Understanding Intelligence

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Richardson

Have you ever wondered why psychologists still can't agree on what intelligence is? Or felt dismayed by debates around individual differences? Criticising the pitfalls of IQ testing, this book explains the true nature of intelligent systems, and their evolution from cells to brains to culture and human minds. Understanding Intelligence debunks many of the myths and misunderstandings surrounding intelligence. It takes a new look at the nature of the environment and the development of 'talent' and achievement. This brings fresh and radical implications for promoting intelligence and creativity, and prompts readers to reconsider their own possibilities and aspirations. Providing a broad context to the subject, the author also unmasks the ideological distortions of intelligence in racism and eugenics, and the suppressed expectations across social classes and genders. This book is a must-read for anyone curious about our own intelligence.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 915
Author(s):  
Marianna Stella ◽  
Paul E. Engelhardt

In this study, we examined eye movements and comprehension in sentences containing a relative clause. To date, few studies have focused on syntactic processing in dyslexia and so one goal of the study is to contribute to this gap in the experimental literature. A second goal is to contribute to theoretical psycholinguistic debate concerning the cause and the location of the processing difficulty associated with object-relative clauses. We compared dyslexic readers (n = 50) to a group of non-dyslexic controls (n = 50). We also assessed two key individual differences variables (working memory and verbal intelligence), which have been theorised to impact reading times and comprehension of subject- and object-relative clauses. The results showed that dyslexics and controls had similar comprehension accuracy. However, reading times showed participants with dyslexia spent significantly longer reading the sentences compared to controls (i.e., a main effect of dyslexia). In general, sentence type did not interact with dyslexia status. With respect to individual differences and the theoretical debate, we found that processing difficulty between the subject and object relatives was no longer significant when individual differences in working memory were controlled. Thus, our findings support theories, which assume that working memory demands are responsible for the processing difficulty incurred by (1) individuals with dyslexia and (2) object-relative clauses as compared to subject relative clauses.


Author(s):  
Tatiana V. Chernigovskaya ◽  

The paper discusses semiotic aspects of higher human functions and a possibility and relevance of traditional search for their neurophysiological basis. The state of the art on the subject is reviewed and the lack of data on anthropological specificity for reasoning, thinking, language and its AI modeling is highlighted. Experimental neuroscience presumes that if we know the characteristics of neu­rons and their connections, we automatically understand what mind and con­sciousness are. However, it is evident that such a paradigm does not allow us to get relevant answers to the main questions. I argue that the problem should be dealt with not only within the field of neurophysiology proper. Rather, such re­search should involve exploring the 'archeology' of mental processes as they are revealed in arts as well as in other symbolic spaces. The paper discusses the ade­quacy of physiological methodology when it is employed to demonstrate brain mechanisms of higher functions. Besides, I explore the relevance of juxta­posing similar data from other biological and artificial intelligent systems. I view language processing, mind and reasoning and 1st person experience (qualia) as human specific features, and questions the possibility of direct testing these phenomena. The paper links genetic, anthropological and neurophysio­logical data to semiotic activity and semiosphere formation as the basis for com­munication. The paper discusses the place of humans in the changing world in the context of new cognitive dimensions.


1882 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 20-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Sydney Marsden

The preparation of adamantine carbon or diamond has exercised the genius of philosophers from the very earliest times; but it was not until the middle of the last century (1772) that Lavoisier established the diamond's true nature—notwithstanding the simplicity of the experiments required to demonstrate the fact—and showed it to consist of pure carbon in a crystallised state. Since that time very many attempts have been made to prepare it artificially, but until the recent and now famous experiments of Mr J. B. Hannay there has not been the slightest approach towards the solution of this problem. Great obstacles stood in the way of success, the chief being the complete insolubility of carbon in all known liquids, coupled with its non-volatility and infusibility; while the subject was rendered even more difficult and obscure, by ignorance of the conditions under which the diamond is produced in nature, its peculiar crystalline form, together with extreme rarity, indicating a probable very slow formation, and rare natural existence of the conditions necessary for its formation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109-114
Author(s):  
A. Yе. Shevchenko ◽  
S. V. Kudin

