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“NEUROSCIENCE IS RELEVANT FOR PHILOSOPHY”
Professor Patricia S. Churchland interviewed by Bruno Mölder
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Professor Patricia S. Churchland interviewed by Bruno Mölder
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The analysis of scientific literature shows that in Lithuania people with epilepsy face a high risk of social exclusion, and there is a lack of research in which the psychosocial aspects of epilepsy and the possibilities how to optimize the social inclusion of people who suffer from epilepsy would be explored thoroughly. Furthermore, there is no systematic approach to the problem of social exclusion itself, an interdisciplinary work and innovative methods are not integrated into the practice fully. Thus, the problem of the research is actualized by the question – what are the possibilities of applying music therapy in order to optimize the social inclusion of people with epilepsy? A qualitative case study was carried out in order to solve this problem. The results of the study are presented in the form of analysis and interpretation of the social inclusion experiential learning process (a total of 20 sessions) of the music therapy group consisting of 7 adults with epilepsy, and their outcome. The study data consist of the public documents, transcriptions of the group members’ reflections on the activities and audio recordings of the musical improvisations of the group. The data were also collected while observing the process. Musical improvisations were analysed by the application of the phenomenologically inspired microanalysis method and the qualitative content analysis method, was used for the analysis of the reflections. The review of the main theoretical provisions and concepts of the study at the theoretical level allows an assumption that the social inclusion incentive of the people with epilepsy may be encouraged by experiential learning through participation in an experiential learning community (the music therapy group). The amplification of social inclusion shall be attributable to the dynamics of the group members’ participation from the legitimate peripheral towards centripetal (according to Lave, Wenger, 1991). Such a process of change allows the personal development of capacities that help to overcome the participation problems caused by the illness and to realise social agency, thus becoming an active and full-fledged community member. For the purposes of the study, this social inclusion amplification mechanism has been analysed in the context of musical improvisation by attributing to that improvisation the function of community building and consolidation of the membership in it. The interpretation of the microanalysis results of the improvisations (a total of 10 improvisations) confirmed that a sufficiently high degree of social inclusion was reached when improvising in the group. The indications of the above (to be linked with subjective experience while improvising) are as follows: the intensification of positive energy, the feeling of being legitimate and full-fledged members of the group, the sense of solidarity and sociality. Furthermore, the following capabilities demonstrated by the members of the group while improvising were identified: empathy, responsibility, flexibility of the participation, imagination and creativity, tolerance (forbearance), independence and decision-making, proactiveness, solidarity and cooperation, genuine self-esteem and self-confidence. The interpretation of the results of the qualitative content analysis based on the reflections that were relevant to the study identified the following conditions / situations that were created for the personal development of the above listed capabilities: practical experience, confrontation, community experience, spatiality of the participation, acquiring power, overcoming the fear of making mistakes, involvement in the process, meeting the challenge, breaking stereotypes. The interaction of the capabilities and the conditions / situations for their personal development is synergistic. Its effect is the abolition of the barriers to participation giving rise to the implementation of social agency. The re-implementation of social agency is to be treated as an indication of the amplification of centripetal participation that in turn represents an increase in the degree of social inclusion. The presented research opens a perspective for various initiatives of social inclusion of people with epilepsy and outlines the guidelines for the further research in this area. It would be important to investigate: 1) correlations between capabilities demonstrated by the members of the group and environmental conditions and situations, 2) transferability of the capabilities demonstrated by the members of the group and the conditions and situations created in the group for the development of the identified capabilities to the broader social context, 3) the impact of music therapy on the treatment of epilepsy, including neurophysiological and / or neuropsychological aspects of the disease.
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The present work indicates that changes in the study of memory continue at a rapid rate, perhaps exponentialy, but the basic structure of human's memory is always constant. we know that memory actually is not such an entity at all, but rather an aspect of the functioning of a complex information processing system. Items of information-words, propositions- are fed into the system and, in a sense, are later retrieved. However, we have no reason to think that between input and output the words or propositions are stored in specific locations somewhere in the head.
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A small group of elementary school students (age 10.4 to 13.10 yrs) with specific developmental disability of scholastic skills (app. F81.0/81.3 according to ICD-10) was retested by REVISK (locally standardized approximate of WISC-III) within, in average, 3 yrs post diagnosis, for detecting possible changes in their general ability performance. REVSIK measures were adjoined by 3 and 4-factor schemes proposed by Kaufman and Bannatyne. The results have indicated significant decline of the total IQ score (average difference=-3.0, t=2.434, df=24, t=2.434, df=24, t<0.05), intra-subtest variability on the verbal subscale (-1.3, t=2.397, df=24, p<0.05) and Bannatyne’s factors of Acquired Knowledge (-1.5, t= 4.375, df=24, p<0.01) and Spatial factor (-0.6, t=2.701, df=24, p<0.05). No homogenous subtest profiles were detected in original either repeated testing. The results and implications for the future studies are discussed against the background of contemporary theory and research in this field, as well as of empirically-based constraints in recognizing this population in a local setting.
