Mind Hypothesis Research Articles

Mental Health and Teacher Effectiveness of Pre-Service Biological Science Teachers

The present study aimed to investigate the differential effect of gender and entry level educational qualification on teacher effectiveness and mental health of pre-service biological science teachers; and on the relationship between the variables. The Teacher Effectiveness Scale for Secondary School Teachers and the Mental Health Inventory for Secondary School Teachers, developed by the investigators, were administered on a sample of 464 pre-service biological science teachers, selected on a stratified random basis, from two districts of Tamil Nadu. The data, thus collected, were subjected to statistical analysis (t-test and Pearson product moment correlation) by keeping the hypotheses in mind. The study revealed a differential effect of gender on teacher effectiveness and mental health, the males excelling females in both, while entry level educational qualification has its significant effect only on teacher effectiveness; not on mental health. Significant positive correlation of a substantial degree was found to exist between teacher effectiveness and mental health of the pre-service biological science teachers in the total sample as well as all the sub-samples considered in the study. Neither gender nor the entry level educational qualification was found to be decisive in discriminating the sub-samples on the basis of the correlation between teacher effectiveness and mental health.

The Extended Mind: State of the Question

AbstractIt has been twenty years since Clark and Chalmers published “The Extended Mind.” In the present article I review the development of the extended mind hypothesis across what some proponents have defined as three theoretical “waves.” From first‐wave extended mind theory, based on the parity principle, to second‐wave complementarity, to the third wave, characterized as an uneasy integration of predictive processing and enactivist dynamics, extended mind theorists have faced and solved a number of problems along the way. The fact that the hypothesis continues to spark debate and to generate both new insights and new objections suggests that it continues to play a productive role in contemporary philosophy of mind.

Demographic Factors in Multiple Intelligence of Pre-Service Physical Science Teachers

The present study aimed to investigate the differential effect of selected demographic factors on multiple intelligences of pre-service physical science teachers. The Multiple Intelligence Scale for Secondary School Teachers, developed by the investigators, was administered along with a personal data sheet on a sample of 482 pre-service physical science teachers, selected on a stratified random basis, from three districts of Tamil Nadu. The data, thus collected, were subjected to statistical analysis (t-test and One-way ANOVA) by keeping the objectives and hypotheses in mind. The study revealed a differential effect of gender on verbal-linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, bodily kinaesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence. Significant differential effect of residential locale of the participants was observed on verbal-linguistic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and naturalistic intelligence. While educational qualification was found to have significant differential effect on logical-mathematical intelligence, socio-economic status was found to have effect on interpersonal intelligence and moral-spiritual intelligence. The study further exposed the presence of significant difference among high-, average-, and low achievers in their verbal-linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, visual-spatial intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and naturalistic intelligence.

Health Characteristics and Blood Bacterial Assemblages of Healthy Captive Red Drum: Implications for Aquaculture and Fish Health Management.

The newly emerging tissue microbiota hypothesis suggests that bacteria found in blood and tissues play a role in host health, as these bacterial communities have been associated with various noncommunicable diseases such as obesity, liver disease, and cardiovascular disease. Numerous reports have identified bacteria in the blood of healthy finfish, indicating bacteremia may not always indicate disease. Current research priorities in aquaculture include the development of technologies and practices that will allow for an effective reduction in antibiotic use for the prevention and treatment of disease. Overall, a better understanding of fish health is needed, particularly among species selected for commercial-scale production. This study investigated blood characteristics of cultured Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus with the tissue microbiota hypothesis in mind. Bacterial assemblages within the blood were characterized using next-generation sequencing and compared with other various blood characteristics, including innate immune function enzymes, between two fish cohorts reared in aquaculture. A total of 137 prokaryotic operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified from the blood of Red Drum. Microbiota diversity and structure varied greatly among individuals, for which the number of OTUs ranged from 4 to 58; however, predicted metagenomic function was highly similar between individuals and was dominated by the metabolism of carbohydrates and amino acids and membrane transport. Communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, followed by Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria. The most commonly identified genera included Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Corynebacterium, and Pseudomonas. Three genera previously identified as containing marine fish pathogens were detected: Corynebacterium, Pantoea, and Chryseobacterium. A subset of bacterial OTUs were positively correlated with superoxide dismutase activity and negatively correlated with lysozyme activity, indicating a relationship between blood microbiota and the innate immune system. The results of this study provide further evidence for the tissue microbiota hypothesis and demonstrate the potential for these bacterial communities to be linked to immunological characteristics often used as biomarkers for fish health.

