Language in Acquisition : Early Lexical Development and Associations between Lexicon and Grammar Findings from Full-Term and Very-Low-Birth-Weight Finnish Children

The aim was to analyse the growth and compositional development of the receptive and expressive lexicons between the ages 0,9 and 2;0 in the full-term (FT) and the very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children who are acquiring Finnish. The associations between the expressive lexicon and grammar at 1;6 and 2;0 in the FT children were also studied. In addition, the language skills of the VLBW children at 2;0 were analysed, as well as the predictive value of early lexicon to the later language performance. Four groups took part in the studies: the longitudinal (N = 35) and cross-sectional (N = 146) samples of the FT children, and the longitudinal (N = 32) and cross-sectional (N = 66) samples of VLBW children. The data was gathered by applying of the structured parental rating method (the Finnish version of the Communicative Development Inventory), through analysis of the children´s spontaneous speech and by administering a a formal test (Reynell Developmental Language Scales). The FT children acquired their receptive lexicons earlier, at a faster rate and with larger individual variation than their expressive lexicons. The acquisition rate of the expressive lexicon increased from slow to faster in most children (91%). Highly parallel developmental paths for lexical semantic categories were detected in the receptive and expressive lexicons of the Finnish children when they were analysed in relation to the growth of the lexicon size, as described in the literature for children acquiring other languages. The emergence of grammar was closely associated with expressive lexical growth. The VLBW children acquired their receptive lexicons at a slower rate and had weaker language skills at 2;0 than the full-term children. The compositional development of both lexicons happened at a slower rate in the VLBW children when compared to the FT controls. However, when the compositional development was analysed in relation to the growth of lexicon size, this development occurred qualitatively in a nearly parallel manner in the VLBW children as in the FT children. Early receptive and expressive lexicon sizes were significantly associated with later language skills in both groups. The effect of the background variables (gender, length of the mother s basic education, birth weight) on the language development in the FT and the VLBW children differed. The results provide new information of early language acquisition by the Finnish FT and VLBW children. The results support the view that the early acquisition of the semantic lexical categories is related to lexicon growth. The current findings also propose that the early grammatical acquisition is closely related to the growth of expressive vocabulary size. The language development of the VLBW children should be followed in clinical work.

Feature integration in human vision

The earliest stages of human cortical visual processing can be conceived as extraction of local stimulus features. However, more complex visual functions, such as object recognition, require integration of multiple features. Recently, neural processes underlying feature integration in the visual system have been under intensive study. A specialized mid-level stage preceding the object recognition stage has been proposed to account for the processing of contours, surfaces and shapes as well as configuration. This thesis consists of four experimental, psychophysical studies on human visual feature integration. In two studies, classification image a recently developed psychophysical reverse correlation method was used. In this method visual noise is added to near-threshold stimuli. By investigating the relationship between random features in the noise and observer s perceptual decision in each trial, it is possible to estimate what features of the stimuli are critical for the task. The method allows visualizing the critical features that are used in a psychophysical task directly as a spatial correlation map, yielding an effective "behavioral receptive field". Visual context is known to modulate the perception of stimulus features. Some of these interactions are quite complex, and it is not known whether they reflect early or late stages of perceptual processing. The first study investigated the mechanisms of collinear facilitation, where nearby collinear Gabor flankers increase the detectability of a central Gabor. The behavioral receptive field of the mechanism mediating the detection of the central Gabor stimulus was measured by the classification image method. The results show that collinear flankers increase the extent of the behavioral receptive field for the central Gabor, in the direction of the flankers. The increased sensitivity at the ends of the receptive field suggests a low-level explanation for the facilitation. The second study investigated how visual features are integrated into percepts of surface brightness. A novel variant of the classification image method with brightness matching task was used. Many theories assume that perceived brightness is based on the analysis of luminance border features. Here, for the first time this assumption was directly tested. The classification images show that the perceived brightness of both an illusory Craik-O Brien-Cornsweet stimulus and a real uniform step stimulus depends solely on the border. Moreover, the spatial tuning of the features remains almost constant when the stimulus size is changed, suggesting that brightness perception is based on the output of a single spatial frequency channel. The third and fourth studies investigated global form integration in random-dot Glass patterns. In these patterns, a global form can be immediately perceived, if even a small proportion of random dots are paired to dipoles according to a geometrical rule. In the third study the discrimination of orientation structure in highly coherent concentric and Cartesian (straight) Glass patterns was measured. The results showed that the global form was more efficiently discriminated in concentric patterns. The fourth study investigated how form detectability depends on the global regularity of the Glass pattern. The local structure was either Cartesian or curved. It was shown that randomizing the local orientation deteriorated the performance only with the curved pattern. The results give support for the idea that curved and Cartesian patterns are processed in at least partially separate neural systems.

