Methodological and Epistemological Issues in the Interpretation of Infant Cognitive Development     

Ulrich Müller  Gerald Giesbrecht 《Child development》2008,79(6):1654-1658

This commentary on J. Kagan (2008) addresses 2 issues. The first concerns the importance of studying developmental sequences and processes of change. The second concerns epistemological differences between contemporary neonativist approaches and classical theories of development. The commentary argues that classical theories of infant cognition and contemporary neonativist theories fundamentally differ in terms of how they conceptualize the workings of the mind. These differences affect the meaning of terms such as representation and reasoning. Also discussed are implications of epistemological differences for developmental explanations. The commentary concludes that epistemological differences must be articulated more fully in order to improve understanding of different theories and in order to evaluate the relative merits and shortcomings of those theories.  相似文献   

Hidden skills: a dynamic systems analysis of treadmill stepping during the first year   总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5  

E Thelen  B D Ulrich 《Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development》1991,56(1):1-98; discussion 99-104

When prelocomotor infants are supported on a motorized treadmill, they perform well-coordinated, alternating stepping movements that are kinematically similar to upright bipedal locomotion. This behavior appeared to be a component of independent walking that could not be recognized without the facilitating context of the treadmill. To understand the ontogenetic origins of treadmill stepping and its relation to later locomotion, we conducted a longitudinal study using an experimental strategy explicitly derived from dynamic systems theory. Dynamic systems theory postulates that new forms in behavior emerge from the cooperative interactions of multiple components within a task context. This approach focuses on the transitions, often nonlinear, where one preferred mode of behavior is replaced by a new form. Specific predictions about these transitions help uncover the processes by which development proceeds. Chapters II, III, and IV introduce dynamic principles of pattern formation and their application to development. In our application of these principles, we tested nine normal infants twice each month beginning from month 1 in a task where the treadmill speed was gradually scaled up and in an additional condition where each leg was driven by the treadmill at a different speed. Kinematic variables were derived from computerized movement analysis equipment and videotaped records. We also collected a number of anthropometric measurements, Bayley motor scores, and a behavioral mood scale for each month. Several infants stepped on the treadmill in their first month, but in all infants performance showed a rapidly rising slope from month 3 to month 6. Infants also showed corresponding improvement in adjustments to speed and relative coordination between the legs. In dynamic terminology, we found evidence that alternating stepping on the treadmill became an increasingly stable attractor during the middle months of the first year. Dynamic predictions that transitions would be characterized by increased variability and sensitivity to perturbation were borne out. Identifying the transitions enabled us to suggest a control parameter or variable moving the system into the stable response to the treadmill. This appeared to be the waning of flexor dominance in the legs during posture and movement that allowed the leg to be stretched back on the treadmill and so elicited the bilaterally alternating response. Further studies are needed to test this hypothesis. This dynamic analysis confirmed earlier suggestions that skill in general, and locomotion in particular, develops from the confluence of many participating elements and showed how emergent forms may result from changes in nonspecific components. A dynamic approach may be useful for understanding ontogenetic processes in other domains as well.  相似文献   

Making a good career choice: A decision-analytical intervention to enhance proactive decision-making and career choice self-efficacy in high school students     

Johannes Ulrich Siebert  Maxi Becker  Nadine Oeser 《Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education》2023,21(1):10-25

At the end of high school, teenagers must deal with the first life-changing decision of determining what to do after graduation. For these decisions, adolescents need to be able to make good choices. However, most schools have not yet implemented decision trainings into their curricula. A new intervention called “KLUGentscheiden!” was developed to train complex decision-making in high school students to close this gap. The intervention targets three key components of good decision-making: envisioning one's objectives, identifying relevant alternatives, and comparing the identified alternatives by a weighted evaluation. We assumed that successfully training those decision-analytical steps should enhance self-perceived proactive decision-making skills. In addition, the training should also enhance self-assessed career choice self-efficacy. The intervention was evaluated in a pseudorandomized control study including 193 high school students. Compared to a control group, the intervention group significantly increased proactive decision-making skills and career choice self-efficacy. Although different long-term evaluations are still pending, the KLUGentscheiden! intervention provides an important tool to train complex decision-making in high-school students. It also has the potential to apply to other career choices of young individuals, such as choosing majors, a final thesis, a job, or a field of work.  相似文献   

Moving toward a grand theory of development: in memory of Esther Thelen     

Spencer JP  Clearfield M  Corbetta D  Ulrich B  Buchanan P  Schöner G 《Child development》2006,77(6):1521-1538

This paper is in memory of Esther Thelen, who passed away while President of the Society for Research in Child Development. A survey of Esther Thelen's career reveals a trajectory from early work on simple movements like stepping, to the study of goal-directed reaching, to work on the embodiment of cognition, and, ultimately, to a grand theory of development--dynamic systems theory. Four central concepts emerged during her career: (1) a new emphasis on time; (2) the proposal that behavior is softly assembled from the interaction of multiple subsystems; (3) the embodiment of perception, action, and cognition; and (4) a new respect for individuality. Esther Thelen communicated these ideas to scientists and practitioners alike, so the ultimate benefactors of her work were children.  相似文献   

The role of negative priming in preschoolers' flexible rule use on the dimensional change card sort task     

Müller U  Dick AS  Gela K  Overton WF  Zelazo PD 《Child development》2006,77(2):395-412

Four experiments examined the development of negative priming (NP) in 3-5-year-old children using as a measure of children's executive function (EF) the dimensional change card sort (DCCS) task. In the NP version of the DCCS, the values of the sorting dimension that is relevant during the preswitch phase are removed during the postswitch phase. The experiments showed that the NP effect observed in the DCCS decreased during the preschool years, and they clarified the circumstances in which NP occurs. Taken together, the findings suggest that the development of EF in early childhood consists in part in disinhibiting attention to information that has previously been suppressed.  相似文献   

The Role of Family Characteristics for Students’ Academic Outcomes: A Person‐Centered Approach          下载免费PDF全文

Isabelle Häfner  Barbara Flunger  Anna‐Lena Dicke  Hanna Gaspard  Brigitte M. Brisson  Benjamin Nagengast  Ulrich Trautwein 《Child development》2018,89(4):1405-1422

Using data from 1,571 ninth‐grade students (M_age = 14.62) from 82 academic track schools in Germany and their predominantly Caucasian middle‐class parents, configurations of different family characteristics reported by parents were investigated. Latent profile analyses considering academic involvement, family interest, parents’ self‐concept, child's need for support, and parents’ time and energy identified average, indifferent, motivated and engaged, motivated and disengaged, and involved families. Cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations with students’ motivational (self‐concept, effort, and interest) and achievement outcomes (achievement test and grades) in math were analyzed. Students from families classified as motivated and disengaged showed higher initial levels motivation and achievement. Over 5 months, these students also showed an increase in self‐concept and higher achievement than students from other family types.  相似文献   

生理方面结构和功能的特殊适应性训练 ——高原(1 880～2 400 m)训练理论和实践的评定          下载免费PDF全文

乌里希·哈特曼 《体育科研》2009,30(6):1-5

2009年8月6日—8日在中国召开＂中国多巴国际高原训练与健康论坛＂,来自德国、法国、澳大利亚、日本、韩国、及中国台湾地区、香港、大陆的专家围绕国际视角下高原训练的理论与实践主题,就优秀运动员的高原训练和低氧训练的理论与实践进行深入探讨和交流。本刊从不同角度选择了部分大会报告以飨读者。  相似文献