巻頭言

・広島大学大学院教育学研究科紀要. 第二部, 文化教育開発関連領域: Bulletin of the Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University. Part. II, Arts and science education (NCID: AA11618725) 64号にも記載あり・広島大学大学院教育学研究科紀要. 第三部, 教育人間科学関連領域: Bulletin of the Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University. Part 3, Education and human science (NCID: AA11625039) 64号にも記載あ

Does the spatial processing influence to harmonic cognition? : An event-related potential study <Article>

Recent studies have reported that early right anterior negativity (ERAN) is elicited by harmonic irregularity in Western tonal music. We assumed that tonal hierarchy-as the basic structure for harmony processing-is expressed as a mental representation with spatial specificity. In this study, we examined whether this assumption was appropriate by investigating the effect of a mental rotation task on ERAN. If the representation of tonal hierarchy has a spatial structure, mental rotation of the structure will decrease the amplitude of ERAN. Twelve adult participants took part in the experiment, which comprised three task conditions (mental rotation, reading, and control). Event-related potentials to cadenzas including the Neapolitan sixth chord as the deviated tone were recorded under each condition. Results showed a decrease of ERAN amplitude in the mental rotation task, suggesting a relationship between spatial processing and the establishment of tonal hierarchy. Further research is necessary to confirm distinguish whether the effect is attentional or task specific

Event-related brain potentials in a mental rotation task with different probabilities of normal and mirror-image letter stimuli

The aim of this experiment was to evaluate a scalp distribution of processing-related negativity that was thought as an electrophysiological correlate of the mental rotation process. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 16 subjects who performed a mental rotation task (to decide whether the letter presented in one of nine different orientations was in normal or mirror-reversed format). The probability of normal stimuli was manipulated between conditions to reduce the effects of P3b that was simultaneously superimposed on the rotation-related negativity. The results showed that the increase of mental rotation demand caused negative shifts of the ERPs between 400 and 800 ms latency range. Although the probability of the normal stimuli did not change the amplitudes of P3b, some differences of topography were observed between the rotation-related negativity and the P3b

Incorrect Answer in Pretest and Memory Fixation

学校現場で実施されるテストは，主に学習成果の評価を目的として使用されているが，テストを受けることそれ自体が，学習や長期的な記憶保持を促進することが知られている。また，近年，テストの解答が誤りであっても，後の評価テストの成績が向上することが明らかになってきている（プレテスト効果）。プレテスト効果を効果的な授業方法の開発につなげるためには，学習者の個人特性の影響を考慮する必要があるが，プレテスト効果による記憶促進が学習者の特性によって異なるかどうかについては，現在まで検討されていない。そこで本研究では，単語の対連合学習を用いた従来の研究方法を踏襲し，日本語の刺激を用いてプレテスト効果が出現するかどうかを確認した（実験1）。さらに，学習者の個人特性としてワーキングメモリ容量を測定し，その個人差がプレテスト効果に与える影響について検討した（実験2）。2つの実験の結果，テストを経験した群はそうでない群より評価テストの成績が高く，先行研究同様のプレテスト効果が確認された。しかし，プレテスト効果とワーキングメモリ容量の関連はなかった。このことから，プレテスト効果はワーキングメモリ容量の大小に依存しない現象である可能性が示された。In schools, tests are given mainly to evaluate learning achievements. Receiving a test is also known to promote learning and long-term retention of memory. Recently, even incorrect test answers have been revealed to improve scores in later evaluation tests (pre-test effect). To develop an effective teaching method by using the pre-test effect, it is necessary to understand how the effect differs between individual students depending on their characteristics. However, it has not been investigated whether the pre-test effect in promoting long-term retention of memory differs by the characteristics of students or not. In this study, the authors examined whether the pre-test effect appeared or not in a paired-associate learning task of new words, which has been widely used in studies on learning, by using Japanese stimulus words (Experiment 1). Then, the working memory capacity of each student was measured as an index for personal characteristics, and the effects of the personal difference on pre-test effect was investigated (Experiment 2). The experiments showed that the group that experienced pretest scored better in a subsequent evaluation test than the group that did not receive a pretest, confirming the pre-test effect as in preceding studies. However, no relationship was found between the pre-test effect and working memory capacity. Therefore, the pre-test effect is possibly a phenomenon independent of working memory capacity.本論文は，Theory and Research for Developing Learning Systems, Vol.1 所収の英語論文 ”Incorrect answer in pretest and memory fixation” の日本語訳論文である