Tarkkaavaisuuden vaikutus puheen merkityssisällön käsittelyyn: Aivojen herätevastetutkimus

Semantic processing can be studied with semantic priming. Target words that are preceded by semantically related prime words are recognized faster and more accurately than targets preceded by unrelated prime words. Semantic priming also affects the magnitude of the N400 event-related potential. The response is smaller to a target word when it is preceded by a related than an unrelated prime word. The effect is called the N400 effect. It is not yet clear, however, how attention modulates semantic priming and the N400 effect. This study investigated how the direction of attention affects the semantic processing of speech. The N400 effect was studied in experimental conditions in which the subjects attention was directed 1) away from the speech stimuli, 2) to phonological features of the speech stimuli, and 3) to semantic features of the speech stimuli. The first aim of the study was to investigate whether the N400 effect for spoken words is dependent on attention to the auditory information. The second aim was to study the differences in the N400 effect when attention is directed to the semantic or other features of speech stimuli. The results showed an N400 effect even when attention was directed away from the speech stimuli. The N400 effect was, however, stronger in conditions during which the speech stimuli were attended. The magnitude of the behavioral semantic priming and the N400 effect did not differ between the conditions during which attention was directed to the semantic or phonological features of the words. The findings indicate that the semantic processing of spoken words is not dependent on attention to auditory information. Furthermore, the results suggest that whether or not semantic processing is relevant for the task performance does not affect the semantic processing of attended spoken words.

Self-rating scales in the assessment of current and childhood symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults

Objective: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a life-long condition, but because of its historical status as a self-remitting disorder of childhood, empirically validated and reliable methods for the assessment of adults are scarce. In this study, the validity and reliability of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) and the Adult Problem Questionnaire (APQ), which survey childhood and current symptoms of ADHD, respectively, were studied in a Finnish sample. Methods: The self-rating scales were administered to adults with an ADHD diagnosis (n = 38), healthy control participants (n = 41), and adults diagnosed with dyslexia (n = 37). Items of the self-rating scales were subjected to factor analyses, after which the reliability and discriminatory power of the subscales, derived from the factors, were examined. The effects of group and gender on the subscales of both rating scales were studied. Additionally, the effect of age on the subscales of the WURS was investigated. Finally, the diagnostic accuracy of the total scores was studied. Results: On the basis of the factor analyses, a four-factor structure for the WURS and five-factor structure for the APQ had the best fit to the data. All of the subscales of the APQ and three of the WURS achieved sufficient reliability. The ADHD group had the highest scores on all of the subscales of the APQ, whereas two of the subscales of the WURS did not statistically differ between the ADHD and the Dyslexia group. None of the subscales of the WURS or the APQ was associated with the participant's gender. However, one subscale of the WURS describing dysthymia was positively correlated with the participant's age. With the WURS, the probability of a correct positive classification was .59 in the current sample and .21 when the relatively low prevalence of adult ADHD was taken into account. The probabilities of correct positive classifications with the APQ were .71 and .23, respectively. Conclusions: The WURS and the APQ can provide accurate and reliable information of childhood and adult ADHD symptoms, given some important constraints. Classifications made on the basis of the total scores are reliable predictors of ADHD diagnosis only in populations with a high proportion of ADHD and a low proportion of other similar disorders. The subscale scores can provide detailed information of an individual's symptoms if the characteristics and limitations of each domain are taken into account. Improvements are suggested for two subscales of the WURS.

