Validity Evidence for the State Mindfulness Scale for Physical Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Anne E.; Ullrich-French, Sarah; French, Brian F.

2016-01-01

Being attentive to and aware of one's experiences in the present moment with qualities of acceptance and openness reflects the state of mindfulness. Positive associations exist between state mindfulness and state autonomous motivation for everyday activities. Though this suggests that state mindfulness links with adaptive motivational experiences,…

Theory of Mind Development in Adolescence and Early Adulthood: The Growing Complexity of Recursive Thinking Ability

PubMed Central

Valle, Annalisa; Massaro, Davide; Castelli, Ilaria; Marchetti, Antonella

2015-01-01

This study explores the development of theory of mind, operationalized as recursive thinking ability, from adolescence to early adulthood (N = 110; young adolescents = 47; adolescents = 43; young adults = 20). The construct of theory of mind has been operationalized in two different ways: as the ability to recognize the correct mental state of a character, and as the ability to attribute the correct mental state in order to predict the character’s behaviour. The Imposing Memory Task, with five recursive thinking levels, and a third-order false-belief task with three recursive thinking levels (devised for this study) have been used. The relationship among working memory, executive functions, and linguistic skills are also analysed. Results show that subjects exhibit less understanding of elevated recursive thinking levels (third, fourth, and fifth) compared to the first and second levels. Working memory is correlated with total recursive thinking, whereas performance on the linguistic comprehension task is related to third level recursive thinking in both theory of mind tasks. An effect of age on third-order false-belief task performance was also found. A key finding of the present study is that the third-order false-belief task shows significant age differences in the application of recursive thinking that involves the prediction of others’ behaviour. In contrast, such an age effect is not observed in the Imposing Memory Task. These results may support the extension of the investigation of the third order false belief after childhood. PMID:27247645

Developing inclusive employment: lessons from Telenor Open Mind.

PubMed

Kalef, Laura; Barrera, Magda; Heymann, Jody

2014-01-01

Despite significant gains in legal rights for people with disabilities, the employment rate for individuals with disabilities in many countries remains extremely low. Programs to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce can have an important impact on individuals' economic and social prospects, as well as societal benefits. This article aims to explore Telenor Open Mind, a job training program at Norway's largest telecommunications company with financial support from Norway's Labor and Welfare Organization (NAV), which acts as a springboard for individuals with disabilities into the workplace. A qualitative case study design was utilized to explore the Telenor Open Mind Program. Drawing on field research conducted in Oslo during 2011, this article explores subjective experiences of individuals involved with the program, through interviews and program observations. Telenor Open Mind's two-year program is comprised of a three month training period, in which individuals participate in computer and self-development courses followed by a 21-month paid internship where participants gain hands-on experience. The program has an average 75% rate of employment upon completion and a high rate of participant satisfaction. Participation in the program led to increased self-confidence and social development. The company experienced benefits from greater workplace satisfaction and reductions in sick leave rates. The Telenor Open Mind program has provided benefits for participants, the company, and society as a whole. Participants gain training, work experience, and increased employability. Telenor gains dedicated and trained employees, in addition to reducing sick leave absences among all employees. Finally, society benefits from the Open Mind program as the individuals who gain employment become tax-payers, and no longer need to receive benefits from the government.

Opening Doors, Hearts and Minds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Andrea

2007-01-01

A panel discussion, "Opening Doors, Hearts and Minds," was hosted at the 2006 annual COEO conference. Four dedicated Torontonians shared how they interpret outdoor environmental education and environmental education in what they do and offered suggestions as to how their work might be integrated in diverse urban communities. Tafari…

A Systematic Review: Using Habits of Mind to Improve Student's Thinking in Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alhamlan, Suad; Aljasser, Haya; Almajed, Asma; Almansour, Haila; Alahmad, Nidhal

2018-01-01

This review article aims to explore how habits of mind as the concept defined under the recent Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing contributes to the development of critical thinking in the classroom. The application of a systematic review and a meta-analysis approach allows investigating the selected habits of mind and comparing them…

The Implementation of Open-Inquiry Approach to Improve Students' Learning Activities, Responses, and Mathematical Creative Thinking Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kadir; Lucyana; Satriawati, Gusni

2017-01-01

This study aims to reveal the improvement of the students' learning activities, responses, and mathematical creative thinking skills (MCTS) through open-inquiry approach (OIA). Other relevant studies in mathematics learning tend to focus on guided inquiry, and especially in Indonesia, OIA is still less applied. This study is conducted at State…

Neural correlates of mindful self-awareness in mindfulness meditators and meditation-naïve subjects revisited.

PubMed

Lutz, J; Brühl, A B; Scheerer, H; Jäncke, L; Herwig, U

2016-09-01

Mindful self-awareness is central to mindfulness meditation and plays a key role in its salutary effects. It has been related to decreased activation in cortical midline structures (CMS) and amygdala, and increased activation in somatosensory regions. However, findings in untrained individuals are contradictory, and scarce in experienced meditators. Using fMRI, we investigated experienced mindfulness meditators (LTM, n=21, average 4652 practice-hours) and matched meditation-naïve participants (MNP, n=19) during short periods of mindful self-awareness (FEEL) and self-referential thinking (THINK). We report somatosensory activations and decreases in CMS during FEEL for both groups, but significantly stronger decreases in prefrontal CMS in LTM. LTM further showed decreases in language-related and amygdala regions, but the latter was not significantly different between groups. Overall, higher activations in amygdala and mid-line regions during FEEL were related to levels of depressiveness. Neural patterns of mindful self-awareness emerge already in MNP but more pronounced in LTM. Specifically, meditation training might reduce self-reference and verbalization during mindful awareness. We further corroborate the suggested link between mindfulness and healthy self-related functions on the neural level. Longitudinal studies need to corroborate these findings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mindfulness: Reconnecting the Body and Mind in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology

PubMed Central

Rejeski, W. Jack

2008-01-01

Derived from Buddhism, mindfulness is a unique approach for understanding human suffering and happiness that has attracted rapidly growing interest among health care professionals. In this article I describe current thinking about the concept of mindfulness and elaborate on why and how mindfulness-based interventions have potential within the context of geriatric medicine and gerontology. Upon reviewing definitions and models of the concept, I give attention to the unique role that the body plays in cultivating mindfulness and the advantages that this focus has for older adults because they have aging biological systems and may experience chronic disease, pain, and disability. In the final section I discuss why mindfulness may be particularly useful in promoting physical activity among older adults and how physical activity may be used as a vehicle to promote mindfulness. PMID:18483425

Cultivating Computational Thinking Practices and Mathematical Habits of Mind in Lattice Land

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pei, Christina; Weintrop, David; Wilensky, Uri

2018-01-01

There is a great deal of overlap between the set of practices collected under the term "computational thinking" and the mathematical habits of mind that are the focus of much mathematics instruction. Despite this overlap, the links between these two desirable educational outcomes are rarely made explicit, either in classrooms or in the…

Thinking within the box: The relational processing style elicited by counterfactual mind-sets.

PubMed

Kray, Laura J; Galinsky, Adam D; Wong, Elaine M

2006-07-01

By comparing reality to what might have been, counterfactuals promote a relational processing style characterized by a tendency to consider relationships and associations among a set of stimuli. As such, counterfactual mind-sets were expected to improve performance on tasks involving the consideration of relationships and associations but to impair performance on tasks requiring novel ideas that are uninfluenced by salient associations. The authors conducted several experiments to test this hypothesis. In Experiments 1a and 1b, the authors determined that counterfactual mind-sets increase mental states and preferences for thinking styles consistent with relational thought. Experiment 2 demonstrated a facilitative effect of counterfactual mind-sets on an analytic task involving logical relationships; Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated that counterfactual mind-sets structure thought and imagination around salient associations and therefore impaired performance on creative generation tasks. In Experiment 5, the authors demonstrated that the detrimental effect of counterfactual mind-sets is limited to creative tasks involving novel idea generation; in a creative association task involving the consideration of relationships between task stimuli, counterfactual mind-sets improved performance. Copyright 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

Localization of cortical areas activated by thinking.

PubMed

Roland, P E; Friberg, L

1985-05-01

These experiments were undertaken to demonstrate that pure mental activity, thinking, increases the cerebral blood flow and that different types of thinking increase the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in different cortical areas. As a first approach, thinking was defined as brain work in the form of operations on internal information, done by an awake subject. The rCBF was measured in 254 cortical regions in 11 subjects with the intracarotid 133Xe injection technique. In normal man, changes in the regional cortical metabolic rate of O2 leads to proportional changes in rCBF. One control study was taken with the subjects at rest. Then the rCBF was measured during three different simple algorithm tasks, each consisting of retrieval of a specific memory followed by a simple operation on the retrieved information. Once started, the information processing went on in the brain without any communication with the outside world. In 50-3 thinking, the subjects started with 50 and then, in their minds only, continuously subtracted 3 from the result. In jingle thinking the subjects internally jumped every second word in a nine-word circular jingle. In route-finding thinking the subjects imagined that they started at their front door and then walked alternatively to the left or the right each time they reached a corner. The rCBF increased only in homotypical cortical areas during thinking. The areas in the superior prefrontal cortex increased their rCBF equivalently during the three types of thinking. In the remaining parts of the prefrontal cortex there were multifocal increases of rCBF. The localizations and intensities of these rCBF increases depended on the type of internal operation occurring. The rCBF increased bilaterally in the angular cortex during 50-3 thinking. The rCBF increased in the right midtemporal cortex exclusively during jingle thinking. The intermediate and remote visual association areas, the superior occipital, posterior inferior temporal, and

The new functional identity: a body that thinks, a mind that feels - Frontiers and unexplored territories of the "Body and Mind zone".

PubMed

Spurio, Maria Grazia

2016-09-01

For a long time, terms like "mind" and "emotion" have rarely been taken into account, not even mentioned in the medical texts. The latest scientific researches, including the studies of Candace Pert, on the contrary, have emphasized that the entire body thinks, because every single cell hears, and feels emotions. The international researcher has discovered the endocrines and a vast number of neuropeptides, that work as an "information network" that interconnects the entire body, the "psychic" molecules are transmitted and travel, communicating information as in a circular and recursive body - mind mechanism. This is a sort of body and mind functional identity, which is different in each person, because each person is a unique universe, and the body is the place where mind and body meet in a unique and unrepeatable alchemy. So, if it is true that only in the body the secret of its potential for development and transformation is well hidden, it is also true that this secret is unique for each of us. Then, the strategic therapy becomes 'tailor-made', and the knowledge of the body component is essential to unlock behavior patterns and planning new ones, in order to improve relationships and the quality of life, and enhance the sense of well-being. People are not as simple containers which merely record external incitements, on the contrary, they are able to evaluate and weigh what happens around. Depending on the meaning attributed to each stimulus, a stress response of different magnitude and duration is activated, this can be considered functional or dysfunctional. Many recent studies, in fact, states that there is a significant correlation between the coping strategy chosen and the onset of a disease. According to the theory of 'psychogenic tumor', for example, anyone can potentially develop cancer, but only those who do not have the psychological strength to resist disease get sick. No matter what is the theoretical framework and the conclusion adopted, we go

A partnership in like-minded thinking-generating hopefulness in persons with cancer.

PubMed

Ayers, Tressie A Dutchyn

2007-03-01

A conceptual model of a partnership in 'like-minded thinking' consists of the following components: a relationship, a shared goal with mutual agreement to work toward that goal, and reciprocal encouragement between two people. A like-minded alliance is a relationship that offers support while at the same time encourages hope and establishes a reciprocating emotional attitude of hopefulness. The discussion focuses on the principles of such a model that is designed primarily as a lay intervention for anyone who has a close friend with cancer and who wants to assist the friend in maintaining a hopeful attitude in the face of illness. While this model is not directed at healthcare professionals it may be transferable into psychosocial interventions to assist persons toward sustaining hopefulness in the context of the cancer trajectory. Much has been written in the literature about how hopelessness spawns despair for individuals who have cancer and in those near the end of life; it may even create a desire for hastened death (Breitbart W., Heller K.S.: 2003, 'Reframing Hope: Meaning-Centered Care for Patients Near the End of Life'. Journal of Palliative Medicine 6, 979-988; Jones J.M., Huggins M.A., Rydall A.C., Rodin G.M.: 2003, 'Symptomatic distress, hopelessness, and the desire for hastened death in hospitalized cancer patients', Journal of Psychosomatic Research 55, 411-418). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore how like-minded thinking for a person with cancer and his or her support person provides a framework for a personal shared worldview that is hope-based, meaningful and coherent.

Activating & Engaging Habits of Mind. A Developmental Series, Book 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costa, Arthur L., Ed.; Kallick, Bena, Ed.

This book is the second in a four-book series on habits of mind. It translates a habits of mind approach to education into action using classroom-tested advice. Contributions come from practitioners in literature, math, music, foreign language, reading, character education, and social science. After "Series Foreword: Thinking on the Road of…

It's not maths; it's science: exploring thinking dispositions, learning thresholds and mindfulness in science learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinnell, R.; Thompson, R.; LeBard, R. J.

2013-09-01

Developing quantitative skills, or being academically numerate, is part of the curriculum agenda in science teaching and learning. For many of our students, being asked to 'do maths' as part of 'doing science' leads to disengagement from learning. Notions of 'I can't do maths' speak of a rigidity of mind, a 'standoff', forming a barrier to learning in science that needs to be addressed if we, as science educators, are to offer solutions to the so-called 'maths problem' and to support students as they move from being novice to expert. Moving from novice to expert is complex and we lean on several theoretical frameworks (thinking dispositions, threshold concepts and mindfulness in learning) to characterize this pathway in science, with a focus on quantitative skills. Fluid thinking and application of numeracy skills are required to manipulate experimental data sets and are integral to our science practice; we need to stop students from seeing them as optional 'maths' or 'statistics' tasks within our discipline. Being explicit about the ways those in the discipline think, how quantitative data is processed, and allowing places for students to address their skills (including their confidence) offer some ways forward.

K-8 Pre-Service Teachers' Algebraic Thinking: Exploring the Habit of Mind "Building Rules to Represent Functions"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magiera, Marta T.; van den Kieboom, Leigh A.; Moyer, John C.

2017-01-01

In this study, we examined the ability of grades 1-8 pre-service teachers (PSTs) to engage in thinking about patterns, relationships, and functional rules. Using the algebraic habit of mind Building Rules to Represent Functions as a framework, we examined whether and how well our PSTs (n = 18) used seven features of this habit of mind: organize…

Four Strategies for Teaching Open-Mindedness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merryfield, Merry M.

2012-01-01

An open mind--the willingness to consider experiences, beliefs, values, perspectives, etc. that differ from one's own--allows the learner to explore how diverse people across the world think and act. Open-mindedness creates opportunities to rethink assumptions, identify misinformation, and consider alternative ways to make decisions.…

Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston, Peter H.

2012-01-01

Sometimes a single word changes everything. In his groundbreaking book "Choice Words", Peter Johnston demonstrated how the things teachers say (and don't say) have surprising consequences for the literate lives of students. Now, in "Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives", Peter shows how the words teachers choose affect the worlds students…

Development and Evaluation of a Web Map Mind Tool Environment with the Theory of Spatial Thinking and Project-Based Learning Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hou, Huei-Tse; Yu, Tsai-Fang; Wu, Yi-Xuan; Sung, Yao-Ting; Chang, Kuo-En

2016-01-01

The theory of spatial thinking is relevant to the learning and teaching of many academic domains. One promising method to facilitate learners' higher-order thinking is to utilize a web map mind tool to assist learners in applying spatial thinking to cooperative problem solving. In this study, an environment is designed based on the theory of…

Henri Ey's neojacksonism and the psychopathology of disintegrated mind.

PubMed

Farina, Benedetto; Ceccarelli, Maurizio; Di Giannantonio, Massimo

2005-01-01

The French psychiatrist Henri Ey developed his organo-dynamic theory of the mind function and consciousness 50 years ago incorporating Hughling Jackson's thinking, along with psychiatric and philosophical theorizations by Janet and Bergson. This model has not received the attention it deserved, but recent advances in neuroscience rekindled interest for Ey's theory. By overcoming the Cartesian mind-body dualism and treating the mind-body unit as an inseparable whole, this model opens the way for the integrated treatment of mental disorders. Ey's conceptualization of consciousness as being simultaneously both synchronous and diachronic anticipates current theories of consciousness (Damasio, Edelman, Mesulam).

Pedagogical tools to explore Cartesian mind-body dualism in the classroom: philosophical arguments and neuroscience illusions.

PubMed

Hamilton, Scott; Hamilton, Trevor J

2015-01-01

A fundamental discussion in lower-level undergraduate neuroscience and psychology courses is Descartes's "radical" or "mind-body" dualism. According to Descartes, our thinking mind, the res cogitans, is separate from the body as physical matter or substance, the res extensa. Since the transmission of sensory stimuli from the body to the mind is a physical capacity shared with animals, it can be confused, misled, or uncertain (e.g., bodily senses imply that ice and water are different substances). True certainty thus arises from within the mind and its capacity to doubt physical stimuli. Since this doubting mind is a thinking thing that is distinct from bodily stimuli, truth and certainty are reached through the doubting mind as cogito ergo sum, or the certainty of itself as it thinks: hence Descartes's famous maxim, I think, therefore I am. However, in the last century of Western philosophy, with nervous system investigation, and with recent advances in neuroscience, the potential avenues to explore student's understanding of the epistemology and effects of Cartesian mind-body dualism has expanded. This article further explores this expansion, highlighting pedagogical practices and tools instructors can use to enhance a psychology student's understanding of Cartesian dualistic epistemology, in order to think more critically about its implicit assumptions and effects on learning. It does so in two ways: first, by offering instructors an alternative philosophical perspective to dualistic thinking: a mind-body holism that is antithetical to the assumed binaries of dualistic epistemology. Second, it supplements this philosophical argument with a practical component: simple mind-body illusions that instructors may use to demonstrate contrary epistemologies to students. Combining these short philosophical and neuroscience arguments thereby acts as a pedagogical tool to open new conceptual spaces within which learning may occur.

Pedagogical tools to explore Cartesian mind-body dualism in the classroom: philosophical arguments and neuroscience illusions

PubMed Central

Hamilton, Scott; Hamilton, Trevor J.

2015-01-01

A fundamental discussion in lower-level undergraduate neuroscience and psychology courses is Descartes’s “radical” or “mind-body” dualism. According to Descartes, our thinking mind, the res cogitans, is separate from the body as physical matter or substance, the res extensa. Since the transmission of sensory stimuli from the body to the mind is a physical capacity shared with animals, it can be confused, misled, or uncertain (e.g., bodily senses imply that ice and water are different substances). True certainty thus arises from within the mind and its capacity to doubt physical stimuli. Since this doubting mind is a thinking thing that is distinct from bodily stimuli, truth and certainty are reached through the doubting mind as cogito ergo sum, or the certainty of itself as it thinks: hence Descartes’s famous maxim, I think, therefore I am. However, in the last century of Western philosophy, with nervous system investigation, and with recent advances in neuroscience, the potential avenues to explore student’s understanding of the epistemology and effects of Cartesian mind-body dualism has expanded. This article further explores this expansion, highlighting pedagogical practices and tools instructors can use to enhance a psychology student’s understanding of Cartesian dualistic epistemology, in order to think more critically about its implicit assumptions and effects on learning. It does so in two ways: first, by offering instructors an alternative philosophical perspective to dualistic thinking: a mind-body holism that is antithetical to the assumed binaries of dualistic epistemology. Second, it supplements this philosophical argument with a practical component: simple mind-body illusions that instructors may use to demonstrate contrary epistemologies to students. Combining these short philosophical and neuroscience arguments thereby acts as a pedagogical tool to open new conceptual spaces within which learning may occur. PMID:26321981

Opening the Creative Mind of High Need for Cognitive Closure Individuals through Activation of Uncreative Ideas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ong, Lay See; Leung, Angela K.-Y.

2013-01-01

Drawing on the integrative system theory of creativity combining the person, process, and press perspectives, this research offers the first evidence of how high-need-for-cognitive-closure (NFC) individuals' creative mind can be opened up, by making them become more cognizant of uncreative ideas as consensually invalid solutions to creative…

Student’s Critical Thinking in Solving Open-Ended Problems Based on Their Personality Type

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitriana, L. D.; Fuad, Y.; Ekawati, R.

2018-01-01

Critical thinking plays an important role for students in solving open-ended problems. This research aims at describing student’s critical thinking in solving open-ended problems based on Keirsey’s personality types, namely rational, idealist, guardian, and artisan. Four students, with the higher rank in the mathematics’ test and representing each type of Keirsey personality, were selected as the research subjects. The data were collected from the geometry problem and interviews. The student’s critical thinking is described based on the FRISCO criteria. The result underlines that rational and idealist students fulfilled all FRISCO criteria, and but not for guardian and artisan students. Related to the inference criteria, guardian and artisan students could not make reasonable conclusions and connect the concepts. Related to the reason of criteria, rational student performed critical thinking by providing logical reason that supported his strategy to solve the problem. In contrast, the idealist student provided subjective reason. This results suggest that teachers should frequently train the students’ logical thinkingin every lesson and activity to develop student’s critical thinking and take the student’s personality character into account, especially for guardian and artisan students.

Mind Mirror Projects: A Tool for Integrating Critical Thinking into the English Language Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tully, Matthew M.

2009-01-01

Identifying a point of view can be a complex task in any language. By analyzing what characters say, think, and do throughout a story, readers can observe how points of view tend to change over time. Easier said than done, this ability to climb inside the mind of a character can help students as they analyze personalities found in literature,…

Think green.

PubMed

Serb, Chris

2008-08-01

Hospitals typically don't come to mind when you think about cutting-edge environmental programs, but that's changing. Rising energy costs, the need to replace older facilities, and a growing environmental consciousness have spurred hospitals nationwide to embrace a green ideology. The executive suite is a vocal and active player in these efforts.

Improving Students' Creative Thinking and Achievement through the Implementation of Multiple Intelligence Approach with Mind Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Widiana, I. Wayan; Jampel, I. Nyoman

2016-01-01

This classroom action research aimed to improve the students' creative thinking and achievement in learning science. It conducted through the implementation of multiple intelligences with mind mapping approach and describing the students' responses. The subjects of this research were the fifth grade students of SD 8 Tianyar Barat, Kubu, and…

RSA Opening Minds: A Curriculum for the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Candy, Sara

2011-01-01

This article discusses the RSA Opening Minds competence framework, an innovative curriculum to meet the needs of young people as future employees, lifelong learners and as citizens of the twenty-first century.

Development of a Framework to Characterise the Openness of Mathematical Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeo, Joseph B. W.

2017-01-01

Educators usually mean different constructs when they speak of open tasks: some may refer to pure-mathematics investigative tasks while others may have authentic real-life tasks in mind; some may think of the answer being open while others may refer to an open method. On the other hand, some educators use different terms, e.g. open and open-ended,…

How to think about your drink: Action-identification and the relation between mindfulness and dyscontrolled drinking.

PubMed

Schellhas, Laura; Ostafin, Brian D; Palfai, Tibor P; de Jong, Peter J

2016-05-01

Cross-sectional and intervention research have shown that mindfulness is inversely associated with difficulties in controlling alcohol use. However, little is known regarding the mechanisms through which mindfulness is related to increased control over drinking. One potential mechanism consists of the way individuals represent their drinking behaviour. Action identification theory proposes that self-control of behaviour is improved by shifting from high-level representations regarding the meaning of a behaviour to lower-level representations regarding "how-to" aspects of a behaviour. Because mindfulness involves present-moment awareness, it may help to facilitate such shifts. We hypothesized that an inverse relation between mindfulness and dyscontrolled drinking would be partially accounted for by the way individuals mentally represent their drinking behaviour - i.e., reduced levels of high-level action identification and increased levels of low-level action identification. One hundred and twenty five undergraduate psychology students completed self-report measures of mindful awareness, action identification of alcohol use, and difficulty in controlling alcohol use. Results supported the hypothesis that high-level action identification partially mediates the relation between mindfulness and dyscontrolled drinking but did not support a mediating role for low-level action identification. These results suggest that mindfulness can improve self-control of alcohol by changing the way we think about our drinking behaviour. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Mindfulness: Reconnecting the Body and Mind in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rejeski, W. Jack

2008-01-01

Derived from Buddhism, mindfulness is a unique approach for understanding human suffering and happiness that has attracted rapidly growing interest among health care professionals. In this article I describe current thinking about the concept of mindfulness and elaborate on why and how mindfulness-based interventions have potential within the…

A systematic review comparing open-book and closed-book examinations: Evaluating effects on development of critical thinking skills.

PubMed

Johanns, Beth; Dinkens, Amber; Moore, Jill

2017-11-01

The advantages of using traditional closed-book examinations are closely compared to the advantages of using open-book examinations for the development of critical thinking skills in nursing students. The use of critical thinking skills is vital among nurses to assess patient needs and modify standard approaches to individualize care for better patient outcomes. The following areas are compared and contrasted for both closed-book and open-book examinations: examination preparation, rote memorization versus active learning, intellectual engagement, simulation of working environment, higher order thinking skills, anxiety reduction and student satisfaction. During investigation of closed-book examinations and open-book examinations, the use of collaborative testing was unveiled. Collaborative testing combines areas from both closed-book and open-book examinations. Based on the systematic review of literature, the recommendation is to use a mixed method of examination types throughout the course of the nursing program. Each type of examination helps develop different skill sets in the nursing student. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ayahuasca enhances creative divergent thinking while decreasing conventional convergent thinking.

PubMed

Kuypers, K P C; Riba, J; de la Fuente Revenga, M; Barker, S; Theunissen, E L; Ramaekers, J G

2016-09-01

Ayahuasca is a South American psychotropic plant tea traditionally used in Amazonian shamanism. The tea contains the psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), plus β-carboline alkaloids with monoamine oxidase-inhibiting properties. Increasing evidence from anecdotal reports and open-label studies indicates that ayahuasca may have therapeutic effects in treatment of substance use disorders and depression. A recent study on the psychological effects of ayahuasca found that the tea reduces judgmental processing and inner reactivity, classic goals of mindfulness psychotherapy. Another psychological facet that could potentially be targeted by ayahuasca is creative divergent thinking. This mode of thinking can enhance and strengthen psychological flexibility by allowing individuals to generate new and effective cognitive, emotional, and behavioral strategies. The present study aimed to assess the potential effects of ayahuasca on creative thinking. We visited two spiritual ayahuasca workshops and invited participants to conduct creativity tests before and during the acute effects of ayahuasca. In total, 26 participants consented. Creativity tests included the "pattern/line meanings test" (PLMT) and the "picture concept test" (PCT), both assessing divergent thinking and the latter also assessing convergent thinking. While no significant effects were found for the PLMT, ayahuasca intake significantly modified divergent and convergent thinking as measured by the PCT. While convergent thinking decreased after intake, divergent thinking increased. The present data indicate that ayahuasca enhances creative divergent thinking. They suggest that ayahuasca increases psychological flexibility, which may facilitate psychotherapeutic interventions and support clinical trial initiatives.

Corresponding Habits of Mind and Mathematical Ability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwirahayu, G.; Kustiawati, D.; Bidari, I.

2017-09-01

Objective of learning process regarding system of Indonesia government should be consist of knowledge, attitudes, and skills, or in general we call cognitive, affective and psychomotor. These objective are apply to mathematics education also. Attitude in mathematics known as habits of mind. The teacher should create a learning objective which including all, cognitive, affective and psychomotor. In general, math teachers in Indonesia pay attention to aspects of knowledge, and they ignore other aspects. Habits of mind is term which means the tendency to behave intellectually or intelligently when faced with problems which is immediately known solution. This article examines the math teacher’s attention to students’ habits of mind. The research done by survey method to 38 students at Islamic School 32 Jakarta academic year 2015/2016 from April to May 2016. Habits of mind are observed in this research restricted to persisting, thinking about thinking, thinking flexible and applying past knowledge to new situation. Based on survey, conclude that teacher, without realizing, they have to improve students’ habits of mind, as long as teaching and learning only persisting and thinking about thinking are already well developed, while flexible thinking and applying past knowledge to new situation has not well developed. We hope, math teacher can pay attention not only cognitive aspect but habits of mind also.

Probing Scientists' Beliefs: How Open-Minded Are Modern Scientists?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coll, Richard; Taylor, Neil

2004-01-01

Just how open-minded are modern scientists? In this paper we examine this question for the science faculty from New Zealand and UK universities. The Exeter questionnaire used by Preece and Baxter (2000) to examine superstitious beliefs of high school students and preservice science teachers was used as a basis for a series of in-depth interviews…

Two Mind-Altering Curriculums: Contemplation, Mindfulness, and the Educational Question Whether "To Think or Not to Think?"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ergas, Oren

2013-01-01

Findings "from" neuroscience and psychological research reveal that the mind's "default" state is "wandering" bearing directly on our well-being. These findings raise difficult questions as to the premises underlying the curriculum rendered as a "mind-altering device" (Eisner, 1993). This article analyzes…

Can mind-wandering be timeless? Atemporal focus and aging in mind-wandering paradigms

PubMed Central

Jackson, Jonathan D.; Weinstein, Yana; Balota, David A.

2013-01-01

Recent research has examined how often mind-wandering occurs about past vs. future events. However, mind-wandering may also be atemporal, although previous investigations of this possibility have not yielded consistent results. Indeed, it is unclear what proportion of mind-wandering is atemporal, and also how an atemporal response option would affect the future-oriented bias often reported during low-demand tasks used to measure mind-wandering. The present study examined self-reported (Experiment 1) and probe-caught (Experiment 2) mind-wandering using the low-demand Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) in younger (18–30) and older (50–73) adults in an experimental paradigm developed to measure mind-wandering using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (Mturk). Across self-reported and probe-caught mind-wandering, the atemporal response option was used at least as frequently as past or future mind-wandering options. Although older adults reported far fewer mind-wandering events, they showed a very similar temporal pattern to younger adults. Most importantly, inclusion of the atemporal report option affected performance on the SART and selectively eliminated the prospective bias in self-reported mind-wandering, but not in probe-caught mind-wandering. These results suggest that both young and older participants are often not thinking of past or future events when mind-wandering, but are thinking of events that cannot easily be categorized as either. PMID:24137147

Thinking is believing.

PubMed

Kasturirangan, Rajesh

2008-01-01

Philosophers as well lay people often think of beliefs as psychological states with dubious epistemic properties. Beliefs are conceptualized as unregulated conceptual structures, for the most part hypothetical and often fanciful or deluded. Thinking and reasoning on the other hand are seen as rational activities regulated by rules and governed by norms. Computational modeling of the mind has focused on rule-governed behavior, ultimately trying to reduce them to rules of logic. What if thinking is less like reasoning and more like believing? I argue that the classical model of thought as rational is mistaken and that thinking is fundamentally constituted by believing. This new approach forces us to re-evaluate classical epistemic concepts like "truth", "justification" etc. Furthermore, if thinking is believing, then it is not clear how thoughts can be modeled computationally. We need new mathematical ideas to model thought, ideas that are quite different from traditional logic-based mathematical structures.

Open Mind, Open Heart: An Anthropological Study of the Therapeutics of Meditation Practice in the US.

PubMed

Myers, Neely; Lewis, Sara; Dutton, Mary Ann

2015-09-01

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews collected with meditation teachers and students in the United States, this article will argue that active training in meditation-based practices occasions the opportunity for people with traumatic stress to develop a stronger mind-body connection through heightened somatic awareness and a focus on the present moment that they find to be therapeutic. Three important themes related to healing through meditation for trauma emerged from the data and centered around the ways our interlocutors attempted to realign their sense of self, mind and body, after a traumatic experience. The themes helped explain why US women perceive meditation as therapeutic for trauma, namely that the practice of meditation enables one to focus on the lived present rather than traumatic memories, to accept pain and "open" one's heart, and to make use of silence instead of speech as a healing modality. As meditation practices increasingly enter global popular culture, promoted for postulated health benefits, the driving question of this research--how meditation may perpetuate human resilience for women who have experienced trauma based on their own perspectives of meditation practices--is a critical addition to the literature.

Analysis of creative mathematical thinking ability by using model eliciting activities (MEAs)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winda, A.; Sufyani, P.; Elah, N.

2018-05-01

Lack of creative mathematical thinking ability can lead to not accustomed with open ended problem. Students’ creative mathematical thinking ability in the first grade at one of junior high school in Tangerang City is not fully developed. The reason of students’ creative mathematical thinking ability is not optimally developed is so related with learning process which has done by the mathematics teacher, maybe the learning design that teacher use is unsuitable for increasing students’ activity in the learning process. This research objective is to see the differences in students’ ways of answering the problems in terms of students’ creative mathematical thinking ability during the implementation of Model Eliciting Activities (MEAs). This research use post-test experimental class design. The indicators for creative mathematical thinking ability in this research arranged in three parts, as follow: (1) Fluency to answer the problems; (2) Flexibility to solve the problems; (3) Originality of answers. The result of this research found that by using the same learning model and same instrument from Model Eliciting Activities (MEAs) there are some differences in the way students answer the problems and Model Eliciting Activities (MEAs) can be one of approach used to increase students’ creative mathematical thinking ability.

A decade of theory of mind research on Cayo Santiago: Insights into rhesus macaque social cognition.

PubMed

Drayton, Lindsey A; Santos, Laurie R

2016-01-01

Over the past several decades, researchers have become increasingly interested in understanding how primates understand the behavior of others. One open question concerns whether nonhuman primates think about others' behavior in psychological terms, that is, whether they have a theory of mind. Over the last ten years, experiments conducted on the free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) living on Cayo Santiago have provided important insights into this question. In this review, we highlight what we think are some of the most exciting results of this body of work. Specifically we describe experiments suggesting that rhesus monkeys may understand some psychological states, such as what others see, hear, and know, but that they fail to demonstrate an understanding of others' beliefs. Thus, while some aspects of theory of mind may be shared between humans and other primates, others capacities are likely to be uniquely human. We also discuss some of the broader debates surrounding comparative theory of mind research, as well as what we think may be productive lines for future research with the rhesus macaques of Cayo Santiago. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Opening minds in Canada: targeting change.

PubMed

Stuart, Heather; Chen, Shu-Ping; Christie, Romie; Dobson, Keith; Kirsh, Bonnie; Knaak, Stephanie; Koller, Michelle; Krupa, Terry; Lauria-Horner, Bianca; Luong, Dorothy; Modgill, Geeta; Patten, Scott B; Pietrus, Mike; Szeto, Andrew; Whitley, Rob

2014-10-01

To summarize the ongoing activities of the Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada regarding the 4 groups targeted (youth, health care providers, media, and workplaces), highlight some of the key methodological challenges, and review lessons learned. The approach used by OM is rooted in community development philosophy, with clearly defined target groups, contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and a strong evaluative component so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope. Results have been generally positive. Contact-based education has the capacity to reduce prejudicial attitudes and improve social acceptance of people with a mental illness across various target groups and sectors. Variations in program outcomes have contributed to our understanding of active ingredients. Contact-based education has become a cornerstone of the OM approach to stigma reduction. A story of hope and recovery told by someone who has experienced a mental illness is powerful and engaging, and a critical ingredient in the fight against stigma. Building partnerships with existing community programs and promoting systematic evaluation using standardized approaches and instruments have contributed to our understanding of best practices in the field of anti-stigma programming. The next challenge will be to scale these up so that they may have a national impact.

Opening Minds in Canada: Targeting Change

PubMed Central

Stuart, Heather; Chen, Shu-Ping; Christie, Romie; Dobson, Keith; Kirsh, Bonnie; Knaak, Stephanie; Koller, Michelle; Krupa, Terry; Lauria-Horner, Bianca; Luong, Dorothy; Modgill, Geeta; Patten, Scott B; Pietrus, Mike; Szeto, Andrew; Whitley, Rob

2014-01-01

Objective: To summarize the ongoing activities of the Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada regarding the 4 groups targeted (youth, health care providers, media, and workplaces), highlight some of the key methodological challenges, and review lessons learned. Method: The approach used by OM is rooted in community development philosophy, with clearly defined target groups, contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and a strong evaluative component so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope. Results: Results have been generally positive. Contact-based education has the capacity to reduce prejudicial attitudes and improve social acceptance of people with a mental illness across various target groups and sectors. Variations in program outcomes have contributed to our understanding of active ingredients. Conclusions: Contact-based education has become a cornerstone of the OM approach to stigma reduction. A story of hope and recovery told by someone who has experienced a mental illness is powerful and engaging, and a critical ingredient in the fight against stigma. Building partnerships with existing community programs and promoting systematic evaluation using standardized approaches and instruments have contributed to our understanding of best practices in the field of anti-stigma programming. The next challenge will be to scale these up so that they may have a national impact. PMID:25565697

Construct Validity Examination of Critical Thinking Dispositions for Undergraduate Students in University Putra Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghadi, Ibrahim; Alwi, Nor Hayati; Bakar, Kamariah Abu; Talib, Othman

2012-01-01

This research aims to evaluate the psychology properties of the construct validity for the Critical Thinking Disposition (CTD) instrument. The CTD instrument consists of 39 Likert-type items measuring seven dispositions, namely analyticity, open-mind, truth-seeking, systematicity, self-confidence inquisitiveness and maturity. The study involves…

Critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses

PubMed Central

Wangensteen, Sigrid; Johansson, Inger S; Björkström, Monica E; Nordström, Gun

2010-01-01

wangensteen s., johansson i.s., björkström m.e. & nordström g. (2010) Critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing66(10), 2170–2181. Aim The aim of the study was to describe critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses in Norway, and to study whether background data had any impact on critical thinking dispositions. Background Competence in critical thinking is one of the expectations of nursing education. Critical thinkers are described as well-informed, inquisitive, open-minded and orderly in complex matters. Critical thinking competence has thus been designated as an outcome for judging the quality of nursing education programmes and for the development of clinical judgement. The ability to think critically is also described as reducing the research–practice gap and fostering evidence-based nursing. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed. The data were collected between October 2006 and April 2007 using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory. The response rate was 33% (n= 618). Pearson’s chi-square tests were used to analyse the data. Results Nearly 80% of the respondents reported a positive disposition towards critical thinking. The highest mean score was on the Inquisitiveness subscale and the lowest on the Truth-seeking subscale. A statistically significant higher proportion of nurses with high critical thinking scores were found among those older than 30 years, those with university education prior to nursing education, and those working in community health care. Conclusion Nurse leaders and nurse teachers should encourage and nurture critical thinking among newly graduated nurses and nursing students. The low Truth-seeking scores found may be a result of traditional teaching strategies in nursing education and might indicate a need for more student-active learning models. PMID:20384637

Validity of worksheet-based guided inquiry and mind mapping for training students’ creative thinking skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Susanti, L. B.; Poedjiastoeti, S.; Taufikurohmah, T.

2018-04-01

The purpose of this study is to explain the validity of guided inquiry and mind mapping-based worksheet that has been developed in this study. The worksheet implemented the phases of guided inquiry teaching models in order to train students’ creative thinking skills. The creative thinking skills which were trained in this study included fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. The types of validity used in this study included content and construct validity. The type of this study is development research with Research and Development (R & D) method. The data of this study were collected using review and validation sheets. Sources of the data were chemistry lecturer and teacher. The data is the analyzed descriptively. The results showed that the worksheet is very valid and could be used as a learning media with the percentage of validity ranged from 82.5%-92.5%.

Children's Theory of God's Mind: Theory-of-Mind Studies and Why They Matter to Religious Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wigger, J. Bradley

2016-01-01

Theory-of-mind research has been carried out for over three decades, examining the ways children understand the minds of others--their perspectives, intentions, desires, and knowledge. Since the early 21st century, theory-of-mind studies have begun exploring the ways in which children think and reason about the minds--not only of ordinary, visible…

Probing scientists' beliefs: how open-minded are modern scientists?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coll, Richard K.; Taylor, Neil

2004-06-01

Just how open-minded are modern scientists? In this paper we examine this question for the science faculty from New Zealand and UK universities. The Exeter questionnaire used by Preece and Baxter (2000) to examine superstitious beliefs of high school students and preservice science teachers was used as a basis for a series of in-depth interviews of scientists across a variety of disciplines. The interviews sought to understand the basis on which scientists form beliefs and how they judge evidence for various propositions, including those from the Exeter questionnaire and other contentious beliefs introduced during discourse. The scientists are dismissive of traditional superstitions like bad luck associated with black cats and inauspicious numbers such as 13, seeing such beliefs as socially grounded. There is a strong socio-cultural aspect to other beliefs and personal experiences, and strongly held personal beliefs are influential, resulting in the scientists keeping an open mind about contentious beliefs like alien life and the existence of ghosts. Testimony of others including media reports are deemed unreliable unless provided by credible witnesses such as 'educated people' or 'experts', or if they coincide with the scientists' personal beliefs. These scientists see a need for potential theoretical explanations for beliefs and are generally dismissive of empirical evidence without underlying explanations.

Primary School Teacher Candidates' Geometric Habits of Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Köse, Nilu¨fer Y.; Tanisli, Dilek

2014-01-01

Geometric habits of mind are productive ways of thinking that support learning and using geometric concepts. Identifying primary school teacher candidates' geometric habits of mind is important as they affect the development of their future students' geometric thinking. Therefore, this study attempts to determine primary school teachers' geometric…

When Students Say "I Just Couldn't Think": Challenges in Teaching Skilful Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Row, Bavani Nageswana; Subramaniam, Selvaranee; Sathasivam, Renuka V.

2016-01-01

This paper discusses challenges encountered by selected Year Four science teachers regarding their knowledge and implementation of skilful thinking (ST) in their classrooms. ST is a complex concept comprising three elements; specific thinking strategies, habits of mind and metacognitive thinking. Due of the complexity of ST, the implementation of…

Spectral power and functional connectivity changes during mindfulness meditation with eyes open: A magnetoencephalography (MEG) study in long-term meditators.

PubMed

Wong, W P; Camfield, D A; Woods, W; Sarris, J; Pipingas, A

2015-10-01

Whilst a number of previous studies have been conducted in order to investigate functional brain changes associated with eyes-closed meditation techniques, there is a relative scarcity in the literature with regards to changes occurring during eyes-open meditation. The current project used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate differences in spectral power and functional connectivity between 11 long-term mindfulness meditators (LTMMs) with >5 years of experience and 12 meditation-naïve control participants both during baseline eyes-open rest and eyes-open open-monitoring (OM) mindfulness meditation. During resting with eyes-open, prior to meditating, greater mean alpha power was observed for LTMMs in comparison to controls. However, during the course of OM meditation, a significantly greater increase in theta power was observed over a broad fronto-centro-parietal region for control participants in comparison to LTMMs. In contrast, whole-head mean connectivity was found to be significantly greater for long-term meditators in comparison to controls in the theta band both during rest as well as during meditation. Additionally, mean connectivity was significantly lower for long-term meditators in the low gamma band during rest and significantly lower in both low and high gamma bands during meditation; and the variance of low-gamma connectivity scores for long-term meditators was significantly decreased compared to the control group. The current study provides important new information as to the trait functional changes in brain activity associated with long-term mindfulness meditation, as well as the state changes specifically associated with eyes-open open monitoring meditation techniques. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Think about Your Thinking: Reclaiming a Foundation of Liberal Education at the Evergreen State College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koppelman, Nancy

2013-01-01

At colleges and universities, thinking one's own thoughts is at the heart of all the other activity that, together, constitutes a liberal education. Self-examination and reflection enable people to make sense of the world and their places in it. Each individual can experience the mind as it grasps its own dynamics and spawns deep and unique…

Distinguishing the cognitive processes of mindfulness: Developing a standardised mindfulness technique for use in longitudinal randomised control trials.

