Components Of Cognitive Activity Research Articles

Emotional Intelligence of Russia’s Potential Scientific and Technical Elite

A highly intellectual environment involves intense mental activity, rapid acquisition of new material, creativity, competition, and rivalry. All these aspects may cause a long-time neuropsychic stress. Students of leading technical universities need to be able to overcome such difficult situations. The authors reviewed theoretical approaches to emotional intelligence. They designed a psychological model of scientific and technical elite of modern Russia. The model included emotional-volitional, demand-motivational, value-meaning, socio-psychological, and cognitive-activity components. This paper focuses on the empirical study and confirmation of the emotionalvolitional component in potential engineering, scientific, and technical elite, i.e., junior students of Russia’s leading technical universities. The research revealed some psycho-logical peculiarities in their emotional intelligence and coping-strategies. The sample consisted of first-year engineering and technical students of the National Research Nuclear University MEPHI (n = 111). The psychodiagnostic tools included the coping test developed by R. Lazarus and S. Folkman and adapted by T. L. Kryukova, E. V. Kuftyak, and M. S. Zamyshlyaeva; D. V. Lyusin’s test of emotional intelligence. The data analysis relied on IBM SPSS Statistics V.22.0 and the Kruskal-Wallis H-test method of mathematical statistics. The students proved able to consciously analyze difficult situations, work out solutions, plan and predict the outcomes of their behavior, as well as to resort to past experience and available resources. In general, these overcoming models had a constructive effect on the development of an engineer’s personality. However, the underdevelopment of the emotional sphere and poor expression of feelings affected interpersonal and intragroup relationships. Students of nuclear engineering should develop their emotional sphere and expand the range of coping strategies in stressful situations.

К ВОПРОСУ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ПОЗНАВАТЕЛЬНОЙ АКТИВНОСТИ СТАРШИХ ШКОЛЬНИКОВ ПОСРЕДСТВОМ ПРОЕКТНОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ

The article analyzes the process of organizing project activities among senior schoolchildren in general education institutions as a means of forming cognitive activity and implementing a system-activity approach within the framework of the Federal State Educational Standard. The structural components of the cognitive activity of senior schoolchildren (behavioral, motivational, emotional-volitional, cognitive) are indicated and the principles of the system-activity approach are outlined (the principle of obtaining new knowledge, the principle of changing the role of a teacher, the principle of forming motives for activity). The mutual influence of the stages of project activity implementation (initiating, fundamental, pragmatic/final) and the content of the components of cognitive activity is reflected. In the course of the research, theoretical (literature analysis) and practical methods were used (analysis of official websites of educational institutions, questionnaires of school teachers, the method of observation and conversations with students of senior classes of secondary schools). The problems of forming the cognitive activity of senior schoolchildren through project activities are revealed (the absence of project activity as a mandatory component of the educational process and, as a result, the impossibility of constantly improving the existing skills of teachers; the low level of innovative and pedagogical mobility of teachers within the framework of project activities; the growth of cognitive passivity of senior schoolchildren) and the ways of their solution are proposed (creation of a single regulation for the organization of project activities in educational institutions; providing an inter-level exchange of experience between representatives of pedagogical professions; monitoring the professional skills of a teacher; a separate unit for organizing project activities in an educational institution; implementing project activities taking into account the sphere of interests of senior schoolchildren with the involvement of specialists from the real sector of the economy; using forms and methods that increase the cognitive activity of students in regular and extracurricular activities).

