Effects of passive physical exercise on peripheral vision in muscular dystrophic children

To investigate the effects of passive exercise of the extremities on peripheral vision of muscular dystrophic children aged 9 to 13 yr. these subjects were either not exercised (control days) for a 6-min. period or were exercised (experimental days) for a 6-min. period after a 5-min. rest. Peripheral vision was recorded after each condition. Analysis of variance with repeated measures on the exercise and no exercise conditions was computed for each measure. 6 min. of passive exercise significantly increased peripheral vision. It was assumed that exercise increased blood flow through the lungs allowing for greater oxygen diffusion in the brain and other facilitory responses which increased effective cerebral activity. Curriculum revisions for such children indicate the importance of activity in facilitating subsequent learning.     

Argumentation and Explanation in Conceptual Change: Indications From Protocol Analyses of Peer-to-Peer Dialog

In this paper we attempt to identify which peer collaboration characteristics may be accountable for conceptual change through interaction. We focus on different socio-cognitive aspects of the peer dialog and relate these with learning gains on the dyadic as well as the individual level. The scientific topic that was used for this study concerns natural selection, a topic for which students' intuitive conceptions have been shown to be particularly robust. Learning tasks were designed according to the socio-cognitive conflict instructional paradigm. After receiving a short instructional intervention on natural selection, paired students were asked to collaboratively construct explanations for certain evolutionary phenomena while engaging in dialectical argumentation. Two quantitative coding schemes were developed, each with a different granularity. The first assessed discrete dialog moves that pertained to dialectical argumentation and to consensual explanation development. The second scheme characterized the dialog as a whole on a number of socio-cognitive dimensions. Results from analyses on the dyadic as well as the individual level revealed that the engagement in dialectical argumentation predicted conceptual learning gains, whereas consensual explanation development did not. These findings open up new venues for research on the mechanisms of learning in and from peer collaboration.     

Intellectual property and biotechnology: the European debate

The European patent system allows for the introduction of moral issues into decisions about the granting of patents. This feature has greatly impacted European debates about the patenting of biotechnology. This essay explores the European experience, in both the European Union and the European Patent Organization. It argues that there has been great confusion surrounding these issues primarily because the Europeans have not developed a general theory about when exclusion from patentability is the best social mechanism for dealing with morally offensive technologies.     

The academic career: A model for future careers in other sectors?

In this paper we discuss and analyze the model of career that has been associated with the academic environment and compare that with past and present career contracts in the corporate environment. We also trace the evolution of the career model in the two institutions. We argue that the recent boundaryless or protean model of the corporate career represents a move toward the original view of the academic as an autonomous professional. And, in turn, it appears that careers in academe have moved toward more of a corporate direction, as universities have become more customer focused and business driven. Implications for these differences and similarities for universities and for corporations are discussed.     

Nonconscious goal pursuit in novel environments: the case of implicit learning

Is nonconscious goal pursuit useful in novel environments? The prevalent view of automaticity and control implies that an unconscious mode of goal pursuit can only reproduce formerly learned actions, and therefore that its usefulness in novel environments is very limited. Our results demonstrate that this conclusion is not always warranted, as nonconscious goal pursuit facilitated participants' learning of the structure of completely novel environments. Specifically, two experiments, using markedly different implicit-learning paradigms, demonstrated facilitation of implicit learning when the goal of achievement was primed. We propose that nonconscious goal pursuit can facilitate not only reproductive operations, but also productive ones, and that implicit learning is sensitive to the organism's nonconscious goals.     

Father–child and mother–child interaction in families with a child feeding disorder: The role of paternal involvement

To date, research about feeding disorder (FD) has focused almost exclusively on the mother–child dyad, ignoring fathers' roles. The current study investigated father–child interactions with children having FD. The sample consisted of 67 children (1–3 years old) and their mothers and fathers. Thirty‐four children, diagnosed with a nonorganic‐based FD (FD group) and 33 children without an FD (control group) were matched for age, gender, birth order, and maternal education. Data were collected during home visits. Mothers were interviewed about their and the father's involvement in childcare. In addition, mother–child and father–child interactions were videotaped during play and feeding. Both mothers and fathers from the FD group experienced less positive parent–child interactions than did parents in the control group. Furthermore, mothers in the FD group reported greater maternal versus paternal childcare involvement than did control group mothers. Finally, FD group mothers exhibited more parental sensitivity than did fathers during feeing interactions; however, this difference was observed only when coupled with low paternal involvement. In families where fathers were highly involved, no difference was evident in paternal and maternal sensitivity. These findings highlight the importance of fathers' involvement, especially in families with children exhibiting an FD.     

Motivation in Mental Accessibility: Relevance Of A Representation (ROAR) as a New Framework

The notion of accessibility of mental representations has been invaluable in explaining and predicting human thought and action. Focusing on social cognition, we review the large corpus of data that has accumulated since the first models of mental activation dynamics were outlined. We then outline a framework that we call Relevance of a Representation (or ROAR for short), the main tenant of which is that not all stimulated representations are in fact activated (i.e., influence thought and action processes). More specifically, we propose that the degree to which a representation is available to processes of thought and action is a function of that representation's motivational relevance. We end by demonstrating how the framework enables re-addressing the notions of accessibility, automaticity and selective attention.