A Case Study on the Development of Math Competence in an Eight-year-old Child with Dyscalculia : Shared Intentionality in Human-Computer Interaction for Online Treatment Via Subitizing

Studies in the field of neuroscience have shown that the neural network responsible for numeracy overlaps with the visual and spatial processing regions. Other studies in psychology also highlighted an association of visual-spatial processing with mathematical competence at the early stages of development. These findings suggest that research on the size of the focal area of attention (consciousness) can contribute to understanding the development of numeracy. In this case study, we verified the hypothesis of developing numeracy in children by training the rapid apperception of a few items called “subitizing.” Shared intentionality promotes cognition from the onset. Therefore, in this study, we investigated this interaction modality to give an eight-year-old girl an insight into expanded apperception of an array in "subitizing" for improving her numerical competence. The child was stimulated to apperceive more objects while performing “subitizing” tasks with the mother. The course of treatment consisted of the four regimes of human-computer interaction based on rapid exposure to several pictures with a few dots. Simultaneously, this human-computer interaction also stimulated shared intentionality in the mother-child dyad for developing the child’s rapid apprehension of these small quantities. The outcome of this intervention was an increase in the size of the focal point of attention (consciousness) and the development of numerical competence, where an association was established between the expanding apperception and the developing numeracy.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Empirical Evidence of Shared Intentionality : Towards Bioengineering Systems Development

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the author.This article is the expanded conference paper that reports the results of a psychophysiological research study on shared intentionality conducted in 24 online experiments with 405 subjects (208 recipients and 197 contributor-confederates). In this research, we created a bioengineering system for assessing shared intentionality in human groups by modeling mother-neonate dyad properties in subjects during intellectual testing. In this model, only the mother (contributor-confederate) knows the correct stimulus and shares this knowledge with the neonate (participant-recipient). For modeling mother-neonate dyad properties in subjects, the bioengineering system induces interpersonal dynamics in the subjects by stimulating their interactional synchrony, emotional contagion and neuronal coherence. The system collects data by confronting recipients' performance in "primed" and "unprimed" conditions of confederates. These informed contributors know correct responses only in the "primed" condition and confidently respond on "primed" items. Specifically, in 13 online experiments in mother-child dyads, evidence showed a recipients' performance increase of 48–394%, P-value < 0.001 (62 recipients and 54 confederates) in the “primed” condition of confederates; and in 7 experiments in primary group adults, it showed a performance increase of 143–300%, P-value < 0.002. In experiments in the secondary group, evidence showed a recipients' performance increase only with the UL3 items (a translation of an unfamiliar language, 20 recipients from 41 subjects in experiment No.12). In 3 experiments in 207 secondary group subjects, non-semantic tasks–SL3 (synthetic language) and US3 (two-color unintelligible symbols)–did not stimulate the effect. We also analyzed data confronting the outcome of recipients' performance in the "primed" condition and random value (possible recipients' responses by chance). Comparing the outcomes of these two data collecting methods as well as the sample size of the experiments allow for discussing the research method's validity and reliability. The article also shows four factors' domains that contribute to shared intentionality magnitude.Peer reviewe

A New Perspective on Assessing Cognition in Children through Estimating Shared Intentionality

This theoretical article aims to create a conceptual framework for future research on digital methods for assessing cognition in children through estimating shared intentionality, different from assessing through behavioral markers. It shows the new assessing paradigm based directly on the evaluation of parent-child interaction exchanges (protoconversation), allowing early monitoring of children’s developmental trajectories. This literature analysis attempts to understand how cognition is related to emotions in interpersonal dynamics and whether assessing these dynamics shows cognitive abilities in children. The first part discusses infants’ unexpected achievements, observing the literature about children’s development. The analysis supposes that due to the caregiver’s help under emotional arousal, newborns’ intentionality could appear even before it is possible for children’s intention to occur. The emotional bond evokes intentionality in neonates. Therefore, they can manifest unexpected achievements while performing them with caregivers. This outcome shows an appearance of protoconversation in adult-children dyads through shared intentionality. The article presents experimental data of other studies that extend our knowledge about human cognition by showing an increase of coordinated neuronal activities and the acquisition of new knowledge by subjects in the absence of sensory cues. This highlights the contribution of interpersonal interaction to gain cognition, discussed already by Vygotsky. The current theoretical study hypothesizes that if shared intentionality promotes cognition from the onset, this interaction modality can also facilitate cognition in older children. Therefore in the second step, the current article analyzes empirical data of recent studies that reported meaningful interaction in mother-infant dyads without sensory cues. It discusses whether an unbiased digital assessment of the interaction ability of children is possible before the age when the typical developmental trajectory implies verbal communication. The article develops knowledge for a digital assessment that can measure the extent of children’s ability to acquire knowledge through protoconversation. This specific assessment can signalize the lack of communication ability in children even when the typical trajectory of peers’ development does not imply verbal communication.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Neuronal Coherence Agent for Shared Intentionality : A Hypothesis of Neurobiological Processes Occurring during Social Interaction