Metaplasticity and the boundaries of social cognition: exploring scalar transformations in social interaction and intersubjectivity

Through the application of Material Engagement Theory (MET) to enactivist analyses of social cognition, this paper seeks to examine the role of material culture in shaping the development of intersubjectivity and long-term scalar transformations in social interaction. The deep history of human sociality reveals a capacity for communities to self-organise at radically emergent scales across a variety of temporal and spatial ranges. This ability to generate and participate in heterogenous, multiscalar relationships and identities demonstrates the developmental plasticity of human intersubjectivity. Perhaps human sociality’s most unique feature is this intersubjective plasticity, that is, the ability for diverse collectivities of individuals and groups to adopt and transition between numerous social identities and behaviours with profound rapidity and flexibility. However, the most influential models in the study of social cognition, the Social Intelligence Hypothesis and Theory of Mind, promote a view of intersubjectivity that is rooted in methodological individualism and primarily understood as a capacity for observation and prediction. This approach leads to significant issues when confronted with the diversity and plasticity of hominin social organisation, particularly in regards to the computational burdens and information processing bottlenecks such scalar changes imply for cognitivist models. This paper examines the metaphysical assumptions in computational models of the mind that result in representational apriorism and an epiphenomenal treatment of material culture that hinder our understanding of the evolution and development of social cognition. Specifically, this article critiques the logics of computation, information processing, representationalism, and content within Neo-Darwinian frameworks that obscure and distort the interrelationships of evolutionary, developmental, ecological and cultural processes. Through a synthesis of material engagement and enactivist approaches to social cognition, this article argues that it is possible to explain the emergent and multiscalar dynamics of hominin sociality in terms of ecologically distributed and developmentally plastic interactions between brains, bodies and material culture.

Bayesian evaluation of informative hypotheses in cluster-randomized trials

Researchers often have informative hypotheses in mind when comparing means across treatment groups, such as H1 : μA < μB < μC and H2 : μB < μA < μC, and want to compare these hypotheses to each other directly. This can be done by means of Bayesian inference. This article discusses the disadvantages of the frequentist approach to null hypothesis testing and the advantages of the Bayesian approach. It demonstrates how to use the Bayesian approach to hypothesis testing in the setting of cluster-randomized trials. The data from a school-based smoking prevention intervention with four treatment groups are used to illustrate the Bayesian approach. The main advantage of the Bayesian approach is that it provides a degree of evidence from the collected data in favor of an informative hypothesis. Furthermore, a simulation study was conducted to investigate how Bayes factors behave with cluster-randomized trials. The results from the simulation study showed that the Bayes factor increases with increasing number of clusters, cluster size, and effect size, and decreases with increasing intraclass correlation coefficient. The effect of the number of clusters is stronger than the effect of cluster size. With a small number of clusters, the effect of increasing cluster size may be weak, especially when the intraclass correlation coefficient is large. In conclusion, the study showed that the Bayes factor is affected by sample size and intraclass correlation similarly to how these parameters affect statistical power in the frequentist approach of null hypothesis significance testing. Bayesian evaluation may be used as an alternative to null hypotheses testing.

Externalism and Conceptual Analysis

AbstractThe method of Conceptual Analysis makes use of natural language speaker intuitions about the meanings of expressions, and relies on an externalist assumption about meanings—namely, that they can be given in terms of referential relations and truth. This article argues that this widely used methodology in metaphysics is troubled, because the assumed externalist hypothesis about natural language meanings is beset with trenchant obstacles in explaining linguistic phenomena. It argues that the use of Conceptual Analysis in metaphysical investigation inherits the difficulties for the externalist hypothesis generally assumed by metaphysical inquiry. It explores two cases of such investigation that serve to exemplify the breadth of topics susceptible to troubles with the externalist hypothesis regarding natural language meanings: the extended mind hypothesis and the metaphysics of causation.

