Human Cognition Research Articles

LEADERSHIP IN THE DIGITAL AGE: NAVIGATING COMPLEXITY THROUGH CRITICAL THINKING, CREATIVITY, AND UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACHES

This paper explores various dimensions of leadership in contexts of a new age, emphasising critical thinking, mental flexibility, and innovative development methods. It addresses challenges posed by technological advancements and leaders' need to cultivate adaptability, creativity, and foresight. Using unconventional approaches, such as the sweat lodge method and exploration of altered states of consciousness, provides intriguing avenues for enhancing leadership qualities. Additionally, the role of substances like psilocybin in fostering creativity and well-being is examined. Ultimately, this paper underscores the irreplaceable role of human cognition and leadership amidst technological progress, advocating for continual development in leadership practices to navigate modern complexities.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SMARTPHONE AND COGNITION IN CHILDREN: RESEARCH REVIEW

Although smartphones and other mobile technologies are acknowledged as versatile and potent tools that, when used wisely, can improve human cognition, there is also a growing concern that routine use of these devices may have a detrimental and long-lasting effect on children's cognitive ability. The scientific literature is not yet mature enough to support any clear findings in the areas of potential cognitive repercussions of smartphone-related behaviors and cognitive performance, which is the focus of the current review, which is intensifying but still restricted. Our study focuses largely on cognition that is implicated in the public conversation on the effects of smartphone use, and we then take into account data about the wider connections between smartphone usage patterns and regular cognitive performance. After collecting data from various databases 16 studies found to be eligible.

Современные тенденции и проблемы развития института доказывания в гражданском судопроизводстве

The article examines the existing problems of the functioning of the institute of evidence in civil proceedings of the Russian Federation. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the institution of evidence in civil proceedings. Proving in judicial practice is an indirect human cognition, the authors argue that the subject of this cognition does not just observe or empirically collect information, he analyzes existing facts and makes new conclusions. The authors investigated the theoretical foundations of the functioning of this institute, analyzed statistical data in this area. In the course of the analysis of scientific literature, the authors have formed a wide range of evidentiary tools in Russian civil proceedings. Due to the consideration of real judicial practices, the main gaps in the legal regulation of the mechanism for the use of evidence in civil cases were identified. In conclusion, the options for changing the articles of the CPC of the Russian Federation are proposed, which will improve the mechanism of judicial proceedings.

Ukrainian biaspectuality: An instantiation of compositional aspect in a verbal-aspect language

Aspect, the perfective-imperfective contrast, is a universal phenomenon, part of man’s cognitive organization to reflect objective/subjective reality by conceptualizing referents of verbs and of nominals/NPs standing for participants in situations as temporal entities, residing in speaker-hearers’ heads and interacting between each other. Aspect is instantiated across languages through two archetypes: verbal aspect (VA) – grammatical, as in the Slavic languages, including Ukrainian; compositional aspect (CA) – complex semantico-syntactic, sporadically dependent on pragmatic discourse elements, as in English. The paper explores Ukrainian language data to, first, confirm that CA, realized mainly as a very complex interplay of sentence components, exists not only in CA languages but, albeit peripherally, also in VA languages, including Ukrainian. Second, to find out how the Ukrainian aspect is realized in sentences with biaspectual verbs and particular numbers of situation-participant NPs: three, two, one. The referents of verbs and of nominals/NPs standing for participants in situations in both VA and CA languages are part of the never-ending process of thinking and perpetual resorting to memory and are not some abstract self-contained system of symbols divorced from human cognition. Phrased otherwise, aspect, especially CA, cannot be understood within the domain of traditional grammar and mainstream linguistics with their naivist notions ignoring man’s cognitive capacity and maintaining, inter alia, that nominals/NPs are concrete/physical or abstract entities. The study of matter is ordained to physics. Linguistics must investigate not the material world but how language reflects this world and other possible (imaginable) worlds. A simple analogue is a woman in a mirror: it is not a material object but an image of a woman; likewise, a woman referred to through language is not a material object but a token of a woman. Hence, NP referents of material things are not physical entities but images of such entities, fully describable, and their kineticism is handled by verb referents, whereby the intricate CA mechanism, which is cognitive, can be observed, albeit peripherally, also in VA languages, including Ukrainian. Disclosure Statement The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest. * Corresponding author: Krasimir Kabakčiev, 0000-0002-5529-0872kkabakciev@atiner.gr