РЕЗУЛЬТАТИ ПЕДАГОГІЧНОГО ЕКСПЕРИМЕНТУ З РОЗВИТКУ ПІЗНАВАЛЬНОЇ АКТИВНОСТІ МАЙБУТНІХ УЧИТЕЛІВ ІНФОРМАТИКИ У ПРОЦЕСІ МАТЕМАТИЧНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ

The article deals with the problem of development of the future computer science teachers’ cognitive activity. Emphasis is placed on the importance of mathematical training as a component of professional training of students of specialty 014.09 Secondary Education (Computer Science). The concept of “cognitive activity of the future computer science teacher” is defined and the structure of the investigated quality is given. It is proposed to introduce pedagogical technology in the mathematical training for the development of the future computer science teachers’ cognitive activity, which consists of three interconnected components (methodological and purposeful, organizational and technological and diagnostic) and is implemented in stages (preparatory-informational (involves designing and refining the technology of development of the future computer science teachers’ cognitive activity in the mathematical training), activity-effective (involves practical implementation of the developed technology by the components of cognitive activity (motivational, cognitive-research, personal-reactive), control-regulatory (involves finding out the effectiveness of the technology of investigated quality development)). The stages of pedagogical experiment (ascertaining, forming, controlling), which was conducted in order to check the effectiveness of the developed technology, are characterized. The criteria (motivational, cognitive-research, personality-reflective) and corresponding indicators, which were used to diagnose the level of development of the future computer science teachers’ cognitive activity at the ascertainment and control stages of pedagogical experiment, as well as the methods of their research, are explained. The results of the ascertaining and control stages of the pedagogical experiment are analyzed and the dynamics of changes in the levels of development of cognitive activity in the experimental and control groups is presented. In particular, it was shown that the level of development of cognitive activity in the experimental group after the experiment significantly increased compared with the control group, which indicates the effectiveness of the developed technology.

Naturalism and Kantianism

An article by T. Rockmore, published in the journal “Epistemology and Philosophy of Science” in 2009 (Vol. XXII. No. 4, pp. 14‒29), claim that naturalism is by its nature an example of anti-Kantianism, for it treats philosophy as a continuation science and recognizes science as a legitimate source of knowledge, does not allow a priori, relies on an a posteriori approach, empiricism in the pre-Kantian sense, and insists on the possibility of revising the knowledge acquired. This article has a goal to show that T. Rockmore point of view should be revised due to the progress of modern cognitive research and, first of all, neuroscience, in which all the features of the naturalistic approach are implemented and in which the “Kantian program” of brain research is developed. In the context of this program, the existence on the ontological level (i.e., in the brain) of certain neural structures that make it possible and play a crucial role in the cognitive activity of a person is recognized. Those concepts that Kant treated as components of cognitive activity in modern neuroscience acquired ontological status in the form of the activity of certain neural structures, which turn out to be prerequisites and components of this activity. We claim that in the context of the Kantian research program in neuroscience, the metaphor “Kantian brain” naturally entered the vocabulary of neuroscientists, and certain specific operations and functions of the brain began to be associated with individual elements of Kant's ideas. It is in this context attempts are made to comprehend the mechanisms of the brain in the “stimulus – activity” mode, when an external effect leads to the excitation of certain neural structures. The brain is capable to anticipate the long-term results of certain actions of the subject. In the case of foresight, the brain generates “internal” models and uses for their correction external data that constantly provided from reality across the subject. At the same time, some kind of self-correcting mechanisms implements, which from a formal point of view described by the Bayes theorem, using a priori evaluations of upcoming events and changes in these evaluations as result of experience. Thus, naturalism and Kantianism understood in the context of the progress of modern science, despite T. Rockmore idea, are completely compatible.

Cognitive Activity: Philosophical Analysis, Psychological and Pedagogical Characteristics

Cognition is an integral part of a person’s orientation in the world. It is studied by different sciences – philosophy, sociology, pedagogics, and psychology. In information society, the role of cognition and the ways it is realized are becoming extremely important. Cognitive activity is an essential part of cognition. It is formed and developed in the process of education. Cognitive activity is traditionally regarded as a special kind of mental activity. There are different components of cognitive activity and levels of its development. The higher the level of cognitive activity is, the more efficient the whole process of education is as knowledge is acquired more quickly and at a higher level. Cognitive independence combined with cognitive activity can radically improve the whole process of cognition. Thus, the task of an educational process is to activate cognition and develop cognitive independence by different methods and approaches.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Analysis of the Cerebral Mechanisms of Learning Difficulties in Children. Experience of Studies of Children with Signs of ADHD

