Findings In Cognitive Neuroscience Research Articles

Cognitive neuroscience and music education: Relationships and interactions

This article examines the relationship between cognitive neuroscience and music education, evaluating the impact of cognitive neuroscience on musical learning, performance, and teaching strategies. The first section establishes the purpose and scope of the article, followed by an emphasis on the foundations of cognitive neuroscience in the second section. Cognitive neuroscience is explored in terms of music perception, mental processes, and fundamental concepts related to learning and memory. The third section, focusing on cognitive processes in music education, delves into the cognitive foundations of musical knowledge, addressing topics such as melody and rhythm perception and cognitive development in instrumental education. The fourth section discusses the neuroscientific analysis of musical performance, stage fright, brain activity, creativity, and mental processes. The fifth section discusses cognitive neuroscience-based teaching models, the neuroscientific foundations of student-centred approaches, and the role of technology in music education. The sixth section highlights future perspectives and research directions, recommendations for future studies, contributions of new cognitive neuroscience findings to music education, current developments in the intersection of music and cognitive neuroscience, and suggestions for future research. In the concluding section, the summarised article's significant findings and contributions are emphasised, drawing attention to potential areas for future examination and application. This article aims to serve as a comprehensive resource for readers interested in understanding the connections between cognitive neuroscience and music education, providing a foundation for further research in this field.

Behavioral and cognitive neuroscience findings regarding assumptions of the evidence accumulation model

Behavioral and cognitive neuroscience findings regarding assumptions of the evidence accumulation model

The Efficacy and Feasibility of an Interoceptive Exposure Technique for Preventing the Transition From Subacute to Chronic Back Pain by Altering the Emotional Response to Pain: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, mood, emotions, cognitive functioning, and pain behavior are relevant to the onset of pain and its continuation in the transition to chronic conditions. Subacute low back pain (LBP), a precursor to chronic LBP, is particularly poorly understood, and its relationships with psychological factors are understudied. We will conduct a study aiming to prevent the chronicity of subacute LBP by altering the emotional response to pain using an interoceptive exposure technique (IET). Considering the recent increase in knowledge about psychological risk factors, as well as recent findings in cognitive neuroscience regarding emotional and cognitive background factors in the LBP chronicity process, efforts should be made to discover effective preventive methods. We present a novel method aiming to prevent the transition from subacute to chronic back pain by altering the emotional response to pain using an IET. In this pilot randomized controlled trial, participants who are at a higher risk of LBP chronification due to the presence of a biomarker (ie, functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens) will be randomly assigned to the IET intervention group or control group A (treatment as usual). Participants who do not present with the biomarker will be assigned to control group B (treatment as usual) to assess how well this biomarker predicts the chronification of subacute LBP in this study population. Questionnaires measuring the pain experience and psychological distress will be used before the intervention, after the intervention (at 3 months), and at the 12-month follow-up. This research project will combine 2 novel methods: a biomarker as the inclusion criterion and an IET as the intervention. The comparative study design enables evaluation of the efficacy of the IET, as well as replication of the biomarker's validity as a possible clinical screening method. If found to be useful, the IET would offer a cost-effective and reasonable way to develop treatment for acute and subacute back pain conditions. Potential benefits include increased pain management and quality of life for the individual patient with the addition of a potentially useful functional pain management method at the societal level. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05450263; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05450263. PRR1-10.2196/45701.

Fluid Intelligence Emerges from Representing Relations.

Based on recent findings in cognitive neuroscience and psychology as well as computational models of working memory and reasoning, I argue that fluid intelligence (fluid reasoning) can amount to representing in the mind the key relation(s) for the task at hand. Effective representation of relations allows for enormous flexibility of thinking but depends on the validity and robustness of the dynamic patterns of argument–object (role–filler) bindings, which encode relations in the brain. Such a reconceptualization of the fluid intelligence construct allows for the simplification and purification of its models, tests, and potential brain mechanisms.

The Amplification of Symptoms in the Medically Ill.

