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The Effect of Orientation Coincidence of Objects on Intrinsic Frame of Reference System in Symmetrical Scene LI Jing,ZHANG Kan 2011, 43 (03):  221-228.  Abstract ( 1530 )   Intrinsic frame of reference system theory is a newly-developed theory in spatial memory researches. It suggests that when people learn locations of objects in a new environment, they are inclined to mentally represent a layout of objects according to a frame of reference system defined by the collection of objects. Many studies have proven that the dominant axis of intrinsic frame of reference may differ from their egocentric orientation. But there was few research in intrinsic frame of reference system theory on the effect of orientation information provided by the objects themselves in the scene. This research focused on the effect of orientation coincidence of objects in environment on people’s construction of intrinsic frame of reference system and hypothesized the coincident orientation of objects would be one of the choices of the dominant axis in intrinsic frame of reference system in symmetrical scene. 53 undergraduates took part in three experiments. In Experiment 1, participants stood at 0 degree facing the axis of symmetry and learned a symmetrical scene that was composed by balls with no apparent headings. In Experiment 2, participants stood at 0 degree and learned a symmetrical scene composed by toy bears with their faces orienting 315 degree, which was different from the axis of symmetry. In Experiment 3, participants stood at 0 and 315 degree and learned the same scene as that in Experiment 2. After learning, the participants needed to finish triplet recognition task in each experiment. In the task, they were required to judge if the directional relationship in these triplets were the same as the learned scene. The correct response latencies to the targets were analyzed by ANOVA. In Experiment 1, when the objects in scenes had no apparent headings, the results of repeated measures showed the mean response latency to triplets including the direction of axis of symmetry was significantly shorter than that not including the direction. In Experiment 2, when the objects in scenes had apparent headings and they all oriented the direction different from the axis of symmetry, the difference between the mean response latencies to triplets including the axis of symmetry and including the coincident orientation of objects was not significant. This result was different from the significant difference found in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, the difference between mean response latencies to triplets including the axis of symmetry and including the coincident orientation of objects was still not significant. The result was the same as that found in Experiment 2, even if the scene was learned from both the axis of symmetry and the coincident orientation of objects to eliminate the possible interference of learning viewpoint. Results indicate that orientation coincidence of objects in symmetrical scenes affects the construction of intrinsic frame of reference system. However, there is no significant difference between the symmetry axis and the coincident orientation in the chances to be the dominant axis of intrinsic frame of reference system. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Time Course and Hemispheric Effect of “Insight” in Three-character Chinese Riddles Task: An ERP Study SHEN Wang-Bing,LIU Chang,ZHANG Xiao-Jiang,CHEN Ya-Lin 2011, 43 (03):  229-240.  Abstract ( 1241 )   Cognitive insight phenomenon is one of the components of creativity which lies at the core of numerous discoveries. Our developed high spatial resolution brain imaging (e.g. functional magnetic resonance imaging) and excellent temporal resolution event related potentials techniques have made it possible to explore the brain mechanism and neural basis of insight problem solving. Nowadays, neurocognitive mechanism of insight embedded an “Aha” experience is a hot studying but still mystery topic. The present study tries to give an answer. The present study adopted normal three-word Chinese riddles and employed high-density event related potentials (ERP) to investigate the neural correlate and hemispheric difference involved in insight problem solving. In order to acquire enough reliable and normal three-character riddles, 190 riddles were rated their understanding on a scale of 1 (extremely boring/old) to 5 (extremely interesting/novel) by 103 subjects in the preparatory experiment. About one-half of the 120 riddles were very difficult and the other halves were comparatively easy. It was not easy for participants to work out the solutions to those difficult riddles so that the insight or “Aha!” response and uncomprehended response could be elicited when they were informed the correct answer. And then another nineteen paid participants were recruited in the ERP experiment. Each trial began with a central fixation cross for 500ms, and then blank screen appeared. After 300ms, the three-character question was presented in the center of screen for 7 sec followed by a 300-millisecond interval. Participants were instructed to try to work out the solution to the riddle within this 7.3-sec interval. The possible