Mental Constructs Research Articles

The Role of Conceptualization in Human Cognitive Activity

The article analyzes the cognitive process of conceptualization, which is the process and the result of the mental construction of objects and phenomena. Conceptualization consists of the structuring of knowledge the awareness of specific information. Concepts, which are the result of conceptualization, form a separate system of interrelationships and subordination and thus compose the conceptosphere of national culture. A single concept can be expressed in several ways and at the same time a single word can express different concepts. The article emphasizes that the study of conceptualization strengthens the understanding of the role of concepts in forming a picture of the world. The result of conceptualization is not just a list of formed concepts, but also a conceptosphere as a system which includes both concepts and the connections between them.

Student-Teacher Level of Statistical Reasoning Ability Reviewed by Apos Theory (Action, Process, Object, Schema)

In learning statistics, there is the term statistical reasoning. Statistical reasoning arises because of the opinion that learning statistics using a traditional approach does not lead students to have statistical reasoning abilities or to think statistically. There are four statistical reasoning levels: idiosyncratic, transitional, quantitative, and analytical. Student-teachers must understand fundamental statistical concepts more deeply to develop statistical reasoning abilities. The mental construction of a statistical concept can be analyzed using APOS (Action, Process, Object, Schema) theory. Through the APOS theory, researchers can determine individual understanding of statistical concepts that cause individuals to reason or draw reasonable conclusions based on the statistical information obtained. This study aims to analyze the interrelationships and make conjectures regarding the level of statistical reasoning ability based on the APOS theory. The research subjects are. 19 informants. The research results obtained four conjectures, namely. Students at the idiosyncratic level are in the action stage; students at the transitional stage are in the action, process, or object stage; students at the quantitative stage are in the process or object stage; lastly, students at the analytical are in the schema stage.

Resource Mobilisation, Utilisation and Wellbeing of Social and Solidarity Groups In The Assin Fosu Municipality, Ghana.

Purpose: The study focused on farm-based cooperatives in the Assin Fosu municipality and examined resource mobilisation as well as the factors that determine resource utilisation and the wellbeing of social and solidarity organisations.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: 180 respondents from six registered farm-based cooperatives in the Assin Fosu Municipality were chosen for the study using a mixed research design and a multi-stage sample method that included purposive, proportional, and simple random sampling procedures. The Focus Group comprised cooperative chairpersons and was further expanded to include the Municipal Co-operative Officer, who was specifically chosen as a key informant. In addition to narratives drawn from qualitative data, descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to examine the data.
 Research Implications/Limitations: The limitation of this study is the measurement of farm size and income which were based on the mental construct of farmers because most of the cooperative members did not keep records. This tended to distort the reality related to farm size and income which were included in the construct of wellbeing and collective resource mobilisation.
 Findings: We discovered that, except for cooperatives based on cocoa, resource mobilisation was low across all the cooperatives. The study found that the mobilisation of resources and the collective purchase of agricultural equipment and supplies, which reduced production costs, were the driving forces behind resource utilisation. The main wellbeing indicators were longer membership durations and group resource mobilisation and utilisation.
 Practical Implications: The findings of the study will help contribute to the management of social and solidarity groups in Ghana and broaden the understanding of how this development approach affects livelihoods. It is also hoped that the findings will contribute to the mitigation of the cost of neoliberal policies by providing a path to wellbeing at the micro and informal levels through group resource mobilisation and utilisation.
 Social Implications: Social and Solidarity organisations serve as an alternative to economic organisations that are based on neoliberal principles. This is because the latter favours the dominant few in developing economies culminating in widespread poverty, inequalities, and a decline in wellbeing. To maximise wellbeing, cooperatives should intensify resource mobilisation, and utilisation whilst maintaining their membership.
 Originality/Value: The novelty of this paper lies in its contribution to the literature on social and solidarity economies. It provides information on the missing link on how farm-based cooperatives mobilise and utilise resources for the wellbeing of their members.

