The main purpose of the present study was to investigate whether visual processing uniquely contributed to character reading and early mathematics in Chinese children. Eighty-two Chinese ...kindergarteners at K3 (mean age = 68 months,
= 0.30) were followed up to grade one (mean age = 82 months,
= 0.35) with an interval of 14 months. Nonverbal intelligence, inhibitory control, sustained attention, character reading, and mathematics were measured at kindergarten. Character reading and mathematics were assessed again at grade one. Results showed visual processing at kindergarten significantly predicted character reading at grade one after controlling for prior reading performance, inhibitory control, sustained attention, age, gender, and nonverbal IQ. Similarly, visual processing at kindergarten explained unique variance in early mathematics at grade one when prior mathematics performance and other covariates at kindergarten were controlled. These findings suggest that visual processing should serve as a domain-general precursor of children's performance in character reading and early mathematics and an important cognitive factor for later academic learning.
Prior research has mostly focused on either basic language or basic cognitive precursors of reading development, but relatively little is known about their relative importance for reading, especially ...for Chinese beginning readers. The present study examined whether and how basic cognitive processing (executive function, attention, and visual-spatial perception) and basic language processing (phonological awareness, morphological awareness, orthographic awareness, and RAN) measured at kindergarten influence Chinese character reading and reading comprehension in the first grade. Results showed that basic language abilities including morphological awareness and rapid automatized naming predicted later Chinese character reading. Only one basic cognitive skill, sustained attention, predicted later reading comprehension. Mediation analysis showed that the overall effects of basic cognitive skills on later character reading and reading comprehension were mediated by basic language skills. These findings supported an integration reading model for early Chinese reading and basic language processing at kindergarten plays an important role in explaining the relation between basic cognitive processing and grade one reading performance.
The home learning environment includes what parents do to stimulate children's literacy and numeracy skills at home and their overall beliefs and attitudes about children's learning. The home ...literacy and numeracy environments are two of the most widely discussed aspects of the home learning environment, and past studies have identified how socioeconomic status and parents' own abilities and interest in these domains also play a part in shaping children's learning experiences. However, these studies are mostly from the West, and there has been little focus on the situation of homes in Asia, which captures a large geographical area and a wide diversity of social, ethnic, and linguistic groups. Therefore, this paper aims to review extant studies on the home literacy and numeracy environments that have been conducted in different parts of Asia, such as China, the Philippines, India, Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Specifically, we explore how parents in these places perceive their roles in children's early literacy and numeracy development, the methods they regard as effective for promoting young children's literacy and numeracy learning, and the frequency with which they engage their young children in different types of home literacy and numeracy activities. We also examine studies on the relationship of the home literacy and numeracy environment with young children's developmental outcomes, and the effectiveness of parent training programs to improve the home literacy and numeracy environments in these contexts. By examining potential trends in findings obtained in different geographical areas, we can initially determine whether there are characteristics that are potentially unique to contexts in Asia. We propose future research directions that acknowledge the role of cultural values and social factors in shaping the home learning environment, and, by extension, in facilitating children's early literacy and numeracy development.
It is widely accepted that impairment in visual perception impedes children's reading development, and further studies have demonstrated significant enhancement in reading fluency after visual ...perceptual training. However, the mechanism of the neural linkage between visual perception and reading is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the intrinsic functional relationship between visual perception (indexed by the texture discrimination task,TDT) and reading ability (character reading and reading fluency) in Chinese children with developmental dyslexia (DD) and those with typical development (TD). The resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the primary visual cortex (V1, BA17) and the entire brain was analyzed. In addition, how RSFC maps are associated with TDT performance and reading ability in the DD and TD groups was examined. The results demonstrated that the strength of the RSFC between V1 and the left middle frontal gyrus (LMFG, BA9/BA46) was significantly correlated with both the threshold (SOA) of the TDT and reading fluency in TD children but not in DD children. Moreover, LMFG-V1 resting-state connectivity played a mediating role in the association of visual texture discrimination and reading fluency, but not in character reading, in TD children. In contrast, this mediation was absent in DD children, albeit their strengths of RSFC between V1 and the left middle frontal gyrus (LMFG) were comparable to those for the TD group. These findings indicate that typically developing children use the linkage of the RSFC between the V1 and LMFG for visual perception skills, which in turn promote fluent reading; in contrast, children with dyslexia, who had higher TDT thresholds than TD children, could not take advantage of their frontal–occipital connectivity to improve reading fluency abilities. These findings suggest that visual perception plays an important role in reading skills and that children with developmental dyslexia lack the ability to use their frontal–occipital connectivity to link visual perception with reading fluency.
Objective: Memory confidence tends to be positively related to accuracy. However, false memory that fits well with the theme of an experience can also produce high-confidence responses. How to ...distinguish between high-confidence true and false recognition is unknown. The current study used eye movements to measure the retrieval processes of retrieval cues (i.e., item and theme) on recognition confidence and accuracy.
Method: Participants (N = 30, M
age
= 21.13 ± 2.06, 15 males) studied four visual thematic scenes, and after a filler task, took an item-theme recognition test in which their eye movements were recorded.
Results: The gaze behaviour could distinguish between high-confidence true and false recognition. High-confidence false recognition was associated with longer fixation duration on item and theme, and more regression counts on theme as compared to high-confidence true recognition.
Conclusion: High-confidence false recognition, compared to high-confidence true recognition, may have a weaker memory strength, such that more time-consuming and effortful retrieval-related monitoring processes were required before making a decision. The gaze behaviour based on both item and theme implied these processes. Thus, tracking eye movements during the identification may help evaluate whether a high-confidence recognition is true or false.