Toimintatutkimus tietokoneavusteisten opetusohjelmien hyödynnettävyydestä ammatillisessa koulutuksessa sähköalalla

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia tietokoneavusteisen opetuksen opetusmenetelmänä ja tietokoneavusteisten opetusohjelmien oppimateriaalina soveltuvuutta erilaisiin sähköalan ammatillisiin opetus- ja oppimistilanteisiin. Tietokoneavusteisilla opetusohjelmilla tarkoitetaan tässä tutkimuksessa erilaisia digitaaliseen muotoon tallennettuja oppimateriaaleja ja tietokoneavusteisella opetuksella näiden digitaalisten oppimateriaalien hyödyntämistä erilaisissa oppimistilanteissa. Opetusteknologian kehittymisen myötä myöskin opettajin valittavissa olevat opetusmenetelmät lisääntyvät ja monipuolistuvat. Vastaavalla tavalla myöskin oppimateriaalit kehittyvät ja mahdollistavat oppijan näkökulmasta entistä yksilöllisemmät opiskelumahdollisuudet. Tutkimuksen viitekehyksen liittyvinä keskeisinä elementteinä olivat tietokoneavusteinen opetus opetusmenetelmänä ja sen valintaan liittyvät tekijät: oppisisällöt ja oppimiselle asetetut tavoitteet, opettajan opetusmenetelmällinen osaaminen, erilaiset oppijat yksilöllisine oppimistavoitteineen sekä käytettävissä olevat erilaiset oppimateriaalit. Tutkimus toteutettiin toimintatutkimuksena ja siihen osallistui tutkijan lisäksi 15 sähköalan opettajaa kahdesta erikokoisesta ammattioppilaitoksesta. Varsinainen toimintatutkimus aloitettiin keväällä 1994 ja se jatkui kevääseen 1996. Lisäksi suoritettiin vertaileva tutkimus, johon osallistui 9 opettajaa kolmesta erillisestä ammattioppilaitoksesta syksyllä 1996 jatkuen kevääseen 1997. Keskeisimmistä tutkimustuloksista mainitsen opettajien heikon tuntemuksen tietokoneavusteisesta opetuksesta ja sen hyödyntämiseen liittyvistä elementeistä. Opettajilta puuttuu taito suunnitella tietokoneavusteisia opetusohjelmia oppimateriaaleina hyödyntäviä opetus- ja oppimistilanteita. Tutkimuksen mukaan opettajilla ei kuitenkaan ole negatiivista ennakkoasennetta opetusmenetelmää kohtaan ja opiskelijat suhtautuvat erittäin myönteisesti erilaisiin tietokoneavusteisiin opetusohjelmiin oppimateriaaleina. Avainsanat: Tietokoneavusteinen opetus, tietokoneavusteinen oppiminen, tietokoneavusteinen oppimateriaali

The effect of interrogative function on intonation in spontaneous and read Finnish