Mental health and wellbeing of undergraduate students in engineering: A systematic literature review

AbstractBackgroundThe wellbeing of college students today is at risk because of rising occurrences of mental health issues in higher education. Concurrently, undergraduate students perceive engineering courses and programs to be among the most arduous, and least welcoming and accommodating, in higher education. Although research related to mental health and wellbeing (MHW) in engineering is growing, a systematic review of this research has yet to be conducted.PurposeThis systematic literature review identifies and synthesizes empirical scholarship related to the MHW of undergraduate engineering students.Scope/MethodSpecified search terms and inclusion criteria were used to identify 34 empirical studies related to engineering undergraduates' MHW. Content and qualitative thematic analyses were conducted to characterize and synthesize trends in research quality and outcomes across studies.ResultsUndergraduate engineering students experience a variety of mental health issues that negatively affect their experiences in engineering education. Stress is the most prevalent mental health issue identified; anxiety, depression, and post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are also reported. Heavy academic workloads, sleep issues, and the nature of engineering education culture are identified as impediments to MHW in engineering education.ConclusionsAlthough MHW in engineering is a growing area of research internationally, current MHW research in engineering is nascent and focused on the characterization of student mental health issues. Researchers underutilize qualitative and mixed‐methods approaches, longitudinal and experimental designs, guiding frameworks, and robust sampling techniques. Academic and mindfulness interventions, as well as the use of mental wellness constructs from positive psychology, show promise for supporting MHW in engineering.

Comparing the reliability and validity of youth-reported checklists and standardized interviews for categorical measurement of emotional and behavioral problems.

Self-completed checklists measuring youth mental health problems produce dimensional scale scores and can be converted to categorical classifications representing the presence/absence of psychopathology. We test whether categorical classifications from scale scores are equivalent psychometrically to categorical classifications of the same problems obtained by lay-administered standardized structured diagnostic interviews. The sample of n = 325 youth aged 12-18 (44% male) and their parent/caregivers come from combined test-retest reliability studies conducted in Ontario, Canada, from 2011 to 2015. Ontario Child Health Study Emotional Behavioural Scales-Brief Version (OCHS-EBS-B)scores converted to categorical classifications of emotional and behavioral problems were compared with interview classifications. We test hypotheses of statistical equivalence and inferiority, using a confidence interval approach to detect if differences lie within the smallest effect size of interest of ±0.18. We compare categorical classifications on: (1) test-retest reliability (ҡ), (2) content validity (between-instrument agreement), and (3) construct validity (strength of association with three mental health-related constructs). Average test-retest reliabilities were 0.695 (checklists) and 0.670 (interviews). The reliability of checklist emotional problem classifications was not inferior to interview classifications and the difference in reliability between instruments for behavioral problems was small (-0.036). Average between-instrument agreement was ҡ = 0.586 (observed) and ҡ = 0.841 (corrected for attenuation due to measurement error) indicating high content overlap. Statistical equivalence criteria were met in 5 of 6 construct validity comparisons. Categorical classifications of emotional and behavioral problems from youth-reported checklists are, on balance, equivalent to interview classifications. Checklists represent a simple, brief, inexpensive alternative to interviews.