answer or solution to the riddle was then presented in the center of the screen for 4 sec, followed by a random interval ranging from 200 to 6000ms. Participants were required to press the “1”, “2” or “3” key of number keyboard to indicate whether they had understood the meaning of the riddle. If they understood the riddle answer and their own guesses were consistent to the correct answers, they were asked to press “1” key with their index finger of right hand; if they did not work out the riddle but they could understand the correct answers, they were asked to press “2” key with their middle finger of right hand; if they neither worked out the riddle nor understood the presented answers, they were asked to press “3” key with their ring finger of right hand. Pressing no key as other responses which might include unknown cognitive process were excluded in analysis. Behavioral data showed that RT to “Aha!” responses and uncomprehended responses significantly larger than RT to No-aha responses. ERP waveform analysis revealed that “Aha!” and uncomprehended responses elicited a more negative defection (N380) than No-aha responses did in 320-550 msec. and exhibit prominent RH effect in “Aha” responses, but there was no significant difference among the three responses in 550-700 msec. and 700-1100 msec., respectively. Our findings imply that insight is dominated by right hemisphere and can be represented by neural activity of abnegating the strongly salient options but accepting the weakly remote associative meaning. Related Articles | Metrics

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Early Cortical Processing of Mandarin Intonation REN Gui-Qin,HAN Yu-Chang,ZHOU Yong-Lei,REN Yan-Tao 2011, 43 (03):  241-248.  Abstract ( 1132 )   Linguistic pitch information is used to signal different aspects of spoken language such as lexical tone and intonation. An important issue that is particularly relevant to the processing of linguistic pitch information concerns language lateralization in the human brain. Two competing hypotheses based on the data from brain imaging studies were proposed to state the neural mechanisms underlying human pitch perception. However, the low temporal resolution related to neuroimaging techniques might not explicitly detect the brain activities occur at a relatively small or a determined time frame. We used the mismatch negativity (MMN) and a source estimation technique (LORETA) to probe the brain activities underlying the early pre-attentive processing of Mandarin intonation. The target was Chinese character [lai2] which was pronounced in a declarative intonation and an interrogative intonation respectively. A passive oddball paradigm was applied to present declarative and interrogative intonation contrast for the syllable context condition, sentence context condition and their corresponding hummed versions. Thirteen Chinese college students were recruited to participate in the experiment and the participants were instructed to watch a silent movie and ignore the sounds from the headphone during the course of experiment. The results showed that no MMN was elicited for the contrast of declarative intonation and interrogative intonation in the syllable intonation and sentence intonation conditions. However, the MMN was evoked when the linguistic information was removed from the two conditions above, and no significant differences of the MMN amplitudes existed between the hummed syllable and sentence intonation conditions. Source localization of MMNs for the hummed conditions showed the right hemispheric dominance. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the pre-attentive cortical processing for Mandarin intonation can be modulated by the temporal window of linguistic pitch patterns manifested at syllable level and sentence level. Our data provide evidence for the acoustic hypothesis of speech processing. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Perceptual Span and Parafoveal Preview Effect of Fifth Graders and College Students: An Eye Movement Study YAN Guo-Li,WANG Li-Hong,Wu Jin-Gen,Bai Xue-Jun 2011, 43 (03):  249-263.  Abstract ( 1342 )   The amount of information that can be acquired in foveal and parafoveal vision is one of the most fundamental issues in the study of eye movement control in reading. This refers to the perceptual span, which is a measure of the portion of a line of text from which a reader can extract useful visual and linguistic information to facilitate reading on any single fixation (McConkie & Rayner, 1975). A skilled adult reader can acquire useful information from the word to the right of the fixated word; this was referred to as parafoveal preview effect (Rayner, 1975, 1998, 2009). Rayner (1986) found that as reading skill improves, the amount of information that can be extracted from upcoming words during a single fixation increases. Chace (2005) found that reading skill also modulated the preview effecting adult readers. In the present study, parafoveal preview effect was investigated in Chinese fifth graders and college students. Two experiments were conducted using the eye-movement contingent display change technique. 