Table of Content

15 March 2012, Volume 28 Issue 2

Previous Issue    Next Issue

Cueing Effects on Categorization:An ERP Study

SONG Juan, LV Yong, SHEN De-li

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  113-120. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (982KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

This study concerns the neural mechanisms of the cueing effects on categorization of pictures by using ERP technique.It contains two tasks:judgements of the round/square geometry figures and animals/non-animals. Before each trial,a cue was presented.There are three kinds of cues:valid,invalid and neural ones.As a result, we found the cueing effects on targets:(1)Valid cueing facilitates the perceptual processing of the subsequent targets,which showed by the smaller amplitude of early ERP components.(2)Valid cueing limit the processing of the targets on the certain task,which showed by the larger amplitude of later ERP component's.Valid cueing increases the efficiency of the targets identification,facilitates transmission of information to subsequent categorization stages,where increased neural activity leads to behavioral benefits.To some certain,this study gives advice for improvement of learning and memory.

Four to Six-Year-Old Children’s Understanding of Inversion Concept about Addition and Subtraction and Its Influencing Factors

HAN Cong-cong, CAO Shi-ying, CHEN Ying-he

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  121-130. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (557KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The reverse relationship of addition and subtraction is critical in children's learning of addition and subtraction.83 children aged 4 to 6 participated in this study.Algebraic Reasoning Paradigm,Cardinal tasks,Magnitude Comparison task,and Running Memory task were administered to examine the developmental trend of 4 to 6year-old preschooler's inversion concept about addition and subtraction,and how this trajectory influenced by Cardinal,Quantity Comparison and Memory Updating.Results showed that:(1)neither in non-symbolic nor symbolic inverse problems,4 and 5-year-old children's accuracy was above chance level.Few 4 and 5-year-old children passed the inverse problems.However,6-year-old kids had a great progress in both non-symbolic and symbolic inverse problems.Almost half of the 6-year-old children passed the symbolic inverse problems.4 to 6-year-old preschooler's accuracy was higher in small number problems than in large number problems,and higher in symbolic quantity problems than analog quantity problems.(2)Preschoolers,those who had already grasped cardinals were much better in the development of inversion concept than those who hadn't.However,according to children's knowledge of cardinal,we cannot predict their understanding about inversion concept.(3)Magnitude Comparison and Memory Updating had salient and positive prediction to children understands of inversion concept.

The Role of Perspective-taking in Preschool Children’s Decision-making in Delay of Gratification

JIANG Qin, LI Hong, ZHANG Shu-yue, ZHANG Ting, FENG Ting-yong, LONG Chang-quan

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  131-139. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (568KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The task of decision-making in delay of gratification had been used to investigate the development of affective decision-making in preschool children.It involved making a series of choices between a small,immediate reward and a larger,delayed reward for children themselves and for others(research assistant).Experiment 1 tested 40 3-year-olds and 40 4-year-olds,and the result found that there was no difference between chose for self and chose for other on neither 3-year-olds nor 4-year-olds.Both of them preferred to choose delay for themselves and for others.To explain the result of experiment 1,we designed experiment 2 which also asked the children to make decision for themselves and for a research assistant based delay of gratification procedure.But we offered some information about the research assistant;therefore the information could as a cue to help children to make the useful choice for other people.And the perspective-taking task was included in experiment 2 too.60 3-year-olds and 60 4-year-olds were tested in experiment 2.The result found out:for 3-year-olds,the ability of perspective-taking had not well developed,and there was no difference between chose for self and chose for other in any kind of information groups.In contrast,for 4-year-olds,the ability of perspective taking had got developed by a certain degree, and they could make different choices for others based on different information.In sum,children's ability of affective decision-making is related to perspective-taking which shows developmental change during the preschool period in the task of delay of gratification for self and others.As perspective taking develops,children come to approach motivationally significant decision for other people.

The Development of the 3-to 5-year-olds’ Strategies When Making Trust Judgment Based on Trustee’s Competence

LI Qing-gong, XU Fen, ZHOU Xiao-mei

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  140-144. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (321KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The current study investigated the strategies that 3-to 5-year-olds used to make trust judgment based on trustee's competence,by interviewing them with a story.A total of 144 children aged 3-5 years were asked to make trust judgment when facing two different kinds of kids in the story,one was competent and the another was not choosy in food.Before making judgment,a teacher would give her evaluation to the two kids,which occurred on two conditions:condition 1,teacher's evaluation was in favor of competent kid and the teacher thought the competent kid performed better than the not-choosy-food one.Condition 2 went opposite:teacher's evaluation was in favor of the not-choosy-food kid.The results showed that 3-to 4-year-olds were affected by teacher's evaluation when making trust judgment,while 5-year-olds weren't.These results suggested that 5-year-olds made trust judgment based on trustee's competence by trait understanding,while 3-to 4-year-olds made trust judgment by trait valence.

