The Vocabulary of Theory and Practice in the Bullion Controversy, 1797–1811

This chapter uses the Bullion Controversy to test the hypothesis articulated at the close of the previous chapter—that Malthus and Ricardo did not use the notions of method and model in their work but rather tended to think in terms of theory and practice. The debate over the Bank of England does indeed represent confirming evidence for Malthus’s and Ricardo’s use of the vocabulary of theory and practice. Moreover, the episode shows that Ricardo was porous to his argumentative context, deploying Ancient Constitution style rhetoric to legitimize his attacks on an august Whig institution. For his part, Malthus also used this vocabulary while registering some doubts over Ricardo’s intellectual performance as a theorist, a title to which Malthus also laid claim.

A-146 Parent Responses on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2 Are more Reflective of Child Cognitive Functioning than Teacher Responses

Objective The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition (BRIEF-2) is widely used to assess executive processes in children and adolescents. The BRIEF-2 manual (2015) indicates small correlations between executive functioning and intellectual performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children, Fourth Edition, but no studies have evaluated the BRIEF-2 and the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, Fourth Edition (WJ-IV-Cog). The current study examined whether parent and teacher BRIEF-2 responses were linked to WJ-IV-Cog indices in a rural school-based sample. Method A sample of (n = 18) students attending rural school districts was extracted from an archival dataset. Participants (age range 7–17, M = 12.9, SD = 2.5) included 15 males and 3 females, who were referred for psychoeducational assessment. Results Correlational analyses indicated a moderate relationship between the BRIEF-2 parent Global Executive Composite (GEC) and the WJ-IV-Cog domains of comprehension-knowledge (Gc), fluid reasoning (Gf), and auditory processing (Ga) (p < 0.05). Subsequent analyses of the three BRIEF-2 indices showed that the Parent Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI) was related to both Gc and Gf (p < 0.05), while the Parent Cognitive Regulation Index (CRI) was significantly associated with Gc, Gf, and Ga (p < 0.05). Teacher ratings of GEC, BRI, and CRI were independent from child intellectual performance. However, Teacher Emotion Regulation Index (ERI) was moderately related with GIA (p < 0.05). Conclusion Current findings support a moderate relationship between parent ratings on the BRIEF-2 and specific cognitive domains on the WJ-IV-Cog. Results should be interpreted within the context of both a small sample size and the designation of subjects for psycho-educational assessment evaluations.

When the Future “Spills Under”: General Self-Efficacy Moderates the Influence of Expected Exercise on Present Intellectual Performance

We examined whether an expected future activity (exercise vs. relaxation) impacts a present behavior (performance on an intellectual task) that occurs prior to this activity. Across two experiments ( n = 320 and n = 466), the influence of expected exercise compared to relaxation on present intellectual performance was moderated by general self-efficacy (GSE)—a core personality trait that determines people’s confidence that they can surmount physically or intellectually challenging activities. Participants high in GSE had better intellectual performance when they were expecting to exercise versus relax, whereas the effect reversed under low GSE. Moderated mediation analyses suggested that task-focused attention (i.e., participants’ level of focus while solving the intellectual task) accounted for a significant proportion of variance between the future activity (exercise vs. relaxation) and present intellectual performance across different GSE levels. These findings document a previously unexplored channel through which future expectations shape present outcomes.

Attention and Motor Learning in Adult Patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Objective: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder that is associated with cognitive disabilities, including attention and motor learning problems. These disabilities have been extensively studied in children with NF1 but limited studies have been performed in adults. Method: Attention, motor learning and intellectual performance were studied with neuropsychological tasks in 32 adults with NF1 and 32 controls. Results: The NF1 and control group performed similarly on attention and motor learning tasks, although controls had shorter reaction times than adults with NF1 during the motor learning task ( t[60] = −2.20, p = .03). Measures of attention or motor learning were not significantly associated with reduced intellectual performance in NF1. Conclusion: In contrast to many studies in children with NF1, our findings did not provide evidence for presence of attention or motor learning problems in adults with NF1 in neuropsychological tasks. Our observations may be of clinical importance to determine treatment focus in adults with NF1.

