Complex Cognitive Activities Research Articles

Characterizing human spontaneous thoughts and its application in major depressive disorder

BackgroundSpontaneous thought is a universal, complex, and heterogeneous cognitive activity that significantly impacts mental activity and strongly correlates with mental disorders. MethodsUtilizing the think-aloud method, we captured spontaneous thoughts during rest from 38 diagnosed with depression, alongside 36 healthy controls and 137 healthy individuals. Through a comprehensive assessment of various dimensions of thought content, we compared thought content between individuals with depression and healthy controls, and between healthy women and men. Finally, we employed natural language processing (NLP) to develop regression models for multidimensional content assessment and a classification model to differentiate between individuals with and without depression. ResultsCompared to healthy controls, individuals with depression had more internally oriented and less externally oriented spontaneous thoughts. They focused more on themselves and negative things, and less on positive things, experiencing higher levels of negative emotions and lower levels of positive emotions. Besides, we found that compared to healthy men, healthy women's spontaneous thoughts focus more on interoception, the self, past events, and negative events, and they experience higher levels of negative emotions. Meanwhile, we identified the potential application of the think-aloud method to collect spontaneous thoughts and integrate NLP in the field of depression. ConclusionsThis study offers direct insights into the stream of thought during individuals' resting state, revealing differences between individuals with depression and healthy controls, as well as sex differences in the content of spontaneous thoughts. It enhances our understanding of spontaneous thought and offers a new perspective for preventing, diagnosing, and treating depression.

50 years of research on working memory

Exactly 50 years ago, Allan Baddeley and Graham Hitch's (1974) working memory model fascinated academics and diagnosticians dealing with human cognition and fundamentally transformed the landscape of memory research. Working memory is the ability of the human mind that enables the creation and reception of messages, mental arithmetic, decision-making and other complex cognitive activities that require the temporary storage of necessary information and manipulation of it in order to perform current tasks (e.g. following the flow of a conversation). It is therefore one of the most dynamically developed areas of mind research in cognitive psychology, cognitive science, neuropsychology and the psychology of individual differences (especially in the diagnosis of intellect). The research dispute concerns many aspects of the construct of working memory described in detail: its structure, functions, capacity limitations, connection with consciousness, long-term memory, attention, etc. (cf. Logie, Belletier et al., 2021). The proposed solutions are so detailed that people who do not closely follow the literature on the subject may have difficulty understanding their essence. The origins of this creative confusion date back to the proposals of Baddeley and Hitch (1974), who carefully analyzed data on temporary memory and recognized it as a system composed of many interacting components, that is, separate subsystems storing information in different formats (e.g., visual or auditory), and from their superior subsystem, which manages the flow and use of the collected information. This article presents the context in which Baddeley and Hitch's (1974) multi-component model of working memory was developed, describes the milestones marking the dynamic changes it underwent, and lists the research projects that prompted a more detailed description of the individual components of the model. Although an influential part of contemporary competing approaches to working memory abandons many of Baddeley's theses (Cowan, 2017; Oberauer, 2019), each of them follows the conceptual paths forged by this author and must specify their positions in the questions asked during the fifty-year journey of working memory researchers.

Microbiota-gut-brain axis: the mediator of exercise and brain health.

The brain controls the nerve system, allowing complex emotional and cognitive activities. The microbiota-gut-brain axis is a bidirectional neural, hormonal, and immune signaling pathway that could link the gastrointestinal tract to the brain. Over the past few decades, gut microbiota has been demonstrated to be an essential component of the gastrointestinal tract that plays a crucial role in regulating most functions of various body organs. The effects of the microbiota on the brain occur through the production of neurotransmitters, hormones, and metabolites, regulation of host-produced metabolites, or through the synthesis of metabolites by the microbiota themselves. This affects the host's behavior, mood, attention state, and the brain's food reward system. Meanwhile, there is an intimate association between the gut microbiota and exercise. Exercise can change gut microbiota numerically and qualitatively, which may be partially responsible for the widespread benefits of regular physical activity on human health. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive method to show areas of brain activity enabling the delineation of specific brain regions involved in neurocognitive disorders. Through combining exercise tasks and fMRI techniques, researchers can observe the effects of exercise on higher brain functions. However, exercise's effects on brain health via gut microbiota have been little studied. This article reviews and highlights the connections between these three interactions, which will help us to further understand the positive effects of exercise on brain health and provide new strategies and approaches for the prevention and treatment of brain diseases.

