scholarly journals Cerebellar degeneration selectively disrupts continuous mental operations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel D. McDougle ◽  
Jonathan Tsay ◽  
Benjamin Pitt ◽  
Maedbh King ◽  
William Saban ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Cerebellar Degeneration ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Single Digit ◽  
General Role ◽  
Mental Operations ◽  
Discrete Representations

ABSTRACTInspired by computational models of how the cerebellum supports the coordination of movement, we propose a novel hypothesis to specify constraints on how this subcortical structure contributes to higher-level cognition. Specifically, we propose that the cerebellum helps facilitate dynamic continuous transformations of mental representations (CoRT). To test this hypothesis, we compared the performance of individuals with cerebellar degeneration (CD) on tasks that entail continuous movement-like mental operations with tasks that entail more discrete mental operations. In the first pair of experiments, individuals with CD were impaired on a mental rotation task, showing a slower rate of mental rotation compared to control participants. In contrast, the rate at which they scanned discrete representations in visual working memory was similar to that observed in the control group. In the second pair of experiments, we turned to mathematical cognition as a test of the generality of the CoRT hypothesis. Individuals with CD were selectively impaired in adding single-digit numbers, a task hypothesized to entail a mental operation involving continuous transformations along a mental number line. In contrast, their rate of performing arithmetic operations thought to involve retrieval from a look-up table was unimpaired. These results, obtained in disparate task domains, suggest a general role for the cerebellum in coordinating dynamic transformations in mental space, paralleling key features of computational theories concerning the cerebellum’s role in coordinated movement.

scholarly journals Manipulative Approach In Teaching Fractions

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 435-447
Author(s):  
Rea C. Parungao
Keyword(s):  
Test Scores ◽  
Traditional Method ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Virtual Manipulatives ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Teaching Fractions ◽  
Experimental Group

This study aimed to determine the effects of using manipulatives in teaching fractions.   Quasi- experimental method of research was used in this study. It was conducted during the first quarter of S.Y. 2019-2020 among the respondents were randomly selected. Two sections of Arayat National High School were the respondents of the study. The control group was the 7-Rosal while the 7-Sampaguita was the experimental group. Both groups were given a pretest prior to the discussion about fractions and a posttest after instruction using the traditional method (control group) and the use of manipulatives (experimental group). The results were then evaluated, analysed through SPSS, and interpreted. Mean, t-test and ANCOVA were utilized to analyze and interpret the data. This study found out that the post-test scores of the respondents from the two groups improved in comparison to their pre-test scores.  The mean pretest and mean posttest scores of both groups showed significant difference. The results showed that the use of virtual manipulatives in converting fractions to decimals had significant difference compared the use of the traditional method. On the contrary, teaching fractions on a number line did not have significant difference. Out of the four operations on fractions, three showed that the use of concrete manipulatives was highly effective. This study recommends that teachers must test the prior knowledge of their students before discussing about fractions to determine the students’ strengths and weaknesses. Although both traditional method and the manipulative approach showed improvement on the post-test results in teaching fractions, still, teachers are encouraged to use manipulatives in teaching fractions to improve students’ performance. It is important for teachers to provide their students opportunities for hands-on manipulation of objects in order to grasp the concepts of fractions more easily. Lastly, teachers must develop the use of concrete and virtual manipulatives in teaching fractions to promote active learning that can enhance students’ mathematics performance and can help them to realize that mathematics is an enjoyable subject.

83 EFFECTS OF HUMAN INTERFERON-α ON GENE EXPRESSION IN THE BOVINE ENDOMETRIUM IN COMPARISON TO DAYS 15 AND 18 OF PREGNANCY

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
S. Bauersachs ◽  
S. E. Ulbrich ◽  
H. D. Reichenbach ◽  
M. Reichenbach ◽  
M. Büttner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Endometrial Tissue ◽  
Differentially Expressed ◽  
Human Interferon ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Interferon Α ◽  
Type I ◽  
Fatty Acid Binding ◽  
General Role ◽  
Human Interferon Α

