Use Of Predictive Strategies Research Articles

Dynamic associations between emotion expressions and strategy use in Chinese American and Mexican American preschoolers.

Previous studies of emotion regulation in young children commonly used between-person approaches, which limit our understanding of dynamic and temporal relations between emotion expressions and strategy use. Further, previous work has mainly focused on temperamental reactivity among White children, and it is unclear whether these findings can generalize to children of Asian and Latinx origins. In the current study, we examined the within-person temporal associations between emotion expressions and strategy use among 3- to 5-year-old children in low-income Chinese American (CA) and Mexican American (MA) families. Children's emotion expressions (positive and negative) and strategy use (gaze aversion, self-soothing, fidgeting, and language) during an unfair social interaction task were coded by 10-s epoch. Executive functions were examined as between-person level predictors of strategy use. Multilevel modeling was conducted to examine whether positive and negative emotion expressions at one epoch (t-1) predicted strategy use at the following epoch (t). The results indicate that positive emotion expressions predicted an increase in fidgeting at the next epoch (β = .34, p < .01). Executive functions were unrelated to strategy use. Cultural group differences were found: CA children displayed lower intensity of positive emotion and fewer strategy use compared with MA children. The present findings inform theories on the dynamics of emotion regulation in young children and have implications for interventions with underrepresented immigrant populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Does a self-report questionnaire predict strategy use in mathematical problem solving among elementary school children? Importance of question format depending on the grade

Predicting the actual performance of strategy use with self-report questionnaires is difficult, especially among elementary school children. Nevertheless, due to the simplicity of self-report questionnaires, it is desirable to identify one that can predict children’s performance of actual strategy use. This study investigated whether a self-report questionnaire on the frequency of using a diagram strategy in mathematical problem-solving can predict children’s actual diagram use by manipulating the question type (i.e., free description, multiple-choice, and Likert scale). We also examine the question types that can better predict the actual strategy use in elementary school children. Fourth- to sixth-grade children were asked to complete both a questionnaire, which asked about their daily use of a diagram strategy through three question types and a test consisting of math word problems. We found that when children were asked to self-report their strategy using a Likert scale, they were predicted to use diagrams during the test regardless of grades. Furthermore, the older the children became, the more effective it was to ask them to self-report in a free description type. These results suggest that appropriate question types can make it possible to measure actual strategy-use behaviors through self-report measures, even for elementary school children.

English Listening Prediction Strategy and Training Method with Data Mining

Listening comprehension is very essential for English learners. Good listening comprehension helps learners to improve comprehensive language proficiency, and promotes the effective implementation of foreign language teaching. However, it is an important and difficult point for foreign language learners. Students cannot understand the listening materials in listening exercises, and they face difficulties in completing the listening exercises assigned by the teacher. This can lead to anxiety and stress for learners which can probably result in lack of interest in learning English. Therefore, the language teaching researchers focus on effective teaching in English listening classes. Recent studies have shown that the learning strategies are helpful for learners to master relevant learning content, and learners can use some listening learning strategies to help them better understand listening content. This research aims at the high school English listening classroom, and proposes the idea of combining predictive strategy training with high school English listening teaching to explore the following two questions. (1) What are the differences in the use of predictive strategies among students with a large degree of English listening performance? (2) What kind of influence does the training of predictive strategies have on the listening performance of high school students? This study comprehensively used the educational experiment method and the questionnaire survey method to investigate and study a high school student. With the help of data analysis software SPSS22.0, data mining is carried out on the results of the questionnaire in the experiment and the results of the students before and after the test, aiming to answer the relevant questions explored in this experiment.