Funding Information: No foundation that funded this research. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the author.The present interdisciplinary study discusses the physical foundations of the neurobiological processes occurring during social interaction. The review of the literature establishes the difference between Intentionality and Intention, thereby proposing the theoretical basis of Shared Intentionality in humans. According to the present study, Shared Intentionality in humans (Goal-directed coherence of biological systems), which is the ability among social organisms to instantly select just one stimulus for the entire group, is the outcome of evolutionary development. Therefore, this interaction modality should be the preferred, archetypal, and most propagated modality in organisms, attributed to the Model of Hierarchical Complexity Stage 3. This characteristic of biological systems facilitates the training of the new members of the group and also ensures efficient cooperation among the members of the group without requiring communication. In humans, Shared Intentionality contributes to the learning of newborns. The neurons of a mature organism may teach the neonate neurons regarding the fitting reactions to the excitatory inputs of the specific structural organization. This enables the neonate neurons to develop a Long-Term Potentiation that links particular stimuli with specific embodied sensorimotor neural networks. The present report discusses three possible neuronal coherence agents that could involve quantum mechanisms in cells, thereby enabling the distribution of the quality of goal-directed coherence in biological systems (Shared Intentionality in humans). Recently reported case studies conducted online with the task of conveying the meaning of numerosity to the children of age 18–33 months revealed the occurrence of Shared Intentionality in mother-child dyads in the absence of sensory cues between the two, which promoted cognitive development in the children. The findings of these case studies support the concept of physical foundations and the hypothesis of the neurophysiological process of social interaction proposed in the present study.publishersversionPeer reviewe

A New Computer-Aided Method for Assessing Children's Cognition in Bioengineering Systems for Diagnosing Developmental Delay

This pilot study (n = 19) examines fidelity rates of the new computer-aided method of diagnosing cognitive development delay in 3-to-6-year-old children. The small-scale research repeats the methodological components of the previous two studies, only changing the data collection process by introducing the baseline value (BV). Experimental data show a significant increase of 9.4 times in the shared intentionality magnitude in neurodivergent children. The results support the hypothesis that the bioengineering system (computer-mother-child) can encourage shared intentionality in the dyad by emulating the mother-newborn communication model. The outcome shows the association between the shared intentionality magnitude and children's diagnosis. However, the bioengineering diagnostic paradigm and the new BV method still need more evidence since the pilot study observes the effect in a small sample size. The pilot study evaluates the fidelity rates of this new BV method through nine markers. It shows the feasibility (with the limitations) of testing this new BV method in further research with a large sample size.Peer reviewe

Computerized Assessment of Cognitive Development in Neurotypical and Neurodivergent Children

This study aims to observe the differences in the shared intentionality magnitude in mother-child dyads with neurotypical (NT) children and neurodivergent (ND) children aged 3-6 years. The quality of shared intentionality in infancy is associated with cognitive development. Our results showed that ND children scored six times higher (on average) in quiz-test than NT children. Children with difficulties in interaction (ND children) are more likely to use shared intentionality in conversation than NT children. We believe that this knowledge can contribute to developing computerized assessment methods which can diagnose developmental disabilities in such children.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Senskader som følge av mobbing i skolen : fører krav om skadeerstatning frem?

Når mobbeofre går til sak mot kommunen etter langvarig mobbing i skoletiden, fører det aldri fram i retten. Det viser denne undersøkelsen som er gjort av samtlige mobbesaker som har vært oppe i det norske rettsvesenet. Paradoksalt nok kan selv tilsynelatende veldokumenterte saker bli avvist i rettsvesenet

Comparing care at walk-in centres and at accident and emergency departments: an exploration of patient choice, preference and satisfaction

Objectives: To explore the impact of establishing walk-in centres alongside emergency departments on patient choice, preference and satisfaction. Methods: A controlled, mixed-method study comparing eight emergency departments with co-located walk-in centres with the same number of ‘traditional’ emergency departments. This paper focuses on the results of a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of users. Results: Survey data demonstrated that patients were frequently unable to distinguish between being treated at a walk-in centre or an A&E department, and even where this was the case, opportunities to exercise choice about their preferred care provider were often limited. Few made an active choice to attend a co-located walk-in centre. Patients attending walk-in centres were just as likely to be satisfied overall with the care they received as their counterparts who were treated in the co-located A&E facility, although a small proportion of walk-in centre users did report greater satisfaction with some specific aspects of their care and consultation. Conclusions: Whilst one of the key policy goals underpinning the co-location of walk-in centres next to an A&E department was to provide patients with more options for accessing healthcare and greater choice, leading in turn to increased satisfaction, this evaluation was able to provide little evidence to support this. The high percentage of patients expressing a preference for care in an established emergency department compared to a new walk-in centre facility raises questions for future policy development. Further consideration should therefore be given to the role that A&E focused walk-in centres play in the Department of Health’s current policy agenda, as far as patient choice is concerned