The SPECTRA Study: Validating a New Memory Training Program based on the Episodic Specificity Induction to Promote Transfer in Older Adults.

Some complex cognitive activities impacted by aging (future thinking, problem-solving, creative thinking) have been shown to rely on episodic retrieval, suggesting that cognitive interventions aiming to improve retrieval have the potential to induce transfer effects to these activities. Prior studies have shown that a brief one-session technique called Episodic Specificity Induction (ESI) can transiently improve episodic retrieval and induce transfer effects to complex tasks that rely on episodic retrieval in older adults. In the present proof-of-concept study, we assessed whether a training program consisting of repeated practice of the ESI technique can improve episodic retrieval and transfer to complex tasks. Fifteen healthy older adults completed a six-session intervention where they received repeated ESI practice. Before and after the intervention, nearest transfer effects were assessed using free recall, near transfer effects using recognition and associative recognition, and far-transfer effects using mean-ends problem-solving and divergent creative thinking. Before the intervention, typical ESI effects were observed (better performance after an ESI than after a control task), indicating that the ESI operated as expected in our sample. When examining the intervention effects, performance was increased after the intervention on free recall and recognition (nearest- and near-transfer) as well as problem-solving and divergent creative thinking (far transfer). These results indicate that an intervention relying on the ESI technique can produce both near and far transfer. These findings support the use of the ESI in the design of interventions that could improve retrieval and have a broad impact on a range of complex tasks.

Pedagogical importance of reading literacy. A comparative study on PISA

Reading, as complex cognitive activity, has become the focus of numerous national and international studies from a comparative perspective. This research analyses the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) over the last few years due to, according to the results, the low performance presented by Spanish students in reading skills. This low result is shown in the different stages analysed and it is even worse if it is considered the 2006 and 2018 reports since in those years worst results were achieved (461 and 477 points respectively).
 In order to do this, different factors that have an influence on reading skills are analysed. It is done a comparative and longitudinal research from 2000 to 2018 that considers all the results provided by OECD. With that data in mind and the purpose of understanding them and contextualize those factors that could rise to them, other elements are studied, such as the presence of the reading skills in the Spanish legislation, the investment made in Secondary Education, the rate of students who finish Compulsory Secondary School, as well as the evolution that school libraries have had in terms of number, uses or the participation of families and the environment in them. These aspects are analysed in a way that is compared with the reading performance obtained throughout the PISA studies. Finally, the approach of the PISA reports justifies its use as a reference for a qualitative and global understanding of the aspects that interfere with appropriate reading skills in fifteen-year-old students. This goes beyond numerical results.

French Students with Dyslexia Facing the Punctuation System: Insecurity, Inventory Use, and Error Studies.

Punctuation strongly contributes to the cohesion of the text. Despite this relevant role in written activity, this linguistic paradigm is too rarely observed. Moreover, it is all the more important to analyze its management as it is one of the difficulties declared by students with dyslexia. In that sense, the purpose of this paper is to analyze punctuation management during written text production by students with dyslexia, compared to matched control students. Previous English and Dutch studies confirm this feeling and reveal that students with dyslexia make many punctuation errors. That being said, there is no consensus; other studies do not reach this conclusion. For this present study, students with dyslexia and control students matched in age, university level, and gender were asked to produce spontaneous written and spoken narrative and expository texts. The written texts (N = 86) were collected using Eye and Pen© software with digitizing tablets. Results reveal that if students with dyslexia use the same inventory of punctuation marks as control students, they use fewer punctuation marks and make more errors than control students. These results are discussed and highlighted by the literature dealing with written production as a complex cognitive activity. They reveal that punctuation management is deficient for students with dyslexia, suggesting that the cohesion system can be impacted by dyslexia.