GENITIVE-NEGATIVE AS THE UNIVERSAL FORM IMPLEMENTING THE ‘ABSENCE’ CONCEPT

Background. The article deals with the problem of a case category, case typology, and partial case meanings definition which is still topical. Its solution has been proposed by L. Tenier, W. Chafe, Ch. Fillmore and other scientists. The history of linguistics testifies to the fact that even Panini in his Aṣṭādhyāyī paid attention to verb-noun ratios. The case category (case – from the Latin casus < from the Greek word πτόσισ ‘fall’) is the representation of cognitive role of a name in the syntactic construction. 
 The purpose of the study is to demonstrate universality of the specific case segment – Genetive of Negation – in the context of model structures implementing the ‘Absence’ concept. Objectives are as follows: 1) to analyze the current case concepts; 2) to define reasons why case forms are used in their relation to the expressed meanings; and 3) to generate models with genitive of negation within their structure.
 Methods. A continuous sampling method has been applied to search and accumulate the required study units. A comparative method has been applied to define integral and differential characteristics of typical models in different languages. Certain elements of a comparative historical method have helped demonstrate universality of cognitive and model structures expressing the absence concept. A structural method has become the basic one while developing the models representing actual mental constructs.
 Discussion. In the study, we focused on the Genitive Case forms, i.e. on the formal Genitive Case as well as its involvement in the structures able to express absence meaning of somebody or something. Fundamentally, the Genitive Case forms in the Ukrainian and English languages are universal not only to express relation of a person/subject, called either noun or pronoun, to some another object of reality but also to express negation. In grammars, such a form is assumed to be termed as genitive-negative. 
 Conclusions. We believe that any case meaning inclusive of Genitive of Negation semantics is a result of mental activity of the specific native speakers. In the process of historical development, a meaning adapts a number of implementation forms to itself. A language remains those ones being the most reasonable from the viewpoint of articulation as well as cognitive acceptance of the image-concept-meaning-form phenomenon by a community. The capacity to agree words in a speech flow, i.e. capacity to adjust word forms to each other according to the laws of one or another language depending upon specific semantic situations is the genetic feature of human mind able to transform into verbal / lingual experience. The situation is also typical for the studied segment of the forms and meanings. All components of the listed models, supplementing a form of Genitive Case of a noun or pronoun, make together Genitive of Negation forms. Such structures are universal for the two studied languages (i.e. Ukrainian and English) while expressing the ‘Absence’ concept. At the same time, we observe universal and original Genetive of Negation models.

A systematic review of the association between parent-child communication and adolescent mental health.

This systematic review addresses how adolescent-rated parent-child communication (PCC) quality is related to adolescent mental health. We performed a systematic literature search in Medline and APA PsycInfo, including peer-reviewed quantitative studies examining associations between adolescent-rated dyadic PCC quality and general as well as specific measures of adolescent mental health. Qualitative and case studies were excluded, as were studies reporting only parent-rated communication quality or instruments assessing other constructs than dyadic PCC. We screened 5314 articles, of which 37 were included in the review. We assessed study quality with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. We synthesized the findings in a table and narratively, reporting the main outcomes organized according to mental health constructs. The included studies were mainly cross-sectional. The results showed that adolescent-rated PCC quality is negatively associated with mental health constructs, demonstrating small to large effects across different mental health constructs and populations. The associations were found for general mental health and specific domains, including depression, anxiety, psychosis, suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and addictive internet use/gaming. The findings demonstrate that PCC is a relevant variable to consider in assessing adolescent mental health and preventive efforts. Limitations include the exclusive focus on adolescent-reported PCC questionnaires since parent- and observer-rated instruments may lead to different results. Also, PCC is related to other constructs, such as dyadic relationships, that were not included in this review. We conclude that PCC is a relevant variable to consider in mental health research. Our findings suggest that PCC may be considered in mental health practice, both in terms of assessing its quality and potentially by tailoring interventions to enhance PCC. These may represent a mean to promote adolescent mental health.

