Framework For Cognitive Processes Research Articles

Effect of dynamic balance on human mental rotation task in female badminton vs. volleyball players.

The present study aims to compare the mental rotation performance between two non-contact sports (i.e., badminton and volleyball) in different upright conditions (i.e., with and without dynamic balance). Thirty-five female sports and physical education students voluntarily participated in the experiment, including fourteen specialists in badminton and twenty-one specialists in volleyball. The experiment involved a mental body rotation task with or without balance exercises on a wobble board. Badminton players outperformed volleyball players in the mental rotation tasks regardless of balance. More interestingly, the results revealed an overall decrease in reaction times when participants performed balance exercises simultaneously with mental rotation. Our findings suggest that introducing dynamic balance on a wobble board has immediate beneficial effects on the mental rotation performance of female badminton and volleyball players. These findings are discussed in the context of sport specificities and cognitive processing framework.

The Effect of Proficiency on Strategic Planning: What Difference Does It Make?

This study investigates the role of proficiency in task-based planning studies within a psycholinguistic cognitive processing framework. Through mixed-methods research, a narrative task was used to examine the effects of planning time on the fluency, accuracy, and complexity of language production and explore the allocation of learners’ attention during planning time between two sets of language proficiencies in a Sultanate of Oman Foreign Language (EFL) context. The methodology employed a within-subjects design with two levels of planning conditions (strategic and pressured on-line), and a between-subjects design with two levels of proficiency (low-intermediate and high-intermediate). The results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis show that different proficiency levels interact differently to planning time. This has implications for both previous task-based planning studies and in attaining balanced inter-language development in the EFL classroom.

Towards a framework of cognitive processes during competitive golf using the Think Aloud method

ObjectivesMost research to date that has investigated cognitive processes in golf using the Think Aloud (TA) method has analysed data deductively and using statistical methods. Such an approach, however, can lead to potentially relevant data being overlooked and assumes that a priori coding schemes are valid reflections of a phenomenon. Therefore, to enable the generation of novel insights, this study sought to qualitatively explore cognitive processes in golf by inductively analysing TA data captured during competition. MethodSeventeen adolescent golfers (male n = 16; female n = 1, M handicap = 5.43) were asked to verbalise their thoughts while playing a 6-hole competitive round of golf. Data were analysed thematically in relation to the pre-shot and post-shot phases by each author independently, with the final findings produced collaboratively and through the use of trustworthiness procedures. ResultsCognitive processes during the pre-shot and post-shot phases were each captured by six themes. Some cognitive processes were consistently evident across shots, while others differed depending on the context. Before shots, the players consistently reported: monitoring; planning; and situational appraisals. Additionally, shots were followed by: monitoring; reviewing, evaluating, and planning; and situational appraisals. Before and after shots, the players also described context-specific: affective responses; distraction; and psychological skills. ConclusionsThe study demonstrated the benefits of moving beyond deductively analysing and quantifying cognitions by using an inductive approach to analyse TA data. The findings extend current knowledge by illustrating the dynamic and often deliberative process that occurs during the decision making process in golf.

A framework for characterizing students’ cognitive processes related to informal best fit lines

ABSTRACTInformal best fit lines frequently appear in school curricula. Previous research collectively illustrates that the adjective informal does not translate to cognitive simplicity. Using existing literature, we create a hypothetical framework of cognitive processes associated with studying informal best fit lines. We refine the framework using data from a cycle of design-based research about building students’ understanding of covariation. The refined framework includes student thinking processes for signifying observations as data, signifying data with scatterplots, perceiving aggregates in scatterplots, perceiving trends in aggregates, signifying trends with straight lines, and using straight lines as estimation tools. We explain how students’ perceptions of aggregates can proceed from the inside-out as well as from the outside-in. We also demonstrate how the amounts of variation encountered at different points in time and the extent to which students perceive straight lines to be abbreviations of linear covariation are important considerations for teaching and research.

Preparing Social Work Graduates for Digital Practice: Ethical Pedagogies for Effective Learning

ABSTRACTDebate has arisen in social work about the value of online education, with proponents providing examples of innovative approaches to online teaching and those against it citing the need for face-to-face interactions to suitably teach and assess social work skills. At the same time, social workers are increasingly making use of social media, websites, online databases, email, and text messaging services for work with clients. Consequently, social workers must be adequately prepared to make use of online technologies in their practice. Drawing on examples of online interactive activities used at two regional universities and informed by Chi’s conceptual framework of cognitive processes of learning, this article argues that learning via information and communications technology (ICT) helps prepare graduates for emerging digital practice and should be an integral part of social work education. Further, ICT enables educators to monitor the levels and quality of student rehearsal of practice skills and knowledge in interactive learning experiences helping promote competent practice, grounded in social work values.

Validation of undergraduate medical student script concordance test (SCT) scores on the clinical assessment of the acute abdomen.

