Adolescent Use of Dating Applications and the Associations with Online Victimization and Psychological Distress.

In this study, we examined the relationships between the use of online dating applications (apps), online victimization, and psychosocial distress among adolescents. This study was conducted in 2020. A sample of 2595 seventh-grade students from 30 Taiwanese middle schools was surveyed. We conducted a self-administered survey. Overall, 15% of the adolescents reported using online dating apps in the past year, while 78% reported having seen dating app advertisements on the internet in the past year. Multivariate analysis results indicated that adolescents' exposure to the marketing of dating apps and poor academic performance were both associated with the use of online dating apps. Adolescents who used dating apps were more likely to experience online privacy victimization, cyberbullying victimization, and online sexual harassment. The use of dating apps by adolescents, online privacy victimization, cyberbullying victimization, and online sexual harassment were associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. In conclusion, adolescent use of dating apps is related to online victimization and psychological distress.

Weighting Assessment of the Effect of Chinese State-Changing Words on Emotions.

Past studies of sentiment analysis have mainly applied algorithms based on vocabulary categories and emotional characteristics to detect the emotionality of text. However, the collocation of state-changing words and emotional vocabulary affects emotions. For example, adverbs of degree strengthen emotions, and negative adverbs reverse emotions. This study investigated the weighted effect of state-changing words on emotion. The research material comprised 73 state-changing words that were collocated with four emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. A total of 84 participants participated in the vocabulary assessment. The results revealed that state-changing words could be classified into four types: intensifying, weakening, neutralizing, and reversing. In a comparison of the weighting factors among emotions, the weighting effect of the same state-changing word in the positive emotion category was particularly evident. The results could serve as a reference for follow-up studies on detecting emotions in text.

Effects of acute slackline exercise on executive function in college students.

Background: Physical exercise as an intervention for improving cognitive function, especially executive function, is receiving increasing attention because it is easily accessible, cost-effective and promises many additional health-related benefits. While previous studies focused on aerobic exercise and resistance exercise, recent findings have suggested that exercise with high coordination demand elicits beneficial effects on executive function. We therefore examined the effects of an acute slackline exercise on the executive functions of young adults. Methods: In a crossover experimental design, 47 healthy participants (21 females), ranging in age from 18 to 27 years (M = 19.17, SD = 1.94) were randomly assigned to different sequences of two conditions (slackline exercise and film-watching). Before and after the 50 min intervention, a modified Simon task was used to assess participants' executive function (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility). Results: College students showed better inhibitory control performance as indicated by shorter reaction times following acute slackline exercise than those who participated in the film-watching session. As there was no difference in accuracy between the slackline exercise and film-watching sessions, the shortened reaction time after slackline exercise provides evidence against a simple speed-accuracy trade-off. Conclusion: Compared with film-watching, acute slackline exercise provides favorable effects on executive function necessitating inhibition in young adults. These findings provide insight into exercise prescription and cognition, and further evidence for the beneficial effects of coordination exercise on executive functions.

Verification of the Four-Stage Model of Humor Processing: Evidence from an fMRI Study by Three-Element Verbal Jokes.

The four-stage model comprises the expectation, incongruity, resolution, and elaboration stages of humor processing. In previous studies, most researchers used two-element jokes (setup and punch line) as stimuli, based on experimental methods, to explore the humor process. By contrast, the present study used a humor corpus with the novelty of three-element verbal jokes to perform direct separation from the material and clarify the humor processes. In this study, we used three-element verbal jokes and nonjokes, and we conducted a repeated-measures analysis of variance with a 3 × 2 two-way within-subject design. In humor processing, the posterior insula and middle frontal gyrus were mainly activated in the expectation; the middle temporal gyrus and the medial frontal gyrus in the incongruity; the inferior frontal gyri, superior frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule in the resolution; and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, anterior insula, nucleus accumbens, and midbrain in the elaboration. The contributions of this study lie in its use of a humor corpus with the novelty of self-compiled three-element jokes, which not only successfully verified the models established in previous studies but added the expectation to the model; thus, this study separated the expectation and incongruity processes, making humor processing more complete.

Cultural Differences in How People Deal with Ridicule and Laughter: Differential Item Functioning between the Taiwanese Chinese and Canadian English Versions of the PhoPhiKat-45.