Interaction Effect of Family Type, Age Gap and Length of Married Life on Marital Adjustment

The present normative survey was aimed to study the main effect and interaction effect of age gap, family type and length of married life on marital adjustment. The Marital Adjustment Questionnaire developed by Kumar and Rohatgi (1976) was administered on a random sample of 326 married adults (average age 37.46) selected from Ernakulam district of Kerala. The data, thus collected, were subjected to statistical analysis(three-way ANOVA) by keeping the objective and the hypothesis in mind. The study revealed that age gap, family type and length of married life have significant main effect on the marital adjustment of participants. Whereas the family type do not significantly influence marital adjustment in interaction with either length of married life or age gap between the spouses, the latter two independent variables have significant interaction effect on marital adjustment. The analysis also exposed that all the three independent variables, viz., family type, age gap between spouses and the length of married life, have significant interaction effect on marital adjustment of people living in Ernakulam district.

How to stay safe while extending the mind

According to the extended mind thesis, cognitive processes are not confined to the nervous system but can extend beyond skin and skull to notebooks, iPhones, computers and such. The extended mind thesis is a metaphysical thesis about the material basis of our cognition. As such, whether the thesis is true can have implications for epistemological issues. Carter has recently argued that safety-based theories of knowledge are in tension with the extended mind hypothesis, since the safety condition implies that there is an epistemic difference between subjects who form their beliefs via their biological capacities and between subjects who have extended their cognition. Kelp, on the other hand, has argued that a safety-based theory of knowledge can be correct only if the extended mind thesis is true. While these claims are not logically inconsistent, they do leave the safety theorist in an uncomfortable position. I will argue that safety-based theories of knowledge are not hostage to the truth of the extended mind thesis, and that once the safety condition is properly understood it is not in tension with the extended mind thesis.

Oral Submucous Fibrosis as an Overhealing Wound: Implications in Malignant Transformation.

Oral submucous fibrosis is an oral potentially malignant disorder with high incidence of malignant transformation and rising global prevalence. However, the genesis of oral submucous fibrosis is still unclear despite superfluity of literature. In the background of ineffective treatment, it is necessary to decode its onset and progression before designing customized treatment regimens. The objective of this article is to decipher the pathogenesis of oral submucous fibrosis in order to identify novel drug targets. A thorough literature review based on oral submucous fibrosis being an overhealing wound was conducted; several related patents were identified and herewith reviewed. Necessary pathways were elaborated and deliberated in the manuscript in the form of schemas, keeping our hypothesis in mind. Several novel molecular targets were identified and discussed in detail. Several patents demonstrating inhibition of fibrosis via chemokine ligand mimetics, anticonnexon antibodies, stem cell therapy, fibronectin blocking peptides, HIF inhibitors, recombinant erythropoietin, xanthine oxidase inhibitors, long non-coding RNAs, targeting inflammation, increasing TH-1/TH-2 cytokine ratio, t-box protein 4, chromium containing compositions, Iron-based nanocomposites, Lactate Dehydrogenase-5 inhibitors, Carbonic Anhdrase-9 inhibitors, proton pump inhibitors, liposomal encapsulated glutathione, monocarboxylate-4 inhibitors, autophagy inhibitors, Submucosal anti-IL-6 antibodies, fibrin degradation products for monitoring of malignancy and fibrosis, small molecule antagonists like vorapaxar, tiplaxtinin, and TM-5275, TGF-β signalling inhibitors were identified as future therapeutic avenues. Considering, oral submucous fibrosis as an overhealing wound explains both pathogenesis and malignant transformation. Certainly, abnormalities in coagulation and fibrinolytic system are a common denominator in the profibrotic milieu and associated malignancy.

Use of Propidium monoazide for reducing bias in microbiome characterization of Preterm infants at risk of Necrotizing Enterocolitis by DGGE and Sequencing Analysis

