Grace Bennett-Pierre, Thomas F. Shipley, Nora S. Newcombe
et al.
Abstract Non-rigid spatial thinking, or mental transformations where the distance between two points in an object changes (e.g., folding, breaking, bending), is required for many STEM fields but remains critically understudied. We developed and tested a non-rigid, ductile spatial skill measure based on reasoning about knots with 279 US adults (M = 30.90, SD 5.47 years; 76% White; 48% women). The resultant 54-item measure had good reliability (α = .88). Next, 147 US adults (M = 20.65, SD 2.80 years; 48% White; 56% women) completed existing spatial skills measures, the knot reasoning measure, a verbal skill measure, and surveys of current and childhood spatial activities. Knot reasoning performance was significantly, positively correlated with existing measures of spatial skill. Mental rotation and paper folding, but not bending, predicted knot reasoning task performance. We replicated work showing that men performed better than women on mental rotation and unexpectedly found that men also outperformed women on paper folding and knot reasoning, but not bending, tasks. Using structural equation modeling, we found several significant mediation effects. Men who reported less masculine-stereotyped spatial activity engagement had higher performance on the mental rotation and knot reasoning tasks. Women who reported greater engagement in feminine-stereotyped spatial activities had higher paper folding and backwards knot reasoning performance. Spatial skills did not differ among math-intensive STEM, non-math-intensive STEM, and non-STEM majors. The studies introduce a reliable measure of non-rigid, ductile string transformations and provide initial evidence of the role of gender and gendered spatial activities on non-rigid spatial skills.
Abstract Cognitive research in non-human primates is increasingly conducted in zoos, where zoo visitors are likely to be present and observe the testing sessions. Previous zoo research has shown that such presence can modulate cognitive performance in monkeys, but similar investigations on great apes are still lacking. Here, we investigated the influence of the presence and activity level of zoo visitors on eight chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) while they completed a working memory task with various difficulty levels. We also recorded whether their conspecifics were present or not in the testing area, and their approximate physical distance. We found that the presence and activity level of the visitors had no effect on chimpanzees’ working memory, regardless of the cognitive demands of the task. Similarly, the presence of conspecifics and how far they were from the individual being tested was not found to significantly influence performance either. These non-significant effects were supported by Bayesian analyses giving support for the null hypotheses. These results suggest that zoo-living chimpanzees are not distracted by visitors when completing a cognitive task. We suggest new directions to further explore social presence effects in great apes.
Aline Cordonnier, Valérie Rosoux, Anne-Sophie Gijs
et al.
Collective memories are memories shared by a group that influence their social identity. The goal of this paper is to focus on two major limitations in current studies on collective memory and show how the hourglass metaphor can overcome those limitations. The first limitation concerns the partial nature of studies devoted to the analysis of collective memory. Studies tend to focus either on the choice of the past (how memory agents mobilise the past) or the weight of the past (how the past affects the individual or the group). The second limitation relates to the temporal dimension of research conducted so far. Most studies only assess memory over a single generation, yet it can have long-term effects. In this paper, we suggest considering memory work as an hourglass, with the collective and the individual at opposite ends and the sand of memories passing from one to the other, filtered through family values and representations. The hourglass metaphor thus provides a helpful tool to explain the formation of collective memories over time and the interactions between the macro, meso, and micro levels. We approach the study of collective memory from an interdisciplinary perspective, mainly involving psychology, political science, and history. We conclude by suggesting three challenges that future studies of memory will need to address: (1) the need to combine multiple approaches; (2) the need to consider the role of generations; and (3) the need to bridge discussion across disciplines.
Communication. Mass media, Consciousness. Cognition
Adelheid Lang, Peter Ott, Renata del Giudice
et al.
In our pilot study, we exposed third-trimester fetuses, from week 34 of gestation onwards, twice daily to a maternal spoken nursery rhyme. Two and five weeks after birth, 34 newborns, who were either familiarized with rhyme stimulation in utero or stimulation naïve, were (re-)exposed to the familiar, as well as to a novel and unfamiliar, rhyme, both spoken with the maternal and an unfamiliar female voice. For the stimulation-naïve group, both rhymes were unfamiliar. During stimulus presentation, heart rate activity and high-density electroencephalography were collected and newborns’ responses during familiar and unfamiliar stimulation were analyzed. All newborns demonstrated stronger speech–brain coupling at 1 Hz during the presentation of the maternal voice vs. the unfamiliar female voice. Rhyme familiarity originating from prenatal exposure had no effect on speech–brain coupling in experimentally stimulated newborns. Furthermore, only stimulation-naïve newborns demonstrated an increase in heart rate during the presentation of the unfamiliar female voice. The results indicate prenatal familiarization to auditory speech and point to the specific significance of the maternal voice already in two- to five-week-old newborns.
Abstract Despite the considerable amount of research devoted to understanding fraud, few studies have examined how the physical environment can influence the likelihood of committing fraud. One recent study found a link between room brightness and occurrence of human fraud behaviors. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate how temperature may affect fraud. Based on a power analysis using the effect size observed in a pilot study, we recruited 105 participants and randomly divided them into three temperature groups (warm, medium, and cool). We then counted fraud behaviors in each group and tested for potential significant differences with a Kruskal–Wallis test. Additionally, we used a correlation analysis to determine whether the perceived temperature affected fraud. As a result, regardless of participants’ subjective sensory experience or their physical environment, we did not find that temperature-related factors influence the incidence of fraud. We discussed the potential reason for the results and suggested directions for future research.
