more satisfied with their jobs, and display better performance than reps of nontrained sales managers. Nontrained sales managers received a traditional introduction to goal setting in that they were given an operating notebook and told to proceed. 60 sales managers and 150 reps participated. Evaluators indicated that trained sales managers were more effective in the posttraining simulations than their nontrained counterparts. Pre- and posttraining evaluations of reps' (VTF, RP, and comparison-group subordinates) attitudes and performance indicated the superiority of formal goal-setting training over the traditional approach used with the comparison or nontrained managers. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relevance of audio-visual feedback mechanisms in the acquisition of reading skills.

There has been much confusion in the past on the topic of reading disabilities. The distinction is made between acquired cases of dyslexia where a previously acquired language skill is lost as the result of injury, disease or trauma to the central nervous system and cases of a more congenital nature where children seem to find it very difficult to acquire the normal reading skills. The study of acquired dyslexia has thrown much light on the various brain centra involved in all the complex language skills of which reading and writing is but one aspect. The cases of congenital dyslexia which are encountered frequently in all schools more than likely have little evidence of brain damage. Rather, a development lag or neurological disorganization seems to be at the root of such troubles. The importance of cerebral laterality for speech and language skills is being realized. In particular it appears that auditory dominance, an aspect of laterality that is still being investigated, is extremely important in the acquisition and execution of language skills. When a subject's voice is picked up by a microphone, delayed for .2" and then fed back to the subject via earphones the subject begins to stutter. Under certain conditions it is possible to demonstrate that the subject's speech will be more impaired when this delayed feedback is on his dominant ear than when it is on his non-dominant ear suggesting an assymetry of the monitoring functions of the two ears. This finding, if further investigated and validated, may have far reaching consequences in the remediation of language disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of interview length and applicant quality on interview decision time.

Investigated the impact of applicant quality (high vs low) and expectation of interview length (30 vs 15 min) on interview decision time using 60 experienced employment counselors from private employment agencies as Ss (30 males average age 35.5 yrs; modal education level 4 yrs of college). Ss were shown a videotape of a staged interview and were asked to make a hire/not hire decision as soon as they felt they had sufficient information. As predicted, Ss required significantly more time to decide when viewing the high-quality applicant. They also required more time to decide when they expected the interview to last 30 min. An examination of the correlations between ratings and decision time for the high-quality-applicant condition showed most of them to be negative. However, correlations in the low-quality-applicant condition were mostly positive. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of race on interview ratings in a situational panel interview.

This study investigated the effects of interviewer race, candidate race, and racial composition of interview panels on interview ratings. Data were collected on 153 police officers applying for promotion. Results confirmed a same-race rating effect (i.e., candidates racially similar to interviewers received higher ratings) for Black and White interviewers on racially balanced panels. A majority-race rating effect (i.e., candidates racially similar to the majority race of panel interviewers received higher ratings) existed for Black and White interviewers on primarily White panels. Rating patterns of Black and White interviewers on primarily Black panels also suggested a majority-race rating effect. Racial composition of selection interview panels in combination with interviewer and candidate race were proposed as variables affecting candidates' ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for order of operations in the acquisition and transfer of sequential cognitive skills.

The authors report a series of experiments in which questions about the nature of memory for the order of processing operations in sequential processing skills (i.e., skills that require proper sequencing of a set of component operations) were addressed. Evidence from 3 studies of a sequential number computation skill suggested that memory for processing sequences that are general to many instances is more instrumental than sequence memory that is instance specific. Results generalized over task versions that differed markedly in the number of processing sequences and the number of unique stimulus instances per sequences. General sequence memory appeared to develop relatively early in practice and to underlie errors in transfer that resembled einstellung effects. The findings are discussed with respect to memory mechanisms postulated in recent theories of skill acquisition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Television formats, mastery of mental skills, and the acquisition of knowledge.

Conducted a study to demonstrate that when TV formats are varied, with content held constant, they differentially affect the use of mental skills and the acquisition of knowledge. Four groups of 44 5th graders were pretested on a battery of mental skill tests; then each group was shown 1 of 4 TV film versions of a story and posttested on 2 types of knowledge acquisition tests. All films had the same content, but their dominant format of presentation differed, with fragmentation of spaces, logical gaps, close-ups, and zoomings in and out. Results show differential patterns of correlations between initial skill mastery and knowledge acquisition within each format, depending on whether the format called upon a skill or supplanted it. Also, correlational patterns varied as a function of the requirements of the knowledge acquisition task. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical interview skills and identification of emotional disorders in primary care

