Modes Of Knowledge Research Articles

Progesterone levels predict reductions in behavioral avoidance following cognitive restructuring in women with spider phobia

BackgroundOvarian hormones have been implicated as a potential source of variability in the effectiveness of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders in women. Additionally, preclinical studies in healthy women indicate that ovarian hormones are related to cognitive modes of emotion regulation, like cognitive restructuring. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether a relationship exists between endogenous ovarian hormones and the outcomes of cognitive restructuring in clinically anxious women. MethodsNinety women with spider phobia received training in cognitive restructuring or a control task and provided a blood sample for the measurement of serum estradiol and progesterone levels. Behavioral avoidance, using a behavioral approach task with a live spider, and self-reported fear of spiders were measured at baseline and 1-week post-treatment. ResultsThe results indicated that heightened levels of progesterone, but not estradiol, at the time of cognitive restructuring predicted greater post-treatment reductions in behavioral avoidance, but not self-reported fear, amongst women who received cognitive restructuring but not those in the control group. LimitationsAs menstrual cycle phase was not assessed; the present study provides information regarding how the benefits of cognitive therapy are predicted by between-person individual differences in absolute hormone levels, but does not examine the relationship between within-person fluctuations in hormone levels and outcomes. ConclusionsThese results suggest the effectiveness of cognitive therapy for anxiety disorders in women may differ depending on endogenous levels of progesterone, and raise the possibility that progesterone could be a useful pharmacological adjunct to cognitive therapy.

The evolution of religious cognition

Several accounts of the evolution of religion distinguish two phases: an earlier shamanic stage and a later doctrinal stage. Similarly, several theories of human cognition distinguish two cognitive modes: a phylogenetically older system that is largely intuitive and a later, more distinctively human system that is more rational and articulate. This article suggests that cognition in the earlier stage in the evolution of religion is largely at the level of intuition, whereas the cognition of doctrine or religion is more conceptual and rational. Early religious cognition is more embodied and is more likely to carry healing benefits. The evolutionary origins of religion in humans seem to depend on developments in the cognitive architecture. It is further suggested that the cognition of early religion shows less conceptual differentiation, is characteristically participatory rather than objectifying and is less individualistic. The development of religion in recent centuries appears to show some approximate recapitulation of the stages through which religion originally evolved.

Human Creativity and Consciousness: Unintended Consequences of the Brain's Extraordinary Energy Efficiency?

It is proposed that both human creativity and human consciousness are (unintended) consequences of the human brain’s extraordinary energy efficiency. The topics of creativity and consciousness are treated separately, though have a common sub-structure. It is argued that creativity arises from a synergy between two cognitive modes of the human brain (which broadly coincide with Kahneman’s Systems 1 and 2). In the first, available energy is spread across a relatively large network of neurons, many of which are small enough to be susceptible to thermal (ultimately quantum decoherent) noise. In the second, available energy is focussed on a smaller subset of larger neurons whose action is deterministic. Possible implications for creative computing in silicon are discussed. Starting with a discussion of the concept of free will, the notion of consciousness is defined in terms of an awareness of what are perceived to be nearby counterfactual worlds in state space. It is argued that such awareness arises from an interplay between memories on the one hand, and quantum physical mechanisms (where, unlike in classical physics, nearby counterfactual worlds play an indispensable dynamical role) in the ion channels of neural networks, on the other. As with the brain’s susceptibility to noise, it is argued that in situations where quantum physics plays a role in the brain, it does so for reasons of energy efficiency. As an illustration of this definition of consciousness, a novel proposal is outlined as to why quantum entanglement appears to be so counter-intuitive.

The Motion Beyond Sense

This paper first explores the relationship between cognition and motion. Our typical cognitive mode, based on sensory forms, is integrated and, therefore, non-motion in nature. This highlights stability and relativity for practical cognitive needs, but at the same time prevents us from developing cognition of the complete form of motion. The result is a fundamental cognitive barrier for us to understand motion. By discovering the underlying cognitive principles, however, we can revise the cognitive process and redevelop the cognitive mode to meet the purpose of direct cognition of motion. Based on this newly developed cognitive mode, we will learn motion features directly and understand motion laws and principles, to explain natural phenomena and establish wide-range connections between them. These include the underlying principles of motion, gravity, the creation of matter and material forms, universal motion, and spacetime.