The Effects of Unexpected Stimulus’s Meaningfulness and Position to Inattentional Blindness in College Students

HUANG Shan-shan, GUO Ying-na, ZHENG Xi-fu

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  145-150. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (416KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

When observers focus their eyes on a particular task,they often fail to notice salient and distinctive objects——such phenomenon is termed "inattentional blindness(IB)".It is influenced by low-level properties of the unexpected stimulus,factors occurring after semantic processing of the unexpected stimulus,and observers' characteristics.Inattentional blindness links perception,consciousness and attention.This study examined the effects of position and meaningfulness of unexpected stimulus on inattentional blindness using the static inattentional blindness paradigm,with 80 randomly selected participants taking part in.The results showed that:(1)IB was not significantly influenced by the position of unexpected stimulus.Perhaps whether position could affect IB was not based on the fixation but the zone of attention;(2)IB was significantly influenced by the meaningfulness of unexpected stimulus.No matter what position the unexpected stimulus was presented,the meaningless one(the reversed icon)always had a higher rate of IB than the meaningful one(the smiling face).

A Comparative Study of Earthquake-Exposed Middle School and Undergraduate Students on Memory Bias to Threatening Stimuli

ZHANG Yan, KONG Fan-chang, HAN Li, SHI Ming-li, CHEN Hong

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  150-159. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (902KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Different age groups of earthquake-exposed survivors(13 undergraduates and 13 middle school students) were investigated in a study-test paradigm using event-related potentials(ERPs).The results showed that:(1)the earthquake-exposed middle school students group had significantly shorter P300 latencies than undergraduates group elicited by old earthquake-related stimuli on frontal-central sites,and higher P300 and LPC amplitude on parietaloccipital sites.(2)The earthquake-related stimuli elicited larger amplitudes than neutral stimuli in P300 and LPC components for two earthquake-exposed groups.It indicated that the earthquake-related stimuli had more effects on the earthquake-exposed middle school students than earthquake-exposed undergraduate,and earthquake-exposed group had memory bias to earthquake-related stimuli.

The Characteristics of Adolescents’ Parental Support and Their Effects on Their Social Adjustment:the Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence

ZHANG Wen-juan, ZOU Hong, LIANG Yu-ling

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  160-166. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (573KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The present study aimed at exploring the characteristics of adolescents'parental support;effects their its effect on their social adjustment,as well as the mediating effect of emotional intelligence.Parental Support Questionnaires,Adolescents'Social Adjustment Assessment Questionnaires and Adolescents'Emotional Intelligence Questionnaires were administered to the sample consicting of 2623 students(1246 boys and 1347 girls, aged from 11 to 18).The results showed that:(1)Significant differences of parental support were emerged in genders and grades.Girls perceived significantly higher parental support than boys,especially for affection and accompany support.Students in the second grade of senior high school reported significantly lower parental support than those in the first and second grade of junior middle school.(2)Simple correlation results indicated significant relationships among parental support,emotional intelligence and adolescents'social adjustment.(3)Canonical correlation suggested that the correlation between parental support and adolescents'social adjustment was moderate.Canonical variables explained 5.85% of the variance in parental support,28.5%in social adjustment, with the redundamay indexes as 1.23 and 5.99 respectively.(4)Emotional intelligence totally mediated the relationship between parental support and social adjustment.

The Features of Marital Conflicts and Their Relationships with Marital Attachment among Old Adults

WANG Qian-rong, WANG Da-hua, CHEN Cui-ling

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  167-174. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (673KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Based on a sample of 27 older couples,aged 60 to 84(M=69.93±5.89),the marital attachment scale for older adults,and the Questionnaire of marital conflicts were administered.Results were that marital conflicts among old adults were low in frequency and intensity,high constructive,low threatening,and easy to be solved; conflict intensity,frequency and status of conflict resolution were not found significantly different between people with different types of marital attachment;the secure participants felt marital conflict being more constructive than the insecure ones,however,there were no significant differences on the extent of threat feeling of marital conflicts; besides,there was a couple consistency effect on the features of marital conflicts among old adults.

A Cross-Culture Comparison Study of the Impact of Reading Engagement on Reading Literacy:Based on PISA 2009

ZHANG Wen-jing, XIN Tao

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  175-183. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (474KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

This study investigated the impact of reading engagement on reading literacy of 15-year-olds students by employing two-level linear models from an international comparison perspective.Four countries/regions including Shanghai-China,Korea,Finland and United States were selected from the international PISA 2009 database,and the impact patterns of them were compared.The findings indicated that:(1)Students'reading engagement as a whole was in strong relationship with reading literacy performance under each of the four different cultural contexts. (2)Specifically,among the various variables which jointly defined the concept of reading engagement,reading enjoyment,control strategies,understanding and remembering metacognition strategies,summarizing metacognition strategies had positive effects on reading literacy,which showed a consistent impact patterns among the four countries/regions.However,the amount of reading time,diversity of reading materials,diversity of on line reading activities,reading for school variables,memorization strategies and elaboration strategies had different impact patterns on reading literacy among the four countries/regions.In addition,the study also discussed three ways to cultivate students'reading engagement:increasing personal reading time,increasing the diversity of reading texts and the guidance for effective learning strategies.