Optimizing Crowd Counting in Dense Environments Through Curriculum Learning Training Strategy

Counting individuals in highly crowded environments, characterized by thousands of people, has garnered significant attention in recent years, due to the high number of vertical markets wherein such algorithms can prove beneficial, ranging from smart city and transportation to retail sectors, among others. Within this context, in this paper we introduce a novel training methodology tailored for estimating the number of people, ensuring precise counting accuracy in both moderately and highly crowded scenarios. The proposed approach exploits a formulation of the problem based on point detection, where each point represents an individual’s head. Our innovative contributions center around the designing of a novel training strategy employing Curriculum Learning (CL), which aims to replicate the gradual learning process observed in human cognition, training on simpler tasks at the beginning and tackling more complex tasks as the training evolves. In order to evaluate the complexity of each sample image, we propose a novel indicator taking into account both the number of people and their distribution within the image. The experimentation phase encompassed 18 publicly available datasets; the obtained results validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, surpassing the baseline state-of-the-art point detection by 71% and 70% in terms of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Mean Squared Error (MSE), respectively

Development of a human cognition inspired condition management system for equipment

Development of a human cognition inspired condition management system for equipment

Uncovering Interoceptive Human Insular Lobe Function through Intraoperative Cortical Stimulation-A Review.

The insular cortex, a critical hub in the brain's sensory, cognitive, and emotional networks, remains an intriguing subject of study. In this article, we discuss its intricate functional neuroanatomy, emphasizing its pivotal role in processing olfactory information. Through concise exploration, we delve into the insula's diverse connectivity and its involvement in sensory integration, particularly in olfaction. Stimulation studies in humans reveal compelling insights into the insula's contribution to the perception of smell, hinting at its broader implications for cognitive processing. Additionally, we explore an avenue of research in which studying olfactory processing via insular stimulation could unravel higher-level cognitive processes. This innovative approach could help give a fresh perspective on the interplay between sensory and cognitive domains, offering valuable insights into the neural mechanisms underlying cognition and emotion. In conclusion, future research efforts should emphasize a multidisciplinary approach, combining advanced imaging and surgical techniques to explore the intricate functions of the human insula. Moreover, awake craniotomies could offer a unique opportunity for real-time observation, shedding light on its neural circuitry and contributions to higher-order brain functions. Furthermore, olfaction's direct cortical projection enables precise exploration of insular function, promising insights into cognitive and emotional processes. This multifaceted approach will deepen our understanding of the insular cortex and its significance in human cognition and emotion.

Core knowledge and its role in explaining uniquely human cognition: Some questions.

Questions can be raised about the central status that evolutionarily ancient core knowledge systems are given in Spelke's otherwise very compelling theory. So, the existence of domain-general learning capacities has to be admitted, too, and no clear reason is provided to doubt the existence of uniquely human cognitive adaptations. All of these factors should be acknowledged when explaining human thought.

Atlas for the Lateralized Visuospatial Attention Networks (ALANs): Insights from fMRI and network analyses

Abstract Hemispheric specialization is central to human evolution and fundamental to human cognitive abilities. While being a defining feature of functional brain architecture, hemispheric specialization is overlooked to derive brain parcellations. Alongside language, which is typically lateralized in the left hemisphere, visuospatial attention is set to be its counterpart in the opposite hemisphere. However, it remains uncertain to what extent the anatomical and functional underpinnings of lateralized visuospatial attention mirror those supporting language. Building on our previous work, which established a lateralized brain atlas for language, we propose a comprehensive cerebral lateralized atlas delineating the anatomo-functional bases of visuospatial attention, Atlas for Lateralized visuospatial Attentional Networks (ALANs). Combining task and resting-state functional connectivity analyses, we identified 95 lateralized brain areas comprising three networks supporting visual (visu), motor (somato-motor), and spatial processing (posterior-medial) processes at work during a line judgment bisection task, and two large-scale networks related to integrated visuospatial attention processes, the parieto-frontal and temporo-frontal networks. We identify hubs playing a pivotal role in the intra-hemispheric interaction within visuospatial attentional networks. The rightward lateralized parieto-frontal encompasses one hub, the inferior frontal sulcus, while the temporo-frontal network encompasses two right hubs: the inferior frontal cortex (pars triangularis and the anterior insula) and the posterior part of the superior temporal sulcus. Compared with our language lateralized atlas, we demonstrated that specific regions within these networks encompass the homotope of the language network from the left hemisphere. This atlas of visuospatial attention provides valuable insights for future investigations into the variability of visuospatial attention and hemispheric specialization research. Additionally, it facilitates more effective comparisons among different studies, thereby enhancing the robustness and reliability of research in the field of attention.