20 fifth graders and 20 college students participated. Their eye movements were recorded with a SR Research EyeLink eye tracker. Eighty sentences were presented in eight viewing conditions (R0、R1、R2、R3、R4、L1R4、L2R4 and whole line) were included to examine the perceptual span of fifth graders and college students in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, four preview types (identical, homophone, orthographic, control and random) were used to explore the parafoveal preview effect of fifth graders and college students. The results showed that the perceptual span of college students was larger than that of the fifth graders. Orthographic and phonological information could be obtained by college students, while only orthographic information could be obtained by fifth graders in parafoveal preview. In summary, the present study indicated that different information is acquired during fixations by college students and fifth graders. College students read more quickly than the fifth graders; one possible reason for this is that they have a larger perceptual span and acquire more orthographic and linguistic information from upcoming words than fifth graders do. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Influence of Positions of Cues on Probabilistic Category Learning XU Gui-Ping,WEN Hong-Bo,WEI Xiao-Ma,MO Lei 2011, 43 (03):  264-273.  Abstract ( 1374 )   There is a debate between the multiple systems opinion and the single system opinion in probabilistic category learning, and the experiments of researchers holding different opinions have adopted different ways of presenting the positions of the cues respectively. So using the classical weather prediction task, the current study manipulated the ways in which the positions of cues were presented to explore the influence that this had on probabilistic category learning. This study included two experiments. Experiment 1 investigated the learning systems by fixing and randomizing the positions of all the cues. Experiment 2 investigated the strategy through fixing the positions of the singleton cues. The results showed that when the positions of all cues were held constant, probabilistic category learning was an explicit learning process. However, when the positions of all cues were random, it was an implicit learning process. And when only the positions of the singleton cues were held constant, it was also an implicit learning process. These results indicate that the different ways of presenting the positions of the cues affect the competition between the explicit learning and implicit learning systems, which supports the multi-system opinion. Moreover, the main strategy in probabilistic category learning may be the multi-cue strategy rather than the singleton strategy. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Differences of Individuals Having Different Regulatory Modes on Counterfactual Thinking: Evidence from An ERP Study YUE Ling-Yun,FENG Ting-Yong,LI Sen-Sen,LI Guang-Pu,LI Hong 2011, 43 (03):  274-282.  Abstract ( 1236 )   Counterfactual thinking occurs when an individual experiences thoughts that ignore what has happened in the past, and generates a hypothesis which comparing “what is” with “what might have been”. It is the pop problem in the field of decision-making. Most previous studies focused on topics like which factors influenced the production of counterfactual thinking or different types of counterfactual thinking of different people. Few of them studied different degree of counterfactual thinking generated by different people. Until 2008, Pierro et al. used scenario approach and found that people with different regulatory mode had different degrees in counterfactual thinking and regret experience. Comparing with locomotion, assessment usually produced greater counterfactual thinking and experienced greater regret. Although behavioral studies on counterfactual thinking have accumulated some valuable results, its neural mechanism remains to be deep explored. In 2010, FRN (Feedback Related Negativity) and P300 were found to be sensitive components of counterfactual thinking. On the basis of studies forgoing, we deemed to investigate the differences of assessment and locomotion on counterfactual thinking and the evidence on neurophysiological activity. It is hoped that there would be some of the difference between the two groups, which would be reflected in the amplitude of FRN and P300. In the present study, scales of Regulatory Mode were used to test 375 students and finally 32 participants were picked and divided into two groups (Assessment and Locomotion). The ERP technique was applied in a simple gambling task to test the neurophysiological activity. Participants were told to earn the money as more as possible, whereas the feedback of each trail was randomly presented. The results were analyzed by Repeated Measure ANOVA. Behavioral results showed that: higher assessment significantly produced greater counterfactual thinking than higher locomotion; EEG results indicated that: the main effect of group was significant in both FRN and P300, namely the amplitude of assessment was greater than locomotion. In short, different regulatory modes did produce different counterfactual thinking, which were reflected in FRN and P300. Comparing with locomotion, assessment tended to produce greater counterfactual thinking and have more intense emotional experience. After understanding the differences between assessment and locomotion, the two groups of people can use the merits while avoid the defects of themselves, so as to make the right decision and have a happier mood comparatively. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effect of Cholecystokinin Octapeptide on Lipopolysaccharide-induced Sickness Behavior and Peripheral Cytokine Secretion KUANG Xue-Ying,LIN Wen-Juan,WANG Dong-Lin,QI Xiao-Li,PAN Yu-Qin,SUN Han,XIE Xi 2011, 43 (03):  283-293.  Abstract ( 1020 )   Cytokines have been considered to be involved in the pathology of sickness behavior, but the role of peripheral cytokines in the pathology of sickness behavior is still elusive. Cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) has been proved to inhibit the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced secretion of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines in rats. Aim: To investigate the role of peripheral cytokines in the pathology of sickness behavior. Methods: The experiment included two parts. In Experiment 1, forty-six rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, LPS, CCK-40+LPS and CCK-40, each group comprised twelve rats except ten rats for the control group, and in Experiment 2 forty-eight rats were randomly divided into six groups: control, LPS, CCK-20+LPS, CCK-40+LPS, CCK-80+LPS, CCK-120+LPS, each group comprised eight rats. The CCK groups were injected with different dosages of CCK-8 solution (20μg/kg, 40μg/kg, 80μg/kg and 120μg/kg doses respectively, i.p.) half an hour before the injection of LPS (200μg/kg, i.p.), and then 2 hours after the LPS injection, the sickness behavior was measured in behavioral experiments (including the sugar-water consumption test, open field test, and elevated plus maze test), and the cytokines in serum were analyzed by immunoassays. Results: LPS induced sickness behavior: LPS group consumed less sugar water and exhibited less activities in open field test and elevated plus maze test when compared with the controls; LPS also significantly increased cytokine production including IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α. However, the LPS-induced sickness behavior could not be attenuated by CCK-8, though CCK-8 significantly inhibited the LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokines of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α compared to the LPS group. Conclusion: The inhibition of the secretion of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines can not antagonize the lipopolysaccharide-induced sickness behavior. The peripheral proinflammatory cytokines might be not directly responsible for the sickness behavior. The cytokines acting in brain may be more related to the sickness behavior, which needs further investigation. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Multitrait-multimethod Analysis of Aggressive Behaviors in Middle Childhood WANG Shu-Qiong,ZHANG Wen-Xin,CHEN Liang,LI Hai-Lei,LI Chun,ZHOU Li-Na 2011, 43 (03):  294-307.  Abstract ( 1339 )   Literature indicates that there existed only low agreement among different informants in the assessment of children’s aggressive behavior (Karver, 2006; Ladd & Kochenderfer-Ladd, 2002), which reflects the fact that each informant offers his or her unique perspective on the target children’s behavior (Achenbach, 1995; Loeber et al., 2000). With the awareness of the disadvantages inherent in the assessment using single informant, MTMM (multitrait-multimethod) design is becoming increasingly popular in research on human development in recent years. The present study investigated the convergent and discriminant validities of MTMM data on children’s aggression during middle childhood and the extent to which the validities of assessment varied between peers and teachers as informants. The participants were 2695 children in their middle childhood (mean age = 10.06 ± 0.54 years) with approximately equal number of boys (51.87%) and girls (48.13%) and the children’s head teachers (n = 50). These students and teachers were from 50 classrooms in 14 schools in Jinan, capital city of Shandong Province of China. The MTMM data on children’s three types of aggression (i.e. physical, verbal and relational) was obtained from two types of informants (peer and teacher) and via three types of methods of data collection (i.e. peer nomination, peer rating and teacher rating). For peer nomination, the Children’s Social Behavior Scale (Crick, 1997) was used and the children were asked to nominate up to three children who best fitted the descriptions of items of physical and relational aggression from within their class. Information about children’s physical, verbal, and relational aggressions was also obtained via peer rating, in which children rated their peers on a 12-item Aggressive Behavior Questionnaire. In addition, teacher rating was conducted in which the head teacher of each of the participating classroom rated all the children in his/her class on the three types of aggression using a modified version of the aggressive behavior scale (Crick et al., 1997). All measures possessed acceptable reliabilities in this study. Moderate to high correlations existed between the same trait measured using different methods (rs = 0.35 to 0.74). The CFA analysis indicated that all of the loadings