The Cultivation of Primary School Students’ Learning Motivation:a Five-year Longitudinal Study

JIA Xiao-juan, HU Wei-ping, WU Bao-jun

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  184-192. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (681KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The present study adopted cross-sequential design,explored the changing trends of primary school students'learning motivation and the effects of the "Learn to Think" curriculum.Participants were primary school students from Grade 1 to Grade 3,who were randomly ascribed to experimental and control groups.Experimental group students attended the LTT for four years,and the delayed effects were measured one year after terminating the intervention.The results suggested that(1)the surface motivation and achievement motivation showed a descending trend,while the deep motivation showed an ascending first and then descending trend.(2)Boys' surface motivation and achievement motivation were significantly higher than that of girls.(3)The higher the grade was,the lower children's surface motivation,deep motivation and achievement motivation were.(4)After oneyear intervention,the experimental group students'deep motivation was significantly higher than the control group students',and delayed effects were significant.

The Influence of the Relational Complexity upon the Indirect Learning of Relational Category

ZHANG Heng-chao, YIN Guo-en

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  193-200. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (626KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

216 undergraduate students participated in the current study.The study designed three kinds of experimental materials.The relational complexity is constantly changing.It arranged the condition of indirect category learning of individual functional prediction and the condition of indirect category learning relation to referential communication.This study explored the influence of the relational complexity upon the indirect learning of relational category.The results showed that:The learning effect of referential communication condition changes with relational complexity during the function prediction under the condition of indirect learning of relational category.The participants under the condition of referential communication scored significantly higher points than individual condition during the indirect learning of 4 features'complex relation.There is no significant difference during the indirect learning of 6 features' complex relation plus second-order same function simple relation.The participants under individual condition scored significantly higher points than the condition of referential communication during the indirect learning of 6 features'complex relation plus second-order different function simple relation.

Parental Behavioral Control,Psychological Control,and Aggression and Social Withdrawal in Early Adolescents

LI Dan-li, ZHANG Wei, LI Dong-ping, WANG Yan-hui

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  201-209. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (643KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

This study examined(a)whether there were specific relations between parental behavioral and psychological control and early adolescents'aggression and social withdrawal,(b)whether the above relations were nonlinear,and(c)whether emotion regulation(cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression)mediated the above relations.Six hundred and ninety-four early adolescents(mean age=13.67 years)participated in this study by filling out questionnaire measures of parental control,emotion regulation,and problem behaviors.The results revealed that(a)both forms of parental control were associated with aggression and social withdrawal(i. e.,no specificity);(b)the effects of behavioral control on problem behaviors were nonlinear,whereas the effects of psychological control on problem behaviors were linear;(c)cognitive reappraisal mediated the relationship between psychological control and aggression,while expressive suppression mediated the relationship between psychological control and social withdrawal.

Conceptual Understanding of Equivalent Fractions

HAN Yu-lei, XIN Zi-qiang, HU Qing-fen

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  210-217. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (537KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Equivalent fractions are fractions with the same numerical value,which is constructed on the basis of a certain proportional relationship between two quantities.Previous literature has shown that before receiving formal education,children have had informal knowledge for equivalent fractions.However,they still have trouble in understanding the concept.For this phenomenon,two reasons have been proposed:first,children are limited by the developmental level of operational thinking,because children have not reached multiplicative thinking and conservation concept;second,they lack complete understanding for the different semantic meanings of equivalent fractions.In the future,it is necessary to further explore the developmental path from informal knowledge to the formal concept,and try to conduct teaching experiments of equivalent fractions in children's early ages,and combine a variety of semantic contexts to examine children's concept development level.

The Role of Feedback in Self-regulated Learning

ZHANG Jun, LIU Ru-de, JIA Ling

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(2):  218-224. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (553KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Feedback is always an important theme in learning domain.As the development of learning theory, researches on feedback got more deeply and integrated.Recent researches explored the influencing role of different factors of feedback in the context of processing model of self-regulated learning theory on the one hand,and also explored the mediating and moderating role of contextual factors(such as goal-orientation and task complexity)and individual factors(such as emotion and academic achievement)between feedback and self-regulated learning in the context of social cognitive theory on the other hand.Future research should pay attention on the metacognitive monitoring process and internal clues,explore the role of feedback in learning process dynamically integrated with individual and contextual factors,and design feedback that would improve learning and instruction.