BackgroundHealth professionals often manage medical problems in critical situations under time pressure and on the basis of vague information. In recent years, dual process theory has provided a framework of cognitive processes to assist students in developing clinical reasoning skills critical especially in surgery due to the high workload and the elevated stress levels. However, clinical reasoning skills can be observed only indirectly and the corresponding constructs are difficult to measure in order to assess student performance. The script concordance test has been established in this field. A number of studies suggest that the test delivers a valid assessment of clinical reasoning. However, different scoring methods have been suggested. They reflect different interpretations of the underlying construct. In this work we want to shed light on the theoretical framework of script theory and give an idea of script concordance testing. We constructed a script concordance test in the clinical context of “acute abdomen” and compared previously proposed scores with regard to their validity.MethodsA test comprising 52 items in 18 clinical scenarios was developed, revised along the guidelines and administered to 56 4th and 5th year medical students at the end of a blended-learning seminar. We scored the answers using five different scoring methods (distance (2×), aggregate (2×), single best answer) and compared the scoring keys, the resulting final scores and Cronbach’s α after normalization of the raw scores.ResultsAll scores except the single best answers calculation achieved acceptable reliability scores (>= 0.75), as measured by Cronbach’s α. Students were clearly distinguishable from the experts, whose results were set to a mean of 80 and SD of 5 by the normalization process. With the two aggregate scoring methods, the students’ means values were between 62.5 (AGGPEN) and 63.9 (AGG) equivalent to about three expert SD below the experts’ mean value (Cronbach’s α : 0.76 (AGGPEN) and 0.75 (AGG)). With the two distance scoring methods the students’ mean was between 62.8 (DMODE) and 66.8 (DMEAN) equivalent to about two expert SD below the experts’ mean value (Cronbach’s α: 0.77 (DMODE) and 0.79 (DMEAN)). In this study the single best answer (SBA) scoring key yielded the worst psychometric results (Cronbach’s α: 0.68).ConclusionAssuming the psychometric properties of the script concordance test scores are valid, then clinical reasoning skills can be measured reliably with different scoring keys in the SCT presented here. Psychometrically, the distance methods seem to be superior, wherein inherent statistical properties of the scales might play a significant role. For methodological reasons, the aggregate methods can also be used. Despite the limitations and complexity of the underlying scoring process and the calculation of reliability, we advocate for SCT because it allows a new perspective on the measurement and teaching of cognitive skills.

Le socle biologique de la psychanalyse

ObjectivesIs psychoanalysis still relevant in the light of the rise of neurosciences and other numerous and primarily scientific approaches to the human being? It seems that the points of convergence between psychoanalysis and the sciences are increasing lately due to the discoveries in neuroimaging but also in biology, which bring scientists closer to the expanding notion of the mind (subject to the living diversity laws) and away from a mechanistic vision of the brain as posited by behaviorist functioning. This work intends to feed the debate concerning the scientific nature of psychoanalysis by returning to the fundamentally scientific Freud and the emerging dialogues between psychoanalysis and the neurosciences. MethodThe author first explores the scientific postulates that define the Freudian perspective; Freud is of the opinion that psychoanalysis is an empirical science which begins in observation so as to build temporary structures that are reshaped according to further deductions. Scientific studies focusing mainly on memory, perception and emotions as well as their interactions within the framework of cognitive processes, offer many suggestions and trajectories for thinking about subjectivity and the unconscious. The relationship between the brain's spontaneous activity and normal hallucinatory is also questioned. ResultsThe dynamic at work within the major psychological and cognitive components selected here demonstrates their inseparability and the essentially subjective dimension that emerges during their interaction. Procedural memory and priming studies can be linked to the theory of the unconscious and the decisive role primary records play in construction of personality and life paths. As for perception, it seems to depend largely on the elements contained by memory determining the perceptive choices by creating a disassociation between the perceived and the objective reality. Emotions are strongly intertwined with learning and modulate relations to reality via somatic markers; these views are close to the Freudian theories that anchor the drive, and therefore memory and affect, in the corporeal. The brain default activity completes the vision of a brain that generates its own scenarios (based on memory) often offset from the objective reality; this activity can be understood as a normal hallucinatory ensuring the subjective dimension of the individual. ConclusionThe study of the subject and its depths should take place in the areas where knowledge issuing from psychoanalysis and science intersect. Without a framework that meets stringent (but also questionable) criteria of science, psychoanalysis and approaches related to it remain one of the only tools capable of accessing the depths of the subject. Nevertheless sciences allow psychoanalysis a possible confrontation with a wider reality demonstrated by rigorous criteria and allowing insertion of the subject in configurations that are not only fantasies and excessively subjective, but also determined by broader scientific laws. It is the articulation of the subjective and the living as a whole, including its biological bases which should also be at the heart of psychoanalytic thinking that already has a strong knowledge of the subject gained through more than 100 years of practice.

