Active Cognitive Process Research Articles

Exploring the Implications of English as an International Language in Reading Instruction

The global expansion of the English language has sparked a growing demand for English education, transforming it into a tool for both local communication and international pursuits. This shift has led to a departure from mere imitation of native speakers towards embracing English as an International Language (EIL). English has evolved from being a language of a few dominant nations to a global lingua franca, resulting in profound implications for English language instruction. The English as an International Language (EIL) program emphasizes the multifaceted role of English in a globalized world. This paper discuss about English as an International Language (EIL) on the pedagogy of reading instruction within the Indonesian educational milieu, where English functions as a foreign language. It delves into the importance of reading as a fundamental skill for academic and professional success, highlighting the complexity of reading as an active cognitive process. Three theoretical perspectives on reading are discussed: the traditional bottom-up approach, the cognitive top-down processing approach, and the meta-cognitive perspective. Each perspective offers valuable insights into effective reading instruction. The paper provides the implication of English as the International Languagefor teaching reading, encompassing pre-reading activities that build vocabulary and background knowledge, during-reading strategies to promote active engagement with the text, and post-reading activities that encourage critical thinking and discussion. It emphasizes the need for a balanced approach that combines psycholinguistic and linguistic components in EFL reading instruction.

Age and Sex Differences in the Genetic Architecture of Measures of Subjective Health: Relationships With Physical Health, Depressive Symptoms, and Episodic Memory.

Subjective health (SH) is not just an indicator of physical health, but also reflects active cognitive processing of information about one's own health and has been associated with emotional health measures, such as neuroticism and depression. Behavior genetic approaches investigate the genetic architecture of SH, that is, genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in SH and associations with potential components such as physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Previous twin analyses have been limited by sex, sample size, age range, and focus on single covariates. The current analysis used data from 24,173 adults ranging in age from 40 to 90 years from the international Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies consortium to investigate the genetic architecture of 3 measures of SH: self-rated health, health compared to others, and impact of health on activities. Independent pathways model of SH included physical health, depressive symptoms, and episodic memory, with age, sex, and country included as covariates. Most or all of the genetic variance for SH measures were shared with physical health, depressive symptoms, and episodic memory. Genetic architecture of SH differed across measures, age groups (40-65, 66-90), and sexes. Age comparisons indicated stronger correlations with all 3 covariates in older adults, often resulting from greater shared genetic variance. The predictive value of SH has been amply demonstrated. The higher genetic contributions to associations between SH and its components in older adults support the increasing conceptualization with age of SH as an intuitive summation of one's vital reserve.

The role of the eurasian vector in deepening the national educational space

Introduction. The article examines the role of the Eurasian direction in the development of national education. The author proves that such a civilizational choice allows Russia to preserve its subjectness in the modern world.Purpose setting. The relevance of the article is due not only to the decline in the level of knowledge of students, but also to ideological problems in the youth environment.Methodology and methods of the study. The article shows that many problems of modern national education are due to the violation of the traditional system of values. Particular attention is paid to the ambiguous influence of alien values on the younger generation. The article analyzes the factors that play a fundamental role in the preservation and strengthening of Russia»s subjectivity in the context of the universalization of educational standards.Results. The article emphasizes that the key to the formation of an effective specialist is the awareness of each representative of the younger generation of his socio-cultural identity. Preservation of its subjectivity by Russia has a decisive influence on the formation of an educated and conscious generation.Conclusions. Russia is not just a space between East and West, but also a self-sufficient civilization in which its pedagogical traditions have historically developed. Education, which accumulates Eurasian values, is based on spiritual and moral values, which stimulate students to an active cognitive process that lasts a lifetime.

Research in teaching communication based on project technology in different stages of professionalization

The reform of education and the introduction of new pedagogical technologies into the practice of teaching should be considered as the most important conditions for the student's intellectual, creative and moral development. The development becomes the key word of the pedagogical process, the essential, deep concept of learning. The article highlights one of the modern methods of teaching a foreign language, the project method. The methodology presents a typology of projects that distinguishes projects by type of activity, by the principle of the subject-content area of the project, by the nature of coordination, by the nature of contacts, by the number of participants, and by the duration of the event. The project method allows you to create a research-creative atmosphere in a foreign language lesson, where each student is involved in an active cognitive process based on the methodology of cooperation. By the project method, we mean a comprehensive teaching method that enables students to exercise independence in planning, organizing and controlling their activities. This method provides personality-oriented education, making it possible to study the practice of life through a foreign language in a real information space. This article presents the main requirements and recommendations for the organization of project work and the advantages and disadvantages of the method that must be considered in the educational process. This article considers the project method as one of the most effective methods of teaching a foreign language since it contributes to developing various abilities, skills, and general educational and professional competencies that are significant for a modern specialist.

