Active Cognitive Process Research Articles

Functional Connectivity Pattern Analysis Underlying Neural Oscillation Synchronization during Deception.

To characterize system cognitive processes during deception, event-related coherence was computed to investigate the functional connectivity among brain regions underlying neural oscillation synchronization. In this study, 15 participants were randomly assigned to honesty or deception groups and were instructed to tell the truth or lie when facing certain stimuli. Meanwhile, event-related potential signals were recorded using a 64-channel electroencephalography cap. Event-related coherence was computed separately in four frequency bands (delta (1-3.5 Hz), theta (4-7 Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz), and beta (14-30 HZ)) for the long-range intrahemispheric electrode pairs (F3P3, F4P4, F3T7, F4T8, F3O1, and F4O2). The results indicated that deceptive responses elicited greater connectivities in the frontoparietal and frontotemporal networks than in the frontooccipital network. Furthermore, the deception group displayed lower values of coherence in the frontoparietal electrode pairs in the alpha and beta bands than the honesty group. In particular, increased coherence in the delta and theta bands on specific left frontoparietal electrode pairs was observed. Additionally, the deception group exhibited higher values of coherence in the delta band and lower values of coherence in the beta band on the frontotemporal electrode pairs than did the honesty group. These data indicated that the active cognitive processes during deception include changes in ensemble activities between the frontal and parietal/temporal regions.

ПСИХОЛОГІЧНІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПРОФЕСІЙНИХ СТЕРЕОТИПІВ ПОЖЕЖНИХ-РЯТУВАЛЬНИКІВ

The article presents the results of the theoretical and empirical research on professional stereotypes characteristic for specialists working in extreme situations. During professional work, stereotypes concerning the performed professional functions, actions, operations are formed inevitably. They simplify fulfilment of professional tasks, increase their certainty, and facilitate relations with colleagues. Stereotypes bring stability into professional life, they promote experience acquisition and formation of an individual style of work. Professional stereotypes are directly dependent on the nature of performed tasks and their psychological characteristics. Active cognitive processes are the main mechanism behind stereotyping; they include such processes as categorization, schematization and attribution. A formed stable stereotype has both positive and negative values for an individual. The use of stereotypes is positive under standard operating conditions and negative when it is necessary to act beyond the standard operations, at new working conditions with a new regime or if conditions varies or are changed dramatically. In our research, we identified 6 categories of rescuers’ stereotypical ideas related to their professional work: personal qualities; professionally important qualities; stereotypes related to awareness of duty and responsibility; value stereotypes; stereotypes of optimal role behaviour; stereotypes of professional communications and interactions. The article proves that the professional stereotypes of the studied rescuers differ qualitatively depending on the period of their professional work. During professional genesis, the most persistent stereotypes are those related to the ideas on the personal and professionally important qualities needed for rescuers. The most transformative stereotypes are those related to the value of professional work. The ideas about professional responsibilities, characteristics of professional behaviour and features of professional communications are also changed. The psychological diagnostic research results showed the need to provide a social and psychological training in order to form certain components of fire-fighter’s professional consciousness.

Mental imagery and colour cues can prevent interference between motor tasks

Motor interference can be observed when two motor tasks are learnt in subsequent order. The aim of the current study was to test two approaches potentially mitigating interference effects. The first approach used contextual colour cues requiring only little cognitive attention thus being assumed to be primarily implicit while the second, mental practice/rehearsal that demands much more active cognitive processing being considered explicit.Six groups performed a ballistic strength training immediately followed by the practice of an interfering visuomotor tracking task. Two groups received a contextual colour cue when presenting feedback about ballistic performance. During the practice of the interfering motor task, one of the two groups received the same colour cue during random trials while the other group received a different colour cue and a third control group no colour cue at all. The forth group mentally rehearsed the ballistic task during the practice of the interference task, while the respective control groups either mentally rehearsed a ramp and hold contraction instead of the ballistic task or didn’t rehearse any task. The ballistic performance was tested before and after the ballistic training and in an immediate retention test after the learning of the interfering motor task.All groups significantly increased their ballistic performance after training. After practicing the interfering motor tracking, subjects receiving the same colour cue and subjects that mentally rehearsed the ballistic task did not show significant interference effect while all other groups did. These results indicate that implicit cuing with the same cue as well as explicit mental rehearsal of the initially learnt task can help to prevent motor interference without affecting performance improvements of the second motor task.