KEY POINTS
What is already known about this topic?
False memories occur when people rely on the theme of an experience. The unexperienced item (e.g., "beach ball") which is contextually associated with the theme (e.g., "beach scene") of the experience can be recognized as "old".
Memory confidence tends to be positively related to accuracy. However, false memory that fits well with the theme of an experience can also produce high-confidence responses.
Gaze behaviour recorded at retrieval can serve as indices of memory-related processing: previously viewed items had shorter fixation duration relative to high-interference novel items.
What does this paper add?
This study is the first to provide evidence suggesting that eye movements on either item cue or theme cue can differentiate between high-confidence true and false recognition.
Compared to high-confidence true recognition, high-confidence false recognition was associated with longer fixation duration on item and theme. These results suggest that the time-consuming retrieval-related processes are based on both item and theme retrieval.
High-confidence false recognition was related to more regression counts on theme than high-confidence true recognition, suggesting that inflated confidence of false recognition may be associated with more effortful retrieval-related monitoring processes.
In this study, we have successfully prepared surface modified zinc oxide quantum dots (M-ZnO QDs) with ultra-stable fluorescence and excellent hydrophilicity through introducing ...(3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES). The as-prepared M-ZnO QDs under the optimum condition presented strong yellow fluorescence emission under 355 nm excitation and showed satisfied reproducibility. Physical and chemical properties of the synthesized ZnO QDs were further studied by various characterization techniques. Transmission electron microscopy showed homogeneous distribution of spherical M-ZnO QDs with the average particle size of 4.03 nm. According to the characteristic that metal ions can quench fluorescence, M-ZnO QDs-based fluorescence sensor for the detection of Cu2+ in aqueous solution is developed in this work, which has the advantages of excellent selectivity, good sensitivity and a wide linear range. The limit of detection was 0.51 μM and the linear detection range was 1–200 μM for Cu2+ determination. The practicability of the fluorescent probe is further validated in the lake water and the satisfactory spiked recoveries of Cu2+ ranges from 99.1 % to 108.8 %. Besides, M-ZnO QDs displayed concentration inhibition effect and strain effect on the growth of fungi. Thus, the as-prepared M-ZnO QDs are demonstrated to be promising for Cu2+ determination and anti-fungal applications.
Vocabulary knowledge was tested in a native (Cantonese‐Chinese) and foreign (English) language in 150 twins and 150 singletons aged 6–11 years, matched on age, gender, grade level, nonverbal ...intelligence, parents’ education, family income, and number of siblings and household members. The singletons clearly outperformed the twins on the native vocabulary, but this “twinning effect” was much less noticeable for the foreign vocabulary. The effect on English vocabulary was further reduced after exposure to English at home was controlled. Given that these participants learned most of their English in school rather than home, the present findings support the notion that the twinning effect is associated with increased competition for family interaction in twins compared with singletons.
The present study examined phonological processing skills (phonological memory, phonological awareness, and rapid automatised naming, RAN) in relation to early Chinese reading and early Chinese ...mathematics for young children. Early Chinese reading was assessed with single character reading and multi-character word reading, and early mathematics was assessed with procedural arithmetic and arithmetic story problems. Among 86 Chinese kindergarteners, phonological processing skills explained 20% of the variance in character reading and 28% of the variance in word reading; they accounted for 8% of the variance in arithmetic and 11% of the variance in story problem performance. Specifically, findings further highlight the general importance of phonological awareness in early Chinese single character reading, word reading, simple arithmetic and story problems, and the specific role of RAN in single character reading and simple arithmetic.
Highlights
Phonological awareness and rapid automatised naming explained unique variance in Chinese single character reading and procedural arithmetic.
Only phonological awareness significantly accounted for unique variance in Chinese word reading and arithmetic story problems.
The associations of phonological awareness with procedural arithmetic and arithmetic story problem were maintained even beyond other variables.
Mental rotation is positively related to arithmetic ability; however, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. The possible roles of working memory, place‐value concept, and number ...line estimation in the correlation between mental rotation and whole‐number computation were investigated. One hundred and fifty‐five first‐grade students were tested to determine their mental rotation ability, arithmetic ability, and non‐verbal intelligence. One year later, their working memory, place‐value concept, number line estimation, and overall arithmetic ability were assessed. After controlling for age, gender, and prior arithmetic ability, we found that mental rotation uniquely predicted arithmetic ability after one year. Further mediation analyses demonstrated that number line estimation significantly mediated the relationship between mental rotation and arithmetic ability. In contrast, neither working memory nor place‐value concept significantly mediated the relationship between mental rotation and arithmetic ability. This study highlights that mental number line estimation is the most important element explaining the influence of a dynamic spatial skill, that is, mental rotation, on arithmetic ability among young Chinese children.
In order to monitor the water quality of rivers and lakes in real time in indoors, and protect the green hills and blue waters, a remote monitoring system of unattended surface water quality based on ...WSN (wireless sensor network) is designed and studied. The structure of the on-line monitoring system of water quality is studied, and the network and communication of the monitoring network are realized. Designs the pH monitoring sensor node, the intelligent wireless sensor network and the real-time information processing system are designed, and the information acquisition, processing, production, broadcasting and other functions of the whole system are finally completed. The experimental results show that the data transmitted by the method is accurate and reliable, can monitor the water quality of the river and lake basin in real time, and provide reference basis for the decision-making department, and provide real-time information for the good condition of the surface water quality.
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