BACKGROUND: This study focuses on the detection of medically compromised dental patients in the Netherlands by means of a validated patient-administered medical risk-related history (MRRH). Due to social changes and scientific innovations in the past decade, more medically compromised patients will be needing special dental treatment. METHODS: The medical problems of 29,424 dental patients (age 18 years and over) from 50 dental practices in the Netherlands were registered by means of the MRRH. The patients were classified according to the ASA risk-score system, which was modified for dental treatment. An inventory of the number and nature of medical problems and the modified ASA risk score was drawn up in relation to dental treatment and age. RESULTS: The average age of the patients was 37.1 +/- 13.5 years. According to the current guidelines, dental treatment must be modified if the patient has an ASA score of III or IV. A relatively high percentage of patients ages 65-74 (23.9%) and 75 or over (34.9%) did have an ASA score of III or IV. Furthermore, the medical problems were classified into 10 categories, and the relationship to age was examined. The conditions that increased with age were hypertension and cardiovascular, neurological, endocrinological, infectious, and blood diseases. CONCLUSIONS: For the dental practice, these results mean that the MRRH can play an important role in adapting dental treatment to the specific needs of patients. This is especially important in the case of elderly patients.     

Job-seeking interview skills training: A comparison of four instructional techniques.

56 prison inmates aged 18–47 yrs in 3 prerelease training cycles were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions or to a waiting-list control condition. The 4 instructional techniques were model exposure (MOD), role playing (RP), model exposure plus role playing (MRP), and model exposure and role playing with videotape feedback (VIDEO). Judges' ratings of videotaped simulated pre- and posttreatment interviews and personnel interviewers' ratings of follow-up interviews served as criterion measures. Posttest results indicate that both the MRP and VIDEO treatments were significantly more effective than the control procedure on all dependent variables; the RP treatment was more effective than the control on 2 criteria, and the MOD group was inferior to the MRP group on 1 criterion. On follow-up ratings, the MRP group differed significantly from the control group on 1 variable, while the VIDEO group differed significantly on 3 areas of behavior and on probability of hire. The use of numerous types of training components is superior to the use of single components in developing complex types of abilities and behavior. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of behavioral versus traditional procedures for increasing job interview skills.

A job interview skills workshop model based on behavioral procedures such as modeling, role playing, and directed feedback was compared with the traditional lecture-discussion group approach. 45 college seniors were randomly assigned to a behavioral, discussion, or no-treatment control group. Ss participated in a videotaped, simulated job interview prior to and following each workshop. Results from 1 self-report and 8 behavioral measures indicate that the behavioral group made significant gains in percentage of eye contact maintained during the interview. The discussion group was found to be superior to the behavioral and control groups in ratings of ability to explain individual skills and expression of feelings and personal opinions relevant to the interview. Also the discussion group was found to result in a significant increase in length of speaking. A model of combining the most effective components of the behavioral and discussion groups is presented as offering the most promising approach to job interview skills training. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of learning from examples in the acquisition of recursive programming skills.

Presents an analysis and simulation model of the verbal protocols of 2 college students and 1 8-yr-old S learning to program recursive functions. The model is formalized as a production system capable of acquiring new production rules based on problem-solving experience. The model and protocols suggest that (a) problem solving by analogy to worked-out examples is frequent in initial attempts by novices to write recursive functions; (b) different representations of examples are used to guide problem solving by analogy; and (c) performance on later problems reflects the particular representations used in problem solving by analogy on earlier problems. The protocols and simulations also suggest that learning is facilitated by using abstract representations of the structure of recursion examples to guide initial coding attempts. (French abstract) (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variations in role-play tests of heterosocial performance.

Examined the effects of varying the confederates' (Cs') prompt latency on the heterosocial performance of 140 low- and high-frequency male undergraduate daters. Results indicate that (a) variations altered the test's content and absolute difficulty level, (b) the level at which the Cs' prompt latency was standardized affected the role-play's ability to differentiate between criterion groups, and (c) the ability of the test to differentiate between groups varied across Cs, possibly due to differences in attractiveness. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills.

Three bodies of research that have developed in relative isolation center on each of three kinds of phonological processing: phonological awareness, awareness of the sound structure of language; phonological recoding in lexical access, recoding written symbols into a sound-based representational system to get from the written word to its lexical referent; and phonetic recoding in working memory, recoding written symbols into a sound-based representation system to maintain them efficiently in working memory. In this review we integrate these bodies of research and address the interdependent issues of the nature of phonological abilities and their causal roles in the acquisition of reading skills. Our review supports a causal role for phonological awareness in learning to read, and suggests the possibility of similar causal roles for phonological recoding in lexical access and phonetic recoding in working memory. Most researchers have neglected the probable causal role of learning to read in the development of phonological skills. It is no longer enough to ask whether phonological skills play a causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. The question now is which aspects of phonological processing (e.g., awareness, recoding in lexical access, recoding in working memory) are causally related to which aspects of reading (e.g., word recognition, word analysis, sentence comprehension), at which point in their codevelopment, and what are the directions of these causal relations? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)