Space and Time in the Child's Mind: Evidence for a Cross-Dimensional Asymmetry

What is the relationship between space and time in the human mind? Studies in adults show an asymmetric relationship between mental representations of these basic dimensions of experience: Representations of time depend on space more than representations of space depend on time. Here we investigated the relationship between space and time in the developing mind. Native Greek‐speaking children watched movies of two animals traveling along parallel paths for different distances or durations and judged the spatial and temporal aspects of these events (e.g., Which animal went for a longer distance, or a longer time?). Results showed a reliable cross‐dimensional asymmetry. For the same stimuli, spatial information influenced temporal judgments more than temporal information influenced spatial judgments. This pattern was robust to variations in the age of the participants and the type of linguistic framing used to elicit responses. This finding demonstrates a continuity between space‐time representations in children and adults, and informs theories of analog magnitude representation.     

Swazi Children's Understanding of Time Concepts: A Piagetian Study

The development of conservation skills in tasks dealing with temporal and nontemporal concepts was investigated. Contrary to findings of previous researchers, time conservation tasks presented few difficulties for children from a non-technological culture. Consistent with the results of previous research, however, time conservation tasks did appear to be more difficult than related tasks employing similar materials.     

The Semantics of Time and Space: A Thematic Analysis

Three empirical studies and one analysis of pre-existing data were performed to determine the everyday meanings of time, a major component of phenomenological analyses of human experience. To this end, participants in Studies 1 and 2 sorted time related words into groups having similar meanings, with these groups then evaluated by hierarchical clustering procedures. Results of Studies 1 and 2 produced similar clustering patterns suggesting it was possible to define the everyday meanings of time in terms of experiences of change and continuity, linear organization, tempo, and boundaries. Results of Study 3 indicated little or no effect on clustering patterns of time words when space words also were included in the set of items to be sorted. Concerns about the size and representativeness of the words used as stimuli in Studies 1, 2 and 3 led to an analysis of over 2,000 words falling under the general heading of Time in Roget’s Thesaurus. Results of this analysis revealed that clusters comparable to those obtained in the other three studies also appeared in these data. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for the way in which “invisible” concepts such as time are thought about and used, particularly as related to figurative expression.     

Complete Axiomatizations for Reasoning about Knowledge and Branching Time

Sound and complete axiomatizations are provided for a number of different logics involving modalities for the knowledge of multiple agents and operators for branching time, extending previous work of Halpern, van der Meyden and Vardi [to appear, SIAM Journal on Computing] for logics of knowledge and linear time. The paper considers the system constraints of synchrony, perfect recall and unique initial states, which give rise to interaction axioms. The language is based on the temporal logic CTL*, interpreted with respect to a version of the bundle semantics.     

Time and Space

Book Information Time and Space. By Barry Dainton. Acumen. Chesham. 2001. Pp. xiv + 386. Paperback, US$22.95.     

Antecedent Variables for Sociomoral Reasoning Development: Evidence from Two Cultural Settings

This study examined the developmental pattern of sociomoral reasoning in two different cultural settings, focusing on factors assumed to influence the course of growth in this particular domain. The specific hypotheses tested concerned the relationships between operational thinking within Piaget's theory and Kohlberg's conceptualization of sociomoral judgement development. Secondary school and university students from Greece and Nigeria aged 15 to 22 years (N = 281) participated in the study. Results indicated that (1) the developmental sequence was similar in the two differing cultural environments, (2) stage endorsement differed significantly in the two samples, and (3) the necessary-but-not-sufficient hypothesis was confirmed in both groups. The possible explanations of the findings are discussed in connection with the basic assumptions of the structural-developmental approach to socio-cognitive growth.     

亚健康的相关概念比较

结合医学的发展轨迹,在对相关文献进行系统疏理中发现,一些曾经或正在风靡的病症概念中或系统或散在地涉及了亚健康的相关问题。就亚健康与慢性疲劳综合征、神经衰弱、神经官能症及中医未病等相关概念作一比较分析,希冀有助于亚健康概念与范畴的研究及确定。     

孔、孟“乐”理念比较研究

本文对孔子和孟子的"乐"理念的各自特点及其异同之处进行了初步分析和评价。作者认为,孔子的"乐"理念具有明显的泛伦理化倾向。他所关注和注重的,乃是"乐"的社会教化、社会整合的伦理调节功能。孔子视"礼""仁"为"乐"之魂魄,视"至善"为"乐"之归宿和极致。"乐"的艺术审美特质被淡化和边缘化。孟子对孔子"乐"理念的最大修正,在于他将其"民本"的政治诉求贯彻于其"乐"理念之中,诉诸"与民同乐"的政治氛围,从而将"乐"理念平等化、平民化、感性化,扬弃了孔子对"乐"的种种宗法等级束缚,破除了对"乐"的雅俗之别的偏见,从而使"乐"理念向其平等的、感性的审美氛围迈出了重要的一步。同孔子泛伦理化的"乐"理念相比较,孟子的"乐"理念则具有泛政治化的理论倾向。     

A Time to Learn: A Comparison of Policies Dealing with Clergy Sexual Misconduct

This is the first article to compare a variety of religious organizations’ codes of conduct when dealing with clergy sexual misconduct. The comparison of codes from Catholic, Protestant and Jewish institutions provide a valuable indication of how this important and complex set of issues is being approached. Moreover, the sharing of information contained in this article will encourage clergy based organizations to learn from the practices of others in order to improve their regulatory procedures. In addition, it is hoped that as religious institutions learn from each other, stronger and more effective responses will be developed to address clergy boundary violations.     

