Shareability: The social psychology of epistemology

Psychologists and cognitive scientists interested in the nature of internal representations of human knowledge often use observable regularities or structures to infer what the innate constraints on those representations must be like. It is possible, however, that certain structures might come about only when a group of people share a knowledge domain. Furthermore, it is possible that there are analyzable constraints on knowledge structures that emerge when knowledge is being shared. Such constraints are referred to in this paper as “shareability” constraints. A number of examples of observable structures in human knowledge are discussed in terms of shareability constraints. An attempt is made to determine which sorts of structures are most shareable, and how those structures may differ from the sorts of structures that are easily represented by the individual mind but not easily shared between minds.     

Artificial Intelligence and the New Issue of Cognitive Subject

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technology renders the issue of the cognitive subject in epistemology a prominent one. It challenges the epistemological consensus that humankind is the only cognitive subject. With the development from weak AI to strong AI, the significance of humankind being the cognitive subject will undergo new changes. At present, AI technology does not possess the cognitive ability that humans do. As a result, considering the existing AI technology, the issue related to the cognitive subject to which we must give more attention ultimately concerns the epistemological labor division between human and machine. This division of labor requires the foundation that the technical possibility is governed by the value orientation. From the value perspective of regarding human beings as the purpose, machine intelligence, and the direction and limit of the power that technology brings to cognitive subjects will be clarified. This will let the information technology do what it is meant to do, while people will always be able to reserve the subject status for themselves.     

Action in development

It is argued that cognitive development has to be understood in the functional perspective provided by actions. Actions reflect all aspects of cognitive development including the motives of the child, the problems to be solved, and the constraints and possibilities of the child's body and sensorimotor system. Actions are directed into the future and their control is based on knowledge of what is going to happen next. Such knowledge is available because events are governed by rules and regularities. The planning of actions also requires knowledge of the affordances of objects and events. An important aspect of cognitive development is about how the child acquires such knowledge.     

Action,the foundation for cognitive development

It is argued that action constitutes the foundation for cognitive development. Action is a principal component of all aspects of cognitive development including social understanding. It reflects the motives of the child, the problems to be solved, the goals to be attained, and the constraints and possibilities of the child’s body and sensory‐motor system. Actions are directed into the future and their control is based on knowledge of what is going to happen next. The child’s sensory‐motor system is especially designed to facilitate the extraction of this knowledge. In addition, the infant is endowed with motives that ensure that these innate predispositions are transformed into a system of knowledge for guiding actions. By acting on the world, infants develop their cognition.     

Living in a Post-Punk Papacy: Religion and education in a modernist world

This article examines the constraints on discourse in a modernist context and the means by which these constraints are imposed. It explores the deconstructive possibilities and opportunities offered in applying a postmodern critique of the same within this context. It primarily advocates a re-reading of the construct of knowledge such that it does not depend on epistemological theorising but performative activity, related to the observations of a number of postmodern and pre-postmodern writers. It suggests a dislocation between what we regard as knowledge and what might be experienced as empowerment through involvement in more democratic political processes. It also takes account of what is understood as the changing of an environment from the modern to postmodern, altering the situation of the subject, and applies this critically to religious and educational ideologies.     

Individual differences in current events knowledge: Contributions of ability,personality, and interests

What accounts for individual differences in the sort of knowledge that people may draw on in everyday cognitive tasks, such as deciding whom to vote for in a presidential election, how to invest money in the stock market, or what team to bet on in a friendly wager? In a large sample of undergraduate students, we investigated correlates of individual differences in recently acquired knowledge of current events in domains such as politics, business, and sports. Structural equation modeling revealed two predictive pathways: one involving cognitive ability factors and the other involving two major nonability factors (personality and interests). The results of this study add to what is known about the sources of individual differences in knowledge and are interpreted in the context of theoretical conceptions of adult intelligence that emphasize the centrality and importance of knowledge (e.g., Ackerman, 1996; Cattell, 1971).     

Cognition in marriage: Current status and future challenges

Research on cognition in marriage is examined by posing two questions. The first asks what has been learned about marital distress from research on cognitive variables. It is addressed by examining data on (a) associations between cognitive variables and marital distress, (b) artifactual explanations for such associations, and (c) the causal impact of cognitive variables on spouse satisfaction and spouse behavior. This analysis identifies the study of knowledge structures as a theme that unifies existing research and illustrates how explicit recognition of this theme can advance future inquiry. The second question asks what has been learned from research on cognitive interventions with couples and leads to a number of suggestions for maximizing the informativeness of outcome studies. It is argued that future progress requires expanding the conception of cognition that informs marital research and integrating the study of marriage with both broader efforts to understand close relationships and to understand cognition.     

