Cognitive Processes Underlying Play and Pretend Play:A Comparative Cross-Species Study on Degrees of Memory, Perception, Imagination, and Consciousness

Drawing on evolutionary theory, the author questions which cognitive processes underlie the capacities to play and to pretend play and the degree to which they are present in both humans and nonhuman animals. Considering cognitive capacities not all-or-nothing phenomena, she argues they are present in varying degrees in a wide range of species. Recognizing the risks involved in comparative studies, she identifies the unique features of cognition underlying pretend play while describing the broader phylogenetic sources from which they come. In the end, she finds, although play based on particular degrees of memory, perception, and consciousness can be found in many species, pretend play depends on distinctive degrees of memory, imagination, and metacognition—a cognitive process she calls “reflective imagination”—and appears characteristically human. Keywords: consciousness; imagination; memory; metacognition; perception; play; pretend play; reflective imagination

Interlocutors-Related and Hearer-Specific Causes of Misunderstanding: Processing Strategy, Confirmation Bias and Weak Vigilance

Noises, similarities between words, slips of the tongue, ambiguities, wrong or false beliefs, lexical deficits, inappropriate inferences, cognitive overload, non-shared knowledge, topic organisation or focusing problems, among others, may cause misunderstanding. While some of these are structural factors, others pertain to the speaker or to both the speaker and the hearer. In addition to stable factors connected with the interlocutors′ communicative abilities, cultural knowledge or patterns of thinking, other less stable factors, such as their personal relationships, psychological states or actions motivated by physiological functions, may also result in communicative problems. This paper considers a series of further factors that may eventually lead to misunderstanding, and which solely pertain to the hearer: processing strategy, confirmation bias and weak vigilance

Drop-out and transfer-out intentions: The role of socio-cognitive factors

The current study addresses academic attrition from the perspective of behavioral intentions. Specifically, we focus on the roles of academic skills and academic self-efficacy related to attrition intentions. Based on existing research, we expected a negative relation between academic skills and attrition intentions, with academic self-efficacy as a possible mediator. Furthermore, it was explored if this effect would be dependent on the outcome variable being measured (i.e., drop-out, transfer university, and transfer study field intentions). These hypotheses were investigated among Norwegian university students who agreed to participate in the questionnaire study (total N = 756). A full structural equation model (SEM) was employed. Results showed, as predicted, that academic self-efficacy mediated the effect of students’ academic skills on attrition intentions. Importantly, significant variability was indicated in comparison of the different outcome measures, with academic self-efficacy having a larger mediation effect in case of drop-out and transfer study field intentions. We conclude that academic self-efficacy is important in understanding the relationship between students’ academic skills and attrition intentions. Assistance programs aiming to reduce academic attrition are advised to teach students not only effective academic skills but also address their self-efficacy beliefs

Academic Thriving:Optimising Student Development with Evidence-Based Higher Education

Academic thriving stands for a combination of academic outcomes as well as success in other relevant domains, such as well-being or finding the right job. What causes students to thrive academically? The studies in this dissertation contributed to this question with the use of experimental, interdisciplinary and longitudinal studies, and a critical theoretical examination of the arguments against evidence-based education. A large-scale field experiment showed that first-year students who reflected on their desired future, prioritized goals, and wrote detailed plans on how to reach these goals, performed significantly better (in study credits and retention) than students who made a control assignment. This low-cost and scalable goal-setting assignment was made at the start of college and only took the students two hours to complete. Personalized follow-up feedback delivered by an AI-enhanced chatbot could further improve benefits to study outcomes as well as well-being. The final study in this dissertation tracked the effects of different types of work on the study progress of teacher education students over a four-year span. This longitudinal study showed that student who had a paid job in education gained more study credits than students with other types of work or without a job. Additionally it showed that working 8 hours per week relates with the most study progress in the first and third semester of college