Horizons of the word: Words and tools in perception and action

In this paper I develop a novel account of the phenomenality of language by focusing on characteristics of perceived speech. I explore the extent to which the spoken word can be said to have a horizonal structure similar to that of spatiotemporal objects: our perception of each is informed by habitual associations and expectations formed through past experiences of the object or word and other associated objects and experiences. Specifically, the horizonal structure of speech in use can fruitfully be compared to that of a tool in use. The comparison suggests an account of our linguistic faculty as continuous with more foundational faculties of perception and action. I provide empirical corroboration of this account by drawing on recent neuroimaging studies of the multimodal, sensorimotor bases of speech comprehension. I then discuss how such an understanding of our linguistic ability helps advocates of embodied, non-representationalist accounts of cognition respond to a common objection. Critics grant that embodied approaches may be adequate to account for lower-level, online modes of cognition, such as perception and action, which directly engage their object. But they question whether such approaches can “scale up” to higher modes of cognition, such as imagination, memory, thought, and language, which can entertain absent, non-existent, or abstract objects. By providing a plausible account of the continuity of lower cognition and language-involving cognition, my approach responds to this objection, at least where language is concerned.

A Study on Music Education Based on Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has developed rapidly and is widely used in various fields. Music robots with specific neural networks can understand, analyze, and create music. In this paper, based on the artificial intelligence technology, human music intelligence is analyzed through big data to explore and discuss the construction of various new interactive teaching music intelligent systems in the field of professional music education with music artificial intelligence technology as the platform, seeking a new mode of music perception, cognition, creation, and education.

How Digital Business Penetration Influences Farmers’ Sense of Economic Gain: The Role of Farmers’ Entrepreneurial Orientation and Market Responsiveness

The extensive development of digital business in the countryside has had explicit and implicit influences on farmers' production, lifestyle and cognitive mode and has had an impact on their sense of economic gain (SEG). This study aims to determine whether digital business penetration (DBP) improves farmers' SEG in traditional villages in western China, and if significant, this study seeks to determine the mechanism. Based on questionnaire responses from 343 farmers, the empirical results indicate the principle in three ways. First, farmers' SEG grows with business digitization, especially in traditional minority villages. Second, farmers' entrepreneurial orientation (EO) partially mediates DBP's positive effect on SEG. Third, farmers' market response capacity (MRC) plays a positive moderating role, which indicates that in comparison with farmers who have a lower response to market changes, farmers who have a higher response to market changes have a higher SEG promoted by DBP. Furthermore, DBP's impact on farmers' SEG is upgraded throughout their EO, boosted by their MRC. Thus, farmers' MRC is a significant influencing factor for improving their entrepreneurial intention, enhancing their attitude toward digitization and increasing their SEG.

Kant's "Idea [project] of Transcendental Philosophy"

At the present time, there are several interpretations and modes of Kant’s transcendental philosophy (TP). Which of these interpretations and modes of transcendentalism most adequately express the spirit of TP, i.e. can claim the title of the transcendental ones? For the explication of the ‘idea of transcendental philosophy’ [KrV, A1], here I distinguish two transcendental shifts: methodological and metaphysical ones, which in their totality predetermine the essence and set the specificity of Kant’s transcendental idealism. The methodological transcendental shift that Kant postulates in his definitions of TP in the Critique of Pure Reason [KrV, A11; B25] represents a shift from studying of objects to the analysis and justification of our mode of cognition of objects. This shift sets a fairly wide range of a la Kantian a priori doctrines and predetermines the transcendental turn (Re–Transcendentalising) of modern philosophy. The metaphysical transcendental shift that can be correlated with “the altered method of our way of thinking [in metaphysics]” [KrV, BXVIII], is associated with the splitting of the “thing” into the actual object (or Kantian thing-in-itself) and object of experience (or Kantian appearance), and involves a transition from the study of thing-in-itself to the analysis of the appearance. More precisely, this shift finds its expression in the transcendental triad “object (thing-in-itself; Ding an sich) – appearance (Erscheinung) – representation (Vorstellung)”, which determines the ‘idea’ (essence) of transcendental idealism/metaphysics.