Not ‘getting on the bandwagon’: When climate change is a matter of unconcern

Extensive research into public attitudes about climate change commonly portrays those who do not express concern about this issue as unwitting victims of their own or others’ biases. Characterised as apathy, ignorance, scepticism or denial, absence of concern about climate change has been presented as being rooted in an individual’s lack of considered engagement with scientific reasons for concern. This ‘concern deficit’ is framed as a problem to be addressed through policy, education and communication that seeks to maximise concern about climate change. In contrast, we conceptualise unconcern about climate change as an expression of focal life concerns that are incommensurable with dominant narratives of climate change. Originating in active cognitive, social and experiential processes, we regard unconcern about climate change as inseparable from the lived contexts in which it is expressed and irreducible to the attitudes or attributes of individuals. Using narrative analysis of repeat in-depth interviews with Australians who express unconcern about climate change, we find that this unconcern has multiple sources, takes diverse forms and is entangled in epistemological and normative engagements with other issues. It is constituted through social relationships, discursive processes, moral values and embodied experiences that are overlooked in much existing research. We argue that respectful attention to the experiential conditions in which concern about climate change is resisted can enable constructive re-negotiation of narratives of climate change. Such agonistic processes could lead to more reflexive, pluralist and dialogical forms of discourse that better articulate climate science and policy with a wider diversity of lived concerns.

Russian and Negative Prefixing: A Cognitive-Semantic Approach to the Negative Adjective Prefixing in Russian, Spanish, Persian, and English

Negative prefixing has always been an important and intriguing morphological process, through which adjectives are formed in many different languages. However, there are limits to negative prefixing. In this study, we introduce the novel concept of Polarity Flexibility, through which the limitations for the negative prefixing are accounted for. Furthermore, we conducted an experiment to investigate whether the PF is an active cognitive process. The results of the experiment confirm our hypothesis and the fact that Polarity Flexibility does indeed influence the cognitive processing. In our study, we introduce the notion of the syntactic arrangement which influences the negative prefixing. Therefore, we compare Russian, Persian, Spanish and English in negative prefixing to show how much the cognitive processes are influenced by the syntactic formations. Russian as a representative of Slavic languages brings an important insight into the way syntax plays role in the semantic-cognitive context.

Russian and Negative Prefixing: A Cognitive-Semantic Approach to the Negative Adjective Prefixing in Russian, Spanish, Persian, and English

Negative prefixing has always been an important and intriguing morphological process, through which adjectives are formed in many different languages. However, there are limits to negative prefixing. In this study, we introduce the novel concept of Polarity Flexibility, through which the limitations for the negative prefixing are accounted for. Furthermore, we conducted an experiment to investigate whether the PF is an active cognitive process. The results of the experiment confirm our hypothesis and the fact that Polarity Flexibility does indeed influence the cognitive processing. In our study, we introduce the notion of the syntactic arrangement which influences the negative prefixing. Therefore, we compare Russian, Persian, Spanish and English in negative prefixing to show how much the cognitive processes are influenced by the syntactic formations. Russian as a representative of Slavic languages brings an important insight into the way syntax plays role in the semantic-cognitive context.

Occasions for Sensemaking and Responses to Change: A Quasi-Field Experiment

One of the urgent questions in micro change research is how to better understand shifts in peoples’ responses to change over time. Grounded in dual process theories of cognition, sensemaking research, and dialogical communication, we conceptualize occasions for sensemaking (OfS) as interventions facilitating shifts towards supportive responses. OfS are characterized by the initiation of (a) active cognitive processing, (b) interpersonal communication, and (c) conversations of understanding and performance. Based on two-wave data (N=145) comparing a treatment and control group, we tested OfS in a quasi- field experiment during a planned change in a technology firm. Latent-change score analysis showed that participating in OfS corresponds to a positive shift in perceived progress and intentions of change support, but not in pleasant affect towards the change. Further, we identify perceived meaning and impact of the change as two pathways explaining the effects of OfS. Our study contributes to the literature...