The mechanism of symptom amplification, developed in the study of somatization, may be helpful in caring for patients with symptoms that, while they have a demonstrable medical basis, are nonetheless disproportionately severe and distressing. Amplified medical symptoms are marked by disproportionate physical suffering, unduly negative thoughts and concerns about them, and elevated levels of health-related anxiety. They are accompanied by extensive and sustained illness behaviors, disproportionate difficulty compartmentalizing them and circumscribing their impact, and consequent problems and dissatisfaction with their medical care. A distinction has long been made between "medically explained" and "medically unexplained" symptoms. However, a more comprehensive view of symptom phenomenology undermines this distinction and places all symptoms along a smooth continuum regardless of cause: Recent findings in cognitive neuroscience suggest that all symptoms-regardless of origin-are processed through convergent pathways. The complete conscious experience of both medically "explained" and "unexplained" symptoms is an amalgam of a viscerosomatic sensation fused with its ascribed salience and the patient's ideas, expectations, and concerns about the sensation. This emerging empirical evidence furnishes a basis for viewing persistent, disproportionately distressing symptoms of demonstrable disease along a continuum with medically unexplained symptoms. Thus, therapeutic modalities developed for somatization and medically unexplained symptoms can be helpful in the care of seriously ill medical patients with amplified symptoms. These interventions include educational groups for coping with chronic illness, cognitive therapies for dysfunctional thoughts, behavioral strategies for maladaptive illness behaviors, psychotherapy for associated emotional distress, and consultation with mental health professionals to assist the primary care physician with difficulties in medical management.

0116 Slow oscillations promote long range effective communication: the key for memory consolidation in a broken down network

Abstract Introduction The relation between slow oscillations (SOs, <1Hz) during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and systems-level memory consolidation is one of the most robust findings in cognitive neuroscience. However, NREM is a brain state seemingly unfavorable to systems consolidation because a hallmark characteristic of this state is a breakdown in connectivity and reduction in synaptic plasticity with increasing depth of sleep. Our study addresses this apparent paradox and how SOs orchestrate neural communication. Methods We employed generalized partial directed coherence to estimate directional causal information flow between EEG channels across the electrode manifold during SO and non-SO periods. We examined the magnitude of causal information flow over the phase of SOs and found two peaks of flow preceding and following the trough of the SO. We categorized source-sink pairs of flows into three groups based on distance between source and sink of information flow. All the peak flows in each group were averaged and we tested relation between averaged magnitude of the flow and overnight episodic memory improvement using correlation test. Results The results reveal that NREM generally (non-SO periods) and during the SO trough show dampened neural communication. Causal communication during non-rapid eye movement sleep peaks during specific phases of the SO ( before and after SO trough), but only across long distances. Correlation test results showed that episodic memory improvement was predicted by peaks of information flow with longest distances between sinks and sources, and not by any other phase of the SO or non-SO period. Conclusion This work introduces a non-invasive approach to examine information processing during sleep, a behavioral stage whose function, until now, has been understood only at a delay. The findings represent a conceptual leap in understanding how slow oscillations unlock memory consolidation in a broken down network which is by promoting long range effective communication. This research will promote further investigations of understanding how brain oscillations alone and in nested rhythms promote network communication, as well as to investigate how these properties vary and predict patterns of deficits in clinical populations and aging humans. Support (If Any)

Occipital alpha-band brain waves when the eyes are closed are shaped by ongoing visual processes

One of the seminal findings of cognitive neuroscience is that the power of occipital alpha-band (~ 10 Hz) brain waves is increased when peoples’ eyes are closed, rather than open. This has encouraged the view that alpha oscillations are a default dynamic, to which the visual brain returns in the absence of input. Accordingly, we might be unable to increase the power of alpha oscillations when the eyes are closed, above the level that would normally ensue when people close their eyes. Here we report counter evidence. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to record brain activity when people had their eyes open and closed, both before and after they had adapted to radial motion. The increase in alpha power when people closed their eyes was increased by prior adaptation to a broad range of radial motion speeds. This effect was greatest for 10 Hz motion, but robust for other frequencies (and especially 7.5 Hz). This discredits a persistent entrainment of activity at the adaptation frequency as an explanation for our findings. Our data show that the power of occipital alpha-band brain waves can be increased by motion sensitive visual processes that persist when the eyes are closed. Consequently, we suggest that the power of these brain waves is, at least in part, an index of the degree to which visual brain activity is being subjected to inhibition. This is increased when people close their eyes, but can be even further increased by pre-adaptation to radial motion.