Уроки Фейерабенда: ограниченность науки, значение ценностей и разнообразия

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the philosophical legacy of Paul Feyerabend, the last postpositivist and the main “anarchist” from the philosophy of science. Based on the study of his ideological heritage in the context of his life and creative path, the central maxims of his philosophical doctrine are identified and formulated. The connection between these maxims and the cross-cutting ideas of Russian philosophical thought is traced (the desire for freedom in all spheres of existence, the search for truth only on the paths of rationality, but the involvement of all human cognitive abilities, etc.). The philosopher's ideas are especially relevant in modern geopolitical conditions - in the context of a new understanding of the place and role of science in a changing world, awareness of the need for a variety of ways of knowing the world and the role of traditional spiritual and moral values in all spheres of social existence.

Educational models for cognition: Methodology of modeling intellectual skills for intelligent tutoring systems

Automation of teaching people new skills requires modeling of human reasoning because human cognition involves active reasoning over the new subject domain to acquire skills that will later become automatic. The article presents Thought Process Trees — a language for modeling human reasoning that was created to facilitate the development of intelligent tutoring systems, which can perform the same reasoning that is expected of a student and find deficiencies in their line of thinking, providing explanatory messages and allowing them to learn from performance errors. The methodology of building trees which better reflect human learning is discussed, with examples of design choices during the modeling process and their consequences. The characteristics of educational modeling that impact building subject-domain models for intelligent tutoring systems are discussed. The trees were formalized and served as a basis for developing a framework for constructing intelligent tutoring systems. This significantly lowered the time required to build and debug a constraint-based subject-domain model. The framework has already been used to develop five intelligent tutoring systems and their prototypes and is being used to develop more of them.

The Enigmatic Connection between Symbols and Thought in African Philosophy: A Journey into the Realm of Meaning and Representation

This inquiry investigates the complex relationship between symbols and thought in African philosophy. Drawing on philosophical and anthropological literature, it investigates the nature of meaning and representation in African cultures, and how symbols are employed to convey and shape human thought. Through a critical examination of various African cultural practices, such as storytelling, ritual, and art, this inquiry uncovers the intricate ways in which symbols are used to communicate and construct meaning. Furthermore, this investigation highlights the distinctive ways in which African cultures conceive of and utilize symbols, and how these practices challenge dominant Western philosophical assumptions about the nature of language, meaning, and representation. Ultimately, this inquiry provides a rich and nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between symbols and thought in African philosophy, and the broader implications of this relationship for our understanding of human cognition and communication.

How understanding the factors of visual perception proposed by Bloomer can contribute to the representation of photographs

Visual perception is a field of knowledge belonging to Cognitive Psychology. It was realized that such knowledge could contribute to the indexing of photographs based on the understanding of human cognition processes to identify how the individual interprets and their visual perception of a photograph. This understanding helps to establish criteria for selecting keywords for indexing photographs. This research presents Bloomer's (1990) visual perception factors and reflects on the literature review of how such studies can contribute to indexing photographs. As a result, two points stand out: visual perception can contribute to organizing more efficient and intuitive online photography catalogues, providing users with a better experience and ease in retrieving visual content, and finally, it can help information professionals select terms relevant to users.