49 Health Literacy and Well-Being in Older Adults

Objective:Although health problems are often a natural consequence of aging, many older adults struggle to manage their health care problems. Health literacy refers to the ability to access, process, and use health information to make appropriate decisions to promote good overall health. Low levels of health literacy are associated with a host of negative outcomes such as less efficient use of healthcare services, higher healthcare costs, increased mortality, and poorer self-rated health. In those with medical conditions (e.g., diabetes), lower health literacy is linked with higher levels of depression. It is important to investigate whether mental health is linked to health literacy as understanding these links has the potential to identify those at risk for negative outcomes and thus implement protective strategies. Therefore, the current study sought to determine the extent to which various mental health constructs such as happiness, well-being, anxiety and depression are related to health literacy in a community-based sample of cognitively healthy individuals. We hypothesized that higher levels of health literacy would be associated with higher self-reported well-being, happiness, and lower anxiety and depression.Participants and Methods:Design - Cross-sectional, prospective study. Setting - Community-based. 93 individuals were included with mean age=59.02 years (SD=15.12) and mean education=15.70 (SD=2.39). 60% were women, the majority were White (55%) while 38% were Black and 7% belonged to other races; 90% were non-Hispanic.Measures:Health Literacy - Health literacy was measured by an 8-item instrument in the Rush Memory and Aging Project that examined the participant’s understanding of health care, treatment, and related behaviors. Happiness - Happiness was measured by 5 items from the Satisfaction with Life Scale using a 7-point scale (1 = strongly agree; 7 = strongly disagree). Higher scores indicated lower levels of happiness. Well-being - Well-being was measured with an 18-item instrument from the Rush Memory and Aging project, with higher scores indicating better well-being. Statistics: Bivariate correlations between age, education, and mental health measures and health literacy were examined.Results:Higher level of health literacy was significantly associated with age (r = .282 p = .009) and education (r = .228 p = .039). Contrary to our hypothesis, health literacy was not significantly associated with happiness (r = .002 p = .987), well-being (r = .037 p = .742), depression (r = .005 p = .962) or anxiety (r = -.064 p = .568). Even after controlling for age and education, these associations remained significant.Conclusions:Higher level of healthy literacy was associated with older age and higher level of education. However, no significant association was found between health literacy and mental health measures of happiness, well-being, depression, and anxiety in cognitively healthy individuals, even after controlling for demographics. The lack of such associations in this study was unexpected and suggests that other factors such as the presence of health conditions (e.g., diabetes, cancer) might critically contribute to such associations. Future studies should examine these associations in a larger context to better understand how to promote healthy self-care behaviors.

Developing a Framework for Evaluating Student's Understanding at Figural Pattern Generalization

Figural patterns have a unique capacity to promote functional thinking. This study aimed to identify the mental constructs of 7th-grade students in Figural Pattern Generalization (FPG) by using the Action, Process, Object, Schema (APOS) theory in order to develop a framework for evaluating students' understanding of FPG. A sample of 220 students completed a test designed based on the APOS framework and 19 students participated in a semi-structured interview. Results showed that there are emergent and partial action levels before the action stage and pre-emergent, and partial process/object levels before the process/object stage.

The process of mathematics students’ reflective abstraction in solving continuous random variable problems in the probability course

Reflective abstraction is a mental mechanism in mental constructs in which all the structures of mathematical logic are developed in the mind of the individual. The mental mechanisms in question are interiorization, coordination, reversal, encapsulation, and generalization. This research is classified as exploratory research with a qualitative descriptive approach. This research data was taken from three fifth-semester mathematics students. The instruments used in this study were researchers as key instruments, essay tests, and interview guidelines. Data analysis included: 1) preparing the data for analysis, 2) reading the entire data, 3) encoding the data, 4) describing the data and presenting it in the narrative, and 5) interpreting the data and testing the validity of the data using data triangulation. The research found that (1) The first participant went through four components of reflective abstraction: interiorization – coordination – encapsulation – generalization. (2) The second participant went through five components of reflective abstraction thinking namely interiorization – coordination – reversal – encapsulation – generalization. (3) The third participant failed to solve the problem because the thought process in his mental mechanism had not yet manifested coordination, encapsulation, and generalization. Researchers found that the mental construction that the first participant had gone through could illustrate that the minimum mental construction that must be passed in solving the problem of continuous random variables required components- interiorization, coordination, encapsulation, and generalization.

