The Role and Structure of Personal Narratives

1991 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul van den Broek ◽  
Richard Thurlow
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Structural And Functional Properties ◽  
Subsequent Behavior ◽  
Causal Nature ◽  
Past Experiences

A commonly held view in psychotherapy is that people’s past experiences, their present feelings and knowledge, and their expectations about the future, exert a powerful influence on their actions. What is usually left unspecified is the cognitive process by which these influences take place. Findings in experimental research, reviewed in the present article, suggest that a central component of this process is the construction of complex and partly subjective mental representations of one’s experiences, feelings, and goals. These representations form the basis for subsequent behavior and therefore are, implicitly or explicitly, targets of therapeutic intervention. This article describes structural and functional properties of people’s mental representations of real-life events, emphasizing their narrative and causal nature, as well as the conditions under which deliberate intervention is most likely to change people’s representations. Developmental differences are considered with respect to both topics. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for adult and child psychotherapy.

The Effect of Frames on Personal Narratives of Bullying Memories

2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412110063
Author(s):  
Abigail M. Stark ◽  
Olivia H. Tousignant ◽  
Gary D. Fireman
Keyword(s):  
Peer Relationships ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Psychosocial Effects ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Bullying Experiences ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Past Experiences

Research demonstrates the malleability of memory; a dynamic process that occurs across development and can be influenced by internal and external frames. Narratives of past experiences represent one modality of understanding how memories are influenced by these frames. The present experimental study examines how memories of bullying are affected by two distinct yet common cultural frames. College students ( n = 92) were randomly assigned to one of two groups; one with a definition of bullying framing the experience in terms of resilience and one framing it in terms of negative psychosocial effects. Participants then wrote about a remembered experience with bullying. The researchers coded the narratives for coping strategies used in response to bullying as well as for positive or negative emotion words and story endings. The results demonstrated statistically significant differences between groups in the ways bullying experiences were remembered and described. Participants in the Resiliency Group more often had positive endings to their bullying narratives and used more coping skills and positive emotion words overall. The implications of a subtle frame influencing memories of bullying and its relation to development, identity, social order, peer relationships, and resilience are discussed.

Understanding Memories of the Past in the Context of Different Complex Neural Network Architectures

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Clifford Bohm ◽  
Douglas Kirkpatrick ◽  
Arend Hintze
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Network Architectures ◽  
Information Theoretic ◽  
Time Points ◽  
The Past ◽  
Black Boxes ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Computational Systems

Abstract Deep learning (primarily using backpropagation) and neuroevolution are the preeminent methods of optimizing artificial neural networks. However, they often create black boxes that are as hard to understand as the natural brains they seek to mimic. Previous work has identified an information-theoretic tool, referred to as R, which allows us to quantify and identify mental representations in artificial cognitive systems. The use of such measures has allowed us to make previous black boxes more transparent. Here we extend R to not only identify where complex computational systems store memory about their environment but also to differentiate between different time points in the past. We show how this extended measure can identify the location of memory related to past experiences in neural networks optimized by deep learning as well as a genetic algorithm.

Experiential Learning Opportunities

2018 ◽  
pp. 189-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Yang
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cultural Immersion ◽  
Project Outcomes ◽  
Mobility Programs ◽  
Past Experiences

This chapter examines how international students use experiential learning to improve their Chinese language skills through cultural immersion in China. This experiential learning mobilizes them to practice their Chinese communication skills in authentic context and in real use. Furthermore, they immerse themselves in the cultural context, reflecting on language and cultural differences, appreciating cultural diversities, and improving communicative competence. Using a qualitative method, the researcher collected data from various sources about six international students from five countries. The subjects' real-life experiences mirror their daily activities. Using Nvivo 11 as a tool, the researcher critically analyzed data, categorized contents into emerging themes. The project outcomes are useful for international students currently studying in China to reflect on their past experiences and are also beneficial to those who want to join study abroad and mobility programs, better prepare themselves for language learning and cultural immersion in China in the future.

scholarly journals Promoting speaking spontaneity in large classes: An action research study in an Indonesian EFLuniversity setting

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjun Muhamad Ramdani ◽  
R. Rahmat
Keyword(s):  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Student Centered Learning ◽  
Large Classes ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Innovative Learning

In the last two decades, teaching spoken English to EFL students has become a critical issue in the TESOL context. However, a few studies touch upon how EFL learners are taught to speak English spontaneously. Learning to speak English spontaneously in large classes becomes a big challenge for ESOL teachers because of space and time constraints. In response to this growing need, this article provides an empirical account of how modified role playing, more student-centered learning, is implemented as an innovative learning design in an EFL university setting where a large class is concerned. Data were garnered from open-ended and close-ended questionnaires, students’ personal narratives, and photovoices. These data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Findings of the study show that the students were finally able to survive in their speaking tasks, engaging them in a real-life communicative encounter. This study concludes with some pedagogical implications for how a teacher as a curriculum designer engages students in motivating and anxiety-free speaking tasks.

scholarly journals CONSTRUCTIVIST TEACHING AND LEARNING

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nishi Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Constructivist Learning ◽  
Constructivist Teaching ◽  
Learning Design ◽  
Past Experiences

The idea of constructivism brings the elements of learning, creativity and cognitive development together. The process provides better engagement among teacher and students through dynamic and interactive feeding of information that the children tries to comprehend themselves through past experiences. Constructivism focuses on process rather than the product. Learning through real life experiences and creating cognitive map makes children grasp the concepts better and apply them in real life applications. The paper tries to overview the theoretical aspects of the constructivist principles and constructivist learning design to execute constructivist teaching and learning in the classrooms

scholarly journals Cognitive Algorithms for Learning Foreign Languages: Psycholinguistics Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-73
Author(s):  
Natalia Koval
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Niels Bohr ◽  
Multidimensional Space ◽  
Scientific School ◽  
Creative Cognition ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Cognitive Techniques ◽  
Literary Quality