Goals This study aims to map the effect of interrogative function on the intonation of spontaneous and read Finnish. Earlier research shows that the most prominent feature in Finnish question intonation is an appeal to the listener. Question word questions typically start with a high peak which is followed by falling intonation. In yes/no questions, F0 remains on a high level until the word carrying sentence stress and then falls. Final rises are mainly found in intonation clichés such as "Ai mitä?" ("What?") These earlier results are based on read speech and enacted dialogues. In this study, questions and statements found in spontaneous dialogues were compared. These utterances were also compared with read versions of the same utterances. Fundamental frequency values were compared using a mixed model. Contours were also grouped using auditory and visual inspection. Thus it was possible to compare frequencies of contour types according to utterance type and speech style. The position of questions in the F0 distribution of the whole material was also investigated in this study. Method The material consisted of four spontaneous dialogues and their read versions. The speakers were young adults from the Helsinki metropolitan area, four females and four males. The whole material was first divided into broad dialogue function categories arising from the material and F0 curves were calculated for each category. After this, 277 questions and 244 statements were selected for closer inspection. Values reflecting F0 distribution and contour shape were measured from the F0 contours of these utterances. A mixed model was used to analyse the differences. Utterance type, question type, speech style and speaker gender were used as fixed effects. The frequencies of F0 contour types were compared using a Chi square test. Additional material in this study came from eight young female speakers in central Finland. Results and conclusions In the mixed model analysis, significant differences were found both between questions and statements and between spontaneous and read speech. Generally, utterance type affected the variables reflecting contour type while speech style affected the variables reflecting F0 distribution. The effect of question type was not clearly visible. In read speech the contours resembled earlier results more closely. Speakers had different strategies in differentiating between questions and statements. In the whole material, F0 was slightly higher in questions than in statements. The effect of dialectal background could be seen in the contour types. The results show that interrogative function affects intonation in both spontaneous and read Finnish.

Esimiestaitojen tärkeys, hallinta ja kehitystarpeet

This study examines the leadership skills in municipal organisation. The study reflects the manager views on leadership skills required. The purpose of this study was to reflect the most important leadership skills currently and in the future as well as the control of these skills. The study also examines the importance of the change and development needs of the leadership skills. In addition, the effect of background variables on evaluation of leadership skills were also examined. The quantitative research method was used in the study. The material was collected with the structured questionnaire from 324 Kotka city managers. SPSS-program was used to analyse the study material. Factor analysis was used as the main method for analysis. In addition, mean and standard deviations were used to better reflect the study results. Based on the study results, the most important leadership skills currently and in the future are associated with internet skills, work control, problem solving and human resource management skills. Managers expected the importance of leadership skills to grow in the future. Main growth is associated with the software utilisation, language skills, communication skills as well as financial leadership skills. Strongest competence according to managers is associated with the internet skills. Managers also considered to control well the skills related to employee know-how and manager networking. In addition, significant development needs are required in leadership skills. Main improvement areas were discovered in software utilisation, work control, human resource management skills as well as skills requiring problem solving. It should be noted that the main improvement areas appeared in the leadership skills that were evaluated as most important apart from software utilisation. Position, municipal segments and sex were observed to explain most of the deviation in received responses.

Nuorten kokema yksinäisyys ja sen yhteys tulevaisuusorientaatioon

The aim of this study was to examine 1) how much and how adolescents experience loneliness, 2) how they orientate to the future, 3) are loneliness experiences and future attitudes associated with self-esteem and 4) are loneliness experiences associated with future orientation. The data (n=172) was collected in September 2003 and it consisted of 9th grade students living in countryside and city. The research was quantitative questionnaire study and it was statistically analysed. So far the problem of loneliness has not been noticed enough. People experience loneliness when there is discrepancy between actual and desired levels of interpersonal contact. In adolescence loneliness is quite common because young people go through the crises of human relationships and identity. In adolescence the meaning of friends and fellows increases and the relationship with parents changes. Future orientation becomes meaningful in adolescence because young people have to make realistic choices concerning their future life. In this study almost every adolescent had someone to be with and talk to. However 19% of adolescents experienced loneliness. Lonely adolescents experienced lack of friendships and fellowships. Lonely adolescents also felt that they left outside of others and that they were alone. Boys experienced more often lack of friendships and fellowships than girls. Girls experienced that they left more often outside and that they were more often alone than boys. Adolescents living in city experienced a little more loneliness experiences than adolescents living in countryside. Lonely adolescents had also difficulties to make social relationships and they experienced loneliness also related with parents. Lonely adolescents had also weak self-esteem. Adolescents orientated to the future mainly positively. The most important future target was health and the least important target was the universal peace and problems solving of the world. Adolescents believed that they affect to their future mainly by themselves and they planed their future about 5-10 years ahead. For adolescents it was important to have education and work to the future. In the future it was also important to have a lifelong companion and own family. For most of the young people it was also important to keep up social relationships and realize him/herself. Adolescents thought high standard of living and money also quite important things in the future. Girls preferred different future targets more important than boys. For the boys only money and high standard of living were more important than for girls. 18% of adolescents had pessimistic attitude to the future. For pessimistic adolescents many future targets were less important than for the adolescents having affirmative or optimistic attitude for the future. Adolescents who had pessimistic attitude to the future had also weak self-esteem. For the lonely adolescents it was not so important 1) to keep up social relationships and realize themselves in the future. Lonely adolescents did not prefer 2) lifelong companion and own family as important as other young people. Also 3) others acceptance and appreciation were not so important for lonely adolescents. 4) Travelling was also more insignificant for lonely than for others. Lonely adolescents future attitudes were quite pessimistic. Parent related loneliness explained future targets insignificance and pessimistic attitude for the future the most. The experience of loneliness seems to be associated with future orientation in many cases. That s why it is important to pay attention to adolescents loneliness experiences. Loneliness is real and serious problem which threats health. Thus we need to examine further loneliness in adolescence and as a result of that it is possible to develop and use interventions to help lonely adolescents to orientate positively to their future.