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH LEARNING STYLES

Writing is an extremely complex cognitive activity in which the writer is required to demonstrate control of variables simultaneously. This research aimed to investigate whether there was a significant difference of students’ writing achievement before and after being taught through students’ learning style. Since the students of Islamic Senior High School in Sekayu still found it very difficult to do. The sample of the research was eleventh grade student. The research was conducted by applying quasi-experimental factorial research. Non-randomized sampling technique was applied in this research. Modality Test Questioners from Neil Fleming was applied to determine students’ learning styles. The sample was 62 students of science students. In terms of pretest – posttest non- equivalent group design. The Mean of posttest’s score was higher than pre-test. It means that there is an increase of students’ writing’s achievement after being taught through their styles in learning.
 Writing is an extremely complex cognitive activity in which the writer is required to demonstrate control of variables simultaneously. This research aimed to investigate whether there was a significant difference of students’ writing achievement before and after being taught through students’ learning style. Since the students of Islamic Senior High School in Sekayu still found it very difficult to do. The sample of the research was eleventh grade student. The research was conducted by applying quasi-experimental factorial research. Non-randomized sampling technique was applied in this research. Modality Test Questioners from Neil Fleming was applied to determine students’ learning styles. The sample was 62 students of science students. In terms of pretest – posttest non- equivalent group design. The Mean of posttest’s score was higher than pre-test. It means that there is an increase of students’ writing’s achievement after being taught through their styles in learning.

МОДУСНЫЙ КОНЦЕПТ КОНДИЦИОНАЛЬНОСТЬ И ЕГО СТРУКТУРА В НЕМЕЦКОЙ ЛИНГВОКУЛЬТУРЕ

The paper is devoted to interaction of cognitive and language mechanisms forming conditional sense in German linguistic culture. Dominant language units that represent this sense are conditional clauses. In the German language there are some conjunctions with conditional sense making the meaning of subordinate clauses variable: wenn, falls, sofern, wenn also . The purpose of the paper is to find out conceptual variability that indicates the interpretation modus of conditionality. Realizing this purpose, the author uses the principle of situation performing that allows to differentiate subconcepts of CONDITIONALITY in the German linguistic culture. The semantics of clauses depends on the semantics of the conjunctions. Following its etymology, the conjunction falls is connected with the verb fallen and the noun der Fall . Both indicate the component ‘moving down’ in their meaning. In German the subconcept represented by the conjunction falls implies especially marked situations that are unexpected or undesired. The conjunction sofern is etymologically connected with the preposition in that indicates some restricted room. That’s why the clauses connected with sofern denote some restriction of situations. The conjunction wenn also is complex, so in this case we have to do with complex cognitive activity. The first step of this activity is to summarize the pretext content by the component also , the second step is to change the summarized content by the component wenn into a condition, so that clauses sign especially marked summarized conditional situations. In the structure of CONDITIONALITY the author distinguishes between the center represented by wenn -clauses and the periphery represented by the following conjunctions whose interpretation modus is specific: falls indicates the modus of unexpected or undesired condition , sofern signs the modus of restriction and wenn also the modus of resuming. The outlook provides researching of other modus concepts that are represented by subordinate clauses connected with other conjunctions.

The impact of directionality and speech event type on target speech compression/expansion in simultaneous interpreting