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Despite the evolutionary distance between fish and humans, in the last period there is an explose on studying fish responses at different human diseases and not only that. This fact is possible due to the existence of a certain base from where all the component structures of humans evolved. Pain is a sensation which, many times, induces a certain mood and it is often considered as a disease symptom . The perception of pain requires particular nervous network which was discovered in fish and presents similarity with that found in humans after numerous experiments, where fish were tested with various stimulus. In this review, we described the mechanism of pain perception behind a previous exposure to a noxious stimulus on humans and then on fish, especially zebrafish which is known nowadays as an adequate animal model, as this could have further relevance for human neuropsychiatric diseases, as our group previously described several times before.
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In the proposed article we tackled the issues of sustainable development in the context of disorders classified in ICD-10. We used the empirical method using proprietary tools and psychology tests. The research material was subjected to statistical analysis. The results are presented in the article.
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Temporal processing is crucial for interval, duration and motion discrimination, as well as the ability to order events. Humans process temporal information over a large scale ranging from microseconds to daily circadian rhythms. The basic questions in the time perception literature include whether timing is centralized or distributed in the brain and whether different time scales or modalities (such as sensory or motor) are processed by different neural mechanisms. In this review, focus will be on visual timing in the millisecond range and the underlying temporal mechanisms.The classical model of a supramodal centralised clock, in which scaling between real and apparent time is accomplished by a change in the arousal level, has been challenged by our evidence, following Johnston et al. (2006), that the apparent duration can be manipulated in a local region of visual field by adaptation to motion or flicker and that the effects of temporal frequency adaptation on perceived duration and perceived temporal frequency are dissociable. The relationship between time, motion and space supports the idea that time is an attribute of a visual stimulus like any other low level features such as color or motion, which we suggest may imply a time pathway in the brain.
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It has long been known that stressful life events are related to various psychological problems. The relationship between stress and psychiatric disorders has been further recognized due to reports of studies investigating interactions between biological and environmental factors. This paper is about the effect of stress-related environmental factors on psychopathologies through relevant biological mechanisms, such as genetic and epigenetic processes, in human body. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms and DNA methylation profiles of the genes playing role in the autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which are essential for mental health and stress regulation, shed light upon gene-environment interactions in psychopathologies. Research results showing an association between early/late adversities and psychiatric problems through biological mechanisms deserve note. Relationships between genes related to stress regulation, such as CRHR1, FKBP5, CRHBP, SLC6A4, NR3C1, OXTR and BDNF, and various psychiatric conditions (e.g., depression, suicide, anxiety, bipolar disorder, personality disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder) have been suggested in an interaction with environmental factors. The number of studies reporting similar associations for therapeutic approaches to these disorders is also on the increase. Possible limitations when interpreting findings and suggestions for future research have also been discussed.
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Purpose – The aim of this research is examining whether the personality traits of the actors within a given social network have an impact on their partaking as central actors in the network and maintaining their brokerage role between the actors who do not have a connection. Design/methodology/approach – The network sample of the research consists of 73 individuals that worked in the same unit of a public institution located in Ankara. In order to make social network analysis, the answers obtained from the questions asked to the actors were transferred to the UCINET program by creating a 73*73 matrix, and betweenness, centrality and network diagram analyzes were made. Then, the values obtained from the questionnaires made in order to determine the personality traits of the actors were entered into the SPSS 20 package program. Finally, within the scope of the analysis of the study, correlation and regression analyzes were carried out to determine whether there is a relationship between the data obtained from social network and personality traits. Findings – As a result of the analyses, the actors who has a high level of Machiavellian and neurotic personality traits fill the gaps within the social network and assume the role of a bridge / a broker. It is also founded that there is a negative relationship between the actor's neurotic personality traits and their centrality positions within the network. On the other hand, the actor's with high agreeableness personality trait are observed to be positioned at the center within the network. Discassion – The absence of a study in the literature that deals with social network connections and personality traits together reveals the originality of the study.