Metacognitive regulation, basic psychological needs and subjective vitality of first year university students

Intellectual performance is influenced by many factors, besides intelligence and cognitive skills, including the type of motivation and metacognitive regulation. The authors of the arti- cle became interested in the question of whether there is a connection between productivity of metacognitive regulation and different types of motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic). Accord- ing to the self-determination theory (SDT), maintaining intrinsic (autonomous) motivation requires satisfying of one’s basic psychological needs. Also, SDT distinguishes the concepts of self-control and self-regulation (a particular case of which is metacognitive regulation) and postulates the existence of a connection between self-regulation and the level of subjective vitality. The aim of the study was to test the following hypothesis: the higher the level of satisfaction of three basic psychological needs and the level of subjective vitality, the higher the level of productivity of metacognitive regulation of intellectual performance. Participants (first-year university students, n = 116, 70 men) completed Russian versions of two questionnaires, created inside the SDT paradigm: “Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale” and “Subjective Vitality Scale”. To assess the productivity of metacognitive regulation of intellectual activity, a new modified version of the questionnaire “Features of intellectual activity” (D.N.Makarova, M.V.Osorina) was used. Multiple regression analysis was performed using SPSS to test the hypothesis. The final model, which explains 31.4 % of the variance of the dependent variable, shows that the higher the level of subjective vitality and the levels of satisfaction of need in autonomy and competence, the higher the level of productivity of metacognitive regulation of intellectual performance. The proposed hypothesis was partly refuted: no relationship was found between the level of satisfaction of the need in relatedness and the level of productivity of metacognitive regulation.

Motor Activity as a Means of Physical Self-Improvement of Higher Education Seekers

The article analyzes the process of organizing physical self-improvement of higher education seekers in order to increase their motor activity, the scientific literature was studied in order to establish the state of development of the researched problem. Physical activity of student youth is aimed at meeting individual needs of self-realization, self-improvement or can be a way to achieve certain goals (restoration, strengthening and maintenance of health, increase and optimization of physical fitness, formation of an esthetic physique, etc.). Insufficient motor activity in students leads to reduced efficiency, fatigue, sleep disturbances, increased nervous and emotional arousal, decreased initiative, concentration, speed of mental processes and reduced intellectual performance. An important condition for normal development, as well as one of the most important forms of life of the organism is motor activity. Properly organized physical activity is the most important factor in forming a healthy lifestyle and strengthening a person's health, regardless of age.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF PRODUCTIVE AND UNPRODUCTIVE PATTERNS OF METACOGNITIVE REGULATION OF STUDENTS

This article describes the results of an empirical study focused on patterns of metacognitive regulation which are regularly recurring stable mental programs aimed at achieving high levels of intellectual performance manifesting themselves as particular behavior patterns which can be observed. We hypothesized that: 1) manifestation of productive patterns of metacognitive regulation is associated with approach achievement motivation, high self-efficasy and positive emotional profile; 2) manifestation of unproductive patterns of metacognitive regulation is associated with avoidance achievement motivation, low self-efficasy and negative emotional profile. Students and PhD students of different Russian colleges and universities (n=156, mean age = 20, 32 males) participated in our study. To test our hypotheses we asked the participants to fill out the following questionnaires: 1) «Features of intellectual performance» questionnaire (by D.N. Makarova, M.V. Osorina); 2) «Approach and avoidance achievement motivation» questionnaire (by A.A. Rean); 3) «Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale» (GSES) questionnaire (by R. Schwarzer, M. Jerusalem, adapted by V.G. Romek); 4) «Emotinal profile of intellectual performance» questionnaire (by A.A. Zhukova, M.V. Osorina). We used SPSS software to conduct factor analysis (maximum likelihood method with varimax rotation) and nonparametric test (Kruskal-Wallis test). We obtained the following results: 1) 8 factors incorporating alike patterns were extracted; 2) significant differences between distributions of factor scores of participants with different levels of self-efficasy were revealed (for 3 factors); 3) significant differences between distributions of factor scores of participants with different types of motivation were found (for 2 factors). Therefore we can conclude that our hypotheses were partly refuted. The acquired data speaks in favor of one way connections: 1) between manifestation of productive patterns of metacognitive regulation and high self-efficasy and positive emotional profile; 2) between manifestation of unproductive patterns of metacognitive regulation and low self-efficasy and negative emotional profile. However, the results we obtained on relationship between patterns of metacognitive regulation and type of achievement motivation (approach versus avoidance) cannot be interpreted clearly. It is possible that the association between these two phenomena is non-linear or non-existent. In both cases further research is needed. Practical value of this study is that the results can be used for diagnostics of intellectual productivity of young adults, consulting and creating training programs on this subject. However, as the homogeneity of the sample is the main limitation of this study, further research on a bigger and more heterogeneous sample will shed more light on the associations in question and possibly help to create an improved version of our questionnaire aimed at revealing the patterns of metacognitive regulation.