The article explores the variety of theoretical approaches to legal interpretation. It has been determined that the variety of approaches to legal interpretation is due to the complexity of the nature of the origin of this phenomenon, the conditions for the development of post-non-classical science, and the recent influence of the paradigm of comparism, which assumes pluralism of opinions and ideas in legal research. It was found that in modern science there are four traditional theoretical approaches to the essence of legal interpretation. It has been determined that the content of the first approach is revealed within the framework of legal hermeneutics through a number of categories. The essence of the second approach (formal dogmatic or static) is expressed in the fact that the subject of interpretation must strictly and rigorously follow the letter of the law, establish only the meaning of the normative legal act, which the lawmaking body enshrined in it at the time of the publication of the act. That is why normative legal acts cannot, through interpretation, adapt to the changing economic, social, political, cultural internal and external conditions of public life. It is proved that the essence of the dynamic theoretical approach lies in the fact that the subject of legal interpretation adapts the normative legal act to the changes that occur in various social relations. It was found that there is a contradiction between the dynamic and static approaches in legal interpretation, which is reflected in the traditionally called objective and subjective theories of interpretation. According to the subjective theory, the purpose of legal interpretation is to establish the «will of the legislator», and according to the objective theory – to establish the «will of the law». It has been substantiated that the essence of the activity approach is that interpretation is considered as a special kind of legal activity aimed at understanding and clarifying the content of legal texts. The authors of this article point out that in order to establish the true nature of legal interpretation, the methodological foundations of the study should be presented much broader and more diverse, and not be limited only to traditional approaches. When studying it, a comprehensive, integrative approach is needed, which, based on the relevance of interdisciplinary relationships, would include logical, language (linguistic), philosophical, sociological, psychological, axiological (value), ethical, legal, historical, economic, political, mathematical and other substantiation of legal interpretation. Keywords: diversity, theoretical approach, legal interpretation, interpretive practice, integrative approach


2021 ◽  
pp. 205-209
Author(s):  
Marta Kravchenko

The album The Word Became the Body. XII International Icon Painting Plein Air in Nowica was published in Warsaw in 2020. It discusses works on the above topics. The texts of the Russian researcher of icon painting Irina Yazykova and Dr. Waldemar Linke present a broad context of the subject, both theological and artistic. The collection contains images of 50 modern iconographic works. The text is presented in four languages: Polish, Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian.


Author(s):  
Eugenia Olaguez Torres ◽  
Piero Espino ◽  
Jonathan Garcia

This chapter presents the development of a mobile application through the use of intelligent systems adapted to learning styles in accordance to the models of Feder-Silverman and Kolb. This development takes place in a Java programming language within the Android Studio development environment, which at the same time uses the SQLite mobile data base. The mobile application allowed the authors to identify the learning styles of students from the Mechatronics Engineering academic program that show some sort of educational backwardness in the subject of differential calculus. It was found that, according to the Felder-Silverman model, the style that predominates among students is the auditory style, while in accordance to the Kolb model, it was identified that the reflective style was the most common learning style amongst mechatronics students. It is concluded that through the use of this mobile application, students are able to identify the learning style, predict, and apply appropriate learning techniques to their learning style.


Author(s):  
John C. Norcross

This chapter explicates the broad context of psychotherapy integration and sets the stage for the subsequent chapters in the volume. This chapter offers a primer on integration: in the dual sense of a primer (soft i) as a small introduction to the subject and of a primer (hard i) as a basecoat or undercoat for the following applications. This chapter begins by describing the converging reasons for the growth of psychotherapy integration, after which it reviewsfour predominant routes to integration. This segues into a brief consideration of the varieties of integration, which includes summaries of recent studies on the prevalence and subtypes of eclectic/integrative therapies. The chapter concludes with a discussion of recurrent obstacles to psychotherapy integration.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Calegari ◽  
Giovanni Ciatto ◽  
Viviana Mascardi ◽  
Andrea Omicini

