61 research outputs found
How basic-level objects facilitate question-asking in a categorization task
The ability to categorize information is essential to everyday tasks such as
identifying the cause of an event given a set of likely explanations or
pinpointing the correct from a set of possible diagnoses by sequentially
probing questions. In three studies, we investigated how the level of
inclusiveness at which objects are presented (basic-level vs. subordinate-
level) influences children's (7- and 10-year-olds) and adults' performance in
a sequential binary categorization task. Study 1 found a robust facilitating
effect of basic-level objects on the ability to ask effective questions in a
computerized version of the Twenty Questions game. Study 2 suggested that this
facilitating effect might be due to the kinds of object-differentiating
features participants generate when provided with basic-level as compared to
subordinate-level objects. Study 3 ruled out the alternative hypothesis that
basic-level objects facilitate the selection of the most efficient among a
given set of features
Benefits of Active Control of the Study Experience and Implications for Educational Settings
Einleitung: Das Konzept des aktiven Lernens gewinnt zunehmend an Bedeutung und ist mit entsprechenden Lerntheorien sowie Unterrichtstechniken einhergegangen. Der Begriff des aktiven Lernens umfasst eine groĂe Bandbreite an Konzepten, wodurch ein VerstĂ€ndnis einzelner, dem aktiven Lernen zugrundeliegender kognitiver Prozesse erschwert wird. Kognitionspsychologische Untersuchungsergebnisse ermöglichen ein prĂ€ziseres VerstĂ€ndnis aktiver Lernprozesse und liefern somit wertvolle Impulse fĂŒr eine evidenzbasierte Unterrichtspraxis. Methode: In der vorliegenden Ăbersichtsarbeit werden Vorteile des aktiven Lernens anhand ausgewĂ€hlter kognitionspsychologischer Forschungsergebnisse aufgezeigt sowie Implikationen fĂŒr die Bildungspraxis diskutiert. DafĂŒr werden zugrundeliegende Mechanismen aktiven Lernens beleuchtet. Im Anschluss wird dargelegt, wann erste vorteilhafte Effekte in der Entwicklung auftreten und weshalb positive Effekte auch fĂŒr Kinder mit einer diagnostizierten Autismus-Spektrum-Störung gelten. Ergebnisse und Diskussion: Die Forschungsergebnisse zeigen zusammengenommen, dass Kinder entgegen frĂŒheren Annahmen schon ab einem Alter von 6 bis 8 Jahren von aktiven Lernstrategien hinsichtlich einer gesteigerten GedĂ€chtnisleistung profitieren und dass sie dies durch effektive Anpassungen ihrer gewĂ€hlten Lernstrategien tun. AbschlieĂend werden Implikationen fĂŒr die Bildungspraxis diskutiert.Background: The concept of active learning has played a crucial role in education and continues to inform a wide range of learning theories and teaching practices. Despite widespread interest in this concept and subsequent proliferation of instructional techniques, the precise mechanisms underlying the potential beneficial effects of active learning often remain unclear. In this sense, experimental research on active learning provides crucial insights and results, which can guide the evaluation, as well support the development of evidence-based teaching practices and tools. Methods: In this article, we review selected work examining the cognitive mechanisms underlying active learning. Results and Discussion: In particular, we present results from experimental work providing evidence for memory enhancements related to active control of the study experience across childhood. We then discuss broader implications for educational practices, both in typically developing â as well as in special populations
Braving difficult choices alone: children's and adolescents' medical decision making.
