Is conditional reasoning related to mathematical problem solving?

The current study aimed to investigate the relation between conditional reasoning, which is a common type of logical reasoning, and children's mathematical problem solving. A sample of 124 fourth graders was tested for their conditional reasoning skills and their mathematical problem solving skills, as well as a list of control variables (e.g., IQ, working memory, reading) and potential mediators (number sentence construction and computation). The children's ability to make modus ponens (MP) inferences significantly predicted their mathematical problem solving skills, even after controlling for the potential confounding variables. The relation was mediated by the number sentence construction skills. The findings, in addition to supporting the link between conditional reasoning and mathematics, further indicate that the ability to process relations may be the mechanism underlying the relation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

A model of the neural mechanisms underlying multisensory integration in the superior colliculus

Much of the information about multisensory integration is derived from studies of the cat superior colliculus (SC), a midbrain structure involved in orientation behaviors. This integration is apparent in the enhanced responses of SC neurons to cross-modal stimuli, responses that exceed those to any of the modality-specific component stimuli. The simplest model of multisensory integration is one in which the SC neuron simply sums its various sensory inputs. However, a number of empirical findings reveal the inadequacy of such a model; for example, the finding that deactivation of cortico-collicular inputs eliminates the enhanced response to a cross-modal stimulus without eliminating responses to the modality-specific component stimuli. These and other empirical findings inform a computational model that accounts for all of the most fundamental aspects of SC multisensory integration. The model is presented in two forms: an algebraic form that conveys the essential insights, and a compartmental form that represents the neuronal computations in a more biologically realistic way.     

Separation, Sickness, and Depression: A New Perspective on an Old Animal Model

ABSTRACT— Studies of prolonged separation from the attachment figure that were conducted with infant monkeys during the middle of the 20th century identified a passive behavioral response, termed "despair," that appeared to model human depressive illness. Studies in guinea pigs, which exhibit filial attachment that resembles attachment in monkeys, have described a similar passive response to briefer periods of maternal separation. Recent evidence indicates that elements of the immune system mediate the passive behavioral response of guinea pigs. These findings accord well with current ideas that immune responses contribute to depressive illness, suggest new hypotheses about how maternal separation might promote depression, and give us a rodent model in which such hypotheses might be tested.     

Serving God and Country? Religious Involvement and Military Service Among Young Adult Men

Despite important connections between religion and military action throughout world history, scholars have seldom explored the association between religiosity and military enlistment. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we used a person‐oriented analysis to categorize young men according to patterns of adolescent religious involvement. Youth indentified as “highly religious evangelical” are more likely to enlist in the military compared to their “highly religious nonevangelical” and “nonreligious” counterparts; however, these findings hold only for those young men without college experience. These findings are discussed along with study limitations and promising directions for future research.     

On the Limits of Rights and Representation

This essay explores the degree to which public reason can sustain political liberalism's commitment to justice and pluralism without attending to the role of what Jeffrey Stout calls “cultural inheritance” in shaping and justifying political commitments. At issue is whether public reason is the best resource for guiding conversations on political matters that are enmeshed in religious commitments and moral beliefs. Unless public reason can account for cultural inheritance, and foster a deliberative context in which political actors might grapple with the relationship between overlapping political claims and comprehensive doctrines, public reason will remain narrow and inadequate in a contemporary world where epistemic diversity is increasingly at odds with political liberalism's normative model of social cooperation and public deliberation.     

Chaplaincy,Cancer, Aged Care and COVID-19

Journal of Religion and Health - Four key topics are explored in this second issue of the Journal of Religion and Health for 2022. Following a condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, (1)...     

Parenting and Adolescents’ Academic Achievement: The Mediating Role of Goal Engagement and Disengagement

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Prior research has investigated parental behavior and students’ motivation separately as predictors of adolescents’ academic achievement. The...