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Creative idea generation engages complex cognitive functions such as working memory capacity (WMC). The relationship between creativity and WMC has remained inconsistent due to the lack of experime...

This study examined the effects of fluid intelligence and trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) on academic performance in primary school-aged intellectually gifted and average children (8–11 years of age). One hundred and four average children and eighty gifted children were administered a Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices and a Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Child Form. The results demonstrated that intellectually gifted children showed better academic performance than did average children in math, Chinese and English. Fluid intelligence and trait EI played different roles in predicting gifted and average children’s academic performance, particularly in math and Chinese. Specifically, gifted children’s academic performance was associated only with fluid intelligence, whereas average children’s academic performance was related to both fluid intelligence and trait EI; trait EI had an incremental validity after controlling for fluid intelligence in predicting the average children’s academic performance. The present study enhances our understanding of how cognitive and emotional abilities interact in intellectually gifted and average children’s academic performance.

The education of gifted children is of considerable interest.The present study focused on the effect of enriched education on intellectually gifted children's attention. In the present study, 7-12-year-old children completed seven tests of attention (alertness, focused attention, divided attention, attentional switching, sustained attention, spatial attention, and supervisory attention) to investigate the differences among intellectually gifted children under different educational environments. The results showed that intellectually gifted children who received enriched education had better attentional performance than did intellectually gifted children who received standard education. The result affords theoretical support for gifted-education practice.

The term “intellectually gifted rural-to-urban migrant children” refers to intellectually gifted children who are in migration from rural to urban areas. We compared performances on seven attention tasks among intellectually gifted (n = 26) and average (n = 30) rural-to-urban migrant and intellectually gifted urban children (n = 31). Our results showed that intellectually gifted rural-to-urban migrant children performed more correctly and faster on some attention tasks than did the intellectually average rural-to-urban migrant children, but they did not perform as well on some attention tasks as did the intellectually gifted urban children. Based on the attentional structures, it was evident the intellectually gifted rural-to-urban migrant children developed more mature than did either the intellectually gifted urban or the intellectually average rural-to-urban migrant children. This suggests the intellectually gifted rural-to-urban migrant children’s attention is overall superior to that of their...

Posttraumatic stress symptoms in Chinese rural children and adolescents were examined after the May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Analysis showed that three factors were identified, namely, avoidance, intrusion, and arousal, resembling those in the studies with Western samples. Gender differences in posttraumatic stress symptoms were not significant. Moderate negative correlation coefficients between posttraumatic stress symptom scores and mental health scores were found, indicating that the more severe the posttraumatic stress symptoms, the worse the person's mental health.

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of trauma exposure on the posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) of children who resided near the epicenter of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The mechanisms of this impact were explored via structural equation models with self-esteem and coping strategies included as mediators. The findings suggested that the effect of trauma exposure was partially mediated by self-esteem, which subsequently affected coping strategies and finally determined PTSS. These results imply that self-esteem and coping strategies may impact children's resilience to trauma exposure.

Using time‐frequency analysis techniques to investigate the event‐related low‐frequency (delta: 0.5–4 Hz; theta: 4–8 Hz) activity of auditory event‐related potentials (ERPs) data of highly and average intelligent children, 18 intellectually gifted children, and 18 intellectually average children participated the present study. Present findings show that intellectually gifted children had significantly larger delta activity than their normal peers in mismatch negativity (MMN) component, while in P3a component, which originates from stimulus‐driven frontal attention mechanisms during task processing, intellectually gifted children had both significantly larger delta and theta activities than their normal peers. The present findings further supported that low‐frequency brain activity could be regarded as the basis of intelligence and cognitive functions, and spectral EEG time‐frequency analysis technique should be used to explore some new aspects of brain activity relating to intelligence.

This study examined the influence of nationality, age and gender on Chinese (N = 130) and Finnish (N = 203) pre‐schoolers' number sense. Two highly correlated aspects of number sense were extracted: one reflecting the children's ability to organise and compare quantities (i.e. relational skills), and another pertaining to their ability to operate with number‐word sequence (i.e. counting skills). The results showed a significant age‐related gain in both aspects of number sense, whereas no gender differences were found. With respect to counting skills, the Chinese children outperformed the Finnish children irrespective of age, whereas in relation to relational skills, this was true only among the older children. Differences in language, teaching and cultural ethos are considered as alternative explanations for the findings.

Questions such as “Is it necessary to teach mathematics in kindergarten?” and “how to teach mathematics in kindergarten?” are controversial issues in China. According to many years experience of st...

In this paper, the term 'intelligence current' is further explained and the problems found in relationships between (among) creativity, intelligence, attitude and environmental factors are discussed, according to the systematic model of creativity previously developed by the author. In this model. the performance of an individual's creativity is treated as a function of intelligence current directed towards a creative activity and the task that is evaluated by the individuals surroundings or society in general. The intelligence current is treated as a function of one's intelligence, personality, and the social factors surrounding the individual, as well as the time that is spent on the task. The author tries to (1) re-interpret creativity in terms of human intelligence;(2) make a theoretical explanation of the relationship between creativity and intelligence which has long puzzled many researchers; (3) emphasize the subjective efforts of an individual in the performance of creative action, and (4) clarify the mechanism of how one's intelligence is controlled, distributed. and directed (or invested) to engage in creative activities resulting in creative achievements.