Luova mieli : lähikuvassa muusikoiden luomisprosessit

This work studied the creative process of musicians. The subject was chosen partly due to the attention given to creativity in social discussion. The approach was material-based, because during the work it became clear that the theoretical models describing the creative process in general did not provide adequate tools for the examination of musical creation. In this study, the creative process was defined as a process, which generated a work found by the musician novel to him or her. There were two principal research questions: 1) How does the creative process of musicians progress? 2) What makes a process creative? The main emphasis was on the first question, because the study aimed at modeling the creative process of musicians. The material for this study was collected by interviewing five professional musicians, each qualified by an expert of music to be creative. The interviews were thematically linked with each musician’s recently implemented creative process. The work generated in the process was used as a stimulant in the interview. The main themes of the interview dealt with the musician’s concrete action, cognitive functioning and affective experience during the process. Secondary themes included his or her goals as well as the factors that enhanced or inhibited the process. A material-based analysis was made of the interviews. The conceptualization and modelling of the creative process was founded on a phenomenological-hermeneutic interpretation. In addition to the primary interviews, also supplementary interviews were made in order to ensure that the description of the musician was understood correctly. Further supplementary interviews were made when the material was analyzed and results were deduced. This aimed at increasing the reliability of interpretations and conclusions. The study resulted in a four-level model representing the progress of a creative process. The levels were defined by means of the conception of state. The levels used in defining the process were 1) the state determining the potential of the process, 2) the state delimiting the process, 3) the state orienting the process, and 4) the state determined by the process. The progress of the process was described as changes taking place in the state. It was discovered that the factors having an effect on the creativity of the process were the dynamism of the process, the musician’s work in relation to his or her inner standard and the impulses that caused variation in the musician’s thinking. The interview method used in this study proved to be a very suitable tool in an examination of a creative process. Thus it may well be applicable in other research contexts associated with creative processes. The outcome of this study, the model of the progress of a creative process, should also provide a feasible basis for the examination of different kinds of creative processes. It enables a comprehensive examination of a creative process, simultaneously justifying the dynamic nature of the process.

Heila-tietojärjestelmäprojekti ja sen ongelmat : Tutkimus Helsingin yliopiston henkilöstöhallinnon tietojärjestelmän kehitys- ja käyttöönottotyöstä asiakkaan näkökulmasta