The Process of Constructing Main Ideas From Text

A discourse-analytical approach to children's knowledge is offered, focusing on extracts of classroom talk between a teacher and a kindergarten class. After rejecting the possibility of defining concepts and memories as cognitive states prior to or underlying discourse, the talk is examined for how participants define and deal with such notions as a feature of the sequential and rhetorical organization of discourse. An argument is advanced for the analysis of knowledge, reality, and education as public, interactionally managed participants' concerns that can be studied as discursive practices. It is argued that the study of discourse does not ignore nondiscursive realms of mind and reality but permits analysis of how those things are defined, so that any explanatory appeal to what is beyond or behind the talk is unwarranted.     

Vision, Interpretation, and the Interactive Field

Interpretation is discussed relative to ways in which an analyst sees the material in question. Michael Fordham's approach to projective identification and 'defences of the self' is criticised and contrasted with one that orientates in 'third areas' between analyst and analysand. Through clinical material, these different approaches are discussed. The works of Jung and Bion are related, and Fordham's approach to interpretation is seen as originating from a vertex K, in particular his concept of childhood, in distinction to the vertex O which is the orientating position for processes in the third area. It is argued that in Fordham's approach O is saturated, that K does not evolve from O, and, furthermore, that his examples demonstrate that, contrary to what he says, in his activity he does not eschew memory, desire, and knowledge.     

Comparison of age and time-to-death in the dedifferentiation of late-life cognitive abilities

The dedifferentiation hypothesis proposes that specific cognitive abilities become more highly associated with general ability in old age as a result of increasing biological constraints on fluid intelligence. There is limited evidence for the hypothesis, and research has not tended to clearly distinguish age dedifferentiation from ability differentiation and other age-related phenomena. The present study examined age dedifferentiation using a structural equation model that controlled for ability differentiation, along with linear and quadratic effects of age. Time-to-death was examined as an alternative time metric to chronological age, as it may better represent biological constraints. The Canberra Longitudinal Study community-based cohort, consisting of 896 Australian adults aged 70 and over, provided data from 687 decedents who were followed for up to 17 years. Results indicated little support for the age dedifferentiation hypothesis, with only two of seven cognitive tests showing significant age dedifferentiation. The time-to-death metric showed more evidence of dedifferentiation, with four of the seven tests exhibiting dedifferentiation. However, after excluding participants with possible cognitive impairment, all of the dedifferentiation effects were attenuated to nonsignificance. Age dedifferentiation effects may therefore reflect dementia and other mortality-related pathology rather than being an inevitable outcome of advanced age. Alternative developmental theories for cognitive function must better account for the diversity of late-life abilities and pathology.     

The effect of time constraints and personality facets on general cognitive ability (GCA) assessment

General cognitive ability (GCA) is a recognized construct for predicting job performance and capacity to learn. However, it has recently been argued that the time constraints under which GCA is assessed might provoke test anxiety, which negatively biases GCA scores. This can then lead to erroneous rejection of qualified candidates in personnel hiring contexts. This paper aimed to investigate: (1) to what extent candidates’ GCA scores increase when tested without time constraints and the ability of this GCA score to predict job performance; and (2) the personality characteristics that hinder GCA test performance under time constraints. Results from two field studies conducted in an actual personnel selection context partially confirmed the hypotheses. They revealed that, aside from the improvement of all candidates’ GCA scores when time constraint was removed, only GCA assessed without time constraints predicts job performance. Furthermore, while all candidates’ scores were influenced by the time constraint condition, individuals who are anxious, low-impulse, low value-questioning and deliberating are more penalized by the time constraint condition of such testing and, thus, are more likely to be erroneously eliminated in a selection process.     

工作记忆训练及对数学能力的迁移作用

工作记忆缺陷会影响个体数学能力发展。通过记忆策略、广度、刷新、转换等功能的工作记忆训练,可以改善个体认知功能。然而,工作记忆训练对个体的阅读、数学、流体智力等方面的远迁移效果并不一致。研究表明,工作记忆训练可以改善数感、视觉空间能力、推理能力等数学一般技能;也会通过改善语音工作记忆以及空间能力促进数学计算能力,或者通过改善中央执行系统,提升数学问题表征、模式识别、解题迁移、策略选择等复杂的过程,从而促进数学问题解决能力。因此,区分不同数学任务的认知过程,可以获得工作记忆训练对数学能力迁移效果的进一步证据。今后,神经影像学的证据或许也是未来工作记忆训练对数学能力提高的又一佐证。     

What kind of kind is intelligence?

The model of human intelligence that is most widely adopted derives from psychometrics and behavioral genetics. This standard approach conceives intelligence as a general cognitive ability that is genetically highly heritable and describable using quantitative traits analysis. The paper analyzes intelligence within the debate on natural kinds and contends that the general intelligence conceptualization does not carve psychological nature at its joints. Moreover, I argue that this model assumes an essentialist perspective. As an alternative, I consider an HPC theory of intelligence and evaluate how it deals with essentialism and with intuitions coming from cognitive science. Finally, I highlight some concerns about the HPC model as well, and conclude by suggesting that it is unnecessary to treat intelligence as a kind in any sense.     