The relevance of the undertaken research consists in considering psycholinguistics an interdisciplinary field, which studies the interrelation between mind and language. It is important to perceive learning foreign language as an act of cognition, experience, and creativity in the psycholinguistic aspect of studying. Psycholinguistics concerns with the study of the cognitive process that supports the acquisition and use of language.  The purpose of the paper is to reveal the importance of psycholinguistics approach and cognitive science for learning a foreign language in the context of psycholinguistic approach and cognitive methods for learning second language, based on achievements of the “Scientific School of A.V. Khutorsky”. Methodology is of an overview-analytical nature with an attempt to apply cognitive techniques to learning. Our observations on the psycholinguistic approach and the cognitive methods are based on the “Myth of Niels Bohr and the barometer question” by Alexander Calandra. Results. The analysis made it possible to determine how the logic of reflections has been explored from the lens of psycholinguistics and how the range of cognitive methods can be enlisted to learn a foreign language. It turns next to an overview of cognitive techniques used in psycholinguistics as applied to study. The verbal presentation of the idea is not only a form of compressed thought or interactive, creative cognition, but it also has a literary quality and makes use of a range of devices in a way. In the article, the solution formation reflects the features of transforming mental representations about the multidimensional space of life. Conclusions. According to the research, the paper concludes that cognitive methods are the ability to create judgments that are paradoxical in form and deep in content, perceived as deviating from the norm, and humor also presupposes the presence of the inverse ability to perceive such judgments in their entirety and depth and emotional brightness.

Recent Progress in the EVA Project: Evaluation of Visionary Architectural Concepts – State of the Art

2019 ◽  
Vol 887 ◽  
pp. 227-236
Author(s):  
Bernhard Sommer ◽  
Ulrich Pont ◽  
Galo Moncayo ◽  
Viktoria Sandor ◽  
Ardeshir Mahdavi
Keyword(s):  
Parametric Design ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Mechatronic Systems ◽  
Design Studies ◽  
Control Loops ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Scale Models ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
The University ◽  
Applied Arts

This contribution reports on the progress in the EVA project. This project was started in 2017 based on past experiences made in the framework of workshops and design studios at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Within these workshops different concepts toward energy-active and reactive architectural concepts was conceived and realized into scale models. The major design goal was to provide a built structure that is not only energy efficient, but also comfortable for occupants, and can display dynamic behavior in response to stimuli from the surroundings and the occupants. To construct the designs into scale models, different supportive tools and techniques were deployed, such as numeric thermal building simulation, parametric design programming, electronic control loops and mechatronic systems. Moreover, the different designs and concepts were inspired by a wide range of ressources, such as biology, bionics, natural phenomena, and traditional architectural concepts. Partly, these concepts (e.g. the photosynthesis of algae plants) were integrated in the scale models. As such, the workshops and design studios could be considered a success. New, challenging, and exciting designs were developed, and engineered in terms of scale models. However, the proof of concept in terms of real life implementation is missing. This gap will be bridged by the EVA project, which targets the evaluation of different concepts and the realization of the most promising project as a fully functional full scale mock-up. Needless to say, the level of complexity increases by the scale: Aspects of structural and dynamic stability have to be considered, mechatronic elements have to be constructed, and intelligent and reliable building control modi have to be implemented.This paper describes the first phase of this project, which is the collection, description, and structured evaluation of a number of design studies from the past years. Thereby, it was decided not only to assess projects that were designed in the framework of the University of Applied Arts, but to investigate similar design studies from professional and academic backgrounds worldwide The contribution concludes with an outlook of the project’s next steps.

Towards a Text-World Approach to Translation and Its Pedagogical Implications

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Tian ◽  
Hui Wang
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Knowledge Structures ◽  
Proactive Approach ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
World Theory ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
Translator Training ◽  
Linguistic Process

Although it is widely acknowledged that translation is a cognitive process, there is scarcely any study establishing connections between the text and mental representations and giving a systematic and comprehensive explanation for this pivotal yet magical mechanism. Illuminated by Text World Theory, this study proposes a text-world approach to translation studies and addresses its implications for translator training. Translation is regarded as a cognitive communicative process of reproducing texts as worlds. The (in)coherence among text worlds as they are represented in translation provides a legitimate criterion for the evaluation of translation competence. To view translation as a cognitive-linguistic process of text-world construction and presentation may promise a more proactive approach to translator training by encouraging translator trainees to pay special attention to the expansion of their knowledge structures.

Categorization by Children and Adults in Communication Contexts

1983 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A. Skeen ◽  
Barbara Rogoff ◽  
Shari Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Homework Assignment ◽  
Adult Women ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
Laboratory Findings ◽  
Communication Situation ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Usual Laboratory

An important difference between laboratory and real life categorization is that in everyday use, categorization generally serves as the means to an end (e.g., arranging the kitchen to be able to find things efficiently), rather than the end itself. Laboratory classification studies have found increases with development in the use of nominal rather than functional categories, with nominal categorization regarded as the superior strategy. The present study examines developmental differences in category labeling in a communication situation. Adult women and 9-year-old children instructed 7-year-olds in the organization of groceries in a mock kitchen or of photographs of common objects into compartments as a "homework" assignment. In contrast with the usual laboratory findings, both adults and children gave more functional than nominal labels. The adults' greater use of functional labels appeared only in the homework task, and not in the kitchen task. The results lend support to the suggestion that category use varies according to the context and purpose of the categorization.

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