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Online psychotherapy is a treatment process between the therapist and the client through technological communication channels. Online therapies are very advantageous by being economically more affordable, easily accessible, eliminating the distance between the client and the therapist, and saving time for both parties. As well as face-to-face therapy, online psychotherapies can be used with different groups such as adults, children, adolescents, and families. The interest in online therapies is increasing day by day with the recognition of its positive aspects and its use in our country during the epidemic restrictions. However, comprehensive studies on the effectiveness of online therapies with children, adolescents, and families are limited in the literature. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the features of online psychotherapy for various client groups such as children, adolescents, families, and adults; and to reveal the effectiveness of the studies conducted with these groups. Many efficacy studies show that online therapies are effective for adults, children, adolescents, and families. Use of online therapy is rising in Turkey and it is necessary for mental health professionals to follow the development of this method nowadays. In addition, increasing the studies about the efficacy of online psychotherapies in the literature is essential for the improvement of applications in this field.
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This paper deals with the issue of explaining cognition in representational theories of mind and teleosemantics in particular, which is the most advanced representationalist account of mental content. The criticism of representational theories from the standpoint of embodied cognition means that the assumptions and theses of the former should be analyzed in terms of the adequacy and success of this approach The main assumption of the representational approach is the thesis that cognitive processes such as perception, conceptual thinking, knowledge, etc. rely on the creation and manipulation of mental representations. The material components of mental representations are neuronal states of the brain (e.g., neuronal stimulation patterns), which are carriers of cognitive content. The main problem with this approach is to explain the attribution of content to brain states that act as representations. Teleosemantics combines the explanation of content attribution with the intentionality of mental states and the thesis about the representational character of cognition. As a starting point, the relationships that occur between the general concept of representation and intentionality are discussed. The general structure of representation meets the conditions of intentionality both in the sense of aboutness and in the sense of referring to an intentional object. The problems to address here concern the formation of representational relations and the attribution of content to states of the brain. Next, the paper examines the solution to these problems proposed by R. Millikan in her theory of teleosemantics. She sees the source of intentionality in the biological functions of acquiring information necessary for the survival of an agent. These functions are fulfilled by relations constituting mental representations. The semantics of mental representations is given by the purpose of biological functions, whereas the truth conditions are correlated with properties of the environment. The final part of the paper is devoted to discussing the limitations of this approach and presenting a criticism from the anti-representationalist position. In turn, this will lead us to the conclusion that teleosemantics, by developing a relational understanding of representation, introduces an important element to the explanation of cognition. It combines the concept of intentionality with the representation of the world in the mind. However, it does not yet give a full an answer to the question of content attribution, nor should it be treated as the only and definitive way to solve the problem of content. Rather, teleosemantics should be regarded as one of the available proposals explaining the intentionality of mental content.
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I reveal the masterful multifaceted communicative fraud that Soma Mukhopadhyay has engaged in with her profoundly autistic son Tito since 2000 on an array of major television programs, and in the presence of an array of scientists, physicians, and autism organization leaders who studied them, and which has not been observed by anyone else. Soma has deceived the public that her son has a normal if not advanced neurology and mind, and that all profoundly autistic persons may as well. She devised a variation of the treatment method and educational method that is referred to as Facilitated Communication, and refers to her method as the Rapid Prompting Method. By my having revealed the intricacy of the communicative fraud that she engages in with Tito, (a) the past, current, and future treatment methods and educational methods for autistic persons may be assessed more carefully by scientists, physicians, journalists, autism organization leaders, and others, and (b) the ways that autistic persons are conceived of may be proceeded with more carefully. I do not intend for my observational work, and ensuing conceptual work, to demonstrate to others that the particular fraud that Soma engages should be monitored for, but rather. that claims of, and demonstrations of, treatment methods and educational methods for autism be acutely visually and auditorily observed, such that the innumerable kinds of fraud that may be occurring are observed. The assessment of treatment methods and educational methods for autism with preexisting methodologies will likely result, as it did of Tito and Soma, in highly surreptitious fraud being overlooked, and perpetuated; and this entails the proliferation of mass deception.
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The article is based on the premise that we live in a world of ‘misguided rationalism,’ to use Husserl’s words, which deprives us of the awareness of others and of the sensitivity towards them. The article points out that the fear of losing control and the sense of helplessness are among the greatest anxieties of contemporary human beings, while their strong focus on control leads to rejection and devaluation of a typically human characteristic of tenderness. The author claims that by adopting a defensive attitude, the human being becomes distrustful and unable to experience tenderness. The main axis of the discussion is the category of tenderness proposed by Olga Tokarczuk who points to the necessity of returning to ethical contacts with others and performing acts of care towards them. Tenderness is considered as our response to weakness and suffering and thus as a turn towards humanity.
