Vicariance, Complexity, Space

The peculiar topic of this research - perspective taking and spatial navigation - has naturally led to cross over the course of the journey other spatial navigation comprehensions. Specifically, during prototype testing, there were several comparisons with another game, Catching Features1, an orienteering game that tackles the theme of space navigation from a different point of view. The point of view is that of Orienteering, a sports orientation course that consists in making a predefined path with the exclusive help of a compass and a topographic map that represents the details of the territory to be covered. The experimental path of this research has shown that cognitive processes involved in peculiar orienteering activities (map reading, spatial thinking) are also involved in the management of intersubjective relations, and make orienteering a sporting practice with considerable educational potential. This chapter develops by introducing the concept of vicariance, quickly describing orienteering as a sport activity, emphasizing links with Italian national guidelines for the first cycle of education, and, basing on revision of the scientific literature on cognitive processes involved in space navigation and the management of spatial reference systems, provides a proposal for the spread of orientation as an effective didactic practice in a training context aimed at inclusion of pupils Present Special Educational Needs. Paragraph 6.6 discusses the link between autism, empathy and perception – action process, according to neuroscientific evidences.

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Kotchoubey

Abstract Most cognitive psychophysiological studies assume (1) that there is a chain of (partially overlapping) cognitive processes (processing stages, mechanisms, operators) leading from stimulus to response, and (2) that components of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) may be regarded as manifestations of these processing stages. What is usually discussed is which particular processing mechanisms are related to some particular component, but not whether such a relationship exists at all. Alternatively, from the point of view of noncognitive (e. g., “naturalistic”) theories of perception ERP components might be conceived of as correlates of extraction of the information from the experimental environment. In a series of experiments, the author attempted to separate these two accounts, i. e., internal variables like mental operations or cognitive parameters versus external variables like information content of stimulation. Whenever this separation could be performed, the latter factor proved to significantly affect ERP amplitudes, whereas the former did not. These data indicate that ERPs cannot be unequivocally linked to processing mechanisms postulated by cognitive models of perception. Therefore, they cannot be regarded as support for these models.


Author(s):  
Elena N. Gur'yanova ◽  

A modern university answering the challenges of the society does not remain aloof to introduce certain inclusive practices. Currently, the legislation of the Russian Federation clearly distinguishes between the concepts of “Disability”, “Special health opportunities “and” Special educational needs”. However, there is a demand to combine all three terms into one, that is “Special educational needs”. The author considers this substitution to be unlawful. The article attempts to analyze each term from the point of view of prospects for each group of students to get higher education, taking into account the peculiarities of their psychophysical development. In addition, the author reviews some difficulties (insufficient technical equipment of the classrooms, learned helplessness of students, lack of knowledge about various nosological groups of disabled people, etc.) and ways to overcome these and other problems such as development of an adapted educational program, compliance with the principles of health conservation, psychological readiness of the teaching staff to work with such students. The author draws the conclusion that only training of teachers and the creation of a special educational space, the inadmissibility of a formal approach to the integration of students with special educational needs can contribute to the successful provision of their right to education.


Author(s):  
Sanford C. Goldberg

Chapter 3 deals with the first issue one faces in the task of articulating the explicit epistemic criteria for belief: the problem of the criterion. It is tempting to suppose that a belief can be normatively proper from the epistemic point of view only if the believer can certify for herself the reliability of every belief-forming process on which she relied. But insisting on this quickly leads to the threat of an infinite regress. This chapter defends a foundationalist response to this problem, according to which we enjoy a default (albeit defeasible) permission to rely on certain cognitive processes in belief-formation. These are processes that satisfy what the author calls the Reliabilist Rationale. Importantly, our permissions here are social: any one of us is permitted to rely on any token process that satisfies this rationale, whether the token process resides in one’s own mind/brain or that of another epistemic subject.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 162
Author(s):  
Aljoscha Thomschewski ◽  
Eugen Trinka ◽  
Julia Jacobs

The prefrontal cortex and hippocampus function in tight coordination during multiple cognitive processes. During spatial navigation, prefrontal neurons are linked to hippocampal theta oscillations, presumably in order to enhance communication. Hippocampal ripples have been suggested to reflect spatial memory processes. Whether prefrontal-hippocampal-interaction also takes place within the ripple band is unknown. This intracranial EEG study aimed to investigate whether ripple band coherences can also be used to show this communication. Twelve patients with epilepsy and intracranial EEG evaluation completed a virtual spatial navigation task. We calculated ordinary coherence between prefrontal and temporal electrodes during retrieval, re-encoding, and pre-task rest. Coherences were compared between the conditions via permutation testing. Additionally, ripples events were automatically detected and changes in occurrence rates were investigated excluding ripples on epileptic spikes. Ripple-band coherences yielded no general effect of the task on coherences across all patients. Furthermore, we did not find significant effects of task conditions on ripple rates. Subsequent analyses pointed to rather short periods of synchrony as opposed to general task-related changes in ripple-band coherence. Specifically designed tasks and adopted measures might be necessary in order to map these interactions in future studies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Nemček