Abstract Precisely when the success of artificial intelligence (AI) sub-symbolic techniques makes them be identified with the whole AI by many non-computer-scientists and non-technical media, symbolic approaches are getting more and more attention as those that could make AI amenable to human understanding. Given the recurring cycles in the AI history, we expect that a revamp of technologies often tagged as “classical AI”—in particular, logic-based ones—will take place in the next few years. On the other hand, agents and multi-agent systems (MAS) have been at the core of the design of intelligent systems since their very beginning, and their long-term connection with logic-based technologies, which characterised their early days, might open new ways to engineer explainable intelligent systems. This is why understanding the current status of logic-based technologies for MAS is nowadays of paramount importance. Accordingly, this paper aims at providing a comprehensive view of those technologies by making them the subject of a systematic literature review (SLR). The resulting technologies are discussed and evaluated from two different perspectives: the MAS and the logic-based ones.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S80-S80
Author(s):  
Sarah Saperia ◽  
Daniel Felsky ◽  
Susana Da Silva ◽  
Ishraq Siddiqui ◽  
Zafiris Daskalakis ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Reductions in motivation figure prominently in the clinical presentation of schizophrenia (SZ) and major depressive disorder (MDD). One critical nexus in the motivation system that drives real-world behaviour is effort-based decision-making (EBDM), which refers to the cost-benefit calculations involved in computing the amount of effort one is willing to expend in order to obtain a desired reward. Important individual differences are associated with these processes, and impairments in motivation can arise if any relevant cost-benefit information is not properly computed, appraised, or integrated. Thus, in order to better understand the computations guiding choice behaviour, the present study sought to utilize a more person-centric approach to characterize individual differences in the effort-cost computations that underlie cost-benefit decision-making in individuals with SZ and MDD. Methods A sample of 51 individuals with SZ, 43 individuals with MDD, and 51 healthy control (HC) participants underwent a comprehensive clinical and cognitive characterization, and completed the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT) as a measure of EBDM. Random effects modelling was conducted to estimate the subject-specific predictors of reward magnitude, probability, and perceived cost on choice behaviour. Cluster analysis was subsequently applied to these predictors in order to identify subtypes of impairments within the entire sample, irrespective of diagnostic status. Results Data-driven cluster analysis identified unique subgroups of individuals with distinct patterns of utilizing cost-benefit information to guide effort-based decision-making. Analyses of variance revealed significant differences between clusters with respect to their utilization of reward (F (3, 133) = 51.58, p < .001), probability (F (3, 133) = 48.71, p < .001), and cost (F (3, 133) = 45.24, p < .001). The first cluster was characterized by an indifference to all cost-benefit information, the second cluster was more influenced by perceived cost, the third cluster demonstrated a preference for reward-based information, and the fourth cluster mainly utilized probability to guide their decision-making. While the clusters did not differ in their severity of clinical amotivation (p = .11), there was a significant effect for cognition, specifically with impairments in clusters 1 and 2. All diagnostic groups were represented in each cluster, but the distribution of SZ, MDD, and HC participants was significantly different (X2 (6, N = 137) = 16.18, p = .013). Discussion The emergence of four distinct subgroups in our sample suggests that there are individual differences amongst SZ, MDD, and HC participants in their utilization of cost-benefit information to guide choice behaviour. Moreover, with elevated levels of clinical amotivation present in all four clusters, it is possible that these unique cost-benefit decision-making patterns represent different underlying motivational impairments, the nature of which depending on how reward magnitude, probability, and perceived cost are weighed. Thus, by characterizing the specific mechanisms underlying EBDM in SZ and MDD, the results of this work may be able to help guide the identification of more precise targets for the effective treatment of motivation deficits.


2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 728-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Carere ◽  
Doretta Caramaschi ◽  
Tim W. Fawcett

Abstract In the past decade there has been a profusion of studies highlighting covariation between individual differences in stress physiology and behavioural profiles, here called personalities. Such individual differences in ways of coping with stress are relevant both in biomedicine, since different personalities may experience a different stress and disease vulnerability, and in behavioural ecology, since their adaptive value and evolutionary maintenance are the subject of debate. However, the precise way in which individual stress differences and personalities are linked is unclear. Here we provide an updated overview of this covariation across different species and taxa, consider its functional significance and present working hypotheses for how behavioural and physiological responses to stress might be causally linked, affecting life-history traits such as dispersal and life-span.


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