Simultaneous interpreting is a complex cognitive activity that can be influenced by several factors, including source speech features (e.g., delivery rate), contextual variables, working languages, and directionality (e.g., interpreting from/into one’s native or foreign language), among others. Owing to the time constraints inherent in this interpreting mode, simultaneous interpreters must make swift decisions on how to best deliver the original message into the target language. Although explicitation is considered a universal feature of translation and interpreting, it is also true that part of (redundant) information is eventually omitted. In fact, as opposed to translated texts, interpreting corpora show a general trend of interpreted speeches being shorter than source speeches (in terms of number of words). However, a closer look at the Directionality in Simultaneous Interpreting Corpus (DIRSI) partially disconfirms such a general trend. The DIRSI corpus consists of three medical conferences mediated by simultaneous interpreters (English/Italian). Each conference is analyzed in terms of speech length to ascertain to what extent directionality and speech event type may have an impact on the interpreters’ output. Results show that directionality cannot always be linked to target speech expansion, whereas the type of speech event is likely to play a role. In particular, this applies to the interpretation of source speeches under 500 words, as interpreters adopt optimization strategies to manage politeness, source speech ungrammaticality, and integrate contextual cues.

Comparing online cognitive load on mobile versus PC-based devices.

Navigating the web represents a complex cognitive activity that requires effective integration of different stimuli and the correct functioning of numerous cognitive abilities (including attention, perception, and working memory). Despite the potential relevance of the topic, numerous limitations are present throughout the literature about the cognitive load during online activities. The main aim of this study is to investigate cognitive load during comprehension and information-seeking tasks. In particular, we here focus on the comparison of the cognitive load required while performing those tasks using mobile or PC-based devices. This topic has become even more crucial due to the massive adoption of smart working and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A great effort is nowadays devoted to the detection and quantification of stressful states induced by working and learning activities. Continuous stress and excessive cognitive load are two of the main causes of mental and physical illnesses such as depression or anxiety. Cognitive load was measured through electroencephalography (EEG), acquired via a low-cost wireless EEG headset. Two different tasks were considered: reading comprehension (CO) of online text and online information-seeking (IS). Moreover, two experimental conditions were compared, administering the two tasks using mobile (MB) and desktop (PC) devices. Eleven participants were involved in each experimental condition, MB and PC, performing both the tasks on the same device, for a total of twenty-two people, recruited from students, researchers, and employees of the university. The following two research questions were investigated: Q1: Is there a difference in the cognitive load while performing the comprehension and the information-seeking tasks? Q2: Does the adopted device influence the cognitive load? The results obtained show that the baseline (BL) requires the lower cognitive load in both the conditions, while in IS task, the requirement reaches its highest value, especially using a mobile phone. In general, the power of all the brain wave bands increased in all conditions (MB and PC) during the two tasks (CO and IS), except for alpha, which is usually high in a state of relaxation and low cognitive load. People include website navigation into their daily routines, and for this, it is important to create an interaction that is as easy and barrier-free as possible. An effective design allows a user to focus on interesting information: many website architectures, instead, are an obstacle to be overcome; they impose a high cognitive load and poor user experience. All these aspects draw cognitive resources away from the user's primary task of finding and comprehending the site's information. Having information about how the cognitive load varies based on the device adopted and the considered task can provide useful indicators in this direction. This work suggests that using an EEG low-cost wearable device could be useful to quantify the cognitive load induced, allowing the development of new experiments to analyse these dependencies deeper, and to provide suggestions for better interaction with the web.

Teaching Programming by Revealing Thinking Process: Watching Experts’ Live Coding Videos With Reflection Annotations

Contribution: Programming is a complex cognitive activity that involves both conceptual understanding and procedural skills, which is challenging for novices. To develop both program comprehension and implementation competency, this study proposed a live-coding-based instruction. Experts’ live coding with think-aloud was recorded. Students then learn algorithmic planning and coding skills by observing experts’ thinking and coding processes from the videos. To deploy this pedagogical strategy, a learning platform was developed to present the videos to students who could also annotate their reflection about the videos in the system to deepen their understanding of syntax and concepts of computer programming. Background: Traditional lecture-based programming instruction focuses more on the explanation of syntax and concepts but lacks revealing the dynamic and nonlinear thinking and coding process. Research Questions: This study is to explore the effects of live-coding-based instruction on students’ programming knowledge, including declarative program knowledge (program comprehension) and procedural program knowledge (coding skills), and whether the instruction changes their attitude toward programming learning or not. Methodology: An empirical study was conducted with 33 high-school students who were novice programmers in one semester to explore the effectiveness of the live-coding-based instruction and the use of the learning platform. Findings: The experiment results show that watching flowcharting ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r=0.369, p \mathbf { &lt; }0.05$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) or coding processes ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r=0.409, p \mathbf { &lt; }0.05$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) of experts improves coding skills. This implies that explicit depiction of algorithmic planning and coding processes are essential for building procedural programming knowledge. In addition, reflection on syntactic content of experts’ programming plays an important role in programming ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r=0.511,p \mathbf { &lt; }0.01$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ). The research findings suggest that programming instruction could focus more on developing students’ problem-solving abilities by demonstrating the dynamic and nonlinear programming processes and providing opportunities for students to reflect on how syntactic knowledge could be applied to programming.