The PhoPhiKat-45 measures three dispositions toward ridicule and laughter, including gelotophobia (i.e., the fear of being laughed at), gelotophilia (i.e., the joy of being laughed at), and katagelasticism (i.e., the joy of laughing at others). Despite numerous cultural adaptations, there is a paucity of cross-cultural studies investigating measurement invariance of this measure. Undergraduate students from a Canadian university (N = 1467; 71.4% females) and 14 universities in Taiwan (N = 1274; 64.6% females) completed the English and Chinese PhoPhiKat-45 measures, respectively. Item response theory and differential item functioning analyses demonstrated that most items were well-distributed across the latent continuum. Five of 45 items were flagged for DIF, but all values had negligible effect sizes (McFadden's pseudo R2 < 0.13). The Canadian sample was further subdivided into subsamples who identified as European White born in Canada (n = 567) and Chinese born in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan (n = 180). In the subgroup analyses, no evidence of DIF was found. Findings support the utility of this measure across these languages and samples.

Humor Styles and Marital Satisfaction: Cluster Analysis of the Relationship.

Humor use in communication is considered an important factor that affects relationship satisfaction according to past studies. However, there is insufficient evidence on how humor influences marital satisfaction at the couple level. This study aimed to classify couples into clusters with different humor types based on their humor styles and to investigate whether the humor styles of husbands and wives influence marital satisfaction. In total, 170 couples completed a humor style and marital satisfaction inventory by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with grouping the data of their humor styles and using cluster analysis to determine whether there were differences in marital satisfaction among couples with different humor types. The results revealed five humor types for the couples: "positive humor couples," "aggressive husband and self-defeating wife," "humor denier husband and general humor wife," "general humor husband and humor denier wife" and "humor denier couples." The ANCOVA results indicate that the highest marital satisfaction occurs among couples with positive humor and the lowest is among couples with denier humor. This study illustrates the humor types that likely occur among couples and concludes that marital satisfaction is high when both partners use positive humor and low when neither partner uses humor.

Learning to read Chinese: the roles of phonological awareness, paired-associate learning, and phonetic radical awareness.

This study aimed to determine how Chinese children adapt to Chinese orthography-phonology correspondence by acquiring phonetic radical awareness (PRA). This study used two important Chinese encoding approaches (rote and orthographic approaches) as the developmental trajectory, in which the present study hypothesized that phonological awareness (PA) exerts not only a direct influence on PRA but also an indirect influence through paired- associate learning (PAL). We also explored whether the association between PA and PAL is affected by the complexity of visual stimuli embedded in PAL. This study recruited 70 s-grade students to participate in various tests, which assessed (a) PA (measured by onset and rhyme awareness), (b) PRA (measured by regularity and consistency of phonetic radicals), (c) PAL (measured by learning performance on strokes; pattern-object and strokes pattern-syllable mapping), and (d) Chinese character recognition ability. Path analyses indicated that (1) character size had a significant positive correlation with PRA but not with PAL, (2) PAL fully mediated the association between PA and PRA, and (3) compared with PAL with a low stroke count, PA had a stronger relationship with PAL with a high stroke count. The results of this study were consistent with previous studies and suggest that PRA is the most important literacy skill for children in the middle of their learning-to-read stage. The results also augment existing literature by revealing that PRA acquisition is increased by PAL supported by PA, rather than by PA alone. Moreover, when the visual complexity of PAL increases, the support of PA to PAL would increase to make up for the working memory shortage.

Development and validation of interactive creativity task platform.

Co-creativity focuses on how individuals produce innovative ideas together. As few studies have explored co-creativity using standardized tests, it is difficult to effectively assess the individual's creativity performance within a group. Therefore, this study aims to develop a platform that allows two individuals to answer creativity tests simultaneously. This platform includes two divergent thinking tasks, the Straw Alternative Uses Test and Bottle Alternative Uses Test, and Chinese Radical Remote Associates Test A and B, which were used to evaluate their open-and closed-ended creative problem-solving performance. This platform has two modes: single-player mode and paired-player mode. Responses from 497 adults were collected, based on which the fluency, flexibility, and originality of divergent thinking were measured. This study also developed a computer scoring technique that can automatically calculate the scores on these creativity tests. The results showed that divergent thinking scores from computer-based calculation and manual scoring were highly positively correlated, suggesting that the scores on a divergent thinking task can be calculated through a system that avoids time-consuming, uneconomical manual scoring. Overall, the two types of tests on this platform showed considerable internal consistency reliability and criterion-related validity. This advanced application facilitates the collection of empirical evidence about co-creativity.

The Effect of Visual Mnemonics and the Presentation of Character Pairs on Learning Visually Similar Characters for Chinese-As-Second-Language Learners.