Engendering Technology-Assisted Pedagogy for Effective Instructional Strategy in the University of Namibia Language Centre

The advent of COVID-19 disrupted existing socio-economic activities and has unveiled digital inequities and injustices. The pandemic led to a forced migration of education activities towards the new normal using technology-assisted pedagogies around the globe, Africa and Namibia is no exception. This paper attempts to report on how the blended-learning strategy for the Academic Writing for Postgraduate Students course was developed in the University of Namibia. The study used the Flipped Approach as a framework which guides self-reflection, active cognitive processing, interaction and peer-teaching. The paper used a combination of empirical as well as theoretical-based research. Firstly, a Google Form questionnaire was used to obtain quantitative data that profiled students. A conveniently sampled respondents participated in the study. Secondly, a reflective practice is applied to highlight the use of a technology-assisted learning strategy that enables effective pedagogic access to Academic Writing for Postgraduate Students at the University of Namibia’s Business School. The student-profiling results showed that more students preferred the blended learning mode, which makes them less likely to resist the proposed strategy. It also emerged that all the students have technology devices, which makes it possible to engage in the learning processes that involve the usage of technology. Post-COVID-19, stakeholders in the higher education context should re-imagine the traditional stances in order to transform the way teaching, learning and assessment shall be enabled after the crisis. This calls for educators to re-invigorate, re-imagine, re-think, re-construct and de-construct the way they conduct pedagogic activities.

GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF SUBJECTIVE HEALTH: RELATIONSHIP WITH PHYSICAL HEALTH, COGNITION, AND DEPRESSION

Abstract The fact that self-rated health (SH) predicts mortality and a variety of other health outcomes independent of objective health measures generates questions about mechanisms and etiologies. SH can be considered an indicator of physical health, per se, resulting from active cognitive processing of explicit information about one’s own health and intuitive knowledge of symptoms and physical sensations. The extent to which SH taps shared cultural ideas about health should be reflected in estimates of the shared environmental component of variance (C). SH has also been associated with emotional health measures, such as neuroticism and depression. Previous analyses have been limited by sex (only women), sample size, age (range = 63-76), and failure to include cognitive function. The current analysis used data from 8291 adults ranging in age from 22 to 102 from the international Interplay of Genes and Environment Across Multiple Studies (IGEMS) consortium to investigate the genetic architecture of SH. Genetic influences on self-rated health (SRH) were investigated in the context of CIRS (Cumulative Illness Rating Scale), MMSE (Mini-Mental Status Exam), and depression (CES-D or CAMDEX). Independent pathways modeling indicated that all genetic variance for SRH was shared with CIRS, MMSE, and depression. Comparison of groups older and younger than 74 indicated age differences in genetic architecture of SRH. Evidence suggests that the discordance between objective and subjective health increases in late adulthood, possibly as a result of greater emphasis on psychological rather than physical components of subjective health assessments by older adults.

Reliance on traditional values in the educational sphere as a guarantee of the subjectness of Russia

Introduction. The article examines the factors that allow Russia to maintain its subjectivity in the modern world. Purpose setting. The author notes that information technologies have contributed to the formation of global communication systems. Methodology of the study. Attention is focused on the role of traditional values in the educational sphere. Results. Not only the positive consequences of the introduction of Russian education in the global educational space are noted. The decline in the level of knowledge and ideological problems force us to pay special attention to the axiological component of the domestic educational system. However, in the concepts of the development of education in Russia, the study of national experience causes heterogenous interest. The article also shows the negative effect of thoughtless borrowing of foreign educational technologies that ignore the best traditions of Russian education. Particular attention is paid to the ambiguous influence of alien values on the younger generation. The factors that play a fundamental role in the preservation and enhancing by Russia its own subjectness in the conditions of universalization of educational standards are analyzed. The author proves that preservation of own subjectness by Russia fundamentally affects the formation of an educated and conscious generation. Conclusion. Education based on national traditions, which is founded on spiritual and moral values, stimulates students to an active cognitive process that can last a lifetime

Action errors impair active working memory maintenance.