Cognition and Reality

My study rebuilds the basic cognitive principle to approach the true form of motion reality. Scientific study and development has always been led by facts but has never been able to reach the basic truth. This is related to our basic sensory and cognitive modes. Our cognition and practices have been developed based on functionally created facts which are at odds with the motion directed natural principle formed in reality. Our basic sensory form is integrated by interactive features formed based on interactions between our senses and environment. We do not sense the true motion features of reality. This cognitive mode successfully meets our survival needs of interacting with the environment. However, for the development of a sustainable civilization it’s necessary to break through the ultimate barrier between cognition and reality. We need to realize the functions and limitations of our cognitive mode and how that effects human social practice and development, and most importantly, the natural world. This is the way to fundamentally understand and solve the societal and environmental problems caused by human development.

Religion Imagined: The Conceptual Substructures of American Religious Understandings

Sociologists have increasingly drawn on the cognitive sciences to better theorize how culture works. While this shift has improved understandings of the distinct qualities of practical and discursive modes of cognition, limited consideration has been given to the cognitive structures that scaffold cultural understandings. This article theorizes the influence of “image schemas” in structuring cultural understandings beneath the level of conscious awareness. After outlining how image schemas can be identified in interviews, I reconstruct how 50 religious Americans unconsciously “imagine” religion's role in their lives. Focusing on the implicit rather than respondents' explicit discourse, I identify five image schemas that structure Americans' religious understandings. Although respondents' understandings often appear incoherent and inconsistent at the level of explicit discourse, I show that they are coherent and consistent at the level of implicit image schemas. I then use factor analysis to identify patterns in these implicit understandings across social divisions. I conclude by discussing the promise of image schema analysis for improving studies of religion and other areas, as well as for theorizing how culture works.

Impact of Atmospheric Turbulence, Pointing Error, and Traffic Pattern on the Performance of Cognitive Hybrid FSO/RF System

Atmospheric turbulence conditions and mis-alignment in the free space optical (FSO) link are prime factors which necessitate the requirement of a back up radio frequency (RF) link to improve the link availability of the FSO systems. However, the utilization of this back-up RF link is limited. The RF channel which is meant chiefly as a back-up resource in case of FSO link failure, can be utilized more efficiently. In this work, it is attempted to improve the utilization of this RF resource. A second FSO link is converted to a Cognitive Hybrid FSO/RF link by accessing the already existing RF in the cognitive interweave mode. RF utilization factor is a measure of the efficiency with which the two FSO links utilize the same RF resource. The system performance is evaluated on the basis of RF utilization, outage probability and bit error rate (BER) under atmospheric turbulence and mis-alignment. Further, the impact of data traffic characteristics on system performance has been investigated. Closed form expressions for RF utilization, outage probability and BER have been derived for various traffic conditions. The analytical results have been verified through simulations. Results indicate improved system performance and better overall utilization of the RF resource.

DESIGN TEAM PERFORMANCE: A COMPARISON BETWEEN SELF-FORMED TEAMS AND TEAMS WITH DIVERSE COGNITIVE MODES

The impact of cognitive mode diversity on team performance and student satisfaction was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively in a capstone chemical engineering design course. In the capstone design course, students were permitted to form their own teams and the distribution of cognitive modes was assessed. In a concurrent design course, the same group of students performed projects in instructor-formed teams that optimized the distribution of cognitive modes. The results indicated no significant difference in team satisfaction between teams that had different levels of cognitive diversity. Although trends seemed to indicate higher rank in the course and greater independence and creativity for groups with higher cognitive diversity, these differences were not statistically significant. Generally, students seemed to have similar experiences in student-formed and instructor-formed groups. However, qualitative comments seem to indicate that groups may have worked more professionally and cohesively in the more cognitively-diverse, instructor-formed groups.