Interferon-τ (IFNT), a Type-I interferon (IFN), is the pregnancy recognition signal produced by the ruminant conceptus (Godkin et al. 1984; Hansen et al. 1985; Helmer et al. 1987; Spencer et al. 2007). In addition to these specific functions of IFNT in ruminants, many studies suggest that IFNs play a general role in establishment of pregnancy and conceptus attachment/implantation in most mammalian species (Bazer et al. 2009; Bazer et al. 2010; Johnson et al. 2009; Roberts et al. 2008). To characterise the effects of prototype Type-I IFNs on bovine endometrium, in experiment one, Simmental heifers were treated from Day 14 to Day 16 of the oestrous cycle with a rod-shaped intrauterine device releasing human interferon-α (IFNA) or placebo lipid extrudates or PBS only as controls (n = 4 each). Lipid formulation and concentration of human IFNA were adjusted to release 8–9 × 107 IU of IFNA over a period of 2 days in in vitro release experiments. On Day 16, endometrial biopsy samples were collected after flushing the uterus. In experiment 2, endometrial tissue samples were obtained on Day 12, 15 and 18 post-mating from nonpregnant or pregnant heifers. All samples from both experiments were analysed with an Affymetrix Bovine Genome Array (Santa Clara, CA). In experiment one, IFNA treatment resulted in differential gene expression in the bovine endometrium. Significant differences were found between the IFNA group and both control groups, whereas no differences were observed between the placebo and the PBS control group. In experiment 2, differentially expressed genes were found between pregnant and nonpregnant endometria on Day 15 and 18, but not on Day 12, with many of them known IFN-stimulated genes. The comparison of the data sets from both experiments showed very similar gene expression changes for most of the typical IFN-stimulated genes. In addition, several genes were identified which were differentially expressed after IFNA treatment but not different at Day 15 or 18 of pregnancy compared with nonpregnant animals. Conversely, some genes were found as differentially expressed during pregnancy but not after IFNA treatment. Differential expression of selected genes was verified by quantitative real-time PCR and 4 genes, namely jumonji C domain containing histone demethylase 1 homologue D (JHDM1D), indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1), fatty acid binding protein 3, muscle and heart (mammary-derived growth inhibitor) (FABP3) and dickkopf homologue 1 (DKK1), were selected for localization of mRNA expression in endometrial tissue sections. The findings of this study suggest that there may be differential effects of bovine IFNT compared with human IFNA and that some pregnancy-specific changes in the endometrium are elicited by conceptus-derived factors other than IFNT. This study was supported by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF, FUGATO-plus, COMPENDIUM) and the German Research Foundation (DFG FOR478). The authors are part of the European Union COST action GEMINI.

scholarly journals Cognitive Basis of Making Creative Decisions in Translation Activities

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-71
Author(s):  
Anastasia Kolmogorova ◽  
Elena Chistova
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representations ◽  
Theoretical Knowledge ◽  
Color Gamut ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Cognitive Mechanism ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Mental Operations ◽  
Cognitive Orientations

The purpose of the paper is to model the cognitive mechanism of generating creative elements in translation activities that are increasingly relevant in the context of modern requirements for the translator's work. The authors systematize, refine and supplement the available theoretical knowledge about translation creativity. The authors describe the available results of searching for creativity in target texts. The paper provides a cognitive mechanism scheme that launches creative ideas in translation activities. It works by constructing a cognitive focus – a sort of conscious reasonable integration of cognitive orientations, translation strategies and mental operations, actualizing weak associative links between mental representations available in the information field of the translation subject, in most cases leads to making creative translation decisions that require high efforts. The results of the study showed that translation creativity goes beyond the limits of linguistic creativity, and is realized both with the help of linguistic (ready-made speech word forms or new word-formations), and paralinguistic (color gamut, etc.). The examples considered in the article show that modulation and "thinking transcription" are the most productive mental operations of generating creative translation decisions. Strategies for domestication and transcreation also contribute most to the development of translation creativity.

scholarly journals Not toeing the number line for simple arithmetic: Two large-n conceptual replications of Mathieu et al. (Cognition, 2016, Experiment 1)

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 248-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie I. D. Campbell ◽  
Yalin Chen ◽  
Maham Azhar
Keyword(s):  
Number Line ◽  
Operation Condition ◽  
Single Digit ◽  
Simple Arithmetic ◽  
Position Effects ◽  
Large N ◽  
Addition And Subtraction ◽  
Mixed Operation ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University