When and How to Regulate: Everyday Emotion-Regulation Strategy Use and Stressor Intensity

Contextual factors shape emotion regulation (ER). The intensity of emotional stimuli may be such a contextual factor that influences the selection and moderates the effectiveness of ER strategies in reducing negative affect (NA). Prior research has shown that, on average, when emotional stimuli were more intense, distraction was selected over reappraisal (and vice versa). This pattern was previously shown to be adaptive as the preferred strategies were more efficient in the respective contexts. Here, we investigated whether stressor intensity predicted strategy use and effectiveness in similar ways in daily life. We examined five ER strategies (reappraisal, reflection, acceptance, distraction, and rumination) in relation to the intensity of everyday stressors, using two waves of experience-sampling data (N = 156). In accordance with our hypotheses, reappraisal, reflection, and acceptance were used less, and rumination was used more, when stressors were more intense. Moreover, results suggested that distraction was more effective, and rumination more detrimental the higher the stressor intensity. Against our hypotheses, distraction did not covary with stressor intensity, and there was no evidence that reappraisal, reflection, and acceptance were more effective at lower levels of stressor intensity. Instead, when examined individually, reflection and reappraisal (like distraction) were more effective at higher levels of stressor intensity. In sum, stressor intensity predicted ER selection and moderated strategy effectiveness, but the results also point to a more complex ER strategy use in daily life than in the laboratory.

Self-regulated learning as a cyclical process and predictor of creative problem-solving

This study used structured interviews to examine cyclical relations among self-regulated learning (SRL) processes before (forethought), during (performance), and after (self-reflection) engagement with a creative problem-solving (CPS) task. Theoretically, forethought influences performance, which subsequently influence self-reflection. We examined three forethought processes (self-efficacy, interest, & strategic planning), one performance process (strategy use), and one self-reflection process (self-evaluation). Strategic planning predicted strategy use during the task; however, strategy use did not predict self-evaluation. Contrary to assumptions that strategy use during the CPS task would be the best predictor of self-evaluation, self-efficacy before engagement best predicted self-evaluation. We also investigated the predictive relationships between SRL and four CPS outcomes including the number of ideas (fluency), number of ideas types (flexibility), idea uniqueness (originality), and idea usefulness (usefulness). Self-efficacy and strategy use predicted fluency and flexibility whereas interest predicted the originality of ideas. No variables predicted idea usefulness.

The dynamic nature of children’s strategy use after receiving accuracy feedback in decimal comparisons

When students start learning decimals, they may incorrectly apply features of their prior numerical knowledge (e.g., whole-number or fraction rules). However, because whole numbers, fractions, and decimals all have their own unique features, these whole-number and fraction strategies do not always lead to correct solutions. We examined whether receiving immediate accuracy feedback while comparing decimal pairs that were either congruent with whole-number rules (e.g., decimals with more digits were larger in magnitude) or incongruent with whole-number rules (e.g., decimals with fewer digits were larger in magnitude) would lead students to change their decimal comparison strategies. We also examined whether students’ potential improvement after feedback would generalize to decimal comparisons involving different numbers of digits. We found that sixth- to eighth-grade students’ use of the whole-number strategy declined and their use of the normative decimal strategy increased over the course of receiving feedback, whereas no significant strategy change was observed among students who did not receive any feedback. Students who received feedback were also less likely to use a whole-number strategy and more likely to use a decimal strategy in different decimal comparisons in an immediate posttest and a 2-week delayed posttest. Our exploratory analyses found that students’ improvement on decimal comparisons did not transfer to decimal arithmetic. Moreover, students’ inhibitory control also predicted strategy use in immediate and delayed posttests. Our study provides insights into the mechanisms of rapid strategy change and has implications for designing interventions to improve children’s understanding of decimal magnitudes.

The size-weight illusion in visual form agnosic patient DF

ABSTRACT The size-weight illusion is a perceptual illusion where smaller objects are judged as heavier than equally weighted larger objects. A previous informal report suggests that visual form agnosic patient DF does not experience the size-weight illusion when vision is the only available cue to object size. We tested this experimentally, comparing the magnitudes of DF’s visual, kinesthetic and visual-kinesthetic size-weight illusions to those of 28 similarly-aged controls. A modified t-test found that DF’s visual size-weight illusion was significantly smaller than that of controls (zcc = −1.7). A test of simple dissociation based on the Revised Standardized Difference Test found that the discrepancy between the magnitude of DF’s visual and kinesthetic size-weight illusions was not significantly different from that of controls (zdcc = −1.054), thereby failing to establish a dissociation between the visual and kinesthetic conditions. These results are consistent with previous suggestions that visual form agnosia, following ventral visual stream damage, is associated with an abnormally reduced size-weight illusion. The results, however, do not confirm that this reduction is specific to the use of visual size cues to predict object weight, rather than reflecting more general changes in the processing of object size cues or in the use of predictive strategies for lifting.