Visualizing Pain

Although Seneca often expresses a disdain for the body, vividly detailed evocations of bodily experience feature frequently in his writing. In particular, he presents the repeated imagining of anticipated pain and suffering (praemeditatio futurorum malorum) as an important psychotherapeutic technique. This strategy should be seen in the context of Stoic theories of perception and the embodied nature of emotion (theories that resonate in significant respects with findings in cognitive neuroscience). Yet Seneca’s approach is also profoundly colored by a perception of the relationship between imagination and emotion which lies at the heart of ancient rhetorical theory. While anticipating future misfortunes is sometimes presented as a means to dull anxiety, a method of cultivating stereotypically Stoic impassivity by rooting out negative emotions, Seneca also highlights the power of the vividly imagined scene of suffering to stimulate an ardent love of virtue, a positive emotion which plays a crucial role in the moral progress of the Stoic student.

A brain-based model of language instruction: from theory to practice

Background: A recent trend in second language acquisition and learning has been oriented towards brain-based studies and its association with brain development and plasticity. There are currently unprecedented opportunities for contemporary understanding of the neurological basis of second language (L2) learning owing to recent advances in cognitive neuroscience. Brain functional and structural investigations have contributed remarkably to biological explanations of language acquisition in addition to behavioral explorations. Methods: This study used a meta-analysis of previous findings of functional neuroimaging studies to elucidate the neuroanatomy of language learning from a functional perspective. By synthesizing existing literature, brain activation areas associated with different language learning skills and their convergence and overlap with other areas of activation for other cognitive and motor skills are extracted to reveal consistent functional areas of the brain. The current study attempts to link psycholinguistic research and cognitive neuroscience in the mediation of L2 learning and teaching. This review paper begins with a theoretical view of brain structure and function and concludes with a practical model of brain-based language instruction, resulting in a deeper understanding of the field. Results: Organized, conjoining cognitive neuroscience findings and L2 acquisition and learning approaches provide an opportunity for collaboration in cross-disciplinary studies. They provide new insights into how our brain represents languages. This article reviews recent advancements in our understanding of the brain; structural and functional organization of the brain; the role the brain plays in emotion, cognition, and development; and its consequent implication in language instruction. In effect, taking neurocognitive findings into account may have potential in developing brain-based tasks for the benefit of second language instruction in educational settings. Based on the revealed structural and functional areas of the brain and their networks of connection and interaction, manipulating areas of demanded activity may be as efficient as doing physical exercise to strengthen muscles. Conclusion: Developing a systematic model of second language instruction compatible with brain functions and patterns can benefit the rate and proficiency of language learners, thus improving language teaching and learning outcomes. This paper will aid the quest for utilizing general information of brain functions and related methods in developing practical, efficient language instruction as well as enhancing interdisciplinary research studies in both language and cognitive neuroscience.

Neurons and normativity: A critique of Greene’s notion of unfamiliarity

ABSTRACT In his article “Beyond Point-and-Shoot Morality,” Joshua Greene argues that the empirical findings of cognitive neuroscience have implications for ethics. Specifically, he contends that we ought to trust our manual conscious reasoning system more than our automatic emotional system when confronting unfamiliar problems; and because cognitive neuroscience has shown that consequentialist judgments are generated by the manual system and deontological judgments are generated by the automatic system, we ought to trust the former more than the latter when facing unfamiliar moral problems. In the present article, I analyze one of the premises of Greene’s argument. In particular, I ask what exactly an unfamiliar problem is, and whether moral problems can be classified as unfamiliar. After exploring several different possible interpretations of familiarity and unfamiliarity, I conclude that the concepts are too problematic to be philosophically compelling and, thus, should be abandoned.