On the Foundations of the Brussels Operational-Realistic Approach to Cognition

The scientific community is becoming more and more interested in the research that applies the mathematical formalism of quantum theory to model human decision-making. In this paper, we provide the theoretical foundations of the quantum approach to cognition that we developed in Brussels. These foundations rest on the results of two decade studies on the axiomatic and operational-realistic approaches to the foundations of quantum physics. The deep analogies between the foundations of physics and cognition lead us to investigate the validity of quantum theory as a general and unitary framework for cognitive processes, and the empirical success of the Hilbert space models derived by such investigation provides a strong theoretical confirmation of this validity. However, two situations in the cognitive realm, 'question order effects' and 'response replicability', indicate that even the Hilbert space framework could be insufficient to reproduce the collected data. This does not mean that the mentioned operational-realistic approach would be incorrect, but simply that a larger class of measurements would be in force in human cognition, so that an extended quantum formalism may be needed to deal with all of them. As we will explain, the recently derived 'extended Bloch representation' of quantum theory (and the associated 'general tension-reduction' model) precisely provides such extended formalism, while remaining within the same unitary interpretative framework.

Staying in the Zone

Situation Awareness (SA) issues are often identified as contributing factors to drilling incidents, most recently in the Deepwater Horizon blowout. Two studies aimed to identify the cognitive components required for offshore drillers to develop and maintain SA whilst controlling subsea hydrocarbon wells. In study one, critical incident interviews were conducted with 18 experienced drilling personnel. Transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis, producing a framework of cognitive processes that enable drillers to build up an understanding of what is happening in the well bore and surrounding environment, predicting how the situation may develop. In the second study, analysis of 24 hours of observations (in-vivo and video) from a high fidelity well control simulator suggest behaviors such as monitoring and crew sharing information contribute to the drillers’ SA. The findings highlight the importance of SA for safe and effective performance in drilling and are being used to develop a cognitive task analysis.

The course of PTSD symptoms following military training accidents and brief psychosocial interventions

Abstract The present study examined individual and contextual factors associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms in military personnel (N=122) at 2–3 weeks, 4 and 12 months following two fatal training accidents. PTSD symptoms were reduced after both units had received early psychosocial intervention and continued to perform their operational duties. Examination of individual cases showed a stable low or declining trend in 77% participants, while 23% revealed a stable high or increasing trend in PTSD symptoms over time. PTSD symptoms at 2–3 weeks were associated with trauma exposure, social role in the organization, and avoidance focused coping. Trauma exposure, social role in the organization, and intrusion symptoms at 2–3 weeks, explained 36% of the variance in PTSD-symptoms at 4 months. Previous accidents, emotion focused coping, and avoidance symptoms at 2–3 weeks and 4 months explained 40% of the variance in PTSD-symptoms at 12 months. The results are interpreted within a cognitive processing framework, and the study points out the importance of early assessment of posttraumatic stress symptoms, appraisal and coping responses in professional units exposed to fatal accidents in their line of duty

A COGNITIVE FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING DEMOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES IN GROUPS

Recent research on group demography demonstrates that an increase in demographic diversity has both positive and negative effects on group effectiveness. These studies have linked increased group diversity with an increase in creative thinking and innovation, a decrease in intra‐group cohesion, and an increase in intragroup conflict. The cognitive processing framework proposed in this paper integrates these results into a coherent understanding of the effects of diversity on groups. The cognitive framework provides an explanation of group diversity effects and it suggests ways to minimize the negative effects of group diversity.

Searching Documents: Cognitive Processes and Deficits in Understanding Graphs, Tables, and Illustrations

A cognitive processing framework for how people read and understand graphs, tables, and illustrations was explored in two studies. In Study I, 16 students provided verbal protocol data in think-aloud tasks with four graphs and four illustrations taken from textbooks and newspapers. The students answered questions that required them to either locate specific details in the documents (local search) or see trends and understand the gist of the documents (global search). In searching for specific information, students reported thinking about the organization and category structure of the documents; whereas in searching for trends, the students reported making generalizations and developing abstractions. In Study II, a larger set of documents including eight tables, eight graphs, and eight illustrations, as well as global and specific questions, were used. Performance on all tasks revealed one factor which required students to locate specific information, and a second factor which required students to perceive trends and patterns. We inferred that performance on the second factor benefitted from abstraction processes that were relatively independent of the components of search that were needed for performance on the first factor, which emphasized locating specific information. The level of competence in searching for trends was significantly lower than that in searching for specific information, suggesting that the abstraction process had not been learned by a substantial number of students. The cognitive processing framework was discussed in relation to other models of document literacy.

On the similarity of positive and negative intrusions

Ninety-eight psychology students completed questionnaire on their experience during the past two weeks of intrusive thoughts and of their mood state. Positive and negative intrusions were similar with respect to uncontrollability. Negative intrusions were significantly less acceptable and more distressing. Although positive intrusions were typically ‘enjoyed’, a common response to intrusions was to initiate some neutralising process. Controllability of both positive and negative intrusions was significantly related to depresed mood. Within a cognitive processing framework the assumption that intrusions have natural attentional priority may have value in simplifying theoretical models of obsessional and compulsive processes.