The integration path of ideological and political education and mental health construction of college students with depression from the perspective of educational psychology

BackgroundIn the current social environment, school students are facing a very serious situation in terms of learning and employment. How to use education to help students alleviate pressure is the main direction of education. Especially in the online environment, a good political orientation can help college students cultivate correct fertilization concepts, thus laying a good ideological foundation for their future development.Subjects and Methods The study selected 50 college students with depression as the research subjects and divided them into two groups on average using random numbers. There are two groups, the experimental group and the control group. Both groups of patients received routine drug treatment, while the experimental group received teaching and treatment designed by the research institute to integrate ideological and political education with mental health construction. After 12 weeks of treatment, SAS and SDS scores were analyzed for both groups of patients.ResultsThe study selected SPSS23.0 statistical software for data analysis of the final results. The analysis results showed that there was no significant difference in various scores between the two groups of patients before intervention (P>0.05). After the intervention, the depression and anxiety scores of both groups of patients significantly decreased (P<0.05), with the experimental group scoring significantly lower than the control group (P<0.05).ConclusionsThe educational path of integrating emotional psychology with ideological and political education can effectively alleviate the life pressure of depressed college students and help them overcome difficulties.

Psychometrics Validation of the WHO-5 Wellbeing Index in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Malaysia: Coping With COVID-19 Pandemic in the Global South Study

COVID-19 and the actions to curtail its spread have elevated the value of mental health as well as public health crises and pandemics. This calls for increased research in this area and the use of consistent and valid instruments to measure diverse aspects of mental health in different populations. This study presents preliminary psychometric properties (i.e., factor structure, internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity) of the WHO-5 index as compared to other mental health instruments used in three countries (Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Malaysia). Data was collected from three countries during the first 5 months after the onset of COVID-19 in the Southern African and Southeast Asia regions: Botswana ( N = 422; Mean Wellbeing = 9.8; SD = 5.4), Zimbabwe ( N = 325; Mean = 9.4; SD = 5.3), and Malaysia ( N = 425; Mean = 13; SD = 5.3). After data quality and scaling properties were evaluated, factor structures were assessed using principal component analysis and internal consistency of the extracted components were examined using Cronbach’s alpha (α). Construct validity was examined using Pearson’s correlations to establish both convergent validity and discriminant validity among the three mental health constructs (i.e., well-being, generalized anxiety, and loneliness). With Cronbach’s alpha of the total WHO-5 Wellbeing index of .86 (Botswana sample), α = .85 (Zimbabwean data) and α = .88 (Malaysian data), as well as (α > .7) for the selected demographic subgroups, the findings broadly suggest that WHO-5 is a unique, reliable, and valid instrument for measuring subjective well-being, and by extension mental health among diverse subgroups—in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, and possibly, other similar settings.

Changes in students’ mental constructions of function transformations through the APOS framework

This study aims to examine the changes in students’ mental constructions of function transformation based on the designed activities, classroom discussions, exercises (ACE) teaching cycle in the light of the action, process, object, schema (APOS) theoretical framework. The study was conducted by seven volunteer students who were enrolled in mathematics teacher education program. The data consisted of video records of the designed teaching sessions, students’ worksheets and the researcher’s field notes. The results indicated that ACE teaching cycle was effective in developing students’ mental constructions of function transformation through sequential activities. Even though all the students initially did not reveal evidence for sufficient theoretical or practical knowledge on function transformation, which was evidence of their action level, through the process, it became evident that all the students provided evidence regarding at least their process level of function transformations. Some of the students also showed evidence related to their object levels of function transformations.