A Comprehensive Study on the Emerging Role of Neuroeconomics Dynamics in Cybersecurity

As cyber threats continue to evolve, there is growing recognition that effective security requires a deeper scientific understanding of the complex drivers of human judgment and decision-making. The emerging field of neuroeconomics, combining economics, psychology, and neuroscience, provides new theoretical frameworks, measurement techniques, and models to elucidate the neural foundations underpinning human motivations and behaviors critical to cyber contexts. This paper reviews key neuroeconomic concepts including dual-process thinking, prospect theory, and social decision neuroscience and highlights their potential for generating new insights and interventions to strengthen cybersecurity. Ethical considerations surrounding neuroeconomic monitoring and potential manipulations also demand careful governance. Overall, neuroeconomic research promises to advance cybersecurity practices and policies by grounding them in realistic neural models of human cognition, emotions, and social dynamics. Careful interdisciplinary collaboration will be key to validating applications and avoiding pitfalls as neuroeconomic tools and theories are integrated into both cybersecurity scholarship and practice. This neuro-cognitive approach represents a compelling frontier with immense opportunities to transform cybersecurity through enhanced appreciation of the human dimension.

Cognitive Security in a Changing World: Citizen Perceptions During Finland's NATO Joining Process

Contemporary conflicts are multifaceted and no longer fit the traditional war-and-peace dichotomy due to digital dimensions and the role of the human mind. The concept of warfare has transformed significantly: it's no longer solely reliant on physical capabilities but increasingly fought within digital environments and individuals' minds. These persistent, intertwined crises and psychological information influence present challenges to cognitive security. Psychological influence shapes opinions, attitudes, emotions, behaviors, and decision-making in individuals, groups, and societies using various methods, often involving digital tools to manipulate cognitive processes. It aims to shape the human mind, going beyond altering information to influence how the human brain processes received information. To safeguard human cognition, cognitive security is crucial. It involves the capability to detect, recognize, control, and counter negative psychological information influence aimed at an individual. Cognitive security plays a critical role in enabling individuals and society to recognize, understand, and manage a wide range of threats and risks. The rapidly changing world, driven by technology, politics, and the environment, poses new challenges for citizens' cognitive security. As warfare evolves, individuals struggle to understand the complex threats, including cyber and information influence. Hence, this study aims to ascertain whether individuals' feeling of security has changed and if they are perceiving psychological information influence. The study investigates the sense of security among Finnish people using survey data collected during two significant time periods: after Finland announced its intention to join NATO (N = 1080) and after it officially became a NATO member (N = 1047). Additionally, whether an increase in hostile online influence and disruptions in the cyber environment was noticed by Finnish people during these same time frames is being investigated. The results indicate a statistically significant decrease in the feeling of security and a significant increase in the awareness of hostile influences. This implies that these phenomena warrant further investigation to gain a better understanding of citizens' cognitive security status and to explore ways to improve it.

Interactive Deformable Colored Sound Display Achieved with Electrostrictive Fluoropolymer and Halide Perovskite.

The association of color and sound helps human cognition through a synergetic effect like intersensory facilitation. Although soft human-machine interfaces (HMIs) providing unisensory expression have been widely developed, achieving synchronized optic and acoustic expression in one device system has been relatively less explored. It is because their operating principles are different in terms of materials, and implementation has mainly been attempted through structural approaches. Here, a deformable sound display is developed that generates multiple colored lights with large sound at low input voltage. The device is based on alternating-current electroluminescence (ACEL) covered with perovskite composite films. A sound wave is created by a polymer matrix of the ACEL, while simultaneously, various colors are produced by the perovskite films and the blue electroluminescence (EL) emitted from the phosphors in the ACEL. By patterning different colored perovskite films onto the ACELs, associating the color and the sound is successfully demonstrated by a piano keyboard and a wearable interactive device.

A low-activity cortical network selectively encodes syntax.

Syntax, the abstract structure of language, is a hallmark of human cognition. Despite its importance, its neural underpinnings remain obscured by inherent limitations of non-invasive brain measures and a near total focus on comprehension paradigms. Here, we address these limitations with high-resolution neurosurgical recordings (electrocorticography) and a controlled sentence production experiment. We uncover three syntactic networks that are broadly distributed across traditional language regions, but with focal concentrations in middle and inferior frontal gyri. In contrast to previous findings from comprehension studies, these networks process syntax mostly to the exclusion of words and meaning, supporting a cognitive architecture with a distinct syntactic system. Most strikingly, our data reveal an unexpected property of syntax: it is encoded independent of neural activity levels. We propose that this "low-activity coding" scheme represents a novel mechanism for encoding information, reserved for higher-order cognition more broadly.

