Education as hospitality: welcoming foreigners into a common world

ABSTRACT

The present article aims at examining the specific difficulties that the school form – the modern educational institution par excellence – faces in order to attain hospitality as the raison d'être of the educational process. Educational activity is here understood as a form of hospitality which involves caring for the newcomers and for the physical and symbolic place into which they arrive. A cinematographical narrative drawn from Bégaudeau’s Entre les Murs supplements this analysis of some of the challenges we are faced with when dealing with students from different national backgrounds, beliefs and forms of life.     

NMDA and muscarinic receptors of the nucleus accumbens have differential effects on taste memory formation

Animals recognize a taste cue as aversive when it has been associated with post-ingestive malaise; this associative learning is known as conditioned taste aversion (CTA). When an animal consumes a new taste and no negative consequences follow, it becomes recognized as a safe signal, leading to an increase in its consumption in subsequent presentations (attenuation of neophobia, AN). It has been shown that the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) has an important role in taste learning. To elucidate the involvement of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and muscarinic receptors in the NAcc during safe and aversive taste memory formation, we administrated bilateral infusions of DL-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (APV) or scopolamine in the NAcc shell or core respectively. Our results showed that pre-training injections of APV in the NAcc core and shell disrupted aversive but not safe taste memory formation, whereas pre-training injections of scopolamine in the NAcc shell, but not core, disrupted both CTA and AN. These results suggest that muscarinic receptors seem to be necessary for processing taste stimuli for either safe or aversive taste memory, whereas NMDA receptors are only involved in the aversive taste memory trace formation.     

Play fighting between kindling-prone (FAST) and kindling-resistant (SLOW) rats

Differences in the play behavior of 2 strains of rats suggest that different components of play fighting can be modified independently. The development of play fighting in cross-strain pairs of familiar and unfamiliar rats was examined to determine whether interacting with a non-congruent pair-mate would alter the pattern of play typical for each strain. In both strains, changes in play fighting were observed throughout development, but partner identity appeared to influence play fighting in different ways depending on age. These data suggest that some components of play may be more impervious to changes in social environment than other components.     

Association between alexithymia, neuroticism, and social desirability scores among Italian graduate students

An inverse correlation between social desirability and alexithymia has been observed in undergraduate students in Japan and Australia. It is not clear how this association is influenced by the personality dimension of neuroticism. This study examined the association of scores on social desirability with those on alexithymia controlled for neuroticism, in a sample of 111 Italian graduate students, with age range of 24 to 58 years. Students completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (short form) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20). Social desirability scores inversely correlated with TAS-20 total scores, neuroticism scores, and the TAS-20 subscale, Difficulty identifying feelings. Neuroticism directly correlated with TAS-20 total score, Difficulty identifying feelings, and Difficulty describing feelings. Students with higher alexithymia and neuroticism scores seem to present themselves in less socially desirable ways. The correlation of social desirability with alexithymia was moderated by higher neuroticism scores.     

No dual-task practice effect in Alzheimer's disease

Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) requires evidence of progressive decline in cognitive function. However, many tests used to assess cognitive function suffer from considerable practice effects, reducing their reliability. Several studies have reported that the ability to do two things at once, or dual tasking, is impaired in AD, but unaffected by healthy ageing. The apparent specificity of this impairment suggests that this assessment may be particularly useful in the early diagnosis of AD, but the reliability of this assessment remains unknown. Therefore, this study investigated simultaneous performance of digit recall and tracking tasks across six testing sessions in eight people with AD, eight healthy older adults and eight healthy younger adults. The results found that dual-task performance was unaffected by healthy ageing, but significantly impaired in AD, with no effect of repeated exposure. The absence of any improvements in performance despite increased familiarity with the task's demands suggests that not only is the dual-task assessment well suited for monitoring progression over time, but also that dual tasking involves a specific cognitive function which is impaired in the AD brain.     