A Nexus Model of Restricted Interests in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Restricted interests (RIs) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are clinically impairing interests of unusual focus or intensity. They are a subtype of restricted and repetitive behaviors which are one of two diagnostic criteria for the disorder. Despite the near ubiquity of RIs in ASD, the neural basis for their development is not well understood. However, recent cognitive neuroscience findings from nonclinical samples and from individuals with ASD shed light on neural mechanisms that may explain the emergence of RIs. We propose the nexus model of RIs in ASD, a novel conceptualization of this symptom domain that suggests that RIs may reflect a co-opting of brain systems that typically serve to integrate complex attention, memory, semantic, and social communication functions during development. The nexus model of RIs hypothesizes that when social communicative development is compromised, brain functions typically located within the lateral surface of cortex may expand into social processing brain systems and alter cortical representations of various cognitive functions during development. These changes, in turn, promote the development of RIs as an alternative process mediated by these brain networks. The nexus model of RIs makes testable predictions about reciprocal relations between the impaired development of social communication and the emergence of RIs in ASD and suggests novel avenues for treatment development.

RECENT TRENDS IN THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION: NEUROSCIENCE, RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, AND THE CONFLUENCE OF COGNITIVE AND EVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH

AbstractCognitive science of religion (CSR) has increased influence in religious studies, the resistance of religious protectionists notwithstanding. CSR's most provocative work stresses the role of implicit cognition in explaining religious thought and conduct. Exhibiting explanatory pluralism, CSR seeks integrative accounts across the social, psychological, and brain sciences. CSR reflects prominent trends in the cognitive sciences generally. First, CSR is giving greater attention to the new tools and findings of cognitive neuroscience. Second, CSR researchers have done carefully designed, nonlaboratory studies of experience, incorporating precise physiological measures, obtaining astonishing findings about the experiences of ritual participants and observers. Third, CSR theorists have advanced evolutionary hypotheses about religions from eight perspectives (cross‐indexing three levels of selection with three mechanisms of selection). Cultural group selectionists headline credibility enhancing displays and Big Gods in the religious consolidation of large‐scale societies. Other CSR researchers marshal counterevidence and advance alternative hypotheses. CSR findings are incompatible with the New Atheists’ projects on two fronts.

Deep sensorimotor learning for RGB-D object recognition

Research findings in cognitive neuroscience establish that humans, early on, develop their understanding of real-world objects by observing others interact with them or by performing active exploration and physical interactions with them. This fact has motivated the so-called “sensorimotor” learning approach, where the object appearance information (sensory) is combined with the object affordances (motor), i.e. the types of actions a human can perform with the object. In this work, the aforementioned paradigm is adopted, and a neuro-biologically inspired two-stream model for RGB-D object recognition is investigated. Both streams are realized as state-of-the-art deep neural networks that process and fuse appearance and affordance information in multiple ways. In particular, three model variants are developed to efficiently encode the spatio-temporal nature of the hand–object interaction, while an attention mechanism that relies on the appearance stream confidence is also investigated. Additionally, a suitable auxiliary loss is proposed for model training, utilized to further optimize both information streams. Experiments on the challenging SOR3D dataset, which consists of 14 object types and 13 object affordances, demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed model in RGB-D object recognition. Overall, the best performing developed model achieves 90.70% classification accuracy, which is further increased to 91.98% when trained using the auxiliary loss. The latter corresponds to 46% relative error reduction compared to the appearance-only classifier performance. Finally, a cross-view analysis on the SOR3D dataset provides valuable feedback for the viewpoint impact on the affordance information.

Projetos de aprendizagem sob as lentes da neurociência cognitiva: possibilidade para a construção de conceitos estatísticos

Estudos da Neurociência Cognitiva tem demostrado que o estudante aprende aquilo que o emociona, motiva e tem sentido para ele, pois o cérebro seleciona e foca a atenção nas informações mais próximas do que já domina e perde o interesse naquilo que não tem sentido para ele. Desta forma, planejar estratégias didáticas que partam do interesse e contexto do estudante, auxilia no fortalecimento das sinapses da rede neural, e consequentemente, na aprendizagem. Com este entendimento, no presente artigo, apresentamos a metodologia de Projetos de Aprendizagem como uma possibilidade para a construção dos conceitos estatísticos. Todo o processo investigativo envolvido na realização de um Projeto de Aprendizagem, desde a escolha do tema até a análise dos dados, conduz o estudante a uma atitude mais ativa e promove alterações das relações mantidas pelos neurônios distribuídos por várias áreas do cérebro do estudante, o que interfere nos fatores psicológicos e emocionais e conduz a comportamentos favoráveis ao aprendizado dos conceitos estatísticos.

