Conscious Focus Research Articles

Working memory capacity and the top-down control of visual search: Exploring the boundaries of "executive attention".

The executive attention theory of working memory capacity (WMC) proposes that measures of WMC broadly predict higher order cognitive abilities because they tap important and general attention capabilities (R. W. Engle & M. J. Kane, 2004). Previous research demonstrated WMC-related differences in attention tasks that required restraint of habitual responses or constraint of conscious focus. To further specify the executive attention construct, the present experiments sought boundary conditions of the WMC-attention relation. Three experiments correlated individual differences in WMC, as measured by complex span tasks, and executive control of visual search. In feature-absence search, conjunction search, and spatial configuration search, WMC was unrelated to search slopes, although they were large and reliably measured. Even in a search task designed to require the volitional movement of attention (J. M. Wolfe, G. A. Alvarez, & T. S. Horowitz, 2000), WMC was irrelevant to performance. Thus, WMC is not associated with all demanding or controlled attention processes, which poses problems for some general theories of WMC.

Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life.

The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.

Why are proofs difficult?

For several years, the notion of ‘mathematical proof’ has been at the centre of much discussion, writing and educational research. To a very large extent the discussions have focused on the nature of the acceptability of the reasons for a mathematical conclusion. Admittedly there have been contributions concerning the role of proof in mathematics and also the mechanics of pupils‘ proof behaviour, including works which discuss both affective and pedagogical aspects, but the dominant context has usually been one of validation. That is to say, discussions have largely been in the domain of what ‘counts as a proof’ and for whom. However, I claim that there is another dimension to proof that is of central importance in the intellectual development of students at school and university. This relates to the phenomenon in mathematical thinking in which a section of mathematical structure is mentally compressed into a single unit, small enough to fit into the conscious focus of attention at a given time, and possessing an interiority which is able to both guide manipulation of the unit and also be subsequently expanded without loss of detail. This article discusses the role of this phenomenon in the manipulation of mathematical statements involved in proof. An analysis in these terms of the dynamics of certain types of mathematical proof suggests both an explanation for students’ difficulties and a possible means of help in some cases.

GIS in the K-12 Curriculum: A Cautionary Note

Two qualitative case studies, one focusing on K-12 teachers and the other on middle school students, explore key factors associated with using Geographic Information Systems in the classroom. In both studies, access to appropriate hardware is a critical barrier. Time is another critical barrier—time to learn the GIS software and time in the curriculum to incorporate GIS as a learning experience. In both case studies, learning the technology at the expense of learning spatial analysis was a danger, suggesting the need for conscious focus on the goal of using GIS to learn how to “do geography.”

The Doctor-Proxy Relationship: The Neglected Connection

Advance directives have been lauded by scholars and supported by professional organizations, Congress, and the United States Supreme Court. Despite this encouragement, only a small number of capable patients execute living wills or appoint health care agents. When patients do empower proxies, doctors may be uncertain about the scope of their duties and obligations to these persons who, in theory, stand in the shoes of the patient. This article argues for a conscious focus on the ethical duties, emotional supports, and guidance owed by physicians to health care agents.

Beyond Relationship

Clinical social workers in health settings have used time and relationship and the understanding of individual and family dynamics, biophysiology, and larger systems issues to assist patients and families in resolving health related problems. The current economic crisis is limiting time and focus and necessitating revisions in intervention techniques. Clinicians experience this as a threat to their identity as a caring profession and to their ability to support patient autonomy within the health care environment. Effective adaptation requires a different use of self, expanded diagnostic skills, greater use of networking and systems interventions, and more sophisticated clinical techniques. Often, engagement, assessment and intervention have to occur within the same session. To accomplish this shift in practice, there has to be strong clinical leadership and a conscious focus on adapting clinical models to meet the current economic restrictions.

An Introduction to the Old Testament: A Feminist Perspective (review)