The Mental Model As A Medium To Influence And Direct Business Discourse

The paper aims to analyze the reproduction of mental models in business communication, highlighting the sociocognitive aspect of discourse both on personal and social levels. Discourse is a complex cognitive activity, which, according to some researchers (Graesser, Millis, van Dijk and Kintsch), comprises 5 levels; 1. surface code (words and syntax), 2. text base (semantic representation of the text), 3. situation model (all explicit and implicit factors about discourse), 4. genre and rhetorical structure (narration, description, argumentation, etc. and corresponding rhetorical structures) and 5. pragmatic communication (setting, time, place, social status of the participants, etc.). Discourse is comprehended and activated in accordance with external and internal factors inextricably intertwined in one particular situation. The social dimension of discourse in conjunction with cognitive processes hugely contributes to the formation of mental models that can affect the course of any interaction. Mental models are subjective representations based on personal cognitive processes. The cognitive processes in one’s mind (thinking, perceiving, understanding, feeling) create mental models, which are underpinned by the empirical data that one has in his mind or by the acquired knowledge that can be later utilized in various situational discourses.

Myanmar EFL pre-service teachers' motivational disposition in English writing: A pilot study

Abstract Since acquiring writing skills in the English language is a multiplex task as it includes several complex cognitive activities (Tillema, 2012), it is a challenging skill to master for English as a foreign language (EFL) students. The acquisition of this skill is also affected by motivation, which has a great impact on the success or failure of learning the target language (Dörnyei &amp; Ushioda, 2011), and significantly influences the learner's academic and professional performance (Csizér &amp; Dörnyei, 2005). Lack of research focusing on investigating the motivating effect of different aspects of English writing in the Myanmar context provided inspiration to conduct the present pilot study, which focused on mapping the motivational profile of 54 EFL pre-service teachers in English writing in Myanmar. The questionnaire developed by the authors was piloted in September 2020. Results indicate that out of the 12 dimensions measured, pre-service teachers' ideal selves and instrumental motivation seem to be the most motivating aspects of English writing, and there is a strong correlation between these two scales suggesting that the participants' ideal L2 self has a pragmatic focus. Moreover, regression analysis shows that pre-service teachers' intrinsic motivation, and their ideal selves contribute most to their motivated learning behavior.

