Individual Differences Related to Strategy Shifting: Who Shifts and Why?

This thesis investigated the association of cognitive abilities and strategy shifting within a procedural-motor task. College students traced or drew various forms of a figure-8 before completing a battery of cognitive tests. A pilot study identified three distinct strategies for drawing a figure-8, whereas the current study manipulated the figure-8 stimuli to encourage these strategies at various points. Phase 1 had two counterbalanced conditions which instructed participants to trace versus draw a rotated figure-8. Phase 2 gradually morphed a figure-8 such as to encourage the three predominant strategies. Phase 3 was a condition which included stimuli from Phases 1 and 2. The data suggest that Perceptual flexibility was associated with effective strategy shifting in all three main phases of the experiment, whereas Verbal and Executive flexibility had no impact on strategy shifting. Furthermore, Perceptual flexibility was associated with more time spent planning, which could account for the superior performance

What Makes Delusions Pathological?

Bortolotti argues that we cannot distinguish delusions from other irrational beliefs in virtue of their epistemic features alone. Although her arguments are convincing, her analysis leaves an important question unanswered: What makes delusions pathological? In this paper I set out to answer this question by arguing that the pathological character of delusions arises from an executive dysfunction in a subject’s ability to detect relevance in the environment. I further suggest that this dysfunction derives from an underlying emotional imbalance—one that leads delusional subjects to regard some contextual elements as deeply puzzling or highly significant

Decline and fall:a biological, developmental, and psycholinguistic account of deliberative language processes and ageing

Background: This paper reviews the role of deliberative processes in language: those language processes that require central resources, in contrast to the automatic processes of lexicalisation, word retrieval, and parsing. 10 Aims: We describe types of deliberative processing, and show how these processes underpin high-level processes that feature strongly in language. We focus on metalin- guistic processing, strategic processing, inhibition, and planning. We relate them to frontal-lobe function and the development of the fronto-striate loop. We then focus on the role of deliberative processes in normal and pathological development and ageing, 15 and show how these processes are particularly susceptible to deterioration with age. In particular, many of the commonly observed language impairments encountered in ageing result from a decline in deliberative processing skills rather than in automatic language processes. Main Contribution: We argue that central processing plays a larger and more important 20 role in language processing and acquisition than is often credited. Conclusions: Deliberative language processes permeate language use across the lifespan. They are particularly prone to age-related loss. We conclude by discussing implications for therapy

Reinventing discovery learning: a field-wide research program

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature. Whereas some educational designers believe that students should learn new concepts through explorative problem solving within dedicated environments that constrain key parameters of their search and then support their progressive appropriation of empowering disciplinary forms, others are critical of the ultimate efficacy of this discovery-based pedagogical philosophy, citing an inherent structural challenge of students constructing historically achieved conceptual structures from their ingenuous notions. This special issue presents six educational research projects that, while adhering to principles of discovery-based learning, are motivated by complementary philosophical stances and theoretical constructs. The editorial introduction frames the set of projects as collectively exemplifying the viability and breadth of discovery-based learning, even as these projects: (a) put to work a span of design heuristics, such as productive failure, surfacing implicit know-how, playing epistemic games, problem posing, or participatory simulation activities; (b) vary in their target content and skills, including building electric circuits, solving algebra problems, driving safely in traffic jams, and performing martial-arts maneuvers; and (c) employ different media, such as interactive computer-based modules for constructing models of scientific phenomena or mathematical problem situations, networked classroom collective “video games,” and intercorporeal master–student training practices. The authors of these papers consider the potential generativity of their design heuristics across domains and contexts

Neural Dynamics of Autistic Behaviors: Cognitive, Emotional, and Timing Substrates

What brain mechanisms underlie autism and how do they give rise to autistic behavioral symptoms? This article describes a neural model, called the iSTART model, which proposes how cognitive, emotional, timing, and motor processes may interact together to create and perpetuate autistic symptoms. These model processes were originally developed to explain data concerning how the brain controls normal behaviors. The iSTART model shows how autistic behavioral symptoms may arise from prescribed breakdowns in these brain processes.Air Force Office of Scientific Research (F49620-01-1-0397); Office of Naval Research (N00014-01-1-0624

Shopping for new glasses: looking beyond jazz in the study of organization improvisation

This article calls for research on organizational improvisation to go beyond the currently dominant jazz metaphor in theory development. We recognize the important contribution that jazz improvisation has made and will no doubt continue to make in understanding the nature and complexity of organizational improvisation. This article therefore presents some key lessons from the jazz metaphor and then proceeds to identify the possible dangers of building scientific inquiry upon a single metaphor. We then present three alternative metaphors Indian music, therapy and role theory. We explore the nature of these metaphors and seek to identify ways in which they differ from the jazz metaphor. This analysis leads us to identify not merely how these alternative metaphors fill the gaps left by the jazz metaphor but also how they complement the contribution from the jazz metaphor thus further strengthening theory-building in this genre. Ultimately, our understanding of organizational improvisation will be sharpened by more incisive theoretical analysis and empirical research.