Proof Theory for Reasoning with Euler Diagrams: A Logic Translation and Normalization

Proof-theoretical notions and techniques, developed on the basis of sentential/symbolic representations of formal proofs, are applied to Euler diagrams. A translation of an Euler diagrammatic system into a natural deduction system is given, and the soundness and faithfulness of the translation are proved. Some consequences of the translation are discussed in view of the notion of free ride, which is mainly discussed in the literature of cognitive science as an account of inferential efficacy of diagrams. The translation enables us to formalize and analyze free ride in terms of proof theory. The notion of normal form of Euler diagrammatic proofs is investigated, and a normalization theorem is proved. Some consequences of the theorem are further discussed: in particular, an analysis of the structure of normal diagrammatic proofs; a diagrammatic counterpart of the usual subformula property; and a characterization of diagrammatic proofs compared with natural deduction proofs.     

The Developmental Course of Distance,Time, and Velocity Concepts:A Generative Connectionist Model

Connectionist simulations of children's acquisition of distance (d), time (t), and velocity (v) concepts using a generative algorithm-cascade-correlation-are reported. Rules that correlated most highly with network responses during training were consistent with the developmental course of children's concepts. Networks integrated the defining dimensions of the concepts first by identity rules (e.g., v = d), then additive rules (e.g., v = d - t), and finally multiplicative rules (e.g., v = d ÷ t. The results are discussed in terms of similarity to children's development, the contribution of connectionism to the study of cognitive development, contrasts with alternative models, and directions for future research.     

Development of Time Concepts: Differentiating Clock and Calendar from Apparent Durations

To investigate the role of perception and stress on time concepts, the real-time and apparent durations of common events varying in length from 30 s to 4 years were rated by kindergarten through 12th-grade pupils, college students, professors, and stress-impaired adults (N = 1,788). The events were pleasant, neutral or unpleasant; either directly perceptible and of specific duration or perceptually vague; and happened either to oneself or to someone else. Second graders differentiated apparent from real-time durations and, therefore, already had an abstract concept of time. As predicted from differentiation theory (Gibson, E. J., 1969; Gibson, J. J., 1966, 1983), longer durations were acquired later than shorter ones; perceptually-vague durations were acquired later than clearly perceptible ones of similar length; and, as Neisser (1976) also suggested, stress did not lead to regression, nor did the personal-impersonal dimension make a difference during childhood.     

The Arrow of Time and the Cycle of Time: Concepts of Change,Cognition, and Embodiment

In this target article, I explore the thesis that both the natural and human sciences are undergoing—however gradually and reluctantly—a deep and broad paradigm shift. This shift is away from foundational, objectivist, atomist, nondirectional mechanistic category systems and toward interpretational, holistic, relational-dialectical, directional organic category systems. The contextual influence of each of these category systems on understandings of change (development), cognition, and personality is examined both historically and from a contemporary perspective across a wide band of scientific disciplines. The Arrow of Time is a deep metaphor entailing a relational field of both nonclosed cycles (spirals) and direction. The Arrow of Time metaphor emerges from the organic narrative. Within the context of this metaphor, and the broader organic metaphor that forms the wider conceptual context, development is understood as entailing both direction and variation. Within the organic metaphor, cognition and personality are understood as emerging from a fundamentally relational theory of the embodied mind. The Cycle of Time is a deep metaphor of closed cycles that reduce apparent directionality to nothing but variation. The Cycle of Time emerges from the mechanical narrative. Here development is understood as being limited to variation and only variation, and cognition and personality emerge from a theory of the computational mind. Theoretical and methodological implications of each of these broad contextual narratives are discussed.     

A Brief Comparison Of Pollock's Defeasible Reasoning And Ranking Functions

In this paper two theories of defeasible reasoning, Pollock's account and my theory of ranking functions, are compared, on a strategic level, since a strictly formal comparison would have been unfeasible. A brief summary of the accounts shows their basic difference: Pollock's is a strictly computational one, whereas ranking functions provide a regulative theory. Consequently, I argue that Pollock's theory is normatively defective, unable to provide a theoretical justification for its basic inference rules and thus an independent notion of admissible rules. Conversely, I explain how quite a number of achievements of Pollock's account can be adequately duplicated within ranking theory. The main purpose of the paper, though, is not to settle a dispute with formal epistemology, but rather to emphasize the importance of formal methods to the whole of epistemology.     

A Slippery Myth: How Learning Style Beliefs Shape Reasoning about Multimodal Instruction and Related Scientific Evidence

The learning style myth is a commonly held myth that matching instruction to a student's “learning style” will result in improved learning, while providing mismatched instruction will result in suboptimal learning. The present study used a short online reasoning exercise about the efficacy of multimodal instruction to investigate the nature of learning styles beliefs. We aimed to: understand how learning style beliefs interact with beliefs about multimodal learning; characterize the potential complexity of learning style beliefs and understand how this short exercise might influence endorsements of learning styles. Many participants who believed in the learning style myth supported the efficacy of multimodal learning, and many were willing to revise their belief in the myth after the exercise. Personal experiences and worldviews were commonly cited as reasons for maintaining beliefs in learning styles. Findings reveal the complexity of learning style beliefs, and how they interact with evidence in previously undocumented ways.