PubMed

Isbel, Ben; Summers, Mathew J

2017-07-01

A capacity model of mindfulness is adopted to differentiate the cognitive faculty of mindfulness from the metacognitive processes required to cultivate this faculty in mindfulness training. The model provides an explanatory framework incorporating both the developmental progression from focussed attention to open monitoring styles of mindfulness practice, along with the development of equanimity and insight. A standardised technique for activating these processes without the addition of secondary components is then introduced. Mindfulness-based interventions currently available for use in randomised control trials introduce components ancillary to the cognitive processes of mindfulness, limiting their ability to draw clear causative inferences. The standardised technique presented here does not introduce such ancillary factors, rendering it a valuable tool with which to investigate the processes activated in mindfulness practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Global-minded Human Resources and Expectations for Universities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inoue, Hiroshi

Under the globalized economy, Japanese corporations compete with rivals of the western countries and emerging economies. And domestically, they face with deflation, falling birth-rate, an aging society, and shrinking market. So they need to foster and retain global-minded human resources who can play an active role in global business, and who can drive innovation. What Japanese corporations expect for global-minded human resources are ability to meet challenges, ability to think independently free from conventional wisdom, communication skills in foreign languages, interests in foreign cultures and different values, and so on. In order to foster global-minded human resources, Keidanren work with the 13 universities selected under the Japanese Government‧s “Global 30” projects to undertake “Global-minded Human Resources Development Projects” .

Supporting Mathematical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houssart, Jenny; Roaf, Caroline; Watson, Anne

2005-01-01

This book looks at how practitioners have focused on the fully educational application of intellect to the problem of developing mathematical thinking among one's pupils. Each chapter demonstrates reflective minds at work, relying on close observation, willingness to understand the student's thinking processes and patient commitment to students…

Prior Education of Open University Students Contributes to Their Capability in Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Repo, Saara; Lehtinen, Taina; Rusanen, Erja; Hyytinen, Heidi

2017-01-01

The focus of this study is on Open University students' entry-level critical thinking skills. The research questions were: how are students' age, and level and discipline of previous education related to critical thinking skills; is the level and discipline of previous education connected to the accuracy of students' self-evaluation of their…

Pattern activation/recognition theory of mind.

PubMed

du Castel, Bertrand

2015-01-01

In his 2012 book How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil defines a "Pattern Recognition Theory of Mind" that states that the brain uses millions of pattern recognizers, plus modules to check, organize, and augment them. In this article, I further the theory to go beyond pattern recognition and include also pattern activation, thus encompassing both sensory and motor functions. In addition, I treat checking, organizing, and augmentation as patterns of patterns instead of separate modules, therefore handling them the same as patterns in general. Henceforth I put forward a unified theory I call "Pattern Activation/Recognition Theory of Mind." While the original theory was based on hierarchical hidden Markov models, this evolution is based on their precursor: stochastic grammars. I demonstrate that a class of self-describing stochastic grammars allows for unifying pattern activation, recognition, organization, consistency checking, metaphor, and learning, into a single theory that expresses patterns throughout. I have implemented the model as a probabilistic programming language specialized in activation/recognition grammatical and neural operations. I use this prototype to compute and present diagrams for each stochastic grammar and corresponding neural circuit. I then discuss the theory as it relates to artificial network developments, common coding, neural reuse, and unity of mind, concluding by proposing potential paths to validation.

Head and Hand: An Action Approach to Thinking. Occasional Paper No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scribner, Sylvia

Much research has focused on cognitive skills in isolation from daily life and from action. However, memory and thinking in daily life are not separate from, but are part of, doing. This study is based on a theoretical framework that encompasses an integrated account of mind in action. This "activity theory" holds that neither mind as such nor…

The utilization of mind map painting on 3D shapes with curved faces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nur Sholikhah, Ayuk; Usodo, Budi; Pramudya, Ikrar

2017-12-01

This paper aims to study on the use of mind map painting media on material with 3D shapes with curved faces and its effect on student’s interest. Observation and literature studies were applied as the research method with the sake design of utilization of mind map painting. The result of this research is the design of mind map painting media can improve students' ability to solve problems, improve the ability to think, and maximize brain power. In relation, mind map painting in learning activities is considered to improve student interest.

The Impact of Directed Viewing-Thinking Activity on Students' Critical Thinking: Part II

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ee, Neo Chin; Sum, Cheung Wing

2005-01-01

Background: Critical thinking disposition is an area that has been overlooked in various academic fields until recent years. Critical thinking occurs only when individuals possess thinking dispositions. This study explores the possibility of using directed viewing-thinking activity (DVTA) to cultivate the critical thinking dispositions of…

Mindful Learning: A Case Study of Langerian Mindfulness in Schools.

PubMed

Davenport, Chase; Pagnini, Francesco

2016-01-01

The K-12 classroom applications of mindfulness as developed by Ellen Langer are discussed in a case study of a first-year charter school. Langerian Mindfulness, which is the act of drawing distinctions and noticing novelty, is deeply related to well-being and creativity, yet its impact has yet to be tested at the primary or secondary school level. The objective of the article is to display how Langerian Mindfulness strategies could increase 21st century skills and Social-Emotional Learning in primary classrooms. The New School San Francisco, an inquiry-based, socioeconomically and racially integrated charter school, serves as a model for mindful teaching and learning strategies. It is concluded that when mindful strategies are implemented, students have significant opportunities to exercise the 21st century skills of creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. Langerian Mindfulness is also considered as a tool for increasing Social-Emotional Learning in integrated classrooms. It is recommended that mindful interventions be further investigated in the primary and secondary school context.

How Babies Think

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bachleda, Amelia R.; Thompson, Ross A.

2018-01-01

Babies think differently than adults, and understanding how they think can help us see their explosive brain growth in everyday behavior. Infants learn language faster than adults do, use statistics to understand how the world works, and even reason about the minds of others. But these achievements can be hidden by their poor self-regulatory…

Designing students’ worksheet based on open-ended approach to foster students’ creative thinking skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romli, S.; Abdurrahman; Riyadi, B.

2018-01-01

This study aimed at designing an open-ended worksheet to enhance students’ creative thinking skills. The study was conducted at one private school in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia. The participants of the study were twenty students of tenth grade students and two physics teachers. This study used descriptive data. Data were collected by analyzing qualitative data, literature and focus group discussion to gain information about students’ conceptions of physics in the context of open-ended learning. The result showed that students needed innovative learning resources in form of open ended-based worksheet which could give the students an opportunity to develop various solutions related to physics problem. Therefore, students’ creative thinking skill could be improved.

Developing Mathematical Habits of Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mark, June; Cuoco, Al; Goldenberg, E. Paul; Sword, Sarah

2010-01-01

"Mathematical habits of mind" include reasoning by continuity, looking at extreme cases, performing thought experiments, and using abstraction that mathematicians use in their work. Current recommendations emphasize the critical nature of developing these habits of mind: "Once this kind of thinking is established, students can apply it in the…

Dorsomedial prefontal cortex supports spontaneous thinking per se.

PubMed

Raij, T T; Riekki, T J J

2017-06-01

Spontaneous thinking, an action to produce, consider, integrate, and reason through mental representations, is central to our daily experience and has been suggested to serve crucial adaptive purposes. Such thinking occurs among other experiences during mind wandering that is associated with activation of the default mode network among other brain circuitries. Whether and how such brain activation is linked to the experience of spontaneous thinking per se remains poorly known. We studied 51 healthy subjects using a comprehensive experience-sampling paradigm during 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging. In comparison with fixation, the experiences of spontaneous thinking and spontaneous perception were related to activation of wide-spread brain circuitries, including the cortical midline structures, the anterior cingulate cortex and the visual cortex. In direct comparison of the spontaneous thinking versus spontaneous perception, activation was observed in the anterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Modality congruence of spontaneous-experience-related brain activation was suggested by several findings, including association of the lingual gyrus with visual in comparison with non-verbal-non-visual thinking. In the context of current literature, these findings suggest that the cortical midline structures are involved in the integrative core substrate of spontaneous thinking that is coupled with other brain systems depending on the characteristics of thinking. Furthermore, involvement of the anterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex suggests the control of high-order abstract functions to characterize spontaneous thinking per se. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3277-3288, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Use of critical thinking in the diagnostic process.

PubMed

Lunney, Margaret

2010-01-01

To demonstrate use of critical thinking in the diagnostic process in order to achieve accuracy of nursing diagnoses. The 7 cognitive skills and 10 habits of mind identified as important for nursing in a Delphi study by Scheffer and Rubenfeld are applied to the diagnostic process using a published case study of a woman with heart failure. Taking into account all data from the case study and using the concepts of critical thinking, two high-accuracy nursing diagnoses were selected to guide nursing interventions. Because the specific types of critical thinking needed for accurate diagnosing are not known, nurses should develop all 17 of the cognitive skills and habits of mind so these thinking abilities are available when needed. The 17 critical thinking concepts should be combined with domain knowledge, e.g., nursing diagnoses, to think about thinking, which will improve critical thinking processes.

Dispositional mindfulness and reward motivated eating: The role of emotion regulation and mental habit.

PubMed

Fisher, Naomi R; Mead, Bethan R; Lattimore, Paul; Malinowski, Peter

2017-11-01

Evidence regarding the effectiveness of mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) for eating disorders, weight management and food craving is emerging and further studies are required to understand the underlying mechanisms of MBIs in these domains. The current study was designed to establish the role of specific mechanisms underlying the putative relationship between mindfulness and reward motivated eating. We predicted that mindfulness would be negatively related to features of reward motivated eating and that this association would be mediated by emotion regulation and habitual negative self-thinking. A cross-sectional survey measuring uncontrolled and emotional eating, mindfulness, emotion regulation and habitual negative self-thinking was completed by female and male meditators and non-meditators (N = 632). Lower levels of dispositional mindfulness were associated with difficulties in emotion regulation, habitual negative self-thinking and both emotional and uncontrolled eating. Difficulties in emotion regulation significantly mediated the mindfulness-uncontrolled eating relationship. Habitual negative self-thinking significantly mediated the mindfulness-emotional eating relationship. Participants with meditation experience reported greater levels of dispositional mindfulness, fewer difficulties with emotion regulation and habitual negative self-thinking and reduced uncontrolled eating tendencies, compared to non-meditators. The findings suggest that MBIs designed to change reward motivated eating and weight control should focus on emotion regulation and mental habits as underlying mechanisms. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Counterfactual thinking: an fMRI study on changing the past for a better future

PubMed Central

Ma, Ning; Ampe, Lisa; Baetens, Kris; Van Overwalle, Frank

2013-01-01

Recent studies suggest that a brain network mainly associated with episodic memory has a more general function in imagining oneself in another time, place or perspective (e.g. episodic future thought, theory of mind, default mode). If this is true, counterfactual thinking (e.g. ‘If I had left the office earlier, I wouldn’t have missed my train.’) should also activate this network. Present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study explores the common and distinct neural activity of counterfactual and episodic thinking by directly comparing the imagining of upward counterfactuals (creating better outcomes for negative past events) with the re-experiencing of negative past events and the imagining of positive future events. Results confirm that episodic and counterfactual thinking share a common brain network, involving a core memory network (hippocampal area, temporal lobes, midline, and lateral parietal lobes) and prefrontal areas that might be related to mentalizing (medial prefrontal cortex) and performance monitoring (right prefrontal cortex). In contrast to episodic past and future thinking, counterfactual thinking recruits some of these areas more strongly and extensively, and additionally activates the bilateral inferior parietal lobe and posterior medial frontal cortex. We discuss these findings in view of recent fMRI evidence on the working of episodic memory and theory of mind. PMID:22403155

A revolution of the mind: some implications of George Hogenson's 'The Baldwin Effect: a neglected influence on C.G. Jung's evolutionary thinking' (2001).

PubMed

Colman, Warren

2015-09-01

George Hogenson's 2001 paper 'The Baldwin Effect: a neglected influence on C.G. Jung's evolutionary thinking' developed the radical argument that, if archetypes are emergent, they 'do not exist in the sense that there is no place that the archetypes can be said to be'. In this paper, I show how Hogenson's thinking has been seminal to my own: it is not just archetypes but the mind itself that has no 'place'. The mind is a dynamic system, emergent from the cultural environment of symbolic meanings to which humans are evolutionarily adapted. Drawing on the work of philosopher John Searle, I argue that symbols constitute the realities that they bring forth, including the imaginal realities of the psyche. The implications for clinical work include a rejection of structural models of the psyche in favour of the emergence of symbolic realities in the context of psychoanalysis as a distributed system of cognition. © 2015, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

Brief mindfulness meditation training reduces mind wandering: The critical role of acceptance.

PubMed

Rahl, Hayley A; Lindsay, Emily K; Pacilio, Laura E; Brown, Kirk W; Creswell, J David

2017-03-01

Mindfulness meditation programs, which train individuals to monitor their present-moment experience in an open or accepting way, have been shown to reduce mind wandering on standardized tasks in several studies. Here we test 2 competing accounts for how mindfulness training reduces mind wandering, evaluating whether the attention-monitoring component of mindfulness training alone reduces mind wandering or whether the acceptance training component is necessary for reducing mind wandering. Healthy young adults (N = 147) were randomized to either a 3-day brief mindfulness training condition incorporating instruction in both attention monitoring and acceptance, a mindfulness training condition incorporating attention monitoring instruction only, a relaxation training condition, or an active reading-control condition. Participants completed measures of dispositional mindfulness and treatment expectancies before the training session on Day 1 and then completed a 6-min Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) measuring mind wandering after the training session on Day 3. Acceptance training was important for reducing mind wandering, such that the attention-monitoring plus acceptance mindfulness training condition had the lowest mind wandering relative to the other conditions, including significantly lower mind wandering than the attention-monitoring only mindfulness training condition. In one of the first experimental mindfulness training dismantling studies to-date, we show that training in acceptance is a critical driver of mindfulness-training reductions in mind wandering. This effect suggests that acceptance skills may facilitate emotion regulation on boring and frustrating sustained attention tasks that foster mind wandering, such as the SART. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Open Source and Design Thinking at NASA: A Vision for Future Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trimble, Jay

2017-01-01

NASA Mission Control Software for the Visualization of data has historically been closed, accessible only to small groups of flight controllers, often bound to a specific mission discipline such as flight dynamics, health and status or mission planning. Open Mission Control Technologies (MCT) provides new capability for NASA mission controllers and, by being fully open source, opens up NASA software for the visualization of mission data to broader communities inside and outside of NASA. Open MCT is the product of a design thinking process within NASA, using participatory design and design sprints to build a product that serves users.

Openness to Experience as a Moderator of the Relationship between Intelligence and Creative Thinking: A Study of Chinese Children in Urban and Rural Areas.

PubMed

Shi, Baoguo; Dai, David Y; Lu, Yongli

2016-01-01

Using testing and questionnaire methods, this study investigated the relationships among openness to experience, intelligence and creative thinking. This study focused on the moderating effects of openness to experience on the relationship between intelligence and creative thinking in a sample of 831 primary school students in China. The findings showed significant positive relationships among openness to experience, intelligence and creative thinking. In relation to the focus of this study, openness to experience moderated the relationship between intelligence and creative thinking. However, the correlation between openness to experience and creative thinking was stronger for urban children than for rural children, and the moderating effect existed only in urban settings.

Openness to Experience as a Moderator of the Relationship between Intelligence and Creative Thinking: A Study of Chinese Children in Urban and Rural Areas

PubMed Central

Shi, Baoguo; Dai, David Y.; Lu, Yongli

2016-01-01

Using testing and questionnaire methods, this study investigated the relationships among openness to experience, intelligence and creative thinking. This study focused on the moderating effects of openness to experience on the relationship between intelligence and creative thinking in a sample of 831 primary school students in China. The findings showed significant positive relationships among openness to experience, intelligence and creative thinking. In relation to the focus of this study, openness to experience moderated the relationship between intelligence and creative thinking. However, the correlation between openness to experience and creative thinking was stronger for urban children than for rural children, and the moderating effect existed only in urban settings. PMID:27199866

Profiling a Mind Map User: A Descriptive Appraisal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tucker, Joanne M.; Armstrong, Gary R.; Massad, Victor J.

2010-01-01

Whether manually or through the use of software, a non-linear information organization framework known as mind mapping offers an alternative method for capturing thoughts, ideas and information to linear thinking modes such as outlining. Mind mapping is brainstorming, organizing, and problem solving. This paper examines mind mapping techniques,…

Out of the box: A psychedelic model to study the creative mind.

PubMed

Kuypers, K P C

2018-06-01

Our creativity is challenged daily when facing new situations asking for novel solutions. Creativity, a multicomponent construct includes flexible divergent and rigid convergent thinking. Psychedelic drugs like psilocybin can enhance creativity and affect state of mind (mood, empathy, openness). Of note, flexible thinking is disturbed in psychopathological conditions like anxiety disorders and depression and preliminary findings have shown psychedelics to be efficacious in the treatment of those conditions. The question how psychedelics induce this state of enhanced flexible thinking remains to be answered and investigating the neurobiology underlying this phenomenon will not only help in understanding why psychedelics are of use in the therapeutic setting but also in other settings where flexible thinking is challenged. A model including neuronal networks, neurotransmitters and personal factors playing a role in this process will be proposed which can be put to the test by means of placebo-controlled pharmaco-imaging studies in healthy volunteers. Copyright © 2018 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Working Memory Capacity, Mind Wandering, and Creative Cognition: An Individual-Differences Investigation into the Benefits of Controlled Versus Spontaneous Thought.

PubMed

Smeekens, Bridget A; Kane, Michael J

2016-11-01

Should executive control, as indicated by working memory capacity (WMC) and mind-wandering propensity, help or hinder creativity? Sustained and focused attention should help guide a selective search of solution-relevant information in memory and help inhibit uncreative, yet accessible, ideas. However, unfocused attention and daydreaming should allow mental access to more loosely relevant concepts, remotely linked to commonplace solutions. Three individual-differences studies inserted incubation periods into one or two divergent thinking tasks and tested whether WMC (assessed by complex span tasks) and incubation-period mind wandering (assessed as probed reports of task-unrelated thought [TUT]) predicted post-incubation performance. Retrospective self-reports of Openness (Experiment 2) and mind-wandering and daydreaming propensity (Experiment 3) complemented our thought-probe assessments of TUT. WMC did not correlate with creativity in divergent thinking, whereas only the questionnaire measure of daydreaming, but not probed thought reports, weakly predicted creativity; the fact that in-the-moment TUTs did not correlate divergent creativity is especially problematic for claims that mind-wandering processes contribute to creative cognition. Moreover, the fact that WMC tends to strongly predict analytical problem solving and reasoning, but may not correlate with divergent thinking, provides a useful boundary condition for defining WMC's nomological net. On balance, our data provide no support for either benefits or costs of executive control for at least one component of creativity.

Working Memory Capacity, Mind Wandering, and Creative Cognition: An Individual-Differences Investigation into the Benefits of Controlled Versus Spontaneous Thought

PubMed Central

Smeekens, Bridget A.; Kane, Michael J.

2015-01-01

Should executive control, as indicated by working memory capacity (WMC) and mind-wandering propensity, help or hinder creativity? Sustained and focused attention should help guide a selective search of solution-relevant information in memory and help inhibit uncreative, yet accessible, ideas. However, unfocused attention and daydreaming should allow mental access to more loosely relevant concepts, remotely linked to commonplace solutions. Three individual-differences studies inserted incubation periods into one or two divergent thinking tasks and tested whether WMC (assessed by complex span tasks) and incubation-period mind wandering (assessed as probed reports of task-unrelated thought [TUT]) predicted post-incubation performance. Retrospective self-reports of Openness (Experiment 2) and mind-wandering and daydreaming propensity (Experiment 3) complemented our thought-probe assessments of TUT. WMC did not correlate with creativity in divergent thinking, whereas only the questionnaire measure of daydreaming, but not probed thought reports, weakly predicted creativity; the fact that in-the-moment TUTs did not correlate divergent creativity is especially problematic for claims that mind-wandering processes contribute to creative cognition. Moreover, the fact that WMC tends to strongly predict analytical problem solving and reasoning, but may not correlate with divergent thinking, provides a useful boundary condition for defining WMC’s nomological net. On balance, our data provide no support for either benefits or costs of executive control for at least one component of creativity. PMID:28458764

Critical Thinking vs. Critical Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doughty, Howard A.

2006-01-01

This article explores four kinds of critical thinking. The first is found in Socratic dialogues, which employ critical thinking mainly to reveal logical fallacies in common opinions, thus cleansing superior minds of error and leaving philosophers free to contemplate universal verities. The second is critical interpretation (hermeneutics) which…

Quechua Children's Theory of Mind.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, Penelope G.; Olson, David R.

Three different theory of mind tasks were conducted with 4- to 8-year-old Quechua peasant children in the Peruvian Andes. The study investigated the ways in which children in preliterate cultures think and the possibility that they think differently than children in literate cultures. The tasks included: (1) a false-belief task, which tested the…

Schooled in Our Own Minds: Mind-Wandering and Mindfulness in the Makings of the Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ergas, Oren

2018-01-01

Curriculum discourse focuses understandably, on the formal and enacted curriculum; however, studies demonstrate that much of individuals' waking hours are spent in task-unrelated thinking and mind-wandering. No less, this pervasive phenomenon has been shown to affect us in many ways that can be linked to education. This paper examines this…

Is There a Dark Side to Mindfulness? Relation of Mindfulness to Criminogenic Cognitions.

PubMed

Tangney, June P; Dobbins, Ashley E; Stuewig, Jeffrey B; Schrader, Shannon W

2017-10-01

In recent years, mindfulness-based interventions have been modified for use with inmate populations, but how this might relate to specific criminogenic cognitions has not been examined empirically. Theoretically, characteristics of mindfulness should be incompatible with distorted patterns of criminal thinking, but is this in fact the case? Among both 259 male jail inmates and 516 undergraduates, mindfulness was inversely related to the Criminogenic Cognitions Scale (CCS) through a latent variable of emotion regulation. However, in the jail sample, this mediational model also showed a direct, positive path from mindfulness to CCS, with an analogous, but nonsignificant trend in the college sample. Post hoc analyses indicate that the Nonjudgment of Self scale derived from the Mindfulness Inventory: Nine Dimensions (MI:ND) largely accounts for this apparently iatrogenic effect in both samples. Some degree of self-judgment is perhaps necessary and useful, especially among individuals involved in the criminal justice system.

Mindfulness and satisfaction in physical activity: A cross-sectional study in the Dutch population.

PubMed

Tsafou, Kalliopi-Eleni; De Ridder, Denise Td; van Ee, Raymond; Lacroix, Joyca Pw

2016-09-01

Both satisfaction and mindfulness relate to sustained physical activity. This study explored their relationship. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 398 Dutch participants who completed measures on trait mindfulness, mindfulness and satisfaction with physical activity, physical activity habits, and physical activity. We performed mediation and moderated mediation. Satisfaction mediated the effect of mindfulness on physical activity. Mindfulness was related to physical activity only when one's habit was weak. The relation of mindfulness with satisfaction was stronger for weak compared to strong habit. Understanding the relationship between mindfulness and satisfaction can contribute to the development of interventions to sustain physical activity. © The Author(s) 2015.

Moderate Levels of Activation Lead to Forgetting In the Think/No-Think Paradigm

PubMed Central

Detre, Greg J.; Natarajan, Annamalai; Gershman, Samuel J.; Norman, Kenneth A.

2013-01-01

Using the think/no-think paradigm (Anderson & Green, 2001), researchers have found that suppressing retrieval of a memory (in the presence of a strong retrieval cue) can make it harder to retrieve that memory on a subsequent test. This effect has been replicated numerous times, but the size of the effect is highly variable. Also, it is unclear from a neural mechanistic standpoint why preventing recall of a memory now should impair your ability to recall that memory later. Here, we address both of these puzzles using the idea, derived from computational modeling and studies of synaptic plasticity, that the function relating memory activation to learning is U-shaped, such that moderate levels of memory activation lead to weakening of the memory and higher levels of activation lead to strengthening. According to this view, forgetting effects in the think/no-think paradigm occur when the suppressed item activates moderately during the suppression attempt, leading to weakening; the effect is variable because sometimes the suppressed item activates strongly (leading to strengthening) and sometimes it does not activate at all (in which case no learning takes place). To test this hypothesis, we ran a think/no-think experiment where participants learned word-picture pairs; we used pattern classifiers, applied to fMRI data, to measure how strongly the picture associates were activating when participants were trying not to retrieve these associates, and we used a novel Bayesian curve-fitting procedure to relate this covert neural measure of retrieval to performance on a later memory test. In keeping with our hypothesis, the curve-fitting procedure revealed a nonmonotonic relationship between memory activation (as measured by the classifier) and subsequent memory, whereby moderate levels of activation of the to-be-suppressed item led to diminished performance on the final memory test, and higher levels of activation led to enhanced performance on the final test. PMID:23499722

Moderate levels of activation lead to forgetting in the think/no-think paradigm.

PubMed

Detre, Greg J; Natarajan, Annamalai; Gershman, Samuel J; Norman, Kenneth A

2013-10-01

Using the think/no-think paradigm (Anderson & Green, 2001), researchers have found that suppressing retrieval of a memory (in the presence of a strong retrieval cue) can make it harder to retrieve that memory on a subsequent test. This effect has been replicated numerous times, but the size of the effect is highly variable. Also, it is unclear from a neural mechanistic standpoint why preventing recall of a memory now should impair your ability to recall that memory later. Here, we address both of these puzzles using the idea, derived from computational modeling and studies of synaptic plasticity, that the function relating memory activation to learning is U-shaped, such that moderate levels of memory activation lead to weakening of the memory and higher levels of activation lead to strengthening. According to this view, forgetting effects in the think/no-think paradigm occur when the suppressed item activates moderately during the suppression attempt, leading to weakening; the effect is variable because sometimes the suppressed item activates strongly (leading to strengthening) and sometimes it does not activate at all (in which case no learning takes place). To test this hypothesis, we ran a think/no-think experiment where participants learned word-picture pairs; we used pattern classifiers, applied to fMRI data, to measure how strongly the picture associates were activating when participants were trying not to retrieve these associates, and we used a novel Bayesian curve-fitting procedure to relate this covert neural measure of retrieval to performance on a later memory test. In keeping with our hypothesis, the curve-fitting procedure revealed a nonmonotonic relationship between memory activation (as measured by the classifier) and subsequent memory, whereby moderate levels of activation of the to-be-suppressed item led to diminished performance on the final memory test, and higher levels of activation led to enhanced performance on the final test. Copyright �

Awareness and Awakening: A Narrative-Oriented Inquiry of Undergraduate Students' Development of Mindful Agency in China

PubMed Central

Wang, Qing; Law, Ho Chung; Li, Yan; Xu, Zhanfei; Pang, Weiguo

2017-01-01

The article explores undergraduate students' experiences of developing mindful agency as a positive learning disposition, their perceived change as a learner, and the possible impact of mindful agency coaching on students' learning and personal growth, using a narrative research method. Seventy Chinese undergraduate students generated personal reflective journals and eight participants' journals were selected to enter into the narrative-oriented inquiry. Our analysis revealed a number of primary themes based on which we produced a meta-story. The supplements of the story were exacted for further critical cross-case discussion. The finding indicated that the multifaceted development of mindful agency involved learning methods, emotional regulation, strategic thinking, and awareness of planning, openness to experience, self-acceptance and self-esteem, and learning engagement, with enhanced sense of personal awareness and awakening. The coaching was supportive for students to foster positive self-identities and become more reflective, mindful, and self-determined. PMID:29209260

A Pre-Post Evaluation of OpenMinds: a Sustainable, Peer-Led Mental Health Literacy Programme in Universities and Secondary Schools.

PubMed

Patalay, Praveetha; Annis, Jennifer; Sharpe, Helen; Newman, Robbie; Main, Dominic; Ragunathan, Thivvia; Parkes, Mary; Clarke, Kelly

2017-11-01

Engaging young people in the design and delivery of mental health education could lead to more effective interventions; however, few of these interventions have been evaluated. This study aimed to gain preliminary evidence with regards to the efficacy and acceptability of OpenMinds: a peer-designed and facilitated mental health literacy programme for university and secondary school students. The programme involves a structured programme of education and training for university medical students, who then deliver workshops in secondary schools. Pre- and post-surveys were completed by 234 school students who received two workshops and 40 university medical students who completed the OpenMinds programme and delivered the workshops. The main outcomes in both groups were components of mental health literacy (non-stigmatising attitudes, knowledge, social distance and helping attitudes). Perceived teaching efficacy and interest in mental health careers (university medical students) and workshop acceptability (school students) were also examined. University and school student participation in OpenMinds was associated with significant improvements in three of four mental health literacy elements in both samples. Knowledge and attitudes improved in both samples, social distance improved only in the university sample and knowledge of helping behaviours increased in the school sample. University students' perceived teaching efficacy improved but there was no change in their reported interest in pursuing psychiatry in their career. Acceptability was high; over 70% of the school students agreed that they enjoyed the workshops and liked being taught by a university student. This study provides preliminary evidence for the acceptability and efficacy of OpenMinds as a sustainable peer-led model of mental health education for young people. The OpenMinds programme is ready for efficacy testing in a randomised trial.

Brain Friendly Techniques: Mind Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberg, Cristine

2004-01-01

Mind Mapping can be called the Swiss Army Knife for the brain, a total visual thinking tool or a multi-handed thought catcher. Invented by Tony Buzan in the early 1970s and used by millions around the world, it is a method that can be a part of a techniques repertoire when teaching information literacy, planning, presenting, thinking, and so…

Pattern activation/recognition theory of mind

PubMed Central

du Castel, Bertrand

2015-01-01

In his 2012 book How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil defines a “Pattern Recognition Theory of Mind” that states that the brain uses millions of pattern recognizers, plus modules to check, organize, and augment them. In this article, I further the theory to go beyond pattern recognition and include also pattern activation, thus encompassing both sensory and motor functions. In addition, I treat checking, organizing, and augmentation as patterns of patterns instead of separate modules, therefore handling them the same as patterns in general. Henceforth I put forward a unified theory I call “Pattern Activation/Recognition Theory of Mind.” While the original theory was based on hierarchical hidden Markov models, this evolution is based on their precursor: stochastic grammars. I demonstrate that a class of self-describing stochastic grammars allows for unifying pattern activation, recognition, organization, consistency checking, metaphor, and learning, into a single theory that expresses patterns throughout. I have implemented the model as a probabilistic programming language specialized in activation/recognition grammatical and neural operations. I use this prototype to compute and present diagrams for each stochastic grammar and corresponding neural circuit. I then discuss the theory as it relates to artificial network developments, common coding, neural reuse, and unity of mind, concluding by proposing potential paths to validation. PMID:26236228

Development of Open-Ended Problems for Measuring The Higher-Order-Thinking-Skills of High School Students on Global Warming Phenomenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fianti; Najwa, F. L.; Linuwih, S.

2017-04-01

Higher-order-thinking-skills can not be developed directly, except by training which is employing open-ended problems for measuring and developing critics, creativeness, and problem-solving thinking-skills of students. This study is a research and development producing open-ended problems. The purpose of this study is to measure the properness and effectiveness of the developed product and to observe the profile of higher-order-thinking-skills of students on global warming phenomenon. The result of properness test of open-ended problems according to the experts is 92,59% on the first stage and 97,53% on the second stage, so we can assume that the product isvery proper. The result of effectiveness test shows the coefficient of correlation between student’s midterm test scores and open-ended questions is 0,634 which is in the category of strong. Higher-order-thinking-skills of SMA Negeri 1 Salatiga students is in the category of good with the average achievement scores 61,28.

Opening minds in Canada: background and rationale.

PubMed

Stuart, Heather; Chen, Shu-Ping; Christie, Romie; Dobson, Keith; Kirsh, Bonnie; Knaak, Stephanie; Koller, Michelle; Krupa, Terry; Lauria-Horner, Bianca; Luong, Dorothy; Modgill, Geeta; Patten, Scott B; Pietrus, Mike; Szeto, Andrew; Whitley, Rob

2014-10-01

To summarize the background and rationale of the approach taken by the Mental Health Commission of Canada's Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative. The approach taken by OM incorporates a grassroots, community development philosophy, has clearly defined target groups, uses contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and has a strong evaluative component, so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope. OM has acted as a catalyst to develop partnerships between community groups who are undertaking anti-stigma work and an interdisciplinary team of academic researchers in 5 universities who are evaluating the results of these programs. Building partnerships with existing community programs and promoting systematic evaluation using standardized approaches and instruments have contributed to our understanding of best practices in the field of anti-stigma programming.

[Cold-minded thinking? The role of emotional intelligence and emotional stability in Machiavellian decision-making].

PubMed

Szíjjártó, Linda; Bereczkei, Tamás

2013-01-01

Previous studies clearly show that Machiavellians' thinking and behavior are characterized by some kind of cold attitude, a tendency to be detached from the emotional features of a particular situation. However, very little is known what this cold-minded attitude means, and the presence or the absence of what abilities can lead to emotional detachment. Surprisingly, our study has shown that Machiavellians - contrary to what others believe - happen to exhibit more emotional instability than others. They experience more negative emotions, lose their peace of mind faster, and have a hard time tolerating psychological distress. However, they try to conceal their emotional worries in two different ways. On the one hand, they cannot express their emotions as subtly and precisely as others, and on the other, they are much worse at identifying and differentiating their own emotional states. Maybe it is just the deficit in evaluating and expressing emotions that enables them to implement the strategy to enforce their self-interest successfully. The weak ability to identify and comprehend their own emotions may help them stay detached from the emotional temperature of a situation, while the difficulties in expressing their emotions enable them to disguise their true intentions from their partners.

Teaching Social Construction of Reality in the Basic Course: Opening Minds and Integrating Units.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixson, Marcia D.

This paper, after a brief review of social construction theory and its application to identity, emotions, and relationships, explores the introduction of social construction of reality into the basic communication course. It offers the broad based theoretical perspective as a way to open the minds of entering college students and to integrate the…

Self-Reported Stickiness of Mind-Wandering Affects Task Performance

PubMed Central

van Vugt, Marieke K.; Broers, Nico

2016-01-01

When asked to perform a certain task, we typically spend a decent amount of time thinking thoughts unrelated to that task–a phenomenon referred to as “mind-wandering.” It is thought that this mind-wandering is driven at least in part by our unfinished goals and concerns. Previous studies have shown that just after presenting a participant with their own concerns, their reports of task-unrelated thinking increased somewhat. However, effects of these concerns on task performance were somewhat inconsistent. In this study we take the opposite approach, and examine whether task performance depends on the self-reported thought content. Specifically, a particularly intriguing aspect of mind-wandering that has hitherto received little attention is the difficulty of disengaging from it, in other words, the “stickiness” of the thoughts. While presenting participants with their own concerns was not associated with clear effects on task performance, we showed that the reports of off-task thinking and variability of response times increased with the amount of self-reported stickiness of thoughts. This suggests that the stickiness of mind-wandering is a relevant variable, and participants are able to meaningfully report on it. PMID:27242636

Building mindfulness bottom-up: Meditation in natural settings supports open monitoring and attention restoration.

PubMed

Lymeus, Freddie; Lindberg, Per; Hartig, Terry

2018-03-01

Mindfulness courses conventionally use effortful, focused meditation to train attention. In contrast, natural settings can effortlessly support state mindfulness and restore depleted attention resources, which could facilitate meditation. We performed two studies that compared conventional training with restoration skills training (ReST) that taught low-effort open monitoring meditation in a garden over five weeks. Assessments before and after meditation on multiple occasions showed that ReST meditation increasingly enhanced attention performance. Conventional meditation enhanced attention initially but increasingly incurred effort, reflected in performance decrements toward the course end. With both courses, attentional improvements generalized in the first weeks of training. Against established accounts, the generalized improvements thus occurred before any effort was incurred by the conventional exercises. We propose that restoration rather than attention training can account for early attentional improvements with meditation. ReST holds promise as an undemanding introduction to mindfulness and as a method to enhance restoration in nature contacts. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Making Thinking Audible and Visible via Cooperative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, George M.; Wang, Aili; Li, Xishuang; Xie, Yongye

2008-01-01

This chapter begins with a section that describes cooperative learning and explains eight cooperative learning principles. The second section looks briefly at why making thinking audible and visible enriches students' thinking. Making thinking audible means that teachers and students speak out what is going through their minds as they do a task,…

Dissociation of Subjectively Reported and Behaviorally Indexed Mind Wandering by EEG Rhythmic Activity

PubMed Central

Qin, Jungang; Perdoni, Christopher; He, Bin

2011-01-01

Inattention to current activity is ubiquitous in everyday situations. Mind wandering is an example of such a state, and its related brain areas have been examined in the literature. However, there is no clear evidence regarding neural rhythmic activities linked to mind wandering. Using a vigilance task with thought sampling and electroencephalography recording, the current study simultaneously examined neural oscillatory activities related to subjectively reported and behaviorally indexed mind wandering. By implementing time-frequency analysis, we found that subjectively reported mind wandering, relative to behaviorally indexed, showed increased gamma band activity at bilateral frontal-central areas. By means of beamformer source imaging, we found subjectively reported mind wandering within the gamma band to be characterized by increased activation in bilateral frontal cortices, supplemental motor area, paracentral cortex and right inferior temporal cortex in comparison to behaviorally indexed mind wandering. These findings dissociate subjectively reported and behaviorally indexed mind wandering and suggest that a higher degree of executive control processes are engaged in subjectively reported mind wandering. PMID:21915257

Assessing Social Learning Outcomes through Participatory Mind Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Justin G.; DuBois, Bryce; Corwin, Jason

2016-01-01

This article presents a method for using mind mapping to assess social learning outcomes in collaborative environmental restoration and participatory natural resource management initiatives. Using mind mapping for preassessment and postassessment can reveal changes in individual and collective thinking about critical social and ecological issues.…

Critical Thinking Skills for Language Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Djiwandono, Patrisius Istiarto

2013-01-01

Recent developments in language teaching increasingly put a stronger importance on critical thinking skills. While studies in this area have begun to emerge, it is believed that a probe into the learners' mind when they process information can contribute significantly to the effort of identifying exactly how our learners think. This study was…

Self-reflection and the temporal focus of the wandering mind.

PubMed

Smallwood, Jonathan; Schooler, Jonathan W; Turk, David J; Cunningham, Sheila J; Burns, Phebe; Macrae, C Neil

2011-12-01

Current accounts suggest that self-referential thought serves a pivotal function in the human ability to simulate the future during mind-wandering. Using experience sampling, this hypothesis was tested in two studies that explored the extent to which self-reflection impacts both retrospection and prospection during mind-wandering. Study 1 demonstrated that a brief period of self-reflection yielded a prospective bias during mind-wandering such that participants' engaged more frequently in spontaneous future than past thought. In Study 2, individual differences in the strength of self-referential thought - as indexed by the memorial advantage for self rather than other-encoded items - was shown to vary with future thinking during mind-wandering. Together these results confirm that self-reflection is a core component of future thinking during mind-wandering and provide novel evidence that a key function of the autobiographical memory system may be to mentally simulate events in the future. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Whole mind and shared mind in clinical decision-making.

PubMed

Epstein, Ronald Mark

2013-02-01

To review the theory, research evidence and ethical implications regarding "whole mind" and "shared mind" in clinical practice in the context of chronic and serious illnesses. Selective critical review of the intersection of classical and naturalistic decision-making theories, cognitive neuroscience, communication research and ethics as they apply to decision-making and autonomy. Decision-making involves analytic thinking as well as affect and intuition ("whole mind") and sharing cognitive and affective schemas of two or more individuals ("shared mind"). Social relationships can help processing of complex information that otherwise would overwhelm individuals' cognitive capacities. Medical decision-making research, teaching and practice should consider both analytic and non-analytic cognitive processes. Further, research should consider that decisions emerge not only from the individual perspectives of patients, their families and clinicians, but also the perspectives that emerge from the interactions among them. Social interactions have the potential to enhance individual autonomy, as well as to promote relational autonomy based on shared frames of reference. Shared mind has the potential to result in wiser decisions, greater autonomy and self-determination; yet, clinicians and patients should be vigilant for the potential of hierarchical relationships to foster coercion or silencing of the patient's voice. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using a Pseudoscience Activity to Teach Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adam, Aimee; Manson, Todd M.

2014-01-01

In two studies, we assessed the effectiveness of a classroom activity designed to increase students' ability to think critically. This activity involved watching and discussing an infomercial that contained pseudoscientific claims, thus incorporating course material on good research design and critical thinking. In Study 1, we used a…

Autopilot, Mind Wandering, and the Out of the Loop Performance Problem

PubMed Central

Gouraud, Jonas; Delorme, Arnaud; Berberian, Bruno

2017-01-01

To satisfy the increasing demand for safer critical systems, engineers have integrated higher levels of automation, such as glass cockpits in aircraft, power plants, and driverless cars. These guiding principles relegate the operator to a monitoring role, increasing risks for humans to lack system understanding. The out of the loop performance problem arises when operators suffer from complacency and vigilance decrement; consequently, when automation does not behave as expected, understanding the system or taking back manual control may be difficult. Close to the out of the loop problem, mind wandering points to the propensity of the human mind to think about matters unrelated to the task at hand. This article reviews the literature related to both mind wandering and the out of the loop performance problem as it relates to task automation. We highlight studies showing how these phenomena interact with each other while impacting human performance within highly automated systems. We analyze how this proximity is supported by effects observed in automated environment, such as decoupling, sensory attention, and cognitive comprehension decrease. We also show that this link could be useful for detecting out of the loop situations through mind wandering markers. Finally, we examine the limitations of the current knowledge because many questions remain open to characterize interactions between out of the loop, mind wandering, and automation. PMID:29051723

Autopilot, Mind Wandering, and the Out of the Loop Performance Problem.

PubMed

Gouraud, Jonas; Delorme, Arnaud; Berberian, Bruno

2017-01-01

To satisfy the increasing demand for safer critical systems, engineers have integrated higher levels of automation, such as glass cockpits in aircraft, power plants, and driverless cars. These guiding principles relegate the operator to a monitoring role, increasing risks for humans to lack system understanding. The out of the loop performance problem arises when operators suffer from complacency and vigilance decrement; consequently, when automation does not behave as expected, understanding the system or taking back manual control may be difficult. Close to the out of the loop problem, mind wandering points to the propensity of the human mind to think about matters unrelated to the task at hand. This article reviews the literature related to both mind wandering and the out of the loop performance problem as it relates to task automation. We highlight studies showing how these phenomena interact with each other while impacting human performance within highly automated systems. We analyze how this proximity is supported by effects observed in automated environment, such as decoupling, sensory attention, and cognitive comprehension decrease. We also show that this link could be useful for detecting out of the loop situations through mind wandering markers. Finally, we examine the limitations of the current knowledge because many questions remain open to characterize interactions between out of the loop, mind wandering, and automation.

Imagery: Thinking with the Mind's Eye.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riley, Margaret E.

Teachers teach literature to help students expand and develop their image-making powers, "to imagine, conceive, fancy, picture," to think. To get students involved in literature, especially poetry, Robert Frost's poem, "The Witch of Coos," is particularly useful because it is so immediately accessible. In order to help engage…

Increased False-Memory Susceptibility After Mindfulness Meditation.

PubMed

Wilson, Brent M; Mickes, Laura; Stolarz-Fantino, Stephanie; Evrard, Matthew; Fantino, Edmund

2015-10-01

The effect of mindfulness meditation on false-memory susceptibility was examined in three experiments. Because mindfulness meditation encourages judgment-free thoughts and feelings, we predicted that participants in the mindfulness condition would be especially likely to form false memories. In two experiments, participants were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness induction, in which they were instructed to focus attention on their breathing, or a mind-wandering induction, in which they were instructed to think about whatever came to mind. The overall number of words from the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm that were correctly recalled did not differ between conditions. However, participants in the mindfulness condition were significantly more likely to report critical nonstudied items than participants in the control condition. In a third experiment, which tested recognition and used a reality-monitoring paradigm, participants had reduced reality-monitoring accuracy after completing the mindfulness induction. These results demonstrate a potential unintended consequence of mindfulness meditation in which memories become less reliable. © The Author(s) 2015.

Spontaneous default network activity reflects behavioral variability independent of mind-wandering.

PubMed

Kucyi, Aaron; Esterman, Michael; Riley, Clay S; Valera, Eve M

2016-11-29

The brain's default mode network (DMN) is highly active during wakeful rest when people are not overtly engaged with a sensory stimulus or externally oriented task. In multiple contexts, increased spontaneous DMN activity has been associated with self-reported episodes of mind-wandering, or thoughts that are unrelated to the present sensory environment. Mind-wandering characterizes much of waking life and is often associated with error-prone, variable behavior. However, increased spontaneous DMN activity has also been reliably associated with stable, rather than variable, behavior. We aimed to address this seeming contradiction and to test the hypothesis that single measures of attentional states, either based on self-report or on behavior, are alone insufficient to account for DMN activity fluctuations. Thus, we simultaneously measured varying levels of self-reported mind-wandering, behavioral variability, and brain activity with fMRI during a unique continuous performance task optimized for detecting attentional fluctuations. We found that even though mind-wandering co-occurred with increased behavioral variability, highest DMN signal levels were best explained by intense mind-wandering combined with stable behavior simultaneously, compared with considering either single factor alone. These brain-behavior-experience relationships were highly consistent within known DMN subsystems and across DMN subregions. In contrast, such relationships were absent or in the opposite direction for other attention-relevant networks (salience, dorsal attention, and frontoparietal control networks). Our results suggest that the cognitive processes that spontaneous DMN activity specifically reflects are only partially related to mind-wandering and include also attentional state fluctuations that are not captured by self-report.