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis is a deadly disease of preterm infants. Preterm infants with decreased gestational age, born via Caesarean section and deprived of mother milk are at increased risk of acquiring NEC though the exact etiology is not known. Molecular biology techniques have been in use to know the exact causative organism of diseases of unknown etiology. Extracellular DNA may produce bias in molecular studies as that may give signals from dead bacteria. Propidium monoazide is a fluorescent dye that has been used in this study to remove the bias due to extracellular DNA while studying the microbial diversity of Preterm infants stool samples. PMA acts by binding to free DNA after being activated by light and cannot penetrate intact membranes of live cells. Methods & Materials: After the DNA extraction, PCR amplified 9 clinical stool samples (divide into PMA treated and control samples) were studied by Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and next generation sequencing. Results: Statistically, no significant difference was found between PMA treated and control samples (P = 0.99). The PLS-DA graph however showed difference in OTUs between positive and control samples. Gel examination also showed variation in bands representing Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) between the two classes of samples. Next generation sequencing data was subsampled by MOTHUR and the difference between Positive and Control samples was not statistically significant. Though, clinically important bacteria as Enterococcus, Escherichia coli and Shigella were increased in proportion in PMA treated samples. Bacteria that might be useful for the infants as Bifidobacterium were decreased in PMA treated samples. Conclusion: Keeping our initial hypothesis in mind and inferring from our recent data and previous studies, we can propose that NEC is possibly a polymicrobial infection of diverse etiology. PMA treatment has effectively reduced the dead bacteria population according to the criteria of membrane being intact or not. As per results, there is a clearer picture of living bacteria that may be involved possibly in this pathology. However, how in the microenvironment of biofilm these pathogens interact with the normal flora or among themselves may give the exact mechanism of underlying pathogenesis.

On the identity of Bufo diptychus Cope, 1862 (Anura: Bufonidae).

The enigmatic toad Bufo diptychus was described by Cope (1862) based on a single individual (USNM 5841, now lost) of about 25 mm of SVL, collected during the expedition to La Plata River and tributaries, conducted by Captain Page between 1853 and 1856. As no dwarf species of toad was ever recorded in the surveyed area, and based on some tips that arise from Page's narrative, we postulate that the description was based on a toadlet. With this hypothesis in mind, we compared Cope's characterization of B. diptychus with juveniles of all species of Rhinella present in the region, finding an exact match in almost all characters shown by the juveniles of the common "cururú" or "rococo" toad, Rhinella schneideri (Werner 1894). Henceforth, we postulate that R. schneideri is a junior synonym of B. diptychus, under the combination Rhinella diptycha (Cope 1862).

Interaction Effect of Multiple Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence on Professional Effectiveness of Teachers

The present normative survey was aimed to study the main effect and interaction effect of multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence, and social intelligence on professional effectiveness of secondary school teachers of Kerala. Standardised tools to measure the variables were administered on a sample of 618 secondary school teachers, selected on a stratified random basis, from four districts of Kerala. The data, thus collected, were subjected to statistical analysis(three-way ANOVA) by keeping the objectives and hypotheses in mind. The study revealed that multiple intelligence and social intelligence have significant main effect on professional effectiveness of teachers. The main effect of social intelligence on professional effectiveness is, however, not significant. Emotional intelligence have significant interaction effect with both multiple intelligence and social intelligence on professional effectiveness of teachers. The interaction effect of social intelligence and multiple intelligence on professional effectiveness is, however, not significant. The interaction of the three independent variables on the dependent variable is significant.

PENGARUH PENGENDALIAN INTERN TERHADAP EFEKTIVITAS PENYALURAN KREDIT PADA LEMBAGA PERKREDITAN DESA (LPD) DI KECAMATAN ABIANSEMAL KABUPATEN BADUNG

ABSTRACT This study aimed to analyze the influence of each independent variable on the dependent variable in the Village Credit Institutions (LPD) in the district of Badung regency Abiansemal. Samples used as many as 34 LPD with 68 respondents, the determination of non-probability samples using a method that is saturated samples. Data analysis technique used is multiple linear regression, which preceded the validity, reliability and classic assumption test including normality test, test multicoloniarity and heteroscedasticity test. Results of testing the hypothesis in mind that the internal control positive and significant impact on the effectiveness of lending in Village Credit Institutions (LPD) in the district of Badung regency Abiansemal either partially or simultaneously. Keywords: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, monitoring and the effectiveness of the loan portfolio.

The Extended Mind Hypothesis in the Context of Vygotsky’s Cultural-Historical Psychology

This article analyzes the extended mind hypothesis that has been discussed during the past two decades following the article “The Extended Mind” by Andy Clark and David Chalmers. It examines the position of active externalism and notes the shortcomings of the arguments supporting this position as proposed by Clark and Chalmers. It is demonstrated that the cultural-historical psychology developed by Vygotsky represents an alternative means of substantiating the extended mind hypothesis. Interpreting Vygotsky’s position as “active social externalism,” the author contrasts Vygotsky’s theory with the active externalism of Clark and Chalmers, as well as with the classical externalism advocated by Putnam and Burge, showing the advantage of Vygotsky’s approach. This advantage has been seen in the ability of Vygotsky’s active social externalism to avoid the problems faced by other externalist approaches to explaining the mind.