Kognitiivsed probleemid algajate ja kogenud tõlkijate tõlkeprotsessis

Tõlkimisel on palju definitsioone, kuid kõige muu hulgas on tõlkimine ka keerukas kognitiivne tegevus, mis hõlmab mitmesuguseid teadmisi ja oskusi, aga sõltub suuresti ka tõlkija töökogemusest ning tema individuaalsetest kognitiivsetest võimetest. Alates 1960. aastate lõpust on koostatud erinevaid uurimusi, mis keskenduvad tõlkeprotsessi erinevatele etappidele, tõlkeüksustele ja segmenteerimismustritele, probleemilahendamisele, otsustusprotsessidele jne. Siinses artiklis käsitletakse tõlkimist kognitiivse tegevusena ning vaadeldakse, millised kognitiivsed probleemid tekivad algajatel ja kogenud tõlkijatel tõlkeprotsessi käigus ning kuidas erineva kogemusega tõlkijad neid lahendavad. Uurimistöös viidi läbi tõlkekatse valjustimõtlemise protokollide abil, lisaks vastasid katses osalejad küsimustikule. *** Cognitive problems in the translation process of novice and experienced translators Translating is a complex cognitive activity that requires diverse knowledge and skills. Depending on this knowledge and skills as well as on the work experience of the translator and on the cognitive abilities of a particular person, the translation process may lead to many problems, which are solved using different strategies. The aim of this article was to find out which cognitive problems arise in the translation process of novices and experienced translators and how they solve these problems. Empirical data was collected by think-aloud protocols. The sample was six people, including three novices (translation students) and three experienced translators (professional experience of at least 10 years). Participants were asked to think aloud while translating a short automotive marketing text (317 words) and record their thoughts with voice recording technology. The participants also filled in a questionnaire. The think-aloud protocols were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. The coding scheme was created using Angelone’s (2010) problem-solving bundle comprising of problem recognition, solution proposal and solution evaluation, and the selected problem indicators proposed by Krings (1986). The results of the study showed that both novice and experienced had problems with vocabulary. All of them also encountered uncertainty; however, the novices experienced it more frequently. All participants had problems while translating and there was no difference between the novice and experienced translators. However, the results of the study showed that the novices had more problems in the revision stage than the experienced translators. All translators used information retrieval and reference materials to solve the problems. Differences occurred in the reference materials used, namely the novices used machine translation while experienced translators did not. Also, experienced translators used specialty dictionaries and bilingual corpora and suggested asking a colleague or a client to solve the problem, while the novices did not.

COMPARATIVE REVIEW ABOUT HYPNOSIS &amp; SLEEP

The long historical connotation between hypnosis and sleep is still reproduced in many of the standard induction propositions that should enter into a deep, relaxed, soothing sleep. There are many counterparts between sleep and hypnosis. The phenomenological resemblances between sleep and hypnosis raise many fascinating theoretical and methodological questions. Behaviourally, sleep is easily predictable. The behavioural indication for sleep includes the person's general appearance, physical slackening, lack of communication with and response to the external world, and special manifestations such as snoring. The electronecephalographic (EEG) during hypnosis appears to be quite dissimilar from the basic EEG patterns of sleep stages 2, 3, and 4. Most authors agree that the EEG during hypnosis is alike to waking EEG patterns entailing of desynchronized fast activity and alpha activity. Complex cognitive activity may block alpha. The chapter abridges correlations between the sleep-induced response and factors of hypnotic behaviour.

Bayesian decision theory and navigation.

Spatial navigation is a complex cognitive activity that depends on perception, action, memory, reasoning, and problem-solving. Effective navigation depends on the ability to combine information from multiple spatial cues to estimate one's position and the locations of goals. Spatial cues include landmarks, and other visible features of the environment, and body-based cues generated by self-motion (vestibular, proprioceptive, and efferent information). A number of projects have investigated the extent to which visual cues and body-based cues are combined optimally according to statistical principles. Possible limitations of these investigations are that they have not accounted for navigators' prior experiences with or assumptions about the task environment and have not tested complete decision models. We examine cue combination in spatial navigation from a Bayesian perspective and present the fundamental principles of Bayesian decision theory. We show that a complete Bayesian decision model with an explicit loss function can explain a discrepancy between optimal cue weights and empirical cues weights observed by (Chen et al. Cognitive Psychology, 95, 105-144, 2017) and that the use of informative priors to represent cue bias can explain the incongruity between heading variability and heading direction observed by (Zhao and Warren 2015b, Psychological Science, 26[6], 915-924). We also discuss (Petzschner and Glasauer's , Journal of Neuroscience, 31(47), 17220-17229, 2011) use of priors to explain biases in estimates of linear displacements during visual path integration. We conclude that Bayesian decision theory offers a productive theoretical framework for investigating human spatial navigation and believe that it will lead to a deeper understanding of navigational behaviors.

Functional Brain Network Analysis of Knowledge Transfer While Engineering Problem-Solving.