Spontaneous default network activity reflects behavioral variability independent of mind-wandering

PubMed Central

Kucyi, Aaron; Esterman, Michael; Riley, Clay S.; Valera, Eve M.

2016-01-01

The brain’s default mode network (DMN) is highly active during wakeful rest when people are not overtly engaged with a sensory stimulus or externally oriented task. In multiple contexts, increased spontaneous DMN activity has been associated with self-reported episodes of mind-wandering, or thoughts that are unrelated to the present sensory environment. Mind-wandering characterizes much of waking life and is often associated with error-prone, variable behavior. However, increased spontaneous DMN activity has also been reliably associated with stable, rather than variable, behavior. We aimed to address this seeming contradiction and to test the hypothesis that single measures of attentional states, either based on self-report or on behavior, are alone insufficient to account for DMN activity fluctuations. Thus, we simultaneously measured varying levels of self-reported mind-wandering, behavioral variability, and brain activity with fMRI during a unique continuous performance task optimized for detecting attentional fluctuations. We found that even though mind-wandering co-occurred with increased behavioral variability, highest DMN signal levels were best explained by intense mind-wandering combined with stable behavior simultaneously, compared with considering either single factor alone. These brain–behavior–experience relationships were highly consistent within known DMN subsystems and across DMN subregions. In contrast, such relationships were absent or in the opposite direction for other attention-relevant networks (salience, dorsal attention, and frontoparietal control networks). Our results suggest that the cognitive processes that spontaneous DMN activity specifically reflects are only partially related to mind-wandering and include also attentional state fluctuations that are not captured by self-report. PMID:27856733

Mindful Climate Action: Health and Environmental Co-Benefits from Mindfulness-Based Behavioral Training

PubMed Central

Barrett, Bruce; Grabow, Maggie; Middlecamp, Cathy; Mooney, Margaret; Checovich, Mary M.; Converse, Alexander K.; Gillespie, Bob; Yates, Julia

2016-01-01

Greenhouse gases from human activities are causing climate change, creating risks for people around the globe. Behaviors involving transportation, diet, energy use, and purchasing drive greenhouse gas emissions, but are also related to health and well-being, providing opportunity for co-benefits. Replacing shorter automobile trips with walking or cycling, or eating plants rather than animals, for example, may increase personal health, while also reducing environmental impact. Mindfulness-based practices have been shown to enhance a variety of health outcomes, but have not been adapted towards environmental purposes. We designed the Mindful Climate Action (MCA) curriculum to help people improve their health while simultaneously lowering their carbon footprints. Combining mindfulness-based practices with the Stages of Change theory, the MCA program aims to: (1) improve personal health and well-being; (2) decrease energy use; (3) reduce automobile use; (4) increase active transport; (5) shift diet towards plant-based foods; and (6) reduce unnecessary purchasing. Mindfulness practices will foster attentional awareness, openness, and response flexibility, supporting positive behavior change. We plan to test MCA in a randomized controlled trial, with rigorous assessment of targeted outcomes. Our long-term goal is to refine and adapt the MCA program to a variety of audiences, in order to enhance public health and environmental sustainability. PMID:28008371

Using Theory of Mind to Promote Conceptual Change in Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kyriakopoulou, Natassa; Vosniadou, Stella

2014-07-01

We argue that learning science requires children to move from perceptually based representations to more abstract conceptual representations and to understand that appearance may sometimes deceive us and that the same phenomenon in the world can have more than one representation when seen from different perspectives. We also argue that the beginnings of such an epistemological perspective can be found in young children's ability to think about the difference between their beliefs and the beliefs of others in the social domain, i.e., their Theory of Mind. We present the results of two empirical studies that show significant correlations between children's growing Theory of Mind, developing epistemological thinking, and science learning, and suggest that Theory of Mind tasks can be used to promote conceptual change in science.

Thinking Maps: Research-Based Instructional Strategy in a PDS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kessler, Cristy; Zuercher, Deborah K.; Wong, Caroline S.

2013-01-01

An exploratory action research case study was conducted at Moanalua Middle School from 2006-2009 to examine the impact of Thinking Maps on student achievement. Thinking Maps are not just another set of graphic organizers but a set of eight of unique visual mind maps with each linked to a specific higher-order thinking pattern. This study tells the…

Open-Minded Midwifes, Literate Butchers, and Greedy Hooligans-The Independent Contributions of Stereotype Valence and Consistency on Evaluative Judgments.

PubMed

Schubert, Lisa; Körner, Anita; Lindau, Berit; Strack, Fritz; Topolinski, Sascha

2017-01-01

Do people evaluate an open-minded midwife less positively than a caring midwife? Both open-minded and caring are generally seen as positive attributes. However, consistency varies-the attribute caring is consistent with the midwife stereotype while open-minded is not. In general, both stimulus valence and consistency can influence evaluations. Six experiments investigated the respective influence of valence and consistency on evaluative judgments in the domain of stereotyping. In an impression formation paradigm, valence and consistency of stereotypic information about target persons were manipulated orthogonally and spontaneous evaluations of these target persons were measured. Valence reliably influenced evaluations. However, for strongly valenced stereotypes, no effect of consistency was observed. Parameters possibly preventing the occurrence of consistency effects were ruled out, specifically, valence of inconsistent attributes, processing priority of category information, and impression formation instructions. However, consistency had subtle effects on evaluative judgments if the information about a target person was not strongly valenced and experimental conditions were optimal. Concluding, in principle, both stereotype valence and consistency can play a role in evaluative judgments of stereotypic target persons. However, the more subtle influence of consistency does not seem to substantially influence evaluations of stereotyped target persons. Implications for fluency research and stereotype disconfirmation are discussed.

Open-Minded Midwifes, Literate Butchers, and Greedy Hooligans—The Independent Contributions of Stereotype Valence and Consistency on Evaluative Judgments

PubMed Central

Schubert, Lisa; Körner, Anita; Lindau, Berit; Strack, Fritz; Topolinski, Sascha

2017-01-01

Do people evaluate an open-minded midwife less positively than a caring midwife? Both open-minded and caring are generally seen as positive attributes. However, consistency varies—the attribute caring is consistent with the midwife stereotype while open-minded is not. In general, both stimulus valence and consistency can influence evaluations. Six experiments investigated the respective influence of valence and consistency on evaluative judgments in the domain of stereotyping. In an impression formation paradigm, valence and consistency of stereotypic information about target persons were manipulated orthogonally and spontaneous evaluations of these target persons were measured. Valence reliably influenced evaluations. However, for strongly valenced stereotypes, no effect of consistency was observed. Parameters possibly preventing the occurrence of consistency effects were ruled out, specifically, valence of inconsistent attributes, processing priority of category information, and impression formation instructions. However, consistency had subtle effects on evaluative judgments if the information about a target person was not strongly valenced and experimental conditions were optimal. Concluding, in principle, both stereotype valence and consistency can play a role in evaluative judgments of stereotypic target persons. However, the more subtle influence of consistency does not seem to substantially influence evaluations of stereotyped target persons. Implications for fluency research and stereotype disconfirmation are discussed. PMID:29062289

Educating the Wandering Mind: Pedagogical Mechanisms of Mindfulness for a Curricular Blind Spot

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ergas, Oren

2016-01-01

Educational theory and practice have been focusing on educating students as to "how to think." Yet, contemporary neuroscience and psychological research reveal that many of our waking hours are spent in a state of "mind-wandering" characterized by uncontrolled thoughts that have little to do with our concrete present…

The Stakes of Movement: A Dynamic Approach to Mathematical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Wolff-Michael; Maheux, Jean-François

2015-01-01

Standard approaches to thinking in the mathematics curriculum depict it as the result of some stable constructions in the mind of the person, constructions that are the results of individual efforts in the mind of subjects or of collective efforts that are then appropriated by and into the mind of individuals. Such work does not appreciate what…

Mindfulness meditation regulates anterior insula activity during empathy for social pain.

PubMed

Laneri, Davide; Krach, Sören; Paulus, Frieder M; Kanske, Philipp; Schuster, Verena; Sommer, Jens; Müller-Pinzler, Laura

2017-08-01

Mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress, promote health, and well-being, as well as to increase compassionate behavior toward others. It reduces distress to one's own painful experiences, going along with altered neural responses, by enhancing self-regulatory processes and decreasing emotional reactivity. In order to investigate if mindfulness similarly reduces distress and neural activations associated with empathy for others' socially painful experiences, which might in the following more strongly motivate prosocial behavior, the present study compared trait, and state effects of long-term mindfulness meditation (LTM) practice. To do so we acquired behavioral data and neural activity measures using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an empathy for social pain task while manipulating the meditation state between two groups of LTM practitioners that were matched with a control group. The results show increased activations of the anterior insula (AI) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as well as the medial prefrontal cortex and temporal pole when sharing others' social suffering, both in LTM practitioners and controls. However, in LTM practitioners, who practiced mindfulness meditation just prior to observing others' social pain, left AI activation was lower and the strength of AI activation following the mindfulness meditation was negatively associated with trait compassion in LTM practitioners. The findings suggest that current mindfulness meditation could provide an adaptive mechanism in coping with distress due to the empathic sharing of others' suffering, thereby possibly enabling compassionate behavior. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4034-4046, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Quieting the Cacophony of the Mind: The Role of Mindfulness in Adult Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parish, Kay Annette

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role between mindfulness practice and adult learning. The participants were full-time students enrolled in a two-year radiography program at a Midwestern community college. Critical thinking and problem solving skills are essential to students' success and to healthcare professionals. The main…

Thinking with Hands-On Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conover, Patricia Ross

2009-01-01

The goal for library media specialists and teachers is to lead students to use technology to communicate, in a powerful and meaningful way, and to creatively display what they have learned. With these ideas in mind, this article details several projects using Microsoft PowerPoint XP. The activities, with simplified instructions, can be adapted to…

The harm-made mind: observing victimization augments attribution of minds to vegetative patients, robots, and the dead.

PubMed

Ward, Adrian F; Olsen, Andrew S; Wegner, Daniel M

2013-08-01

People often think that something must have a mind to be part of a moral interaction. However, the present research suggests that minds do not create morality but that morality creates minds. In four experiments, we found that observing intentional harm to an unconscious entity--a vegetative patient, a robot, or a corpse--leads to augmented attribution of mind to that entity. A fifth experiment reconciled these results with extant research on dehumanization by showing that observing the victimization of conscious entities leads to reduced attribution of mind to those entities. Taken together, these experiments suggest that the effects of victimization vary according to victims' preexisting mental status and that people often make an intuitive cognitive error when unconscious entities are placed in harm's way. People assume that if apparent moral harm occurs, then there must be someone there to experience that harm-a harm-made mind. These findings have implications for political policies concerning right-to-life issues.

'Theory of mind' III: the unbearable idea of other minds.

PubMed

Plastow, Michael

2012-10-01

In order to give an alternative explanation for the phenomena described by 'theory of mind', this topic is approached firstly by an examination of literary productions and then by reference to psychoanalysis. In literature there are many references to the apprehension of the other in terms of a mirror image of the self. The difficulty of grasping the other is described in a passage by the author Ian McEwan as 'the unbearable idea of other minds'. The notion that this difficulty can in part be overcome through both spoken and written language is also salient in the novels examined here. The concept of an entrapment within one's image of oneself was elaborated by Freud in his notion of narcissism. Lacan further developed this notion as foundational in one's relation to the other, but clarified that such mirroring relations to others are always imbued with jealousy and rivalry. Lacan's notion of "paranoid knowledge", an imagined knowledge of what the other is thinking, is precisely a 'theory of mind' that is able to account for the way one subject attempts, and ultimately fails, to read the mind of another.

Milestones of critical thinking: a developmental model for medicine and nursing.

PubMed

Papp, Klara K; Huang, Grace C; Lauzon Clabo, Laurie M; Delva, Dianne; Fischer, Melissa; Konopasek, Lyuba; Schwartzstein, Richard M; Gusic, Maryellen

2014-05-01

Critical thinking is essential to a health professional's competence to assess, diagnose, and care for patients. Defined as the ability to apply higher-order cognitive skills (conceptualization, analysis, evaluation) and the disposition to be deliberate about thinking (being open-minded or intellectually honest) that lead to action that is logical and appropriate, critical thinking represents a "meta-competency" that transcends other knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors required in health care professions. Despite its importance, the developmental stages of critical thinking have not been delineated for nurses and physicians. As part of a task force of educators who considered different developmental stage theories, the authors have iteratively refined and proposed milestones in critical thinking. The attributes associated with unreflective, beginning, practicing, advanced, accomplished, and challenged critical thinkers are conceived as independent of an individual's level of training. Depending on circumstances and environmental factors, even the most experienced clinician may demonstrate attributes associated with a challenged thinker. The authors use the illustrative case of a patient with abdominal pain to demonstrate how critical thinking may manifest in learners at different stages of development, analyzing how the learner at each stage applies information obtained in the patient interaction to arrive at a differential diagnosis and plan for evaluation. The authors share important considerations and provide this work as a foundation for the development of effective approaches to teaching and promoting critical thinking and to establishing expectations for learners in this essential meta-competency.

Dispositional Mindfulness and Depressive Symptomatology: Correlations with Limbic and Self-Referential Neural Activity during Rest

PubMed Central

Way, Baldwin M.; Creswell, J. David; Eisenberger, Naomi I.; Lieberman, Matthew D.

2010-01-01

To better understand the relationship between mindfulness and depression, we studied normal young adults (n=27) who completed measures of dispositional mindfulness and depressive symptomatology, which were then correlated with: a) Rest: resting neural activity during passive viewing of a fixation cross, relative to a simple goal-directed task (shape-matching); and b) Reactivity: neural reactivity during viewing of negative emotional faces, relative to the same shape-matching task. Dispositional mindfulness was negatively correlated with resting activity in self-referential processing areas, while depressive symptomatology was positively correlated with resting activity in similar areas. In addition, dispositional mindfulness was negatively correlated with resting activity in the amygdala, bilaterally, while depressive symptomatology was positively correlated with activity in the right amygdala. Similarly, when viewing emotional faces, amygdala reactivity was positively correlated with depressive symptomatology and negatively correlated with dispositional mindfulness, an effect that was largely attributable to differences in resting activity. These findings indicate that mindfulness is associated with intrinsic neural activity and that changes in resting amygdala activity could be a potential mechanism by which mindfulness-based depression treatments elicit therapeutic improvement. PMID:20141298

The embodied and relational nature of the mind: implications for clinical interventions in aging individuals and populations.

PubMed

Rejeski, W Jack; Gauvin, Lise

2013-01-01

Considerable research over the past decade has garnered support for the notion that the mind is both embodied and relational. Jointly, these terms imply that the brain, physical attributes of the self, and features of our interpersonal relationships and of the environments in which we live jointly regulate energy and information flow; they codetermine how we think, feel, and behave both individually and collectively. In addition to direct experience, evidence supports the view that stimuli embedded within past memories trigger multimodal simulations throughout the body and brain to literally recreate lived experience. In this paper, we review empirical support for the concept of an embodied and relational mind and then reflect on the implications of this perspective for clinical interventions in aging individuals and populations. Data suggest that environmental influences literally "get under the skin" with aging; that musculoskeletal and visceral sensations become more prominent in activities of the mind due to aging biological systems and chronic disease. We argue that conceiving the mind as embodied and relational will grow scientific inquiry in aging, transform how we think about the self-system and well-being, and lead us to rethink health promotion interventions aimed at aging individuals and populations.

The Nature and Development of Critical-Analytic Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrnes, James P.; Dunbar, Kevin N.

2014-01-01

In this article, we attempt to provide an overview of the features of the abilities, aptitudes, and frames of minds that are attributed to critical thinking and provide the broad outlines of the development of critical-analytic thinking (CAT) abilities. In addition, we evaluate the potential viability of three main hypotheses regarding the reasons…

Bion's thinking about groups: a study of influence and originality.

PubMed

Schneider, John A

2015-04-01

One of Bion's least-acknowledged contributions to psychoanalytic theory is his study of the relationship between the mind of the individual (the ability to think), the mentalities of groups of which the individual is a member, and the individual's bodily states. Bion's early work on group therapy evolved into a study of the interplay between mind and bodily instincts associated with being a member of a group, and became the impetus for his theory of thinking. On the foundation of Bion's ideas concerning this interaction among the thinking of the individual, group mentality, and the psyche-soma, the author presents his thoughts on the ways in which group mentality is recognizable in the analysis of individuals. © 2015 The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Inc.

Clinical concept mapping: Does it improve discipline-based critical thinking of nursing students?

PubMed

Moattari, Marzieh; Soleimani, Sara; Moghaddam, Neda Jamali; Mehbodi, Farkhondeh

2014-01-01

Enhancing nursing students' critical thinking is a challenge faced by nurse educators. This study aimed at determining the effect of clinical concept mapping on discipline-based critical thinking of nursing students. In this quasi-experimental post-test only design, a convenient sample of 4(th) year nursing students (N = 32) participated. They were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group participated in a 1-day workshop on clinical concept mapping. They were also assigned to use at least two clinical concepts mapping during their clinical practice. Post-test was done using a specially designed package consisting of vignettes for measurement of 17 dimensions of critical thinking in nursing under two categories of cognitive critical thinking skills and habits of mind. They were required to write about how they would use a designated critical thinking skills or habits of mind to accomplish the nursing actions. The students' responses were evaluated based on identification of critical thinking, justification, and quality of the student's response. The mean score of both groups was compared by Mann-Whitney test using SPSS version 16.5. The results of the study revealed a significant difference between the two groups' critical thinking regarding identification, justification, and quality of responses, and overall critical thinking scores, cognitive thinking skills, and habits of mind. The two groups also differed significantly from each other in 11 out of 17 dimensions of critical thinking. Clinical concept mapping is a valuable strategy for improvement of critical thinking of nursing students. However, further studies are recommended to generalize this result to nursing students in their earlier stage of education.

Clinical concept mapping: Does it improve discipline-based critical thinking of nursing students?

PubMed Central

Moattari, Marzieh; Soleimani, Sara; Moghaddam, Neda Jamali; Mehbodi, Farkhondeh

2014-01-01

Background: Enhancing nursing students’ critical thinking is a challenge faced by nurse educators. This study aimed at determining the effect of clinical concept mapping on discipline-based critical thinking of nursing students. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental post-test only design, a convenient sample of 4th year nursing students (N = 32) participated. They were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group participated in a 1-day workshop on clinical concept mapping. They were also assigned to use at least two clinical concepts mapping during their clinical practice. Post-test was done using a specially designed package consisting of vignettes for measurement of 17 dimensions of critical thinking in nursing under two categories of cognitive critical thinking skills and habits of mind. They were required to write about how they would use a designated critical thinking skills or habits of mind to accomplish the nursing actions. The students’ responses were evaluated based on identification of critical thinking, justification, and quality of the student's response. The mean score of both groups was compared by Mann-Whitney test using SPSS version 16.5. Results: The results of the study revealed a significant difference between the two groups’ critical thinking regarding identification, justification, and quality of responses, and overall critical thinking scores, cognitive thinking skills, and habits of mind. The two groups also differed significantly from each other in 11 out of 17 dimensions of critical thinking. Conclusion: Clinical concept mapping is a valuable strategy for improvement of critical thinking of nursing students. However, further studies are recommended to generalize this result to nursing students in their earlier stage of education. PMID:24554963

Self-poisoning of the mind.

PubMed

Elster, Jon

2010-01-27

Rational-choice theory tries to explain behaviour on the assumption that individuals optimize. Some forms of irrational behaviour can be explained by assuming that the individual is subject to hedonic, pleasure-seeking mechanisms, such as wishful thinking or adaptive preference formation. In this paper, I draw attention to psychic mechanisms, originating in the individual, which make her worse off. I first consider the ideas of counterwishful thinking and of counteradaptive preference formation and then, drawing heavily on Proust, the self-poisoning of the mind that occurs through the operation of amour-propre.

Self-poisoning of the mind

PubMed Central

Elster, Jon

2010-01-01

Rational-choice theory tries to explain behaviour on the assumption that individuals optimize. Some forms of irrational behaviour can be explained by assuming that the individual is subject to hedonic, pleasure-seeking mechanisms, such as wishful thinking or adaptive preference formation. In this paper, I draw attention to psychic mechanisms, originating in the individual, which make her worse off. I first consider the ideas of counterwishful thinking and of counteradaptive preference formation and then, drawing heavily on Proust, the self-poisoning of the mind that occurs through the operation of amour-propre. PMID:20026460

Critical thinking and accuracy of nurses' diagnoses.

PubMed

Lunney, Margaret

2003-01-01

Interpretations of patient data are complex and diverse, contributing to a risk of low accuracy nursing diagnoses. This risk is confirmed in research findings that accuracy of nurses' diagnoses varied widely from high to low. Highly accurate diagnoses are essential, however, to guide nursing interventions for the achievement of positive health outcomes. Development of critical thinking abilities is likely to improve accuracy of nurses' diagnoses. New views of critical thinking serve as a basis for critical thinking in nursing. Seven cognitive skills and ten habits of mind are identified as dimensions of critical thinking for use in the diagnostic process. Application of the cognitive skills of critical thinking illustrates the importance of using critical thinking for accuracy of nurses' diagnoses. Ten strategies are proposed for self-development of critical thinking abilities.

Physical Activity, Mind Wandering, Affect, and Sleep: An Ecological Momentary Assessment.

PubMed

Fanning, Jason; Mackenzie, Michael; Roberts, Sarah; Crato, Ines; Ehlers, Diane; McAuley, Edward

2016-08-31

A considerable portion of daily thought is spent in mind wandering. This behavior has been related to positive (eg, future planning, problem solving) and negative (eg, unhappiness, impaired cognitive performance) outcomes. Based on previous research suggesting future-oriented (ie, prospective) mind wandering may support autobiographical planning and self-regulation, this study examined associations between hourly mind wandering and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and the impact of affect and daily sleep on these relations. College-aged adults (N=33) participated in a mobile phone-delivered ecological momentary assessment study for 1 week. Sixteen hourly prompts assessing mind wandering and affect were delivered daily via participants' mobile phones. Perceived sleep quality and duration was assessed during the first prompt each day, and participants wore an ActiGraph accelerometer during waking hours throughout the study week. Study findings suggest present-moment mind wandering was positively associated with future MVPA (P=.03), and this relationship was moderated by affective state (P=.04). Moreover, excessive sleep the previous evening was related to less MVPA across the following day (P=.007). Further, mind wandering was positively related to activity only among those who did not oversleep (P=.007). Together, these results have implications for multiple health behavior interventions targeting physical activity, affect, and sleep. Researchers may also build on this work by studying these relationships in the context of other important behaviors and psychosocial factors (eg, tobacco use, depression, loneliness).

Physical Activity, Mind Wandering, Affect, and Sleep: An Ecological Momentary Assessment

PubMed Central

Mackenzie, Michael; Roberts, Sarah; Crato, Ines; Ehlers, Diane; McAuley, Edward

2016-01-01

Background A considerable portion of daily thought is spent in mind wandering. This behavior has been related to positive (eg, future planning, problem solving) and negative (eg, unhappiness, impaired cognitive performance) outcomes. Objective Based on previous research suggesting future-oriented (ie, prospective) mind wandering may support autobiographical planning and self-regulation, this study examined associations between hourly mind wandering and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and the impact of affect and daily sleep on these relations. Methods College-aged adults (N=33) participated in a mobile phone-delivered ecological momentary assessment study for 1 week. Sixteen hourly prompts assessing mind wandering and affect were delivered daily via participants’ mobile phones. Perceived sleep quality and duration was assessed during the first prompt each day, and participants wore an ActiGraph accelerometer during waking hours throughout the study week. Results Study findings suggest present-moment mind wandering was positively associated with future MVPA (P=.03), and this relationship was moderated by affective state (P=.04). Moreover, excessive sleep the previous evening was related to less MVPA across the following day (P=.007). Further, mind wandering was positively related to activity only among those who did not oversleep (P=.007). Conclusions Together, these results have implications for multiple health behavior interventions targeting physical activity, affect, and sleep. Researchers may also build on this work by studying these relationships in the context of other important behaviors and psychosocial factors (eg, tobacco use, depression, loneliness). PMID:27580673

[Mindful neuropsychology: Mindfulness-based cognitive remediation].

PubMed

Bulzacka, E; Lavault, S; Pelissolo, A; Bagnis Isnard, C

2018-02-01

Mindfulness based interventions (MBI) have recently gained much interest in western medicine. MBSR paradigm is based on teaching participants to pay complete attention to the present experience and act nonjudgmentally towards stressful events. During this mental practice the meditator focuses his or her attention on the sensations of the body. While the distractions (mental images, thoughts, emotional or somatic states) arise the participant is taught to acknowledge discursive thoughts and cultivate the state of awareness without immediate reaction. The effectiveness of these programs is well documented in the field of emotional response regulation in depression (relapse prevention), anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder or eating disorders. Furthermore, converging lines of evidence support the hypothesis that mindfulness practice improves cognition, especially the ability to sustain attention and think in a more flexible manner. Nevertheless, formal rehabilitation programs targeting cognitive disturbances resulting from psychiatric (depression, disorder bipolar, schizophrenia) or neurologic conditions (brain injury, dementia) seldom rely on MBI principles. This review of literature aims at discussing possible links between MBI and clinical neuropsychology. We conducted a review of literature using electronic databases up to December 2016, screening studies with variants of the keywords ("Mindfulness", "MBI", "MBSR", "Meditation") OR/AND ("Cognition", "Attention", "Executive function", "Memory", "Learning") RESULTS: In the first part, we describe key concepts of the neuropsychology of attention in the light of Posner's model of attention control. We also underline the potential scope of different therapeutic contexts where disturbances of attention may be clinically relevant. Second, we review the efficacy of MBI in the field of cognition (thinking disturbances, attention biases, memory and executive processes impairment or low metacognitive abilities

ThinkHazard!: an open-source, global tool for understanding hazard information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fraser, Stuart; Jongman, Brenden; Simpson, Alanna; Nunez, Ariel; Deparday, Vivien; Saito, Keiko; Murnane, Richard; Balog, Simone

2016-04-01

Rapid and simple access to added-value natural hazard and disaster risk information is a key issue for various stakeholders of the development and disaster risk management (DRM) domains. Accessing available data often requires specialist knowledge of heterogeneous data, which are often highly technical and can be difficult for non-specialists in DRM to find and exploit. Thus, availability, accessibility and processing of these information sources are crucial issues, and an important reason why many development projects suffer significant impacts from natural hazards. The World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is currently developing a new open-source tool to address this knowledge gap: ThinkHazard! The main aim of the ThinkHazard! project is to develop an analytical tool dedicated to facilitating improvements in knowledge and understanding of natural hazards among non-specialists in DRM. It also aims at providing users with relevant guidance and information on handling the threats posed by the natural hazards present in a chosen location. Furthermore, all aspects of this tool will be open and transparent, in order to give users enough information to understand its operational principles. In this presentation, we will explain the technical approach behind the tool, which translates state-of-the-art probabilistic natural hazard data into understandable hazard classifications and practical recommendations. We will also demonstrate the functionality of the tool, and discuss limitations from a scientific as well as an operational perspective.

Activities to Stimulate Critical Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haynes, Thomas B.; Schroeder, Connie

1989-01-01

Describes sample vocational activities that stimulate critical thinking: (1) setting up an accounting system (business education); (2) developing a marketing plan (marketing education); (3) developing a fertilizer application plan (agricultural education); (4) making the best purchase (home economics); (5) planning a repair/remodeling project…

Altered Neural Activity Associated with Mindfulness during Nociception: A Systematic Review of Functional MRI.

PubMed

Bilevicius, Elena; Kolesar, Tiffany A; Kornelsen, Jennifer

2016-04-19

To assess the neural activity associated with mindfulness-based alterations of pain perception. The Cochrane Central, EMBASE, Ovid Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched on 2 February 2016. Titles, abstracts, and full-text articles were independently screened by two reviewers. Data were independently extracted from records that included topics of functional neuroimaging, pain, and mindfulness interventions. The literature search produced 946 total records, of which five met the inclusion criteria. Records reported pain in terms of anticipation (n = 2), unpleasantness (n = 5), and intensity (n = 5), and how mindfulness conditions altered the neural activity during noxious stimulation accordingly. Although the studies were inconsistent in relating pain components to neural activity, in general, mindfulness was able to reduce pain anticipation and unpleasantness ratings, as well as alter the corresponding neural activity. The major neural underpinnings of mindfulness-based pain reduction consisted of altered activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Mindfully Green and Healthy: An Indirect Path from Mindfulness to Ecological Behavior

PubMed Central

Geiger, Sonja M.; Otto, Siegmar; Schrader, Ulf

2018-01-01

This paper examines the nature of the link between mindfulness and ecological behavior. Based on the notion that mindfulness incorporates heightened awareness of bodily sensations, we suggest an indirect path from mindfulness to ecological behavior that is mediated through individual health behavior, such as improved nutrition and increased exercise. This indirect path is corroborated with two online studies (n = 147/n = 239) where mindfulness, personal health behavior and ecological behavior were assessed. We conclude that increased mindful awareness of momentary experience indeed favors more healthy lifestyles, which in turn relate to increased ecological behavior beyond personal health benefits. The findings support an agreeableness of personal and planetary health behavior and open up a path for environmental educational interventions based on mindfulness practices and personal health gains. PMID:29403406

Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training Reduces Mind-Wandering: The Critical Role of Acceptance

PubMed Central

Rahl, Hayley A.; Lindsay, Emily K.; Pacilio, Laura E.; Brown, Kirk W.; Creswell, J. David

2016-01-01

Mindfulness meditation programs, which train individuals to monitor their present moment experience in an open or accepting way, have been shown to reduce mind-wandering on standardized tasks in several studies. Here we test two competing accounts for how mindfulness training reduces mind-wandering, evaluating whether the attention monitoring component of mindfulness training alone reduces mind-wandering or whether the acceptance training component is necessary for reducing mind-wandering. Healthy young adults (N=147) were randomized to either a 3-day brief mindfulness training condition incorporating instruction in both attention monitoring and acceptance, a mindfulness training condition incorporating attention monitoring instruction only, a relaxation training condition, or a reading control condition. Participants completed measures of dispositional mindfulness and treatment expectancies before the training session on Day 1 and then completed a 6-minute Sustained Attention Response Task (SART) measuring mind-wandering after the training session on Day 3. Acceptance training was important for reducing mind-wandering, such that the monitoring + acceptance mindfulness training condition had the lowest mind-wandering relative to the other conditions, including significantly lower mind-wandering relative to the monitor-only mindfulness training condition. In one of the first experimental mindfulness training dismantling studies to-date, we show that training in acceptance is a critical driver of mindfulness training reductions in mind-wandering. This effect suggests that acceptance skills may facilitate emotion regulation on boring and frustrating sustained attention tasks that foster mind-wandering, such as the SART. PMID:27819445

Design Thinking for Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Andrew D.

2015-01-01

According to Vande Zande (2007), understanding the Design Process can help students become stronger critical thinkers. With this in mind, Andrew Watson decided to undertake an observational case study in which he focused directly on Design Thinking and addressed it more intentionally in his teaching. The hope was to understand how students saw…

I think, therefore I am? Examining conceptions of the self, soul, and mind.

PubMed

Anglin, Stephanie M

2014-10-01

In order to delineate among conceptions of the self, soul, and mind, participants reported where they believe these entities are located in the body and provided definitions of each entity. Results indicated that most people consider the self, soul, and mind localized in specific regions in the body. In contrast to previous research, however, some participants reported that the self is not centralized in one location. Participants tended to locate the self and mind in the head and the soul in the chest. The self and mind were commonly defined in mental terms and the soul as one's essence. These results suggest that people tend to distinguish the soul from the mind, both in how they define each entity and where they locate them in the body. Although some people locate the soul in the same region as the self, most people more closely align the mind with the self. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Mechanism of the asymmetric activation of the MinD ATPase by MinE

PubMed Central

Park, Kyung-Tae; Wu, Wei; Lovell, Scott; Lutkenhaus, Joe

2012-01-01

Summary MinD is a component of the Min system involved in the spatial regulation of cell division. It is an ATPase in the MinD/ParA/Mrp deviant Walker A motif family which is within the P loop GTPase superfamily. Its ATPase activity is stimulated by MinE, however, the mechanism of this activation is unclear. MinD forms a symmetric dimer with two binding sites for MinE, however, a recent model suggested that MinE occupying one site was sufficient for ATP hydrolysis. By generating heterodimers with one binding site for MinE we show that one binding site is sufficient for stimulation of the MinD ATPase. Furthermore, comparison of structures of MinD and related proteins led us to examine the role of N45 in the switch I region. An asparagine at this position is conserved in four of the deviant Walker A motif subfamilies (MinD, chromosomal ParAs, Get3 and FleN) and we find that N45 in MinD is essential for MinE stimulated ATPase activity and suggest that it is a key residue affected by MinE binding. PMID:22651575

The embodied and relational nature of the mind: implications for clinical interventions in aging individuals and populations

PubMed Central

Rejeski, W Jack; Gauvin, Lise

2013-01-01

Considerable research over the past decade has garnered support for the notion that the mind is both embodied and relational. Jointly, these terms imply that the brain, physical attributes of the self, and features of our interpersonal relationships and of the environments in which we live jointly regulate energy and information flow; they codetermine how we think, feel, and behave both individually and collectively. In addition to direct experience, evidence supports the view that stimuli embedded within past memories trigger multimodal simulations throughout the body and brain to literally recreate lived experience. In this paper, we review empirical support for the concept of an embodied and relational mind and then reflect on the implications of this perspective for clinical interventions in aging individuals and populations. Data suggest that environmental influences literally “get under the skin” with aging; that musculoskeletal and visceral sensations become more prominent in activities of the mind due to aging biological systems and chronic disease. We argue that conceiving the mind as embodied and relational will grow scientific inquiry in aging, transform how we think about the self-system and well-being, and lead us to rethink health promotion interventions aimed at aging individuals and populations. PMID:23776330

Empirical neuroenchantment: from reading minds to thinking critically

PubMed Central

Ali, Sabrina S.; Lifshitz, Michael; Raz, Amir

2014-01-01

While most experts agree on the limitations of neuroimaging, the unversed public—and indeed many a scholar—often valorizes brain imaging without heeding its shortcomings. Here we test the boundaries of this phenomenon, which we term neuroenchantment. How much are individuals ready to believe when encountering improbable information through the guise of neuroscience? We introduced participants to a crudely-built mock brain scanner, explaining that the machine would measure neural activity, analyze the data, and then infer the content of complex thoughts. Using a classic magic trick, we crafted an illusion whereby the imaging technology seemed to decipher the internal thoughts of participants. We found that most students—even undergraduates with advanced standing in neuroscience and psychology, who have been taught the shortcomings of neuroimaging—deemed such unlikely technology highly plausible. Our findings highlight the influence neuro-hype wields over critical thinking. PMID:24904389

Developing Minds: Programs for Teaching Thinking. Revised Edition, Volume 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costa, Arthur L., Ed.

This book contains 29 articles which address topics related to teaching thinking. The articles include: (1) "Balancing Process and Content" (Marilyn Jager Adams); (2) "Structure of Intellect (SOI)" (Mary N. Meeker); (3) "Instrumental Enrichment" (Francis R. Link); (4) "Thinking to Write: Assessing Higher-Order Cognitive Skills and Abilities"…

Environmental Activities for Teaching Critical Thinking. [Environmental Education Information Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howe, Robert W.; Disinger, John F.

The ability to think critically is essential if individuals are to live, work, and function effectively in our current and changing society. The activities included in this publication were selected to identify a variety of effective strategies for teaching critical thinking skills through environmental education. Activities include library…

The Potential of Promoting Mindfulness in a University Physical Activity and Wellness Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Abundo, Michelle Lee; Sidman, Cara L.; Fiala, Kelly A.

2016-01-01

Due to its well documented benefits, it has been recommended to integrate mindfulness into health promotion programming. The purpose of this study was to determine if mindfulness was impacted by demographic variables and/or the completion of a stress management unit including mindfulness and application activities focused on paying attention and…

Developing design-based STEM education learning activities to enhance students' creative thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinasa, Siwa; Siripun, Kulpatsorn; Yuenyong, Chokchai

2018-01-01

Creative thinking on applying science and mathematics knowledge is required by the future STEM career. The STEM education should be provided for the required skills of future STEM career. This paper aimed to clarify the developing STEM education learning activities to enhance students' creative thinking. The learning activities were developed for Grade 10 students who will study in the subject of independent study (IS) of Khon Kaen Wittayayon School, Khon Kaen, Thailand. The developing STEM education learning activities for enhancing students' creative thinking was developed regarding on 6 steps including (1) providing of understanding of fundamental STEM education concept, (2) generating creative thinking from prototype, (4) revised ideas, (5) engineering ability, and (6) presentation and discussion. The paper will clarify the 18 weeks activities that will be provided based these 6 steps of developing learning activities. Then, these STEM learning activities will be discussed to provide the chance of enhancing students' creative thinking. The paper may have implication for STEM education in school setting.

Integration of Algebraic Habits of Mind into the Classroom Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eroglu, Deniz; Tanisli, Dilek

2017-01-01

Getting students adopt the habits of mind specific to many disciplines can be seen as an anchor that will support them to solve the problems in their daily lives. Starting from this premise, a new subject, featuring the habits of mind and how to use and improve them in educational environments seems to worth thinking on. This article describes an…

Notebooks of the Mind. Explorations of Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

John-Steiner, Vera

In an attempt to find out more about how creative people engage in thinking, more than 50 men and women considered to be prominant in the humanities, the arts, and the sciences were interviewed. Letters, diaries and autobiographies of other creative individuals were examined in an effort to provide a broad base for studying the psychology of…

Being Mindful as a Phenomenological Attitude.

PubMed

Gustin, Lena Wiklund

2017-08-01

The purpose of this article is to reflect on being mindful as a phenomenological attitude rather than on describing mindfulness as a therapeutic intervention. I will also explore the possibilities that being mindful might open up in relation to nursing research and holistic nursing. I will describe and interpret mindfulness as a state of being by means of van Manen's phenomenological method, using the language of phenomenology rather than the language of reductionist science. Thus, this article can be considered a reflective narrative, describing both the process of orienting to the phenomenon, making preunderstandings-including own experiences of mindfulness-visible, and a thematic analysis of nine scientific articles describing the phenomenon. Being mindful as a phenomenological attitude can be described as a deliberate intentionality, where the person is present in the moment and open to what is going on, bridling personal values and accepting the unfamiliar, thus achieving a sense of being peacefully situated in the world, and able to apprehend one's being-in-the-world. Being mindful as a phenomenological attitude can contribute not only to phenomenological nursing research but also support nurses' presence and awareness.

How does visual thinking work in the mind of a person with autism? A personal account.

PubMed

Grandin, Temple

2009-05-27

My mind is similar to an Internet search engine that searches for photographs. I use language to narrate the photo-realistic pictures that pop up in my imagination. When I design equipment for the cattle industry, I can test run it in my imagination similar to a virtual reality computer program. All my thinking is associative and not linear. To form concepts, I sort pictures into categories similar to computer files. To form the concept of orange, I see many different orange objects, such as oranges, pumpkins, orange juice and marmalade. I have observed that there are three different specialized autistic/Asperger cognitive types. They are: (i) visual thinkers such as I who are often poor at algebra, (ii) pattern thinkers such as Daniel Tammet who excel in math and music but may have problems with reading or writing composition, and (iii) verbal specialists who are good at talking and writing but they lack visual skills.

How does visual thinking work in the mind of a person with autism? A personal account

PubMed Central

Grandin, Temple

2009-01-01

My mind is similar to an Internet search engine that searches for photographs. I use language to narrate the photo-realistic pictures that pop up in my imagination. When I design equipment for the cattle industry, I can test run it in my imagination similar to a virtual reality computer program. All my thinking is associative and not linear. To form concepts, I sort pictures into categories similar to computer files. To form the concept of orange, I see many different orange objects, such as oranges, pumpkins, orange juice and marmalade. I have observed that there are three different specialized autistic/Asperger cognitive types. They are: (i) visual thinkers such as I who are often poor at algebra, (ii) pattern thinkers such as Daniel Tammet who excel in math and music but may have problems with reading or writing composition, and (iii) verbal specialists who are good at talking and writing but they lack visual skills. PMID:19528028

Initial Validity Evidence for the State Mindfulness Scale for Physical Activity with Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ullrich-French, Sarah; Cox, Anne; Cole, Amy; Rhoades Cooper, Brittany; Gotch, Chad

2017-01-01

Experiencing mindfulness during movement-based interventions (e.g., yoga) may help support adaptive physical activity motivation processes in youth. However, there is currently no measure for assessing state mindfulness with youth within the context of physical activity. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate a…

Behavioural activation versus mindfulness-based guided self-help treatment administered through a smartphone application: a randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Ly, Kien Hoa; Trüschel, Anna; Jarl, Linnea; Magnusson, Susanna; Windahl, Tove; Johansson, Robert; Carlbring, Per; Andersson, Gerhard

2014-01-09

Evaluating and comparing the effectiveness of two smartphone-delivered treatments: one based on behavioural activation (BA) and other on mindfulness. Parallel randomised controlled, open, trial. Participants were allocated using an online randomisation tool, handled by an independent person who was separate from the staff conducting the study. General community, with recruitment nationally through mass media and advertisements. 40 participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder received a BA treatment, and 41 participants received a mindfulness treatment. 9 participants were lost at the post-treatment. An 8-week long behaviour programme administered via a smartphone application. Mindfulness: An 8-week long mindfulness programme, administered via a smartphone application. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (PHQ-9). 81 participants were randomised (mean age 36.0 years (SD=10.8)) and analysed. Results showed no significant interaction effects of group and time on any of the outcome measures either from pretreatment to post-treatment or from pretreatment to the 6-month follow-up. Subgroup analyses showed that the BA treatment was more effective than the mindfulness treatment among participants with higher initial severity of depression from pretreatment to the 6-month follow-up (PHQ-9: F (1, 362.1)=5.2, p<0.05). In contrast, the mindfulness treatment worked better than the BA treatment among participants with lower initial severity from pretreatment to the 6-month follow-up (PHQ-9: F (1, 69.3)=7.7, p<0.01); BDI-II: (F(1, 53.60)=6.25, p<0.05). The two interventions did not differ significantly from one another. For participants with higher severity of depression, the treatment based on BA was superior to the treatment based on mindfulness. For participants with lower initial severity, the treatment based on mindfulness worked significantly better than the treatment based on BA. Clinical Trials

Classroom Activities in Thinking Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruse, Janice, Comp.

Intended as a resource for teachers of grades four and up who are eager to improve their students' thinking skills while teaching their regular curriculum, this booklet contains activities that can be used to teach a new concept or to review a previously taught skill. Following an introduction, the topics of the chapters of the resource guide and…

A psychiatric dialogue on the mind-body problem.

PubMed

Kendler, K S

2001-07-01

Of all the human professions, psychiatry is most centrally concerned with the relationship of mind and brain. In many clinical interactions, psychiatrists need to consider both subjective mental experiences and objective aspects of brain function. This article attempts to summarize, in the form of a dialogue between a philosophically informed attending psychiatrist and three residents, the major philosophical positions on the mind-body problem. The positions reviewed include the following: substance dualism, property dualism, type identity, token identity, functionalism, eliminative materialism, and explanatory dualism. This essay seeks to provide a brief user-friendly introduction, from a psychiatric perspective, to current thinking about the mind-body problem.

Case studies combined with or without concept maps improve critical thinking in hospital-based nurses: a randomized-controlled trial.