SummaryThe aim of the study was to compare the satisfaction with quality of life indicators (QoLI) and quality of life domains (QoLD) scores between people with physical disabilities (PPD) and people who are deaf or hard of hearing (PD/HH) from sport participation point of view. The study included 315 individuals with PPD (n = 150; male = 76) and PD/HH (n = 165; male = 85) divided into two groups of those who are regularly participating in sport and those who are not participating in any sport activity in their leisure. The second part of the Subjective Quality of Life Analysis (S.QUA.L.A.) was used. The Pearson chi-square test was used to determine the differences in 23 QoLI and 5 QoLD between PPD and PD/HH from sport participation point of view and student’s two-sample t-test was used to compare overall quality of life (QoL). We found that PD/HH who are participating regularly in sport presented significantly higher satisfaction with 7 evaluated QoLI and with all 5 QoLD. Overall QoL score was significantly higher (p < .01) in PD/HH. In the group of people who are not participating in sport we found significantly higher satisfaction with 13 QoLI in PD/HH and with 8 QoLI in PPD. Satisfaction with 4 QoLD was significantly higher in PD/HH and only with domain (physical health) were significantly higher satisfied PPD (p < .01). Overall QoL score did not show significant differences between groups of people with disabilities who are not participating in any sport. The results of our study confirmed that PD/HH have significantly higher QoL comparing PPD no matter if they participating in sport or not. This evaluation measured by S.QUA.L.A shows that it is a suitable tool to asses QoL in people with different kinds of disabilities.


Proglas ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Hubenova ◽  

Intercultural literary studies in the field of literary scholarship represent a research perspective with a specific theoretical and methodological profile, which is based on two prerequisites: 1) cultural differences can be important in the study and perception of literature, and 2) literature and its reception can reveal these relative differences. In this way culture is interpreted as a category of differentiation, but also as a productive source of exchange, contact, dissemination and integration. Intercultural literary research focuses on specific issues concerning the creation and perception of the literary text, as well as the didactic and methodological aspects of acquiring intercultural competence through it. Literary texts lead, on one hand, to enrichment, curiosity and excitement in students, and, on the other, to the diversification of methodological techniques in foreign language teaching. Literary texts can motivate students and foster their personal development through new methods that not only encourage them to speak, but also inform them about the culturally specific point of view, through the content of the text.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Henke ◽  
Armando Cartenì ◽  
Clorinda Molitierno ◽  
Assunta Errico

The transport sector is often the center of political and scientific debate on sustainability due to negative externalities produced by the daily movement of goods and people which impact both on the environment and on quality of life. Great interest has therefore focused on impact estimation of transport infrastructures/services with respect to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Among the consolidated assessment methods, the cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is one of the quantitative tools representing the final stage (decision) in decision-making processes, which compares design alternatives and verifies the sustainability of a transport project. Recently the Italian Government proposed the national “Guidelines for Assessment of Investment Projects” based on CBA. The aim of this research is twofold: a) from a research point of view, to propose a sustainable evaluating method for impact assessment of the new transportation infrastructure aimed in performing both rational and shared decisions with the territories; b) for a practical point of view, to propose a first application of the CBA Italian guideline useful for the professional practice in the field of public investment evaluation. A quantitative impacts assessment of social, economic and environmental sustainability was performed for a revamping project of a new “greenway” in the south of Italy. Furthermore, also the social equity impacts produced by the new road infrastructure was also quantified, estimating the GINI indexes variation as a measure of effectiveness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 747-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Petracca ◽  
Shaun Gallagher

AbstractThis paper introduces the notion of ‘cognitive’ institution and discusses its relevance to institutional economics. Cognitive institutions are conceptually founded on the philosophy of mind notion of extended mind, broadened to also include the distinctly social, institutional, and normative dimensions. Cognitive institutions are defined as institutions that not just allow agents to perform certain cognitive processes in the social domain but, more importantly, without which some of the agents' cognitive processes would not exist or even be possible. The externalist point of view of the extended mind has already had some influence in institutional economics: Arthur Denzau and Douglass North first introduced the notion of institution understood in terms of ‘shared mental models’, and relatedly philosopher Andy Clark introduced the notion of ‘scaffolding institution’. We discuss shared mental models and scaffolding institutions and go a step further by showing that the notion of cognitive institution can capture more fundamental and salient aspects of economic institutions. In particular, we focus on the market as an economic cognitive institution.


Gesture ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Kendon

Abstract In the eighteenth century and before, gesture was considered from the point of view of how it should be used in oratory, as a part of the art of engaging in persuasive discourse. This contrasts with the interest pursued in modern gesture studies where, for the most part, the hand movements that people make when they speak have been studied as representations of the substantive or propositional content of the utterance, seen as providing clues about the mental or cognitive processes governing speaking. Speaking is also a form of social action, however, and gestures play an important role in this. An historical perspective on the study of gesture from a pragmatic point of view is provided, followed by a summary of the main features of the pragmatic functioning of gesture.


2013 ◽  
pp. 145-148
Author(s):  
Francesco N. Gaspa ◽  
Giuliano Pinna

Pain and suffering represent unavoidable experiences that have left a deep mark on the history of mankind. In this review, pain is examined from an anthropological point of view, because there is no pain without suffering, and every biophysical event is brought to the consciousness of an individual by an emotional signal. The body is an entity that changes from culture to culture and operates within particular historical and social contexts. Each society incorporates the concept of pain into its particular worldview, assigning it a specific meaning and value. Few human experiences can be read in as many different keys: from neuroscience to linguistic research, perspective selection, and emotional and cognitive functions. Although pain is currently regarded as a destructive force that is per se pathological, it is actually a form of protection. In today’s society, pain is experienced as a problem in itself, a disease within a disease, and its physiopathological aspects have been extensively characterized. But pain must also be analyzed within its anthropological, sociological, political, and economic contexts. The phenomenon of pain lies at the crossroads between nature and culture, and analysis from this perspective is essential for explaining the multiplicity of related data. The ‘‘anthropology of pain’’ explains, among other things, the assortment of reactions to identical pain stimuli among individuals and groups: for example, the higher opposition to pain observed among individuals living in poverty, the phenomenon of ‘‘combat analgesia’’, and the wide variety of analgesics used by traditional populations.


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