Pragmatic enrichment as coherence raising

This paper concerns the phenomenon of pragmatic enrichment, and has a proposal for predicting the occurrence of such enrichments. The idea is that an enrichment of an expressed content c occurs as a means of strengthening the coherence between c and a salient given content c’ of the context, whether c’ is given in discourse, as sentence parts, or through perception. After enrichment, a stronger coherence relation is instantiated than before enrichment. An idea of a strength scale of types of coherence relations is proposed and applied.     

Situated minimalism versus free enrichment

In this paper, we put forward a position we call “situationalism” (or “situated minimalism”), which is a middle-ground view between minimalism and contextualism in recent philosophy of language. We focus on the notion of free enrichment, which first arose within contextualism as underlying the claim that what is said is typically enriched relative to the logical form of the uttered sentence. However, minimalism also acknowledges some process of pragmatic intrusion in its claim that what is thought and communicated is typically enriched relative to what is said. We show that situationalism dispenses with free enrichment both at the level of what is said (proposition expressed) and of what is thought (mental level). According to situationalism, an alleged underdetermined utterance can, pace minimalism, be true in one situation while false in another, and two people using the same alleged underdetermined sentence can be characterized, pace contextualism, as having said the same thing.     

Marriage enrichment for clergy couples

Following a four-year study of clergy marriages, the Maces arrived at certain conclusions. In this article they comment on what they learned from this investigation, and offer some recommendations designed to help clergy couples to appropriate their relational potential.Dr. Mace is affiliated with the School of Pastoral Care, Baptist Hospital, 300 South Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27103. He and Mrs. Mace, after helping to develop marriage counseling services in Britain, the U.S.A., and other countries, have been involved since 1973 in supplementing these remedial services with preventive equivalents. They are founders and past presidents of the Association of Couples for Marriage Enrichment (A.C.M.E.).     

Bridging pure cognitive research and cognitive enrichment

Animal Cognition - Cognitive enrichment is a growing subset of environmental enrichment for captive animals. However, it has been difficult for practitioners to design, implement, and evaluate...     

Linking team resources to work-family enrichment and satisfaction

Work-family scholars now recognize the potential positive effects of participation in one life domain (i.e., work or family) on performance in other life domains. We examined how employees might benefit from team resources, which are highly relevant to the modern workplace, in both work and nonwork domains via work-family enrichment. Using the Resource-Gain-Development model (Wayne, Grzywacz, Carlson, & Kacmar, 2007), we explored how team resources contribute to enrichment and resulting project and family satisfaction. Using multilevel structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) to analyze student data (N = 344) across multiple class projects, we demonstrated that individuals with team resources were more likely to experience both work-to-family and family-to-work enrichment. Further, enrichment mediated the relationship between team resources and satisfaction with the originating domain.     

Social enrichment improves social recognition memory in male rats

The social environment is thought to have a strong impact on cognitive functions. In the present study, we investigated whether social enrichment could affect rats’ memory ability using the “Different Objects Task (DOT),” in which the levels of memory load could be modulated by changing the number of objects to be remembered. In addition, we applied the DOT to a social discrimination task using unfamiliar conspecific juveniles instead of objects. Animals were housed in one of the three different housing conditions after weaning [postnatal day (PND) 21]: social-separated (1 per cage), standard (3 per cage), or social-enriched (10 per cage) conditions. The object and social recognition tasks were conducted on PND 60. In the sample phase, the rats were allowed to explore a field in which 3, 4, or 5 different, unfamiliar stimuli (conspecific juveniles through a mesh or objects) were presented. In the test phase conducted after a 5-min delay, social-separated rats were able to discriminate the novel conspecific from the familiar ones only under the condition in which three different conspecifics were presented; social-enriched rats managed to recognize the novel conspecific even under the condition of five different conspecifics. On the other hand, in the object recognition task, both social-separated and social-enriched rats were able to discriminate the novel object from the familiar ones under the condition of five different objects. These results suggest that social enrichment can enhance social, but not object, memory span.     