This study investigates the effects of visual mnemonics and the methods of presenting learning materials on learning visually similar characters for Chinese-as-second-language (CSL) learners. In supporting CSL learners to build robust orthographic representations in Chinese, addressing the challenges of visual similarity of characters (e.g., and ) is an important issue. Based on prior research on perceptual learning, we tested three strategies that differ in the extent to which they promote interrelated attention to the form and meaning of characters: (1) Stroke Sequence, a form-emphasis strategy, (2) Key-images, a form + meaning strategy utilizing visual code, (3) Pithy Formulas with Key-images, a form + meaning strategy combining visual and verbal codes. A pretest-posttest equivalent-group design was adopted. The independent variables were the learning strategy, the method of presenting character pairs (visually similar vs. dissimilar), and testing time. The dependent variables were learners' proportions of accurate responses to reading and writing Chinese characters through a posttest (immediately performed after learning) and a delayed posttest (1 week after learning); a learner experience survey was also administered to investigate learners' opinions on each strategy. Sixty-six non-beginning learners of Chinese participated; they were randomly assigned to one of the two groups in which participants learned ten characters via the three strategies, respectively, differing between whether the characters were presented in similar pairs or dissimilar pairs. Data were analyzed via three-way ANCOVAs. The Pithy Formulas with Key-images and the Key-images generally yielded higher writing accuracy than Stroke Sequence immediately after learning. Notably, the advantage of the Pithy Formulas with Key-images (verbal and visual) over the Key-images (visual) on writing was specific to the participants that learned with visually similar pairs rather than those that learned with dissimilar pairs. All strategies were effective for reading, yet learners' experience ratings favored the two form + meaning strategies over the strategy that focused primarily on form. Suggestions for future research and pedagogical implications on learning visually similar characters were offered.

Measuring Conceptual Associations via the Development of the Chinese Visual Remote Associates Test.

Multiple versions of the Chinese Remote Associates Test (CRAT) have been developed. Thus far, all CRATs have employed verbal stimuli; other forms of stimuli have not yet been used. In this context, the present study compiled a Chinese Visual Remote Associates Test (CVRAT) that conforms to the Chinese language and culture based on a picture naming database. The developed CVRAT has two versions, CVRAT-A and CVRAT-B, each comprising 20 test questions. A typical CVRAT question consists of three stimuli pictures, requiring respondents to propose a target word that is semantically associated with all the pictures. When compiling the CVRAT, this study first selected target words, sifted through stimuli words and corresponding pictures, and analyzed pilot test questions. After compilation, their reliability and validity were examined. The results showed that the CVRAT had moderate internal consistency reliability, good criterion-related validity for the Chinese Word Remote Associates Test (CWRAT), Chinese Radical Remote Associates Test (CRRAT), Chinese Compound Remote Associates Test (CCRAT), insight problem-solving, as well as acceptable discriminant validity for fluency, flexibility, and originality of a divergent thinking test. In other words, CVRAT can effectively measure remote associative capability and provides a figural creativity test that facilitates the understanding of different kinds of remote associations.

Development and validation of a Chinese pseudo-character/non-character producing system.

This study developed and validated a Chinese pseudo-character/non-character producing system (CPN system) that can assist researchers in creating experimental materials using Chinese characters. Based on a large-scale dataset of 6097 characters, the CPN system provides researchers with precise Chinese orthographic information (structures and positions, radical frequency, number of strokes, number of radical-sharing neighbors, and position-based regularity) to create three types of experimental stimuli: pseudo-characters, semi non-characters, and whole non-characters. Featuring the position-based regularity of 446 radicals, the CPN system helps researchers to manipulate, or to control for, orthographic characteristics of radicals to study Chinese lexical processing. In two empirical validations for stimuli created by the system, Chinese-as-second-language learners (n = 79) and first-language users (n = 41), respectively, participated in a Chinese orthographic choice task in which participants compared two artificial characters and chose the one that more closely resembled a real Chinese character. Both validations demonstrate that highly proficient Chinese readers are better able to identify pseudo-characters, suggesting that the radical's position-based information impacts Chinese character identification to different extents. With the empirical support for the created stimuli, the system further affords researchers auto-generated outcomes with downloadable images and Excel sheets for creating customized stimuli, making material selection easy, efficient, and effective. This CPN system is the first large-scale, data-driven tool free for researchers who are interested in studies of written Chinese. CPN should benefit the field of Chinese orthographic processing, Chinese instruction, and cross-linguistic comparisons, providing a useful tool for studying Chinese lexical processing.

