Précis of neuroconstructivism: how the brain constructs cognition

Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition proposes a unifying framework for the study of cognitive development that brings together (1) constructivism (which views development as the progressive elaboration of increasingly complex structures), (2) cognitive neuroscience (which aims to understand the neural mechanisms underlying behavior), and (3) computational modeling (which proposes formal and explicit specifications of information processing). The guiding principle of our approach is context dependence, within and (in contrast to Marr [1982]) between levels of organization. We propose that three mechanisms guide the emergence of representations: competition, cooperation, and chronotopy; which themselves allow for two central processes: proactivity and progressive specialization. We suggest that the main outcome of development is partial representations, distributed across distinct functional circuits. This framework is derived by examining development at the level of single neurons, brain systems, and whole organisms. We use the terms encellment, embrainment, and embodiment to describe the higher-level contextual influences that act at each of these levels of organization. To illustrate these mechanisms in operation we provide case studies in early visual perception, infant habituation, phonological development, and object representations in infancy. Three further case studies are concerned with interactions between levels of explanation: social development, atypical development and within that, developmental dyslexia. We conclude that cognitive development arises from a dynamic, contextual change in embodied neural structures leading to partial representations across multiple brain regions and timescales, in response to proactively specified physical and social environment.     

Invisible displacement understanding in domestic dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis familiaris</Emphasis>): the role of visual cues in search behavior

Recently, (Collier-Baker E, Davis JM, Suddendorf T (2004) J Comp Psychol 118:421–433) suggested that domestic dogs do not understand invisible displacements. In the present study, we further investigated the hypothesis that the search behavior of domestic dogs in invisible displacements is guided by various visual cues inherent to the task rather than by mental representation of an object’s past trajectory. Specifically, we examined the role of the experimenter as a function of the final position of the displacement device in the search behavior of domestic dogs. Visible and invisible displacement problems were administered to dogs (N = 11) under two conditions. In the Visible-experimenter condition, the experimenter was visible whereas in the Concealed-experimenter condition, the experimenter was visibly occluded behind a large rigid barrier. Our data supported the conclusion that dogs do not understand invisible displacements but primarily search as a function of the final position of the displacement device and, to a lesser extent, the position of the experimenter.     

Landmark-based search memory in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris)

Recent studies have suggested that any animal that relies on landmark-based search memory encodes and uses metric properties of space to navigate. So far, however, metric information provided by landmarks has been predominantly investigated in avian species. In the present study, I investigated whether the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a mammalian species, encodes the distance and direction from landmarks. Dogs were trained to find a ball hidden next to an array of two distinct landmarks that remained at a constant location in a room from trial to trial. After training, the dogs were occasionally tested on unrewarded conditions where the array was either left in its usual position or shifted laterally, perpendicularly, or diagonally relative to the rear wall of the room. Although the dogs significantly shifted their search as a function of the displacement of the landmarks, they did not search at the predicted coordinates of the goal relative to the shift of the landmarks, suggesting that the global cues available in the testing room were also encoded and used by dogs to locate the position of the goal.     

Clarivate Analytics: Continued <Emphasis Type="Italic">Omnia vanitas</Emphasis> Impact Factor Culture

This opinion paper takes aim at an error made recently by Clarivate Analytics in which it sent out an email that congratulated academics for becoming exclusive members of academia’s most cited elite, the Highly Cited Researchers (HCRs). However, that email was sent out to an undisclosed number of non-HCRs, who were offered an apology shortly after, through a bulk mail, which tried to down-play the importance of the error, all the while praising the true HCRs. When Clarivate Analytics senior management was contacted, the company declined to offer an indication of the number of academics who had been contacted and erroneously awarded the HCR status. We believe that this regrettable blunder, together with the opacity offered by the company, fortify the corporate attitude about the value of the journal impact factor (JIF), and what it represents, namely a marketing tool that is falsely used to equate citations with quality, worth, or influence. The continued commercialization of metrics such as the JIF is at the heart of their use to assess the “quality” of a researcher, their work, or a journal, and contributes to a great extent to driving scientific activities towards a futile endeavor.     

Sports and ‘Minorities’: Negotiating the Olympic Model

This paper studies ‘minority’ initiatives to organize sports games. A meta-analysis of published data in the literature identifies the formal appearance taken by each of these initiatives under the Olympic model. But it also conduces to build a number of indicators to answer a series of questions about their logic and strategies. All the initiatives studied are based on an ambivalent posture that, while based on the denunciation of a discriminating space, claim access to it. By an astonishing paradox, ‘non-normative’ actors are driven to reclaim a model that, under cover of Universal, aims to establish a norm that is situated and dated. In practice, they use two types of strategies: a strategy for participation in the Olympics to transform them into a space which represents a fight against exclusion, or a strategy to create alternative events. Whatever the strategy, these initiatives are implemented according to their objectives. Differentiated in their forms—participatory or autonomy—they are also in their purpose. The comparison of these initiatives shows that ultimately, beyond strategies and logic inherent in different social, historical and organizational contexts, the mobilizations of the actors reveal the same ambivalence about the sports model conveyed by the Olympic institution.     

Complex and subtle structural changes in prefrontal cortex induced by inhibitory control training from childhood to adolescence

A number of training interventions have been designed to improve executive functions and inhibitory control (IC) across the lifespan. Surprisingly, no study has investigated the structural neuroplasticity induced by IC training from childhood to late adolescence, a developmental period characterized by IC efficiency improvement and protracted maturation of prefrontal cortex (PFC) subregions involved in IC. The aim of the present study was to investigate the behavioral and structural changes induced by a 5‐week computerized and adaptive IC training in school‐aged children (10‐year‐olds) and in adolescents (16‐year‐olds). Sixty‐four children and 59 adolescents were randomly assigned to an IC (i.e. Color‐Word Stroop and Stop‐Signal tasks) or an active control (AC) (knowledge‐ and vocabulary‐based tasks) training group. In the pre‐ and posttraining sessions, participants performed the Color‐Word Stroop and Stop‐signal tasks, and an anatomical resonance imaging (MRI) was acquired for each of them. Children's IC efficiency improved from the pre‐ to the posttraining session in boys but not in girls. In adolescents, IC efficiency did not improve after IC training. Similar to the neuroplastic mechanisms observed during brain maturation, we observed IC training‐related changes in cortical thickness and cortical surface area in several PFC subregions (e.g. the pars opercularis, triangularis, and orbitalis of the inferior frontal gyri) that were age‐ and gender‐specific. Because no correction for multiple comparisons was applied, the results of our study provide only preliminary evidence of the complex structural neuroplastic mechanisms at the root of behavioral changes in IC efficiency from pre‐ to posttraining in school‐aged children and adolescents.     

Variations in internet-related problems and psychosocial functioning in online sexual activities: implications for social and sexual development of young adults.

This survey of 760 university students examined differences in Internet-related problems and psychosocial functioning between four patterns of participation in online sexual information and entertainment activities. Students who did not participate in either online sexual activity were more satisfied with their offline life and more connected to friends and family. Those who engaged in both online sexual activities were more dependent on the Internet and reported lower offline functioning. Students who only sought sexual information maintained strong offline affiliations. Those who only sought entertainment did not report lower offline functioning. Respondents most deficient in offline social support did not report compensatory online support. Despite students' common participation in online sexual activities (OSA) as a venue for social and sexual development, those relying on the Internet and the affiliations it provides appear at risk of decreased social integration. The authors discussed the finding's implications for social and sexual development.