As a complex cognitive activity, knowledge transfer is mostly correlated to cognitive processes such as working memory, behavior control, and decision-making in the human brain while engineering problem-solving. It is crucial to explain how the alteration of the functional brain network occurs and how to express it, which causes the alteration of the cognitive structure of knowledge transfer. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms of knowledge transfer are rarely considered in existing studies. Thus, this study proposed functional connectivity (FC) to describe and evaluate the dynamic brain network of knowledge transfer while engineering problem-solving. In this study, we adopted the modified Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test (M-WCST) reported in the literature. The neural activation of the prefrontal cortex was continuously recorded for 31 participants using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Concretely, we discussed the prior cognitive level, knowledge transfer distance, and transfer performance impacting the wavelet amplitude and wavelet phase coherence. The paired t-test results showed that the prior cognitive level and transfer distance significantly impact FC. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed that both wavelet amplitude and phase coherence are significantly correlated to the cognitive function of the prefrontal cortex. Therefore, brain FC is an available method to evaluate cognitive structure alteration in knowledge transfer. We also discussed why the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and occipital face area (OFA) distinguish themselves from the other brain areas in the M-WCST experiment. As an exploratory study in NeuroManagement, these findings may provide neurophysiological evidence about the functional brain network of knowledge transfer while engineering problem-solving.

Memorization practice and academic success in Saudi undergraduate students

PurposeIn the present study, the authors examined whether academic performance [grade point average (GPA)] can be predicted by self-reported frequency of memorization and recitation, verbatim memory performance, and self-efficacy in a sample of college students from Saudi Arabia.Design/methodology/approachStudents' verse memory, word memory, experience with memorization and recitation, as well as general self-efficacy were measured. GPA was provided by the Office of the Registrar.FindingsVerbatim memory performance for individual words and verses moderately predicted GPA.Research limitations/implicationsTo be determined is the extent to which memory skills for different materials are related to memorization and recitation practice as well as encoding preferences.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate that even though in college a premium is placed on activities that transform the format of the materials to be learned, activities that replicate materials may still be helpful.Social implicationsIn Western pedagogy, memorization and recitation are considered counterproductive modes of information acquisition. The findings of this study illustrate that retention is an essential processing step upon which the complex cognitive activities that are embedded in college-level curricula rely.Originality/valueThe extant literature illustrates the benefits of exceptional memorization and recitation training. The findings suggest that academic success is positively related to what would be judged as moderate practice, thereby supporting the notion that benefits exist.

Candidate Methodology for Analyzing Meaning Making

This paper aims at presenting a candidate methodology for studying psychological processes involved in meaning making. The analysis of meaning making processes poses methodological challenges. Grize’s proposes a neo-Piagetian theory, Natural Logic, which can be used as a methodology approaching the making and the interpretation of meaning, approaching discourse as a complex process interrelating cognitive, social and cultural dimensions. The making of new meaning is nevertheless approached through language use, yet both as a creative process in choosing and assembling words together, and as an interpretative process of reasoning in listening to or reading discursive material. This paper presents some main features of a new methodology for studying meaning making and interpretation processes in psychology, and a quick introduction to its practice based on a short example of analysis. The objective is to contribute to detailed analysis of meaning making, as we find it in complex cognitive activities such as interviewing, presenting or listening to a political discourse, debating, or teaching.

Maximizing Learning Management Systems to Support Mathematical Problem Solving in Online Learning

Mathematical problem solving is a complex cognitive activity, which poses difficulties for students with and without disabilities in inclusive learning environments. With a variety of functions, Learning Management Systems (LMSs) have the potential to enhance personalized learning to meet the diverse needs of all students. This paper provides teachers guidance on using LMSs to implement evidence-based practices for math problem solving in an online learning environment. This paper introduced multiple functions commonly available in most LMSs, such as quiz, multimedia content editor, Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), and learning analytics. Guidance is provided to teachers to leverage these features to maximize student learning experiences, such as engaging in multimedia learning activities, interacting with the teacher and peers, and receiving tailored feedback.