Visual-Spatial and Verbal Remote Association: An fMRI Study.

Although idea connections at verbal and conceptual levels have been explored by remote associates tests, the visual-spatial level is much less researched. This study investigated the visual-spatial ability via Chinese Radical Remote Associates Test (CRRAT), wherein respondents consider the positions of the stimulus and target Chinese radicals. Chinese Compound Remote Associates Test (CCRAT) questions also feature stimuli of a single Chinese character; therefore, it was adopted for comparison to distinguish the roles played by verbal and visual-spatial associations in a remote associative process. Thirty-six adults responded to CRRAT and CCRAT; their brain activities were analyzed. Upon excluding the influence of age, verbal comprehension, and working memory, it was found that the caudate, posterior cingulate cortex, postcentral gyrus, and medial frontal gyrus were activated when the respondents answered CCRAT, but only the caudate showed significant activation when they answered CRRAT. The Chinese radical remote association minus the Chinese compound remote association showed that the middle frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, and precuneus demonstrated significant activation. Therefore, this study demonstrated differences in brain mechanisms between visual-spatial and verbal remote associations.

The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Shooting Performance and Cognitive Functions in Archers.

This study investigated the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) called mindfulness-based peak performance (MBPP) on athletic performance and cognitive functions in archers, as well as the role of psychological status and the dose-response relationship of MBPP in archery performance. Twenty-three archers completed a simulated archery competition and the Stroop task prior to and after MBPP training, which consisted of eight sessions over four weeks, while the mindfulness and rumination levels of the archers were assessed at three time points, namely, before, at the mid-point of, and after the MBPP program. The results revealed that the MBPP program significantly improved the shooting performance (p = 0.002, d = 0.27), multiple cognitive functions (ps < 0.001, d = 0.51~0.71), and mindfulness levels of the archers on the post-test, compared to the pre-test (p = 0.032, η p 2 = 0.15 for general; p = 0.004, η p 2 = 0.22 for athletic). Additionally, negative ruminations level was decreased from the pre-test to the middle-test and post-test (ps < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.43). These findings provide preliminary evidence to support the view that MBPP could serve as a promising form of training for fine motor sport performance, cognitive functions, and specific psychological status, such that it warrants further study.

A Systematic Review of Creativity-Related Studies Applying the Remote Associates Test From 2000 to 2019.

The study examines how the remote associates test (RAT) has been used to examine theories of creativity through a review of recent studies on creativity. Creativity-related studies published between 2000 and 2019 were retrieved from the SCOPUS database. A total of 172 papers were chosen for further analysis. Content analysis shows that research on creativity using RAT mainly concerns remote association, insight problem-solving, general creative process, test development, individual difference, effect of treatment, clinical case, social interaction effect, and predictor or criterion. The study constructs a theoretical framework based on the 4P (Product-Person-Process-Place) model and demonstrates how empirical studies using the RAT explore the individual differences, internal processes, and external influences of creative thinking. In addition, the most commonly used version of the RAT is the Compound Remote Associates Problems (Bowden and Jung-Beeman, 2003a). Current research shows a trend whereby the creative thinking process has been receiving greater attention. In particular, a growing number of studies in this field have been carried out using cognitive neuroscience technologies. These findings suggest that the RAT provides researchers with a way to deepen their understanding of different levels of creativity.

Student Enrollment and Teacher Statistics Forecasting Based on Time-Series Analysis.

Education competitiveness is a key feature of national competitiveness. It is crucial for nations to develop and enhance student and teacher potential to increase national competitiveness. The decreasing population of children has caused a series of social problems in many developed countries, directly affecting education and com.petitiveness in an international environment. In Taiwan, a low birthrate has had a large impact on schools at every level because of a substantial decrease in enrollment and a surplus of teachers. Therefore, close attention must be paid to these trends. In this study, combining a whale optimization algorithm (WOA) and support vector regression (WOASVR) was proposed to determine trends of student and teacher numbers in Taiwan for higher accuracy in time-series forecasting analysis. To select the most suitable support vector kernel parameters, WOA was applied. Data collected from the Ministry of Education datasets of student and teacher numbers between 1991 and 2018 were used to examine the proposed method. Analysis revealed that the numbers of students and teachers decreased annually except in private primary schools. A comparison of the forecasting results obtained from WOASVR and other common models indicated that WOASVR provided the lowest mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) for all analyzed datasets. Forecasting performed using the WOASVR method can provide accurate data for use in developing education policies and responses.