Chimpanzees gesture to humans in mirrors: using reflection to dissociate seeing from line of gaze

There is much experimental evidence suggesting that chimpanzees understand that others see. However, previous research has never experimentally ruled out the alternative explanation that chimpanzees are just responding to the geometric cue of 'direct line of gaze', the observable correlate of seeing in others. Here, we sought to resolve this ambiguity by dissociating seeing from direct line of gaze using a mirror. We investigated the frequency of chimpanzees' visual gestures towards a human experimenter who could see them (as a result of looking into a mirror) but who lacked a direct line of gaze to them (as a result of having his/her head turned away). Chimpanzees produced significantly more visual gestures when the experimenter could see them than when he/she could not, even when the experimenter did not have a direct line of gaze to them. Results suggest that chimpanzees, through a possible process of experience projection based on their own prior experience with mirrors, infer that an experimenter looking at the mirror can see them. We discuss our results in relation to the theory of mind hypothesis that chimpanzees understand seeing in others, and we evaluate possible alternative low-level explanations.

The Mark of the Cognitive and the Coupling-Constitution Fallacy: A Defense of the Extended Mind Hypothesis.

Clark and Chalmers (1998) introduced the extended mind hypothesis, according to which some mental states can be realized by non-biological external resources. A lively debate has flourished around this hypothesis, connected with the issues of embodiment, embeddedness, situatedness and enaction (cf. Clark, 2008; Menary, 2010; Shapiro, 2011). Two of the main criticisms addressed to the functionalist version of the extended mind thesis have been the so-called “coupling-constitution fallacy” and the alleged lack of a mark of the cognitive (Adams and Aizawa, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010a,b). According to Adams and Aizawa, extended cognition is a logical possibility, but is not instantiated in our world. Following this view, they defend a “contingent intracranialism,” based on a specific mark of the cognitive that they propose. In this paper I intend to show that neither criticism is effective against the extended cognition thesis. In particular: the mark of the cognitive proposed by Adams and Aizawa does not secure contingent intracranialism;the coupling-constitution fallacy criticizes extended cognition on precisely the point the theory was intended to defend: namely, that the best way to individuate cognitive systems, given a minimal mark of the cognitive, is to rely on coupling relations between agents and environmental resources.

Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language

This article seeks to develop Translanguaging as a theory of language and discuss the theoretical motivations behind and the added values of the concept. I contextualize Translanguaging in the linguistic realities of the 21st century, especially the fluid and dynamic practices that transcend the boundaries between named languages, language varieties, and language and other semiotic systems. I highlight the contributions Translanguaging as a theoretical concept can make to the debates over the Language and Thought and the Modularity of Mind hypotheses. One particular aspect of multilingual language users’ social interaction that I want to emphasize is its multimodal and multisensory nature. I elaborate on two related concepts: Translanguaging Space and Translanguaging Instinct, to underscore the necessity to bridge the artificial and ideological divides between the so-called sociocultural and the cognitive approaches to Translanguaging practices. In doing so, I respond to some of the criticisms and confusions about the notion of Translanguaging.

Grief as an extended emotion

In recent years, human scientists have generalized the so-called hypothesis of the extended mind to human emotional life. The extended mind hypothesis states that objects within the environment function as a part of the mind and are centrally involved in cognition. Some emotion researchers have argued along these lines that there are bodily extended emotions, and (more controversially) environmentally extended emotions. In this article, we will first briefly introduce the idea of the extended mind and extended emotions before applying it to the emotion of grief specifically. We explain by introducing the notion of a cultural affective niche within which grief is scaffolded and enacted. An affective niche couples the person and the environment and enables the realization of affective states.

Demarcating the Realm of Cognition

The Extended Mind Hypothesis has given rise to stimulating philosophical debates about the boundaries of the realm of the cognitive. This paper first investigates the usefulness of a “mark of the cognitive,” and then focuses on two accounts that aim to provide such a mark, put forward by Fred Adams and Rebecca Garrison on one side and Mark Rowlands on the other. The paper provides a critical assessment of these accounts and uses empirical work on emotion regulation in infants to unearth some crucial challenges that any attempt at offering a mark of the cognitive should address.