The Federal Rules of Civil Settlement

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were originally based upon a straightforward model of adjudication: Resolve the merits of cases at trial and use pretrial procedures to facilitate accurate trial outcomes. Though appealing in principle, this model has little relevance today. As is now well known, the endpoint around which the Federal Rules were structured — trial — virtually never occurs. Today, the vast majority of civil cases terminate in settlement. This Article is the first to argue that the current litigation process needs a new regime of civil procedure for the world of settlement This Article begins by providing a systemic analysis of why the Federal Rules inadequately prevent settlement outcomes from being distorted relative to the underlying merits — as defined by reference to substantive law — of a given dispute. It then explains how the Federal Rules can actually amplify these distortions. Indeed, notwithstanding the well-worn adage that settlement occurs in the “shadow of the law,” scholars have shown that non-merits factors exert significant influence on settlement outcomes. However, these insights have not been considered together and combined with a systemic focus on the ways in which the influence of these factors on settlement outcomes is actually a product of the basic structural features of the Federal Rules. This Article takes these next steps to explain that the “shadow of the law” that is cast on settlements is fading. Further, this Article discusses a new phenomenon in the current litigation environment — namely, that litigants’ increased reliance on prior settlements as “precedent” for future settlement decisions may move settlement even further out of the “shadow of the law” and into the “shadow of settlement” itself. This Article then traces these problems to three foundational assumptions underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, all of which have become outmoded in a world of settlement. In rethinking these assumptions, it provides a new conceptual account that contextualizes previously isolated procedural reform proposals as challenges to these foundational assumptions. It also explains how these reform efforts ought to be refined and extended with a specific view toward systematically redesigning the basic model and operation of the Federal Rules for a world of settlement. Lastly, it sets forth new proposals that seek to reorient current rules expressly toward the goal of aligning settlement outcomes with the merits of underlying claims. What emerges is a new vision of procedure — one in which the application of pretrial procedural rules do not merely facilitate trial but are designed to provide litigants with guidance regarding the merits of claims and are used to align settlement outcomes more meaningfully with the dictates of the substantive law. In describing this vision, this Article lays the groundwork for the design of a new Federal Rules of Civil Settlement

A Study of Cognitive Functioning in Aging

INTRODUCTION: Cognitive functioning in individuals changes with aging. The extent and pattern of decline varies among various cognitive do mainsand also among individuals. Certain cognitive domains tend to decline as a person ages in comparison to his younger counterpart. Some elderly individuals may not show a decline in cognitive functioning. High intelligence, well organized work habits and sound judgment compensate for many of the progressive shortcomings of old age. Cognitive decline is thought to start after the age of 30 years. Little that is new and original is learned after the age of forty. A ttention, language, and memory are the basic processes that serve as building blocks for the development of higher intellectual functions. The higher cognitive functions include manipulation of well learned material, abstract thinking, problem solving, judgment, arithmetic computations. These complex functions are predicated on the integrity and interaction of more basic processes. Because they represent the most advanced stages of intellectual development, the higher cognitive functions are more susceptible to neurological diseases. The evaluation of these higher functions may demonstrate the early effects of cortical damage before the more basic processes of attention, language and memory are affected. AIM OF STUDY 1.To study the pattern of decline of various cognitive functioning with aging. 2. To compare with healthy controls in the community. 3. To identify the differences in cognitive status based on the educational level and IQ of the patient. MATERIALS AND METHODS: STUDY CENTRE: Department of Geriatric Medicine, Madras Medical College & Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital Chennai. STUDY DESIGN: Case control study. SAMPLE SIZE: One hundred and twenty six: seventy six cases above the age of 65 and 50 controls from 20-30 age group. STUDY DURATION: December 2011 –November 2012. SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS: INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Patients above 65 yrs of age attending the geriatric outpatient department. 2. Healthy controls between 20 and 30 years of age from the community. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Acutely toxic patients. 2. Patients with diabetes, hypertension, stroke and primary neurologic disease like alzhemier’s. CONCLUSION: Cognitive changes show a positive correlation with both aging and educational status. Verbal fluency shows a decline with age ,but shows a stronger association to the level of education. Higher the level of education, better performance on verbal fluency . Recent memory, episodic memory, Executive functions, Visuospatial skills, and psychomotor functions also decline as age advances. Performance on tests of executive functions, visuospatial skills, verbal fluency show a positive correlation to the level of education. Performance on tests of Recent memory, episodic memory and psychomotor function a decline with aging irrespective of the educational status

Learning by observation: insights from Williams syndrome.

Observing another person performing a complex action accelerates the observer's acquisition of the same action and limits the time-consuming process of learning by trial and error. Observational learning makes an interesting and potentially important topic in the developmental domain, especially when disorders are considered. The implications of studies aimed at clarifying whether and how this form of learning is spared by pathology are manifold. We focused on a specific population with learning and intellectual disabilities, the individuals with Williams syndrome. The performance of twenty-eight individuals with Williams syndrome was compared with that of mental age- and gender-matched thirty-two typically developing children on tasks of learning of a visuo-motor sequence by observation or by trial and error. Regardless of the learning modality, acquiring the correct sequence involved three main phases: a detection phase, in which participants discovered the correct sequence and learned how to perform the task; an exercise phase, in which they reproduced the sequence until performance was error-free; an automatization phase, in which by repeating the error-free sequence they became accurate and speedy. Participants with Williams syndrome beneficiated of observational training (in which they observed an actor detecting the visuo-motor sequence) in the detection phase, while they performed worse than typically developing children in the exercise and automatization phases. Thus, by exploiting competencies learned by observation, individuals with Williams syndrome detected the visuo-motor sequence, putting into action the appropriate procedural strategies. Conversely, their impaired performances in the exercise phases appeared linked to impaired spatial working memory, while their deficits in automatization phases to deficits in processes increasing efficiency and speed of the response. Overall, observational experience was advantageous for acquiring competencies, since it primed subjects' interest in the actions to be performed and functioned as a catalyst for executed action