Tutkimuksen tehtävänä oli selvittää Helsingin yliopiston Heila-tietojärjestelmän kehitysprojektin kulkua vuosina 1994-1999. Toisena tutkimustehtävänä oli selvittää minkälaisia ongelmia projektissa oli esiintynyt. Tutkimuksen aineisto oli projektin dokumentaatio, jossa pääaineistona olivat projektin johto- ja projektiryhmien kokouspöytäkirjat, tilanneraportit ja muut määrämuotoiset projektidokumentit. Lisäksi käytettävissä oli muuta aineistoa, kuten Heila-projektia käsitteleviä sähköpostiviestejä ja yleisönosaston kirjoituksia. Tutkimuksessa aineistoa kuvattiin kertomuksellisesti, projektin tapahtumat kirjattiin kertomukseksi kronologisessa järjestyksessä. Aineistoa analysoitiin toisen tutkimustehtävän mukaisesti sisällön analyysillä, ja tästä tuloksena oli projektin ongelmien luokittelu. Lopuksi tarkasteltiin projektin etenemiskertomuksen ja ongelmien luokittelun suhdetta. Kohteena ollut projekti viivästyi aikataulustaan kaikissa vaiheissa: toteutus- ja käyttöönotot viivästyivät useita kuukausia. Projektissa ilmeni resurssipulaa, välillä toimittajan ja välillä asiakkaan eli Helsingin yliopiston puolella. Lisäksi ohjelman sisältöalue oli niin monimutkainen, että se aiheutti vaikeuksia toteutuksessa ja käytössä. Järjestelmän suorituskyky ei vastannut sovittua, käyttöönottojen jälkeen jopa yksinkertainen tallennustoiminto saattoi kestää useita minuutteja, eikä normaaleja työtoimintoja saatu hoidettua. Helsingin yliopisto teki useita kirjallisia huomautuksia ja korvausvaatimuksia toimittajalle. Ongelmat jakautuivat toimintatapoihin liittyviin ongelmiin ja teknisiin ongelmiin. Toimintatapoihin liittyvät ongelmat sisälsivät käyttäjien huomiointiin ja projektin läpivientiin liittyviä ongelmia. Tekniset ongelmat jakautuivat kolmeen alakategoriaan: suorituskyvyn ongelmat, ohjelman ominaisuuksiin liittyvät ongelmat sekä yhteyksiin liittyvät ongelmat. Kukin alakategoria jakautui luokkiin. Projektin etenemistä arvioitiin suhteessa sen toteuttamista ohjanneeseen Helsingin yliopiston yhteistyöprojektien laatuohjeeseen, sekä Niemen (1993) malliin tietojärjestelmäprojektien läpiviennistä. Ongelmien luokittelua verrattiin Niemen (1993) arvioon projektien ongelmista. Projektin onnistumista arvioitiin Saarisen ja Sääksjärven (1992) projektin onnistumisen teorian avulla. Tulosten perusteella on mahdollista tarkastella muita projekteja, ja ongelmaluokitusten perusteella havaita potentiaaliset ongelmat. Siten voidaan parantaa työskentelyolosuhteita ja onnistumisen edellytyksiä tietojärjestelmäprojekteissa. Avainsanat: Tietojärjestelmät, projektityö, ongelmat Keywords: Information systems, project work, problems

Mikä yliopisto-opiskelijaa kiihdyttää? : Opiskeluympäristöjen tutkimusta CASS-kokemusotantamenetelmällä flow-teoriaa ja ydintunneteorioita soveltaen

Flow experience is often defined either as an experience of high concentration and enjoyment or as a situation, where high challenges are matched with high skills. According to core-emotion theories, the experience of any emotion contains two core emotions: valence and arousal. Through an accurate mathematical model, the present study investigated, whether the experience of concentration and enjoyment is related to situations where both challenge and skills are high and in balance. Further, it was investigated what sort of core emotions are related to differing relationships between challenge and skills. Finally, university students’ experiences of their natural study environments were described in terms of core emotions and in terms of relationships between challenge and skills. Participants were 55 university students who participated two weeks research period. Altogether 3367 questionnaire answers were collected with the CASS experience-sampling method, operating in 3G-mobile phones. The relationship between challenge and skills (competence) was defined in an exact way in polar coordinates. An enjoyable and concentrated flow experience was defined as a sum variable of absorption, interest and enthusiasm. Core emotions were calculated with factor analysis from nine emotion variables. As expected, an experience of concentration and enjoyment was, on average, related to the situations where both challenge and skills were high and in balance. This was not, however, the case in every situation. Thus, it should be taken into consideration how flow experience is operationalised in experience sampling studies. When flow experience was defined as a situation of high challenge and high skills, it was often related to high valence and arousal emotions such as excitement or enthusiasm. A happier or a more tranquil enjoyment was related to situations of moderate challenge and high skills. Experiences differed clearly between various natural study environments. At lectures students were often bored or mentally absent, and did not experience challenges. In a small group students were often excited or enthusiastic, and showed optimal balance between challenge and skills. At library students felt satisfied and were engaged in highly challenging work.

