INTERPRETATION AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

We offer a general definition of interpretation based on a naturalized teleology. The definition tests and extends the biosemiotic paradigm by seeking to provide a philosophically robust resource for investigating the possible role of semiosis (processes of representation and interpretation) in biological systems. We show that our definition provides a way of understanding various possible kinds of misinterpretation, illustrate the definition using examples at the cellular and subcellular level, and test the definition by applying it to a potential counterexample. We explain how we propose to use the definition as a way of asking new questions about what distinguishes life from non‐life and of formulating testable hypotheses within the field of origin‐of‐life research. If the definition leads to fruitful new empirical approaches to the scientific problem of the origin of life, it will help to establish biosemiotics as a legitimate philosophical approach in theoretical biology and will thereby support a theological appropriation of the biosemiotic perspective as the basis of a new theology of nature.     

Predicting the Early Developmental Course of Symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care were examined to test whether: attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms remain stable from 54 months through early elementary school; behavioral inhibition and attention deficits assessed at 54 months predict ADHD symptoms in elementary school, even after controlling for their temporal stability; and early behavioral inhibition and attention deficits moderate the longitudinal stability in ADHD symptoms. Data were examined using continuous and categorical measures of symptoms. Modest stability in ADHD symptoms from 54 months to third grade was found. Measures of inhibition and inattention predicted later teacher ratings uniquely, but no evidence was found for moderation. Measures of preschool behavioral inhibition also predicted “persistently at risk status” defined by elevated teacher ratings over time. Results are discussed in terms of executive and motivational facets of inhibition that may be related to early signs of ADHD.     

Complexity effects on the children's gambling task

The children's gambling task (CGT [Kerr, A., & Zelazo, P. D. (2004). Development of “Hot” executive function: The children's gambling task. Brain and Cognition, 55, 148–157]) involves integrating information about losses and gains to maximize winnings when selecting cards from two decks. Both cognitive complexity and control (CCC) theory and relational complexity (RC) theory attribute younger children's difficulty to task complexity. In CCC theory, identification of the advantageous deck requires formulation of a higher-order rule so that gains and losses can be considered in contradistinction. According to RC theory, it entails processing the ternary relation linking three variables (deck, magnitude of gain, magnitude of loss). We designed two less complex binary-relational versions in which either loss or gain varied across decks, with the other held constant. The three closely matched versions were administered to 3–5-year-olds. Consistent with complexity explanations, children in all age groups selected cards from the advantageous deck in the binary-relational versions, but only 5-year-olds did so on the ternary-relational CGT.     

Toddlers benefit from labeling on an executive function search task

Although labeling improves executive function (EF) performance in children older than 3 years, the results from studies with younger children have been equivocal. In the current study, we assessed performance in a computerized multistep multilocation search task with older 2-year-olds. The correct search location was either (a) not marked by a familiar picture or given a distinct label, (b) marked by a familiar picture but not given a distinct label, (c) marked by a familiar picture and labeled by the experimenter, or (d) marked by a familiar picture and labeled by the participant. The results revealed that accuracy improved across conditions such that children made the fewest errors when they generated the label for the hiding location. These findings support the hierarchical competing systems model, which postulates that improved performance can be explained by more powerful representations that guide search behavior.     

Color-object interference: Further tests of an executive control account

Young children are slower in naming the color of a meaningful picture than in naming the color of an abstract form (Stroop-like color-object interference). The current experiments tested an executive control account of this phenomenon. First, color-object interference was observed in 6- and 8-year-olds but not in 12- and 16-year-olds (Experiment 1). Second, meaningful pictures did not interfere in 5- to 7-year-olds’ manual sorting of objects on the basis of color (Experiment 2) or in their naming the number of colored objects in the display, that is, subitizing (Experiment 3). These findings provide support for the view that color-object interference results from the children’s immature inhibition of the prepotent but irrelevant task of object naming.     

Portrayal of personality in Victorian novels reflects modern research findings but amplifies the significance of agreeableness

All literature embodies an implicit theory of personality and human nature (Hogan, 1976). The research described here investigates the implicit personality theory embedded in the behavior of 435 characters in 143 canonical Victorian novels. Characters were rated on the Web by 519 scholars and students of 19th-century British literature. Ratings included the characters’ goals, success in achieving goals, mate preferences and strategies, and personality according to the Five Factor Model. Results suggest that novels by Victorian authors largely reflect personality and human nature as understood by modern personality psychology, but Victorian authors amplify the significance of agreeableness and thus, whether intentionally or not, encourage cooperative impulses in readers.     

Type of physical exercise and inhibitory function in older adults: An event-related potential study

ObjectivesThe present study was to examine the relationship between exercise type and inhibitory function in older adults using neuroelectric indices.DesignA cross-sectional design was employed in the present study.MethodSixty adults (M = 69.42 years) were categorized into open-skill, closed-skill, and irregular exercise groups according to their history of exercise participation. The participants conducted a flanker task while their behavioral performance and event-related brain potentials were assessed.ResultsThe results indicated that regular exercisers, regardless of exercise type, exhibited a faster reaction time across conditions of the flanker task compared to irregular exercisers. For the P300 amplitude of the open-skill exerciser group, the peak amplitude was larger at the vertex site compared to the frontal site, whereas no site differences were observed in the closed-skill and irregular exerciser groups.ConclusionsThese findings extend current knowledge by suggesting that, for older adults, participation in physical exercise involving increased cognitive demand is associated with better neural efficiency in resource allocation for tasks that require interference control.     

Synapses,Schizophrenia, and Civilization: What Made Homo Sapient?

Progress in technology has allowed dynamic research on the development of the human brain that has revolutionized concepts. Particularly, the notions of plasticity, neuronal selection, and the effects of afferent stimuli have entered into thinking about brain development. Here I focus on development from the age of four years to early adulthood, during which a 30 percent reduction in some brain synapses occurs that is out of proportion to changes in neuronal numbers. This corresponds temporally with changes in normal child behavior from the loose‐associative, almost schizoid, thinking and art of the four‐year‐old to the more trained, or disciplined, or acculturated—and restrained—personality of the young adult. I propose that the synaptic changes can best be thought of as a winnowing process likely subject to environmental influences. Acquisition of language and the ability to link linguistic cognition to the plastic development of the brain provide a potentially powerful means of explaining the evolutionally explosive development of human cognition and culture. Schizophrenia, a disease that can be envisioned as representing a derangement of synaptic maturation, may provide an entry into the search for genes controlling the processes mediating the unprecedented development of Homo sapiens over the past 40,000 to 70,000 years. The recently completed mapping of the genome of the chimpanzee provides a new frame of reference that may speed the search.     

农村儿童与城市儿童孤独感和人格特征的比较研究

本研究以480名农村和城市儿童为研究对象,以“儿童孤独量表”和“艾森克人格问卷（EPQ）儿童版”为研究工具,考察农村儿童与城市儿童孤独感和人格特征状况。结果表明：（1）小学高年级儿童中存在着不同程度的孤独感,农村儿童的孤独感普遍高于城市儿童。（2）小学高年级儿童的孤独感不存在明显的性别差异和年龄差异,与父母的受教育程度存在着一定程度的负相关。（3）农村儿童倾向内向,其内外倾向显著低于城市儿童,农村儿童的内倾性人格特征是影响他们孤独感体验的重要因素。