The ability to detect and correct action errors is paramount to safe and efficient behavior. Its underlying processes are subject of intense scientific debate. The recent adaptive orienting theory of error processing (AOT) proposes that errors trigger a cascade of processes that purportedly begins with a broad suppression of active motoric and-crucially-cognitive processes. While the motoric effects of errors are well established, an empirical test of their purported suppressive effects on active cognitive processes is still missing. Here, we provide data from seven experiments that clearly demonstrate such effects. Participants maintained information in working memory (WM) and performed different response conflict tasks during the delay period. Motor error commission during the delay period consistently reduced accuracy on the WM probe, demonstrating an error-related impairment of WM maintenance. We discuss the broad theoretical and practical implications of this finding, both for the AOT and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Beyond mindfulness: Buddhist psychology and the Abhidharma

ABSTRACT Buddhist psychology increasingly informs mental healthcare through therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), as well as explicitly Buddhist therapies. The central tenets of Buddhist psychology are explored in the Abhidharma, a collection of psychological works from the traditional canon. The Abhidharma includes detailed expositions of the structure of consciousness; the natures of active cognitive processes and passive states; the relationships between material and mental phenomena, conditionality, and “dependent arising”; and the practice of meditation. These concepts are increasingly relevant owing to the continued emergence of psychotherapeutic practices (e.g., mindfulness) with significant roots in Buddhism.

How Did Vietnamese Teachers Observe Lessons? Active, Passive, And Middle Voices in Classroom Observation

This study aims to identify the characteristics of Vietnamese teachers’ classroom observations. The analysis was conducted using data from the ten teachers who struggled to introduce the new curriculum during the 2000s. The analysis applied from the literature on the teachers’ video reflection revealed that those who participated in weekly sessions of Lesson Study for Learning Community (LSLC) tended to identify students’ knowledge formation better than those who did not participate in the lesson study. The second qualitative analysis, focusing on effective and attitudinal aspects in observation, indicated that the teachers in LSLC schools could accept and respond to the classroom event by positing themselves in the seat of actors. The discussion is devoted to the application of the concept of middle voice to the LSLC teachers’ observation, to examine a possible extension of the literature which mainly relies on teachers’ active cognitive processes.

Individuals with congenital amusia do not show context-dependent perception of tonal categories

Perceptual adaptation is an active cognitive process where listeners re-analyse speech categories based on new contexts/situations/talkers. It involves top-down influences from higher cortical levels on lower-level auditory processes. Individuals with congenital amusia have impaired pitch processing with reduced connectivity between frontal and temporal regions. This study examined whether deficits in amusia would lead to impaired perceptual adaptation in lexical tone perception. Thirteen Mandarin-speaking amusics and 13 controls identified the category of target tones on an 8-step continuum ranging from rising to high-level, either in isolation or in a high-/low-pitched context. For tones with no context, amusics exhibited reduced categorical perception than controls. While controls’ lexical tone categorization demonstrated a significant context effect due to perceptual adaptation, amusics showed similar categorization patterns across both contexts. These findings suggest that congenital amusia impacts the extraction of context-dependent tonal categories in speech perception, indicating that perceptual adaptation may depend on listeners’ perceptual acuity.

The hopeful dimension of locomotion orientation: Implications for psychological well-being

ABSTRACT Individuals who have a strong locomotion orientation tend to be future-oriented and motivated to move from the present state toward a future state, making swift and steady progress toward their goals. The current study has assessed the conceptual possibility that such motivation leads locomotors to experience greater hopeful thinking, an active cognitive process that consists in planning the future and implementing these plans. The results of Study 1 lend preliminary support to this possibility. The practical implication was linked to the importance of hope in the subjective well-being experienced in everyday life. For this reason, Study 2 tested a model in which hopeful thinking mediated the subjective well-being experienced by locomotors. The results supported the hypothesis: locomotion orientation was associated with enhanced hope capabilities that, in turn, were associated with higher subjective well-being, with significant positive implications for individuals.

Caffeine as a Tool to Explore Active Cognitive Processing Stages in Two-Choice Tasks.

Background: We used caffeine as a tool to explore the active cognitive-processing stages in a simple Go/NoGo task, in terms of the event-related potential (ERP) components elicited by the Go and NoGo stimuli.Methods: Two hundred and fifty milligrams of caffeine was administered to adult participants (N = 24) in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled repeated-measures crossover study. Two blocks of an equiprobable auditory Go/NoGo task were completed, each with a random mix of 75 tones at 1000 Hz and 75 at 1500 Hz, all 60 dB sound pressure level (SPL).Results: Major ERP effects of caffeine were apparent in enhancements of the Go N1-1, P3b, and Slow Wave (SW), and the NoGo Processing Negativity, SW, and NoGo Late Positivity.Conclusions: Novel differential findings indicate the potential of our caffeine as a tool approach to elucidate the functional nature of ERP markers of active cognitive processing in a range of developmental and clinical populations.