The Application of Early Childhood Professional Teaching Standards in the U.S.: A Comparative Study of a Preschool and an Elementary School Teacher

Although interpreting and applying the professional teaching standards is a complex and active cognitive process influenced by teachers’ knowledge and teaching context, there is a lack of in-depth research into how early childhood teachers’ cognition impacts the way teachers change their beliefs and practices. With a cognitive framework, this study focuses on a preschool teacher and an elementary school teacher’s changing beliefs and practices as they apply Early Childhood Generalist(EC-GEN) Standards during and after the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards(NBPTS) process. The findings from a qualitative comparative study suggest that EC-GEN Standards guided teachers to reflect on child-directed learning, personalized, more meaningful and intentional teaching. Additionally, there were several similarities and differences in how teachers make sense of the EC-GEN Standards by grade/age levels due to their different approaches to teaching. Implications for reinforcing teachers’ professional development and utilizing professional teaching standards as a linkage for Pre-K to grade 3 continuities are discussed.

A PRODUCTIVE LEARNING MODEL IN DEBATING PROCESS

Basing on the analysis of pedagogical/psychological theoretical findings, the publication describes the specifics of youth productive learning. The aim of the article is to characterize the specifics of the learning process of 10th-12thgrade students, justifying the regularities of the productive learning process and pedagogical possibilities that ensure a purposeful and active cognitive process, revelation and problem learning, as well as the student's self-realization in the debating process. Interest, motivation, learning goals, action, responsibility, collaboration, and reflection are the components of productive learning, which are described in the publication. The theoretical and empirical research questions have been analysed and updated in the article, highlighting the issues of productive learning.

Specificity for coarticulatory vowel nasality in lexical representations.

Surface-level phonetic details are used during word recognition. Yet, questions remain about how these details are encoded in lexical representations and the role of memory and attention during this process. The current study utilizes lexical repetition priming to examine the effect of a delay between hearing a word repeated with either the same or different coarticulatory patterns on lexical recognition. Listeners were faster to recognize repeated words with the same patterns of coarticulatory nasality, confirming that subphonemic information is encoded in the lexicon. Furthermore, when listeners had to adapt to more than one talker, greater coarticulatory specificity in delayed priming was observed suggesting that word-specific encoding of subphonemic details is an active cognitive process.

Study of Mindfulness and Cognitive Failure among Young Adults

Mindfulness is a state of present-time awareness; which can be experienced and quite helpful to fabricate the sense of well-being and can decrease cognitive and behavioral error in our daily lives. Cognitive failures or errors are clearly a part of everyday life and can be observed in our behavior. These errors include distractions, blunders, memory lapses, and oversights, perceptual and attentional error. Hence it is expected that mindfuless would be negatively associate with cognitive failure and enhance our sense of health and well-being in a better way. The present study is planned to examine the nature of the relationship between Mindfuless and cognitive failure. Present study includes a sample of 80 young adults of both gender (Male=40; Female=40). Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003) and Cognitive Failure Questionnaire (CFQ; Broadbent, Cooper, FitzGerald, & Parkes, 1982) were administered to fulfillment the purpose of the present study. The results of the present study revealed that mindfulness is negatively associated with cognitive failures view aroused state of active cognitive processes. The current study found a significant negative correlation between minfulness and cognitive failures. In other words, the person who is more mindful were made overall the fewer cognitive errors. The practice of mindfulness increased information processing speed, cognitive flexibility, attentional functioning.

What Lies Beneath? An exploration of Secrets held by Urban Youth

Every day in life one may have myriad experiences, however, there may be some events or thoughts that an individual may choose not to share it with anyone. This ability to keep the information to ourselves, is not an easy process and is an active intentional cognitive process. Secrets is something that each individual has, however, there has been a lack of empirical interest in this topic. What may be the function of this process and does it have any links to developmental stages or does it inform any aspects of counseling? In an exploratory study, secrets from 172 participants were collected and analyzed. The results provide evidence that suggests secrets may have a developmental basis. Further, the feelings associated with secrets are negative, thus providing support for our contention that the events precipitating the secret have their source in the shadow archetypes.