工作记忆训练及对数学能力的迁移作用

工作记忆缺陷会影响个体数学能力发展。通过记忆策略、广度、刷新、转换等功能的工作记忆训练,可以改善个体认知功能。然而,工作记忆训练对个体的阅读、数学、流体智力等方面的远迁移效果并不一致。研究表明,工作记忆训练可以改善数感、视觉空间能力、推理能力等数学一般技能;也会通过改善语音工作记忆以及空间能力促进数学计算能力,或者通过改善中央执行系统,提升数学问题表征、模式识别、解题迁移、策略选择等复杂的过程,从而促进数学问题解决能力。因此,区分不同数学任务的认知过程,可以获得工作记忆训练对数学能力迁移效果的进一步证据。今后,神经影像学的证据或许也是未来工作记忆训练对数学能力提高的又一佐证。     

抑制和加工速度与液态智力的年老化

研究抑制能力和加工速度在液态智力年老化过程中的相对作用。被试为142名18~85岁健康成年人,完成包括抑制优势反应、加工速度和液态智力共13项测验。分层回归分析显示,抑制能力与年龄相关的特异性变异,在控制简单的速度变量时较控制复杂的速度变量时更大;结构方程分析表明,对液态智力年老化的中介作用,当选取较复杂的速度变量时加工速度的作用更大,而当选取较简单的速度变量时抑制能力的作用更大。研究结果表明,在液态智力的年老化过程中,除了加工速度的作用之外,抑制能力也起重要的中介作用。该结果为认知年老化的抑制理论和执行衰退假说提供了认知行为学研究的证据,并且对加工速度理论作了有益的补充和修正     

Beyond competence: The significance of performance for conceptual development

Conceptual constraints must change with age if they are to account for children's acquisition of kinds of knowledge that do not fall within the initial constraints. A bi-directional relation between competence and performance is therefore hypothesized, such that cognitive competences not only guide performance but also are shaped by it. This hypothesis offers a solution to the difficulties that current competence models have in accounting for developmental change. Goals are proposed as a potential source of changing constraints because they change with age, they shape what children do, and they also influence what children learn from what they do. These ideas are illustrated with examples drawn primarily from research on children's quantitative concepts.     

INTELLIGENCE TESTING,COGNITION, AND INSTRUCTION*

This paper examines the implications of recent theory and research in cognitive psychology for the understanding and assessment of intelligence. Three major themes are developed. The first has to do with how changes in the social and educational climate for testing can influence the conception of intellectual competence and the technology of testing. The second theme concerns the ways that cognitive psychology, with its emphases on memory, problem-solving, and knowledge acquisition, has begun to provide a new framework for viewing differences in intellectual functioning. Finally, it is argued that study of the kinds of performances required for success in school suggests ways in which intelligence testing can be made more responsive to current social and educational needs.     

Research on intelligent cognitive function enhancement of intelligent robot based on ant colony algorithm

In this paper, ant colony algorithm is studied to improve the visual cognitive function of intelligent robots. Based on the detailed understanding of the research status in this field at home and abroad, and learning from cognitive science and neurobiology research results, a solution is proposed from the perspective of ant colony algorithm based on human brain structure and function. By simulating the process of autonomous learning controlled by human long-term memory and its working memory, a visual strangeness-driven growth long-term memory autonomous learning algorithm is proposed. This method takes incremental self-organizing network as long-term memory structure, and combines with visual strangeness internal motivation Q learning method in working memory. The visual knowledge acquired by self-learning is accumulated into long-term memory continuously, thus realizing the ability of self-learning, memory and intelligence development similar to human beings. The experimental results show that the robot can learn visual knowledge independently, store and update knowledge incrementally, and improve its intelligence development, classification and recognition ability compared with the method without long-term memory. At the same time, the generalization ability and knowledge expansion ability are also improved.     

The relationship between speed of information processing and cognitive ability

Speed of information processing as measured by various reaction time and inspection tasks has been shown to correlate with psychometric intelligence, and it has been suggested that general intelligence (g) is determined to some degree by the speed that information is processed. If this is so, then various measures of speed of information processing should correlate substantially with each other, and each should also correlate with a wide range of psychometric tests that load on g. Alternatively, intelligence may be considered to be a multi-faceted complex of partially related abilities with specific abilities being dependent upon specific cognitive processes. If this is the case, it should be possible to discover independent cognitive processes, some of which correlate with one facet or broad ability and some with another. This paper presents three experiments in which the relationship between intellectual ability and four speed of information processing measures was examined. These were rate of memory scanning, rate of retrieval of information from long term memory, speed of stimulus-response mapping and inspection time (IT). Results showed that correlations between IT and most reaction time measures of speed of information processing were low, and that correlations between different versions of IT were negligible. In addition, some cognitive tasks with verbal material (memory scanning rate for digits and Posner letter matching IT) correlated most substantially with Verbal Reasoning whereas non-verbal (two-line) IT consistently correlated with tests loading on g. It was thus suggested that while non-verbal IT may be a measure of a perceptual speed attribute that contributes to mental functioning, other “speed of information processing” parameters may be more specific to a subset of abilities.