3 - 5-vuotiaiden lukemaan oppiminen : montessorivälineet kielellisen tietoisuuden ja varhaisen lukitaidon edistäjinä

Aims. The beginning point of this research was confusion between studies claiming, that children mature Metalinguistic to read at 6-7 of age, and the fact, that in Montessori playschools children easily start writing and reading at age 3 to 5. Aim was also find out how conception of slow Metalinguistic development has started, and if there is some evidence of phoneme awareness of reading of young children in the field of research of reading. Aim was also seek evidence of the sensitive period of reading as Montessori described it. The research also wanted to turn up, if phoneme awareness only develops in children, who work with graphemes and with reading, or could it be found in children, who do not. The mean was to research how the Montessori reading material supports child’s Metalinguistic development, when child begins learning to read. The research plans to represent knowledge about how young children learn to write and read. Methods. Research performed in ordinary kindergarten and in Montessori playschool in Espoo. In kindergarten observed six children, age 3-4, at eight grapheme-rhyme sessions from January to April 2007, and conducting a test based on Chaney’s (1992) study of phoneme awareness of young children. In Montessori kindergarten were observed 17 children about their phoneme awareness and reading competition from January 2007 to March 2008. Their developments in reading were also measured three times from 1.9.07 to 20.3.08 with classification constructed for this study, loosely based on Chall’s (1983) reading stages. The Montessori reading material was analyzed about the influence they have to a child’s Metalinguistic development. This was done based to theory and its concepts from the field of research of reading; phoneme awareness, morphological, syntactical and semantic consciousness. Results and conclusions. Research proved that children 3-5 have naturally developed phoneme awareness. In kindergarten and in Montessori playschool children between 2 and 4 could do phoneme synthesis, and in the latter they also could do phoneme segmentation of words. Montessori reading material guided children gradually, except to read, also to observe and absorb Metalinguistic knowledge. Children learned to write and read. At the last evaluating day almost 50 % of children write and read clauses or stories, and 82 % could read at least words. Children can develop Metalinguistic awareness, while using the Montessori materials for learning to write and read. To reach literacy is easy for children because of their phoneme awareness.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms among school personnel after the Jokela school shooting : A longitudial study of exposure, interventions, and symptom changes

Objectives. School personnel who are exposed to school violence are at risk in developing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In Finland there have been two such events in recent years, Jokela school shooting on 7.11.2007 and Kauhajoki school shooting about a year later. The aim of the present study was to examine the presence and change in PTSD symptoms during the first year after the Jokela school shooting. A second aim was to study how the initial exposure and treatment affects the symptom levels of PTSD. There were four hypotheses: 1) The PTSD symptoms are higher for the people who were exposed to the school shooting than for the people who did not face the stressor. 2) The PTSD symptoms increase in the follow up for the people at the school which was not attacked because of the second incident brought up the memories from the Jokela school shooting. 3) Those who have greater exposure to the shooting will have higher level of PTSD symptoms at both 4 and 11 months after the shooting than those who were not directly exposed to the shooting. 4) The PTSD symptoms are reduced more in the group that starts treatment right after the traumatic event than in other groups. Methods. A sample of 24 members of Jokela school personnel were examined four months after the incident and 16 were reassessed 11 month after the incident. To study the change and level of symptoms in other schools during the same period, a group with no exposure to the shooting was used as a control group (n=22). The assessment included Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist Specific (PCL-S) and a social and professional support questionnaire. In addition questions about timing of support and experiences of psychological debriefing were asked. Results and conclusions. Most participants in the study group experienced some symptoms of PTSD at both 4 and 11 months. In both measures three participants from the study group fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The study group and control group differed significantly in overall symptom levels. The study group had more PTSD symptoms in the first measure but in the follow-up the study group’s PTSD symptoms decreased and the control group’s increased. There was a significant change in the study groups PTSD symptom level for those who started treatment right after the traumatic event. The results from this study showed that an exposure to school shooting has long-term effects on school personnel. The findings suggest that it is crucial to plan a comprehensive and long-term treatment for school personnel in the aftermath of school shooting.