From thoughtless awareness to effortful cognition: alpha - theta cross-frequency dynamics in experienced meditators during meditation, rest and arithmetic

Neural activity is known to oscillate within discrete frequency bands and the synchronization between these rhythms is hypothesized to underlie information integration in the brain. Since strict synchronization is only possible for harmonic frequencies, a recent theory proposes that the interaction between different brain rhythms is facilitated by transient harmonic frequency arrangements. In this line, it has been recently shown that the transient occurrence of 2:1 harmonic cross-frequency relationships between alpha and theta rhythms (i.e. falpha ≈ 12 Hz; ftheta ≈ 6 Hz) is enhanced during effortful cognition. In this study, we tested whether achieving a state of ‘mental emptiness’ during meditation is accompanied by a relative decrease in the occurrence of 2:1 harmonic cross-frequency relationships between alpha and theta rhythms. Continuous EEG recordings (19 electrodes) were obtained from 43 highly experienced meditators during meditation practice, rest and an arithmetic task. We show that the occurrence of transient alpha:theta 2:1 harmonic relationships increased linearly from a meditative to an active cognitive processing state (i.e. meditation < rest < arithmetic task). It is argued that transient EEG cross-frequency arrangements that prevent alpha:theta cross-frequency coupling could facilitate the experience of ‘mental emptiness’ by avoiding the interaction between the memory and executive components of cognition.

ВПРОВАДЖЕННЯ МЕТОДУ ПРОЕКТІВ ЯК ОДНОГО З КРЕАТИВНИХ МЕТОДІВ НАВЧАННЯ ІНОЗЕМНОЇ МОВИ ДЛЯ ФОРМУВАННЯ ЦІННІСНОЇ СФЕРИ СТУДЕНТІВ

The article defines the essence of the method of projects in the process of foreign languages teaching, its content and principles. Efficiency in its practical application in the process of foreign languages teaching of students has been proved.It is proved that the use of the project method of teaching helps to create a creative atmosphere in a foreign language lesson, an active cognitive process in which every student is involved. It is substantiated that the project method belongs to the group of communicative methods, forming intercultural competence in foreign language classes, stimulates activity among students, arousing desire for active action, communication and expression of their own thoughts in a foreign language. During the project work, students come to understanding that the basis of linguistic and cultural space is based on a system of primarily spiritual, moral and human values, norms and rules, which unites people on certain grounds.It is analyzed that this method of teaching, having influence on the emotional sphere of a teenager, allows to most effectively instill universal values not as a set of attitudes, but as an inner conviction of the teenagers, their worldview. This method is successful because in the course of its implementation, students learn to acquire information independently, gaining knowledge and experience of cognitive and educational activities, enriching their spiritual and value sphere. It is proved that the principles of the project method of training, namely: problematicity, variability, cognitive, adaptability, personal factor, presence of interest to the educational process, help for effective practical application of the project method in the process of foreign languages teaching and creation of appropriate conditions for its realization.

Cortical mechanisms of talker normalization in fluent sentences

Adjusting to the vocal characteristics of a new talker is important for speech recognition. Previous research has indicated that adjusting to talker differences is an active cognitive process that depends on attention and working memory (WM). These studies have not examined how talker variability affects perception and neural responses in fluent speech. Here we use source analysis from high-density EEG to show that perceiving fluent speech in which the talker changes recruits early involvement of parietal and temporal cortical areas, suggesting functional involvement of WM and attention in talker normalization. We extend these findings to acoustic source change in general by examining understanding environmental sounds in spoken sentence context. Though there may be differences in cortical recruitment to processing demands for non-speech sounds versus a changing talker, the underlying mechanisms are similar, supporting the view that shared cognitive-general mechanisms assist both talker normalization and speech-to-nonspeech transitions.

Five Reasons Why I Am Skeptical That Indirect or Unconscious Lie Detection Is Superior to Direct Deception Detection.

The relative advantage of indirect and unconscious lie detection compared to direct detection is examined. Empirical evidence for the superiority of indirect and unconscious lie is unconvincing. Three empirical issues include comparisons of incommensurate outcomes, questionable results in control conditions, and evidence for improved performance of direct detection under some conditions. Two theoretical reasons for skepticism include consideration of the casual forces producing poor accuracy and the tendency for people to believe other people absent active cognitive processing. Generally speaking, in human lie detection, effortful and disciplined thought provides more accurate detection of lies than intuition or less than fully conscious cognitive processing.