OBJECTIVE: What role should minors play in making medical decisions? The authors examined children's and adolescents' desire to be involved in serious medical decisions and the emotional consequences associated with them. METHODS: Sixty-three children and 76 adolescents were presented with a cover story about a difficult medical choice. Participants were tested in one of four conditions: (1) own informed choice; (2) informed parents' choice to amputate; (3) informed parents' choice to continue a treatment; and (4) uninformed parents' choice to amputate. In a questionnaire, participants were asked about their choices, preference for autonomy, confidence, and emotional reactions when faced with a difficult hypothetical medical choice. RESULTS: Children and adolescents made different choices and participants, especially adolescents, preferred to make the difficult choice themselves, rather than having a parent make it. Children expressed fewer negative emotions than adolescents. Providing information about the alternatives did not affect participants' responses. CONCLUSIONS: Minors, especially adolescents, want to be responsible for their own medical decisions, even when the choice is a difficult one. For the adolescents, results suggest that the decision to be made, instead of the agent making the decision, is the main element influencing their emotional responses and decision confidence. For children, results suggest that they might be less able than adolescents to project how they would feel. The results, overall, draw attention to the need to further investigate how we can better involve minors in the medical decision-making process
Opening up the cuebox
Die Dissertation untersucht 1) welche Cues Kinder und Erwachsene in ihrer Cuebox haben, d.h. welche Cues fĂŒr Inferenzen herangezogen wird, 2) wie Intuition ĂŒber die Wichtigkeit von Cues die Informationssuche beeinflusst, und 3) wie das Framing eines Problems und das experimentelle Design die Intuition beeinflussen. Das erste Projekt untersucht den Effekt verschiedener DomĂ€nen und ObjektreprĂ€sentationen auf Erfragungsstrategien von Kindern und Erwachsenen in einer Kategorisierungsaufgabe. Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine Basis-Level-ReprĂ€sentation (z.B. Hund) das Generieren von höher geordneten Merkmalen, welche die Objekte innerhalb einer ĂŒbergeordneten Kategorie unterscheiden, fĂŒr Kinder erleichtern und dadurch benutzt werden können, um effektive Fragen zu stellen. Dieser Effekt wurde nicht gefunden, wenn Kinder nicht selbst solche Merkmale generierten, sondern aus einem vordefinierten Set auswĂ€hlen mussten. Das zweite Projekt untersuchte Kinder und junge Erwachsene bezĂŒglich zweier Inferenzprobleme. In einer Bedingung mussten Cues selbst generiert werden, in einer anderen wurde ein Set von Cues vorgegeben. Ergebnisse zeigen, dass nur, wenn Cue selbst generiert wurden, junge Kinder gleich gut oder besser als Ă€ltere Kinder oder Erwachsene abschnitten, da sie Cues generierten, die ebenso informativ waren wie die der anderen beiden Altersgruppen. In dem dritten Projekt wurde getestet, wie die Art, Anzahl und QualitĂ€t der Cues die FĂ€higkeit von Kindern und jungen Erwachsenen beeinflusst, die informativsten Cues zu generieren bzw. auszuwĂ€hlen. Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Cuebox von Kindern mehr perzeptuelle Cues beinhaltet als jene junger Erwachsener. Dennoch war der Informationsgehalt der generierten Cues in beiden Gruppen gleich. Junge Erwachsene zeigten die Tendenz, nicht-perzeptuelle Cues systematisch als informativer zu erachten als perzeptuelle Cues. Kinder zeigten die gleiche Tendenz nur dann, wenn sie aus einem vordefinierten Set auswĂ€hlen mussten.My dissertation addresses the questions 1) what cues children and adults have in their cuebox (i.e., the set of cues available for making inferences or categorizing), 2) how peopleâs intuition about the importance of the cues drives their information search, and 3) how the framing of a problem and the experimental design influence these intuitions. A first project investigated developmental differences in how children and adults solve a sequential binary categorization task. Results show that, apart from age-related differences, childrenâs but not adultsâ inquiry strategies improve if objects are represented at the basic level (e.g., dog) but not if represented at the subordinate level (e.g., Dalmatian) or when the basic level is specified by additional features (e.g., dog, kennel, to wag, collar). Explanations are that, unlike other representations, basic level objects trigger features that are useful for categorization, and therefore help children ask more effective questions. A second project tested children and young adults on two inference problems, by manipulating whether cues were generated or given. Results show that, only when generating their own cues, younger children matched or even outperformed the accuracy of older children and young adults, by generating cues that were as informative as the those generated by older children and young adults. A third project examined the type, amount and informativeness of the cues in peopleâs cuebox. Further, it investigated the influence of the type of cues on the ability of children and young adults to generate or select the most informative cue available. Results show that childrenâs cuebox contains more perceptual cues than young adultsâ. We found no difference between the two age groups in terms of informativeness of the cues generated. Young adults showed the tendency to systematically consider non-perceptual cues more informative than perceptual cues. Children showed such tendency only in a cue-selection task
Shake it baby, but only when needed: Preschoolers adapt their exploratory strategies to the information structure of the task
Bounded Rationality: Euristiche Fast and Frugal e dintorni
La tesi si propone di analizzare il programma di ricerca nelle euristiche fast and frugal, intrapreso da Gerd Gigerenzer - insieme all'ABC group - presso il Max Plank Institute of Human Development. Si illustrano da una parte i presupposti teorico/metodologici del programma, con riferimento particolare al concetto di razionalitĂ limitata, razionalitĂ ecologica e razionalitĂ sociale; dall'altra si analizzano alcuni dei risultati sperimentali piĂč significativi. Si cerca inoltre di delineare in modo critico le principali prospettive di ricerca aperte da questa analisi
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