Determination and Correlation Analysis of Mental Health Influencing Factors Among Ant Tribe Young Intellectuals Based on Cognitive Neuroscience

This paper aims to identify the main influencing factors of the mental health of ant tribe young intellectuals (ATYIs) and ascertain those factors in favor of mental health. Based on the research findings in cognitive neuroscience, the author explored the main factors affecting the mental health of the ATYIs through a questionnaire survey on 904 youngsters graduated in the past five years. The questionnaire evaluates the overall mental health of the respondents with four psychological test scales, namely Positive PsyCap Questionnaire (PPQ), Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), Adult Dispositional Hope Scale (ADHS), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Through the analysis, it is concluded that family income, academic performance, and interpersonal relationship are the main influencing factors of the mental health among the ATYIs. The research finding provides a reference for mental health education in colleges and points the direction for the ATYIs to improve their mental health.

The Genius of Creativity and the Creativity of Genius: The Neuro-Dynamics of Creativity in Karl Jaspers and Sigmund Freud

Creativity is one of the areas which continuously attracts attention. In an interdisciplinary spirit, this article focuses on the dynamics of creativity with respect to Freudian psychoanalyt- ical thought processes and Jaspers’ conception of a boundary situation. This effort is correlated with the newest research findings in cognitive neuroscience and neurocognitive psychology of creativity. Philosophical research is also brought in to explain the activity of creative thought and a new conception of creativity is offered, with a third thought process used, along with a miniature boundary situation. This represents a development and extension of the original ideas of Sigmund Freud and Karl Jaspers. The current article thus constitutes an examination of the intersection of creativity research, the metapsychology of Sigmund Freud, and the exis- tential philosophy of Karl Jaspers. It makes it a neuro-philosophical discussion par excellence and represents both a theoretical project and translation. Subsequently, a novel conception is offered, namely that creativity as unique human experience is illuminated in the miniature of boundary situation as controlled disinhibition of the intellect or regression in the name of the ego and as controlled spiral movement via dialectical “jumps” or “leaps.”