PubMed

Huang, Yu-Chuan; Chen, Hsing-Hsia; Yeh, Mei-Ling; Chung, Yu-Chu

2012-06-01

Critical thinking (CT) is essential to the exercise of professional judgment. As nurses face increasingly complex health-care situations, critical thinking can promote appropriate clinical decision-making and improve the quality of nursing care. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a program of case studies, alone (CS) or combined with concept maps (CSCM), on improving CT in clinical nurses. The study was a randomized controlled trial. The experimental group participated in a 16-week CSCM program, whereas the control group participated in a CS program of equal duration. A randomized-controlled trial with a multistage randomization process was used to select and to assign participants, ultimately resulting in 67 nurses in each group. Data were collected before and after the program using the California Critical Thinking Skill Test (CCTST) and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI). After the programs, there were significant differences between the two groups in the critical thinking skills of analysis, evaluation, inference, deduction, and induction. There was also an overall significant difference, and a significant difference in the specific disposition of open-mindedness. This study supports the application of case studies combined with concept maps as a hospital-based teaching strategy to promote development of critical thinking skills and encourage dispositions for nurses. The CSCM resulted in greater improvements in all critical thinking skills of as well as the overall and open-minded affective dispositions toward critical thinking, compared with the case studies alone. An obvious improvement in the CSCM participants was the analytic skill and disposition. Further longitudinal studies and data collection from multisite evaluations in a range of geographic locales are warranted. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extended mind and after: socially extended mind and actor-network.

PubMed

Kono, Tetsuya

2014-03-01

The concept of extended mind has been impressively developed over the last 10 years by many philosophers and cognitive scientists. The extended mind thesis (EM) affirms that the mind is not simply ensconced inside the head, but extends to the whole system of brain-body-environment. Recently, some philosophers and psychologists try to adapt the idea of EM to the domain of social cognition research. Mind is socially extended (SEM). However, EM/SEM theory has problems to analyze the interactions among a subject and its surroundings with opposition, antagonism, or conflict; it also tends to think that the environment surrounding the subject is passive or static, and to neglect the power of non-human actants to direct and regulate the human subject. In these points, actor-network theory (ANT) proposed by Latour and Callon is more persuasive, while sharing some important ideas with EM/SEM theory. Actor-network is a hybrid community which is composed of a series of heterogeneous elements, animate and inanimate for a certain period of time. I shall conclude that EM/SEM could be best analyzed as a special case of actor-network. EM/SEM is a system which can be controlled by a human agent alone. In order to understand collective behavior, philosophy and psychology have to study the actor-network in which human individuals are situated.

Meditate to Create: The Impact of Focused-Attention and Open-Monitoring Training on Convergent and Divergent Thinking

PubMed Central

Colzato, Lorenza S.; Ozturk, Ayca; Hommel, Bernhard

2012-01-01

The practice of meditation has seen a tremendous increase in the western world since the 60s. Scientific interest in meditation has also significantly grown in the past years; however, so far, it has neglected the idea that different type of meditations may drive specific cognitive-control states. In this study we investigate the possible impact of meditation based on focused-attention (FA) and meditation based on open-monitoring (OM) on creativity tasks tapping into convergent and divergent thinking. We show that FA meditation and OM meditation exert specific effect on creativity. First, OM meditation induces a control state that promotes divergent thinking, a style of thinking that allows many new ideas of being generated. Second, FA meditation does not sustain convergent thinking, the process of generating one possible solution to a particular problem. We suggest that the enhancement of positive mood induced by meditating has boosted the effect in the first case and counteracted in the second case. PMID:22529832

Teaching Critical Thinking and Civic Thinking in a First-Year College Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stearns, Donald E.; Houlihan, Adam J.; Corbo, Christopher P.; Mosher, Roy H.

2017-01-01

Two professors co-taught critical and civic thinking in the same first-semester course for four years. For the first year, they used computerized argument mapping and critical-thinking-for-civic-thinking (CT)[superscript 2] exercises based on open-ended scenarios framed within a civic context. The instructors assessed student skill levels using…

Mind wandering and motor control: off-task thinking disrupts the online adjustment of behavior.

PubMed

Kam, Julia W Y; Dao, Elizabeth; Blinn, Patricia; Krigolson, Olav E; Boyd, Lara A; Handy, Todd C

2012-01-01

Mind wandering episodes have been construed as periods of "stimulus-independent" thought, where our minds are decoupled from the external sensory environment. In two experiments, we used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to determine whether mind wandering episodes can also be considered as periods of "response-independent" thought, with our minds disengaged from adjusting our behavioral outputs. In the first experiment, participants performed a motor tracking task and were occasionally prompted to report whether their attention was "on-task" or "mind wandering." We found greater tracking error in periods prior to mind wandering vs. on-task reports. To ascertain whether this finding was due to attenuation in visual perception per se vs. a disruptive effect of mind wandering on performance monitoring, we conducted a second experiment in which participants completed a time-estimation task. They were given feedback on the accuracy of their estimations while we recorded their EEG, and were also occasionally asked to report their attention state. We found that the sensitivity of behavior and the P3 ERP component to feedback signals were significantly reduced just prior to mind wandering vs. on-task attentional reports. Moreover, these effects co-occurred with decreases in the error-related negativity elicited by feedback signals (fERN), a direct measure of behavioral feedback assessment in cortex. Our findings suggest that the functional consequences of mind wandering are not limited to just the processing of incoming stimulation per se, but extend as well to the control and adjustment of behavior.

Mind wandering and motor control: off-task thinking disrupts the online adjustment of behavior

PubMed Central

Kam, Julia W. Y.; Dao, Elizabeth; Blinn, Patricia; Krigolson, Olav E.; Boyd, Lara A.; Handy, Todd C.

2012-01-01

Mind wandering episodes have been construed as periods of “stimulus-independent” thought, where our minds are decoupled from the external sensory environment. In two experiments, we used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to determine whether mind wandering episodes can also be considered as periods of “response-independent” thought, with our minds disengaged from adjusting our behavioral outputs. In the first experiment, participants performed a motor tracking task and were occasionally prompted to report whether their attention was “on-task” or “mind wandering.” We found greater tracking error in periods prior to mind wandering vs. on-task reports. To ascertain whether this finding was due to attenuation in visual perception per se vs. a disruptive effect of mind wandering on performance monitoring, we conducted a second experiment in which participants completed a time-estimation task. They were given feedback on the accuracy of their estimations while we recorded their EEG, and were also occasionally asked to report their attention state. We found that the sensitivity of behavior and the P3 ERP component to feedback signals were significantly reduced just prior to mind wandering vs. on-task attentional reports. Moreover, these effects co-occurred with decreases in the error-related negativity elicited by feedback signals (fERN), a direct measure of behavioral feedback assessment in cortex. Our findings suggest that the functional consequences of mind wandering are not limited to just the processing of incoming stimulation per se, but extend as well to the control and adjustment of behavior. PMID:23248596

Mindfulness Training Alters Emotional Memory Recall Compared to Active Controls: Support for an Emotional Information Processing Model of Mindfulness

PubMed Central

Roberts-Wolfe, Douglas; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Hastings, Elizabeth; Roth, Harold; Britton, Willoughby

2012-01-01

Objectives: While mindfulness-based interventions have received widespread application in both clinical and non-clinical populations, the mechanism by which mindfulness meditation improves well-being remains elusive. One possibility is that mindfulness training alters the processing of emotional information, similar to prevailing cognitive models of depression and anxiety. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness training on emotional information processing (i.e., memory) biases in relation to both clinical symptomatology and well-being in comparison to active control conditions. Methods: Fifty-eight university students (28 female, age = 20.1 ± 2.7 years) participated in either a 12-week course containing a “meditation laboratory” or an active control course with similar content or experiential practice laboratory format (music). Participants completed an emotional word recall task and self-report questionnaires of well-being and clinical symptoms before and after the 12-week course. Results: Meditators showed greater increases in positive word recall compared to controls [F(1, 56) = 6.6, p = 0.02]. The meditation group increased significantly more on measures of well-being [F(1, 56) = 6.6, p = 0.01], with a marginal decrease in depression and anxiety [F(1, 56) = 3.0, p = 0.09] compared to controls. Increased positive word recall was associated with increased psychological well-being (r = 0.31, p = 0.02) and decreased clinical symptoms (r = −0.29, p = 0.03). Conclusion: Mindfulness training was associated with greater improvements in processing efficiency for positively valenced stimuli than active control conditions. This change in emotional information processing was associated with improvements in psychological well-being and less depression and anxiety. These data suggest that mindfulness training may improve well-being via changes in emotional information processing. Future

Mindfulness training alters emotional memory recall compared to active controls: support for an emotional information processing model of mindfulness.

PubMed

Roberts-Wolfe, Douglas; Sacchet, Matthew D; Hastings, Elizabeth; Roth, Harold; Britton, Willoughby

2012-01-01

While mindfulness-based interventions have received widespread application in both clinical and non-clinical populations, the mechanism by which mindfulness meditation improves well-being remains elusive. One possibility is that mindfulness training alters the processing of emotional information, similar to prevailing cognitive models of depression and anxiety. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness training on emotional information processing (i.e., memory) biases in relation to both clinical symptomatology and well-being in comparison to active control conditions. Fifty-eight university students (28 female, age = 20.1 ± 2.7 years) participated in either a 12-week course containing a "meditation laboratory" or an active control course with similar content or experiential practice laboratory format (music). Participants completed an emotional word recall task and self-report questionnaires of well-being and clinical symptoms before and after the 12-week course. Meditators showed greater increases in positive word recall compared to controls [F(1, 56) = 6.6, p = 0.02]. The meditation group increased significantly more on measures of well-being [F(1, 56) = 6.6, p = 0.01], with a marginal decrease in depression and anxiety [F(1, 56) = 3.0, p = 0.09] compared to controls. Increased positive word recall was associated with increased psychological well-being (r = 0.31, p = 0.02) and decreased clinical symptoms (r = -0.29, p = 0.03). Mindfulness training was associated with greater improvements in processing efficiency for positively valenced stimuli than active control conditions. This change in emotional information processing was associated with improvements in psychological well-being and less depression and anxiety. These data suggest that mindfulness training may improve well-being via changes in emotional information processing. Future research with a fully randomized design will be

The relation of trait and state mindfulness with satisfaction and physical activity: A cross-sectional study in 305 Dutch participants.

PubMed

Tsafou, Kalliopi-Eleni; Lacroix, Joyca Pw; van Ee, Raymond; Vinkers, Charlotte Dw; De Ridder, Denise Td

2017-09-01

Previous research has shown that satisfaction mediates the relationship of state mindfulness (i.e. during physical activity) with physical activity. This study aimed to replicate this finding and to explore the role of trait mindfulness with a cross-sectional design. In all, 305 participants completed measures on trait and state mindfulness, satisfaction with physical activity, and physical activity. Mediation analyses were used. Satisfaction mediated the effect of state mindfulness on physical activity. Trait mindfulness related to physical activity via an indirect path, namely through two consecutive mediators, first state mindfulness and then satisfaction. Our results suggest that to enhance satisfaction, both state and trait mindfulness should be considered.

Mind Mapping in Executive Education: Applications and Outcomes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mento, Anthony J.; Martinelli, Patrick; Jones, Raymond M.

1999-01-01

Illustrates the technique of mind mapping as applied in executive education and management development. Indicates that most of the 70 students surveyed appreciated its use for recall and creative thinking, although some prefer a top-to-bottom, linear outline approach. (SK)

An open trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction for young adults with social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Hjeltnes, Aslak; Molde, Helge; Schanche, Elisabeth; Vøllestad, Jon; Lillebostad Svendsen, Julie; Moltu, Christian; Binder, Per-Einar

2017-02-01

The present study investigated mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for young adults with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) in an open trial. Fifty-three young adults in a higher education setting underwent a standard eight-week MBSR program. Eight participants (15%) did not complete the program. Participants reported significant reductions in SAD symptoms and global psychological distress, as well as increases in mindfulness, self-compassion, and self-esteem. Using intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses, effect sizes ranged from large to moderate for SAD symptoms (Cohen's d = 0.80) and global psychological distress (d = 0.61). Completer analyses yielded large effect sizes for SAD symptoms (d = 0.96) and global psychological distress (d = 0.81). The largest effect sizes were found for self-compassion (d = 1.49) and mindfulness (d = 1.35). Two thirds of the participants who were in the clinical range at pretreatment reported either clinically significant change (37%) or reliable improvement (31%) on SAD symptoms after completing the MBSR program, and almost two thirds reported either clinically significant change (37%) or reliable improvement (26%) on global psychological distress. MBSR may be a beneficial intervention for young adults in higher education with SAD, and there is a need for more research on mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions for SAD. © 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Identification of Relationships between Emotional Intelligence Skill & Critical Thinking Disposition in Undergraduate Leadership Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stedman, Nicole L. P.; Andenoro, Anthony C.

2007-01-01

Engaging students emotionally is the key to strengthening their dispositions toward critical thinking. Elder (1997) contends that it is critical thinking which leads us to a rational and reasonable emotional life. The link between thinking and emotions is essential in leadership education. With this in mind, the researchers sought to examine the…

Critical Thinking Concept Reconstructed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minter, Mary Kennedy

2010-01-01

This paper explores the proposition that teaching of critical thinking (CT) should include: (1) identifying and addressing the many environmental variables acting as barriers to our human thinking, i.e., an open system approach, and (2) utilizing the interrelatedness of the CT building blocks, i.e., creative thinking techniques, levels of…

Absorption of language concepts in the machine mind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kollár, Ján

2016-06-01

In our approach, the machine mind is the applicative dynamic system represented by its algorithmically evolvable internal language. By other words, the mind and the language of mind are synonyms. Coming out from Shaumyan's semiotic theory of languages, we present the representation of language concepts in the machine mind as a result of our experiment, to show non-redundancy of the language of mind. To provide useful restriction for further research, we also introduce the hypothesis of semantic saturation in Computer-Computer communication, which indicates that a set of machines is not self-evolvable. The goal of our research is to increase the abstraction of Human-Computer and Computer-Computer communication. If we want humans and machines comunicate as a parent with the child, using different symbols and media, we must find the language of mind commonly usable by both machines and humans. In our opinion, there exist a kind of calm language of thinking, which we try to propose for machines in this paper. We separate the layers of a machine mind, we present the structure of the evolved mind and we discuss the selected properties. We are concentrating on the representation of symbolized concepts in the mind, that are languages, not just grammars, since they have meaning.

Adults are intuitive mind-body dualists.

PubMed

Forstmann, Matthias; Burgmer, Pascal

2015-02-01

In the present research, we tested the hypotheses that (a) adults are intuitive mind-body dualists, (b) that this belief can be considered a default, and (c) that it is partially explained by essentialistic reasoning about the nature of the mind. Over 8 studies, using various thought experiment paradigms, participants reliably ascribed to a physically duplicated being a greater retention of physical than of mental properties. This difference was unrelated to whether or not this being was given a proper name (Study 1b) and was only found for entities that were considered to actually possess a mind (Study 1c). Further, we found that an intuitive belief in mind-body dualism may in fact be considered a default: Taxing participants' cognitive resources (Study 2) or priming them with an intuitive (vs. analytical) thinking style (Studies 3a and 3b) both increased dualistic beliefs. In a last set of studies, we found that beliefs in mind-body dualism are indeed related to essentialistic reasoning about the mind. When a living being was reassembled from its original molecules rather than recreated from new molecules, dualistic beliefs were significantly reduced (Studies 4a and 4b). Thus, results of the present research indicate that, despite any acquired scientific knowledge about the neurological origins of mental life, most adults remain "essentialistic mind-body dualists" at heart.

Learning to BREATHE: A Pilot Study of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention to Support Marginalized Youth

PubMed Central

Eva, Amy L.; Thayer, Natalie M.

2017-01-01

Mindfulness-based curricular interventions can support adolescents who are at risk of school failure as they negotiate the transition from high school into young adulthood. Researchers hypothesized that a 6-week mindfulness-based intervention would lower participants’ perceived stress while increasing their reported levels of self-esteem. Participants (N = 23) ranged in age from 17 to 20 years while the majority were male students of color. Pre- and postintervention survey mean responses revealed statistically significant differences on the Single-Item Self-Esteem Scale and 3 items on the Perceived Stress Scale (with small to moderate effect sizes). Postintervention focus group (n = 8) data indicated that the most valued daily practice was the body scan technique. Open coding of the focus group data also revealed several key themes in the form of overarching codes as participants discussed intervention benefits. These included (a) self-regulation, (b) attention-awareness, and (c) positive thinking. PMID:29228794

Hard Thinking about Soft Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Claxton, Guy; Costa, Arthur L.; Kallick, Bena

2016-01-01

People use various terms to refer to traits and tendencies connected to social-emotional behavior and ways of thinking or approaching problems--from 21st century skills to mindsets to habits of mind. Such traits are also often called soft skills or non-cognitive skills. The authors contend that these latter terms imply that these traits and…

The five minds of a manager.

PubMed

Gosling, Jonathan; Mintzberg, Henry

2003-11-01

Managers are told: Be global and be local. Collaborate and compete. Change, perpetually, and maintain order. Make the numbers while nurturing your people. To be effective, managers need to consider the juxtapositions in order to arrive at a deep integration of these seemingly contradictory concerns. That means they must focus not only on what they have to accomplish but also on how they have to think. When the authors, respectively the director of the Centre for Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter in the U.K. and the Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Montreal, set out to develop a masters program for practicing managers, they saw that they could not rely on the usual MBA educational structure, which divides the management world into discrete business functions such as marketing and accounting. They needed an educational structure that would encourage synthesis rather than separation. Managing, they determined, involves five tasks, each with its own mind-set: managing the self (the reflective mind-set); managing organizations (the analytic mind-set); managing context (the worldly mind-set); managing relationships (the collaborative mind-set); and managing change (the action mind-set). The program is built on the exploration and integration of those five aspects of the managerial mind. The authors say it has proved powerful in the classroom and insightful in practice. Imagine the mind-sets as threads and the manager as weaver. Effective performance means weaving each mind-set over and under the others to create a fine, sturdy cloth.

Validity evidence for the adaptation of the State Mindfulness Scale for Physical Activity (SMS-PA) in Spanish youth.

PubMed

Ullrich-French, Sarah; González Hernández, Juan; Hidalgo Montesinos, María D

2017-02-01

Mindfulness is an increasingly popular construct with promise in enhancing multiple positive health outcomes. Physical activity is an important behavior for enhancing overall health, but no Spanish language scale exists to test how mindfulness during physical activity may facilitate physical activity motivation or behavior. This study examined the validity of a Spanish adaption of a new scale, the State Mindfulness Scale for Physical Activity, to assess mindfulness during a specific experience of physical activity. Spanish youths (N = 502) completed a cross-sectional survey of state mindfulness during physical activity and physical activity motivation regulations based on Self-Determination Theory. A high-order model fit the data well and supports the use of one general state mindfulness factor or the use of separate subscales of mindfulness of mental (e.g., thoughts, emotions) and body (physical movement, muscles) aspects of the experience. Internal consistency reliability was good for the general scale and both sub-scales. The pattern of correlations with motivation regulations provides further support for construct validity with significant and positive correlations with self-determined forms of motivation and significant and negative correlations with external regulation and amotivation. Initial validity evidence is promising for the use of the adapted measure.

The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies & Traditional Knowledge.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fixico, Donald L.

This book presents an ethnohistorical examination of American Indian thinking and philosophy and strives to explain the complexity of the American Indian mind in its traditional cultural and natural environment and in contrast to the American mainstream linear world. It is argued that Indian thinking is visual; circular; concerned with the…

Indigenous Intelligence: Have We Lost Our Indigenous Mind?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dumont, Jim

2002-01-01

Eurocentric intelligence is restricted to rational, linear, competitive, and hierarchical thinking. Indigenous intelligence encompasses the body, mind, heart, and experience in total responsiveness and total relationship to the whole environment, which includes the seven generations past and future. Implementation of major changes to indigenous…

Behavioural activation versus mindfulness-based guided self-help treatment administered through a smartphone application: a randomised controlled trial

PubMed Central

Ly, Kien Hoa; Trüschel, Anna; Jarl, Linnea; Magnusson, Susanna; Windahl, Tove; Johansson, Robert; Carlbring, Per; Andersson, Gerhard

2014-01-01

Objectives Evaluating and comparing the effectiveness of two smartphone-delivered treatments: one based on behavioural activation (BA) and other on mindfulness. Design Parallel randomised controlled, open, trial. Participants were allocated using an online randomisation tool, handled by an independent person who was separate from the staff conducting the study. Setting General community, with recruitment nationally through mass media and advertisements. Participants 40 participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder received a BA treatment, and 41 participants received a mindfulness treatment. 9 participants were lost at the post-treatment. Intervention BA: An 8-week long behaviour programme administered via a smartphone application. Mindfulness: An 8-week long mindfulness programme, administered via a smartphone application. Main outcome measures The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (PHQ-9). Results 81 participants were randomised (mean age 36.0 years (SD=10.8)) and analysed. Results showed no significant interaction effects of group and time on any of the outcome measures either from pretreatment to post-treatment or from pretreatment to the 6-month follow-up. Subgroup analyses showed that the BA treatment was more effective than the mindfulness treatment among participants with higher initial severity of depression from pretreatment to the 6-month follow-up (PHQ-9: F (1, 362.1)=5.2, p<0.05). In contrast, the mindfulness treatment worked better than the BA treatment among participants with lower initial severity from pretreatment to the 6-month follow-up (PHQ-9: F (1, 69.3)=7.7, p<0.01); BDI-II: (F(1, 53.60)=6.25, p<0.05). Conclusions The two interventions did not differ significantly from one another. For participants with higher severity of depression, the treatment based on BA was superior to the treatment based on mindfulness. For participants with lower initial severity, the

Going Bananas over Fruit: Using Habits of Mind to Foster Nutritional Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Rachel; Hodges, Georgia Wood; Haddox, Anne; Arrington, Alejandro; Tippins, Deborah

2009-01-01

Science literacy for all students is an education goal in the United States, as well as in many other parts of the world. Habits of mind are the skills and attitudes that students need to develop in order to understand science as a way of thinking. In this standards-based era, habits of mind can be readily incorporated to teach multiple content…

Predicting Work Activities with Divergent Thinking Tests: A Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clapham, Maria M.; Cowdery, Edwina M.; King, Kelly E.; Montang, Melissa A.

2005-01-01

This study examined whether divergent thinking test scores obtained from engineering students during college predicted creative work activities fifteen years later. Results showed that a subscore of the "Owens Creativity Test", which assesses divergent thinking about mechanical objects, correlated significantly with self-ratings of…

Solving Homeland Security’s Wicked Problems: A Design Thinking Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

spur solutions. This thesis provides a framework for how S&T can incorporate design- thinking principles that are working well in other domains to...to spur solutions. This thesis provides a framework for how S&T can incorporate design-thinking principles that are working well in other domains to...Galbraith’s Star Model was used to analyze how DHS S&T, MindLab, and DARPA apply design-thinking principles to inform the framework to apply and

[Drug innovation and reverse thinking].

PubMed

Guo, Zong-ru

2016-03-01

Drug innovation involves an individual molecular operation, and every new molecular entity features a hard-duplicated track of R&D. The transformation from an active compound to a new medicine carries out almost in a chaotic system devoid of regularity and periodic alteration. Since new millennium the dominant position in drug innovation has been occupied by the first-in-class drugs, yet the number of launched follow-on drugs has been distinctly decreased. The innovation of first-in-class drugs is characterized by a high risk throughout the whole process. To achieve initiative and uniqueness of drug discovery, the strategy and method of the inverse thinking might be a feasible way, because the inertial and conformity thinkings in drug discovery normally lead to ensemble with similar drug category. However, the study from the flipside or opposite of things(e.g. targets or effects) brand new routes might be opened. This article is to describe the strategy of reverse thinking in drug discovery by some examples including opioid receptor antagonist eluxadoline, HSP90 activator, h ERG channel agonist, covalent drugs, and ultra-small drugs.

Mindfulness, Physical Activity and Avoidance of Secondhand Smoke: A Study of College Students in Shanghai.

PubMed

Gao, Yu; Shi, Lu

2015-08-21

To better understand the documented link between mindfulness and longevity, we examine the association between mindfulness and conscious avoidance of secondhand smoke (SHS), as well as the association between mindfulness and physical activity. In Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE) we surveyed a convenience sample of 1516 college freshmen. We measured mindfulness, weekly physical activity, and conscious avoidance of secondhand smoke, along with demographic and behavioral covariates. We used a multilevel logistic regression to test the association between mindfulness and conscious avoidance of secondhand smoke, and used a Tobit regression model to test the association between mindfulness and metabolic equivalent hours per week. In both models the home province of the student respondent was used as the cluster variable, and demographic and behavioral covariates, such as age, gender, smoking history, household registration status (urban vs. rural), the perceived smog frequency in their home towns, and the asthma diagnosis. The logistic regression of consciously avoiding SHS shows that a higher level of mindfulness was associated with an increase in the odds ratio of conscious SHS avoidance (logged odds: 0.22, standard error: 0.07, p < 0.01). The Tobit regression shows that a higher level of mindfulness was associated with more metabolic equivalent hours per week (Tobit coefficient: 4.09, standard error: 1.13, p < 0.001). This study is an innovative attempt to study the behavioral issue of secondhand smoke from the perspective of the potential victim, rather than the active smoker. The observed associational patterns here are consistent with previous findings that mindfulness is associated with healthier behaviors in obesity prevention and substance use. Research designs with interventions are needed to test the causal link between mindfulness and these healthy behaviors.

Mindfulness, Physical Activity and Avoidance of Secondhand Smoke: A Study of College Students in Shanghai

PubMed Central

Gao, Yu; Shi, Lu

2015-01-01

Introduction: To better understand the documented link between mindfulness and longevity, we examine the association between mindfulness and conscious avoidance of secondhand smoke (SHS), as well as the association between mindfulness and physical activity. Method: In Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE) we surveyed a convenience sample of 1516 college freshmen. We measured mindfulness, weekly physical activity, and conscious avoidance of secondhand smoke, along with demographic and behavioral covariates. We used a multilevel logistic regression to test the association between mindfulness and conscious avoidance of secondhand smoke, and used a Tobit regression model to test the association between mindfulness and metabolic equivalent hours per week. In both models the home province of the student respondent was used as the cluster variable, and demographic and behavioral covariates, such as age, gender, smoking history, household registration status (urban vs. rural), the perceived smog frequency in their home towns, and the asthma diagnosis. Results: The logistic regression of consciously avoiding SHS shows that a higher level of mindfulness was associated with an increase in the odds ratio of conscious SHS avoidance (logged odds: 0.22, standard error: 0.07, p < 0.01). The Tobit regression shows that a higher level of mindfulness was associated with more metabolic equivalent hours per week (Tobit coefficient: 4.09, standard error: 1.13, p < 0.001). Discussion: This study is an innovative attempt to study the behavioral issue of secondhand smoke from the perspective of the potential victim, rather than the active smoker. The observed associational patterns here are consistent with previous findings that mindfulness is associated with healthier behaviors in obesity prevention and substance use. Research designs with interventions are needed to test the causal link between mindfulness and these healthy behaviors. PMID:26308029

Bridging Intuitive and Analytical Thinking: Four Looks at the 2-Glass Puzzle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ejersbo, Lisser Rye; Leron, Uri; Arcavi, Abraham

2014-01-01

The observation that the human mind operates in two distinct thinking modes--intuitive and analytical- have occupied psychological and educational researchers for several decades now. Much of this research has focused on the explanatory power of intuitive thinking as source of errors and misconceptions, but in this article, in contrast, we view…

Mindful Parenting Training in Child Psychiatric Settings: Heightened Parental Mindfulness Reduces Parents' and Children's Psychopathology.

PubMed

Meppelink, Renée; de Bruin, Esther I; Wanders-Mulder, Femy H; Vennik, Corinne J; Bögels, Susan M

Mindful parenting training is an application of mindfulness-based interventions that allows parents to perceive their children with unbiased and open attention without prejudgment and become more attentive and less reactive in their parenting. This study examined the effectiveness of mindful parenting training in a clinical setting on child and parental psychopathology and of mindfulness as a predictor of these outcomes. Seventy parents of 70 children (mean age = 8.7) who were referred to a mental health care clinic because of their children's psychopathology participated in an 8-week mindful parenting training. Parents completed questionnaires at pre-test, post-test and 8-week follow-up. A significant decrease was found in children's and parents' psychopathology and a significant increase in mindful parenting and in general mindful awareness. Improvement in general mindful awareness, but not mindful parenting, was found to predict a reduction in parental psychopathology, whereas improvement in mindful parenting, but not general mindful awareness, predicted the reduction of child psychopathology. This study adds to the emerging body of evidence indicating that mindful parenting training is effective for parents themselves and, indirectly, for their children suffering from psychopathology. As parents' increased mindful parenting, but not increased general mindfulness, is found to predict child psychopathology, mindful parenting training rather than general mindfulness training appears to be the training of choice. However, RCTs comparing mindful parenting to general mindfulness training and to parent management training are needed in order to shed more light on the effects of mindful parenting and mechanisms of change.

Open Mind, Open Heart: An Anthropological Study of the Therapeutics of Meditation Practice in the US

PubMed Central

Myers, Neely; Lewis, Sara; Dutton, MaryAnn

2015-01-01

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews collected with meditation teachers and students in the United States, this article will argue that active training in meditation-based practices occasions the opportunity for people with traumatic stress to develop a stronger mind-body connection through heightened somatic awareness and a focus on the present moment that they find to be therapeutic. Three important themes related to healing through meditation for trauma emerged from the data and centered around the ways our interlocutors attempted to realign their sense of self, mind and body, after a traumatic experience. The themes helped explain why US women perceive meditation as therapeutic for trauma, namely that the practice of meditation enables one to focus on the lived present rather than traumatic memories, to accept pain and “open” one's heart, and to make use of silence instead of speech as a healing modality. As meditation practices increasingly enter global popular culture, promoted for postulated health benefits, the driving question of this research—how meditation may perpetuate human resilience for women who have experienced trauma based on their own perspectives of meditation practices—is a critical addition to the literature. PMID:25613595

Differential patterns in mind perception in subclinical paranoia: relationships to self-reported empathy.

PubMed

Buck, Benjamin; Hester, Neil; Penn, David L; Gray, Kurt

2017-03-01

Although social cognition skills and biases are well-studied in paranoia, "mind perception" - perceiving the extent to which someone even possesses a thinking, feeling mind - is not. We sought to better characterise the profile of mind perception for individuals with paranoia. We examined links between mind perception and paranoia in a large (n = 890) subclinical sample. Participants completed measures of paranoia, schizotypy, mind perception, and dispositional empathy. These assessments were examined for their relationships to one another, as well as the possibility that mind perception partially mediates the relationship between paranoia and empathy. Analyses revealed that increased paranoia was linked to less mind perception towards people. This distorted mind perception partially explained the link between paranoia and both perspective taking and empathic concern. In paranoia - and psychopathology more broadly - understanding and addressing distorted mind perception may be one component of restoring social functioning.

Educational Modes of Thinking in Neo-Confucianism: A Traditional Lens for Rethinking Modern Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Keumjoong

2013-01-01

This article discusses the distinctive educational modes of thinking in Neo-Confucianism, with an interest of extracting Confucian reflective views for modern education of traditionally Confucian East Asia. Neo-Confucian typical modes of thinking on education are characterized as "heart-mind centered" and "learning as…

LSD Increases Primary Process Thinking via Serotonin 2A Receptor Activation

PubMed Central

Kraehenmann, Rainer; Pokorny, Dan; Aicher, Helena; Preller, Katrin H.; Pokorny, Thomas; Bosch, Oliver G.; Seifritz, Erich; Vollenweider, Franz X.

2017-01-01

Rationale: Stimulation of serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptors by lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and related compounds such as psilocybin has previously been shown to increase primary process thinking – an ontologically and evolutionary early, implicit, associative, and automatic mode of thinking which is typically occurring during altered states of consciousness such as dreaming. However, it is still largely unknown whether LSD induces primary process thinking under placebo-controlled, standardized experimental conditions and whether these effects are related to subjective experience and 5-HT2A receptor activation. Therefore, this study aimed to test the hypotheses that LSD increases primary process thinking and that primary process thinking depends on 5-HT2A receptor activation and is related to subjective drug effects. Methods: Twenty-five healthy subjects performed an audio-recorded mental imagery task 7 h after drug administration during three drug conditions: placebo, LSD (100 mcg orally) and LSD together with the 5-HT2A receptor antagonist ketanserin (40 mg orally). The main outcome variable in this study was primary index (PI), a formal measure of primary process thinking in the imagery reports. State of consciousness was evaluated using the Altered State of Consciousness (5D-ASC) rating scale. Results: LSD, compared with placebo, significantly increased primary index (p < 0.001, Bonferroni-corrected). The LSD-induced increase in primary index was positively correlated with LSD-induced disembodiment (p < 0.05, Bonferroni-corrected), and blissful state (p < 0.05, Bonferroni-corrected) on the 5D-ASC. Both LSD-induced increases in primary index and changes in state of consciousness were fully blocked by ketanserin. Conclusion: LSD induces primary process thinking via activation of 5-HT2A receptors and in relation to disembodiment and blissful state. Primary process thinking appears to crucially organize inner experiences during both dreams and psychedelic

LSD Increases Primary Process Thinking via Serotonin 2A Receptor Activation.

PubMed

Kraehenmann, Rainer; Pokorny, Dan; Aicher, Helena; Preller, Katrin H; Pokorny, Thomas; Bosch, Oliver G; Seifritz, Erich; Vollenweider, Franz X

2017-01-01

Rationale: Stimulation of serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptors by lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and related compounds such as psilocybin has previously been shown to increase primary process thinking - an ontologically and evolutionary early, implicit, associative, and automatic mode of thinking which is typically occurring during altered states of consciousness such as dreaming. However, it is still largely unknown whether LSD induces primary process thinking under placebo-controlled, standardized experimental conditions and whether these effects are related to subjective experience and 5-HT2A receptor activation. Therefore, this study aimed to test the hypotheses that LSD increases primary process thinking and that primary process thinking depends on 5-HT2A receptor activation and is related to subjective drug effects. Methods: Twenty-five healthy subjects performed an audio-recorded mental imagery task 7 h after drug administration during three drug conditions: placebo, LSD (100 mcg orally) and LSD together with the 5-HT2A receptor antagonist ketanserin (40 mg orally). The main outcome variable in this study was primary index (PI), a formal measure of primary process thinking in the imagery reports. State of consciousness was evaluated using the Altered State of Consciousness (5D-ASC) rating scale. Results: LSD, compared with placebo, significantly increased primary index ( p < 0.001, Bonferroni-corrected). The LSD-induced increase in primary index was positively correlated with LSD-induced disembodiment ( p < 0.05, Bonferroni-corrected), and blissful state ( p < 0.05, Bonferroni-corrected) on the 5D-ASC. Both LSD-induced increases in primary index and changes in state of consciousness were fully blocked by ketanserin. Conclusion: LSD induces primary process thinking via activation of 5-HT2A receptors and in relation to disembodiment and blissful state. Primary process thinking appears to crucially organize inner experiences during both dreams and psychedelic

Using mindfulness to reduce the health effects of community reaction to aircraft noise.

PubMed

Hede, Andrew J

2017-01-01

This paper investigates whether mindfulness-based interventions might ameliorate the detrimental health effects of aircraft noise on residential communities. Numerous empirical studies over the past 50 years have demonstrated the increasing negative impact of aircraft noise on residents worldwide. However, extensive database searches have revealed no published studies on psychological interventions that reduce residents' reactivity to environmental noise. By contrast, there has been extensive research over several decades confirming the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction training in lowering people's stress from work and life. Considering that stress is a major component of aircraft noise reaction, it would seem worth assessing whether mindfulness-based interventions might be effective in reducing the health effects of aircraft noise. It appears that no existing conceptualization of mindfulness specifically accounts for noise as a stressor. Conceptual Analysis: A new conceptual model is presented here which explains how mindfulness can reduce noise reactivity. Two types of mindfulness are distinguished: an active form (meta-mindfulness) and a passive form (supra-mindfulness). It is posited that meta-mindfulness can facilitate "cognitive defusion" which research has confirmed as enabling people to disconnect from their own dysfunctional thoughts. In the case of aircraft noise, negative thinking associated with residents' reactive experiences can exacerbate the health effects they suffer. The present model further proposes that supra-mindfulness can enable an individual to disengage their own sense of identity from the often overwhelming negative thoughts which can define their existence when they are consumed by extreme noise annoyance. The mindfulness processes of defusion and disidentification are postulated to be the key efficacy mechanisms potentially responsible for reducing reactivity to aircraft noise. This approach can be evaluated by

Using Mindfulness to Reduce the Health Effects of Community Reaction to Aircraft Noise

PubMed Central

Hede, Andrew J.

2017-01-01

Aim: This paper investigates whether mindfulness-based interventions might ameliorate the detrimental health effects of aircraft noise on residential communities. Review: Numerous empirical studies over the past 50 years have demonstrated the increasing negative impact of aircraft noise on residents worldwide. However, extensive database searches have revealed no published studies on psychological interventions that reduce residents’ reactivity to environmental noise. By contrast, there has been extensive research over several decades confirming the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction training in lowering people’s stress from work and life. Considering that stress is a major component of aircraft noise reaction, it would seem worth assessing whether mindfulness-based interventions might be effective in reducing the health effects of aircraft noise. It appears that no existing conceptualization of mindfulness specifically accounts for noise as a stressor. Conceptual Analysis: A new conceptual model is presented here which explains how mindfulness can reduce noise reactivity. Two types of mindfulness are distinguished: an active form (meta-mindfulness) and a passive form (supra-mindfulness). It is posited that meta-mindfulness can facilitate “cognitive defusion” which research has confirmed as enabling people to disconnect from their own dysfunctional thoughts. In the case of aircraft noise, negative thinking associated with residents’ reactive experiences can exacerbate the health effects they suffer. The present model further proposes that supra-mindfulness can enable an individual to disengage their own sense of identity from the often overwhelming negative thoughts which can define their existence when they are consumed by extreme noise annoyance. Conclusion: The mindfulness processes of defusion and disidentification are postulated to be the key efficacy mechanisms potentially responsible for reducing reactivity to aircraft noise. This

Mind Wandering in Chinese Daily Lives – An Experience Sampling Study

PubMed Central

Song, Xiaolan; Wang, Xiao

2012-01-01

Mind wandering has recently received extensive research because it reveals an important characteristic of our consciousness: conscious experience can arise internally and involuntarily. As the first attempt to examine mind wandering in a non-western population, the present study used experience-sampling method to collect the daily momentary mind wandering episodes in a Chinese sample. The results showed that mind wandering was also a ubiquitous experience among the Chinese population, and, instead of emerging out of nowhere, it was often elicited by external or internal cues. Furthermore, most of the mind wandering episodes involved prospective thinking and were closely related to one’s personal life. Finally, the frequency of mind wandering was influenced by some contextual factors. These results taken together suggest that mind wandering plays an important role in helping people to maintain a continuous feeling of “self” and to prepare them to cope with the upcoming events. PMID:22957071

Rethinking Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Downs, Christopher J.

2008-01-01

Critical thinking is of primary importance in higher education, yet the concept remains slippery and the skill elusive. The author argues that most current critical thinking textbooks are out of line with the seminal work of John Dewey. Rather than logical argument and justification, it is suggested that carefulness, open-mindedness and creativity…

Daydream Believer: Rumination, Self-Reflection and the Temporal Focus of Mind Wandering Content.

PubMed

Shrimpton, Daisy; McGann, Deborah; Riby, Leigh M

2017-11-01

Current research into mind-wandering is beginning to acknowledge that this process is one of heterogeneity. Following on from previous findings highlighting the role of self-focus during mind wandering, the present study aimed to examine individual differences in rumination and self-reflection and the impact such styles of self-focus may have on mind-wandering experiences. Thirty-three participants were required to complete the Sustained Attention Response Task (SART), aimed at inducing mind-wandering episodes, whilst also probing the content of thought in terms of temporal focus. Self-report questionnaires were also administered after the SART to measure dispositional differences in style and beliefs regarding mind-wandering and assessments of individual differences in rumination and self-reflection. Those individuals with reflective self-focus showed a strong positive association with positive and constructive thoughts. Critically, ruminative self-focus was positively associated with a tendency for the mind to wander towards anguished fantasies, failures and aggression, but it was also positively associated with positive and constructive thoughts. Furthermore, while dispositional differences in self-focus showed no relationship with the temporal perspective of thoughts when probed during a cognitive task, performance on the task itself was related to whether participants were thinking about the past, present or future during that activity. Such findings are discussed in line with previous research, and provide a further step towards accounting for the heterogeneous nature of mind-wandering.

Daydream Believer: Rumination, Self-Reflection and the Temporal Focus of Mind Wandering Content

PubMed Central

Shrimpton, Daisy; McGann, Deborah; Riby, Leigh M.

2017-01-01

Current research into mind-wandering is beginning to acknowledge that this process is one of heterogeneity. Following on from previous findings highlighting the role of self-focus during mind wandering, the present study aimed to examine individual differences in rumination and self-reflection and the impact such styles of self-focus may have on mind-wandering experiences. Thirty-three participants were required to complete the Sustained Attention Response Task (SART), aimed at inducing mind-wandering episodes, whilst also probing the content of thought in terms of temporal focus. Self-report questionnaires were also administered after the SART to measure dispositional differences in style and beliefs regarding mind-wandering and assessments of individual differences in rumination and self-reflection. Those individuals with reflective self-focus showed a strong positive association with positive and constructive thoughts. Critically, ruminative self-focus was positively associated with a tendency for the mind to wander towards anguished fantasies, failures and aggression, but it was also positively associated with positive and constructive thoughts. Furthermore, while dispositional differences in self-focus showed no relationship with the temporal perspective of thoughts when probed during a cognitive task, performance on the task itself was related to whether participants were thinking about the past, present or future during that activity. Such findings are discussed in line with previous research, and provide a further step towards accounting for the heterogeneous nature of mind-wandering. PMID:29358989

Rationale and study protocol of the EASY Minds (Encouraging Activity to Stimulate Young Minds) program: cluster randomized controlled trial of a primary school-based physical activity integration program for mathematics.

PubMed

Riley, Nicholas; Lubans, David R; Holmes, Kathryn; Morgan, Philip J

2014-08-08

Novel strategies are required to increase school-based physical activity levels of children. Integrating physical activity in mathematics lessons may lead to improvements in students' physical activity levels as well as enjoyment, engagement and learning. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of a curriculum-based physical activity integration program known as EASY Minds (Encouraging Activity to Stimulate Young Minds) on children's daily school time physical activity levels. Secondary aims include exploring the impact of EASY Minds on their engagement and 'on task' behaviour in mathematics. Grade 5/6 classes from eight public schools in New South Wales, Australia will be randomly allocated to intervention (n = 4) or control (n = 4) groups. Teachers from the intervention group will receive one day of professional development, a resource pack and asked to adapt their lessons to embed movement-based learning in their daily mathematics program in at least three lessons per week over a six week period. Intervention support will be provided via a weekly email and three lesson observations. The primary outcomes will be children's physical activity levels (accelerometry) across both the school day and during mathematics lessons (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary time). Children's 'on-task' behaviour, enjoyment of mathematics and mathematics attainment will be assessed as secondary outcomes. A detailed process evaluation will be undertaken. EASY Minds is an innovative intervention that has the potential to improve key physical and academic outcomes for primary school aged children and help guide policy and practice regarding the teaching of mathematics. Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register ACTRN12613000637741 13/05/2013.

Mindful parenting predicts mothers' and infants' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity during a dyadic stressor.