«СУБ’ЄКТИВНЕ» ТА «ОБ’ЄКТИВНЕ» ЯК МЕТОДОЛОГІЧНА ПРОБЛЕМА

Today, many concepts from the dictionaries of academic psychology have entered the language of everyday communication. Perhaps the most common are the concepts of «subjective» and «objective». In many textbooks of psychology, «objective» is understood as something that belongs to the object itself, something that does not depend on the subject. The objective is opposed to the subjective-personal. Experimental research in the field of quantum physics questioned the division of the world into an impartial «objective reality» and its «subjective» (not impartial, biased) reflection, which provoked a crisis in this field of knowledge and the methodology of science as a whole. The main methodological problems of psychology are the question of the place of the mental in nature; on the relationship of mental and material phenomena, on the possibilities of human cognition - questions that also arose in the depths of quantum physics and were predetermined by the internal logic of their development. An excursion into quantum physics was necessary, firstly, for a deep understanding that reality is given to us in our sensations, perceptions, ideas and mental constructs (this was evidenced by the so-called «double slit experiment» and its interpretations) and we cannot say anything about reality as it is «in itself»; secondly, the realization that the foundations on which our knowledge is built differ from those in quantum physics. Currently, there is a dichotomy between material (physical) and conceptual reality. Thus, the principle of locality, which professes ordinary consciousness and according to which specific objects occupy a specific place in time and space, contradicts the principle of non-locality, according to which isolated systems do not exist at all and every particle of the universe is in «instantaneous» communication with all other particles. The world is created from the same quantum substance and it is impossible to say that one is the cause of the other. (This statement implies, in particular, a rethinking of the «principle of determinism» which requires the establishment of unambiguous causal relationships). The reality in which we live is not quantum, our language and stereotypes of thinking do not correspond to the nature of the phenomena described by quantum physics. It is about the deep properties of matter. Personally, I got the impression that the deeper you plunge into the world of atomic and subatomic, the more the outlines of the specific, material world familiar to us become blurred and the thinner the line between the physical and conceptual world, between the material and the spiritual becomes. The purpose of this article is to define the concepts of "objective" and "subjective" based on the analysis of achievements in quantum physics in the context of psychology.

Hobbes on the Cause of Action: How to Rethink Practical Reasoning

Abstract In the free-will discussion between Hobbes and Bramhall, Hobbes’s principle that actions are necessary is not immediately action-theoretic. The fundamental theoretical context of Hobbes’s explanation of action lies in an understanding of causation more generally. However, Hobbes’s action theory is not simply modeled after the account of cause and effect in his First Philosophy. It introduces a temporal qualification which ranks necessitarianism higher than First Philosophy does: not only a voluntary action, but also the determinate moment when the mental act of volition is formed, is necessitated. My paper argues that this strengthening of causal necessity is due to the Hobbesian scheme of deliberation, which must be analyzed in terms of one distinctive kind of ‘mental discourse’ and practical reasoning, not merely in terms of a series of passions. For Hobbes, the impossibility of a direct representation of the future requires the mediation of a mental construction.

Toward reliable signals decoding for electroencephalogram: A benchmark study to EEGNeX

This study examines the efficacy of various neural network (NN) models in interpreting mental constructs via electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Through the assessment of 16 prevalent NN models and their variants across four brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigms, we gauged their information representation capability. Rooted in comprehensive literature review findings, we proposed EEGNeX, a novel, purely ConvNet-based architecture. We pitted it against both existing cutting-edge strategies and the Mother of All BCI Benchmarks (MOABB) involving 11 distinct EEG motor imagination (MI) classification tasks and revealed that EEGNeX surpasses other state-of-the-art methods. Notably, it shows up to 2.1%–8.5% improvement in the classification accuracy in different scenarios with statistical significance (p < 0.05) compared to its competitors. This study not only provides deeper insights into designing efficient NN models for EEG data but also lays groundwork for future explorations into the relationship between bioelectric brain signals and NN architectures. For the benefit of broader scientific collaboration, we have made all benchmark models, including EEGNeX, publicly available at (https://github.com/chenxiachan/EEGNeX).

Differential effects of prenatal psychological distress and positive mental health on offspring socioemotional development from infancy to adolescence: ameta-analysis.