Habits of Theological Reason in Spiritual Formation

Habits of Theological Reason in Spiritual Formation Mark Graves (bio) Spiritual formation of theological reason can benefit from a gradually increasing understanding of the human person driven in part by scientific advances in investigating the human brain and cognition. As cognitive neuroscientists discover the biological foundations of mental processing, those findings that currently inform psychological categories of perception, problem solving, learning, memory, and language comprehension and generation can begin informing the theological category of reason. As a step toward incorporating contemporary scientific findings into theological, nonreductive models of the human person, the current investigation revisits Thomas Aquinas' concept of habits and the pseudo-Dionysian schema of formation to demonstrate how a scientifically plausible model of graced interpretive habits can inform the development of theological reason within a participatory relationship with Mystery. Given a contemporary understanding of the mind, how does one develop the capacity for theological reason? Several levels of theories and models are needed to characterize theological reason ranging from the occasionally borderline mystical through language, culture, mental processing, and brain function to their molecular foundations, and each reduction would explain some aspects in greater detail while losing some of that level's holistic ramifications. However, a carefully selected series of theories can increase the knowledge of reason gained while decreasing the information lost during the reductive mappings. To minimize reductionistic loss across multiple disciplines requires a coherent philosophical framework by which one understands each level's theories and models. For the formation of theological reason, the process of developing "habits" (classically, habitus) is an effective and fruitful category upon which to build. Theological reason is characterized as building theological habits of interpretation, and the formation of theological habits coheres with the development of behavioral, cognitive, and other psychological habits. It may also depend upon some of the neurobiological processes underlying habituation, learning, and memory formation. Reinterpreting habitus within a contemporary scientific understanding of the human person furthers an ecumenical approach to spiritual formation [End Page 35] while retaining the valuable contributions of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic thought throughout the history of Western spirituality. Using habits as a foundational construct, one can define theological reason as a spiritual practice where one forms interpretive habits to know theological loci, such as God or Christ. In particular, an Orthodox Christian understanding of Mystery serves as a test case to demonstrate the benefits of modeling religious concepts in terms of tradition-mediated, interpretive habits rather than essences or arbitrary social constructions. Developing theological constructs that incorporate scientific findings also enables directed empirical study of those constructs. Skills like juggling or driving a London taxicab sufficiently change brain function such that anatomical differences are apparent compared to novices in those areas. Brain scans (fMRI imaging) of Buddhist monks (and others) have found empirical differences compared with novice meditators.1 Directing scientific studies to examine theologically refined models may yield deeper insights into human dimensions of spiritual formation and theological reason as well as lay a foundation to pursue further empirical theological investigations. A model of interpretative habits coheres with contemporary findings of cognitive neuroscience that identify the multimodal, plastic, distributed brain processes underlying mental reasoning processes. Although more physicalist or systemic models may better satisfy reductionist or integrative research agendas, respectively, theologians working to incorporate contemporary science into categories typically studied using methods from the humanities are not limited to scientific research categories previously developed without social scientific or philosophic input. Selecting models for theological use must meet most of the requirements for scientific model development, and may substitute broader coherence for reductionist simplicity as well as methodological fruitfulness for experimental potency. Interpretive habits model cognitive processes of theological reason in a way that supports ecumenical investigation of spiritual formation within a broad theological context. This article focuses on how interpretive habits can model the spiritual formation of theological reason with respect to communally defined loci such as Mystery. Despite significant and often heated debates concerning differing Christian views on justification, sanctification, deification (theosis), humanity's natural moral state, and the role of grace in salvation, spiritual formation across major Christian traditions likely share a core set of developmental processes. As psychologists and neuroscientists develop a deeper understanding of those developmental processes, scholars of...

The Philosophical Challenge from China ed. by Brian Bruya

Reviewed by: The Philosophical Challenge from China ed. by Brian Bruya Sydney Morrow (bio) The Philosophical Challenge from China. Edited by Brian Bruya. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2015. Pp. 432. Hardcover $45.00, isbn 978-0-262-02843-1. eBook $32.00, isbn 978-0-26-232361-1. The Philosophical Challenge from China, edited by Brian Bruya, undoubtedly occupies an important place in the discourse about what practices and authorities are relevant to Philosophy as an academic discipline. Its confident reorientation of philosophical relevance in the context of Anglophone academics will hopefully speak meaningfully to any remaining skeptics of the usefulness of Chinese philosophy. The intended audience of this effort, however, is shrinking, or, more accurately, those willing to be convinced are increasingly few, and what remains is simply and haplessly the staunch traditionalists of the so-called Western paradigm. This evokes the thought that anthologies that strive to show relevance, while at the same time being philosophically nuanced enough to please a moderately specialized audience, are without appropriate readership. Most readers, I think, will appreciate the alternately playful, scoffing, earnest, and inventive essays that comprise this volume from the meta-philosophical perspective of comparative methodology, and in so doing overlook the challenge that is the supposed force of the collection. That said, whether a particular comparative methodology is advantageous and oriented toward the complex future that comparative philosophy gives way to is a conversation that this anthology is specially poised to host. Following an introduction from the editor chronicling the crisis of Anglophone Chinese philosophy, namely the sore lack of institutional recognition, respect, and support, this volume is divided into three sections, each featuring a handful of pieces with little overlap in terms of authoritative material, though each makes dutiful reference to the formative texts of the Chinese philosophical tradition. The first section, Moral Psychology, speaks to those familiar with moral and ethical theory as well as contemporary cognitive science and psychology about [End Page 948] the benefits of including perspectives from Chinese philosophy. The first essay, contributed by Hagop Sarkissian, “When You Think It’s Bad, It’s Worse Than You Think: Psychological Bias and the Ethics of Negative Character Assessments,” begins with Susan Wolf’s account of the demands on the potential moral saint. The call for a person to be categorically good seems to go a little far, by Wolf’s estimation, and this author searches for remediation amid the Analects. With its concern for context and self-scrutiny, the Analects yields license to consider the implications and causes of acts that may on the surface not be moral. What Chinese philosophy provides is a nuanced view of others that is not merely the sum of their acts, but an assessment of their character, which may or may not be charitable. The ability to assess others is part of what it is to be moral, and it requires consistent self-directed scrutiny. This depth of inward- and outward-directed morality is compared to contemporary experimental psychology and game theory in hopes of clarifying the problems of giving someone the benefit of the doubt in a social context. In the second essay, “Growing Virtue: The Theory and Science of Developing Compassion from a Mencian Perspective,” David B. Wong squares its view on the Mencius and brings in select insights from contemporary psychology to bolster a theory of compassion. Interestingly, the Mencius is shown with relative ease to align with new findings in cognitive neuroscience more so than the philosophical perspectives on self proffered by Kant and Hume, which embrace the dichotomy between body and mind. In the third selection, Bongrae Seok’s “Proto-Empathy and Nociceptive Mirror Emotion: Mencius’ Embodied Moral Psychology” also makes use of the Mencius’ embodied perspective on morality, but hopes to uncover insights for theories on empathy. Empathy is not something that is learned in a social context, but, as in the Mencius, is a spontaneous upwelling of concern. Seok presents cognitive theories of nociceptive mirror emotions, which provide insights into the uniquely painful feeling one has when exposed to the suffering of someone else, to develop a theory of embodied proto-empathy, a moral emotion that may preempt social concerns about caring...