PubMed

Laurent, Heidemarie K; Duncan, Larissa G; Lightcap, April; Khan, Faaiza

2017-03-01

Mindfulness in the parenting relationship has been proposed to help both parents and children better regulate stress, though this has not yet been shown at the physiological level. In this study, we tested relations between maternal mindfulness in parenting and both mothers' and their infants' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity during a dyadic stressor 3 months later. Participants were 73 mother-infant dyads from a larger longitudinal study. At 3 months postpartum, mothers completed self-report measures of general dispositional mindfulness and parenting-specific mindfulness, as well as stressful life events. At 6 months postpartum, mother-infant dyads completed the Still Face task. Four saliva samples were collected from each dyad member for cortisol assay to index the HPA axis response. Hierarchical linear modeling of cortisol trajectories revealed a main effect of maternal parenting-specific mindfulness (mindful parenting), but not general dispositional mindfulness, on mothers' cortisol; mothers with higher mindful parenting showed steeper cortisol recovery slopes. In addition, maternal mindful parenting moderated the effect of life stress on later mother and infant cortisol. In the context of high life stress, maternal mindful parenting predicted lower infant cortisol levels, but more extended maternal cortisol elevations. Implications for a biobehavioral model of mindful parenting are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Does the World Leak into the Mind? Active Externalism, "Internalism" and Epistemology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dartnall, Terry

2005-01-01

One of the arguments for active externalism (also known as the extended mind thesis) is that if a process counts as cognitive when it is performed in the head, it should also count as cognitive when it is performed in the world. Consequently, mind extends into the world. I argue for a corollary: We sometimes perform actions in our heads that we…

Mind magic: a pilot study of preventive mind-body-based stress reduction in behaviorally inhibited and activated children.

PubMed

Jellesma, Francine C; Cornelis, Janine

2012-03-01

The aim of this pilot study was to examine a mind-body-based preventive intervention program and to determine relationships between children's behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral activation system, stress, and stress reduction after the program. Children participated in the program (n=30) or in a control condition (n=24). They filled out questionnaires before and after the program and reported their levels of stress before and after each of the five sessions. The program consisted of weekly sessions. Each session incorporated yoga postures, visualization, and social exercises. Breathing techniques were integrated. Stress reductions were only seen in the intervention group and mainly in children with high BIS--irrespective of their behavioral activation system. The results demonstrate that children with high BIS may benefit from a mind-body-based stress reduction program.

Feasibility, acceptability and preliminary psychological benefits of mindfulness meditation training in a sample of men diagnosed with prostate cancer on active surveillance: results from a randomized controlled pilot trial.

PubMed

Victorson, David; Hankin, Vered; Burns, James; Weiland, Rebecca; Maletich, Carly; Sufrin, Nathaniel; Schuette, Stephanie; Gutierrez, Bruriah; Brendler, Charles

2017-08-01

In a pilot randomized controlled trial, examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of an 8-week, mindfulness training program (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) in a sample of men on active surveillance on important psychological outcomes including prostate cancer anxiety, uncertainty intolerance and posttraumatic growth. Men were randomized to either mindfulness (n = 24) or an attention control arm (n = 19) and completed self-reported measures of prostate cancer anxiety, uncertainty intolerance, global quality of life, mindfulness and posttraumatic growth at baseline, 8 weeks, 6 months and 12 months. Participants in the mindfulness arm demonstrated significant decreases in prostate cancer anxiety and uncertainty intolerance, and significant increases in mindfulness, global mental health and posttraumatic growth. Participants in the control condition also demonstrated significant increases in mindfulness over time. Longitudinal increases in posttraumatic growth were significantly larger in the mindfulness arm than they were in the control arm. While mindfulness training was found to be generally feasible and acceptable among participants who enrolled in the 8-week intervention as determined by completion rates and open-ended survey responses, the response rate between initial enrollment and the total number of men approached was lower than desired (47%). While larger sample sizes are necessary to examine the efficacy of mindfulness training on important psychological outcomes, in this pilot study posttraumatic growth was shown to significantly increase over time for men in the treatment group. Mindfulness training has the potential to help men cope more effectively with some of the stressors and uncertainties associated with active surveillance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Developing Critical Thinking through the Arts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eutsler, Mark L.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to prove to what degree using the arts could increase developing student critical thinking skills. The thesis is based on Paul, Elder, and Bartell assertion that intensive arts training, can prepare students for life and work by developing in them the general skills and attitudes, the habits of heart and mind they…

Open-Ended Approach: An Effort in Cultivating Students' Mathematical Creative Thinking Ability and Self-Esteem in Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fatah, Abdul; Suryadi, Didi; Sabandar, Jozua; Turmudi

2016-01-01

The present study aims at examining the use of open-ended approach in cultivating senior high school students' mathematical creative thinking ability (MCTA) and self-esteem (SE) in mathematics viewed from school category. The subjects of this research were the students grade XI at three schools; high, middle and low category in Kota Serang, Banten…

Personality and complex brain networks: The role of openness to experience in default network efficiency

PubMed Central

Kaufman, Scott Barry; Benedek, Mathias; Jung, Rex E.; Kenett, Yoed N.; Jauk, Emanuel; Neubauer, Aljoscha C.; Silvia, Paul J.

2015-01-01

Abstract The brain's default network (DN) has been a topic of considerable empirical interest. In fMRI research, DN activity is associated with spontaneous and self‐generated cognition, such as mind‐wandering, episodic memory retrieval, future thinking, mental simulation, theory of mind reasoning, and creative cognition. Despite large literatures on developmental and disease‐related influences on the DN, surprisingly little is known about the factors that impact normal variation in DN functioning. Using structural equation modeling and graph theoretical analysis of resting‐state fMRI data, we provide evidence that Openness to Experience—a normally distributed personality trait reflecting a tendency to engage in imaginative, creative, and abstract cognitive processes—underlies efficiency of information processing within the DN. Across two studies, Openness predicted the global efficiency of a functional network comprised of DN nodes and corresponding edges. In Study 2, Openness remained a robust predictor—even after controlling for intelligence, age, gender, and other personality variables—explaining 18% of the variance in DN functioning. These findings point to a biological basis of Openness to Experience, and suggest that normally distributed personality traits affect the intrinsic architecture of large‐scale brain systems. Hum Brain Mapp 37:773–779, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:26610181

A meta-analytic review of the effects of mindfulness meditation on telomerase activity.

PubMed

Schutte, Nicola S; Malouff, John M

2014-04-01

The enzyme telomerase, through its influence on telomere length, is associated with health and mortality. Four pioneering randomized control trials, including a total of 190 participants, provided information on the effect of mindfulness meditation on telomerase. A meta-analytic effect size of d=0.46 indicated that mindfulness meditation leads to increased telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These results suggest the need for further large-scale trials investigating optimal implementation of mindfulness meditation to facilitate telomerase functioning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computers in the Classroom? A Critique of the Digital Computer as a Metaphor for Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, Keith

2007-01-01

In this article, the author argues that the computer/artificial intelligence (AI) metaphor dominates current thinking about the operation of the mind among educators and the public, and that the metaphor limits one's understanding of how the mind really works to detrimental effect. In particular, the author posits that ideas about literacy are…

Gender differences in creative thinking: behavioral and fMRI findings.

PubMed

Abraham, Anna; Thybusch, Kristin; Pieritz, Karoline; Hermann, Christiane

2014-03-01

Gender differences in creativity have been widely studied in behavioral investigations, but this topic has rarely been the focus of neuroscientific research. The current paper presents follow-up analyses of a previous fMRI study (Abraham et al., Neuropsychologia 50(8):1906-1917, 2012b), in which behavioral and brain function during creative conceptual expansion as well as general divergent thinking were explored. Here, we focus on gender differences within the same sample. Conceptual expansion was assessed with the alternate uses task relative to the object location task, whereas divergent thinking was assessed in terms of responses across both the alternate uses and object location tasks relative to n-back working memory tasks. While men and women were indistinguishable in terms of behavioral performance across all tasks, the pattern of brain activity while engaged in the tasks in question was indicative of strategy differences between the genders. Brain areas related to semantic cognition, rule learning and decision making were preferentially engaged in men during conceptual expansion, whereas women displayed higher activity in regions related to speech processing and social perception. During divergent thinking, declarative memory related regions were strongly activated in men, while regions involved in theory of mind and self-referential processing were more engaged in women. The implications of gender differences in adopted strategies or cognitive style when faced with generative tasks are discussed.

The Effect of Reflective Activities on Reflective Thinking Ability in an Undergraduate Pharmacy Curriculum.

PubMed

Tsingos-Lucas, Cherie; Bosnic-Anticevich, Sinthia; Schneider, Carl R; Smith, Lorraine

2016-05-25

Objective. To determine the effectiveness of integrating reflective practice activities into a second-year undergraduate pharmacy curriculum and their impact on reflective thinking ability. Design. A cross-over design with repeated measures was employed. Newly developed reflective modules based on real hospital and community pharmacy cases were integrated into the second-year pharmacy practice curriculum. A novel strategy, the Reflective Ability Clinical Assessment (RACA), was introduced to enhance self- and peer reflection. Assessment. Student responses (n=214) to the adapted Kember et al(1) Reflective Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ) were compared before and after reflective activities were undertaken. Significant improvement in three indicators of reflective thinking was shown after students engaged in reflective activities. Conclusion. Integration of reflective activities into a pharmacy curriculum increased the reflective thinking capacity of students. Enhancing reflective thinking ability may help students make better informed decisions and clinical judgments, thus improving future practice.

The Effect of Reflective Activities on Reflective Thinking Ability in an Undergraduate Pharmacy Curriculum

PubMed Central

Bosnic-Anticevich, Sinthia; Schneider, Carl R.; Smith, Lorraine

2016-01-01

Objective. To determine the effectiveness of integrating reflective practice activities into a second-year undergraduate pharmacy curriculum and their impact on reflective thinking ability. Design. A cross-over design with repeated measures was employed. Newly developed reflective modules based on real hospital and community pharmacy cases were integrated into the second-year pharmacy practice curriculum. A novel strategy, the Reflective Ability Clinical Assessment (RACA), was introduced to enhance self- and peer reflection. Assessment. Student responses (n=214) to the adapted Kember et al1 Reflective Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ) were compared before and after reflective activities were undertaken. Significant improvement in three indicators of reflective thinking was shown after students engaged in reflective activities. Conclusion. Integration of reflective activities into a pharmacy curriculum increased the reflective thinking capacity of students. Enhancing reflective thinking ability may help students make better informed decisions and clinical judgments, thus improving future practice. PMID:27293232

Thinking about Seeing: perceptual sources of knowledge are encoded in the theory of mind brain regions of sighted and blind adults

PubMed Central

Koster-Hale, Jorie; Bedny, Marina; Saxe, Rebecca

2014-01-01

Blind people's inferences about how other people see provide a window into fundamental questions about the human capacity to think about one another's thoughts. By working with blind individuals, we can ask both what kinds of representations people form about others’ minds, and how much these representations depend on the observer having had similar mental states themselves. Thinking about others’ mental states depends on a specific group of brain regions, including the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ). We investigated the representations of others’ mental states in these brain regions, using multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPA). We found that, first, in the RTPJ of sighted adults, the pattern of neural response distinguished the source of the mental state (did the protagonist see or hear something?) but not the valence (did the protagonist feel good or bad?). Second, these neural representations were preserved in congenitally blind adults. These results suggest that the temporo-parietal junction contains explicit, abstract representations of features of others’ mental states, including the perceptual source. The persistence of these representations in congenitally blind adults, who have no first-person experience with sight, provides evidence that these representations emerge even in the absence of first-person perceptual experiences. PMID:24960530

Thinking about seeing: perceptual sources of knowledge are encoded in the theory of mind brain regions of sighted and blind adults.

PubMed

Koster-Hale, Jorie; Bedny, Marina; Saxe, Rebecca

2014-10-01

Blind people's inferences about how other people see provide a window into fundamental questions about the human capacity to think about one another's thoughts. By working with blind individuals, we can ask both what kinds of representations people form about others' minds, and how much these representations depend on the observer having had similar mental states themselves. Thinking about others' mental states depends on a specific group of brain regions, including the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ). We investigated the representations of others' mental states in these brain regions, using multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPA). We found that, first, in the RTPJ of sighted adults, the pattern of neural response distinguished the source of the mental state (did the protagonist see or hear something?) but not the valence (did the protagonist feel good or bad?). Second, these neural representations were preserved in congenitally blind adults. These results suggest that the temporo-parietal junction contains explicit, abstract representations of features of others' mental states, including the perceptual source. The persistence of these representations in congenitally blind adults, who have no first-person experience with sight, provides evidence that these representations emerge even in the absence of relevant first-person perceptual experiences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effectiveness of Hands-on and Minds-on Activities on Students' Achievement and Attitudes towards Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ates, Ozlem; Eryilmaz, Ali

2011-01-01

This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of hands-on and minds-on activities on ninth grade students' achievement in and attitudes towards simple electric circuits. The study was conducted with 130 students, 70 of which were assigned as experimental group and instructed by hands-on/minds-on activities, while the 60 were assigned as…

Building organizational supports for research-minded practitioners.

PubMed

Austin, Michael J; Dal Santo, Teresa S; Lee, Chris

2012-01-01

One of the biggest challenges facing human service organizations is the proliferation of information from inside and outside the agency that needs to be managed if it is to be of use. The concepts of tacit and explicit knowledge can inform an approach to this challenge. Tacit knowledge is stored in the minds of practitioners (often called practice wisdom) and the explicit knowledge is often found in organizational procedure manuals and educational and training materials. Building on this perspective, this analysis provides a preliminary definition of research-minded practitioners by explicating the elements of curiosity, critical reflection, and critical thinking. The organizational implications of developing a cadre of research-minded practitioners include the commitment of top management to support "link officers", evidence request services, research and development units, and service standards. The challenges include the capacity to identify/support research-minded practitioners, promote an organizational culture of evidence-informed practice, redefine staff development and training, redefine job descriptions, and specify the nature of managerial leadership. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Plans, Habits, and Theory of Mind

PubMed Central

Baker, Chris L.; Cushman, Fiery A.

2016-01-01

Human success and even survival depends on our ability to predict what others will do by guessing what they are thinking. If I accelerate, will he yield? If I propose, will she accept? If I confess, will they forgive? Psychologists call this capacity “theory of mind.” According to current theories, we solve this problem by assuming that others are rational actors. That is, we assume that others design and execute efficient plans to achieve their goals, given their knowledge. But if this view is correct, then our theory of mind is startlingly incomplete. Human action is not always a product of rational planning, and we would be mistaken to always interpret others’ behaviors as such. A wealth of evidence indicates that we often act habitually—a form of behavioral control that depends not on rational planning, but rather on a history of reinforcement. We aim to test whether the human theory of mind includes a theory of habitual action and to assess when and how it is deployed. In a series of studies, we show that human theory of mind is sensitive to factors influencing the balance between habitual and planned behavior. PMID:27584041

Plans, Habits, and Theory of Mind.

PubMed

Gershman, Samuel J; Gerstenberg, Tobias; Baker, Chris L; Cushman, Fiery A

2016-01-01

Human success and even survival depends on our ability to predict what others will do by guessing what they are thinking. If I accelerate, will he yield? If I propose, will she accept? If I confess, will they forgive? Psychologists call this capacity "theory of mind." According to current theories, we solve this problem by assuming that others are rational actors. That is, we assume that others design and execute efficient plans to achieve their goals, given their knowledge. But if this view is correct, then our theory of mind is startlingly incomplete. Human action is not always a product of rational planning, and we would be mistaken to always interpret others' behaviors as such. A wealth of evidence indicates that we often act habitually-a form of behavioral control that depends not on rational planning, but rather on a history of reinforcement. We aim to test whether the human theory of mind includes a theory of habitual action and to assess when and how it is deployed. In a series of studies, we show that human theory of mind is sensitive to factors influencing the balance between habitual and planned behavior.

Longitudinal Associations between Children’s Understanding of Emotions and Theory of Mind

PubMed Central

O’Brien, Marion; Weaver, Jennifer Miner; Nelson, Jackie A.; Calkins, Susan; Leerkes, Esther; Marcovitch, Stuart

2010-01-01

Theory of mind competence and knowledge of emotions were studied longitudinally in a sample of preschoolers aged 3 (n =263) and 4 (n =244) years. Children were assessed using standard measures of theory of mind and emotion knowledge. Three competing hypotheses were tested regarding the developmental associations between children’s theory of mind abilities and their knowledge of emotions. First, that an understanding of emotion develops early and informs children’s understanding of others’ thinking. Alternatively, having a basic theory of mind may help children learn about emotions. Thirdly, that the two domains are separate aspects of children’s social cognitive skills such that each area develops independently. Results of hierarchical regressions supported the first hypothesis that early emotion understanding predicts later theory of mind performance, and not the reverse. PMID:21895570

Active control of counter-rotating open rotor interior noise in a Dornier 728 experimental aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haase, Thomas; Unruh, Oliver; Algermissen, Stephan; Pohl, Martin

2016-08-01

The fuel consumption of future civil aircraft needs to be reduced because of the CO2 restrictions declared by the European Union. A consequent lightweight design and a new engine concept called counter-rotating open rotor are seen as key technologies in the attempt to reach this ambitious goals. Bearing in mind that counter-rotating open rotor engines emit very high sound pressures at low frequencies and that lightweight structures have a poor transmission loss in the lower frequency range, these key technologies raise new questions in regard to acoustic passenger comfort. One of the promising solutions for the reduction of sound pressure levels inside the aircraft cabin are active sound and vibration systems. So far, active concepts have rarely been investigated for a counter-rotating open rotor pressure excitation on complex airframe structures. Hence, the state of the art is augmented by the preliminary study presented in this paper. The study shows how an active vibration control system can influence the sound transmission of counter-rotating open rotor noise through a complex airframe structure into the cabin. Furthermore, open questions on the way towards the realisation of an active control system are addressed. In this phase, an active feedforward control system is investigated in a fully equipped Dornier 728 experimental prototype aircraft. In particular, the sound transmission through the airframe, the coupling of classical actuators (inertial and piezoelectric patch actuators) into the structure and the performance of the active vibration control system with different error sensors are investigated. It can be shown that the active control system achieves a reduction up to 5 dB at several counter-rotating open rotor frequencies but also that a better performance could be achieved through further optimisations.

Math Thinking Motivators. A Good Apple Math Activity Book for Grades 2-7.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernstein, Bob

In this booklet are 43 mathematical games and activities to stimulate creative thinking in grades 2-7. The goal of teaching divergent thinking is stressed, as well as the need to encourage positive self-image, motivation, and creativity. For each activity, the mathematical skills addressed in the activity are listed; topics span the elementary…

Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Group Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: An Open Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kocovski, Nancy L.; Fleming, Jan E.; Rector, Neil A.

2009-01-01

Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Group Therapy (MAGT) for Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is based largely on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes et al., 1999), with enhanced mindfulness mostly from Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT; Segal et al., 2002). The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and initial…

Reading Minds: How Infants Come to Understand Others

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gopnik, Alison; Seiver, Elizabeth

2009-01-01

Navigating the social world is an extraordinarily difficult and complex task. How do we think about other people's minds, and how do we come to infer other people's intentions from their actions? Developmental psychologists have shown that even very young infants are attuned to the emotions of those around them, imitate facial expressions and…

A Critical Thinking Activity for Communication Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Ann E.

2017-01-01

Courses: This semester long activity can be employed in any communication classroom and is designed particularly to provide first-time graduate student instructors (GSIs) with a theory-based assessment tool. As such, the article is appropriate for graduate-level pedagogy classes. Objective: To introduce a theory-based, critical thinking activity…

Implementing the Opening Minds Curriculum in a Secondary School in England: An Alternative to the One-Size-Fits-All National Curriculum?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanley, Grant; Jones, Marion; Murphy, Jan

2012-01-01

"The Importance of Teaching: The Schools White Paper 2010," which grants schools increased autonomy in curriculum development and implementation, heralded a new era of curriculum reform in England. This article critically examines how this process took place in a Catholic secondary school that decided to use the RSA Opening Minds (OM)…

We're Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keeling, Richard P.; Hersh, Richard H.

2011-01-01

America is being held back by the quality and quantity of learning in college. This is a true educational emergency! Many college graduates cannot think critically, write effectively, solve problems, understand complex issues, or meet employers' expectations. We are losing our minds--and endangering our social, economic, and scientific leadership.…

Math Mind Benders Warm Up: Deductive Reasoning Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harnadek, Anita

This book contains "math mind benders," puzzles that are worked like crossword puzzles except that each square is filled with a digit rather than a letter. Clues to the puzzles are interrelated with each other and a given story. Clear thinking and deductive reasoning must be used to find potential answers and eliminate those that fail to meet all…

Theory of Mind: An Overview and Behavioral Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlinger, Henry D., Jr.

2009-01-01

Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability of an individual to make inferences about what others may be thinking or feeling and to predict what they may do in a given situation based on those inferences. Discussions of ToM focus almost exclusively on inferred cognitive structures and processes and shed little light on the actual behaviors…

Thinking-in-Concert

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Donnell, Aislinn

2012-01-01

In this essay, I examine the concept of thinking in Hannah Arendt's writings. Arendt's interest in the experience of thinking allowed her to develop a concept of thinking that is distinct from other forms of mental activity such as cognition and problem solving. For her, thinking is an unending, unpredictable and destructive activity without fixed…

The era of the wandering mind? Twenty-first century research on self-generated mental activity.

PubMed

Callard, Felicity; Smallwood, Jonathan; Golchert, Johannes; Margulies, Daniel S

2013-01-01

The first decade of the twenty-first century was characterized by renewed scientific interest in self-generated mental activity (activity largely generated by the individual, rather than in direct response to experimenters' instructions or specific external sensory inputs). To understand this renewal of interest, we interrogated the peer-reviewed literature from 2003 to 2012 (i) to explore recent changes in use of terms for self-generated mental activity; (ii) to investigate changes in the topics on which mind wandering research, specifically, focuses; and (iii) to visualize co-citation communities amongst researchers working on self-generated mental activity. Our analyses demonstrated that there has been a dramatic increase in the term "mind wandering" from 2006, and a significant crossing-over of psychological investigations of mind wandering into cognitive neuroscience (particularly in relation to research on the default mode and default mode network). If our article concludes that this might, indeed, be the "era of the wandering mind," it also calls for more explicit reflection to be given by researchers in this field to the terms they use, the topics and brain regions they focus on, and the research literatures that they implicitly foreground or ignore.

The era of the wandering mind? Twenty-first century research on self-generated mental activity

PubMed Central

Callard, Felicity; Smallwood, Jonathan; Golchert, Johannes; Margulies, Daniel S.

2013-01-01

The first decade of the twenty-first century was characterized by renewed scientific interest in self-generated mental activity (activity largely generated by the individual, rather than in direct response to experimenters’ instructions or specific external sensory inputs). To understand this renewal of interest, we interrogated the peer-reviewed literature from 2003 to 2012 (i) to explore recent changes in use of terms for self-generated mental activity; (ii) to investigate changes in the topics on which mind wandering research, specifically, focuses; and (iii) to visualize co-citation communities amongst researchers working on self-generated mental activity. Our analyses demonstrated that there has been a dramatic increase in the term “mind wandering” from 2006, and a significant crossing-over of psychological investigations of mind wandering into cognitive neuroscience (particularly in relation to research on the default mode and default mode network). If our article concludes that this might, indeed, be the “era of the wandering mind,” it also calls for more explicit reflection to be given by researchers in this field to the terms they use, the topics and brain regions they focus on, and the research literatures that they implicitly foreground or ignore. PMID:24391606

Spatial Navigation Impairments Among Intellectually High-Functioning Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Exploring Relations With Theory of Mind, Episodic Memory, and Episodic Future Thinking

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Research suggests that spatial navigation relies on the same neural network as episodic memory, episodic future thinking, and theory of mind (ToM). Such findings have stimulated theories (e.g., the scene construction and self-projection hypotheses) concerning possible common underlying cognitive capacities. Consistent with such theories, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by concurrent impairments in episodic memory, episodic future thinking, and ToM. However, it is currently unclear whether spatial navigation is also impaired. Hence, ASD provides a test case for the scene construction and self-projection theories. The study of spatial navigation in ASD also provides a test of the extreme male brain theory of ASD, which predicts intact or superior navigation (purportedly a systemizing skill) performance among individuals with ASD. Thus, the aim of the current study was to establish whether spatial navigation in ASD is impaired, intact, or superior. Twenty-seven intellectually high-functioning adults with ASD and 28 sex-, age-, and IQ-matched neurotypical comparison adults completed the memory island virtual navigation task. Tests of episodic memory, episodic future thinking, and ToM were also completed. Participants with ASD showed significantly diminished performance on the memory island task, and performance was positively related to ToM and episodic memory, but not episodic future thinking. These results suggest that (contra the extreme male brain theory) individuals with ASD have impaired survey-based navigation skills—that is, difficulties generating cognitive maps of the environment—and adds weight to the idea that scene construction/self-projection are impaired in ASD. The theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed. PMID:24364620

Neural mechanisms of the mind, Aristotle, Zadeh, and fMRI.

PubMed

Perlovsky, Leonid I

2010-05-01

Processes in the mind: perception, cognition, concepts, instincts, emotions, and higher cognitive abilities for abstract thinking, beautiful music are considered here within a neural modeling fields (NMFs) paradigm. Its fundamental mathematical mechanism is a process "from vague-fuzzy to crisp," called dynamic logic (DL). This paper discusses why this paradigm is necessary mathematically, and relates it to a psychological description of the mind. Surprisingly, the process from "vague to crisp" corresponds to Aristotelian understanding of mental functioning. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurements confirmed this process in neural mechanisms of perception.

Defining mindfulness by how poorly I think I pay attention during everyday awareness and other intractable problems for psychology's (re)invention of mindfulness: comment on Brown et al. (2011).

PubMed

Grossman, Paul

2011-12-01

The Buddhist construct of mindfulness is a central element of mindfulness-based interventions and derives from an age-old systematic phenomenological program to investigate subjective experience. Recent enthusiasm for "mindfulness" in psychology has resulted in proliferation of self-report inventories that purport to measure mindful awareness as a trait. This paper addresses a number of intractable issues regarding these scales, in general, and also specifically highlights vulnerabilities of the adult and adolescent forms of the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale. These problems include (a) lack of available external referents for determining the construct validity of these inventories, (b) inadequacy of content validity of measures, (c) lack of evidence that self-reports of mindfulness competencies correspond to actual behavior and evidence that they do not, (d) lack of convergent validity among different mindfulness scales, (e) inequivalence of semantic item interpretation among different groups, (f) response biases related to degree of experience with mindfulness practice, (g) conflation of perceived mindfulness competencies with valuations of importance or meaningfulness, and (h) inappropriateness of samples employed to validate questionnaires. Current self-report attempts to measure mindfulness may serve to denature, distort, and banalize the meaning of mindful awareness in psychological research and may adversely affect further development of mindfulness-based interventions. Opportunities to enrich positivist Western psychological paradigms with a detailed and complex Buddhist phenomenology of the mind are likely to require a depth of understanding of mindfulness that, in turn, depends upon direct and long-term experience with mindfulness practice. Psychologists should consider pursuing this avenue before attempting to characterize and quantify mindfulness.

Using Wavelet Entropy to Demonstrate how Mindfulness Practice Increases Coordination between Irregular Cerebral and Cardiac Activities.

PubMed

Sik, Hin Hung; Gao, Junling; Fan, Jicong; Wu, Bonnie Wai Yan; Leung, Hang Kin; Hung, Yeung Sam

2017-05-10

In both the East and West, traditional teachings say that the mind and heart are somehow closely correlated, especially during spiritual practice. One difficulty in proving this objectively is that the natures of brain and heart activities are quite different. In this paper, we propose a methodology that uses wavelet entropy to measure the chaotic levels of both electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) data and show how this may be used to explore the potential coordination between the mind and heart under different experimental conditions. Furthermore, Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) was used to identify the brain regions in which the EEG wavelet entropy was the most affected by the experimental conditions. As an illustration, the EEG and ECG were recorded under two different conditions (normal rest and mindful breathing) at the beginning of an 8-week standard Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training course (pretest) and after the course (posttest). Using the proposed method, the results consistently showed that the wavelet entropy of the brain EEG decreased during the MBSR mindful breathing state as compared to that during the closed-eye resting state. Similarly, a lower wavelet entropy of heartrate was found during MBSR mindful breathing. However, no difference in wavelet entropy during MBSR mindful breathing was found between the pretest and posttest. No correlation was observed between the entropy of brain waves and the entropy of heartrate during normal rest in all participants, whereas a significant correlation was observed during MBSR mindful breathing. Additionally, the most well-correlated brain regions were located in the central areas of the brain. This study provides a methodology for the establishment of evidence that mindfulness practice (i.e., mindful breathing) may increase the coordination between mind and heart activities.

Using Wavelet Entropy to Demonstrate how Mindfulness Practice Increases Coordination between Irregular Cerebral and Cardiac Activities

PubMed Central

Sik, Hin Hung; Gao, Junling; Fan, Jicong; Wu, Bonnie Wai Yan; Leung, Hang Kin; Hung, Yeung Sam

2017-01-01

In both the East and West, traditional teachings say that the mind and heart are somehow closely correlated, especially during spiritual practice. One difficulty in proving this objectively is that the natures of brain and heart activities are quite different. In this paper, we propose a methodology that uses wavelet entropy to measure the chaotic levels of both electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) data and show how this may be used to explore the potential coordination between the mind and heart under different experimental conditions. Furthermore, Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) was used to identify the brain regions in which the EEG wavelet entropy was the most affected by the experimental conditions. As an illustration, the EEG and ECG were recorded under two different conditions (normal rest and mindful breathing) at the beginning of an 8-week standard Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training course (pretest) and after the course (posttest). Using the proposed method, the results consistently showed that the wavelet entropy of the brain EEG decreased during the MBSR mindful breathing state as compared to that during the closed-eye resting state. Similarly, a lower wavelet entropy of heartrate was found during MBSR mindful breathing. However, no difference in wavelet entropy during MBSR mindful breathing was found between the pretest and posttest. No correlation was observed between the entropy of brain waves and the entropy of heartrate during normal rest in all participants, whereas a significant correlation was observed during MBSR mindful breathing. Additionally, the most well-correlated brain regions were located in the central areas of the brain. This study provides a methodology for the establishment of evidence that mindfulness practice (i.e., mindful breathing) may increase the coordination between mind and heart activities. PMID:28518101

Is Truthiness Enough? Classroom Activities for Encouraging Evidence-Based Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kraus, Sue; Sears, Sharon R.; Burke, Brian L.

2013-01-01

Teaching students how to think critically and develop lifelong habits of evidence-based inquiry outside of the classroom is a primary goal for educators today. This paper describes nine activities designed to promote evidence-based critical thinking in college or high school classrooms in any discipline. We have developed a seven step process for…

Improving Junior High Schools' Critical Thinking Skills Based on Test Three Different Models of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuad, Nur Miftahul; Zubaidah, Siti; Mahanal, Susriyati; Suarsini, Endang

2017-01-01

The aims of this study were (1) to find out the differences in critical thinking skills among students who were given three different learning models: differentiated science inquiry combined with mind map, differentiated science inquiry model, and conventional model, (2) to find out the differences of critical thinking skills among male and female…

Hands-On and Minds-On Modeling Activities to Improve Students' Conceptions of Microscopic Friction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corpuz, Edgar G.; Rebello, N. Sanjay

2007-11-01

In this paper we discuss the development and validation of hands-on and minds-on modeling activities geared towards improving students' understanding of microscopic friction. We will also present our investigation on the relative effectiveness of the use of the developed instructional material with two lecture formats—traditional and videotaped lectures. Results imply that through a series of carefully designed hands-on and minds-on modeling activities, it is possible to facilitate the refinement of students' ideas of microscopic friction.

Thinking about Thinking and Emotion: The Metacognitive Approach to the Medical Humanities that Integrates the Humanities with the Basic and Clinical Sciences

PubMed Central

Eichbaum, Quentin G

2014-01-01

Medical knowledge in recent decades has grown prodigiously and has outstripped the capacity of the human brain to absorb and understand it all. This burgeoning of knowledge has created a dilemma for medical educators. We can no longer expect students to continue memorizing this large body of increasingly complex knowledge. Instead, our efforts should be redirected at developing in students a competency as flexible thinkers and agile learners so they can adeptly deal with new knowledge, complexity, and uncertainty in a rapidly changing world. Such a competency would entail not only cognitive but also emotional skills essential for the holistic development of their professional identity. This article will argue that metacognition—“thinking about thinking (and emotion)”—offers the most viable path toward developing this competency. The overwhelming volume of medical knowledge has driven some medical schools to reduce the time allocated in their curricula to the “soft-option” humanities as they tend to consider them an expendable “luxury.” Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, has moved away from the traditional conception of the medical humanities as “the arts,” composed of art, music, and literature, toward an approach that integrates the humanities with the basic and clinical sciences, based on metacognition. This metacognitive approach to the humanities, described in this article, has three goals: 1) to develop students as flexible thinkers and agile learners and to provide them with essential cognitive and emotional skills for navigating medical complexity and uncertainty; 2) to elicit in students empathy and tolerance by making them aware of the immense diversity in human cognition (and emotion); and 3) to integrate the humanities with the basic and clinical sciences. Through this metacognitive approach, students come to understand their patterns of cognition and emotions, and in the group setting, they learn to mindfully

Thinking about thinking and emotion: the metacognitive approach to the medical humanities that integrates the humanities with the basic and clinical sciences.

PubMed

Eichbaum, Quentin G

2014-01-01

Medical knowledge in recent decades has grown prodigiously and has outstripped the capacity of the human brain to absorb and understand it all. This burgeoning of knowledge has created a dilemma for medical educators. We can no longer expect students to continue memorizing this large body of increasingly complex knowledge. Instead, our efforts should be redirected at developing in students a competency as flexible thinkers and agile learners so they can adeptly deal with new knowledge, complexity, and uncertainty in a rapidly changing world. Such a competency would entail not only cognitive but also emotional skills essential for the holistic development of their professional identity. This article will argue that metacognition--“thinking about thinking (and emotion)”--offers the most viable path toward developing this competency. The overwhelming volume of medical knowledge has driven some medical schools to reduce the time allocated in their curricula to the “soft-option” humanities as they tend to consider them an expendable “luxury.” Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, has moved away from the traditional conception of the medical humanities as “the arts,” composed of art, music, and literature, toward an approach that integrates the humanities with the basic and clinical sciences, based on metacognition. This metacognitive approach to the humanities, described in this article, has three goals: 1) to develop students as flexible thinkers and agile learners and to provide them with essential cognitive and emotional skills for navigating medical complexity and uncertainty; 2) to elicit in students empathy and tolerance by making them aware of the immense diversity in human cognition (and emotion); and 3) to integrate the humanities with the basic and clinical sciences. Through this metacognitive approach, students come to understand their patterns of cognition and emotions, and in the group setting, they learn to mindfully

In two minds: dual-process accounts of reasoning.

PubMed

Evans, Jonathan St B T

2003-10-01

Researchers in thinking and reasoning have proposed recently that there are two distinct cognitive systems underlying reasoning. System 1 is old in evolutionary terms and shared with other animals: it comprises a set of autonomous subsystems that include both innate input modules and domain-specific knowledge acquired by a domain-general learning mechanism. System 2 is evolutionarily recent and distinctively human: it permits abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking, but is constrained by working memory capacity and correlated with measures of general intelligence. These theories essentially posit two minds in one brain with a range of experimental psychological evidence showing that the two systems compete for control of our inferences and actions.

Critical Thinking Activities To Improve Writing Skills: Arguments A-1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Michael O.

Emphasizing real-life communication skills, this book offers cooperative activities to help teachers supplement their writing programs with easy-to-use critical thinking activities. The 16 activities in the book are suitable for grades 4 through 8, for gifted younger students, or as a remediation tool for older students. The activities expose…

How Middle Grade Teachers Think about Algebraic Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glassmeyer, David; Edwards, Belinda

2016-01-01

Algebraic reasoning is an essential habit of mind for building conceptual knowledge in K-12 mathematics, yet little is known about how middle school mathematics teachers think about algebraic reasoning. In this article we describe a research project examining how algebraic reasoning was considered by grades 6, 7, or 8 mathematics teachers in a…

Mindfulness Meditation-Based Pain Relief Employs Different Neural Mechanisms Than Placebo and Sham Mindfulness Meditation-Induced Analgesia

PubMed Central

Emerson, Nichole M.; Farris, Suzan R.; Ray, Jenna N.; Jung, Youngkyoo; McHaffie, John G.; Coghill, Robert C.

2015-01-01

Mindfulness meditation reduces pain in experimental and clinical settings. However, it remains unknown whether mindfulness meditation engages pain-relieving mechanisms other than those associated with the placebo effect (e.g., conditioning, psychosocial context, beliefs). To determine whether the analgesic mechanisms of mindfulness meditation are different from placebo, we randomly assigned 75 healthy, human volunteers to 4 d of the following: (1) mindfulness meditation, (2) placebo conditioning, (3) sham mindfulness meditation, or (4) book-listening control intervention. We assessed intervention efficacy using psychophysical evaluation of experimental pain and functional neuroimaging. Importantly, all cognitive manipulations (i.e., mindfulness meditation, placebo conditioning, sham mindfulness meditation) significantly attenuated pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings when compared to rest and the control condition (p < 0.05). Mindfulness meditation reduced pain intensity (p = 0.032) and pain unpleasantness (p < 0.001) ratings more than placebo analgesia. Mindfulness meditation also reduced pain intensity (p = 0.030) and pain unpleasantness (p = 0.043) ratings more than sham mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness-meditation-related pain relief was associated with greater activation in brain regions associated with the cognitive modulation of pain, including the orbitofrontal, subgenual anterior cingulate, and anterior insular cortex. In contrast, placebo analgesia was associated with activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and deactivation of sensory processing regions (secondary somatosensory cortex). Sham mindfulness meditation-induced analgesia was not correlated with significant neural activity, but rather by greater reductions in respiration rate. This study is the first to demonstrate that mindfulness-related pain relief is mechanistically distinct from placebo analgesia. The elucidation of this distinction confirms the existence of multiple

oneED: Embedding a mindfulness-based wellness programme into an emergency department.

PubMed

Braganza, Shahina; Young, Jessica; Sweeny, Amy; Brazil, Victoria

2018-03-30

ED staff are subject to many stressors, but there are few descriptions of collective approaches to enhancing wellness in this setting. We aim to describe a programme developed to address these issues at department level, to report the feasibility and sustainability of the programme, and its impact on staff. The oneED programme was developed and delivered in a tertiary ED. The programme included a 1 day mindfulness workshop, followed by ongoing mindfulness activities embedded in clinical areas over the subsequent 12 months. A mixed-methods evaluation of the programme was conducted, which included quantitative validated psychological tools to measure anxiety, depression and emotional exhaustion, and pragmatic evaluation using surveys of participants and iterative appreciative inquiry. Eighty staff members attended the mindfulness workshop; 66 from ED. Following the workshop, understanding and frequency of mindfulness practice increased significantly in 47% of participants. Free-text survey results demonstrated that staff found the programme to be acceptable (80% survey participants) and of perceived value to themselves (50%) and the ED (60%). Appreciative inquiry led to modification of the programme: the 4 min pause is now conducted weekly rather than daily, the pause consists of a variety of activities, and group activities are made more overtly optional. A departmental wellness programme embedding mindfulness practice is feasible and sustainable. Potential for success is enhanced by an approach that is open to modification according to each institution's culture. © 2018 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

Play-Based Art Activities in Early Years: Teachers' Thinking and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savva, Andri; Erakleous, Valentina

2018-01-01

The present study reports findings on pre-service teachers' thinking during planning and implementing play-based art activities. "Thinking" (in the present study) is informed by discourses emphasising art teaching and learning in relation to play and theoretical assumptions conceptualising planning as "practice of knowing."…

Think Like a Nurse: A Critical Thinking Initiative.

PubMed

Ward, Terry D; Morris, Tiffany

2016-01-01

Critical thinking is essential in the practice of the nurse generalist, today. Nursing faculty is frequently trying to identify teaching strategies in promoting critical thinking and engaging students in active learning. To close the gap between critical thinking and student success, a school in the south east United States implemented the use of the 'think like a nurse initiative" for incoming junior nursing students. Faculty collaborated to adopt the fundamental and essential nursing concepts for nursing students to support thinking like a nurse.

Hemodynamic Profiles of Functional and Dysfunctional Forms of Repetitive Thinking.

PubMed

Ottaviani, Cristina; Brosschot, Jos F; Lonigro, Antonia; Medea, Barbara; Van Diest, Ilse; Thayer, Julian F

2017-04-01

The ability of the human brain to escape the here and now (mind wandering) can take functional (problem solving) and dysfunctional (perseverative cognition) routes. Although it has been proposed that only the latter may act as a mediator of the relationship between stress and cardiovascular disease, both functional and dysfunctional forms of repetitive thinking have been associated with blood pressure (BP) reactivity of the same magnitude. However, a similar BP reactivity may be caused by different physiological determinants, which may differ in their risk for cardiovascular pathology. To examine the way (hemodynamic profile) and the extent (compensation deficit) to which total peripheral resistance and cardiac output compensate for each other in determining BP reactivity during functional and dysfunctional types of repetitive thinking. Fifty-six healthy participants randomly underwent a perseverative cognition, a mind wandering, and a problem solving induction, each followed by a 5-min recovery period while their cardiovascular parameters were continuously monitored. Perseverative cognition and problem solving (but not mind wandering) elicited BP increases of similar magnitude. However, perseverative cognition was characterized by a more vascular (versus myocardial) profile compared to mind wandering and problem solving. As a consequence, BP recovery was impaired after perseverative cognition compared to the other two conditions. Given that high vascular resistance and delayed recovery are the hallmarks of hypertension the results suggest a potential mechanism through which perseverative cognition may act as a mediator in the relationship between stress and risk for developing precursors to cardiovascular disease.

An Experience of "Yes": Independent Schools Begin to Explore and Exploit the Power of Design Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gow, Peter

2012-01-01

The inkling was there all along. Back in 2005, in "A Whole New Mind," author Daniel Pink included design--"utility enhanced by significance"--as an essential aptitude for the 21st-century learner. Some attentive independent school educators began looking around. If forward-thinking independent schools are to produce new minds, they maintained,…

Mind-Wandering in People with Hippocampal Damage.

PubMed

McCormick, Cornelia; Rosenthal, Clive R; Miller, Thomas D; Maguire, Eleanor A

2018-03-14

Subjective inner experiences, such as mind-wandering, represent the fundaments of human cognition. Although the precise function of mind-wandering is still debated, it is increasingly acknowledged to have influence across cognition on processes such as future planning, creative thinking, and problem-solving and even on depressive rumination and other mental health disorders. Recently, there has been important progress in characterizing mind-wandering and identifying the associated neural networks. Two prominent features of mind-wandering are mental time travel and visuospatial imagery, which are often linked with the hippocampus. People with selective bilateral hippocampal damage cannot vividly recall events from their past, envision their future, or imagine fictitious scenes. This raises the question of whether the hippocampus plays a causal role in mind-wandering and, if so, in what way. Leveraging a unique opportunity to shadow people (all males) with bilateral hippocampal damage for several days, we examined, for the first time, what they thought about spontaneously, without direct task demands. We found that they engaged in as much mind-wandering as control participants. However, whereas controls thought about the past, present, and future, imagining vivid visual scenes, hippocampal damage resulted in thoughts primarily about the present comprising verbally mediated semantic knowledge. These findings expose the hippocampus as a key pillar in the neural architecture of mind-wandering and also reveal its impact beyond episodic memory, placing it at the heart of our mental life. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans tend to mind-wander ∼30-50% of their waking time. Two prominent features of this pervasive form of thought are mental time travel and visuospatial imagery, which are often associated with the hippocampus. To examine whether the hippocampus plays a causal role in mind-wandering, we examined the frequency and phenomenology of mind-wandering in patients with

Mind-Wandering in People with Hippocampal Damage

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Subjective inner experiences, such as mind-wandering, represent the fundaments of human cognition. Although the precise function of mind-wandering is still debated, it is increasingly acknowledged to have influence across cognition on processes such as future planning, creative thinking, and problem-solving and even on depressive rumination and other mental health disorders. Recently, there has been important progress in characterizing mind-wandering and identifying the associated neural networks. Two prominent features of mind-wandering are mental time travel and visuospatial imagery, which are often linked with the hippocampus. People with selective bilateral hippocampal damage cannot vividly recall events from their past, envision their future, or imagine fictitious scenes. This raises the question of whether the hippocampus plays a causal role in mind-wandering and, if so, in what way. Leveraging a unique opportunity to shadow people (all males) with bilateral hippocampal damage for several days, we examined, for the first time, what they thought about spontaneously, without direct task demands. We found that they engaged in as much mind-wandering as control participants. However, whereas controls thought about the past, present, and future, imagining vivid visual scenes, hippocampal damage resulted in thoughts primarily about the present comprising verbally mediated semantic knowledge. These findings expose the hippocampus as a key pillar in the neural architecture of mind-wandering and also reveal its impact beyond episodic memory, placing it at the heart of our mental life. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans tend to mind-wander ∼30–50% of their waking time. Two prominent features of this pervasive form of thought are mental time travel and visuospatial imagery, which are often associated with the hippocampus. To examine whether the hippocampus plays a causal role in mind-wandering, we examined the frequency and phenomenology of mind-wandering in patients with

Classroom Environments That Foster a Disposition for Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathews, Samuel R.; Lowe, Katie

2011-01-01

In this article, we examine the disposition for critical thinking (CT) from three perspectives and analyse the underlying constructs of the disposition for CT, such as one's ability, sensitivity and inclination to engage in critical, mindful thought. Environmental factors that enhance or inhibit the development of a generalisable disposition for…

The Effects of Reflective Training on the Disposition of Critical Thinking for Nursing Students in China: A Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Zhang, Caihong; Fan, Huiying; Xia, Jieqiong; Guo, Honghua; Jiang, Xinjun; Yan, Yane

2017-09-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of reflective trainings for nursing students on their critical thinking disposition. A total of 157 senior undergraduate nursing students sampled from Hainan Medical University in China participated in this study in 2014. They were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group students were provided the reflective training during their entire 12-month clinical internship, whereas students in the control group were requested to keep their reflective diaries but without a formal training. Before and after the intervention, nursing students' critical thinking disposition was rated using the Chinese version of Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTDI-CV). Before the start of the intervention, the critical thinking disposition scores of the two groups had no significant differences. At the end of the intervention, it was found that the experimental students performed better in each subscale of CTDI-CV. These include the search for truth, open mind, analytical ability, systematic ability, critical thinking, self-confidence, curiosity, and cognitive maturity. By summing the scores of all categories, the results showed that the experimental group had a significantly higher total score than that of the control group (p ≤ .044). Evaluating the score difference in each function indicated that there was a range of improvements on the critical thinking disposition because of the reflective training intervention. Reflective training during the internship period improves nursing students' disposition of critical thinking and promotes their readiness for their clinical practices in the rapidly increasing demands of the healthcare field. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Moving Bodies, Building Minds: Foster Preschoolers' Critical Thinking and Problem Solving through Movement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marigliano, Michelle L.; Russo, Michele J.