The impact of prenatal maternal mental health on offspring socioemotional development is substantial and enduring. Existing literature primarily focuses on the effects of psychological distress during pregnancy, emphasizing adverse child outcomes. Recent studies, however, highlight the unique impact of positive maternal mental health on child outcomes. To elucidate the differential associations of maternal psychological distress and positive mental health during pregnancy with child outcomes, we conducted a systematic literature search and random-effects meta-analyses on studies investigating the associations of prenatal maternal mental health with child socioemotional development. Our analyses, comprising 74 studies with 321,966 mother-child dyads across 21 countries, revealed significant associations of prenatal psychological distress with both adverse and positive child socioemotional outcomes. Notably, the effect sizes for the association of psychological distress with positive child outcomes were smaller compared to adverse outcomes. Positive prenatal mental health, on the other hand, was significantly associated with positive socioemotional outcomes but not adverse outcomes. This meta-analysis highlights the independence of negative and positive prenatal mental health constructs and their distinct relationships with child socioemotional development. The findings underscore the importance of considering the positive spectrum of maternal mental health and developmental outcomes to enhance our understanding of prenatal influences on child development. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=335227, identifier CRD42022335227.

Needs Assessment of Surviving Military Families: Clinical Symptoms and the Parent-Child Relationship

There is limited empirical data to account for the mental health and parent-child relationship outcomes among bereaved military families. The implementation of appropriate programs and mental health interventions depends on the study of relevant demographic and mental health constructs. We report the findings of a needs assessment conducted at a nonprofit organization serving bereaved military families, inclusive of 64 families, with adolescent children (M = 15.04 years, SD = 5.01), who experienced service member loss due to combat (37.5%), suicide (15.6%), homicide or terrorism (10.9%), unintentional self-harm (n = 4.7%), accident (4.7%), or another circumstance (1.6%). Our results align with previous researchers’ findings that surviving military families are at greater risk for problematic grief outcomes, whereby generalized anxiety (t = −3.83, p = .003, d = −0.957) and depressive symptoms (t = −4.28, p = .003, d = −1.07) demonstrate significant differences among complicated and non-complicated grievers. We also found elevated levels of parenting stress. These findings inform recommendations for assessment, program development, and future research for mental health service providers.

Advanced-Level Students’ Understanding of Exponential Equations:

This paper reports on a study which explored high school students’ conceptual understanding of the techniques of exponential functions. Thirty-one advanced-level students participated in the study. The study used APOS (Action-Process-Object-Schema) theory, a constructivist theory framework, to investigate participants’ conceptual understanding of exponential functions. Activity sheets constructed with tasks based on exponential equations were administered to the participants. The written responses were used to identify participants’ mental constructions of these concepts. Furthermore, interviews were carried out to clarify participants’ written responses. The written responses and interview discussions pointed out that participants exhibited procedural tendencies in exponential functions. Most of the participants could not solve exponential equations, especially the radioactive‑decay functions. In addition, many participants did not have appropriate mental constructions at the process, object and schema levels, since most of them could not coordinate processes and encapsulate them into an object. This paper raises some important implications for mathematics education and further provides applications of genetic decomposition design and modification.

An embodied theorisation: Arend Heyting's hypothesis about how the self separates from the outer world finds confirmation

AbstractAt the beginning of the twentieth century, among the foundational schools of mathematics appeared ‘intuitionism’ by Dutchman L. E. J. Brouwer, who based arithmetic on the intuition of time and all mental constructions that could be made out of it. His pupil Arend Heyting was the first populariser of intuitionism, and he repeatedly emphasised that no philosophy was required to practise intuitionism so that such mathematics could be shared by anyone. Still, stimulated by invitations to humanistic conferences, he wrote a series of notes, preserved in the State Archives, Haarlem, about solipsism. In them, he operated a series of theoretical reflections consisting of the stripping away of the patterns that are part of our consciousness and their subsequent progressive re‐introduction, in order to understand the formation of our Self as distinct from the natural world and other humans. In 1996, following a stroke, neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor experienced the deprivation of certain abilities in her brain and their successive regaining. In her experience there are remarkable similarities with what Heyting had hypothesised about the formation of the self. The purpose of this article is to highlight them and point out how Heyting's theoretical construct was found to be embodied in the brain.