of trait factors in the MTMM model were significant, and that the MTMM model better fitted the data than did the method model, reflecting the fact that the indicators measured via different methods concurrently converged on the common trait factors and increased the model fitting. High correlations were found between the different traits measured using the same method (rs = 0.74 to 0.92). Results of the CFA analysis demonstrated high loadings of each method factors of MTMM model (λs > 0.60), indicating a low discriminant validity of each of three assessment methods in assessing the three types of aggression. In MTMM model, the loadings of the peer-reported indicators on the aggression factors were higher and companied with smaller errors as compared with those of the teacher-reported indicators. In the two-order model, the method factors of peer report explained a larger proportion of the variations of the second-order factor of aggression than did that of teacher report. Putting together, these results suggested that peer report (peer rating and peer nomination) served as more valid assessment of children’s aggression than teacher rating. Moreover, the method factor of peer rating explained a greater proportion of the variations of the second-order factor of aggression than did that of peer nomination, indicating that peer rating was more valid assessment than peer nomination. Related Articles | Metrics

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Impact of Self Concept on the Effectiveness of Different Nostalgia Appeals CHAI Jun-Wu,ZHAO Guang-Zhi,Zhang Ze-Lin 2011, 43 (03):  308-321.  Abstract ( 2031 )   Nostalgia, a yearning for the past, has become so ubiquitous in the popular culture that it is frequently referred as a “nostalgia boom” in many public media, and has been a popular research topic. As nostalgia continues to expand in its depth and scope, nostalgia themes are frequently seen in consumer advertising that matches consumers’ carving for nostalgia. However, research on nostalgia advertising remains scarce and the communication effectiveness of such ads is not well understood nor do researchers and practitioners generally agree on the best approaches to take with nostalgia advertising. In fact, some advertisers view the use of nostalgia advertising as a minefield and call for extreme caution in employing the tactic because the use of nostalgia advertising could potentially undermine the brand heritage. The conflict views in the real advertising industry leave us an open question what’s nostalgia advertising’s real effect? Guided by the idea of marketing segmentation and given the richness and complexity of nostalgia experience, a fruitful approach for nostalgia advertising will be to clearly differentiate the themes of nostalgia appeals and then match a specific nostalgia appeal to a segment of consumers with particular characters. In this research, we distinguish two types of nostalgia advertising appeals: individual nostalgia appeal and collective nostalgia appeal. Furthermore, we segment the target market to two parts based on consumer’s self concept as independent self and interdependent self. Advertisers can assign proper nostalgia advertising appeal to their target consumers to boost ad persuasiveness. We conducted two experiments to test how segments of Chinese consumers (independent vs. interdependent) responded differently to two types nostalgia appeals (individual vs. collective). The results showed that individual nostalgia appeal will be more effective than collective nostalgia appeal for consumers with an independent self concept; whereas collective nostalgia appeal will be more effective than individual nostalgia appeal for consumers with an interdependent self concept. The results demonstrated that there’s strong matching mechanism between nostalgia appeals and consumers’ self concept. This study added to the literature by proving empirical evidence to the necessity and usefulness of making refined distinction among different types of nostalgias, also contributed to the research of self concept by applying this concept on the nostalgia advertising area. Meanwhile, this study bears important implications to nostalgia marketing that a fruitful approach for nostalgia advertising will be to clearly differentiate the themes of nostalgia appeals and then connect to particular segment of consumers, i.e. individual nostalgia appeal will be more effective in the individualism culture such as in Western countries, and collective nostalgia appeal will be more effective in the collectivism culture such as in East Asian countries. Related Articles | Metrics