We present here an interdisciplinary approach to studies of the cerebral mechanisms of learning difficulties in children of junior school age. A complex electroencephalographic (EEG) and neuropsychological analysis was used to identify neurophysiological factors for cognitive deficits in children aged 7–8 and 9–10 years with signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). EEG traces in calm waking in children with signs of ADHD contained patterns characteristic of a nonoptimal state of the frontothalamic regulatory system, with bilaterally synchronous groups of frontal theta waves, along with local deviations in cortical electrical activity in the right hemisphere significantly more commonly than traces from children of the control group. In addition, children with signs of ADHD had a higher frequency of EEG changes pointing to a deficit in the total level of activation by the brainstem reticular formation, in the form of a hypersynchronous alpha rhythm and/or groups of theta waves in the caudal areas, than the control group. Children with signs of ADHD showed a relationship between the characteristics of the cognitive deficit and the presence of one of these three types of EEG abnormality. Children of both age groups with EEG signs of the nonoptimal state of the frontothalamic system demonstrated marked deficiency of programming functions, regulation and control of activity (executive functions), along with difficulties in performing auditory-verbal tasks. In children with local abnormalities of electrical activity in the right hemisphere, the deficit in executive functions was combined with difficulties in performing nonverbal tasks. Decreases in the level of nonspecific activation mainly affected work capacity and the rate of performance of cognitive tasks in both age groups. Children aged 7–8 years with signs of decreased activation also showed difficulty in processing nonverbal information. Thus, the results obtained by interdisciplinary investigations identified at least three types of abnormalities in the functional state of the brain which could produce decreases in the effectiveness of different components of cognitive activity in children with ADHD.

ROLE OF THE FAMILY IN THE FORMATION OF COGNITIVE ACTIVITY OF CHILDREN IN PRE-SCHOOL AND PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE

Purpose: examine the components of cognitive activity of children in preschool and primary school from wealthy families and disharmonious and - in orphanages. Methodology: the theoretical analysis of the problem highlighted components of cognitive activity and factors of its development in childhood. Methods of the study were the analysis of the scientific literature, diagnostic techniques, statistical methods of data processing (criterion angular transformation φ * Fisher). Results: the results showed that, compared with children of harmonious families, children, emotionally rejected by their parents, have a low level of cognitive interest, descriptive and practical type of questioning and research activity, the prevalence of medium indicators of cognitive activity. For the younger students is manifested in the instability of the focus on learning activities. Preschoolers from the orphanage have a decrease of all components of cognitive activity (cognitive interest, questioning and research activities, the success of cognitive activity). The paper concludes the importance of the emotional component of communication of the parents with the child to develop his cognitive activity and further social and psychological adaptation. Practical implications: materials can be used in the practice of educational institutions for professionals working with families to correct parent-child relationship and optimization of cognitive and personality development of children.

The influence of experimentally changed thyroid status on cognitive activity and angiogenesis in brain of female of inbred mice С3 Н-А

The study was performed using 33 virgin females of inbred mice C3H-A. The animals were randomized as follows 3:2:2. The first group was hyperthyroid (n1=15), the second hypothyroid (n2=10) and the third euthyroid (control) (n3=8). The results of individual behavior investigation as to 18 and 40 weeks of our experiment in “open field” test clarified that quantitative traces of almost whole components of cognitive activity was much higher in hyperthyroid mice as compared to other groups (control and hypothyroid ones). The cognitive behavior activity has gradually been decreasing in hypothyroid group especially in connection to burrow reflex. As to those elements of behavior which are of characteristics of emotions the results were a bit different. The emotional characteristics were more expressed in hyperthyroid group as compared to control and hypothyroid ones. The immunohistochemical investigations clearly showed that expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in neocortex and hyppocampus prevails in hyperthyroid mice and less expressed in animals deprived of thyroid hormones (p < 0.05). The level of glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP) expression was significantly lower in brain of hypothyroid animals (p < 0.05). Otherwise the level of platelet derived growth factor receptor-α (PDGF-Rα) expression was much higher in brain of hypothyroid mice (p < 0.05). Our results presented for this paper confirmed the key role of thyroid hormones in regulation of cell interaction not only for developing neural cells but also for adult central nerve system.