Sense and Motion: The Barrier Preventing Us from Understanding Motion

Currently, scientific study and advancements are at odds with the natural motion systems that surround us. This paper explores how it is our sensory form and the cognition developed upon this sensory form that creates a barrier preventing us from truly understanding the laws of motion. It begins by isolating and defining two distinct forms of information and information processing mechanisms: motion information and integrated information. From this new perspective, it then explains how our sensory system is necessarily based on an integrated information mechanism to support basic survival needs, but is essentially blind to the true features of motion. The far-reaching effects of this discovery include the limitations within our cognitive mode and the current methods of scientific study and development.

Oxygen treatment of ventilated critically ill children: Nursing assessment and cognitive processes in clinical decision-making

The aim of this study was to describe nurses’ opinions regarding assessments of oxygen requirements and which modes of cognition they used about oxygen treatment in ventilated children aged 0–3 years. The method was survey design with descriptive statistics. The sample included 90 nurses from intensive care units within all university hospitals in Norway. The questionnaire covered use of physiological, clinical, and technical observations in assessments, and the Nursing Decision-Making Instrument was used to map the mode of cognition. Respondents perceived they used many of the physiological criteria except for the haemoglobin–oxygen dissociation curve, pulse and blood pressure. Most respondents used clinical and technical criteria to assess oxygen needs, but more than half would exceed 10% oxygen at each regulation. They considered written guidelines to be necessary. A majority demonstrated a flexible use of analytical and intuitive modes of cognition in the decision-making processes. The results indicate that assessment of children’s need for oxygen may be based on insufficient information, and written guidelines should be developed.

Thresholds, rules and defensive strategies: how physicians learn from their prior diagnosis-related experiences

Background Health professionals are encouraged to learn from their errors. Determining how primary care physicians (PCPs) react to a case, in which their original diagnosis differed from the final outcome, could provide new insights on how they learn from experiences. We explored how PCPs altered their diagnostic evaluation of future patients after cases where the originally assumed diagnosis turned out to be wrong. Methods We asked German PCPs to complete an online survey where they described how the patient concerned originally presented, the subsequent course of events and whether they would change their diagnostic work-up of future patients. Qualitative methods were used to analyze narrative text obtained by this survey. Results A total of 29 PCPs submitted cases, most of which were ultimately found to be more severe than originally assumed. PCPs (n = 27) reflected on changes to their subsequent clinical decisions in the form of general maxims (n = 20) or more specific rules (n = 11). Most changes would have resulted in a lower threshold for investigations, referral and/or a more extensive collection of diagnostic information. PCPs decided not only to listen more often to their intuition (gut feelings), but to also practice more analytical reasoning. Participants felt the need for change of practice even if no clinical standards had been violated in the diagnosis of that case. Some decided to resort to defensive strategies in the future. Conclusions We describe mechanisms by which physicians calibrate their decision thresholds, as well as their cognitive mode (intuitive vs. analytical). PCPs reported the need for change in clinical practice despite the absence of error in some cases.

Do Managers’ Dark Personality Traits Help Firms in Coping with Adverse Supply Chain Events?

This research investigates purchasing managers’ responses to adverse supply chain events. We build on attribution theory to examine how individual‐level factors—managerial personality traits, cognitive modes, and attribution of supplier responsibility—combine with firm‐level factors—buffering and bridging—to affect coping success. We combine an inductive process‐tracing approach with the neo‐configurational method of fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Findings suggest that dark personality traits—traits that are generally regarded as socially aversive—are useful in coping with adverse supply chain events in combination with cross‐functionally integrated bridging, while the absence of dark personality traits is useful in combination with cross‐functionally integrated buffering. Our study contributes to the extant supply chain management literature in three ways: First, it highlights the role of dark personality traits in how purchasing managers react to supply chain risks. Second, it advances behavioral SCM literature by presenting nuanced findings on the effect of rational vs. intuitive cognitive processes in coping with such adverse events. Third, it contributes to attribution theory by providing a differentiated view on behavioral reactions following responsibility attributions. For managers, we find that high coping success might be achieved by seeking a fit between dark personality traits and firm actions. In addition, the results of the fsQCA demonstrate that supply chain research using configurational studies serves as a productive complement to traditional net effect analyses.