Scientific Research Activity of Students Pre-Service Teachers of Sciences at University: The Aspects of Understanding, Situation and Improvement

The development of student abilities of scientific research activity (SRA) in the process of studies appears as a highly important area. In the course of studies, students not only increase their general competencies, acquire professional abilities and skills but also learn to conduct research. This does not mean that all students will build their careers in the field of scientific research in the future. The present life, labour market, the complexity of technology, etc. require at least minimum competencies in carrying out investigation. SRA should be universally stimulated and developed. Scientific research activity is not an entertainment but responsible, thorough work requiring a lot of self-independence. Such activity promotes student analytical thinking, the abilities of searching and using information are formed, they learn how to analyse the collected material, prepare reports, make research presentations, etc. The conducted qualitative research involved graduated students – pre-service teachers of sciences studying at Lithuanian universities. The research was conducted in January-February 2016 and based on the constructivist paradigm, suggesting that knowledge was not the final or uniform product. Teaching is an effective tool when students gain information thus stimulating active cognitive processes. The performed research has demonstrated that SRA questions remain crucial, the organization of such activity has specific weaknesses and improvement is not always carried out deliberately and purposefully, because the context, environment, conditions and requirements for education in general may differ. Improvement on SRA is not possible without empirical data based on the status. The research has revealed student understanding of SRA, its key strengths and weaknesses as well as allowed assessing the significance of such activity on the professional training of the pre-service teacher and on improving guidelines.

Metacognition and Professional Judgment and Decision Making in Coaching: Importance, Application and Evaluation

Previous research has emphasised the dynamic nature of coaching practice and the need to consider both individual performer needs and necessary contextual trade-offs in providing optimum solutions. In this regard, a Professional Judgment and Decision Making framework has been suggested to facilitate an optimum blend of actions against these complex and dynamic demands. Accordingly, we extend this work and address recent calls for greater focus on expertise-oriented assessments, by postulating on the aspirant/developing coach’s capacity for and development of metacognition (i.e., active control over cognitive processes) as a ‘tool’ within the reflective process. Specifically, we propose that metacognition enables essential active cognitive processing for deep learning and impactful application, together with construction and refinement of useable knowledge to inform coaching decisions. Metacognition, therefore, helps to contextualise knowledge provided in training, further optimising the experience, particularly before certification. Finally, we exemplify how metacognition can be developed in coaches through the use of cognitive apprenticeships and decision training tools; and evaluated via a series of observed coaching episodes, with reasoning articulated through pre and postsession interview. Despite challenging traditional competency-based approaches to coach education, we believe that a considered mixed approach represents a vital next step in further professionalising sports coaching.

Acute Exposure to Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) has effects on the electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram, consistent with vagal nerve stimulation

BackgroundTerrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) is a telecommunications system widely used by police and emergency services around the world. The Stewart Report on mobile telephony and health raised questions about possible health effects associated with TETRA signals. This study investigates possible effects of TETRA signals on the electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram in human volunteers. MethodsBlinded randomized provocation study with a standardized TETRA signal or sham exposure. In the first of two experiments, police officers had a TETRA set placed first against the left temple and then the upper-left quadrant of the chest and the electroencephalogram was recorded during rest and active cognitive processing. In the second experiment, volunteers were subject to chest exposure of TETRA whilst their electroencephalogram and heart rate variability derived from the electrocardiogram were recorded. ResultsIn the first experiment, we found that exposure to TETRA had consistent neurophysiological effects on the electroencephalogram, but only during chest exposure, in a pattern suggestive of vagal nerve stimulation. In the second experiment, we observed changes in heart rate variability during exposure to TETRA but the electroencephalogram effects were not replicated. ConclusionsObserved effects of exposure to TETRA signals on the electroencephalogram (first experiment) and electrocardiogram are consistent with vagal nerve stimulation in the chest by TETRA. However given the small effect on heart rate variability and the lack of consistency on the electroencephalogram, it seems unlikely that this will have a significant impact on health. Long-term monitoring of the health of the police force in relation to TETRA use is on-going.

Anticipatory eye fixations reveal tool knowledge for tool interaction.

Action-oriented eye-tracking studies have shown that eye fixations reveal much about current behavioral intentions. The eyes typically fixate those positions of a tool or an object where the fingers will be placed next, or those positions in a scene, where obstacles need to be avoided to successfully reach or transport a tool or object. Here, we asked to what extent eye fixations can also reveal active cognitive inference processes, which are expected to integrate bottom-up visual information with internal knowledge for planning suitable object interactions task-dependently. In accordance to the available literature, we expected that task-relevant knowledge will include sensorimotor, semantic, and mechanical aspects. To investigate if and in which way this internal knowledge influences eye fixation behavior while planning an object interaction, we presented pictures of familiar and unfamiliar tools and instructed participants to either pantomime 'lifting' or 'using' the respective tool. When confronted with unfamiliar tools, participants fixated the tool's effector part closer and longer in comparison with familiar tools. This difference was particularly prominent during 'using' trials when compared with 'lifting' trials. We suggest that this difference indicates that the brain actively extracts mechanical information about the unknown tool in order to infer its appropriate usage. Moreover, the successive fixations over a trial indicate that a dynamic, task-oriented, active cognitive process unfolds, which integrates available tool knowledge with visually gathered information to plan and determine the currently intended tool interaction.