Verkko-oppimateriaalin multimodaalisuus : kohteena YLEn Kansalaisen ABC -verkko-oppimateriaalit

Today information and communication technology allows us to use multimedia more than ever before in e-learning materials. Multimedia though can increase cognitive load in learning process. Because of that it cannot be taken granted what kind of learning materials should be produced. This paper intended to study the diversity of e-learning materials and the factors related cognitive load. The main purpose was to study the multimodality of the multimedia learning materials. The subject of this study is the learning materials on the web site Kansalaisen ABC published by YLE. Learning materials in the web site were approached from three different perspectives. The specific questions were: (1) What kind of form features are used in the representations of the learning material? Are certain form features preferred over others? (2) How do the cognitive load factors take shape in learning materials and between the forms? (3) How does the multimodality phenomenon appear in the learning materials and in what ways are form features and cognitive load factors related to multimodality? In this case study a qualitative approach was used. Analysis of the form features and the cognitive load factors in learning materials were based on content analysis. Form features included the specification of a format, the structure, the interactivity type and the type of learning material. The results showed that the web sites include various representations of both verbal and visual forms. Cognitive load factors were related mostly to visual than verbal material. Material presented according to the principles of cognitive multimedia theory multimedia representations did not cause cognitive overload in the informants. Cognitive load was increased in the case of students needing to split their attention between the multimedia forms in time and place. The results indicated how different individual characteristics are reflected by the cognitive load factors.

Integrated semantic processing of complex pictures and spoken sentences - Evidence from event-related potentials

It has been suggested that semantic information processing is modularized according to the input form (e.g., visual, verbal, non-verbal sound). A great deal of research has concentrated on detecting a separate verbal module. Also, it has traditionally been assumed in linguistics that the meaning of a single clause is computed before integration to a wider context. Recent research has called these views into question. The present study explored whether it is reasonable to assume separate verbal and nonverbal semantic systems in the light of the evidence from event-related potentials (ERPs). The study also provided information on whether the context influences processing of a single clause before the local meaning is computed. The focus was on an ERP called N400. Its amplitude is assumed to reflect the effort required to integrate an item to the preceding context. For instance, if a word is anomalous in its context, it will elicit a larger N400. N400 has been observed in experiments using both verbal and nonverbal stimuli. Contents of a single sentence were not hypothesized to influence the N400 amplitude. Only the combined contents of the sentence and the picture were hypothesized to influence the N400. The subjects (n = 17) viewed pictures on a computer screen while hearing sentences through headphones. Their task was to judge the congruency of the picture and the sentence. There were four conditions: 1) the picture and the sentence were congruent and sensible, 2) the sentence and the picture were congruent, but the sentence ended anomalously, 3) the picture and the sentence were incongruent but sensible, 4) the picture and the sentence were incongruent and anomalous. Stimuli from the four conditions were presented in a semi-randomized sequence. Their electroencephalography was simultaneously recorded. ERPs were computed for the four conditions. The amplitude of the N400 effect was largest in the incongruent sentence-picture -pairs. The anomalously ending sentences did not elicit a larger N400 than the sensible sentences. The results suggest that there is no separate verbal semantic system, and that the meaning of a single clause is not processed independent of the context.