How the deployment of visual attention modulates auditory distraction

Classically, attentional selectivity has been conceptualized as a passive by-product of capacity limits on stimulus processing. Here, we examine the role of more active cognitive control processes in attentional selectivity, focusing on how distraction from task-irrelevant sound is modulated by levels of task engagement in a visually presented short-term memory task. Task engagement was varied by manipulating the load involved in the encoding of the (visually presented) to-be-remembered items. Using a list of Navon letters (where a large letter is composed of smaller, different-identity letters), participants were oriented to attend and serially recall the list of large letters (low encoding load) or to attend and serially recall the list of small letters (high encoding load). Attentional capture by a single deviant noise burst within a task-irrelevant tone sequence (the deviation effect) was eliminated under high encoding load (Experiment 1). However, distraction from a continuously changing sequence of tones (the changing-state effect) was immune to the influence of load (Experiment 2). This dissociation in the amenability of the deviation effect and the changing-state effect to cognitive control supports a duplex-mechanism over a unitary-mechanism account of auditory distraction in which the deviation effect is due to attentional capture whereas the changing-state effect reflects direct interference between the processing of the sound and processes involved in the focal task. That the changing-state effect survives high encoding load also goes against an alternative explanation of the attenuation of the deviation effect under high load in terms of the depletion of a limited perceptual resource that would result in diminished auditory processing.

Tracking Transient Changes in the Neural Frequency Architecture: Harmonic Relationships between Theta and Alpha Peaks Facilitate Cognitive Performance.

The synchronization between neural oscillations at different frequencies has been proposed as a core mechanism for the coordination and integration of neural systems at different spatiotemporal scales. Because neural oscillations of different frequencies can only fully synchronize when their "peak" frequencies form harmonic relationships (e.g., f2 = f1/2), the present study explored whether the transient occurrence of harmonic cross-frequency relationship between task-relevant rhythms underlies efficient cognitive processing. Continuous EEG recordings (51 human participants; 14 males) were obtained during an arithmetic task, rest and breath focus. In two separate experiments, we consistently show that the proportion of epochs displaying a 2:1 harmonic relationship between alpha (8-14 Hz) and theta (4-8 Hz) peak frequencies (i.e., alphapeak ≈ 10.6 Hz; thetapeak ≈ 5.3 Hz), was significantly higher when cognitive demands increased. In addition, a higher incidence of 2:1 harmonic cross-frequency relationships was significantly associated with increased alpha-theta phase synchrony and improved arithmetic task performance, thereby underlining the functional relevance of this cross-frequency configuration. Notably, opposite dynamics were identified for a specific range of "nonharmonic" alpha-theta cross-frequency relationships (i.e., alphapeak/thetapeak = 1.1-1.6), which showed a higher incidence during rest compared with the arithmetic task. The observation that alpha and theta rhythms shifted into harmonic versus nonharmonic cross-frequency relationships depending on (cognitive) task demands is in line with the notion that the neural frequency architecture entails optimal frequency arrangements to facilitate cross-frequency "coupling" and "decoupling".SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neural activity is known to oscillate within discrete frequency bands and the interplay between these brain rhythms is hypothesized to underlie cognitive functions. A recent theory posits that shifts in the peak frequencies of oscillatory rhythms form the principal mechanism by which cross-frequency coupling and decoupling is implemented in the brain. In line with this notion, we show that the occurrence of a cross-frequency arrangement that mathematically enables coupling between alpha and theta rhythms is more prominent during active cognitive processing (compared with rest and non-cognitively demanding tasks) and is associated with improved cognitive performance. Together, our results open new vistas for future research on cross-frequency dynamics in the brain and their functional role in cognitive processing.

Recognizing speech in the context of talker variability

The relationship of the acoustic patterns of speech to phonetic categories varies across talkers. A change in talker therefore requires listeners use this relationship which depends on determining the acoustic-phonetic mapping for a new talker. The work from our group has demonstrated that tuning the perceptual system to the acoustic-phonetic system of a new talker is associated with a redirection of attention and a momentary increased load on working memory. These empirical findings support the hypothesis that speech perception is best thought of as an active cognitive process, where the ambiguity of the acoustic signal determines the mobilization of cognitive resources needed to support accurate perception. In this talk, I will (1) discuss the implication of these results for both cognitive and neural models of speech perception and (2) make the argument that extant theories of speech perception must address recognition in the context of acoustic-linguistic pattern variability, such as talker variability, as it is central to the computational problem of understanding speech perception.