Data-driven decision making in graduate students’ research topic selection

Purpose With the advent of the intelligent environment, as novice researchers, graduate students face digital challenges in their research topic selection (RTS). The purpose of this paper is to explore their cognitive processes during data-driven decision making (DDDM) in RTS, thus developing technical and instructional strategies to facilitate their research tasks. Design/methodology/approach This study developes a theoretical model that considers data-driven RTS as a second-order factor comprising both rational and experiential modes. Additionally, data literacy and visual data presentation were proposed as an antecedent and a consequence of data-driven RTS, respectively. The proposed model was examined by employing structural equation modeling based on a sample of 931 graduate students. Findings The results indicate that data-driven RTS is a second-order factor that positively affects the level of support of visual data presentation and that data literacy has a positive impact on DDDM in RTS. Furthermore, data literacy indirectly affects the level of support of visual data presentation. Practical implications These findings provide support for developers of knowledge discovery systems, data scientists, universities and libraries on the optimization of data visualization and data literacy instruction that conform to students’ cognitive styles to inform RTS. Originality/value This paper reveals the cognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of data literacy and data-driven RTS under rational and experiential modes on the level of support of the tabular or graphical presentations. It provides insights into the match between the visualization formats and cognitive modes.

Dohsa-hou Enhanced Cognitive Control: Focusing on Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control Mode

Dohsa-hou Enhanced Cognitive Control: Focusing on Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control Mode

ERP Evidence for Inhibitory Control Deficits in Test-Anxious Individuals.

Introduction: Individuals with test anxiety [i.e., high test anxiety (HTA)] always treat tests/examinations as a potential threat. This cognitive mode impairs these individuals’ ability of inhibitory control and leads to a high level of anxiety. However, characterizing aspects of HTA’s impaired inhibitory control ability are unclear and need to be studied. Methods: Forty-six participants were recruited and divided into a HTA (N = 26) and low test anxiety (LTA; i.e., healthy control; N = 20) group. Self-reports (Test Anxiety Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for negative emotions) were obtained. An emotional Stroop (ES) task and a numerical Stroop (NS) task, causing different types of interferences, were used for assessing the emotional and cognitive aspects of attentional control ability (behavioral data). Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were registered to further assess processing stages related to different aspects of attentional control ability. Results: Compared with the LTA group, the HTA group has inhibitory control deficits of both emotional (see ERP components P1-P2-N2 and P3) and cognitive (see ERP component P3) interference. Compared with the LTA group, the HTA doesn't have lower accuracy in neither ES nor NS but displays longer reaction times only in ES. Additionally, the HTA group’s ES results also show that (1) the degree of emotional interference indicates the level of an individual’s anxiety, and (2) the ERP component P2 may serve as an index of the level of test anxiety. Conclusion: HTA individuals have extensive inhibitory deficits for both emotional and cognitive aspects; however, impairment impacts more on emotional aspects than on cognitive aspects. Additionally, as compared to NS, the negative impact of more impaired processing stages on task performance is more substantial in ES.

Languages of Love: The Formative Power of Religious Language

How we are to understand the formative and informative processes of language? At one level, language is understood as a medium for communicating knowledge through propositions that form or represent cognitive understanding and so can be defined as informative. The concern of this article is to explore the scope of this notion of linguistic and conceptual informing and to consider what it overlooks. I argue that straightforwardly propositional, descriptive and cognitive accounts of language leave out a great deal that properly belongs to language, namely the poetic, aesthetic and affective. I consider the distinction between the propositional statement and the poetic utterance initially through a discussion of the cognitive and affective modes of understanding. The argument explores a number of contexts in which language is primarily affective and formative, from Yoga Sutras to medieval Christian monasticism, in order to consider the varieties of affective and formative language. I argue that forms of devotional speech intended to form the person (the soul of the practitioner) are significantly affective as well as cognitive, forming the speaker in ways that are seldom considered in the context of more rationalist views of language. I then explore how a more poetic, aesthetic or affective kind of language can be seen shaping, or re-orienting desire. Finally, I argue that the theological understanding of negation (apophatic theology) can be helpfully applied to both the negation of our cognitive understanding (of God), as well as our desire (for God2) and show the educational significance through considerations of formation.