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Differentiating Organizational Identification and Dis-identification of Employees Through A Nomological Network MA Li,JIAO Jie,CHEN Ai-Hua,JIANG Han 2011, 43 (03):  322-337.  Abstract ( 1314 )   Workers form their own work-related identity through identification and dis-identification with their organizations, and the processes depend on their perceptions of their organizations’ identity. Workers’ motivation to identify or dis-identify with an organization is to enhance their self-esteem. However, an organization has rich identity elements, making it possible that a worker can identify with some but dis-identify with others at the same time. The construct of organizational identification has been comprehensively studied in the literature, but the construct of organizational dis-identification needs much conceptual clarification, theoretical elaboration, and empirical exploration. Organizational dis-identification is a unique construct, different from though relevant to organizational identification. In our nomological network, organizational identification and dis-identification have different antecedents and consequences. Survey data came from 250 workers in five firms in Southwest China. Workers reported their perceptions on organizational prestige, procedural justice, organizational identification, organization dis-identification, loyalty boosterism, and organizational expedience. These scales were either previously validated in their Chinese version or back-translated using double-blind procedures. All scales satisfied the traditional psychometric properties. Out of a structural equation model, results supported all the hypotheses. Perceived organizational prestige positively predicted organizational identification, which in turn positively predicted loyalty boosterism actions toward organizations. Procedural justice negatively predicted organizational dis-identification, which then positively predicted workers’ expedient behaviors. The model fit indices satisfied the conventional criteria. In addition, a series of nested structural equation models indicated that organizational identification and dis-identification are distinct—combining them will make the model much worse and the fit indices unacceptable. In conclusion, organizational identification and dis-identification are different constructs. Theoretically, the nomological network proposed the different antecedents and consequences. Empirically, treating them as distinct constructs fit the data much better than dealing with them as one. The differentiation of these two constructs, especially research on organizational dis-identification, has great implications to management practices of organizations. Related Articles | Metrics

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Application of Bayesian Networks to Identify Hierarchical Relation Among Attributes in Cognitive Diagnosis YU Xiao-Feng,DING Shu-Liang,QIN Chun-Ying,LU Yun-Na 2011, 43 (03):  338-346.  Abstract ( 1345 )   It’s very significant to correctly identify the hierarchical relation among attributes correctly when constructing a diagnosis test. As we know, there are various methods to identify the hierarchical relation among attributes in different cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs). Rule Space Model (RSM) is a kind of great influence CDM which was developed by Tatsuoka and her associates. In RSM, the task of attribute identification is performed after the test items have already been developed. And then an incidence Q matrix can be determined which reflects hierarchical relation. However, in Leighton, Gierl and Hunka’s (2004) Attribute Hierarchy Method (AHM) the organization of attributes(attributes, number of attributes and attribute hierarchical relation) should be determined before developing the test items. In RSM and AHM the importance of correctly identifying the attributes and their hierarchical relation cannot be overstated, and the attributes and their hierarchical relations serve as the most important input variables to the models because they provide the basis for interpreting the results. The hierarchical relation among attributes describes the domain knowledge structures. Understanding the domain knowledge structures in highly specific detail provides a rational basis for proposing and evaluating potential improvements in the measurement of general proficiency. Otherwise, improvement remains largely a trial-and-error process. It has been proved that is not reliable to get the hierarchical relation by analyzing the test items, even the resulting hierarchical relations are not unique. Now, structure learning of Bayesian Networks would be introduced to study the hierarchical relation from the examinees’ attribute mastery patterns. On the one hand, this paper conducted a simulation study in which Cui, Leighton and Zheng (2006)’s attribute hierarchical relation was employed, and the sample size of 5000 was used. In the simulated study, different sliping rates was considered for the purpose of testing the robustness of Bayesian structure learning. On the other hand, this paper conducted an empirical study to research the attributes which were commonly used in different numeration representation system converting, and the sample size was 189. Also the hierarchical relation generated by Bayesian structure learning and the hierarchical relation extracted by domain expert was compared. The result of simulation study and empirical study all showed the Bayesian Networks was a very useful tool in determining the hierarchical relation among attributes in the realm of education measurement and psychometrics. It is proved that the result for reference is valuable through structure learning of Bayesian Networks in simulated experiments and practical application. Meanwhile, the Bayesian Networks also can be used to test the hierarchical relation in RSM. Related Articles | Metrics