T136. NEURAL CORRELATES OF ALTERED COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY AND STABILITY FOR MOTOR CONTROL IN SCHIZOPHRENIA – JUST TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN?

BackgroundIt has been suggested that patients with schizophrenia are impaired in the use of prediction error signals resulting in disturbances of motor control. Alterations in fronto-striatal dopamine transmitter systems are regarded to contribute to these deficits. It is unclear whether the use of predictive strategies for motor control may be systematically related to impaired cognitive functions in patients. In healthy subjects, cognitive flexibility has been related to medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) function, while cognitive stability was related to lateral PFC integrity with both brain regions being modulated by striatal activity. Despite these findings, the interplay of cognitive flexibility and stability needed for motor control and its associations to alterations on the brain system level have not been investigated systematically in this patient group.MethodsWe assessed patients with schizophrenia (N=22) and healthy controls (N=22) on first, detection of relevant unexpected events (cognitive flexibility) and second, distractor resistance to irrelevant prediction errors (cognitive stability) using a serial prediction task including the digits 1-2-3-4. We applied an event-related design in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) environment (3T) to explore brain networks underlying cognitive flexibility and stability, respectively. In analyses, the minimum cluster extent was set to k > 20 and corrected using the false discovery rate (FDR) with p < 0.05. Since we were specifically interested in the role of the striatum, we applied small volume correction at p < 0.05 with the minimum cluster extent set to k > 5 in a region of interest analyses. Participants were also assessed on general cognitive function using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) battery and on motor symptoms using the Heidelberg Scale for Neurological Soft Signs (NSS).ResultsPatients detected less behaviorally relevant events (M(Pat) = 0.57 vs. M(HC) = 0.78, F(41,1) = 16.32, p < 0.001) and ignored less irrelevant events (M(Pat) = 0.87 vs. M(HC) = 0.93, F(41,1) = 11.78, p < 0.001) implying impairments of both cognitive flexibility and stability in patients. Motor symptoms (NSS) and cognitive deficits (BACS) in patients were exclusively related to cognitive flexibility, but not stability. Brain correlates of reduced flexibility in patients were found in a fronto-striato-thalamo network. More specifically, reduced striatal activation in patients was related to weaker event discrimination and reduced detection of unexpected relevant events. Additionally, exploratory follow-up analyses revealed reduced fronto-striato-temporal activation in patients associated with weaker distractor resistance during the stability task. Note, chlorpromazine equivalents as an indicator of antipsychotic dosage as well as positive and negative symptoms were unrelated to measures of cognitive flexibility and stability.DiscussionTogether, our findings provide evidence for distinctive neurobiological alterations underlying reduced cognitive flexibility and stability in schizophrenia with reduced flexibility being associated with general cognitive and motor impairments. Our main imaging results show reduced activation in a fronto-striato-thalamo network in response to relevant prediction errors in patients, while impaired cognitive stability may be rather related to alterations in a fronto-striato-temporal network. Reduced caudate activation during behavioral relevant events, which was associated with weaker event discrimination and detection of relevant prediction errors in patients, supports a model of striatal gating being essentially impaired in patients.

Intraindividual strategy shifts in Raven's matrices, and their dependence on working memory capacity and need for cognition.