The meaning of periphrases in the expression of semantics

INTRODUCTION. Periphrasis, which belongs to the linguistic universal that initially interested rhetoricians, is noted in many languages, including Russian and Uzbek. The attention of scientists to the study of periphrastic units, as a rule, is focused on understanding them in the text of a work of art as a stylistic phenomenon. Meanwhile, the linguocultural situation of the formation of periphrastic units is largely due to the anthropocentric orientation. The important role of periphrasis as a unit of speech-cognitive activity, which is reflected in the secondary periphrastic nomination as one of the means of transmitting knowledge about the objects of the surrounding reality, is always associated with the process of repeating thoughts when perceiving a particular object, process or phenomenon, which emphasizes the relevance of the research. Periphrases have an internal syntax, which allows them to be considered in the aspect of grammaticalization involved in the process of human cognition of the world. The purpose of the study is to consider the structuralsemantic organization and grammatical-syntactic structure of sentences that contain periphrastic units. The novelty of the study lies in the attempt to describe the structure of periphrasis in the Uzbek language in the aspect of grammaticalization of periphrastic units.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The method of semantic differentiation was used to analyze examples from modern Uzbek literature and translations of works of Russian writers into the Uzbek language.RESULT AND DISCUSSION. It has been revealed that the structural organization of periphrasis does not occur spontaneously, but on the basis of clearly defined rules.CONCLUSION. The data obtained have theoretical and applied value, since they record periphrases in the texts of writers’ works as a special type of linguistic organization of artistic knowledge, as well as the unification of two scientific directions – the theory of grammaticalization and the theory of periphraseology.

Language is primarily a tool for communication rather than thought.

Language is a defining characteristic of our species, but the function, or functions, that it serves has been debated for centuries. Here we bring recent evidence from neuroscience and allied disciplines to argue that in modern humans, language is a tool for communication, contrary to a prominent view that we use language for thinking. We begin by introducing the brain network that supports linguistic ability in humans. We then review evidence for a double dissociation between language and thought, and discuss several properties of language that suggest that it is optimized for communication. We conclude that although the emergence of language has unquestionably transformed human culture, language does not appear to be a prerequisite for complex thought, including symbolic thought. Instead, language is a powerful tool for the transmission of cultural knowledge; it plausibly co-evolved with our thinking and reasoning capacities, and only reflects, rather than gives rise to, the signature sophistication of human cognition.

Investigating the neural mechanisms of transcranial direct current stimulation effects on human cognition: current issues and potential solutions.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been studied extensively for its potential to enhance human cognitive functions in healthy individuals and to treat cognitive impairment in various clinical populations. However, little is known about how tDCS modulates the neural networks supporting cognition and the complex interplay with mediating factors that may explain the frequently observed variability of stimulation effects within and between studies. Moreover, research in this field has been characterized by substantial methodological variability, frequent lack of rigorous experimental control and small sample sizes, thereby limiting the generalizability of findings and translational potential of tDCS. The present manuscript aims to delineate how these important issues can be addressed within a neuroimaging context, to reveal the neural underpinnings, predictors and mediators of tDCS-induced behavioral modulation. We will focus on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), because it allows the investigation of tDCS effects with excellent spatial precision and sufficient temporal resolution across the entire brain. Moreover, high resolution structural imaging data can be acquired for precise localization of stimulation effects, verification of electrode positions on the scalp and realistic current modeling based on individual head and brain anatomy. However, the general principles outlined in this review will also be applicable to other imaging modalities. Following an introduction to the overall state-of-the-art in this field, we will discuss in more detail the underlying causes of variability in previous tDCS studies. Moreover, we will elaborate on design considerations for tDCS-fMRI studies, optimization of tDCS and imaging protocols and how to assure high-level experimental control. Two additional sections address the pressing need for more systematic investigation of tDCS effects across the healthy human lifespan and implications for tDCS studies in age-associated disease, and potential benefits of establishing large-scale, multidisciplinary consortia for more coordinated tDCS research in the future. We hope that this review will contribute to more coordinated, methodologically sound, transparent and reproducible research in this field. Ultimately, our aim is to facilitate a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms by which tDCS modulates human cognitive functions and more effective and individually tailored translational and clinical applications of this technique in the future.