Grading the ‘cultural literacy’ project

The essay examines the argument advanced by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., for instituting ‘cultural literacy’ as a fundamental priority of schools. A number of confusions and equivocations in Hirsch's reasoning are identified, and the propensity of his project to indoctrinate is exposed. Among the features of Hirsch's argument shown to be troubling are his shifting construal of ‘language’, his inconsistency about the requirements of cultural literacy, and his uncritical relation to traditional images of the American past and present. The upshot is to raise the question why Hirsch's project has elicited wide support and praise.     

Long-term effects of cerebellar pathology on cognitive functions

Twelve patients with circumscribed chronic neocerebellar lesions but without CT-evidence of forebrain damage (other than the effects of shunting) were investigated for deficits of cognitive functions. Two different mechanisms were considered as possible causes of cognitive impairment: (1) Damage to the dentato-thalamo-cortical projection leading to impairments of cortical functions, and (2) prolonged intracranial pressure resulting in diffuse forebrain damage and subcortical dementia. Patients with lesions in the left neocerebellum showed deficits in cognitive operations in three dimensional space, consistent with the right forebrain dominance for spatial functions. Prolonged intracranial pressure, on the other hand, resulted in a mild overall cognitive impairment.     

Dysphoria and Children's Processing of Supportive Interactions

This study examined the processing of supportive interactions by dysphoric and nondysphoric preteens and early adolescents. Seventy-two youngsters between the ages of 10 and 13 evaluated the supportiveness and helpfulness of standardized, videotaped interactions between a distressed preadolescent and a maternal figure. The tape presentations varied in terms of the level of depicted maternal support and instructional condition (degree of self-reference). The results indicated that dysphoric youngsters evaluated both the supportiveness and helpfulness of interactions less positively than nondysphoric agemates. Group differences in support evaluations were most pronounced in the self-referenced condition. The level of depicted support did not affect processing differences. Dysphoric subjects reported lower levels of emotional support in prior relationships and a greater tendency to view supportive behavior as ingenuine than nondysphoric peers. Variation in prior support experiences accounted for group differences in the evaluation of the supportiveness of new interactions.     

Referenzsemantik in der Partnermodellierung

How can we explain that an assertion on something perceived can be understood in the same manner by somebody who cannot perceive that scene? This problem bases the interest in computational linguistics in how listener modeling could possibly be harmonized with reference semantics. Mental images substituting real perception appear as a way out. The architecture of the listener model has to be adapted to the creation and use of such pictorial data structures. Furthermore, the relation between the latter and a verbal (i. e., propositional) representation must be understood. The resulting architecture of a listener model with reference semantics can be employed to solve communicational problems from three general classes in a better way, as is demonstrated by an example implementation.     

What's in a name?

Medical students pose as physicians during clinical training. This article presents three cases where students justify misrepresenting their status for different reasons: self-concern for career, necessity for clinical training, and belief that the truth could cause undue psychological stress in the patient. The author suggests that serious consequences of this practice should be constantly reviewed in a critical light.     

Concepts of intellect in relation to learning and adult development

This article is a summary and integration of results from studies of the organization and development of human abilities. Several kinds of results are interpreted as converging toward support of theories stipulating a hierarchy of intellectual functions. Near the top of this hierarchy, most related to intelligence as this is usually conceived, are the two broad sets of abilities known as fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallized intelligence (Gc). The major focus of the review is on the decline of Gf through the “vital years of adulthood,” from 20 to 60 years of age. Major conclusions are:1. Sensory detector functions, near the bottom of the hierarchy of intellectual capacities, decline with development through the vital years, but this kind of decline is not responsible for aging decline of the major features of fluid intelligence: keenness of sensory function is not of the sine qua non of mature expressions of human intelligence.2. Memory abilities are somewhat higher in the hierarchy of intellectual functions, and thus are more strongly related to intelligence, than are sensory detectors. With increase in time interval over which retention is required, there is increase in the relationship of memory to Gf and to decline of Gf over the vital years. Accompanying this increase is an increase in the extent to which memory is dependent upon adequacy of organization at the stage of encoding. This, in turn, reflects the adequacy of eduction of relations and correlates, which is an essential feature of Gf.3. To the extent that very short-term memory is implicated in fluid intelligence, and the decline of this, it is intimately related to either a capacity or inclination to maintain close attention under conditions of high demand for attention.4. The speed with which one obtains correct answers to difficult problems is not closely related to the number of correct answers obtained when all subjects attempt all items in fluid intelligence tests, but clerical/perpetual speed, as indicated in tasks of quickly finding a particular symbol among others or tasks of making same/different judgments, is related to aging decline of Gf. As with short-term memory, this form of intellectual speediness appears to be closely related to capacities (or inclinations) for maintaining attention, dividing attention, and holding things in mind while doing other things.5. Crystallized intelligence probably increases over the vital years. This reflects dynamic restructuring of knowledge systems. It appears that there is not only an aging increase in knowledge but also an increase in the accessibility of information, a result being that humans become more creative (in one sense) as age increases through the vital years.6. Results from multivariate cross-sectional studies of intelligence are seen to be consistent with comparable results obtained with other kinds of research strategies.