Lifestyle and health-related risk factors and risk of cognitive aging among older veterans

Lifestyle and health-related factors are critical components of the risk for cognitive aging among veterans. Because dementia has a prolonged prodromal phase, understanding effects across the life course could help focus the timing and duration of prevention targets. This perspective may be especially relevant for veterans and health behaviors. Military service may promote development and maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors, but the period directly after active duty has ended could be an important transition stage and opportunity to address some important risk factors. Targeting multiple pathways in one intervention may maximize efficiency and benefits for veterans. A recent review of modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease estimated that a 25% reduction of a combination of seven modifiable risk factors including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, smoking, and education/cognitive inactivity could prevent up to 3 million cases worldwide and 492,000 cases in the United States. Lifestyle interventions to address cardiovascular health in veterans may serve as useful models with both physical and cognitive activity components, dietary intervention, and vascular risk factor management. Although the evidence is accumulating for lifestyle and health-related risk factors as well as military risk factors, more studies are needed to characterize these factors in veterans and to examine the potential interactions between them.

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In this article the use of electronic resources in compliance with the didactic goals of developing research potential in high school students is represented. The implementation of these goals is aimed at achieving subjectivity and subjectness which represent the integral process of developing the personality in students. The idea of subjectivity is implemented when electronic resources enable the student to plan his or her own development in education connected with an informed choice and coordination of different offers of educational services to build his or her own educational programme. The idea of subjectness means that using the digital resources and technologies, the student acquires experience of intellectual self-organization which enables him or her to achieve a higher degree of proactiveness and independence. The research potential can be evaluated with the help of digital tools as follows: referring to the past � as a general resource of natural and acquired research aptitude which ensures their further development; referring to the present � as research aptitude which is in demand in definite cultural and creative circumstances; referring to the future as �proximal development zone�, as research aptitude which, for a number of reasons, has not been used and is expected to be developed in future in the course of cognitive activity. The author presents pedagogical characteristics of digital tools which are used to estimate the dynamics of the development of personal research aptitude from the point of view of culture genesis, as well as the manifestations of the emotional and cognitive components of cognitive activity and to ensure comprehension by high school students of their self-development in the process of gaining new knowledge.

The influence of experimentally changedthyroid status on cognitive activity and angiogenesis in the brain of female inbred С3Н-А mice

The study was performed using 33 virgin females of inbred C3H-A mice. The animals were randomized as follows 3 : 2 : 2. The first group was hyperthyroid (n1 = 15), the second hypothyroid (n2 = 10) and the third euthyroid (control) (n3 = 8). The results of individual behavior investigation as to 18 and 40 weeks of our experiment in “open field” test clarified that quantitative traces of almost whole components of cognitive activity was much higher in hyperthyroid mice as compared to other groups (control and hypothyroid ones). The cognitive behavior activity has gradually been decreasing in hypothyroid group especially in connection to burrow reflex. As to those elements of behavior which are of characteristics of emotions the results were a bit different. The emotional characteristics were more expressed in hyperthyroid group as compared to control and hypothyroid ones. The immunohistochemical investigations clearly showed that expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in neocortex and hyppocampus prevails in hyperthyroid mice and less expressed in animals deprived of thyroid hormones (p < 0.05). The level of glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP) expression was significantly lower in brain of hypothyroid animals (p < 0.05). Otherwise the level of platelet derived growth factor receptor-α (PDGF-Rα) expression was much higher in brain of hypothyroid mice (p < 0.05). Our results presented for this paper confirmed the key role of thyroid hormones in regulation of cell interaction not only for developing neural cells but also for adult central nerve system.