Hebrew Studies 31 (1990) 192 Reviews book. In dealing with Ezek 47:1-12 he uncharacteristically leaps ahead to later developments and even to NT reflections of the passage (p. 182). Contemporary significance is left for readers themselves to work out; an excellent basis is furnished by establishing the primary meaning of the book. Leslie C. Allen Fuller Theological Seminary Pasadena, CA 91182 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE. By Alice L. Laffey. Pp. xii + 243. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988. Paper. Seeking to fill a void in standard introductions, which, the author points out, include the results of historical-critical research but not feminist biblical interpretation, Laffey offers this volume as a complement to other books. The book is organized in a way that makes it an ideal supplementary tool. It is divided into four parts: Pentateuch, Deuteronomistic History, Major and Minor Prophets, and Writings. Within each is a very brief section of historical and literary notes to set the stage for discussion of the texts. This is followed by an overview of themes from a feminist perspective related to the texts, and then studies of texts involving women. Each chapter ends with a list of recommended readings for the particular division of the Bible. Because the table of contents is well-organized and extremely detailed, whatever topic a class is studying can be coordinated easily with the appropriate section of this book. The subject index and index of biblical references add to its usability. An example of her treatment of a text is the study of Gen 34, the story of the rape of Dinah. While pointing olit that Dinah is incidental to the main point of the story as told in the Bible, which is about the conflict between the family of Jacob and the Shechemites, she raises the predicament of a woman who is first raped and then denied the only alternative left to her, marriage to the man who deprived her of her virginity, because her brothers used the situation "as an excuse for murder and pillage" (p. 43). Dinah is then forgotten in the story of the slaughter of the city. What Hebrew Studies 31 (1990) 193 Reviews is unique about Laffey's treatment is her conscious focus on the woman in the story and her situation, regardless of whether or not the woman is considered to be central to the story itself, or to traditional interpretations. Her study does not consistently concentrate on the main points of the stories in question. This does not detract from the book, however, because Laffey admits that this volume is meant to be supplemental to other biblical introductions which do deal with such themes. What we receive from Laffey's work is insight into what can be learned about women of ancient Israel and attitudes toward them which can be gleaned from the stories and the woments sometimes minor parts in them. In Laffeyts presentation of the few stories in which women are primary characters, such as Deborah (Judg 4-5) and Esther, she is careful not to focus entirely on these leading women but also explores other female figures in the stories, such as Jael and Sisera's mother (pp. 89-93) and Vashti and Zeresh (pp. 213-217). For example, it is pointed out about Vashti that, although she is present only momentarily in the story and is almost immediately deposed, making way for Esther to become queen, she is a model to feminists, not of disobedience, but of courage for her refusal to dance before the drunken men of the court. Vashti never speaks yet her actions speak loud and clear. NO! She will not become the sexual object ofdrunken men! Vashti resists patriarchal expectations (p. 214). Laffey reminds us that, in fact, Vashti's banishment was because of the fear that her action would be the instigation of a general feminist uprising in the empire! Not only real women are discussed, however. The author also delves into the images of God as mother in the book of Isaiah (pp. 172-174), Ezekiel's personification of Israel and Judah's sin as the notorious Oholah and Oholibah in Ezek 23 (pp. 177-178...

Religion som fenomen og historie - til fornyelse og reinterpretasjon

The classical phenomenology of religion has been severely criticized in the current methodological debate in religions studies. Among historians of religion there is, in spite of the deficiencies of earlier conceptions, a clear recognition of the necessity of a phenomenological approach. This essay seeks to present some recent attempts at reinterpretation and renewal of the phenomenology of religion. Among scholars discussed are Å. Hultkranz, J. Waardenburg, K. Rudolph, A. Rupp and R. Flasche. T here main tendencies may be pointed out in their studies: a) an attempt to overcome the conflict between history and phenomenology by regarding both as complementary approaches within a more integrated study of religion, b) A more conscious focus on religious man (the believer) to avoid the predetermined concept of religion. C) Renunciation of a worldwide phenomenology of religion in favour of a more regional one in order to secure the empirical basis for its conclusion.

The State and the Future of Socialism

We are in the midst of a class war. That’s not unusual. There is always class war in capitalism – although sometimes it is hidden and sometimes there is the interlude of an apparent Carthaginian Peace. But the class war has intensified now because of the crisis in capitalism – a crisis rooted in the over-accumulation of capital. And, in this crisis, capital has intensified the class war against the working class. Austerity, cutbacks, the need to sacrifice – these are the demands of capital as it calls upon workers to bear the burden of capital’s own failures. This is a war conducted by capitalist states against workers to compel them to give up their achievements from past struggles. And, in some places (but, unfortunately, not all), we see that the working class is saying, ‘no’. But it is not enough to say ‘no’. There are those who think that an accumulation of loudly screamed no’s can be sufficient. These poets of negation demonstrate thereby that they don’t understand why and how capital reproduces itself. Why is it that after so many defeats so many still cannot see what Marx grasped in the nineteenth century – that capital has the tendency to produce a working class which views the existence of capital as necessary? ‘The advance of capitalist production,’ he stressed, ‘develops a working class which by education, tradition and habit looks upon the requirements of this mode of production as self-evident natural laws.’ Today, even with a certain resistance marked by struggles over wages, working conditions and the defence of past gains, as long as workers look upon the requirements of capital as ‘self-evident natural laws’, those struggles occur within the bounds of the capitalist relation. Like the ‘worst architect’, we must build our goal in our minds before we can construct it in reality; only this conscious focus can ensure the ‘purposeful will’ required to complete the defeat of the logic of capital. To struggle against a situation in which workers ‘by education, tradition and habit’ look upon capital’s needs ‘as self-evident natural laws’, we must struggle for an alternative common sense. But what is the vision of a new society whose requirements workers may look upon as ‘self-evident natural laws’? Clearly, it won’t be found in the results of twentieth century attempts to build socialism, which, to use Marx’s phrase, ended ‘in a miserable fit of the blues’.