Incorrect Answer in Pretest and Memory Fixation

In schools, tests are given mainly to evaluate learning achievements. Receiving a test is also known to promote learning and long-term retention of memory. Recently, even incorrect test answers have been revealed to improve scores in later evaluation tests (pre-test effect). To develop an effective teaching method by using the pre-test effect, it is necessary to understand how the effect differs between individual students depending on their characteristics. However, it has not been investigated whether the pre-test effect in promoting long-term retention of memory differs by the characteristics of students or not. In this study, the authors examined whether the pre-test effect appeared or not in a paired-associate learning task of new words, which has been widely used in studies on learning, by using Japanese stimulus words (Experiment 1). Then, the working memory capacity of each student was measured as an index for personal characteristics, and the effects of the personal difference on pre-test effect was investigated (Experiment 2). The experiments showed that the group that experienced pretest scored better in a subsequent evaluation test than the group that did not receive a pretest, confirming the pre-test effect as in preceding studies. However, no relationship was found between the pre-test effect and working memory capacity. Therefore, the pre-test effect is possibly a phenomenon independent of working memory capacity

Does other-referent process invoke evaluation process?

This study examied whether friend-referential process invoked evaluation process or not by using task-facilitation paradigm(Klein, Loftus, & burton, 1989). Fourteen participants performed a series of initial and target tasks, which were either friend-referential("Does this word describe the friend?"), evaluative("Is the word socially desirable?"), or semantic("Is it difficulut to define the word?"). A combination of three initial and three target tasks made nine conditions. Comparisons among these condition showed that reaction times for target tasks were shorten when initial and target tasks were the same than when they were different. But the time required fot the evaluation target task was the same regardless of whether it was preceeded by the friend-referent or by the semantic task. Considering with the results of Nakao and Miyatani(2004) which showed that self-referential task did, but acquaintance-referential task did not facilitate the subsequent evaluation process, these results revealed that evaluation process is not evoked by the other-referential process, although referent person is a familiar friend

Does affective process mediate self-reference effect?

This study examined whether self-reference effect is mediated by affective process of trait adjectives based on the effect of encoding variability(Klein & Saltz, 1976). The effect of encoding variability refers to the evidence that the more variably the information about a stimulus word is encoded, the more likely that the word is retrieved in a latter free recall test. Therefore, if self-reference effect is not mediated by affective process, the task which contains both self-referece process and affective process produce greater memory performance than the tasks which contain only self-referent process or affective process. Sixteen participants engaged in four encoding tasks, each of which involved semantic, affective, self-referent, or affective self-referent process. Subsequent free recall test showed that memory performance for semantically encoded items was poorer than these for items in other three conditions. There was no difference in free recall performance between self-referenct and affective self-referent encoding conditions. These results suggest that self-referent task perse containg affective process, and this process mediates self-reference effect

Does self-monitoring invoke other-knowledge reference process?

This study examined whether self-monitoring invokes other-knowledge reference by using task-faciliation paradigm(klein, Loftus, & Burton, 1989). Nineteen participants performed a series of tasks, which were other-reference("Does the word describe the friend?"), evaluative("Is the word socially desirable?"), self-monitoring("Does the word make you pleasant?"), and semantic("Is it difficult to define the word?"). Trials for each task were divided into four conditions by the type of the previous task. Comparisons among these condition showed that reaction times were shorter when the previous tasks and current tasks were the same than when they were different. the time required for the other-knowledge reference task was the same regardless of whether it was preceeded by the self-monitoring task of by the semantic task. considering with the results of Nakao and Miyatani(2005b), which showed the facilitation of self-knowledge referent task after self-monitoring task, our results revealed that self-monitoring is associated with characteristic traits of the self, but does not invoke ohter-knowledge reference

A study on yutori : The relationships between yutori and depression, anxiety, optimism, and pessimism

The Japanese word yutori is commonly used. Previous research has reported that yutori of the mind is essential for a happy life. However, most of the results included in previous studies were obtained without empirical data. Thus, to find broader knowledge about yutori, we conducted an empirical study on the relationships between yutori and depression, anxiety, optimism, and pessimism. We presented 62 healthy Hiroshima University students with questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of the yutori of mind scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Optimism and Pessimism Scale. The correlation analysis indicated that yutori has negative correlations with depression, anxiety, and pessimism. In contrast, a positive correlation was found between yutori and optimism. These findings provide a strong evidence for the notion that yutori of mind is positively related to mental health