Forecasting outbound student mobility: A machine learning approach.

BACKGROUND: A country's ability to become a prominent knowledge economy is tied closely to its ability to acquire skilled people who can compete internationally while resolving challenges of the future. To equip students with competence that can only by gained by being immersed in a foreign environment, outbound mobility is vital. METHODS: To analyze outbound student mobility in Taiwan using time series methods, this study aims to propose a hybrid approach FSDESVR which combines feature selection (FS) and support vector regression (SVR) with differential evolution (DE). FS and a DE algorithm were used for selecting reliable input features and determining the optimal initial parameters of SVR, respectively, to achieve high forecast accuracy. RESULTS: The proposed approach was examined using a dataset of outbound Taiwanese student mobility to ten countries between 1998 and 2018. Without the requirements of any special conditions for the proprieties of the objective function and constraints, the FSDESVR model retained the advantage of FS, SVR, and DE. A comparison of the FSDESVR model and other forecasting models revealed that FSDESVR provided the lowest mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) results for all the analyzed nations. The experimental results indicate that FSDESVR achieved higher forecasting accuracy than the compared models from the literature. CONCLUSION: With the recognition of outbound values, key findings of Taiwanese outbound student mobility, and accurate application of the FSDESVR model, education administration units are exposed to a more in-depth view of future student mobility, which enables the implement of a more accurate education curriculum.

How do extraverts process jokes? An event-related potential study on humor processing.

Extraverts and introverts show different preferences for humor regarding different humor types. However, few studies focused on the neurological underpinnings of the connection between extraversion and the stage-wise cognitive model of humor processing. To investigate the influence of extraversion on different sub-stages of humor processing, electroencephalography (EEG) data was collected when participants read and rated jokes and non-jokes. The event-related potential (ERP) data showed a smaller N400 (300-500 ms) but a larger late positive potential (500-900 ms) for jokes than non-jokes, which may reflect lexical association and integrative interpretation in joke processing. The more extraverted group had a larger P2 (200-300 ms) and a smaller N400 than the less extraverted group in response to all the stimuli, which may indicate their different allocation of attentional and cognitive resources to external stimulation. Additionally, the regression analyses showed that the late positivity effects of jokes were positively correlated with the extraversion level. The results could imply extraverts' controlled processes of cognitive resource allocation for jokes, and suggest the same groups' attentiveness and motivation for reward stimuli (i.e., jokes). Importantly, our ERP data could support extraverts' increased exploration for verbal humor from a better temporal aspect for the first time.

Creativity in children with ADHD: Effects of medication and comparisons with normal peers.

This study is to identify the performance of children with and without ADHD in open-ended and closed-ended creativity assessments, and investigate the moderating effect of medicated and unmedicated Children. The study subjects included third to sixth graders: 43 children with ADHD and 43 typically developing children. The participants with ADHD were those who were identified by local Committees of Identification, Placement and Consultation for Children with Special Needs or those who were diagnosed by medical institutions. Children with ADHD were further divided into medicated (22 participants) and unmedicated groups (21 participants) based on their current medication treatment. This study employed the New Tests of Creative Thinking to gauge the participants' open-ended creativity, while Remote Associates Test and the Insight Test were used to assess the participants' closed-ended creativity. Although previous evidence for creativity in children with ADHD have been mixed, this study includes medication as moderation variable and suggests that the performance of unmedicated children with ADHD in the open-ended creativity assessments was better than medicated children with ADHD and typically developing children. The study results can further explore the creativity characteristics of children with ADHD.

CLAD: A corpus-derived Chinese Lexical Association Database.

The application of word associations has become increasingly widespread. However, the association norms produced by traditional free association tests tend not to exceed 10,000 stimulus words, making the number of associated words too small to be representative of the overall language. In this study we used text corpora totaling over 400 million Chinese words, along with a multitude of association measures, to automatically construct a Chinese Lexical Association Database (CLAD) comprising the lexical association of over 80,000 words. Comparison of the CLAD with a database of traditional Chinese word association norms shows that word associations extracted from large text corpora are similar in strength to those elicited from free association tests but contain a much greater number of associative word pairs. Additionally, the relatively small numbers of participants involved in the creation of traditional norms result in relatively coarse scales of association measurement, whereas the differentiation of association strengths is greatly enhanced in the CLAD. The CLAD provides researchers with a great supplement to traditional word association norms. A query website at www.chinesereadability.net/LexicalAssociation/CLAD/ affords access to the database.