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In leadership, a follower-centric approach, that emphasizes the importance of the follower in the leadership process presenting one of the latest approaches in leadership research, is considered to be one of the fields that can advance the leadership theory as well as contribute to developing more effective leadership within an organization. During the dyadic interaction between the leader and the follower, emotions play a key role and can enhance the outcomes of the leadership process as well as improve the overall performance of the organization. Despite the importance of the follower in leadership, previous studies have been paying more attention to the leader’s emotions and their influence on the follower’s performance. Moreover, these studies and leadership literature fail to explain the importance of emotions during the leader-follower interaction and do not include the most recent developments in diverse disciplines, e.g., social neuroscience, psychology. Consequently, there are gaps in literature regarding the interactions between the leader and the follower from the perspective of the exchange of emotions. A key aspect in the dyadic interaction between the leader and the follower is that the follower’s emotions can influence the leader’s emotions even though up till now leadership research has been mainly focusing on the effects of the leader’s emotions on the follower. Hence, emotions of individuals participating in the communication process are sort of exchange and influence both individuals who are taking part in communication. Literature suggests that emotional contagion develops between the interacting individuals. The emotional contagion theory has captured researchers’ from different disciplines,,e.g., psychology, neuroscience attention but is still poorly represented in leadership research and literature. The most recent literature in the field of leadership calls for research integrating perspectives and paradigms (see Anderson et al, 2008) to advance the leadership theory and contribute to more effective leadership in an organization. A need for such research is relevant due to a broad spectrum of fields of science that present the most recent and promising findings regarding the emotional contagion process and can be beneficial to the development of the leadership theory and contribute to its advancement. Based on the above, the purpose of this article is to explain the dyadic interaction between the leader and the follower through the review of diverse literature on the theory of emotional contagion in e.g., neuroscience, neuroleadership psychology and to lay out the propositions how to describe the process of emotional contagion between the leader and the follower. Analytical, interpretative and comparative research methods were used. The findings of this theoretical study suggest that follower-centric approaches vary in leadership depending on the underlying theoretical approach. Literature on follower-centric leadership emphasizes followers’ active role in the leadership process and the leader’s influence on them, affecting the outcomes of the leadership process. A follower-centric approach presents a different perception of followers as not just sole observers but also as evaluators of leadership. Furthermore, followers are considered to be the main evaluators of the leader and leadership effectiveness since leadership is not leadership unless it is recognized as one by the follower.
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This paper examines whether the use of multimedia technology increases the accuracy of phonological skills assessment. To that aim we conducted a comparative study that investigates the results obtained by means of formal assessment tools and technology enhanced assessment tools. A number of 30 students attending “Constantin Păunescu” Special School were assessed using both standard tests (NEPSY II Phonological Processing subtest) and nonstandard tests (PAST - Phonological Awareness Skills Test), followed by teacher-made technology enhanced phonological assessment tools. The results suggest technology enhanced assessment tools promote a higher level of engagement with the learning task which, in turn, increases the accuracy of the assessment by simply keeping them focused and giving them alternative ways to complete tasks.
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Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a connection path that directly connects the system of central nervous with external devices without the peripheral nerves reliance. The applications of BCI attain beyond medical applications where it used to improve the life of patients. Many achievements were established during the latest years in the prosthetics field particularly using the latest achievements of technology into these products. However, some problems have emerged in the prosthetics like being cost-expensive, difficult to install and maintain, or the need for invasive procedures. The medical issue here is the need to develop an affordable and functional prosthetic arm that has an intuitive and natural control that permits the patient to adapt effortlessly to his/her new limb. In this paper, the average band power of brainwaves is successfully extracted from the brain of the subject using the EMOTIV™ Insight headset. We intend to develop low-cost, accurate, easy to use and smart functional upper body prosthetic arm controlled by non-invasive BCI and made of lightweight materials aiming to give the patients comfortable and easiness to handle the artificial arm. The arm will be controlled through commands of the brain obtained by an electroencephalography (EEG) headset without any surgical invasion. The system will be used by the patients who will learn how to train and control the prosthetic using their brain commands. The prosthetic arm can be considered as an e-learning system for educational purposes for persons that are in touch with some medical fields such as medical students, medical engineering students, physicians, researchers, etc., who needs to study the technology of prosthetics in an easy approach and to set goals for such systems.