Abstract Event-based prospective memory (PM) involves carrying out intentions when specific events occur and is ubiquitous in everyday life. It consists of a prospective component (remembering that something must be done) and a retrospective component (remembering what must be done and when). Subjective sleep-related variables may be related to PM performance and an attention-demanding prospective component. In two studies, the relationship of subjective sleepiness and subjective sleep quality with both PM components was investigated with a laboratory PM task and separation of its components via Bayesian multinomial processing tree modeling. In Study 1, neither component of PM was related to naturally occurring subjective sleepiness or sleep quality. In Study 2, sleepiness was experimentally increased by placing some participants in a supine body posture. Testing participants in upright vs. supine posture affected neither PM component. However, body posture moderated the relationship between subjective sleep quality and the prospective component: In supine posture, subjective sleep quality tended to be more positively related to the prospective component. Overall, neither subjective sleepiness nor subjective sleep quality alone was related to PM.
Invited commentary on Schmidt, Liefooghe, and De Houwer (2020) An episodic model of task switching effects: erasing the homunculus from memory. 'Journal of Cognition'.
Human infants’ readiness to interpret impoverished object-transfer events as acts of giving suggests the existence of a dedicated action schema for identifying interactions based on active object transfer. Here we investigated the sensitivity of this giving schema by testing whether 15-month-olds would interpret the displacement of an object as an agent’s goal even if it could be dismissed as a side effect of a different goal. Across two looking-time experiments, we showed that, when the displacement only resulted in a change of object location, infants expected the agent to pursue the other goal. However, when the same change of location resulted in a transfer of object possession, infants reliably adopted this outcome as the agent’s goal. The interpretive shift that the mere presence of a potential recipient caused is testament to the infants’ susceptibility to cues of benefit delivery: an action efficiently causing a transfer of object possession appeared sufficient to induce the interpretation of goal-directed giving even if the transfer was carried out without any interaction between Giver and Givee and was embedded in an event affording an alternative goal interpretation.
Consciousness. Cognition, Neurophysiology and neuropsychology
Consciousness is deep in meaning and utilised in many different ways. It is often used to scientifically explain one’s ability to discriminate stimuli, report information, monitor internal states or control behaviour. This paper investigates the concepts and paradigms of consciousness from scientific, Western and religious perspectives with focus on Islamic dimensions as a discourse. A library research is conducted and online resources are utilised to review literatures from multi-disciplines before arriving at a conclusion. Discursive paradigms of consciousness recognise it as an abstract concept. Consciousness is beyond cognition. While cognitive thoughts, theories and ideologies relate consciousness to the five senses of humans, the concepts of ‘will’, awareness (i.e. being aware of things happening around a human being) and having a sense of purpose or intent in undertaking actions are relevant in the study of consciousness. A conscious person will use his/her senses to conduct life as civilised beings. However, by linking the body and the soul in explaining consciousness from Islamic viewpoints, consciousness is the awareness of oneself driven by his/her commitment and conviction as a servant of God and total submission to the Creator. Consciousness from Islamic contexts indeed relates to iman (faith) and taqwa (God consciousness).
Introduction: Delirium is an acute and often fluctuating
disturbance in level of consciousness and thought process
(cognition) that develops over a short period of time and is
a significant change from previous level of functioning. Its
prevalence increases with age, complexity of medical comorbidities and number of medications prescribed.
Aim: To compare the cause and severity of delirium in patients
in emergency and consultation liaison psychiatry group.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, tertiary care
hospital based study was conducted on the patients who
presented with delirium from emergency department (50) and
consultation-liaison psychiatry groups (50), over a period of one
year. The diagnosis was made on the basis of DSM- 5 criteria.
The Delirium Rating Scale (DRS-R-98) was applied to know the
severity of delirium, cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms of
delirium in patients. The results were subjected to appropriate
statistical analysis.
Results: In emergency group, 42% patients had metabolic
abnormalities, while in consultation-liaison, 38% patients had
hyponatremia and hypokalemia and the difference was found
to be statistically non-significant (p>0.05). In emergency group,
21(42%) patients were diagnosed as delirium due to other
medical condition, followed by 13 (26%) and 8(16%) patients,
who were diagnosed as delirium due to multiple aetiologies and
substance intoxication each respectively. In only 33(66%) cases
in consultation liaison group patients had delirium secondary
to other medical conditions. As per DRS-R98 Scale, mean
severity score was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05)
in consultation liaison group as compared to emergency
department group (p> 0.05).
Conclusion: Delirium is multifactorial aetiological disease, with
variable but preventable outcome. Approach should be aimed at
finding the treatable causes to reduce morbidity and mortality.
This paper is dedicated to scientific and literary heritage of Galina M. Andreeva. The methodology of social cognition, for more than half a century developed by Galina M. Andreeva as a tool of social analysis, is discussed. The problem of social cognition, first indicated by V. Turner, Z. Bauman and M. Mamardashvili, is analysed in terms of mentalization, interpersonal interaction and mass consciousness. Based on G. Andreeva’s theoretical research, the correlation between micro-processes of individual
cognition construction and macro-processes of society in communication, dialogue and discourse is proved. The issue of finding the correct definition of a group, mass or public consciousness epistemological status is taken as a result of an old trend toward anthropomorphizing the collective cognition subject. This impedes the correlation between personality and society in psychology, meaning “agency” and “structure” in sociology. G.Andreeva discusses the last one, connecting cognitive psychology, social constructionism and activity theory.
Theoretical assumptions of social cognition as the process of world image construction are formulated as follows: 1) presumption of general knowledge; 2) active
constructive nature; 3) categorization and classification as the basic process; 4) the relationship between discourse and cognition; 5) emotionality; 6) critical orientation; 7)
prospective for the clinical analysis of sociocultural realities.
With respect to the abovementioned facts, it can be said that the ideas of scientific school founded by Galina М. Andreeva allow to innovatively define social psychology as a modern social and cultural epistemology.