Virtual Reality for Pain Control—Virtual or Real?

Virtual Reality (VR) technology creates a sense of immersion in a virtual environment analogous to the real world. VR has increasingly gained attention for pain management based on current evidence demonstrating its analgesic effects in certain experimental, acute and chronic pain conditions. VR-based interventions shift the users’ attention towards active cognitive processing that can lead to higher pain threshold or tolerance. An understanding of neurobiological mechanisms underlying analgesic effects of VR will definitely facilitate optimal utility of this tool for pain control.

Evaluation of Guidelines for Assembly Instructions

In production industry assembly instructions are often in need of improvement. Today’s instructions are often text based and are used only when learning the assembly. Due to a high product variety the instruction quality need to be perceptual in order for the operator to make fast and correct decisions. To educate and support personnel making instructions five guidelines that support operators’ cognitive abilities have been developed. The guidelines were tested in three case studies with three different used groups: production technicians, students from higher vocational education and bachelor students. Results indicate that the theory behind the instructions is useful and valuable and that further development and testing is needed. The main thing both technicians and students learnt was to support the active cognitive processes, that instructions should be picture based and be as simple as possible.

Distinguishing cognitive state with multifractal complexity of hippocampal interspike interval sequences.

Fractality, represented as self-similar repeating patterns, is ubiquitous in nature and the brain. Dynamic patterns of hippocampal spike trains are known to exhibit multifractal properties during working memory processing; however, it is unclear whether the multifractal properties inherent to hippocampal spike trains reflect active cognitive processing. To examine this possibility, hippocampal neuronal ensembles were recorded from rats before, during and after a spatial working memory task following administration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a memory-impairing component of cannabis. Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis was performed on hippocampal interspike interval sequences to determine characteristics of monofractal long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs), quantified by the Hurst exponent, and the degree/magnitude of multifractal complexity, quantified by the width of the singularity spectrum. Our results demonstrate that multifractal firing patterns of hippocampal spike trains are a marker of functional memory processing, as they are more complex during the working memory task and significantly reduced following administration of memory impairing THC doses. Conversely, LRTCs are largest during resting state recordings, therefore reflecting different information compared to multifractality. In order to deepen conceptual understanding of multifractal complexity and LRTCs, these measures were compared to classical methods using hippocampal frequency content and firing variability measures. These results showed that LRTCs, multifractality, and theta rhythm represent independent processes, while delta rhythm correlated with multifractality. Taken together, these results provide a novel perspective on memory function by demonstrating that the multifractal nature of spike trains reflects hippocampal microcircuit activity that can be used to detect and quantify cognitive, physiological, and pathological states.

The promise and perversity of perspective-taking in organizations

Successful managers and leaders need to effectively navigate their organizational worlds, from motivating customers and employees to managing diversity to preventing and resolving conflicts. Perspective-taking is a psychological process that is particularly relevant to each of these activities. The current review critically examines perspective-taking research conducted by both management scholars and social psychologists and specifies perspective-taking's antecedents, consequences, mechanisms, and moderators, as well as identifies theoretical and/or empirical shortfalls. Our summary of the current state of perspective-taking research offers three important contributions. First, we offer a new definition of perspective-taking: the active cognitive process of imagining the world from another's vantage point or imagining oneself in another's shoes to understand their visual viewpoint, thoughts, motivations, intentions, and/or emotions. Second, we highlight that although perspective-taking has many positive benefits for managers and leaders, it also carries with it the potential for perverse effects. Third, we argue that previous theoretical lenses to understand perspective-taking's goal are insufficient in light of all the available evidence. Instead, we offer a new theoretical proposition to capture the full range of perspective-taking's positive and negative effects: perspective-taking helps individuals effectively navigate a world filled with mixed-motive social interactions. Our mixed-motive model of perspective-taking not only captures the current findings but also offers new directions for future research.