Effects of prior access and environmental enrichment on stereotypy

A young boy's stereotypy was first evaluated in two daily 30 min sessions (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) during a free operant (FO) condition. Results from the two daily sessions during FO showed that stereotypy was lower during the second session of the day, suggesting that prior access had affected later engagement in stereotypy. The effects of environmental enrichment (EE) with music, EE music plus a guitar, and EE music plus a guitar plus contingent music loss on stereotypy were also evaluated. Unexpectedly, the results showed that the presence of music increased stereotypy during both daily sessions; however, contingent music loss decreased stereotypy and simultaneously increased untargeted guitar play. Increases in stereotypy during both daily sessions suggest that music may have increased the reinforcing value of stereotypy. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marriage preparation and marriage enrichment: The preventive approach

Premarital counseling and marriage enrichment are viewed as two areas of a life continuum prevention program. Premarital counseling is seen as the first step in preparation for marriage, to be followed six months to a year after marriage by a neomarital counseling experience. Content and process for the counseling are elaborated. Marriage enrichment groups are recommended at various points during the life of a marriage. Three models for enrichment are presented. Prevention programs are viewed as vital experiences for personal and relationship maintenance and growth.He is also a member of the faculty of Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Waterloo, Ontario.     

Examining the constructs of work-to-family enrichment and positive spillover

This paper reports three studies examining construct validity evidence for two recently developed measures of the positive side of the work–family interface: work-to-family positive spillover (WFPS; Hanson, Hammer, & Colton, 2006) and work-to-family enrichment (WFE; Carlson, Kacmar, Wayne, & Grzywacz, 2006). Using confirmatory factor analysis, the results from the first two studies indicate that the best fitting model distinguishes between WFPS and WFE, each with three sub-dimensions. However, these studies also showed that several items measuring WFE cross-loaded onto factors measuring WFPS. Results from the discriminant analyses showed that the sub-dimensions of WFPS and WFE uniquely predicted job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Yet, when WFPS and WFE were examined as one dimension, the measure of WFE predicted life satisfaction, but the measure of WFPS did not add to the prediction above WFE. Across both studies, WFE mediated the relationship between WFPS with both job and life satisfaction. Lastly, Study 3 provides some evidence of the content adequacy of these items; however, several items overlapped in content. These results suggest that enrichment and positive spillover are distinct but related constructs, each with three sub-dimensions. Further, more work is needed to refine the measurement of WFE and WFPS; however, this research helps advance our understanding of the positive side of the work–family interface.     

Antecedents and consequences of work-family enrichment among Indian managers

The present study identifies core self-evaluations, family support, supervisor support and job characteristics as the antecedents of work-to-family enrichment and family satisfaction, job satisfaction, affective commitment and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as its outcomes. The participants (n= 245) were employees from four organizations in India from manufacturing and information technology sectors. The results show that job characteristics and supervisor support were the predictors of work-to-family enrichment and core self-evaluations, family support and supervisor support emerged as the predictors of family-to-work enrichment. On outcomes, work-to-family enrichment are the predicator of job satisfaction, affective commitment and OCB and family-to-work enrichment as the predictor of family satisfaction, job satisfaction, affective commitment and OCB. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Running is the neurogenic and neurotrophic stimulus in environmental enrichment

Environmental enrichment (EE) increases dentate gyrus (DG) neurogenesis and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. However, running is considered an element of EE. To dissociate effects of physical activity and enrichment on hippocampal neurogenesis and BDNF levels, young female C57Bl/6 mice were housed under control, running, enrichment, or enrichment plus running conditions, and injected with bromodeoxyuridine. Cell genesis was assessed after 12 d and differentiation was analyzed 1 mo later. In addition, locomotor activity in the open field and hippocampal mature BDNF peptide levels were measured. Open-field adaptation was improved in all groups, compared to controls, but more so with running. New cell proliferation, survival, neuron number, and neurotrophin levels were enhanced only when running was accessible. We conclude that exercise is the critical factor mediating increased BDNF levels and adult hippocampal neurogenesis.     

Preoperative enrichment and behavioral recovery in rats with septal lesions

To assess the behavioral effects of preoperative differential housing male rats were placed in either enriched or isolated environments at weaning prior to receiving either sham operations or septal lesions when 57 days of age. Rats with septal lesions showed reduced habituation of ambulation and initially made fewer rears in an empty open field but made more object-contacts coupled with a lack of habituation in the object-filled field. Septal rats also showed severe impairments when tested in a 12-arm radial maze with 7 arms baited and 5 arms unbaited. Preoperative enrichment did not significantly affect these lesion-induced changes. Nevertheless, enrichment significantly lowered ambulation (but did not affect habituation) in the open field and increased the number of manipulatory relative to nonmanipulatory contacts. However, preoperatively enriched septal rats showed a deficit in spontaneous alternation (45%) in contrast to the high levels (83%) shown by intact enriched rats, whereas both intact and septal isolated rats showed similar levels of spontaneous alternation (68%). These results conflict with earlier reports that preoperative enrichment "protects" rats against the deficits produced by septal lesions.