We conducted two conceptual replications of Experiment 1 in Mathieu, Gourjon, Couderc, Thevenot, and Prado (2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.10.002). They tested a sample of 34 French adults on mixed-operation blocks of single-digit addition (4 + 3) and subtraction (4 – 3) with the three problem elements (O1, +/-, O2) presented sequentially. Addition was 34 ms faster if O2 appeared 300 ms after the operation sign and displaced 5° to the right of central fixation, whereas subtraction was 19 ms faster when O2 was displaced to the left. Replication Experiment 1 (n = 74 recruited at the University of Saskatchewan) used the same non-zero addition and subtraction problems and trial event sequence as Mathieu et al., but participants completed blocks of pure addition and pure subtraction followed by the mixed-operation condition used by Mathieu et al. Addition RT showed a 32 ms advantage with O2 shifted rightward relative to leftward but only in mixed-operation blocks. There was no effect of O2 position on subtraction RT. Experiment 2 (n = 74) was the same except mixed-operation blocks occurred before the pure-operation blocks. There was an overall 13 ms advantage with O2 shifted right relative to leftward but no interaction with operation or with mixture (i.e., pure vs mixed operations). Nonetheless, the rightward RT advantage was statistically significant for both addition and subtraction only in mixed-operation blocks. Taken together with the robust effects of mixture in Experiment 1, the results suggest that O2 position effects in this paradigm might reflect task specific demands associated with mixed operations.

The Embodied Nature of Motor Imagery Processes Highlighted by Short-Term Limb Immobilization

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 180-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurore Meugnot ◽  
Yves Almecija ◽  
Lucette Toussaint
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Motor Imagery ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Mental Rotation Task ◽  
Hand Movements ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Limb Immobilization

We investigated the embodied nature of motor imagery processes through a recent use-dependent plasticity approach, a short-term limb immobilization paradigm. A splint placed on the participants’ left-hand during a brief period of 24 h was used for immobilization. The immobilized participants performed two mental rotation tasks (a hand mental rotation task and a number mental rotation task) before (pre-test) and immediately after (post-test) the splint removal. The control group did not undergo the immobilization procedure. The main results showed an immobilization-induced effect on left-hand stimuli, resulting in a lack of task-repetition benefit. By contrast, accuracy was higher and response times were shorter for right-hand stimuli. No immobilization-induced effects appeared for number stimuli. These results revealed that the cognitive representation of hand movements can be modified by a brief period of sensorimotor deprivation, supporting the hypothesis of the embodied nature of motor simulation processes.

Learning

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clark Glymour
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Causal Structure ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Neural Net ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
The World ◽  
Computational Procedures ◽  
Computational Systems ◽  
Learning Language

Learning is the acquisition of some true belief or skill through experience. Rationalist/idealist philosophers held that the very constitution of thought guarantees that fundamental laws hold of the world we experience, and that our understanding of these laws was therefore innate, not learned. The empiricist tradition, doubtful of these Rationalist claims, denied that much was innate, and held that learning occurred through associations of mental representations. This view was lent support by the nineteenth-century development of physiological psychology, which led to a view of learning as a system of adjustments in a network without any intervening representations, a perspective that led in turn, in the twentieth century, to behaviourist studies of stimulus–response associations, and eventually to contemporary neural net computational models. Empiricism, however, had also invited, especially with Hume, doubts that the correspondence between mental representations and the world could be known. Hume believed people learn, or at least form new habits, but he did not think there could be any normative theory of learning – any way of making it ‘rational’. His scepticism led to the development by Bayes and other statisticians of formal theories of how learning from evidence ought to be done. However, the standards that developed in the form of the theory of subjective probability proved impossible to apply until very fast digital computers became available. The digital computer in turn prompted both novel normative theories of learning not considered by the statistical tradition, and also attempts to describe human learning by computational procedures. At the same time, a revolution in linguistics held that humans have an innate, specialized algorithm for learning language. Applications of computation theory to learning led to an understanding of what computational systems – possibly including people – can and cannot reliably learn. Major issues remain concerning how people acquire the system of distinctions they use to describe the world, and how – and how well – they learn the causal structure of the everyday world.

The fractions SNARC revisited: Processing fractions on a consistent mental number line

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (8) ◽  
pp. 1761-1770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Y Toomarian ◽  
Edward M Hubbard
Keyword(s):  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Snarc Effect ◽  
Spatial Representations ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Single Digit ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Solid Foundation

The ability to understand fractions is key to establishing a solid foundation in mathematics, yet children and adults struggle to comprehend them. Previous studies have suggested that these struggles emerge because people fail to process fraction magnitude holistically on the mental number line (MNL), focusing instead on fraction components. Subsequent studies have produced evidence for default holistic processing but examined only magnitude processing, not spatial representations. We explored the spatial representations of fractions on the MNL in a series of three experiments. Experiment 1 replicated Bonato et al.; 30 naïve undergraduates compared unit fractions (1/1-1/9) to 1/5, resulting in a reverse SNARC (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect. Experiment 2 countered potential strategic biases induced by the limited set of fractions used by Bonato et al. by expanding the stimulus set to include all irreducible, single-digit proper fractions and asked participants to compare them against 1/2. We observed a classic SNARC effect, completely reversing the pattern from Experiment 1. Together, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that stimulus properties dramatically impact spatial representations of fractions. In Experiment 3, we demonstrated within-subjects reliability of the SNARC effect across both a fractions and whole number comparison task. Our results suggest that adults can indeed process fraction magnitudes holistically, and that their spatial representations occur on a consistent MNL for both whole numbers and fractions.

