Exploring Higher-Order Conceptual Learning in an Arthropod with a Large Multisensory Processing Center

Comparative cognition aims to understand the evolutionary history and current function of cognitive abilities in a variety of species with diverse natural histories. One characteristic often attributed to higher cognitive abilities is higher-order conceptual learning, such as the ability to learn concepts independent of stimuli—e.g., ‘same’ or ‘different’. Conceptual learning has been documented in honeybees and a number of vertebrates. Amblypygids, nocturnal enigmatic arachnids, are good candidates for higher-order learning because they are excellent associational learners, exceptional navigators, and they have large, highly folded mushroom bodies, which are brain regions known to be involved in learning and memory in insects. In Experiment 1, we investigate if the amblypygid Phrynus marginimaculatus can learn the concept of same with a delayed odor matching task. In Experiment 2, we test if Paraphrynus laevifrons can learn same/different with delayed tactile matching and nonmatching tasks before testing if they can transfer this learning to a novel cross-modal odor stimulus. Our data provide no evidence of conceptual learning in amblypygids, but more solid conclusions will require the use of alternative experimental designs to ensure our negative results are not simply a consequence of the designs we employed.

Policy Learning dalam Formulasi Kebijakan Penanggulangan Kemiskinan Daerah: Insight dari Gunungkidul

Studies on policy learning in the formulation of public policies have received less attention in the era of decentralization. This article aims to discuss policy learning in the formulation of local poverty reduction policies. By taking a case study in Gunungkidul Regency, this study shows that the learning carried out is conceptual learning which changes the perspective on local poverty reduction, from problem-based to asset-based. The form of policy learning that occurs is by selective imitation, which is taking certain elements to be included in the policy and not taking it in detail to avoids political risks. This policy learning model has implications for the implementation of policies that do not explicitly create new activities, but complement existing activity programs. The policy learning process at first glance appears as an administrative process, but in essence it is very political because it involves various actors with various interests.

A Study of STEAM Model Development and Assessment Method for Deep Learning: Through the Voice of Mimesis and Brontë

This research aimed to explore a humanities-based STEAM (H-STEAM) model for EFL undergraduates (n = 72) to improve deeper thoughts and language proficiency in a multidisciplinary setting. The H-STEAM focused on the integration of a literature text, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and the philosophical analysis framework of mimesis as a humanities resource. For a specific teaching and learning method, various group activities based on project-based learning (PBL) were fabricated to enhance collaborative and conceptual learning both inside and outside of the classroom. Analyzing the relationship of Wuthering Heights and mimesis, learners shared and adopted peers’ opinions with openness. They could improve problem-solving ability, caring, communication skills, and self-reviewing practice when accumulating content knowledge and generating creative ideas. This study organized student-based assessment; self-assessment (SA) and peer-assessment (PA). SPSS 25 was conducted for the correlation and reliability analysis of SA and PA, and the evaluation of linguistic improvement. The results indicate that the H-STEAM facilitating PBL can be more workable through openness and community caring. The integration of collaborative and conceptual learning through PBL can empower learners’ autonomy and produce deeper thoughts, which can contribute to deep learning. Consequently, this study may suggest a path to develop H-STEAM for higher education.

Conceptual Learning and Local Incommensurability: A Dynamic Logic Approach

In recent decades, the logical study of rational belief dynamics has played an increasingly important role in philosophy. However, the dynamics of concepts such as conceptual learning received comparatively little attention within this debate. This is problematic insofar as the occurrence of conceptual change (especially in the sciences) has been an influential argument against a merely logical analysis of beliefs. Especially Kuhn’s ideas about the incommensurability, i.e., untranslatability, of succeeding theories seem to stand in the way of logical reconstruction. This paper investigates conceptual change as model-changing operations similar to belief revision and relates it to the notion of incommensurability. I consider several versions of conceptual change and discuss their influences on the expressive power, translatability and the potential arising of incommensurability. The paper concludes with a discussion of animal taxonomy in Aristotle’s and Linnaeus’s work.