Strategic behavior plays a key role in fluid intelligence tasks like Raven's matrices. Some participants solve items using the strategy of mentally constructing the answer (constructive matching), which is effective but costly for complex problems; other participants rely on the less accurate strategy of discarding potential answers (response elimination). While this process is relatively well-known, past research hints that intraindividual changes in strategy use may also take place as the task becomes increasingly difficult; however, intraindividual variability in Raven's matrices is poorly understood. The present study aimed to (a) test the hypothesis that participants dynamically shift between strategies during the course of Raven's matrices, as predicted by the literature, and (b) investigate the possibility that these shifts are moderated by individual differences in both ability and motivation. Two samples of 100 participants each completed Raven's advanced progressive matrices, and measures of working memory and need for cognition. The results confirmed that participants tended to turn to the less costly response elimination strategy as the difficulty of the task increased; this variability in strategy use predicted 78% of item-to-item variance in accuracy. Working memory capacity and need for cognition predicted strategy use, and working memory capacity additionally moderated the shift toward response elimination, so that only participants with both high working memory capacity and high need for cognition continued using constructive matching in the later part of the task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Mutational Evolution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Resistance to Ribosome-Targeting Antibiotics.

The present work examines the evolutionary trajectories of replicate Pseudomonas aeruginosa cultures in presence of the ribosome-targeting antibiotics tobramycin and tigecycline. It is known that large number of mutations across different genes – and therefore a large number of potential pathways – may be involved in resistance to any single antibiotic. Thus, evolution toward resistance might, to a large degree, rely on stochasticity, which might preclude the use of predictive strategies for fighting antibiotic resistance. However, the present results show that P. aeruginosa populations evolving in parallel in the presence of antibiotics (either tobramycin or tigecycline) follow a set of trajectories that present common elements. In addition, the pattern of resistance mutations involved include common elements for these two ribosome-targeting antimicrobials. This indicates that mutational evolution toward resistance (and perhaps other properties) is to a certain degree deterministic and, consequently, predictable. These findings are of interest, not just for P. aeruginosa, but in understanding the general rules involved in the evolution of antibiotic resistance also. In addition, the results indicate that bacteria can evolve toward higher levels of resistance to antibiotics against which they are considered to be intrinsically resistant, as tigecycline in the case of P. aeruginosa and that this may confer cross-resistance to other antibiotics of therapeutic value. Our results are particularly relevant in the case of patients under empiric treatment with tigecycline, which frequently suffer P. aeruginosa superinfections.

English Language Learner’s Learning in a U.S. University Setting

The purpose of this study is to examine English Language Learners’ (ELLs) self-efficacy belief, language learning strategies and goal orientations in university settings. It also explored the relationships among self-efficacy, learning strategies and goal orientation of ELLs. A survey was used to collect data. The participants were 77 ELLs in a southeastern university in America. It was found that ELLs in this study had positive self-efficacy beliefs. ELLs often use language learning strategies in their learning process. There were significant positive relationships between self-efficacy and language learning strategies, between language learning strategies and mastery goal orientations. Mastery goals mostly predicted strategy use for ELLs. Implications were provided for language educators to assess ELLs’ self-efficacy and goal orientations. This study identified instructional suggestions for language educators as well as provided useful information for related discussions from an ELL perspective in university classrooms.

Category and design fluency in mild cognitive impairment: Performance, strategy use, and neural correlates

The exploration and retrieval of words during category fluency involves different strategies to improve or maintain performance. Deficits in that task, which are common in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), mirror either impaired semantic memory or dysfunctional executive control mechanisms. Relating category fluency to tasks that place greater demands on either semantic knowledge or executive functions might help to determine the underlying cognitive process.The aims of this study were to compare performance and strategy use of 20 patients with aMCI to 30 healthy elderly controls (HC) and to identify the dominant component (either executive or semantic) for better task performance in category fluency. Thus, the relationship between category fluency, design fluency and naming was examined. As fluency tasks have been associated with the superior frontal gyrus (SFG), the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the temporal pole, we further explored the relationship between gray matter volume in these areas and both performance and strategy use.Patients with aMCI showed significantly lower performance and significantly less strategy use during fluency tasks compared to HC. However, both groups equally improved their performance when repeatedly confronted with the same task. In aMCI, performance during category fluency was significantly predicted by design fluency performance, while in HC, it was significantly predicted by naming performance. In HC, volume of the SFG significantly predicted both category and design fluency performance, and strategy use during design fluency. In aMCI, the SFG and the IFG predicted performance during both category and design fluency. The IFG significantly predicted strategy use during category fluency in both groups.The reduced category fluency performance in aMCI seems to be primarily due to dysfunctional executive control mechanisms rather than impaired semantic knowledge. This finding is directly relevant to patients in the different stages of Alzheimer's disease as it links the known semantic fluency deficit in this population to executive functions. Although patients with aMCI are impaired in both performance and strategy use compared to HC, they are able to increase performance over time. However, only HC were able to significantly improve the utilization of fluency strategies in both category and design fluency over time. HC seem to rely more heavily on the SFG during fluency tasks, while in patients with aMCI additional frontal brain areas are involved, possibly reflecting compensational processes.