scholarly journals Different representations and strategies in mental rotation

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 1574-1583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binglei Zhao ◽  
Sergio Della Sala
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Imagery Ability ◽  
Standard Object

It is still debated whether holistic or piecemeal transformation is applied to carry out mental rotation (MR) as an aspect of visual imagery. It has been recently argued that various mental representations could be flexibly generated to perform MR tasks. To test the hypothesis that imagery ability and types of stimuli interact to affect the format of representation and the choice of strategy in performing MR task, participants, grouped as good or poor imagers, were assessed using four MR tasks, comprising two sets of ‘Standard’ cube figures and two sets of ‘non-Standard’ ones, designed by withdrawing cubes from the Standard ones. Both good and poor imagers performed similarly under the two Standard conditions. Under non-Standard conditions, good imagers performed much faster in non-Standard objects than Standard ones, whereas poor imagers performed much slower in non-Standard objects than Standard ones. These results suggested that (1) individuals did not differ in processing the integrated Standard object, whereas (2) in processing the non-Standard objects, various visual representations and strategies could be applied in MR by diverse individuals: Good imagers were more flexible in generating different visual representations, whereas poor imagers applied different strategies under different task demands.

scholarly journals Effects of Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) towards Students’ Visualization Skills when Learning Orthographic Projection

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlissa Omar ◽  
Dayana Farzeeha Ali ◽  
Mahani Mokhtar ◽  
Norasykin Mohd Zaid ◽  
Hanifah Jambari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Spatial Visualization ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Mobile Augmented Reality ◽  
Orthographic Projection ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Purdue Spatial Visualization Test ◽  
Experimental Group

Recent study shows an increasing interest towards the implementation of augmented reality in teaching and learning. Majority of the studies in this area focuses on how this technology could impact students’ performance and various skills including visualization skills. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine the differences in students’ visualization skills after utilizing Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) and conventional learning in orthographic projection classroom. This study involved 60 students and was conducted in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia: 30 students in experimental group used MAR; 30 students in control group used conventional learning. In this study, mental rotation skills were measured using Purdue Spatial Visualization Test of Rotation (PSVT:R) due to its importance to ensure students understanding in orthographic projection. Results from this study showed a significant difference between students in both group where students in experimental group displayed a significantly higher level of visualization skills in terms of mental rotation skills compared to students in control group. At the end of their study, respondents were given a set of questionnaires to obtain their feedback on the use of MAR. Based on students’ positive feedback on MAR, the result proved that it can be an effective spatial visualization tool. MAR is also practical to be used in classrooms since it has low production cost.

Relations between early maltreatment and mental representations of relationships assessed with projective storytelling in middle childhood

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward R. McCrone ◽  
Byron Egeland ◽  
Mark Kalkoske ◽  
Elizabeth A. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Peer Acceptance ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Physically Abused ◽  
Relationship Expectations ◽  
Internal Working ◽  
Representations Of Relationships

AbstractChildren who participate in the Mother-Child Project, a longitudinal study of high-risk children, were giver projective storytelling task during their sixth-grade year. Story sets were coded for relationship themes like peer acceptance and problem solving, and responses were compared between groups identified based on pas maltreatment. The maltreatment group included 43 children who were identified as having been physically abused, sexually abused, or neglected or having psychologically unavailable care. A control group of 53 children from this high-risk sample was identified as having received adequate care. The remaining participants whose care was questionable were not included in this study. Based on quantitative analyses using a factor measuring relationship expectations and controlling for IQ and socioeconoraic status, the maltreate group told stories significantly more negative compared to the control group. Findings are introduced and discussed in terms of attachment theory and related work addressing the mental representations of maltreated children. In particular, it is proposed that, based on early maltreatment experiences, children acquire internal working models of themselves as unworthy and of others as unavailable. In subsequent relationship situations they would be constricted in cognitively processing events, have difficulty regulating their own emotions, an employ processes of defensive exclusion (e.g. projection, introjection, displacement, splitting, preoccupatioi idealization) to manage their distress feelings.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document