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In contemporary societies, social life is strongly mediated by digital technology, which influences both knowledge of oneself and knowledge of others. Digital technologies can facilitate communication, increase professional efficiency, improve quality of life, or change one’s perspective on society. Digital instruments have started to be used also as "emotionally intelligent bots" which might help individuals in building emotional resilience, promising "no judging", "privacy", "reflective space" and being "your 4 AM friend". Human - non-human relationships have gradually become a reality through friendly interactions and learning processes in both direction: from device to human and from human to device. How is the human - non-human interaction constructed through chatbots? How are the human and nonhuman agents portrayed in chatbot interaction? How are learning processes built through emotional support apps? These are some of the questions which will be addressed through this paper. This paper aims to analyze the learning role of the emotional support chatbots focusing on learning processes and the knowledge produced through the human - non-human interaction. In the first part of the paper, we will synthesize some of the main articles relevant for this theme. The second part of the paper will include a review of the existing apps promising emotional support followed by a case study on two apps, with two objectives: (1) understanding the learning effects of the interaction between human and chatbot, and (2) analyzing types of knowledge produced through this interaction.
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A main problem for the development of students is to have some psychological problems. Such disorders can pose a serious threat to the learning and educational process of the students. In this article we present an intelligent Android system that can help students with such disorders or the psychotherapists that are treating them. The implemented technique is based on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing - a recent developed technique in psychology. To the best of our knowledge, there is no such system reported in the existing literature. We are the first to report it. The system can have also an educational role, for example, for the students in psychology. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy treatment designed to cure distress associated with traumatic events and the memories associated with them. Through EMDR the subject must keep his attention on two things, the traumatic event that remained in his memory and a rhythmic bilateral stimulation. This process induces some changes and can stimulate brain areas associated with information processing. The purpose of this technique is to access the traumatic memory network in order to facilitate a new association between the traumatic event and more adaptive information about the event. After a successful treatment distress is relieved, negative thoughts are reinterpreted and physiological arousal is reduced. During the therapy, the client is encouraged to relive, throughout memories, his emotionally disturbing material while focusing on external stimuli like: directed lateral eye movement, hand-tapping or audio sounds. The implications of this procedure are multiple and can be applied both in the field of mental health and education. Our implementation consists of an AI personal assistant who performs EMDR in the form of an Android application.
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The cognitive load (CL) and the emotion that encompasses each learning process, despite its type or level, represent very challenging aspects of a learning process, their assessment being difficult mainly due to the subjective appreciation. On the other hand, nowadays, students learn by spending most of their time on using digital devices. Therefore, analyzing the emotional state during learning, evaluating the visual effort, and assessing the cognitive load level, all induced using software applications or electronic devices, becomes a necessity. Emotions are defined as mental and physiological sensorial states that influence human perception, thinking, experience, learning, behavior, and decision making. They are apprehended as a short and conscious experience characterized by an intense mental activity classified between negative or unpleasant and positive or pleasant feelings. Some peripheral physiological signals such as heart rate, arterial pressure, electrodermal activity, or body temperature reflect the excitement level, but they are unable to discern the positivity and the negativity relative to a reference state. A student's concentration effort or its emotional state could be evaluated as well by using precise measurements of the pupil dimension of the blinking frequency or the eye movement. Instruction should aim to reduce the extrinsic CL and to optimize the intrinsic CL enhancing the learning relevant CL. Nevertheless, only EEG signals offer precise information concerning the emotional state and the CL level through sensors placed on the scalp according to the functioning of the cerebral lobes and their reactions to certain short-term or long-term stimuli. Recording and processing physiological signals or cerebral waves are some of the most explored solutions of the last decade that are leading to encouraging results. This paper mainly studies and illustrates some approaches to evaluating the cognitive load and emotional state of students during a learning process. Essentially, this paper focuses on elaborating experimental sessions, choosing the proper stimulus and equipment, exploiting adequate recording and preprocessing methods for the involved physiological information, and engaging artificial intelligence techniques for feature selection and data classification to achieve the best calibration, appreciation, and monitoring of a learning process.
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The aim of the study was the comparison of intellectually gifted secondary grammar school students with students from the average population of secondary grammar school students, in the level of overexcitability and prediction of intellectual giftedness through the various types of overexcitability. The research sample consisted of 88 secondary grammar school students aged 16-17 years. The target group, who were identified as intellectually gifted students, consisted of 44 students, whereas the control group consisted of 44 students from an average population of secondary grammar school students. We used tests of intellectual ability, Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices Test, Intelligence Structure Analysis, and Urban's Figural Test of Creative Thinking to identify intellectually gifted secondary grammar school students. Types of overexcitability were assessed by means of the Overexcitability Questionnaire. Statistical analysis showed significant differences in the level of overexcitabilities between intellectually gifted secondary grammar school students and students from the average population of secondary grammar school students. Significant predictive power of intellectual and emotional overexcitability was found in relation to intellectual giftedness.
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