Anger in response to challenge: children’s emotion socialization predicts approach versus avoidance

Negative emotion is typically associated with avoidance behavior; however, recent advances in the adult literature show that unlike some emotions (sadness, shame), anger predicts both approach and avoidance. Here we propose that socialization to suppress anger will play a role in whether children who express anger respond to a performance challenge with approach or avoidance. Children (N = 79; M age = 11.4 years) reported perceptions of parental use of positive conditional regard (PCR) to socialize anger suppression and worked on four unsolvable puzzles. We measured change in verbalized puzzle-solving strategies during failure, and coded emotion expression on the final puzzle. We examined whether negative emotion type (shame/sadness vs. anger) and PCR for anger predicted change in strategy use, and whether the association between level of PCR for anger and approach-avoidance (change in strategy use) depended on type of negative emotion expressed. Neither emotion expression nor level of PCR anger predicted strategy use; however, type of negative emotion moderated the association between PCR anger and change in strategy use, controlling for NCR anger. For children who displayed anger, low PCR was associated with increased strategy use, and high PCR was associated with decreased strategy use. We discuss the role of emotion socialization in shaping approach and avoidance motivation.

Strategies for managing impressions of racial identity in the workplace.

This article deepens understanding of the workplace experiences of racial minorities by investigating racial identity-based impression management (RIM) by Asian American journalists. Racial centrality, directly or indirectly, predicted the use of 4 RIM strategies (avoidance, enhancement, affiliation, and racial humor). Professional centrality also predicted strategy use, which was related to life satisfaction and perceived career success. By shedding light on proactive strategies that individuals use to influence colleagues' impressions of their racial identity, we contribute to research on diversity in organizations, impression management, and racial identity.

Distinct discrimination learning strategies and their relation with spatial memory and attentional control in 4- to 14-year-olds

Behavioral, psychophysiological, and neuropsychological studies have revealed large developmental differences in various learning paradigms where learning from positive and negative feedback is essential. The differences are possibly due to the use of distinct strategies that may be related to spatial working memory and attentional control. In this study, strategies in performing a discrimination learning task were distinguished in a cross-sectional sample of 302 children from 4 to 14 years of age. The trial-by-trial accuracy data were analyzed with mathematical learning models. The best-fitting model revealed three learning strategies: hypothesis testing, slow abrupt learning, and nonlearning. The proportion of hypothesis-testing children increased with age. Nonlearners were present only in the youngest age group. Feature preferences for the irrelevant dimension had a detrimental effect on performance in the youngest age group. The executive functions spatial working memory and attentional control significantly predicted posterior learning strategy probabilities after controlling for age.

Classifying retrieval strategies as a function of working memory

Strategy selection may help explain performance differences between individuals with high working memory capacity (HWMs) and low working memory capacity (LWMs) (Budd, Whitney, & Turley, (Memory & Cognition, 23, 735-748 1995); Cokely, Kelley, & Gilchrist, (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 991-997 2006). We compared the independent and spontaneous strategy use of HWMs and LWMs during a category fluency (retrieval) task that required participants to retrieve animal names. HWMs were more successful at the fluency task under normal conditions, but under increased cognitive load, there were no WM-related performance differences. One strategy (i.e., retrieving animals according to their scientific classification) significantly aided performance, irrespective of cognitive load. Under normal conditions, HWMs were more likely to use the effective strategy; however, under load, WM did not predict strategy use. Use of the classification strategy was more strongly related to retrieval performance than was WM. These results suggest that retrieval strategy use is related to WM capacity, and that employing a successful strategy may make up for WM disadvantages during a demanding retrieval task.