Drop-out and transfer-out intentions: The role of socio-cognitive factors

Academic attrition is a worldwide problem representing a significant economic loss and a disadvantage for students in terms of health and career prospects. We focus on the roles of academic skills, academic self-efficacy, and students' integration in exploring their relation to attrition intentions. Based on existing research, we expected a negative relation between academic skills and attrition intentions, with academic self-efficacy and students' integration as possible mediators. Furthermore, it was expected that this relationship would be dependent on the outcome variable being measured (i.e., drop-out, transfer university, and transfer study field intentions). These hypotheses were investigated among Norwegian university students in a questionnaire study (total N = 756). Results supported, as predicted, the mediatory roles of academic self-efficacy and students' integration. Importantly, significant variability was indicated in comparison of the different outcome measures, with academic self-efficacy having a larger mediation effect in case of drop-out and transfer study field intentions. We conclude that academic self-efficacy is important in understanding the relationship between students' academic skills and attrition intentions. Our results provide an evidence that might facilitate development of assistance programs aiming to reduce academic attrition

Why do students leave? Student-related factors and attrition intentions

Established as a collection of scholars protecting their shared interests, higher education has become a driving force of economic development accountable to the government and society. However, changes in higher education have been accompanied by multiple challenges, including funding and quality assessment. This dissertation addresses one of these challenges facing academic institutions, academic attrition. Although much research has been conducted on the issue of why students leave education, we don't yet know enough about how students' beliefs and perceptions, study behaviors, and difficulties are related to their decisions to leave. The present dissertation aims to facilitate the current research by investigating student-related factors and mechanisms involved in academic attrition. An important issue in research on academic attrition is the variability of the phenomenon and the difficulty in putting available research into practice. The first two papers addressed the relevance of the distinction between different types of attrition intentions and involved self-regulated learning mechanisms. In the first paper, three categories of attrition intentions were investigated: leaving permanently, changing university, and changing study field. A particular focus has been placed on time management skills, self-efficacy, and student integration in explaining students' attrition intentions. The results showed that academic self-efficacy (i.e., student-related factor) was stronger related to attrition intentions than traditionally considered aspects of students' integration. The second paper addressed a similar question. However, compared to the first paper, the focus was directed toward the role of academic procrastination in explaining attrition intentions. Results showed a significant relationship between procrastination and all three categories of students' intentions. In sum, both papers support the importance of the distinction between different categories of attrition intentions and the relevance of looking at attrition from a student perspective. Finally, in the third paper, we investigated mechanisms that may be important in explaining and reducing procrastination. The results of the study showed that academic self-efficacy was an important mediator of the study skills-procrastination relationship. Taken together, the present results might have implications for future research developing assistance programs and universities aiming to reduce academic attrition

Narrative and clinical change in Cognitive Behavior Therapy: a comparison of two recovered cases

Psychotherapy research suggests that therapeutic change is associated with the emergence and development of innovative moments (IMs)—that is, exceptions to the problematic self-narrative that brought the client to therapy. This study compares two recovered cases of major depression, according to symptom measures, that presented contrasting profiles of evolution of IMs: one typical of successful therapy (Barbara), and another typical of unsuccessful therapy (Claudia). The core conflictual relationship theme (CCRT) was used to study narrative change independently of the innovative moments coding system (IMCS). The results suggest a high congruence between the IMCS and the CCRT profiles. Although Barbara presented changes in the IMCS and the CCRT in a similar way, Claudia’s self-narratives (IMs and CCRT), despite symptom change, did not change. The results are discussed, considering the importance of narrative changes in recovery from depression and the maintenance of therapeutic gains.This article was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), by the Grant PTDC/PSI-PCL/121525/2010 (Ambivalence and unsuccessful psychotherapy, 2012- 2015) and by the PhD Grant SFRH/BD/77324/2011. This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre, University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Minister of Education and Science through national funds and when applicable co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (UID/PSI/01662/2013)