Keynote lectures

According to the Cognitive reserve hypothesis, several factors related to mental engagement, such as level of education, type of occupation, leisure activities and social network, appear to affect the risk of developing clinical dementia. The present article provides an overview of the studies that have investigated the effects of mental engagement and cognitive stimulation specifically on dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (AD). Mental training and cognitive stimulation interventions in AD have been shown to be useful in increasing patients’ ability in performing activities of daily living (ADL), allowing them to maintain relative independence. Since cognitive engagement and stimulation are known to modify the brain processes to perform tasks, by recruiting alternative and more efficient networks, this review is especially focused on cognitive rehabilitation in AD patients, which has been shown to improve their global functioning and cognition. This perspective stresses the idea that cognitive reserve is not a fixed factor, but can be continuously modified by life experiences, even when the brain is already affected by neuropathology.     

Keynote Address to the Third International Global Ethics Association, 30 June 2010, Bristol Human dignity,respect, and global inequality

In this paper I argue that respect for human dignity establishes a justificatory presumption in favor of egalitarian rules, which presumption is applicable to the global economic association. This is the basis for condemning several feature of current global inequality as unjust.     

Presidential Address

Presidential Address

Presidential Address     

The Conference Morning Keynote Address of Dr. Laurence Steinberg on the Age of Opportunity and Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence: With Introductory and Closing Commentary

ABSTRACT

Dr. Laurence Steinberg’s busy schedule prevented him from contributing his own journal article based on his keynote address. However, he was able to review, edit, and approve the contents of this article, which captures his keynote address, while covering the following topics: 1) the need to change how adolescence is conceived as something to survive; 2) the need to turn to brain science for a new vision of adolescence, including the importance of understanding brain plasticity; 3) the essential focus on self-control as a factor for consideration, as per findings from research; 4) the impact from the interaction of sex hormones and the neurotransmitter dopamine upon adolescents; 5) how adolescence is a stage of opportunity, as well as vulnerability due to brain plasticity—as in being vulnerable to mental illness, substance dependence, and stress and trauma; 6) the need to change how we think about juvenile justice policy and practice, and five lessons from brain science in this regard; 7) the importance of considering early disadvantages for children of color and implications for disparities; 8) implications, overall, for policy and practice in the criminal justice system; 9) the need to re-think how society sanctions adolescents, as well as the need for professionals and society to take advantage of adolescence as an opportunity. Finally, the article ends with the author’s own commentary and analysis, which extends some of the implications of the keynote address—including the need to focus on both proximal and distal factors, such as social determinants of disadvantage.     

The Third European Workshop on Ecological Psychology: The Keynote Lectures

Intentional dynamics is a modeling framework that provides methods and measures with which to evaluate and predict goal-directed behavior. The authors introduce the framework by showing how it can be used to solve two general problems in the design of human–machine interaction as they are encountered by designers of driving assistance systems. The first problem the authors treat is that of path planning on tasks in which multiple goals have to be satisfied, necessitating the evaluation of performance relative to conflicting criteria. The second problem is that of design selection in which designers need to assess the effectiveness of competing designs in improving performance relative to such criteria. The authors close with a small empirical study testing the predictive validity of the approach.