Bilingualism: Consequences for Mind and Brain

Building on earlier evidence showing a beneficial effect of bilingualism on children’s cognitive development, we review recent studies using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods to examine the effects of bilingualism on cognition in adulthood and explore possible mechanisms for these effects. This research shows that bilingualism has a somewhat muted effect in adulthood but a larger role in older age, protecting against cognitive decline, a concept known as “cognitive reserve”. We discuss recent evidence that bilingualism is associated with a delay in the onset of symptoms of dementia. Cognitive reserve is a crucial research area in the context of an aging population; the possibility that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve is therefore of growing importance as populations become increasingly diverse

Precis of neuroconstructivism: how the brain constructs cognition

Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition proposes a unifying framework for the study of cognitive development that brings together (1) constructivism (which views development as the progressive elaboration of increasingly complex structures), (2) cognitive neuroscience (which aims to understand the neural mechanisms underlying behavior), and (3) computational modeling (which proposes formal and explicit specifications of information processing). The guiding principle of our approach is context dependence, within and (in contrast to Marr [1982]) between levels of organization. We propose that three mechanisms guide the emergence of representations: competition, cooperation, and chronotopy; which themselves allow for two central processes: proactivity and progressive specialization. We suggest that the main outcome of development is partial representations, distributed across distinct functional circuits. This framework is derived by examining development at the level of single neurons, brain systems, and whole organisms. We use the terms encellment, embrainment, and embodiment to describe the higher-level contextual influences that act at each of these levels of organization. To illustrate these mechanisms in operation we provide case studies in early visual perception, infant habituation, phonological development, and object representations in infancy. Three further case studies are concerned with interactions between levels of explanation: social development, atypical development and within that, developmental dyslexia. We conclude that cognitive development arises from a dynamic, contextual change in embodied neural structures leading to partial representations across multiple brain regions and timescales, in response to proactively specified physical and social environment

MENTORING PROGRAM AS A METHOD FOR APPRAISAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS AT KINDERGARTEN THRU 12TH GRADE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN BALKANS

Appraising the teachers to assess their strengths and weaknesses is needed toprovide them with specific professional development opportunities based on theseweaknesses. Appraisals and professional development can be done in many waysbut a method that is deemed more suitable to the Kindergarten thru 12th gradeeducational institutions will be discussed within this study within the context ofmentorship program, which may be considered for Balkan countries given thehistory of education in Balkans.Professional development has two major components; first professionaldevelopment days that include collective in-service programs and attendingworkshops individually at approved outside educational institutions and secondmentorship program.As a major area of focus in this study, mentorship program as an ongoingprofessional development activity of especially that of interns, first year teachers,inexperienced teachers and teachers in need of assistance is discussed within thesubtopics of selection of mentors and trainees, action plan and timeline for mentors,and assessing the trainees. The observational instruments that the mentors arerecommended to use to assess the trainees and teacher performance principles thatthe mentors base their assessments using these observational instruments arethoroughly discussed within the study

Conversing with a devil’s advocate: Interpersonal coordination in deception and disagreement

abstract: This study investigates the presence of dynamical patterns of interpersonal coordination in extended deceptive conversations across multimodal channels of behavior. Using a novel "devil’s advocate" paradigm, we experimentally elicited deception and truth across topics in which conversational partners either agreed or disagreed, and where one partner was surreptitiously asked to argue an opinion opposite of what he or she really believed. We focus on interpersonal coordination as an emergent behavioral signal that captures interdependencies between conversational partners, both as the coupling of head movements over the span of milliseconds, measured via a windowed lagged cross correlation (WLCC) technique, and more global temporal dependencies across speech rate, using cross recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA). Moreover, we considered how interpersonal coordination might be shaped by strategic, adaptive conversational goals associated with deception. We found that deceptive conversations displayed more structured speech rate and higher head movement coordination, the latter with a peak in deceptive disagreement conversations. Together the results allow us to posit an adaptive account, whereby interpersonal coordination is not beholden to any single functional explanation, but can strategically adapt to diverse conversational demands.The article is published at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.017814

Are we evolved to live with mobiles? An evolutionary view of mobile communication

By providing ultimate explanations for human behaviors, an evolutionary perspective lends itself to understanding why and how mobile communication occupies an ever increasingly critical role in modern life. From the perspective of evolution, human behaviors - in interaction with the environment - are driven by, and can be made understandable through the pursuit of physical and social survival and reproductive success. An evolutionary perspective can yield insight into commonalities observed in mobile communication across societies and cultures. To achieve these objectives, we revisit and reanalyze existing research on mobile communication through an evolutionary lens. In the process, we demonstrate that seemingly inexplicable activities from a conventional communication perspective can be meaningfully interpreted from an evolutionary perspective. We extend the evolutionary perspective on mobile communication to examine implications for social policy and further research