2011-01-01

Creative movement is an ideal way to help young children develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Most young children are, by nature, extremely physical. They delight in exploring the world with their bodies and expressing their ideas and feelings through movement. During creative movement experiences, children learn to think before…

The Self-Generative Mind in Education: Review and Future Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ergas, Oren; Berkovich-Ohana, Aviva

2017-01-01

Since the turn of the millennium, there has been a surge of interest in diverse forms of spontaneous thinking, such as mind-wandering, and their associated brain networks. Studies demonstrate the pervasiveness of these phenomena as well as their effects on education-relevant domains such as academic skills, well-being, creativity, executive…

Mindfulness Meditation-Based Pain Relief Employs Different Neural Mechanisms Than Placebo and Sham Mindfulness Meditation-Induced Analgesia.

PubMed

Zeidan, Fadel; Emerson, Nichole M; Farris, Suzan R; Ray, Jenna N; Jung, Youngkyoo; McHaffie, John G; Coghill, Robert C

2015-11-18

Mindfulness meditation reduces pain in experimental and clinical settings. However, it remains unknown whether mindfulness meditation engages pain-relieving mechanisms other than those associated with the placebo effect (e.g., conditioning, psychosocial context, beliefs). To determine whether the analgesic mechanisms of mindfulness meditation are different from placebo, we randomly assigned 75 healthy, human volunteers to 4 d of the following: (1) mindfulness meditation, (2) placebo conditioning, (3) sham mindfulness meditation, or (4) book-listening control intervention. We assessed intervention efficacy using psychophysical evaluation of experimental pain and functional neuroimaging. Importantly, all cognitive manipulations (i.e., mindfulness meditation, placebo conditioning, sham mindfulness meditation) significantly attenuated pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings when compared to rest and the control condition (p < 0.05). Mindfulness meditation reduced pain intensity (p = 0.032) and pain unpleasantness (p < 0.001) ratings more than placebo analgesia. Mindfulness meditation also reduced pain intensity (p = 0.030) and pain unpleasantness (p = 0.043) ratings more than sham mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness-meditation-related pain relief was associated with greater activation in brain regions associated with the cognitive modulation of pain, including the orbitofrontal, subgenual anterior cingulate, and anterior insular cortex. In contrast, placebo analgesia was associated with activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and deactivation of sensory processing regions (secondary somatosensory cortex). Sham mindfulness meditation-induced analgesia was not correlated with significant neural activity, but rather by greater reductions in respiration rate. This study is the first to demonstrate that mindfulness-related pain relief is mechanistically distinct from placebo analgesia. The elucidation of this distinction confirms the existence of multiple

The nature of thinking, shallow and deep

PubMed Central

Brase, Gary L.

2014-01-01

Because the criteria for success differ across various domains of life, no single normative standard will ever work for all types of thinking. One method for dealing with this apparent dilemma is to propose that the mind is made up of a large number of specialized modules. This review describes how this multi-modular framework for the mind overcomes several critical conceptual and theoretical challenges to our understanding of human thinking, and hopefully clarifies what are (and are not) some of the implications based on this framework. In particular, an evolutionarily informed “deep rationality” conception of human thinking can guide psychological research out of clusters of ad hoc models which currently occupy some fields. First, the idea of deep rationality helps theoretical frameworks in terms of orienting themselves with regard to time scale references, which can alter the nature of rationality assessments. Second, the functional domains of deep rationality can be hypothesized (non-exhaustively) to include the areas of self-protection, status, affiliation, mate acquisition, mate retention, kin care, and disease avoidance. Thus, although there is no single normative standard of rationality across all of human cognition, there are sensible and objective standards by which we can evaluate multiple, fundamental, domain-specific motives underlying human cognition and behavior. This review concludes with two examples to illustrate the implications of this framework. The first example, decisions about having a child, illustrates how competing models can be understood by realizing that different fundamental motives guiding people’s thinking can sometimes be in conflict. The second example is that of personifications within modern financial markets (e.g., in the form of corporations), which are entities specifically constructed to have just one fundamental motive. This single focus is the source of both the strengths and flaws in how such entities behave. PMID

The nature of thinking, shallow and deep.

PubMed

Brase, Gary L

2014-01-01

Because the criteria for success differ across various domains of life, no single normative standard will ever work for all types of thinking. One method for dealing with this apparent dilemma is to propose that the mind is made up of a large number of specialized modules. This review describes how this multi-modular framework for the mind overcomes several critical conceptual and theoretical challenges to our understanding of human thinking, and hopefully clarifies what are (and are not) some of the implications based on this framework. In particular, an evolutionarily informed "deep rationality" conception of human thinking can guide psychological research out of clusters of ad hoc models which currently occupy some fields. First, the idea of deep rationality helps theoretical frameworks in terms of orienting themselves with regard to time scale references, which can alter the nature of rationality assessments. Second, the functional domains of deep rationality can be hypothesized (non-exhaustively) to include the areas of self-protection, status, affiliation, mate acquisition, mate retention, kin care, and disease avoidance. Thus, although there is no single normative standard of rationality across all of human cognition, there are sensible and objective standards by which we can evaluate multiple, fundamental, domain-specific motives underlying human cognition and behavior. This review concludes with two examples to illustrate the implications of this framework. The first example, decisions about having a child, illustrates how competing models can be understood by realizing that different fundamental motives guiding people's thinking can sometimes be in conflict. The second example is that of personifications within modern financial markets (e.g., in the form of corporations), which are entities specifically constructed to have just one fundamental motive. This single focus is the source of both the strengths and flaws in how such entities behave.

Why Didn't I Think of That? Dodging Big Ruts for Big Ideas in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shushok, Frank, Jr.

2014-01-01

Though educators are a diverse, most collectively believe that they are forward-thinking, creative, and even innovative. This entrepreneurial mind-set can be observed by the uniform response to marketplace inventions such as the iPhone, Redbox, and TED talks. In this article Frank Shushok Jr. challenges educators to "think free."

Connecting Minds: Emergence of a Future Bent, Writing/Thinking Intensive Psychology Course. Occasional Paper #10

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fluellen, J. E., Jr.

2011-01-01

How might students engage mindful learning? How might the professor engage mindful teaching? Both questions derived from fieldnotes a participant observer had created for the Future of Learning 2010 Summer Institute (Harvard Graduate School of Education) and the Tests and Measurements course, fall 2010 at Edward Waters College (EWC). Additionally,…

Critical-Thinking Predisposition Among Undergraduate Athletic Training Students

PubMed Central

Leaver-Dunn, Deidre; Harrelson, Gary L.; Martin, Malissa; Wyatt, Tom

2002-01-01

Objective: To investigate the tendency of undergraduate athletic training students to think critically, to assess their likelihood of using specific components of critical thinking, and to study the effect of selected demographic and educational variables on critical-thinking tendencies in this sample of students. Design and Setting: Data were collected before regularly scheduled athletic training classes at the beginning of the spring semester. Subjects: Ninety-one students enrolled in 3 Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs-accredited undergraduate athletic training education programs in the southeast. The subjects ranged in age from 19 to 29 years (mean age = 22.33 ± 1.94). Forty-six (50.5%) of the subjects were men and 45 (49.5%) were women. Measurements: The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory contains 75 Likert-type items assessing 7 components of critical thinking: truth seeking, open mindedness, analyticity, systematicity, inquisitiveness, cognitive maturity, and critical-thinking self-confidence. Results: The overall mean indicated a general but mild trend toward critical thinking, with weak scores on the truth-seeking subscale. One-way analysis of variance reflected significant differences among the schools for truth seeking, open mindedness, and maturity subscales and for the overall mean score for the entire inventory. Only the open-mindedness difference persisted between 2 of the schools after post hoc testing. Correlation analyses indicated no significant relationship between total score and age, sex, ethnicity, year in athletic training program, cumulative grade point average, completed semester hours, or clinical-experience hours. Conclusions: Athletic training students are inclined toward critical thinking, but this tendency is relatively weak. Classroom and clinical instructors should use teaching methods and techniques that facilitate the components of critical thinking. The promotion of critical thinking

Development of Assessment Instrument of Critical Thinking in Physics at Senior High School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugiarti, T.; Kaniawati, I.; Aviyanti, L.

2017-02-01

The result of preliminary study shows that the assessment of physics in school did not train students’ critical thinking skill. The assessment instrument just measured low cognitive aspects. Supposedly, critical thinking skill is trained in the assessment activity. The study aims to determine the characteristics and the quality of critical thinking skill instrument. It employs descriptive-qualitative method with research and development as the research design. The research participants are 35 students involved in the limited trial and 188 students in the wider trial from three public senior high school in Ciamis which in high level school. The data was collected through expert validation, tests and interviews. The results indicate that the characteristics of the assessment instrument of critical thinking skill is open-ended. The instrument fulfills some indicators namely analyzing argument, deduction, induction, and display information in the form of scenario, text, graphic and table. In addition, the data processing through V4 Anates program shows that the instrument reliability achieves 0.67 with high interpretation of 0.67 and the validity is 0.47 with enough interpretation. Thus, the assessment instrument of critical thinking skill in the form of open-ended essay meets the criteria of quality test, so it can use as instrument of assessment critical thinking skill.

Mirrors of the Mind: Introduction to Mindful Ways of Thinking Education. Educational Psychology: Critical Pedagogical Perspectives. Volume 19

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inoue, Noriyuki

2012-01-01

"Mirrors of the Mind" uses East Asian epistemology and cultural concepts as new conceptual tools to address fundamental questions that educators encounter. The book invites readers to critically reflect on commonly held assumptions about learning, cognition, motivation, development, and other essential areas of educational psychology and learning…

Hybrid Tasks: Promoting Statistical Thinking and Critical Thinking through the Same Mathematical Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aizikovitsh-Udi, Einav; Clarke, David; Kuntze, Sebastian

2014-01-01

Even though statistical thinking and critical thinking appear to have strong links from a theoretical point of view, empirical research into the intersections and potential interrelatedness of these aspects of competence is scarce. Our research suggests that thinking skills in both areas may be interdependent. Given this interconnection, it should…

Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Neural Activity Associated with Information Selection in Open-ended Creativity.

PubMed

Zhou, Siyuan; Chen, Shi; Wang, Shuang; Zhao, Qingbai; Zhou, Zhijin; Lu, Chunming

2018-02-10

Novel information selection is a crucial process in creativity and was found to be associated with frontal-temporal functional connectivity in the right brain in closed-ended creativity. Since it has distinct cognitive processing from closed-ended creativity, the information selection in open-ended creativity might be underlain by different neural activity. To address this issue, a creative generation task of Chinese two-part allegorical sayings was adopted, and the trials were classified into novel and normal solutions according to participants' self-ratings. The results showed that (1) novel solutions induced a higher lower alpha power in the temporal area, which might be associated with the automatic, unconscious mental process of retrieving extensive semantic information, and (2) upper alpha power in both frontal and temporal areas and frontal-temporal alpha coherence were higher in novel solutions than in normal solutions, which might reflect the selective inhibition of semantic information. Furthermore, lower alpha power in the temporal area showed a reduction with time, while the frontal-temporal and temporal-temporal coherence in the upper alpha band appeared to increase from the early to the middle phase. These dynamic changes in neural activity might reflect the transformation from divergent thinking to convergent thinking in the creative progress. The advantage of the right brain in frontal-temporal connectivity was not found in the present work, which might result from the diversity of solutions in open-ended creativity. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Divergent Thinking and Creative Ideation of High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramzan, Shaikh Imran; Perveen, Shaheen

2011-01-01

Divergent thinking is an integral process in creativity. Openness to experience is a personality trait that relates to divergent thinking and, therefore, is hypothesized to be related to creative performance among the students. The effects of openness to experience are likely to be partially mediated by an individual's attitude toward divergent…

Defining Mindfulness by How Poorly I Think I Pay Attention during Everyday Awareness and Other Intractable Problems for Psychology's (Re)Invention of Mindfulness: Comment on Brown Et Al. (2011)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grossman, Paul

2011-01-01

The Buddhist construct of mindfulness is a central element of mindfulness-based interventions and derives from an age-old systematic phenomenological program to investigate subjective experience. Recent enthusiasm for "mindfulness" in psychology has resulted in proliferation of self-report inventories that purport to measure mindful awareness as a…

"Think" Pragmatically: Children's Interpretation of Belief Reports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Shevaun; Hacquard, Valentine; Lidz, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

Children under 4 years of age often evaluate belief reports based on reality instead of beliefs. They tend to reject sentences like, "John thinks that giraffes have stripes" on the grounds that giraffes do not have stripes. Previous accounts have proposed that such judgments reflect immature Theory of Mind or immature syntactic/semantic…

Creating a Collaborative Context for Critical Thinking in Composition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hess, Marlene A.

This paper describes the efforts of the director of a composition program who is also a teacher of composition at an open admissions college to teach critical thinking by showing students how to use content rather than just acquire it. Applying Jean Piaget's learning theory to classroom teaching, the director attempts to create an active learning…

Representation Elements of Spatial Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiantika, F. R.

2017-04-01

This paper aims to add a reference in revealing spatial thinking. There several definitions of spatial thinking but it is not easy to defining it. We can start to discuss the concept, its basic a forming representation. Initially, the five sense catch the natural phenomenon and forward it to memory for processing. Abstraction plays a role in processing information into a concept. There are two types of representation, namely internal representation and external representation. The internal representation is also known as mental representation; this representation is in the human mind. The external representation may include images, auditory and kinesthetic which can be used to describe, explain and communicate the structure, operation, the function of the object as well as relationships. There are two main elements, representations properties and object relationships. These elements play a role in forming a representation.

How does participation in inquiry-based activities influence gifted students' higher order thinking?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reger, Barbara H.

Inquiry-based learning is considered a useful technique to strengthen the critical thinking skills of students. The National Science Standards emphasize its use and the complexities and challenge it provides are well suited for meeting the needs of the gifted. While many studies have documented the effectiveness of this type of instruction, there is a lack of research on growth in higher-order thinking through participation in science inquiry. This study investigated such growth among a small group of gifted fifth-grade students. In this study a group of fifth-grade gifted science students completed a series of three forensics inquiry lessons, and documented questions, ideas and reflections as they constructed evidence to solve a crime. From this class of students, one small group was purposely selected to serve as the focus of the study. Using qualitative techniques, the questions and statements students made as they interacted in the activity were analyzed. Videotaped comments and student logs were coded for emerging patterns and also examined for evidence of increased levels of higher-order thinking based on a rubric that was designed using the six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. Evidence from this study showed marked increase in and deeper levels of higher-order thinking for two of the students. The other boy and girl showed progress using the inquiry activities, but it was not as evident. The social dynamics of the group seemed to hinder one girl's participation during some of the activities. The social interactions played a role in strengthening the exchange of ideas and thinking skills for the others. The teacher had a tremendous influence over the production of higher-level statements by modeling that level of thinking as she questioned the students. Through her practice of answering a question with a question, she gradually solicited more analytical thinking from her students.

The Large, the Small and the Human Mind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penrose, Roger; Longair, Malcolm; Abner Shimony, With; Cartwright, Nancy; Hawking, Stephen

2000-05-01

Foreword Malcolm Longair; 1. Space-time and cosmology Roger Penrose; 2. The mysteries of quantum physics Roger Penrose; 3. Physics and the mind Roger Penrose; 4. On mentality, quantum mechanics and the actualization of potentialities Abner Shimony; 5. Why physics? Nancy Cartwright; 6. The objections of an unashamed reductionist Stephen Hawking; 7. Response Roger Penrose; Appendix I: Goodstein's theorm and mathematical thinking; Appendix II: Experiments to test gravitationally induced state reduction.

What is "theory of mind"? Concepts, cognitive processes and individual differences.

PubMed

Apperly, Ian A

2012-01-01

Research on "theory of mind" has traditionally focused on a narrow participant group (preschool children) using a narrow range of experimental tasks (most notably, false-belief tasks). Recent work has greatly expanded the age range of human participants tested to include human infants, older children, and adults, has devised new tasks, and has adopted methods from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. However, theoretical work has not kept pace with these changes, with the result that studies using one kind of method or participant group often inherit assumptions about the nature of theory of mind from other research, with little regard for whether these assumptions are appropriate. I argue that three distinct approaches to thinking about theory of mind are already implicit in research practice, and that future work, whether with infants, children, or adults, will benefit from articulating these approaches more clearly and following their different implications for what theory of mind is and how it should be studied.

Critical Thinking Activities To Improve Writing Skills: Descriptive Mysteries A-1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Albertus, Karen; And Others

Emphasizing real-life communication skills, this book offers cooperative activities to help teachers supplement their writing programs with easy-to-use critical thinking activities. The activities in the book are suitable for grades 4 through 8, for gifted younger students, or as a remediation tool for older students. The activities in the book…

Intentional Mental Processing: Student Thinking as a Habit of Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiersema, Janice A.; Licklider, Barbara L.

2009-01-01

Most college students do not habitually do the deep thinking that will allow them to take their learning beyond the acquisition of knowledge. This paper examines the findings from a phenomenological study of 8 students involved in an interdisciplinary community focused on developing responsible, life-long learners and effective team members.…

Grounded in the World: Developmental Origins of the Embodied Mind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thelen, Esther

Piaget's question of how the adult mind emerges from the sensorimotor infant is still the framing issue for developmental psychology. Here I suggest that real-life skill is better understood if the sensorimotor origins of cognition are not abandoned. Skilled people are better at both abstract and logical thinking, but also at processing the world 'on-line' and most importantly, seamlessly and rapidly shifting between the two modes. I illustrate the tight coupling between action, perception, and cognition in early life and propose that this coupling remains, but becomes more flexibly adaptive. Furthermore, I show that the language of dynamics is appropriate to capture these mind-body-world interconnections.

The Functional Theory of Counterfactual Thinking

PubMed Central

Epstude, Kai; Roese, Neal J.

2008-01-01

Counterfactuals are thoughts about alternatives to past events, that is, thoughts of what might have been. This article provides an updated account of the functional theory of counterfactual thinking, suggesting that such thoughts are best explained in terms of their role in behavior regulation and performance improvement. The article reviews a wide range of cognitive experiments indicating that counterfactual thoughts may influence behavior by either of two routes: a content-specific pathway (which involves specific informational effects on behavioral intentions, which then influence behavior) and a content-neutral pathway (which involves indirect effects via affect, mind-sets, or motivation). The functional theory is particularly useful in organizing recent findings regarding counterfactual thinking and mental health. The article concludes by considering the connections to other theoretical conceptions, especially recent advances in goal cognition. PMID:18453477

The functional theory of counterfactual thinking.

PubMed

Epstude, Kai; Roese, Neal J

2008-05-01

Counterfactuals are thoughts about alternatives to past events, that is, thoughts of what might have been. This article provides an updated account of the functional theory of counterfactual thinking, suggesting that such thoughts are best explained in terms of their role in behavior regulation and performance improvement. The article reviews a wide range of cognitive experiments indicating that counterfactual thoughts may influence behavior by either of two routes: a content-specific pathway (which involves specific informational effects on behavioral intentions, which then influence behavior) and a content-neutral pathway (which involves indirect effects via affect, mind-sets, or motivation). The functional theory is particularly useful in organizing recent findings regarding counterfactual thinking and mental health. The article concludes by considering the connections to other theoretical conceptions, especially recent advances in goal cognition.

Children's strategic theory of mind.

PubMed

Sher, Itai; Koenig, Melissa; Rustichini, Aldo

2014-09-16

Human strategic interaction requires reasoning about other people's behavior and mental states, combined with an understanding of their incentives. However, the ontogenic development of strategic reasoning is not well understood: At what age do we show a capacity for sophisticated play in social interactions? Several lines of inquiry suggest an important role for recursive thinking (RT) and theory of mind (ToM), but these capacities leave out the strategic element. We posit a strategic theory of mind (SToM) integrating ToM and RT with reasoning about incentives of all players. We investigated SToM in 3- to 9-y-old children and adults in two games that represent prevalent aspects of social interaction. Children anticipate deceptive and competitive moves from the other player and play both games in a strategically sophisticated manner by 7 y of age. One game has a pure strategy Nash equilibrium: In this game, children achieve equilibrium play by the age of 7 y on the first move. In the other game, with a single mixed-strategy equilibrium, children's behavior moved toward the equilibrium with experience. These two results also correspond to two ways in which children's behavior resembles adult behavior in the same games. In both games, children's behavior becomes more strategically sophisticated with age on the first move. Beyond the age of 7 y, children begin to think about strategic interaction not myopically, but in a farsighted way, possibly with a view to cooperating and capitalizing on mutual gains in long-run relationships.

Mindfulness-Based Processes of Healing for Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PubMed

Schure, Marc B; Simpson, Tracy L; Martinez, Michelle; Sayre, George; Kearney, David J

2018-05-07

U.S. veterans are at increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Prior studies suggest a benefit of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for PTSD, but the mechanisms through which MBSR reduces PTSD symptoms and improves functional status have received limited empirical inquiry. This study used a qualitative approach to better understand how training in mindfulness affects veterans with PTSD. Qualitative study using semistructured in-depth interviews following participation in an MBSR intervention. Outpatient. Eight-week MBSR program. Participants' narratives of their experiences from participation in the program. Interviews were completed with 15 veterans. Analyses identified six core aspects of participants' MBSR experience related to PTSD: dealing with the past, staying in the present, acceptance of adversity, breathing through stress, relaxation, and openness to self and others. Participants described specific aspects of a holistic mindfulness experience, which appeared to activate introspection and curiosity about their PTSD symptoms. Veterans with PTSD described a number of pathways by which mindfulness practice may help to ameliorate PTSD. MBSR holds promise as a nontrauma-focused approach to help veterans with PTSD.

School-based mindfulness intervention for stress reduction in adolescents: Design and methodology of an open-label, parallel group, randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Johnstone, Jeanette M; Roake, Chelsea; Sheikh, Ifrah; Mole, Ashlie; Nigg, Joel T; Oken, Barry

2016-12-15

Adolescents are in a high-risk period developmentally, in terms of susceptibility to stress. A mindfulness intervention represents a potentially useful strategy for developing cognitive and emotion regulation skills associated with successful stress coping. Mindfulness strategies have been used successfully for emotional coping in adults, but are not as well studied in youth. This article details a novel proposal for the design of an 8-week randomized study to evaluate a high school-based mindfulness curriculum delivered as part of a two semester health class. A wellness education intervention is proposed as an active control, along with a waitlist control condition. All students enrolled in a sophomore (10 th grade) health class at a private suburban high school will be invited to participate ( n = 300). Pre-test assessments will be obtained by youth report, parent ratings, and on-site behavioral testing. The assessments will evaluate baseline stress, mood, emotional coping, controlled attention, and working memory. Participants, divided into 13 classrooms, will be randomized into one of three conditions, by classroom: A mindfulness intervention, an active control (wellness education), and a passive control (waitlist). Waitlisted participants will receive one of the interventions in the following term. Intervention groups will meet weekly for 8 weeks during regularly scheduled health classes. Immediate post-tests will be conducted, followed by a 60-day post-test. It is hypothesized that the mindfulness intervention will outperform the other conditions with regard to the adolescents' mood, attention and response to stress.

Teaching Strategic Thinking on Oligopoly: Classroom Activity and Theoretic Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, Yongseung; Ryan, Michael

2017-01-01

This paper examines the use of a simple classroom activity, in which students are asked to take action representing either collusion or competition for extra credit to teach strategic thinking required in an oligopolistic market. We suggest that the classroom activity is first initiated prior to the teaching of oligopoly and then the instructor…

Mapping out past and future minds: The perceived trajectory of rationality versus emotionality over time.

PubMed

O'Brien, Ed

2015-06-01

Who do we see when envisioning our "past self" and "future self"? Extant research finds a motivation to perceive improvement over time, such that past selves are seen as worse versions, and future selves as better versions, of current selves. However, the broader components comprising "worse" or "better" beyond domain-specific achievement (e.g., "Last year I failed at dieting, but next year I'll succeed") are less well understood. Are there more general qualities ascribed to the person we recall versus imagine being? Six studies suggest so, extending the 2-dimensional mind perception framework to the self: Past selves seem to possess highly emotional but not very rational minds, whereas future selves seem to possess highly rational but not very emotional minds (Studies 1a, 1b, 1c). Consistent with motivated improvement, this asymmetry does not emerge in evaluating others and applies uniquely to self-judgment (Study 2). Thus, our pervasive belief in changing for the "better" specifically means becoming more rational types of people. This observation has asymmetric consequences. Participants who brought to mind future selves sought intellectual enrichment (Study 3) and performed better on a self-control task (Study 4); however, participants who brought to mind past selves sought emotional enrichment and performed better on the same task when allegedly measuring enjoyment. These findings build a bridge between mind perception and intertemporal dynamics, raising novel implications for the present. Thinking about the future may not uniformly "improve" decisions and behaviors; rather, it mostly facilitates rational-related pursuits, whereas thinking about the past may enhance feeling-related experiences. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Creating Healthy Active Minds for Personal Success (CHAMPS) in Middle School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shawley, Jessica

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide support for middle school physical education programs that meet the developmental needs of students while providing for student choice. With its health and physical education program called Creating Healthy Active Minds for Personal Success (CHAMPS), Moscow Middle School is striving to cultivate student…

A Moment of Mindfulness: Computer-Mediated Mindfulness Practice Increases State Mindfulness.

PubMed

Mahmood, Lynsey; Hopthrow, Tim; Randsley de Moura, Georgina

2016-01-01

Three studies investigated the use of a 5-minute, computer-mediated mindfulness practice in increasing levels of state mindfulness. In Study 1, 54 high school students completed the computer-mediated mindfulness practice in a lab setting and Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS) scores were measured before and after the practice. In Study 2 (N = 90) and Study 3 (N = 61), the mindfulness practice was tested with an entirely online sample to test the delivery of the 5-minute mindfulness practice via the internet. In Study 2 and 3, we found a significant increase in TMS scores in the mindful condition, but not in the control condition. These findings highlight the impact of a brief, mindfulness practice for single-session, computer-mediated use to increase mindfulness as a state.

Spatial navigation, episodic memory, episodic future thinking, and theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorder: evidence for impairments in mental simulation?

PubMed Central

Lind, Sophie E.; Bowler, Dermot M.; Raber, Jacob

2014-01-01

This study explored spatial navigation alongside several other cognitive abilities that are thought to share common underlying neurocognitive mechanisms (e.g., the capacity for self-projection, scene construction, or mental simulation), and which we hypothesized may be impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twenty intellectually high-functioning children with ASD (with a mean age of ~8 years) were compared to 20 sex, age, IQ, and language ability matched typically developing children on a series of tasks to assess spatial navigation, episodic memory, episodic future thinking (also known as episodic foresight or prospection), theory of mind (ToM), relational memory, and central coherence. This is the first study to explore these abilities concurrently within the same sample. Spatial navigation was assessed using the “memory island” task, which involves finding objects within a realistic, computer simulated, three-dimensional environment. Episodic memory and episodic future thinking were assessed using a past and future event description task. ToM was assessed using the “animations” task, in which children were asked to describe the interactions between two animated triangles. Relational memory was assessed using a recognition task involving memory for items (line drawings), patterned backgrounds, or combinations of items and backgrounds. Central coherence was assessed by exploring differences in performance across segmented and unsegmented versions of block design. Children with ASD were found to show impairments in spatial navigation, episodic memory, episodic future thinking, and central coherence, but not ToM or relational memory. Among children with ASD, spatial navigation was found to be significantly negatively related to the number of repetitive behaviors. In other words, children who showed more repetitive behaviors showed poorer spatial navigation. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed. PMID:25538661

Spatial navigation, episodic memory, episodic future thinking, and theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorder: evidence for impairments in mental simulation?

PubMed

Lind, Sophie E; Bowler, Dermot M; Raber, Jacob

2014-01-01

This study explored spatial navigation alongside several other cognitive abilities that are thought to share common underlying neurocognitive mechanisms (e.g., the capacity for self-projection, scene construction, or mental simulation), and which we hypothesized may be impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twenty intellectually high-functioning children with ASD (with a mean age of ~8 years) were compared to 20 sex, age, IQ, and language ability matched typically developing children on a series of tasks to assess spatial navigation, episodic memory, episodic future thinking (also known as episodic foresight or prospection), theory of mind (ToM), relational memory, and central coherence. This is the first study to explore these abilities concurrently within the same sample. Spatial navigation was assessed using the "memory island" task, which involves finding objects within a realistic, computer simulated, three-dimensional environment. Episodic memory and episodic future thinking were assessed using a past and future event description task. ToM was assessed using the "animations" task, in which children were asked to describe the interactions between two animated triangles. Relational memory was assessed using a recognition task involving memory for items (line drawings), patterned backgrounds, or combinations of items and backgrounds. Central coherence was assessed by exploring differences in performance across segmented and unsegmented versions of block design. Children with ASD were found to show impairments in spatial navigation, episodic memory, episodic future thinking, and central coherence, but not ToM or relational memory. Among children with ASD, spatial navigation was found to be significantly negatively related to the number of repetitive behaviors. In other words, children who showed more repetitive behaviors showed poorer spatial navigation. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Ways of thinking: from crows to children and back again.

PubMed

Clayton, Nicola S

2015-01-01

This article reviews some of the recent work on the remarkable cognitive capacities of food-caching corvids. The focus will be on their ability to think about other minds and other times, and tool-using tests of physical problem solving. Research on developmental cognition suggests that young children do not pass similar tests until they are at least four years of age in the case of the social cognition experiments, and eight years of age in the case of the tasks that tap into physical cognition. This developmental trajectory seems surprising. Intuitively, one might have thought that the social and planning tasks required more complex forms of cognitive process, namely Mental Time Travel and Theory of Mind. Perhaps the fact that children pass these tasks earlier than the physical problem-solving tasks is a reflection of cultural influences. Future research will hope to identify these cognitive milestones by starting to develop tasks that might go some way towards understanding the mechanisms underlying these abilities in both children and corvids, to explore similarities and differences in their ways of thinking.

On matters of mind and body: regarding Descartes.

PubMed

Urban, Elizabeth

2018-04-01

In this paper the author considers Descartes' place in current thinking about the mind-body dilemma. The premise here is that in the history of ideas, the questions posed can be as significant as the answers acquired. Descartes' paramount question was 'How do we determine certainty?' and his pursuit of an answer led to cogito ergo sum. His discovery simultaneously raised the question whether mind is separate from or unified with the body. Some who currently hold that brain and subjectivity are unified contend that the philosopher 'split' mind from body and refer to 'Descartes' error'. This paper puts forward that Descartes' detractors fail to recognise Descartes' contribution to Western thought, which was to introduce the Enlightenment and to give a place to human subjectivity. Added to this, evidence from Descartes' correspondence with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia supports the conclusion that Descartes did in fact believe in the unity of mind and body although he could not reconcile this rationally with the certainty from personal experience that they were separate substances. In this Descartes was engaged in just the same dilemma as that of current thinkers and researchers, a conflict which still is yet to be resolved. © 2018, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

Tour Opens Doors, Minds to Solar Energy

Science.gov Websites

., Oct. 5, 1998 — The third annual Tour of Solar Homes will open the doors to hundreds of passive and Conifer, will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. NREL's Visitors Center will open at 9 a.m. The Boulder tour, which

Preschoolers' Generation of Different Types of Counterfactual Statements and Theory of Mind Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guajardo, Nicole R.; Turley-Ames, Kandi Jo

2004-01-01

Two studies examined associations between theory of mind performance and counterfactual thinking using both antecedent and consequent counterfactual tasks. Moreover, the studies examined children's abilities to generate different types of counterfactual statements in terms of direction and structure. Participants were 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old…

A Moment of Mindfulness: Computer-Mediated Mindfulness Practice Increases State Mindfulness

PubMed Central

Mahmood, Lynsey; Hopthrow, Tim; Randsley de Moura, Georgina

2016-01-01

Three studies investigated the use of a 5-minute, computer-mediated mindfulness practice in increasing levels of state mindfulness. In Study 1, 54 high school students completed the computer-mediated mindfulness practice in a lab setting and Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS) scores were measured before and after the practice. In Study 2 (N = 90) and Study 3 (N = 61), the mindfulness practice was tested with an entirely online sample to test the delivery of the 5-minute mindfulness practice via the internet. In Study 2 and 3, we found a significant increase in TMS scores in the mindful condition, but not in the control condition. These findings highlight the impact of a brief, mindfulness practice for single-session, computer-mediated use to increase mindfulness as a state. PMID:27105428

Academic Stress and Self-Regulation among University Students in Malaysia: Mediator Role of Mindfulness

PubMed Central

Hj Ramli, Nur Hamizah; Alavi, Masoumeh; Mehrinezhad, Seyed Abolghasem; Ahmadi, Atefeh

2018-01-01

Academic stress is the most common emotional or mental state that students experience during their studies. Stress is a result of a wide range of issues, including test and exam burden, a demanding course, a different educational system, and thinking about future plans upon graduation. A sizeable body of literature in stress management research has found that self-regulation and being mindful will help students to cope up with the stress and dodge long-term negative consequences, such as substance abuse. The present study aims to investigate the influence of academic stress, self-regulation, and mindfulness among undergraduate students in Klang Valley, Malaysia, and to identify mindfulness as the mediator between academic stress and self-regulation. For this study, a total of 384 undergraduate students in Klang Valley, Malaysia were recruited. Using Correlational analysis, results revealed that there was a significant relationship between academic stress, self-regulation, and mindfulness. However, using SPSS mediational analysis, mindfulness did not prove the mediator role in the study. PMID:29342910

Academic Stress and Self-Regulation among University Students in Malaysia: Mediator Role of Mindfulness.

PubMed

Hj Ramli, Nur Hamizah; Alavi, Masoumeh; Mehrinezhad, Seyed Abolghasem; Ahmadi, Atefeh

2018-01-15

Academic stress is the most common emotional or mental state that students experience during their studies. Stress is a result of a wide range of issues, including test and exam burden, a demanding course, a different educational system, and thinking about future plans upon graduation. A sizeable body of literature in stress management research has found that self-regulation and being mindful will help students to cope up with the stress and dodge long-term negative consequences, such as substance abuse. The present study aims to investigate the influence of academic stress, self-regulation, and mindfulness among undergraduate students in Klang Valley, Malaysia, and to identify mindfulness as the mediator between academic stress and self-regulation. For this study, a total of 384 undergraduate students in Klang Valley, Malaysia were recruited. Using Correlational analysis, results revealed that there was a significant relationship between academic stress, self-regulation, and mindfulness. However, using SPSS mediational analysis, mindfulness did not prove the mediator role in the study.

The effectiveness of formative assessment with understanding by design (UbD) stages in forming habits of mind in prospective teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gloria, R. Y.; Sudarmin, S.; Wiyanto; Indriyanti, D. R.

2018-03-01

Habits of mind are intelligent thinking dispositions that every individual needs to have, and it needs an effort to form them as expected. A behavior can be formed by continuous practice; therefore the student's habits of mind can also be formed and trained. One effort that can be used to encourage the formation of habits of mind is a formative assessment strategy with the stages of UbD (Understanding by Design), and a study needs to be done to prove it. This study aims to determine the contribution of formative assessment to the value of habits of mind owned by prospective teachers. The method used is a quantitative method with a quasi-experimental design. To determine the effectiveness of formative assessment with Ubd stages on the formation of habits of mind, correlation test and regression analysis were conducted in the formative assessment questionnaire consisting of three components, i.e. feed back, peer assessment and self assessment, and habits of mind. The result of the research shows that from the three components of Formative Assessment, only Feedback component does not show correlation to students’ habits of mind (r = 0.323). While peer assessment component (r = 0. 732) and self assessment component (r = 0.625), both indicate correlation. From the regression test the overall component of the formative assessment contributed to the habits of mind at 57.1%. From the result of the research, it can be concluded that the formative assessment with Ubd stages is effective and contributes in forming the student's habits of mind; the formative assessment components that contributed the most are the peer assessment and self assessment. The greatest contribution goes to the Thinking interdependently category.

Interrater reliability of the mind map assessment rubric in a cohort of medical students.

PubMed

D'Antoni, Anthony V; Zipp, Genevieve Pinto; Olson, Valerie G

2009-04-28

Learning strategies are thinking tools that students can use to actively acquire information. Examples of learning strategies include mnemonics, charts, and maps. One strategy that may help students master the tsunami of information presented in medical school is the mind map learning strategy. Currently, there is no valid and reliable rubric to grade mind maps and this may contribute to their underutilization in medicine. Because concept maps and mind maps engage learners similarly at a metacognitive level, a valid and reliable concept map assessment scoring system was adapted to form the mind map assessment rubric (MMAR). The MMAR can assess mind map depth based upon concept-links, cross-links, hierarchies, examples, pictures, and colors. The purpose of this study was to examine interrater reliability of the MMAR. This exploratory study was conducted at a US medical school as part of a larger investigation on learning strategies. Sixty-six (N = 66) first-year medical students were given a 394-word text passage followed by a 30-minute presentation on mind mapping. After the presentation, subjects were again given the text passage and instructed to create mind maps based upon the passage. The mind maps were collected and independently scored using the MMAR by 3 examiners. Interrater reliability was measured using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) statistic. Statistics were calculated using SPSS version 12.0 (Chicago, IL). Analysis of the mind maps revealed the following: concept-links ICC = .05 (95% CI, -.42 to .38), cross-links ICC = .58 (95% CI, .37 to .73), hierarchies ICC = .23 (95% CI, -.15 to .50), examples ICC = .53 (95% CI, .29 to .69), pictures ICC = .86 (95% CI, .79 to .91), colors ICC = .73 (95% CI, .59 to .82), and total score ICC = .86 (95% CI, .79 to .91). The high ICC value for total mind map score indicates strong MMAR interrater reliability. Pictures and colors demonstrated moderate to strong interrater reliability. We conclude that the

Interrater reliability of the mind map assessment rubric in a cohort of medical students

PubMed Central

D'Antoni, Anthony V; Zipp, Genevieve Pinto; Olson, Valerie G

2009-01-01

Background Learning strategies are thinking tools that students can use to actively acquire information. Examples of learning strategies include mnemonics, charts, and maps. One strategy that may help students master the tsunami of information presented in medical school is the mind map learning strategy. Currently, there is no valid and reliable rubric to grade mind maps and this may contribute to their underutilization in medicine. Because concept maps and mind maps engage learners similarly at a metacognitive level, a valid and reliable concept map assessment scoring system was adapted to form the mind map assessment rubric (MMAR). The MMAR can assess mind map depth based upon concept-links, cross-links, hierarchies, examples, pictures, and colors. The purpose of this study was to examine interrater reliability of the MMAR. Methods This exploratory study was conducted at a US medical school as part of a larger investigation on learning strategies. Sixty-six (N = 66) first-year medical students were given a 394-word text passage followed by a 30-minute presentation on mind mapping. After the presentation, subjects were again given the text passage and instructed to create mind maps based upon the passage. The mind maps were collected and independently scored using the MMAR by 3 examiners. Interrater reliability was measured using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) statistic. Statistics were calculated using SPSS version 12.0 (Chicago, IL). Results Analysis of the mind maps revealed the following: concept-links ICC = .05 (95% CI, -.42 to .38), cross-links ICC = .58 (95% CI, .37 to .73), hierarchies ICC = .23 (95% CI, -.15 to .50), examples ICC = .53 (95% CI, .29 to .69), pictures ICC = .86 (95% CI, .79 to .91), colors ICC = .73 (95% CI, .59 to .82), and total score ICC = .86 (95% CI, .79 to .91). Conclusion The high ICC value for total mind map score indicates strong MMAR interrater reliability. Pictures and colors demonstrated moderate to strong

The MindfulBreather: Motion Guided Mindfulness

PubMed Central

Mole, Tom B.; Galante, Julieta; Walker, Iona C.; Dawson, Anna F.; Hannah, Laura A.; Mackeith, Pieter; Ainslie, Mark; Jones, Peter B.

2017-01-01

For millennia, humans have focused their attention on the breath to develop mindfulness, but finding a scientific way to harness mindful breathing has proven elusive. Existing attempts to objectively measure and feedback on mindfulness have relied on specialist external hardware including electroencephalograms or respirometers that have been impractical for the majority of people learning to meditate. Consequently, training in the key skill of breath-awareness has lacked practical objective measures and guidance to enhance training. Here, we provide a brief technology report on an invention, The MindfulBreather® that addresses these issues. The technology is available to download embedded in a smartphone app that targets, measures and feedbacks on mindfulness of breathing in realtime to enhance training. The current article outlines only the technological concept with future studies quantifying efficacy, validity and reliability to be reported elsewhere. The MindfulBreather works by generating Motion Guided Mindfulness through interacting gyroscopic and touchscreen sensors in a three phase process: Mindfulness Induction (Phase I) gives standardized instruction to users to place their smartphone on their abdomen, breathe mindfully and to tap only at the peak of their inhalation. The smartphone’s gyroscope detects periodic tilts during breathing to generate sinusoidal waveforms. Waveform-tap patterns are analyzed to determine whether the user is mindfully tapping only at the correct phase of the breathing cycle, indicating psychobiological synchronization. Mindfulness Maintenance (Phase II) provides reinforcing pleasant feedback sounds each time a breath is mindfully tapped at the right time, and the App records a mindful breath. Lastly, data-driven Insights are fed back to the user (Phase III), including the number of mindful breaths tapped and breathing rate reductions associated with parasympathetic engagement during meditation. The new MGM technology is then

The MindfulBreather: Motion Guided Mindfulness.