Working Memory Capacity and the Development of Quantitative Central Conceptual Structures

Abstract

This article reconsiders Case’s theory of central conceptual structures (CCS), examining the relation between working memory and the acquisition of quantitative CCS. The lead hypothesis is that the development of working memory capacity shapes the development of quantitative concepts (whole and rational numbers). Study I, with 779 children from preschool to grade 5, validated a measure of the whole number CCS and found that children’s understanding of whole number advances by one developmental level per additional unit of working memory capacity. Study II, with 92 sixth- and seventh-graders, found that a test of the rational number CCS was predicted by working memory capacity and, to a lesser extent, by intrusion errors in the listening span. We also identified 2 subsets of items that demand a capacity of 4 or 5 units, respectively. Overall, the results support Case’s CCS theory and clarify the role of working memory in the acquisition of numerical concepts. The relevance of these results in relation to the current debate is discussed, with extensive connections to other current theories of whole or rational number comprehension.     

Some considerations about personality structure in child psychosis

This paper begins by describing the three main areas that can be addressed in seeking to bring about change in parent?–?infant work, and questions the extent to which a brief therapy model may be generally effective. Following a clinical example, there is a discussion of the nature of the process of change with this particular population. Drawing on ideas from Paula Heimann and others it is suggested that the ‘ghost in the nursery’ described by Fraiberg represents an ‘unassimilated object’ that may frequently be projected on to the infant but is also likely to appear elsewhere. It is argued that, especially if therapy relieves the infant of this projection, it will most often manifest its presence in the couple's relationship. In consequence, it is this relationship that should be a primary focus for our interventions, particularly as this also provides the essential context for the infant's psychological development.     

Do as you’re told! Facets of agreeableness and early adult outcomes for inner-city boys

With data from the middle cohort of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a prospective longitudinal study of inner-city boys, we examined whether Big Five agreeableness facets could be reliably recovered in this sample, and whether facets predicted educational, occupational, social, and antisocial life outcomes assessed a decade later. Caregivers described their adolescent boys’ personalities using the Common California Q-Set; twelve years later, participants were interviewed and court records were obtained. Factor analyses recovered two facets: compliance and compassion. Compliance predicted more schooling and lower risk of unemployment, teenage fatherhood, and crime; compassion related to longer committed relationships. Findings highlight the value of studying personality at the facet level.     

A longitudinal study of psychosocial distress in breast cancer: Prevalence and risk factors

This longitudinal study was conducted among 102 women with non-metastasic breast cancer to identify the time evolution and prevalence of distress at specific times through diagnosis and treatment of disease: preliminary diagnosis, surgery, definitive diagnosis and chemotherapy. Additionally, the study aimed to examine the role of demographic, medical and psychosocial factors on distress. The results indicated that prevalence of distress was higher at initial diagnosis (25%) than the following time points (approximately 17%). The differences inter-individuals in the levels of distress were observed over the four assessments. No relation between distress and demographic and medical factors was found. However, psychosocial aspects were significant risk factors. Patterns of emotional suppression and specific coping responses like helplessness/hopelessness, anxious preoccupation, cognitive avoidance and fatalism were positively related to distress, whereas fighting spirit and perceived social support showed a protective role. Moreover, helplessness/hopelessness and anxious preoccupation jointly predicted 75% of cases and 98% non-cases of distress. Finally, a mediational model between emotional suppression and distress through helplessness/hopelessness was tested. Results support the necessity of routine distress screening all through the illness. Implications of data for psychosocial interventions with breast cancer patients are highlighted.     

Working memory in event‐ and time‐based prospective memory tasks: Effects of secondary demand and age

An experiment is reported examining the role of working memory in two laboratory‐based prospective memory (PM) tasks. Participants viewed a film for a later recognition memory task while simultaneously monitoring auditorially presented arithmetic problems for incorrect solutions. The arithmetic verification task was either low demand or high demand. In addition, participants were required either to indicate whenever an animal appeared in the film (event‐based PM task), or whenever 3 min had elapsed (time‐based PM task). PM performance was higher when the arithmetic task was low demand than when it was high demand. Young participants were more successful in both PM tasks than older participants, but only under high demand. Age did not interact with PM task type overall, and the young participants were faster overall in both types of PM task. Taken together, the results indicate that working memory plays an important role in PM tasks.