The development and stability of estrogen-modulated spatial navigation strategies in female rats

Adult female rats with high levels of circulating estradiol are biased to use a place strategy to solve an ambiguous spatial navigation task and those with low levels are biased to use a response strategy. We examined the development of this hormonal modulation of strategy use by training juvenile female rats on an ambiguous navigation task and probing them for strategy use at postnatal day (PD) 16, 21, or 26, after administration of 17 β-estradiol or oil 48 and 24 h prior to testing. We found that rats could use either strategy successfully by PD21 but that estradiol did not bias rats to use a place strategy until PD26. In order to evaluate the stability of this effect over multiple navigation experiences, we retested oil-treated juveniles three times during adulthood. On the first adult navigation experience, rats were significantly more likely to use the same navigation strategy they used as juveniles, regardless of current estrous cycle phase. On the second and third adult tests, after rats had more experience with the task, previous navigation experience did not predict strategy use. Rats in proestrus were significantly more likely to use a place strategy while rats in estrus and diestrus did not appear to have a group bias to use either strategy. These results suggest that estradiol can modulate spatial navigation strategy use before puberty but that this effect interacts with previous navigation experience. This study sheds light on when and under what circumstances estradiol gains control over spatial navigation behavior in the female rat.

A structural equation model of expertise in college physics.

A model of expertise in physics was tested on a sample of 374 college students in 2 different level physics courses. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypothesized relationships among variables linked to expert performance in physics including strategy use, pictorial representation, categorization skills, and motivation, and these variables were examined for their influence on physics achievement. Gender was included in the model to examine how it influenced achievement indirectly through its influence on the other variables in the model. Two levels of expertise were examined by testing the model on trigonometry-based physics students and on more advanced, calculus-based physics students. Results were similar across both levels of expertise: For both courses, student motivation had a significant influence on students' strategy use and categorization skills. Categorization skills, in turn, influenced student achievement directly, and indirectly, through strategy use. Strategy use had a significant influence on achievement. Pictorial representation played little role in the model. Gender contributed primarily through motivation, but for the more advanced level course it also directly predicted strategy use.

Age and individual differences in letter fluency

Letter fluency tests are widely used to assess executive function, yet the cognitive processes underlying fluency performance are poorly understood. In this article, age differences in fluency were investigated in relation to “low‐level speed” and “frontal‐executive” theories of aging and intelligence. Age differences in fluency related to motor speed; intelligence predicted the use of retrieval strategies in fluency tasks. In contrast to literature on patients with frontal lobe lesions, individuals with lower intelligence test scores could not efficiently utilize a cued fluency strategy. Both age and intelligence predicted strategy use in a more novel fluency task requiring the generation of figural responses. Comparison with neuropsychological literature suggests different causes for poor fluency in older adults, those with low intelligence test scores, and patients with frontal lobe lesions.

Perceived task difficulty and intelligence: Determinants of strategy use and recall

Memory knowledge may be necessary but not sufficient for strategy use because aspects of the individual and the task may mediate the metamemory-strategy use relation. Belmont and Mitchell (1987) contended that learners will be strategic only on tasks perceived to be moderately difficult. If correct, metacognitive variables (e.g., metamemory and attributional beliefs) would be more likely to predict strategy use on moderately difficult tasks. In the study presented here, strategy use, performance, and perceptions of difficulty among students with and without retardation were assessed. Results showed that students with mental retardation rated tasks as more difficult than did nonretarded students. Relatedly, brief training resulted in a decrease in difficulty ratings only for students without retardation. Although strategy use was not predicted by metacognitive variables (meta-memory and strategy use) on moderately difficult tasks, metacognitive variables significantly predicted recall performance, but did so independent of task difficulty.