PubMed

Mole, Tom B; Galante, Julieta; Walker, Iona C; Dawson, Anna F; Hannah, Laura A; Mackeith, Pieter; Ainslie, Mark; Jones, Peter B

2017-01-01

For millennia, humans have focused their attention on the breath to develop mindfulness, but finding a scientific way to harness mindful breathing has proven elusive. Existing attempts to objectively measure and feedback on mindfulness have relied on specialist external hardware including electroencephalograms or respirometers that have been impractical for the majority of people learning to meditate. Consequently, training in the key skill of breath-awareness has lacked practical objective measures and guidance to enhance training. Here, we provide a brief technology report on an invention, The MindfulBreather ® that addresses these issues. The technology is available to download embedded in a smartphone app that targets, measures and feedbacks on mindfulness of breathing in realtime to enhance training. The current article outlines only the technological concept with future studies quantifying efficacy, validity and reliability to be reported elsewhere. The MindfulBreather works by generating Motion Guided Mindfulness through interacting gyroscopic and touchscreen sensors in a three phase process: Mindfulness Induction (Phase I) gives standardized instruction to users to place their smartphone on their abdomen, breathe mindfully and to tap only at the peak of their inhalation. The smartphone's gyroscope detects periodic tilts during breathing to generate sinusoidal waveforms. Waveform-tap patterns are analyzed to determine whether the user is mindfully tapping only at the correct phase of the breathing cycle, indicating psychobiological synchronization. Mindfulness Maintenance (Phase II) provides reinforcing pleasant feedback sounds each time a breath is mindfully tapped at the right time, and the App records a mindful breath. Lastly, data-driven Insights are fed back to the user (Phase III), including the number of mindful breaths tapped and breathing rate reductions associated with parasympathetic engagement during meditation. The new MGM technology is then

Improving self-efficacy in spinal cord injury patients through "design thinking" rehabilitation workshops.

PubMed

Wolstenholme, Daniel; Downes, Tom; Leaver, Jackie; Partridge, Rebecca; Langley, Joseph

2014-01-01

Advances in surgical and medical management have significantly reduced the length of time that patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) have to stay in hospital, but has left patients with potentially less time to psychologically adjust. Following a pilot in 2012, this project was designed to test the effect of "design thinking" workshops on the self-efficacy of people undergoing rehabilitation following spinal injuries. Design thinking is about understanding the approaches and methods that designers use and then applying these to think creatively about problems and suggest ways to solve them. In this instance, design thinking is not about designing new products (although the approaches can be used to do this) but about developing a long term creative and explorative mind-set through skills such as lateral thinking, prototyping and verbal and visual communication. The principles of "design thinking" have underpinned design education and practice for many years, it is also recognised in business and innovation for example, but a literature review indicated that there was no evidence of it being used in rehabilitation or spinal injury settings. Twenty participants took part in the study; 13 (65%) were male and the average age was 37 years (range 16 to 72). Statistically significant improvements were seen for EQ-5D score (t = -3.13, p = 0.007) and Patient Activation Measure score (t = -3.85, p = 0.001). Other outcome measures improved but not statistically. There were no statistical effects on length of stay or readmission rates, but qualitative interviews indicated improved patient experience.

Laboratory Activity Worksheet to Train High Order Thinking Skill of Student on Surface Chemistry Lecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yonata, B.; Nasrudin, H.

2018-01-01

A worksheet has to be a set with activity which is help students to arrange their own experiments. For this reason, this research is focused on how to train students’ higher order thinking skills in laboratory activity by developing laboratory activity worksheet on surface chemistry lecture. To ensure that the laboratory activity worksheet already contains aspects of the higher order thinking skill, it requires theoretical and empirical validation. From the data analysis results, it shows that the developed worksheet worth to use. The worksheet is worthy of theoretical and empirical feasibility. This conclusion is based on the findings: 1) Assessment from the validators about the theoretical feasibility aspects in the category is very feasible with an assessment range of 95.24% to 97.92%. 2) students’ higher thinking skill from N Gain values ranges from 0.50 (enough) to 1.00 (high) so it can be concluded that the laboratory activity worksheet on surface chemistry lecture is empirical in terms of worth. The empirical feasibility is supported by the responses of the students in very reasonable categories. It is expected that the laboratory activity worksheet on surface chemistry lecture can train students’ high order thinking skills for students who program surface chemistry lecture.

Turning Towards or Turning Away: A Comparison of Mindfulness Meditation and Guided Imagery Relaxation in Patients with Acute Depression.

PubMed

Costa, Ana; Barnhofer, Thorsten

2016-07-01

Disengaging from maladaptive thinking is an important imperative in the treatment of depression. Mindfulness training is aimed at helping patients acquire relevant skills for this purpose. It remains unclear, however, whether this practice is helpful when patients are acutely depressed. In order to investigate effects of mindfulness on symptoms and self-regulatory capacities in this group, the current study compared a brief training in mindfulness (n = 19) to guided imagery relaxation (n = 18). Participants were introduced to the respective techniques in a single session, and practised daily over one week. Self-reported severity of symptoms, difficulties in emotion-regulation, attentional control, the ability to decentre, and mindfulness were assessed pre and postintervention, and at a one-week follow-up. Symptoms of depression significantly decreased and self-regulatory functioning significantly increased in both groups, with changes being maintained during follow-up. When controlling for change in depressive symptoms, results showed significantly higher improvements in emotion regulation at follow-up in the mindfulness group. The ability to decentre predicted changes in symptoms from pre to postintervention, while mindfulness skills predicted changes in symptoms during the maintenance phase. The findings suggest that both practices can help to instigate reductions in symptoms and enhance self-regulatory functioning in depression. However, in order to improve emotion regulation above levels explained by reductions in symptoms more intentional mental training seems necessary. Furthermore, while the ability to disengage from negative patterns of thinking seems crucial for initial reduction of symptoms, maintenance of gains might require broader skills in mindfulness.

Creativity, information, and consciousness: The information dynamics of thinking.

PubMed

Wiggins, Geraint A

2018-05-07

This paper presents a theory of the basic operation of mind, Information Dynamics of Thinking, which is intended for computational implementation and thence empirical testing. It is based on the information theory of Shannon, and treats the mind/brain as an information processing organ that aims to be information-efficient, in that it predicts its world, so as to use information efficiently, and regularly re-represents it, so as to store information efficiently. The theory is presented in context of a background review of various research areas that impinge upon its development. Consequences of the theory and testable hypotheses arising from it are discussed. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Why We Think We Can't Dance: Theory of Mind and Children's Desire to Perform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chaplin, Lan Nguyen; Norton, Michael I.

2015-01-01

Theory of mind (ToM) allows children to achieve success in the social world by understanding others' minds. A study with 3- to 12-year-olds, however, demonstrates that gains in ToM are linked to decreases in children's desire to engage in performative behaviors associated with health and well-being, such as singing and dancing. One hundred and…

Minds "at attention": mindfulness training curbs attentional lapses in military cohorts.

PubMed

Jha, Amishi P; Morrison, Alexandra B; Dainer-Best, Justin; Parker, Suzanne; Rostrup, Nina; Stanley, Elizabeth A

2015-01-01

We investigated the impact of mindfulness training (MT) on attentional performance lapses associated with task-unrelated thought (i.e., mind wandering). Periods of persistent and intensive demands may compromise attention and increase off-task thinking. Here, we investigated if MT may mitigate these deleterious effects and promote cognitive resilience in military cohorts enduring a high-demand interval of predeployment training. To better understand which aspects of MT programs are most beneficial, three military cohorts were examined. Two of the three groups were provided MT. One group received an 8-hour, 8-week variant of Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) emphasizing engagement in training exercises (training-focused MT, n = 40), a second group received a didactic-focused variant emphasizing content regarding stress and resilience (didactic-focused MT, n = 40), and the third group served as a no-training control (NTC, n = 24). Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) performance was indexed in all military groups and a no-training civilian group (CIV, n = 45) before (T1) and after (T2) the MT course period. Attentional performance (measured by A', a sensitivity index) was lower in NTC vs. CIV at T2, suggesting that performance suffers after enduring a high-demand predeployment interval relative to a similar time period of civilian life. Yet, there were significantly fewer performance lapses in the military cohorts receiving MT relative to NTC, with training-focused MT outperforming didactic-focused MT at T2. From T1 to T2, A' degraded in NTC and didactic-focused MT but remained stable in training-focused MT and CIV. In sum, while protracted periods of high-demand military training may increase attentional performance lapses, practice-focused MT programs akin to training-focused MT may bolster attentional performance more than didactic-focused programs. As such, training-focused MT programs should be further examined in cohorts experiencing

Relationship of mindful awareness to neural processing of angry faces and impact of mindfulness training: A pilot investigation.

PubMed

Lee, Athene K W; Gansler, David A; Zhang, Nanyin; Jerram, Matthew W; King, Jean A; Fulwiler, Carl

2017-06-30

Mindfulness is paying attention, non-judgmentally, to experience in the moment. Mindfulness training reduces depression and anxiety and influences neural processes in midline self-referential and lateralized somatosensory and executive networks. Although mindfulness benefits emotion regulation, less is known about its relationship to anger and the corresponding neural correlates. This study examined the relationship of mindful awareness and brain hemodynamics of angry face processing, and the impact of mindfulness training. Eighteen healthy volunteers completed an angry face processing fMRI paradigm and measurement of mindfulness and anger traits. Ten of these participants were recruited from a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class and also completed imaging and other assessments post-training. Self-reported mindful awareness increased after MBSR, but trait anger did not change. Baseline mindful awareness was negatively related to left inferior parietal lobule activation to angry faces; trait anger was positively related to right middle frontal gyrus and bilateral angular gyrus. No significant pre-post changes in angry face processing were found, but changes in trait mindful awareness and anger were associated with sub-threshold differences in paralimbic activation. These preliminary and hypothesis-generating findings, suggest the analysis of possible impact of mindfulness training on anger may begin with individual differences in angry face processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The brain on silent: mind wandering, mindful awareness, and states of mental tranquility

PubMed Central

Vago, David R.; Zeidan, Fadel

2018-01-01

Mind wandering and mindfulness are often described as divergent mental states with opposing effects on cognitive performance and mental health. Spontaneous mind wandering is typically associated with self-reflective states that contribute to negative processing of the past, worrying/fantasizing about the future, and disruption of primary task performance. On the other hand, mindful awareness is frequently described as a focus on present sensory input without cognitive elaboration or emotional reactivity, and is associated with improved task performance and decreased stress-related symptomology. Unfortunately, such distinctions fail to acknowledge similarities and interactions between the two states. Instead of an inverse relationship between mindfulness and mind wandering, a more nuanced characterization of mindfulness may involve skillful toggling back and forth between conceptual and nonconceptual processes and networks supporting each state, to meet the contextually specified demands of the situation. In this article, we present a theoretical analysis and plausible neurocognitive framework of the restful mind, in which we attempt to clarify potentially adaptive contributions of both mind wandering and mindful awareness through the lens of the extant neurocognitive literature on intrinsic network activity, meditation, and emerging descriptions of stillness and nonduality. A neurophenomenological approach to probing modality-specific forms of concentration and nonconceptual awareness is presented that may improve our understanding of the resting state. Implications for future research are discussed. PMID:27398642

The brain on silent: mind wandering, mindful awareness, and states of mental tranquility.

PubMed

Vago, David R; Zeidan, Fadel

2016-06-01

Mind wandering and mindfulness are often described as divergent mental states with opposing effects on cognitive performance and mental health. Spontaneous mind wandering is typically associated with self-reflective states that contribute to negative processing of the past, worrying/fantasizing about the future, and disruption of primary task performance. On the other hand, mindful awareness is frequently described as a focus on present sensory input without cognitive elaboration or emotional reactivity, and is associated with improved task performance and decreased stress-related symptomology. Unfortunately, such distinctions fail to acknowledge similarities and interactions between the two states. Instead of an inverse relationship between mindfulness and mind wandering, a more nuanced characterization of mindfulness may involve skillful toggling back and forth between conceptual and nonconceptual processes and networks supporting each state, to meet the contextually specified demands of the situation. In this article, we present a theoretical analysis and plausible neurocognitive framework of the restful mind, in which we attempt to clarify potentially adaptive contributions of both mind wandering and mindful awareness through the lens of the extant neurocognitive literature on intrinsic network activity, meditation, and emerging descriptions of stillness and nonduality. A neurophenomenological approach to probing modality-specific forms of concentration and nonconceptual awareness is presented that may improve our understanding of the resting state. Implications for future research are discussed. © 2016 New York Academy of Sciences.

Learning Is Like a Lava Lamp: The Student Journey to Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Rosie

2017-01-01

This article explores the ways in which a university Foundation Degree programme supports undergraduate Early Years students to develop critical thinking, mindfulness and self-actualisation through their lived personal and professional experiences. It considers the impact of this on graduates employed within the Early Years sector. Findings inform…

Teaching to Think: Applying the Socratic Method outside the Law School Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Evan

2009-01-01

An active learning process has the potential to provide educational benefits above-and-beyond what they might receive from more traditional, passive approaches. The Socratic Method is a unique approach to passive learning that facilitates critical thinking, open-mindedness, and teamwork. By imposing a series of guided questions to students, an…

Investigating the Synergy of Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking in the Course of Integrated Activity in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Yulin; Li, Bei-Di; Chen, Hsueh-Chih; Chiu, Fa-Chung

2015-01-01

The relationship lying between critical thinking and creative thinking is opposite or complementary, results of previous relevant researches have not yet concluded. However, most of researches put the effort to compare the respective effect of the thinking methods, either the teaching of creative thinking or that of critical thinking. Less of them…

Mental Verb Input for Promoting Children's Theory of Mind: A Training Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gola, Alice Ann Howard

2012-01-01

An experimental study investigated the effect of the type of mental verb input (i.e., input with "think", "know", and "remember") on preschoolers' theory of mind development. Preschoolers (n = 72) heard 128 mental verb utterances presented in video format across four sessions over two weeks. The training conditions differed only in the way the…

How to Overcome the One-Track Mind: Teaching for Creativity and Wisdom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dai, David Yun; Cheng, Huai

2017-01-01

In this response to Sternberg's (2017) feature article in this special issue, we identify and define a kind of closed-minded, dogmatic, self-serving thinking that is nowadays quite prevalent around the world but counterproductive in solving many social problems. We argue that overcoming such a mindset takes wisdom and creativity. We present some…

The Mindfulness-Enhanced Strengthening Families Program: Integrating Brief Mindfulness Activities and Parent Training within an Evidence-Based Prevention Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coatsworth, J. Douglas; Duncan, Larissa G.; Berrena, Elaine; Bamberger, Katharine T.; Loeschinger, Daniel; Greenberg, Mark T.; Nix, Robert L.

2014-01-01

Teaching mindfulness to parents as well as adolescents through a family-centered intervention approach can have a positive impact on the parent-youth relationship. In mindful parenting, caretakers are aware of their own feelings and emotions, and interact with their adolescents in a mindful way by demonstrating emotional awareness, attentive…

Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking. 3rd Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costa, Arthur L., Ed.

The major purpose of this book is to rejuvenate the focus on thinking throughout the curriculum. This collection of 85 essays is intended to help educational leaders--teachers, administrators, curriculum workers, staff developers, and teacher educators--infuse curriculum, instruction, and school organization with practices that more fully develop…

Children’s strategic theory of mind

PubMed Central

Sher, Itai; Koenig, Melissa; Rustichini, Aldo

2014-01-01

Human strategic interaction requires reasoning about other people’s behavior and mental states, combined with an understanding of their incentives. However, the ontogenic development of strategic reasoning is not well understood: At what age do we show a capacity for sophisticated play in social interactions? Several lines of inquiry suggest an important role for recursive thinking (RT) and theory of mind (ToM), but these capacities leave out the strategic element. We posit a strategic theory of mind (SToM) integrating ToM and RT with reasoning about incentives of all players. We investigated SToM in 3- to 9-y-old children and adults in two games that represent prevalent aspects of social interaction. Children anticipate deceptive and competitive moves from the other player and play both games in a strategically sophisticated manner by 7 y of age. One game has a pure strategy Nash equilibrium: In this game, children achieve equilibrium play by the age of 7 y on the first move. In the other game, with a single mixed-strategy equilibrium, children’s behavior moved toward the equilibrium with experience. These two results also correspond to two ways in which children’s behavior resembles adult behavior in the same games. In both games, children’s behavior becomes more strategically sophisticated with age on the first move. Beyond the age of 7 y, children begin to think about strategic interaction not myopically, but in a farsighted way, possibly with a view to cooperating and capitalizing on mutual gains in long-run relationships. PMID:25197065

On the Necessity of Distinguishing Between Unintentional and Intentional Mind Wandering.

PubMed

Seli, Paul; Risko, Evan F; Smilek, Daniel

2016-05-01

In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in the number of studies examining mind wandering. Although participants' reports of mind wandering are often assumed to largely reflect spontaneous, unintentional thoughts, many researchers' conceptualizations of mind wandering have left open the possibility that at least some of these reports reflect deliberate, intentional thought. Critically, however, in most investigations on the topic, researchers have not separately assessed each type of mind wandering; instead, they have measured mind wandering as a unitary construct, thereby conflating intentional and unintentional types. We report the first compelling evidence that an experimental manipulation can have qualitatively different effects on intentional and unintentional types of mind wandering. This result provides clear evidence that researchers interested in understanding mind wandering need to consider the distinction between unintentional and intentional occurrences of this phenomenon. © The Author(s) 2016.

Shared scientific thinking in everyday parent-child activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crowley, Kevin; Callanan, Maureen A.; Jipson, Jennifer L.; Galco, Jodi; Topping, Karen; Shrager, Jeff

2001-11-01

Current accounts of the development of scientific reasoning focus on individual children's ability to coordinate the collection and evaluation of evidence with the creation of theories to explain the evidence. This observational study of parent-child interactions in a children's museum demonstrated that parents shape and support children's scientific thinking in everyday, nonobligatory activity. When children engaged an exhibit with parents, their exploration of evidence was observed to be longer, broader, and more focused on relevant comparisons than children who engaged the exhibit without their parents. Parents were observed to talk to children about how to select and encode appropriate evidence and how to make direct comparisons between the most informative kinds of evidence. Parents also sometimes assumed the role of explainer by casting children's experience in causal terms, connecting the experience to prior knowledge, or introducing abstract principles. We discuss these findings with respect to two dimensions of children's scientific thinking: developments in evidence collection and developments in theory construction.

Increases in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and decreases the rostral prefrontal cortex activation after-8 weeks of focused attention based mindfulness meditation.

PubMed

Tomasino, Barbara; Fabbro, Franco

2016-02-01

Mindfulness meditation is a form of attention control training. The training exercises the ability to repeatedly focus attention. We addressed the activation changes related to an 8-weeks mindfulness-oriented focused attention meditation training on an initially naïve subject cohort. Before and after training participants underwent an fMRI experiment, thus, although not strictly a cross over design, they served as their internal own control. During fMRI they exercised focused attention on breathing and body scan as compared to resting. We found increased and decreased activation in different parts of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) by comparing pre- vs. post-mindfulness training (MT) during breathing and body scan meditation exercises that were compared against their own resting state. In the post-MT (vs. pre-MT) meditation increased activation in the right dorsolateral PFC and in the left caudate/anterior insula and decreased activation in the rostral PFC and right parietal area 3b. Thus a brief mindfulness training caused increased activation in areas involved in sustaining and monitoring the focus of attention (dorsolateral PFC), consistent with the aim of mindfulness that is exercising focused attention mechanisms, and in the left caudate/anterior insula involved in attention and corporeal awareness and decreased activation in areas part of the "default mode" network and is involved in mentalizing (rostral PFC), consistent with the ability trained by mindfulness of reducing spontaneous mind wandering. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thinking Style Diversity and Collaborative Design Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volpentesta, Antonio P.; Ammirato, Salvatore; Sofo, Francesco

The paper explores the impact of structured learning experiences that were designed to challenge students’ ways of thinking and promote creativity. The aim was to develop the ability of students, coming from different engineering disciplines and characterized by particular thinking style profiles, to collaboratively work on a project-based learning experience in an educational environment. Three project-based learning experiences were structured using critical thinking methods to stimulate creativity. Pre and post-survey data using a specially modified thinking style inventory for 202 design students indicated a thinking style profile of preferences with a focus on exploring and questioning. Statistically significant results showed students successfully developed empathy and openness to multiple perspectives.

Mindfulness and emotion regulation—an fMRI study

PubMed Central

Lutz, Jacqueline; Herwig, Uwe; Opialla, Sarah; Hittmeyer, Anna; Jäncke, Lutz; Rufer, Michael; Grosse Holtforth, Martin

2014-01-01

Mindfulness—an attentive non-judgmental focus on present experiences—is increasingly incorporated in psychotherapeutic treatments as a skill fostering emotion regulation. Neurobiological mechanisms of actively induced emotion regulation are associated with prefrontally mediated down-regulation of, for instance, the amygdala. We were interested in neurobiological correlates of a short mindfulness instruction during emotional arousal. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated effects of a short mindfulness intervention during the cued expectation and perception of negative and potentially negative pictures (50% probability) in 24 healthy individuals compared to 22 controls. The mindfulness intervention was associated with increased activations in prefrontal regions during the expectation of negative and potentially negative pictures compared to controls. During the perception of negative stimuli, reduced activation was identified in regions involved in emotion processing (amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus). Prefrontal and right insular activations when expecting negative pictures correlated negatively with trait mindfulness, suggesting that more mindful individuals required less regulatory resources to attenuate emotional arousal. Our findings suggest emotion regulatory effects of a short mindfulness intervention on a neurobiological level. PMID:23563850

Analysis of students critical thinking skills in socio-scientific issues of biodiversity subject

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santika, A. R.; Purwianingsih, W.; Nuraeni, E.

2018-05-01

Critical thinking is a skills the which students should have in order to face 21st century demands. Critical thinking skills can help people in facing their daily problems, especially problems roommates relate to science. This research is aimed to analyze students critical thinking skills in socio-scientific issues of biodiversity subject. The method used in this research was descriptive method. The research subject is first-grade students’ in senior high school. The data collected by interview and open-ended question the which classified based on framework : (1) question at issue, (2) information (3) purpose (4) concepts (5) assumptions, (6) point of view, (7) interpretation and inference, and (8) implication and consequences, then it will be assessed by using rubrics. The result of the data showed students critical thinking skills in socio-scientific issues of biodiversity subject is in low and medium category. Therefore we need a learning activity that is able to develop student’s critical thinking skills, especially regarding issues of social science.

Minds “At Attention”: Mindfulness Training Curbs Attentional Lapses in Military Cohorts

PubMed Central

Jha, Amishi P.; Morrison, Alexandra B.; Dainer-Best, Justin; Parker, Suzanne; Rostrup, Nina; Stanley, Elizabeth A.

2015-01-01

We investigated the impact of mindfulness training (MT) on attentional performance lapses associated with task-unrelated thought (i.e., mind wandering). Periods of persistent and intensive demands may compromise attention and increase off-task thinking. Here, we investigated if MT may mitigate these deleterious effects and promote cognitive resilience in military cohorts enduring a high-demand interval of predeployment training. To better understand which aspects of MT programs are most beneficial, three military cohorts were examined. Two of the three groups were provided MT. One group received an 8-hour, 8-week variant of Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) emphasizing engagement in training exercises (training-focused MT, n = 40), a second group received a didactic-focused variant emphasizing content regarding stress and resilience (didactic-focused MT, n = 40), and the third group served as a no-training control (NTC, n = 24). Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) performance was indexed in all military groups and a no-training civilian group (CIV, n = 45) before (T1) and after (T2) the MT course period. Attentional performance (measured by A’, a sensitivity index) was lower in NTC vs. CIV at T2, suggesting that performance suffers after enduring a high-demand predeployment interval relative to a similar time period of civilian life. Yet, there were significantly fewer performance lapses in the military cohorts receiving MT relative to NTC, with training-focused MT outperforming didactic-focused MT at T2. From T1 to T2, A’ degraded in NTC and didactic-focused MT but remained stable in training-focused MT and CIV. In sum, while protracted periods of high-demand military training may increase attentional performance lapses, practice-focused MT programs akin to training-focused MT may bolster attentional performance more than didactic-focused programs. As such, training-focused MT programs should be further examined in cohorts experiencing

Taking Your Mind for a Walk: A Qualitative Investigation of Walking and Thinking among Nine Norwegian Academics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keinänen, Mia

2016-01-01

Walking has long been associated with thinking. Anecdotal evidence from philosophers, writers, researchers, artists, business leaders and so forth testify to the powers of walking-for-thinking. This study explores walking-for-thinking among nine academics in Norway, four university professors, two research and development professionals, two…

Promoting Innovative Thinking

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Innovation is the engine of scientific progress, yet we do not train public health students to think creatively. I present the key concepts within an evidence-based method currently taught at the University of Texas. Habitual thought patterns involve deeply held framed expectations. Finding alternatives generates originality. Because frame breaking is difficult, a series of innovation heuristics and tools are offered including enhancing observation, using analogies, changing point of view, juggling opposites, broadening perspective, reversal, reorganization and combination, and getting the most from groups. Gaining cognitive attributes such as nonjudgment, willingness to question, mindfulness, and plasticity is also emphasized. Students completing the class demonstrate substantial increases on a standardized test of idea fluency and originality, more joyful attitudes toward science, and more pluralistic approaches. PMID:25706005

Comparing young people's experience of technology-delivered v. face-to-face mindfulness and relaxation: two-armed qualitative focus group study.

PubMed

Tunney, Conall; Cooney, Patricia; Coyle, David; O'Reilly, Gary

2017-04-01

Background The current popularity of mindfulness-based practices has coincided with the increase in access to mobile technology. This has led to many mindfulness apps and programs becoming available, some specifically for children. However, little is known about the experience of engaging with mindfulness through these mediums. Aims To explore children's experience of mindfulness delivered both face-to-face and through a computer game to highlight any differences or similarities. Method A two-armed qualitative focus groups design was used to explore children's experiences. The first arm offered mindfulness exercises in a traditional face-to-face setting with guided meditations. The second arm offered mindfulness exercises through a computer game avatar. Results Themes of relaxation, engagement, awareness, thinking, practice and directing attention emerged from both arms of focus groups. Subthematic codes highlight key differences as well as similarities in the experience of mindfulness. Conclusions These results indicate that mindfulness delivered via technology can offer a rich experience. © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017.

How Critical Thinking Shapes the Military Decision Making Process

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-05-17

emotional rebuttal. Conversely, people cannot make good rational decisions without at least a twinge of emotion attached to the decision . 2) Our minds... decision they make . If emotions overwhelm reason, then decisions should be postponed.27 Service biases are one of the strongest emotional bias. Any...FINAL 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE How Critical Thinking Shapes the Military Decision Making Process 5a. CONTRACT

[A Concept Analysis for Mind-Body Interaction].

PubMed

Chen, Hsing-Wen; Yeh, Mei-Ling; Rong, Jiin-Ru

2015-08-01

Mind-body interaction (MBI) refers the holistic association and interactive process between wisdom, thinking, belief, and physiological reaction, which critically affects health. The main goal of nursing is to maintain mind and body in a healthy state of well being. Few reports in the literatures have addressed the evaluation and application of MBI. Thus, a conceptual analysis of this subject is worth exploring in depth. This paper analyzes the MBI concept step by step based on the procedures of Walker and Avant. The result defines the characteristics of MBI as (1) being aware of psychosomatic effects, (2) interacting between psychology, neurology, immunology and others, and (3) turning out a bio-psycho-social status. Antecedents include geography, culture, race, gender, age, education, profession, values, personality, experience, and health status. Consequences of MBI include well-being, illness, and death. This paper provides new information on MBI that clarifies its meaning, provides comprehensive cognition, and suggests useful applications.

Speak Your Mind

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wiley, H. S.

2009-12-01

Good science comes from the open competition between ideas. Even the best hypotheses and conjectures are based on incomplete data and are influenced by inherent biases. Presenting these ideas in public provides an excellent opportunity to stack them up against the competition. I found that anticipation of a direct public question was also one of the most effective motivators for critical thinking.

Ultra-Brief Mindfulness Training Reduces Alcohol Consumption in At-Risk Drinkers: A Randomized Double-Blind Active-Controlled Experiment.

PubMed

Kamboj, Sunjeev K; Irez, Damla; Serfaty, Shirley; Thomas, Emily; Das, Ravi K; Freeman, Tom P

2017-11-01

Like other complex psychosocial interventions, mindfulness-based treatments comprise various modality-specific components as well as nonspecific therapeutic ingredients that collectively contribute to efficacy. Consequently, the isolated effects of mindfulness strategies per se remain unclear. Using a randomized double-blind design, we compared the isolated effects of 11-minutes of "supervised" mindfulness instruction against a closely matched active control (relaxation) on subjective, physiological, and behavioral indices of maladaptive alcohol responding in drinkers at risk of harm from alcohol use (n = 68). Simple follow-up instructions on strategy use were provided, but practice was unsupervised and not formally monitored. Both groups showed acute reductions in craving after training, although a trend group x time interaction (P = .056) suggested that this reduction was greater in the relaxation group (d = 0.722 P < .001) compared with the mindfulness group (d = 0.317, P = .004). Furthermore, upregulation of parasympathetic activity was found after relaxation (d = 0.562; P < .001) but not mindfulness instructions (d = 0.08; P > .1; group x time interaction: P = .009). By contrast, only the mindfulness group showed a reduction in past-week alcohol consumption at 7-day follow-up (-9.31 units, d = 0.593, P < .001), whereas no significant reduction was seen in the relaxation group (-3.00 units, d = 0.268, P > .1; group x time interaction: P = .026). Very brief mindfulness practice can significantly reduce alcohol consumption among at-risk drinkers, even with minimal encouragement to use this strategy outside of the experimental context. The effects on consumption may therefore represent a lower bound of efficacy of "ultra-brief" mindfulness instructions in hazardous drinkers, at least at short follow-up intervals. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

Ultra-Brief Mindfulness Training Reduces Alcohol Consumption in At-Risk Drinkers: A Randomized Double-Blind Active-Controlled Experiment

PubMed Central

Irez, Damla; Serfaty, Shirley; Thomas, Emily; Das, Ravi K; Freeman, Tom P

2017-01-01

Abstract Background Like other complex psychosocial interventions, mindfulness-based treatments comprise various modality-specific components as well as nonspecific therapeutic ingredients that collectively contribute to efficacy. Consequently, the isolated effects of mindfulness strategies per se remain unclear. Methods Using a randomized double-blind design, we compared the isolated effects of 11-minutes of “supervised” mindfulness instruction against a closely matched active control (relaxation) on subjective, physiological, and behavioral indices of maladaptive alcohol responding in drinkers at risk of harm from alcohol use (n = 68). Simple follow-up instructions on strategy use were provided, but practice was unsupervised and not formally monitored. Results Both groups showed acute reductions in craving after training, although a trend group x time interaction (P = .056) suggested that this reduction was greater in the relaxation group (d = 0.722 P < .001) compared with the mindfulness group (d = 0.317, P = .004). Furthermore, upregulation of parasympathetic activity was found after relaxation (d = 0.562; P < .001) but not mindfulness instructions (d = 0.08; P > .1; group x time interaction: P = .009). By contrast, only the mindfulness group showed a reduction in past-week alcohol consumption at 7-day follow-up (-9.31 units, d = 0.593, P < .001), whereas no significant reduction was seen in the relaxation group (-3.00 units, d = 0.268, P > .1; group x time interaction: P = .026). Conclusion Very brief mindfulness practice can significantly reduce alcohol consumption among at-risk drinkers, even with minimal encouragement to use this strategy outside of the experimental context. The effects on consumption may therefore represent a lower bound of efficacy of “ultra-brief” mindfulness instructions in hazardous drinkers, at least at short follow-up intervals. PMID:29016995

From Years of Work in Psychology and Computer Science, Scientists Build Theories of Thinking and Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wheeler, David L.

1988-01-01

Scientists feel that progress in artificial intelligence and the availability of thousands of experimental results make this the right time to build and test theories on how people think and learn, using the computer to model minds. (MSE)

Visual-spatial thinking: An aspect of science overlooked by educators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathewson, James H.

1999-01-01

Thinking with images plays a central role in scientific creativity and communication but is neglected in science classrooms. This article reviews the fundamental role of imagery in science and technology and our current knowledge of visual-spatial cognition. A novel analogic and thematic organization of images and visualization within science and technology is proposed that can help in the generation and evaluation of classroom activities and materials, and serve as a focus for professional development programs in visual-spatial thinking for science teachers. Visual-spatial thinking includes vision - using the eyes to identify, locate, and think about objects and ourselves in the world, and imagery - the formation, inspection, transformation, and maintenance of images in the mind's eye in the absence of a visual stimulus. A spatial image preserves relationships among a complex set of ideas as a single chunk in working memory, increasing the amount of information that can be maintained in consciousness at a given moment. Vision and imagery are fundamental cognitive processes using specialized pathways in the brain and rely on our memory of prior experience. Visual-spatial thinking develops from birth, together with language and other specialized abilities, through interactions between inherited capabilities and experience. Scientific creativity can be considered as an amalgam of three closely allied mental formats: images; metaphors; and unifying ideas (themes). Combinations of images, analogies, and themes pervade science in the form of master images and visualization techniques. A critique of current practice in education contrasts the subservient role of visual-spatial learning with the dominance of the alphanumeric encoding skills in classroom and textbooks. The lack of coherence in curriculum, pedagogy, and learning theory requires reform that addresses thinking skills, including imagery. Successful integration of information, skills and attitudes into cohesive

Activating children's thinking skills (ACTS): the effects of an infusion approach to teaching thinking in primary schools.

PubMed

Dewey, Jessica; Bento, Janet

2009-06-01

Recent interest in the teaching of thinking skills within education has led to an increase in thinking skills packages available to schools. However many of these are not based on scientific evaluation (DfEE, 1999). This paper endeavours to examine the effectiveness of one approach, that of infusion, to teaching thinking. To investigate the impact of an infusion methodology, activating children's thinking skills (ACTS), on the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children in Year 4-6 in primary schools. This is a sister project to research being conducted in Northern Ireland (McGuinness, 2006). The study involved 404 children from 8 primary schools in one local authority. These were divided into 160 in the experimental group and 244 in the waiting list control group. A quasi-experimental design was used with pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests to ascertain changes in children's cognitive abilities, self-perceptions, and social/behavioural skills using quantitative measures. In addition qualitative techniques were used with pupils and teachers to evaluate effectiveness. The experimental group made significantly greater gains in cognitive ability skills over a 2 year period compared to the waiting list control. Qualitative data demonstrated a positive impact on children's social and emotional development. In addition teacher professional development was reported to be enhanced. This research indicated that children's cognitive abilities can be developed following a 2 year period of the ACTS infusion intervention. While some positive effects were evidenced on the social and emotional development of children, further study will be necessary to examine these in more detail.

A comparison of problem-based and traditional education on nursing students' critical thinking dispositions.

PubMed

Ozturk, Candan; Muslu, Gonca Karayagiz; Dicle, Aklime

2008-07-01

Determining the critical thinking (CT) levels of students in undergraduate nursing schools is important in terms of establishing the methods of education that should be used. Although there is some evidence that active learning approaches like problem-based learning are effective in developing CT, the findings are inconclusive. This descriptive analytic study compared levels of critical thinking among senior nursing students (N=147) in two educational programs, one of which used a problem-based learning (PBL) model while the other used a traditional model. The California critical thinking disposition inventory (CCTDI) was used as a data collection tool. Comparisons between the groups were made using t-test analysis. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the critical thinking disposition scores of the seniors in the PBL school and those in the school implementing the traditional model. Analysis of sub-scale scores showed significant differences in truth-seeking and open-mindedness. These findings add to the evidence that the active and self-directed nature of PBL encourages students' ability to think critically, be tolerant of the ideas of others and evaluate conflicting information before reaching a conclusion.

Working memory capacity and mind-wandering during low-demand cognitive tasks.

PubMed

Robison, Matthew K; Unsworth, Nash

2017-07-01

Individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) typically predict reduced rates of mind-wandering during laboratory tasks (Randall, Oswald, & Beier, 2014). However, some studies have shown a positive relationship between WMC and mind-wandering during particularly low-demand tasks (Levinson, Smallwood, & Davidson, 2012; Rummel & Boywitt, 2014; Zavagnin, Borella, & De Beni, 2014). More specifically, Baird, Smallwood, and Schooler (2011) found that when individuals with greater WMC do mind-wander, they tend entertain more future-oriented thoughts. This piece of evidence is frequently used to support the context-regulation hypothesis, which states that using spare capacity to think productively (e.g. plan) during relatively simple tasks is indicative of a cognitive system that is functioning in an adaptive manner (Smallwood & Andrews-Hanna, 2013). The present investigation failed to replicate the finding that WMC is positively related to future-oriented off-task thought, which has implications for several theoretical viewpoints. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How often are thoughts metacognitive? Findings from research on self-regulated learning, think-aloud protocols, and mind-wandering.

PubMed

Jordano, Megan L; Touron, Dayna R

2018-05-31

Metacognitive monitoring refers to how people evaluate their cognitive performance. An extensive literature examines how accurately individuals engage in monitoring. The question of how often individuals engage in metacognitive monitoring has been largely neglected, although one might expect situational, group, and individual variability in monitoring frequency. We argue that this is a critical omission, given that the frequency of metacognitive monitoring might have important implications for monitoring accuracy and task performance. Within this review, we highlight findings from three literatures, that each provide insight into how often individuals engage in monitoring. To clarify the important links and potential overlaps between these separate bodies of research, we begin by summarizing the metacognitive monitoring literature, including age-related patterns in monitoring accuracy. We then connect these questions regarding spontaneous monitoring, including age-related patterns in spontaneous monitoring, to targeted reviews of the self-regulated learning, think-aloud protocol, and mind-wandering literatures. We discuss situational and dispositional factors believed to influence monitoring accuracy, and propose that the same factors could potentially influence the frequency of spontaneous monitoring. Additionally, we propose that age-related increases in spontaneous monitoring (as suggested by age-related increases in TRI) may contribute to older adults' intact monitoring abilities. It is our hope that this review will encourage increased attention and research on the topic of spontaneous monitoring.

Thinking in Italian: Problem-Solving Activities for the Italian Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Danesi, Marcel

1985-01-01

Looks at devices that stimulate intralinguistic thinking patterns, that is, patterns that can only be induced by the structures and forms of the target language without any dependency upon native-language patterns. Focuses on problem-solving activities that help the learner develop modes of thought that can be solved "Italian." (SED)

Experiential Collaborative Learning and Preferential Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volpentesta, Antonio P.; Ammirato, Salvatore; Sofo, Francesco

The paper presents a Project-Based Learning (shortly, PBL) approach in a collaborative educational environment aimed to develop design ability and creativity of students coming from different engineering disciplines. Three collaborative learning experiences in product design were conducted in order to study their impact on preferred thinking styles of students. Using a thinking style inventory, pre- and post-survey data was collected and successively analyzed through ANOVA techniques. Statistically significant results showed students successfully developed empathy and an openness to multiple perspectives. Furthermore, data analysis confirms that the proposed collaborative learning experience positively contributes to increase awareness in students' thinking styles.

Metaphilosophy of Mind: how Do Minds Investigate Minds? Refutation of the Theocentric View.

PubMed

Werner, Konrad

2017-03-01

I shall propose metaphilosophy of mind as the philosophy of mind investigating mind. That is to say, I pose the question of how knowledge of mind provided by cognitive science, broadly construed, is constrained by the epistemic position of the knower, i.e. by the very fact that it is undertaken by a mind. Here I would like to propose a minimal framework, based on two distinctions: (i) the standard one between empirical and conceptual analysis; (ii) a new one, between the internal questions of mind and the boundary questions of mind. I shall then combine these distinctions to arrive at several ways of investigating the mind, the brain and cognition. On this ground, I will discuss the notion of epistemological theocentrism as outlined by Henry Allison and argue against the perspective I call theocentric philosophy of mind. From this angle I will be able to address skepticism which cannot be defeated but actually can be, as I put it, disarmed. Finally, metaphilosophy of mind based on the abovementioned distinctions elicits a perspective that is not sufficiently delineated by cognitive scientists and philosophers: empirical way of addressing the boundary questions of mind.

Thinking with Broken Glass: Making Pedagogical Spaces of Enchantment in the City

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pyyry, Noora

2017-01-01

In this paper, I explore thinking that happens in children's meaningful engagement with the city. To open up my argument, I discuss two events during which children are caught up in "intra-active" play with things and spaces. I argue that this mode of being joyfully engaged with one's surroundings is key to what Jane Bennett (2001) calls…

Open magnetic fields in active regions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Svestka, Z.; Solodyna, C. V.; Howard, R.; Levine, R. H.

1977-01-01

Soft X-ray images and magnetograms of several active regions and coronal holes are examined which support the interpretation that some of the dark X-ray gaps seen between interconnecting loops and inner cores of active regions are foot points of open field lines inside the active regions. Characteristics of the investigated dark gaps are summarized. All the active regions with dark X-ray gaps at the proper place and with the correct polarity predicted by global potential extrapolation of photospheric magnetic fields are shown to be old active regions, indicating that field opening is accomplished only in a late phase of active-region development. It is noted that some of the observed dark gaps probably have nothing in common with open fields, but are either due to the decreased temperature in low-lying portions of interconnecting loops or are the roots of higher and less dense or cooler loops.

Minding the close relationship.

PubMed

Harvey, J H; Omarzu, J

1997-01-01

In this theoretical analysis, we argue that a process referred to as minding is essential for a couple to feel mutually close and satisfied in a close relationship over a long period Minding represents a package of mutual self-disclosure, other forms of goal-oriented behavior aimed at facilitating the relationship, and attributions about self's and other's motivations, intentions, and Mort in the relationship. Self-disclosure and attribution activities in minding are aimed at getting to know the other, trying to understand the other's motivations and deeper disposition as they pertain to the relationship, and showing respect and acceptance for knowledge gained about other. We link the concept of minding to other major ideas and literatures about how couples achieve closeness: self-disclosure and social penetration, intimacy, empathy and empathic accuracy, and love and self-expansion. We argue that the minding process articulated here has not previously been delineated and that it is a useful composite notion about essential steps in bonding among humans. We also argue that the minding concept stretches our understanding of the interface of attribution and close relationships. We present research possibilities and implications and consider possible alternative positions and counter arguments about the merits of the minding idea for close relationship satisfaction.

Foundations for Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bers, Trudy; Chun, Marc; Daly, William T.; Harrington, Christine; Tobolowsky, Barbara F.

2015-01-01

"Foundations for Critical Thinking" explores the landscape of critical-thinking skill development and pedagogy through foundational chapters and institutional case studies involving a range of students in diverse settings. By establishing a link between active learning and improved critical thinking, this resource encourages all higher…

Creating Stimulating Learning and Thinking Using New Models of Activity-Based Learning and Metacognitive-Based Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pang, Katherine

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel way to stimulate learning, creativity, and thinking based on a new understanding of activity-based learning (ABL) and two methods for developing metacognitive-based activities for the classroom. ABL, in this model, is based on the premise that teachers are distillers and facilitators of information…

On three forms of thinking: magical thinking, dream thinking, and transformative thinking.

PubMed

Ogden, Thomas H

2010-04-01

The author believes that contemporary psychoanalysis has shifted its emphasis from the understanding of the symbolic meaning of dreams, play, and associations to the exploration of the processes of thinking, dreaming, and playing. In this paper, he discusses his understanding of three forms of thinking-magical thinking, dream thinking, and transformative thinking-and provides clinical illustrations in which each of these forms of thinking figures prominently. The author views magical thinking as a form of thinking that subverts genuine thinking and psychological growth by substituting invented psychic reality for disturbing external reality. By contrast, dream thinking--our most profound form of thinking-involves viewing an emotional experience from multiple perspectives simultaneously: for example, the perspectives of primary process and secondary process thinking. In transformative thinking, one creates a new way of ordering experience that allows one to generate types of feeling, forms of object relatedness, and qualities of aliveness that had previously been unimaginable.

Mindfulness-based group therapy for systemic lupus erythematosus: A first exploration of a promising mind-body intervention.