Technology and the Not-so-Stable Body: “Being There” in the Cyborg’s Dilemma

Will virtual worlds one day be perceptually similar to everyday life? Could virtual reality (VR) provide a platform for individuals to dialogue about pressing social or political issues? From the Ready Player One and Matrix franchises, to the science fiction of Isaac Asimov, the communicative and political implications of hybrid human/machine virtual worlds have been heavily theorized. Yet, fundamental questions remain as to whether or not VR could ever substantiate the breath and scope of embodied, non-virtual experience. The following paper examines whether VR platforms are capable of providing an authentic sense of “being there” in digital spaces. Drawing from empirical findings in cognitive neuroscience, scholarship on virtual presence, and the phenomenology of perception, this paper argues that any attempt to communicate embodied presence within VR must account for the role of motoric action in structuring a vividly experienced worldhood. To this end, increased sensory feedback from new technologies will add to the life-like quality of virtual reality only insofar as this feedback is filtered through an action-oriented body image.

We knew it all along! Using cognitive science to explain how andragogy works

Purpose– This paper aims to link recent findings in cognitive neuroscience to better understand how andragogically informed instructional practices impact cognition and learning.Design/methodology/approach– The research questions guiding the study is in what ways can the recent findings in cognitive neuroscience help to inform adult education theory, including andragogy in particular, to deepen our understanding of how andragogical instructional principles and practices can improve learning? We adopted Torraco’s (2005) integrative literature review approach of providing enough details regarding the selection of the literature and the identification and verification of emerged themes of main ideas.Findings– The core assumptions of andragogy (self-direction, prior experience, readiness to learn and immediacy of application) have a connection to the neural networks related to memory and cognition.Research limitations/implications– First, this study provides fundamental foundations for combining cognitive neuroscience and adult learning to illuminate how cognitive neuroscience contributes physiologically to adult learning. Second, the findings in cognitive neuroscience related to the four assumptions for andragogy help to provide scientific explanations and interpretations for adult learning theories influencing human resource development (HRD), such as self-directed learning, experiential learning and role theory.Practical implications– First, HRD practitioners could use the integrative approach between andragogy and the cognitive neuroscience to reduce the issues of learning activities in generation differences. In addition, cognitive neuroscience research may contribute to improving teaching and instructional techniques.Originality/value– The contributions of this study is that it provides an integrative review about why and how anagogical principles work through the lens of cognitive neuroscience. Based on the findings, we suggested a model of adaptive cognitive neuroscience-adult learning structures.