PubMed

Horesh, Danny; Glick, Ittai; Taub, Renen; Agmon-Levin, Nancy; Shoenfeld, Yehuda

2017-02-01

Psychological effects related to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are tremendous. While a variety of psychological treatments have been applied to assist SLE patients, the effects of mindfulness practice were never documented in SLE. Mindfulness-based psychotherapy includes several techniques, including body-scan, breathing exercises, and full awareness during daily activities. In this case report, we present a first attempt at conducting mindfulness-based group therapy among SLE patients. Six female SLE patients participated in an 8-week program. Improvement was observed in several areas: patients' increased ability to differentiate between themselves and the disease; increased ability to accept, rather than to actively fight the fact that one must live with the disease; and decreased behavioral avoidance. These observations speak to the significant therapeutic potential of mindfulness practice among SLE patients. With its emphasis on acceptance of negative physical and emotional states, mindfulness practice is a promising treatment option, which needs to be further studied. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial of Classroom-Based Mindfulness Meditation Compared to an Active Control Condition in 6th Grade Children

PubMed Central

Britton, Willoughby B.; Lepp, Nathaniel E.; Niles, Halsey F.; Rocha, Tomas; Fisher, Nathan; Gold, Jonathan

2014-01-01

Children in the United States are at risk for numerous psychological problems, such as anxiety, attention problems, and mood disorders, and are underserved by current mental health provisions. The current study is a pilot trial to examine the effects of a nonelective, classroom-based, teacher-implemented, mindfulness meditation intervention on standard clinical measures of mental health and affect in middle school children. A total of 101 healthy sixth-grade students (55 boys and 46 girls) were randomized to either an Asian history course with daily mindfulness meditation practice (intervention group) or an African history course with a matched experiential activity (active control group). Self-reported data was collected by administering the Youth Self Report (YSR), a modified Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Measure -Revised before and after 6 weeks of meditation or active control condition. Both meditators and active controls decreased significantly on the YSR Internalizing Problems, Externalizing Problems, and Attention Problems subscales but did not differ in the extent of their improvements. Both groups also showed comparable improvements on measures in affect. Meditators were significantly less likely to develop suicidal ideation or thoughts of self-harm than controls. Improvements in affect were correlated with increases in mindfulness in meditators but not controls. These results suggest that mindfulness training may yield both unique and nonspecific benefits that are shared by other novel activities. PMID:24930819

Minds-On Audio-Guided Activities (MAGA): More than Hearing and Better than Seeing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hancock, James Brian, II; Fornari, Marco

2012-01-01

Minds-On Audio-Guided Activities (MAGA) are podcast-delivered instruction designed to facilitate learning through all-body experiments. Instruction by MAGA has undergone preliminary testing in an introductory physics course at Central Michigan University. Topics are currently focused on mechanics and range from discovering the differences between…

Thinking about Eating Food Activates Visual Cortex with Reduced Bilateral Cerebellar Activation in Females with Anorexia Nervosa: An fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Brooks, Samantha J.; O'Daly, Owen; Uher, Rudolf; Friederich, Hans-Christoph; Giampietro, Vincent; Brammer, Michael; Williams, Steven C. R.; Schiöth, Helgi B.; Treasure, Janet; Campbell, Iain C.

2012-01-01

Background Women with anorexia nervosa (AN) have aberrant cognitions about food and altered activity in prefrontal cortical and somatosensory regions to food images. However, differential effects on the brain when thinking about eating food between healthy women and those with AN is unknown. Methods Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) examined neural activation when 42 women thought about eating the food shown in images: 18 with AN (11 RAN, 7 BPAN) and 24 age-matched controls (HC). Results Group contrasts between HC and AN revealed reduced activation in AN in the bilateral cerebellar vermis, and increased activation in the right visual cortex. Preliminary comparisons between AN subtypes and healthy controls suggest differences in cortical and limbic regions. Conclusions These preliminary data suggest that thinking about eating food shown in images increases visual and prefrontal cortical neural responses in females with AN, which may underlie cognitive biases towards food stimuli and ruminations about controlling food intake. Future studies are needed to explicitly test how thinking about eating activates restraint cognitions, specifically in those with restricting vs. binge-purging AN subtypes. PMID:22479499

Thinking about eating food activates visual cortex with reduced bilateral cerebellar activation in females with anorexia nervosa: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Brooks, Samantha J; O'Daly, Owen; Uher, Rudolf; Friederich, Hans-Christoph; Giampietro, Vincent; Brammer, Michael; Williams, Steven C R; Schiöth, Helgi B; Treasure, Janet; Campbell, Iain C

2012-01-01

Women with anorexia nervosa (AN) have aberrant cognitions about food and altered activity in prefrontal cortical and somatosensory regions to food images. However, differential effects on the brain when thinking about eating food between healthy women and those with AN is unknown. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) examined neural activation when 42 women thought about eating the food shown in images: 18 with AN (11 RAN, 7 BPAN) and 24 age-matched controls (HC). Group contrasts between HC and AN revealed reduced activation in AN in the bilateral cerebellar vermis, and increased activation in the right visual cortex. Preliminary comparisons between AN subtypes and healthy controls suggest differences in cortical and limbic regions. These preliminary data suggest that thinking about eating food shown in images increases visual and prefrontal cortical neural responses in females with AN, which may underlie cognitive biases towards food stimuli and ruminations about controlling food intake. Future studies are needed to explicitly test how thinking about eating activates restraint cognitions, specifically in those with restricting vs. binge-purging AN subtypes.

Computers, Nanotechnology and Mind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekdahl, Bertil

2008-10-01

In 1958, two years after the Dartmouth conference, where the term artificial intelligence was coined, Herbert Simon and Allen Newell asserted the existence of "machines that think, that learn and create." They were further prophesying that the machines' capacity would increase and be on par with the human mind. Now, 50 years later, computers perform many more tasks than one could imagine in the 1950s but, virtually, no computer can do more than could the first digital computer, developed by John von Neumann in the 1940s. Computers still follow algorithms, they do not create them. However, the development of nanotechnology seems to have given rise to new hopes. With nanotechnology two things are supposed to happen. Firstly, due to the small scale it will be possible to construct huge computer memories which are supposed to be the precondition for building an artificial brain, secondly, nanotechnology will make it possible to scan the brain which in turn will make reverse engineering possible; the mind will be decoded by studying the brain. The consequence of such a belief is that the brain is no more than a calculator, i.e., all that the mind can do is in principle the results of arithmetical operations. Computers are equivalent to formal systems which in turn was an answer to an idea by Hilbert that proofs should contain ideal statements for which operations cannot be applied in a contentual way. The advocates of artificial intelligence will place content in a machine that is developed not only to be free of content but also cannot contain content. In this paper I argue that the hope for artificial intelligence is in vain.

Words Work: Activities for Developing Vocabulary, Style, and Critical Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carnicelli, Thomas A.

This book offers integrated activities in which students explore words and, at the same time, develop their language arts and thinking skills. The book states that this way teachers can pay more attention to word study, without sacrificing other parts of the English curriculum and without resorting to word lists and memorization. In the first…

A randomized controlled pilot trial of classroom-based mindfulness meditation compared to an active control condition in sixth-grade children.

PubMed

Britton, Willoughby B; Lepp, Nathaniel E; Niles, Halsey F; Rocha, Tomas; Fisher, Nathan E; Gold, Jonathan S

2014-06-01

The current study is a pilot trial to examine the effects of a nonelective, classroom-based, teacher-implemented, mindfulness meditation intervention on standard clinical measures of mental health and affect in middle school children. A total of 101 healthy sixth-grade students (55 boys, 46 girls) were randomized to either an Asian history course with daily mindfulness meditation practice (intervention group) or an African history course with a matched experiential activity (active control group). Self-reported measures included the Youth Self Report (YSR), a modified Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Measure -Revised. Both groups decreased significantly on clinical syndrome subscales and affect but did not differ in the extent of their improvements. Meditators were significantly less likely to develop suicidal ideation or thoughts of self-harm than controls. These results suggest that mindfulness training may yield both unique and non-specific benefits that are shared by other novel activities. Copyright © 2014 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Development of Strategic Thinking: Learning to Impact Human Systems in a Youth Activism Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Reed; Hansen, David

2005-01-01

Human systems, including institutional systems and informal social networks, are a major arena of modern life. We argue that distinct forms of pragmatic reasoning or "strategic thinking" are required to exercise agency within such systems. This article explores the development of strategic thinking in a youth activism program in which young people…

Mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and Zen meditation for depression, anxiety, pain, and psychological distress.

PubMed

Marchand, William R

2012-07-01

Mindfulness has been described as a practice of learning to focus attention on moment-bymoment experience with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance. Mindfulness practices have become increasingly popular as complementary therapeutic strategies for a variety of medical and psychiatric conditions. This paper provides an overview of three mindfulness interventions that have demonstrated effectiveness for psychiatric symptoms and/or pain. The goal of this review is to provide a synopsis that practicing clinicians can use as a clinical reference concerning Zen meditation, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). All three approaches originated from Buddhist spiritual practices, but only Zen is an actual Buddhist tradition. MBSR and MBCT are secular, clinically based methods that employ manuals and standardized techniques. Studies indicate that MBSR and MBCT have broad-spectrum antidepressant and antianxiety effects and decrease general psychological distress. MBCT is strongly recommended as an adjunctive treatment for unipolar depression. The evidence suggests that both MBSR and MBCT have efficacy as adjunctive interventions for anxiety symptoms. MBSR is beneficial for general psychological health and stress management in those with medical and psychiatric illness as well as in healthy individuals. Finally, MBSR and Zen meditation have a role in pain management.

Shared mind: communication, decision making, and autonomy in serious illness.

PubMed

Epstein, Ronald M; Street, Richard L

2011-01-01

In the context of serious illness, individuals usually rely on others to help them think and feel their way through difficult decisions. To help us to understand why, when, and how individuals involve trusted others in sharing information, deliberation, and decision making, we offer the concept of shared mind-ways in which new ideas and perspectives can emerge through the sharing of thoughts, feelings, perceptions, meanings, and intentions among 2 or more people. We consider how shared mind manifests in relationships and organizations in general, building on studies of collaborative cognition, attunement, and sensemaking. Then, we explore how shared mind might be promoted through communication, when appropriate, and the implications of shared mind for decision making and patient autonomy. Next, we consider a continuum of patient-centered approaches to patient-clinician interactions. At one end of the continuum, an interactional approach promotes knowing the patient as a person, tailoring information, constructing preferences, achieving consensus, and promoting relational autonomy. At the other end, a transactional approach focuses on knowledge about the patient, information-as-commodity, negotiation, consent, and individual autonomy. Finally, we propose that autonomy and decision making should consider not only the individual perspectives of patients, their families, and members of the health care team, but also the perspectives that emerge from the interactions among them. By drawing attention to shared mind, clinicians can observe in what ways they can promote it through bidirectional sharing of information and engaging in shared deliberation.

Language-based Measures of Mindfulness: Initial Validity and Clinical Utility

PubMed Central

Collins, Susan E.; Chawla, Neharika; Hsu, Sharon H.; Grow, Joel; Otto, Jacqueline M.; Marlatt, G. Alan

2009-01-01

This study examined relationships among language use, mindfulness, and substance-use treatment outcomes in the context of an efficacy trial of mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) for adults with alcohol and other drug use (AOD) disorders (see Bowen, Chawla, Collins et al., in press). An expert panel generated two categories of mindfulness language (ML) describing the mindfulness state and the more encompassing “mindfulness journey,” which included words describing challenges of developing a mindfulness practice. MBRP participants (n=48) completed baseline sociodemographic and AOD measures, and participated in the 8-week MBRP program. AOD data were collected during the 4-month follow-up. A word count program assessed the frequency of ML and other linguistic markers in participants’ responses to open-ended questions about their postintervention impressions of mindfulness practice and MBRP. Findings supported concurrent validity of ML categories: ML words appeared more frequently in the MBRP manual compared to the 12-step Big Book. Further, ML categories correlated with other linguistic variables related to the mindfulness construct. Finally, predictive validity was supported: greater use of ML predicted fewer AOD use days during the 4-month follow-up. This study provided initial support for ML as a valid, clinically useful mindfulness measure. If future studies replicate these findings, ML could be used in conjunction with self-report to provide a more complete picture of the mindfulness experience. PMID:20025383

Introducing computational thinking through hands-on projects using R with applications to calculus, probability and data analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benakli, Nadia; Kostadinov, Boyan; Satyanarayana, Ashwin; Singh, Satyanand

2017-04-01

The goal of this paper is to promote computational thinking among mathematics, engineering, science and technology students, through hands-on computer experiments. These activities have the potential to empower students to learn, create and invent with technology, and they engage computational thinking through simulations, visualizations and data analysis. We present nine computer experiments and suggest a few more, with applications to calculus, probability and data analysis, which engage computational thinking through simulations, visualizations and data analysis. We are using the free (open-source) statistical programming language R. Our goal is to give a taste of what R offers rather than to present a comprehensive tutorial on the R language. In our experience, these kinds of interactive computer activities can be easily integrated into a smart classroom. Furthermore, these activities do tend to keep students motivated and actively engaged in the process of learning, problem solving and developing a better intuition for understanding complex mathematical concepts.

Mindfulness Interventions.

PubMed

Creswell, J David

2017-01-03

Mindfulness interventions aim to foster greater attention to and awareness of present moment experience. There has been a dramatic increase in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mindfulness interventions over the past two decades. This article evaluates the growing evidence of mindfulness intervention RCTs by reviewing and discussing (a) the effects of mindfulness interventions on health, cognitive, affective, and interpersonal outcomes; (b) evidence-based applications of mindfulness interventions to new settings and populations (e.g., the workplace, military, schools); (c) psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness interventions; (d) mindfulness intervention dosing considerations; and (e) potential risks of mindfulness interventions. Methodologically rigorous RCTs have demonstrated that mindfulness interventions improve outcomes in multiple domains (e.g., chronic pain, depression relapse, addiction). Discussion focuses on opportunities and challenges for mindfulness intervention research and on community applications.

Electrophysiological Correlates of Reading the Single- and Interactive-Mind

PubMed Central

Wang, Yi-Wen; Zheng, Yu-Wei; Lin, Chong-De; Wu, Jie; Shen, De-Li

2011-01-01

Understanding minds is the cognitive basis of successful social interaction. In everyday life, human mental activity often happens at the moment of social interaction among two or multiple persons instead of only one-person. Understanding the interactive mind of two- or multi-person is more complex and higher than understanding the single-person mind in the hierarchical structure of theory of mind. Understanding the interactive mind maybe differentiate from understanding the single mind. In order to examine the dissociative electrophysiological correlates of reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind, the 64 channels event-related potentials were recorded while 16 normal adults were observing three kinds of Chinese idioms depicted physical scenes, one-person with mental activity, and two- or multi-person with mental interaction. After the equivalent N400, in the 500- to 700-ms epoch, the mean amplitudes of late positive component (LPC) over frontal for reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind were significantly more positive than for physical representation, while there was no difference between the former two. In the 700- to 800-ms epoch, the mean amplitudes of LPC over frontal–central for reading the interactive mind were more positive than for reading the single mind and physical representation, while there was no difference between the latter two. The present study provides electrophysiological signature of the dissociations between reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind. PMID:21845178

Students' Exploratory Thinking about a Nonroutine Calculus Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nabb, Keith

2013-01-01

In this article on introductory calculus, intriguing questions are generated that can ignite an appreciation for the subject of mathematics. These questions open doors to advanced mathematical thinking and harness many elements of research-oriented mathematics. Such questions also offer greater incentives for students to think and reflect.…

Mind the Gap: An Exploratory Investigation of a Family Learning Initiative to Develop Metacognitive Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wall, Kate; Burns, Helen; Llewellyn, Anna

2017-01-01

Mind the Gap is a family learning project aiming to facilitate intergenerational engagement with learning in schools through the vehicle of a stop-motion animation project. Implicit in the animation process is reflective and strategic thinking that helps to make the process of learning explicit (Learning to Learn: Wall et al.). The animation…

Critical thinking.

PubMed

Price, A; Price, B

1996-05-01

Critical thinking is a process applied to midwifery theory, research and experience. It is a positive activity, responsive to context, drawing on negative and positive triggers and emotions to suggest ways of acting in future. Practice-based and reflective midwifery assignments should reflect the midwifery goals of critical thinking. This may require adjustments in assessment criteria and a questioning of standard academic conventions.

A Thematic Analysis of Health Care Workers' Adoption of Mindfulness Practices.

PubMed

Valley, Morgan; Stallones, Lorann

2018-05-01

Mindfulness training, which teaches individuals to bring awareness and acceptance to the present moment, has been effective in improving the well-being of health care workers. Limited research examines the adoption of mindfulness practices using health behavior theories. The current study sought to conceptualize hospital health care workers' experiences in adopting mindfulness practices using the Health Belief Model (HBM), a theoretical framework used by health promotion practitioners to design and implement health behavior change interventions. Hospital health care workers in Colorado participated in an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. Participants ( n = 19) answered open-ended questions about their experiences adopting mindfulness practices. A theory-driven thematic analysis approach was used to analyze data with key constructs of the HBM acting as the framework for the analysis. Results showed that HBM constructs, including internal cues to action, perceived benefits and barriers, and self-efficacy, helped portray the participants' experiences and challenges in adopting and adhering to the mindfulness practices taught in the MBSR course.

The Relation between Gray Matter Morphology and Divergent Thinking in Adolescents and Young Adults

PubMed Central

Zanolie, Kiki; Kleibeuker, Sietske W.; Crone, Eveline A.

2014-01-01

Adolescence and early adulthood are developmental time periods during which creative cognition is highly important for adapting to environmental changes. Divergent thinking, which refers to generating novel and useful solutions to open-ended problems, has often been used as a measure of creative cognition. The first goal of this structural neuroimaging study was to elucidate the relationship between gray matter morphology and performance in the verbal (AUT; alternative uses task) and visuo-spatial (CAT; creative ability test) domain of divergent thinking in adolescents and young adults. The second goal was to test if gray matter morphology is related to brain activity during AUT performance. Neural and behavioral data were combined from a cross-sectional study including 25 adolescents aged 15–17 and 20 young adults aged 25–30. Brain-behavior relationships were assessed without a priori location assumptions and within areas that were activated during an AUT-scanner task. Gray matter volume and cortical thickness were not significantly associated with verbal divergent thinking. However, visuo-spatial divergent thinking (CAT originality and fluency) was positively associated with cortical thickness of the right middle temporal gyrus and left brain areas including the superior frontal gyrus and various occipital, parietal, and temporal areas, independently of age. AUT brain activity was not associated with cortical thickness. The results support an important role of a widespread brain network involved in flexible visuo-spatial divergent thinking, providing evidence for a relation between cortical thickness and visuo-spatial divergent thinking in adolescents and young adults. However, studies including visuo-spatial divergent thinking tasks in the scanner are warranted. PMID:25514366

The analysis of student’s critical thinking ability on discovery learning by using hand on activity based on the curiosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulistiani, E.; Waluya, S. B.; Masrukan

2018-03-01

This study aims to determine (1) the effectiveness of Discovery Learning model by using Hand on Activity toward critical thinking abilities, and (2) to describe students’ critical thinking abilities in Discovery Learning by Hand on Activity based on curiosity. This study is mixed method research with concurrent embedded design. Sample of this study are students of VII A and VII B of SMP Daarul Qur’an Ungaran. While the subject in this study is based on the curiosity of the students groups are classified Epistemic Curiosity (EC) and Perceptual Curiosity (PC). The results showed that the learning of Discovery Learning by using Hand on Activity is effective toward mathematics critical thinking abilities. Students of the EC type are able to complete six indicators of mathematics critical thinking abilities, although there are still two indicators that the result is less than the maximum. While students of PC type have not fully been able to complete the indicator of mathematics critical thinking abilities. They are only strong on indicators formulating questions, while on the other five indicators they are still weak. The critical thinking abilities of EC’s students is better than the critical thinking abilities of the PC’s students.

Brief Mindfulness Practices for Healthcare Providers - A Systematic Literature Review.

PubMed

Gilmartin, Heather; Goyal, Anupama; Hamati, Mary C; Mann, Jason; Saint, Sanjay; Chopra, Vineet

2017-10-01

Mindfulness practice, where an individual maintains openness, patience, and acceptance while focusing attention on a situation in a nonjudgmental way, can improve symptoms of anxiety, burnout, and depression. The practice is relevant for health care providers; however, the time commitment is a barrier to practice. For this reason, brief mindfulness interventions (eg, ≤ 4 hours) are being introduced. We systematically reviewed the literature from inception to January 2017 about the effects of brief mindfulness interventions on provider well-being and behavior. Studies that tested a brief mindfulness intervention with hospital providers and measured change in well-being (eg, stress) or behavior (eg, tasks of attention or reduction of clinical or diagnostic errors) were selected for narrative synthesis. Fourteen studies met inclusion criteria; 7 were randomized controlled trials. Nine of 14 studies reported positive changes in levels of stress, anxiety, mindfulness, resiliency, and burnout symptoms. No studies found an effect on provider behavior. Brief mindfulness interventions may be effective in improving provider well-being; however, larger studies are needed to assess an impact on clinical care. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Periodicals Price Survey 2008: Embracing Openness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Orsdel, Lee C.; Born, Kathleen

2008-01-01

Evidence for open access as an emergent, global state of mind is everywhere. The "New York Times" went "open" last September, and the "Wall Street Journal" is slated to follow. Increasingly, scholarly communities are breaking with tradition and calling for the open sharing of research, software, and data. Amongst these global initiatives is the…

Green Energy: Powering Education from a STEM Education Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hughes, Bill

2011-01-01

With the pressing energy needs that the global population is facing, renewable energies are rapidly becoming prominent science and engineering challenges throughout the world. Where will the young scientific and engineering minds come from to meet these demands? With some creative, open-minded thinking, it could be from one's very own classrooms.…

Mind Maps as Classroom Exercises

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Budd, John W.

2004-01-01

A Mind Map is an outline in which the major categories radiate from a central image and lesser categories are portrayed as branches of larger branches. The author describes an in-class exercise in which small groups of students each create a Mind Map for a specific topic. This exercise is another example of an active and collaborative learning…

An east Asian perspective of mind-body.

PubMed

Nagatomo, S; Leisman, G

1996-08-01

This paper addresses a need to re-examine the mind-body dualism established since Descartes. Descartes' dualism has been regarded by modern philosophers as an extremely insufficient solution to the problem of mind and body, from which is derived a long opposition in modern epistomology between idealism and empiricism. This dualism, bifurcating the region of spirit and matter, and the dichotomous models of thinking based on this dualism, have long dominated the world of modern philosophy and science. The paper examines states of conscious experience from an East Asian perspective allowing analysis on achieved supernormal consciousness rather than a focus on "normal" or "subnormal." The nature of the "transformation" of human consciousness will be studied both philosophically, as a transformation from "provisional" dualism to non-dualism, and neurophysiologically. The theoretical structure of the transformation will, in part, be examined through the model provided by a Japanese medieval Zen master, Takuan Sôhô. Then, to verify Takuan's theoretical explanation, toposcopic analysis of electroencephalographs will be presented of the performance of individuals practicing the martial arts technique of tôate.

Mind Sparklers. Fireworks for Igniting Creativity in Young Minds. Book 1 for Grades K-3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Robert E.

The 40 activities contained in this book were designed to persuade students to think both critically and creatively. The activities call for the use of all 18 of E. Paul Torrance's creative thinking abilities. The theoretical underpinnings for this collection are based upon philosophical and pedagogical beliefs that experiences be positive: if…

The Role of Cognitive Load in Intentional Forgetting Using the Think/No-Think Task.

PubMed

Noreen, Saima; de Fockert, Jan W

2017-01-01

We investigated the role of cognitive control in intentional forgetting by manipulating working memory load during the think/no-think task. In two experiments, participants learned a series of cue-target word pairs and were asked to recall the target words associated with some cues or to avoid thinking about the target associated with other cues. In addition to this, participants also performed a modified version of the n-back task which required them to respond to the identity of a single target letter present in the currently presented cue word (n = 0 condition, low working memory load), and in either the previous cue word (n = 1 condition, high working memory load, Experiment 1) or the cue word presented two trials previously (n = 2 condition, high working memory load, Experiment 2). Participants' memory for the target words was subsequently tested using same and novel independent probes. In both experiments it was found that although participants were successful at forgetting on both the same and independent-probe tests in the low working memory load condition, they were only successful at forgetting on the same-probe test in the high working memory load condition. We argue that our findings suggest that the high load working memory task diverted attention from direct suppression and acted as an interference-based strategy. Thus, when cognitive resources are limited participants can switch between the strategies they use to prevent unwanted memories from coming to mind.

Mind-Body Practices and the Adolescent Brain: Clinical Neuroimaging Studies

PubMed Central

Sharma, Anup; Newberg, Andrew B

2016-01-01

Background Mind-Body practices constitute a large and diverse group of practices that can substantially affect neurophysiology in both healthy individuals and those with various psychiatric disorders. In spite of the growing literature on the clinical and physiological effects of mind-body practices, very little is known about their impact on central nervous system (CNS) structure and function in adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Method This overview highlights findings in a select group of mind-body practices including yoga postures, yoga breathing techniques and meditation practices. Results Mind-body practices offer novel therapeutic approaches for adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Findings from these studies provide insights into the design and implementation of neuroimaging studies for adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Conclusions Clinical neuroimaging studies will be critical in understanding how different practices affect disease pathogenesis and symptomatology in adolescents. Neuroimaging of mind-body practices on adolescents with psychiatric disorders will certainly be an open and exciting area of investigation. PMID:27347478

Mind-Body Practices and the Adolescent Brain: Clinical Neuroimaging Studies.

PubMed

Sharma, Anup; Newberg, Andrew B

Mind-Body practices constitute a large and diverse group of practices that can substantially affect neurophysiology in both healthy individuals and those with various psychiatric disorders. In spite of the growing literature on the clinical and physiological effects of mind-body practices, very little is known about their impact on central nervous system (CNS) structure and function in adolescents with psychiatric disorders. This overview highlights findings in a select group of mind-body practices including yoga postures, yoga breathing techniques and meditation practices. Mind-body practices offer novel therapeutic approaches for adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Findings from these studies provide insights into the design and implementation of neuroimaging studies for adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Clinical neuroimaging studies will be critical in understanding how different practices affect disease pathogenesis and symptomatology in adolescents. Neuroimaging of mind-body practices on adolescents with psychiatric disorders will certainly be an open and exciting area of investigation.

Mind and Language Architecture

PubMed Central

Logan, Robert K

2010-01-01

A distinction is made between the brain and the mind. The architecture of the mind and language is then described within a neo-dualistic framework. A model for the origin of language based on emergence theory is presented. The complexity of hominid existence due to tool making, the control of fire and the social cooperation that fire required gave rise to a new level of order in mental activity and triggered the simultaneous emergence of language and conceptual thought. The mind is shown to have emerged as a bifurcation of the brain with the emergence of language. The role of language in the evolution of human culture is also described. PMID:20922045

The neurocognitive consequences of the wandering mind: a mechanistic account of sensory-motor decoupling

PubMed Central

Kam, Julia W. Y.; Handy, Todd C.

2013-01-01

A unique human characteristic is our ability to mind wander – a state in which we are free to engage in thoughts that are not directly tied to sensations and perceptions from our immediate physical environment. From a neurocognitive perspective, it has been proposed that during mind wandering, our executive resources are decoupled from the external environment and directed to these internal thoughts. In this review, we examine an underappreciated aspect of this phenomenon – attenuation of sensory-motor processing – from two perspectives. First, we describe the range of widespread sensory, cognitive and motor processes attenuated during mind wandering states, and how this impacts our neurocognitive processing of external events. We then consider sensory-motor attenuation in a class of clinical neurocognitive disorders that have ties to pathological patterns of decoupling, reviews suggesting that mind wandering and these clinical states may share a common mechanism of sensory-motor attenuation. Taken together, these observations suggest the sensory-motor consequences of decoupled thinking are integral to normal and pathological neurocognitive states. PMID:24133472

Multi-Cultural Literacy. The Graywolf Annual Five. Opening the American Mind.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simonson, Rick, Ed.; Walker, Scott, Ed.

This volume addresses issues surrounding cultural literacy through 13 essays, which suggest the range of knowledge that truly literate individuals need to possess. The following essays (most were written prior to the publishing of "Cultural Literacy" and "The Closing of the American Mind" in 1987) are presented: (1) "A Talk to Teachers" (James…

Creating a Global Community of Learners in Nursing and Beyond: Caring Science, Mindful Practice MOOC.

PubMed

Sitzman, Kathleen L; Jensen, Andrea; Chan, Sang

The aim was to examine the usefulness of a massive open online course (MOOC) on caring and mindfulness to a broad international audience that included nurses, allied health professionals, and others. MOOCs in higher education have been evident since 2008. Very few MOOCs on nursing topics have appeared since that time. Exploration was needed regarding how MOOCs could be employed to share nursing knowledge with national and international communities. Two "Caring Science, Mindful Practice" MOOC sessions were examined. Demographics, learner satisfaction, course flow, and perceived usefulness of content were analyzed. Learners from varied backgrounds participated. Higher than expected course activity levels and completion rates suggested effective learner engagement. Excellent course ratings demonstrated that content and delivery methods were effective. Active learners communicated specific plans to apply new knowledge in the future. MOOCs facilitate learning where participants learn about topics of interest in nursing and beyond.

Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on mindful eating, sweets consumption, and fasting glucose levels in obese adults: data from the SHINE randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

Epel, Elissa S.; Kristeller, Jean; Moran, Patricia J.; Dallman, Mary; Lustig, Robert H.; Acree, Michael; Bacchetti, Peter; Laraia, Barbara A.; Hecht, Frederick M.; Daubenmier, Jennifer

2016-01-01

We evaluated changes in mindful eating as a potential mechanism underlying the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention for weight loss on eating of sweet foods and fasting glucose levels. We randomized 194 obese individuals (M age = 47.0 ± 12.7 years; BMI = 35.5 ± 3.6; 78 % women) to a 5.5-month diet-exercise program with or without mindfulness training. The mindfulness group, relative to the active control group, evidenced increases in mindful eating and maintenance of fasting glucose from baseline to 12-month assessment. Increases in mindful eating were associated with decreased eating of sweets and fasting glucose levels among mindfulness group participants, but this association was not statistically significant among active control group participants. Twelve-month increases in mindful eating partially mediated the effect of intervention arm on changes in fasting glucose levels from baseline to 12-month assessment. Increases in mindful eating may contribute to the effects of mindfulness-based weight loss interventions on eating of sweets and fasting glucose levels. PMID:26563148

Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on mindful eating, sweets consumption, and fasting glucose levels in obese adults: data from the SHINE randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Mason, Ashley E; Epel, Elissa S; Kristeller, Jean; Moran, Patricia J; Dallman, Mary; Lustig, Robert H; Acree, Michael; Bacchetti, Peter; Laraia, Barbara A; Hecht, Frederick M; Daubenmier, Jennifer

2016-04-01

We evaluated changes in mindful eating as a potential mechanism underlying the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention for weight loss on eating of sweet foods and fasting glucose levels. We randomized 194 obese individuals (M age = 47.0 ± 12.7 years; BMI = 35.5 ± 3.6; 78% women) to a 5.5-month diet-exercise program with or without mindfulness training. The mindfulness group, relative to the active control group, evidenced increases in mindful eating and maintenance of fasting glucose from baseline to 12-month assessment. Increases in mindful eating were associated with decreased eating of sweets and fasting glucose levels among mindfulness group participants, but this association was not statistically significant among active control group participants. Twelve-month increases in mindful eating partially mediated the effect of intervention arm on changes in fasting glucose levels from baseline to 12-month assessment. Increases in mindful eating may contribute to the effects of mindfulness-based weight loss interventions on eating of sweets and fasting glucose levels.

Systems thinking for assistive technology: a commentary on the GREAT summit.

PubMed

MacLachlan, Malcolm; Scherer, Marcia J

2018-07-01

The area of assistive technology has a long history of technological ingenuity and innovation. In order to ensure that the benefits of assistive technology are equitably distributed across the population and life course, it is necessary to adopt a systemic approach to the area. We describe examples of systems thinking and non-systems thinking across 10 Ps. These Ps are People (or users, as the primary beneficiaries of assistive technology), Policy, Products, Personnel, Provision (as key strategic drivers at systems level); and Procurement, Place, Pace, Promotion and Partnership (as key situational factors for systems). Together these Ps should constitute a framework for an "open" system that can evolve and adapt, that empowers users, inter-connects key components and locates these in the reality of differing contexts. The adoption of a stronger systems thinking perspective within the assistive technology field should allow for more equitable, more resilient and more sustainable assistive technology across high, middle- and low-income contexts and countries. Implications for Rehabilitation The progress of assistive technology provison has been hampered by disconnected initiatives and activities and this needs to be corrected. Systems thinking is a way of thinking about the connections between things and how these are influenced by contextual and other factors. By encouraging the providers and users of assitive technology to think more systemically we can provide a more cohesive and resilient systems. The user experience is the central component of systems thinking in assistive technologies.

Reconstruing intolerance: abstract thinking reduces conservatives' prejudice against nonnormative groups.

PubMed

Luguri, Jamie B; Napier, Jaime L; Dovidio, John F

2012-07-01

Myrdal (1944) described the "American dilemma" as the conflict between abstract national values ("liberty and justice for all") and more concrete, everyday prejudices. We leveraged construal-level theory to empirically test Myrdal's proposition that construal level (abstract vs. concrete) can influence prejudice. We measured individual differences in construal level (Study 1) and manipulated construal level (Studies 2 and 3); across these three studies, we found that adopting an abstract mind-set heightened conservatives' tolerance for groups that are perceived as deviating from Judeo-Christian values (gay men, lesbians, Muslims, and atheists). Among participants who adopted a concrete mind-set, conservatives were less tolerant of these nonnormative groups than liberals were, but political orientation did not have a reliable effect on tolerance among participants who adopted an abstract mind-set. Attitudes toward racial out-groups and dominant groups (e.g., Whites, Christians) were unaffected by construal level. In Study 3, we found that the effect of abstract thinking on prejudice was mediated by an increase in concerns about fairness.

Dissecting the role of conformational change and membrane binding by the bacterial cell division regulator MinE in the stimulation of MinD ATPase activity.

PubMed

Ayed, Saud H; Cloutier, Adam D; McLeod, Laura J; Foo, Alexander C Y; Damry, Adam M; Goto, Natalie K

2017-12-15

The bacterial cell division regulators MinD and MinE together with the division inhibitor MinC localize to the membrane in concentrated zones undergoing coordinated pole-to-pole oscillation to help ensure that the cytokinetic division septum forms only at the mid-cell position. This dynamic localization is driven by MinD-catalyzed ATP hydrolysis, stimulated by interactions with MinE's anti-MinCD domain. This domain is buried in the 6-β-stranded MinE "closed" structure, but is liberated for interactions with MinD, giving rise to a 4-β-stranded "open" structure through an unknown mechanism. Here we show that MinE-membrane interactions induce a structural change into a state resembling the open conformation. However, MinE mutants lacking the MinE membrane-targeting sequence stimulated higher ATP hydrolysis rates than the full-length protein, indicating that binding to MinD is sufficient to trigger this conformational transition in MinE. In contrast, conformational change between the open and closed states did not affect stimulation of ATP hydrolysis rates in the absence of membrane binding, although the MinD-binding residue Ile-25 is critical for this conformational transition. We therefore propose an updated model where MinE is brought to the membrane through interactions with MinD. After stimulation of ATP hydrolysis, MinE remains bound to the membrane in a state that does not catalyze additional rounds of ATP hydrolysis. Although the molecular basis for this inhibited state is unknown, previous observations of higher-order MinE self-association may explain this inhibition. Overall, our findings have general implications for Min protein oscillation cycles, including those that regulate cell division in bacterial pathogens. © 2017 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

The Limits of Mindfulness: Emerging Issues for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyland, Terry

2016-01-01

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are being actively implemented in a wide range of fields--psychology, mind/body health care and education at all levels--and there is growing evidence of their effectiveness in aiding present-moment focus, fostering emotional stability, and enhancing general mind/body well-being. However, as often happens…

Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind.

PubMed

Schooler, Jonathan W; Smallwood, Jonathan; Christoff, Kalina; Handy, Todd C; Reichle, Erik D; Sayette, Michael A

2011-07-01

Mind wandering (i.e. engaging in cognitions unrelated to the current demands of the external environment) reflects the cyclic activity of two core processes: the capacity to disengage attention from perception (known as perceptual decoupling) and the ability to take explicit note of the current contents of consciousness (known as meta-awareness). Research on perceptual decoupling demonstrates that mental events that arise without any external precedent (known as stimulus independent thoughts) often interfere with the online processing of sensory information. Findings regarding meta-awareness reveal that the mind is only intermittently aware of engaging in mind wandering. These basic aspects of mind wandering are considered with respect to the activity of the default network, the role of executive processes, the contributions of meta-awareness and the functionality of mind wandering. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Activating Children's Thinking Skills (ACTS): The Effects of an Infusion Approach to Teaching Thinking in Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dewey, Jessica; Bento, Janet

2009-01-01

Background: Recent interest in the teaching of thinking skills within education has led to an increase in thinking skills packages available to schools. However many of these are not based on scientific evaluation (DfEE, 1999). This paper endeavours to examine the effectiveness of one approach, that of infusion, to teaching thinking. Aims: To…

Mindful movement and skilled attention

PubMed Central

Clark, Dav; Schumann, Frank; Mostofsky, Stewart H.

2015-01-01

Bodily movement has long been employed as a foundation for cultivating mental skills such as attention, self-control or mindfulness, with recent studies documenting the positive impacts of mindful movement training, such as yoga and tai chi. A parallel “mind-body connection” has also been observed in many developmental disorders. We elaborate a spectrum of mindfulness by considering ADHD, in which deficient motor control correlates with impaired (disinhibited) behavioral control contributing to defining features of excessive distractibility and impulsivity. These data provide evidence for an important axis of variation for wellbeing, in which skillful cognitive control covaries with a capacity for skillful movement. We review empirical and theoretical literature on attention, cognitive control, mind wandering, mindfulness and skill learning, endorsing a model of skilled attention in which motor plans, attention, and executive goals are seen as mutually co-defining aspects of skilled behavior that are linked by reciprocal inhibitory and excitatory connections. Thus, any movement training should engage “higher-order” inhibition and selection and develop a repertoire of rehearsed procedures that coordinate goals, attention and motor plans. However, we propose that mindful movement practice may improve the functional quality of rehearsed procedures, cultivating a transferrable skill of attention. We adopt Langer’s spectrum of mindful learning that spans from “mindlessness” to engagement with the details of the present task and contrast this with the mental attitudes cultivated in standard mindfulness meditation. We particularly follow Feldenkrais’ suggestion that mindful learning of skills for organizing the body in movement might transfer to other forms of mental activity. The results of mindful movement training should be observed in multiple complementary measures, and may have tremendous potential benefit for individuals with ADHD and other

The Mindful Self: A Mindfulness-Enlightened Self-view

PubMed Central

Xiao, Qianguo; Yue, Caizhen; He, Weijie; Yu, Jia-yuan

2017-01-01

This paper analyzes studies of mindfulness and the self, with the aim of deepening our understanding of the potential benefits of mindfulness and meditation for mental health and well-being. Our review of empirical research reveals that positive changes in attitudes toward the self and others as a result of mindfulness-enabled practices can play an important role in modulating many mental and physical health problems. Accordingly, we introduce a new concept—the “mindful self”—and compare it with related psychological constructs to describe the positive changes in self-attitude associated with mindfulness meditation practices or interventions. The mindful self is conceptualized as a mindfulness-enlightened self-view and attitude developed by internalizing and integrating the essence of Buddhist psychology into one’s self-system. We further posit that the mindful self will be an important intermediary between mindfulness intervention and mental health problems, and an important moderator in promoting well-being. More generally, we suggest that the mindful self may also be an applicable concept with which to describe and predict the higher level of self-development of those who grow up in the culture of Buddhism or regularly engage in meditation over a long period of time. PMID:29081754

Philosophy: A Key To Open the Door to Critical Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarke, David J.; Holt, Janet

2001-01-01

A learning module for nursing attempts to prepare nurses to understand philosophical inquiry and develop critical thinking skills. Teaching strategies used included exercises involving verbal disagreement and ambiguity and critical examination of publications. (Contains 42 references.) (SK)

MDMA enhances "mind reading" of positive emotions and impairs "mind reading" of negative emotions.

PubMed

Hysek, Cédric M; Domes, Gregor; Liechti, Matthias E

2012-07-01

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) increases sociability. The prosocial effects of MDMA may result from the release of the "social hormone" oxytocin and associated alterations in the processing of socioemotional stimuli. We investigated the effects of MDMA (125 mg) on the ability to infer the mental states of others from social cues of the eye region in the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test. The study included 48 healthy volunteers (24 men, 24 women) and used a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subjects design. A choice reaction time test was used to exclude impairments in psychomotor function. We also measured circulating oxytocin and cortisol levels and subjective drug effects. MDMA differentially affected mind reading depending on the emotional valence of the stimuli. MDMA enhanced the accuracy of mental state decoding for positive stimuli (e.g., friendly), impaired mind reading for negative stimuli (e.g., hostile), and had no effect on mind reading for neutral stimuli (e.g., reflective). MDMA did not affect psychomotor performance, increased circulating oxytocin and cortisol levels, and produced subjective prosocial effects, including feelings of being more open, talkative, and closer to others. The shift in the ability to correctly read socioemotional information toward stimuli associated with positive emotional valence, together with the prosocial feelings elicited by MDMA, may enhance social approach behavior and sociability when MDMA is used recreationally and facilitate therapeutic relationships in MDMA-assisted psychotherapeutic settings.

A Thinking-Skills Strategy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummings, Alysa

1991-01-01

Presents ideas to help elementary educators teach their students thinking skills through word splashes (collages of words and pictures that help students think and make connections). A student page offers a word splash activity. (SM)

Medial Temporal Lobe Contributions to Episodic Future Thinking: Scene Construction or Future Projection?

PubMed

Palombo, D J; Hayes, S M; Peterson, K M; Keane, M M; Verfaellie, M

2018-02-01

Previous research has shown that the medial temporal lobes (MTL) are more strongly engaged when individuals think about the future than about the present, leading to the suggestion that future projection drives MTL engagement. However, future thinking tasks often involve scene processing, leaving open the alternative possibility that scene-construction demands, rather than future projection, are responsible for the MTL differences observed in prior work. This study explores this alternative account. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we directly contrasted MTL activity in 1) high scene-construction and low scene-construction imagination conditions matched in future thinking demands and 2) future-oriented and present-oriented imagination conditions matched in scene-construction demands. Consistent with the alternative account, the MTL was more active for the high versus low scene-construction condition. By contrast, MTL differences were not observed when comparing the future versus present conditions. Moreover, the magnitude of MTL activation was associated with the extent to which participants imagined a scene but was not associated with the extent to which participants thought about the future. These findings help disambiguate which component processes of imagination specifically involve the MTL. Published by Oxford University Press 2016.

All or None Hypothesis: A Global-Default Mode that Characterizes the Brain and Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diamond, Adele

2009-01-01

It is proposed that the mind and brain often work at a gross level and only with fine tuning or inhibition act in a more differentiated manner, even when one might think the domains being issued the global command should be distinct. This applies to disparate findings in cognitive science and neuroscience in both children and adults. Thus, it is…

What Stands and Develops between Creative and Critical Thinking? Argumentation?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glassner, Amnon; Schwarz, Baruch B.

2007-01-01

Creative and critical thinking have been traditionally considered as involving independent skills and dispositions. However the definition of critical thinking has been gradually reconsidered to include skills and dispositions through which one opens new links instead of scrutinizing existing links in a closed analysis. Experimental studies have…

Neural correlates of focused attention during a brief mindfulness induction.

PubMed

Dickenson, Janna; Berkman, Elliot T; Arch, Joanna; Lieberman, Matthew D

2013-01-01

Mindfulness meditation-the practice of attending to present moment experience and allowing emotions and thoughts to pass without judgment-has shown to be beneficial in clinical populations across diverse outcomes. However, the basic neural mechanisms by which mindfulness operates and relates to everyday outcomes in novices remain unexplored. Focused attention is a common mindfulness induction where practitioners focus on specific physical sensations, typically the breath. The present study explores the neural mechanisms of this common mindfulness induction among novice practitioners. Healthy novice participants completed a brief task with both mindful attention [focused breathing (FB)] and control (unfocused attention) conditions during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Relative to the control condition, FB recruited an attention network including parietal and prefrontal structures and trait-level mindfulness during this comparison also correlated with parietal activation. Results suggest that the neural mechanisms of a brief mindfulness induction are related to attention processes in novices and that trait mindfulness positively moderates this activation.

Mind-blanking: when the mind goes away

PubMed Central

Ward, Adrian F.; Wegner, Daniel M.

2013-01-01

People often feel like their minds and their bodies are in different places. Far from an exotic experience, this phenomenon seems to be a ubiquitous facet of human life (e.g., Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010). Many times, people's minds seem to go “somewhere else”—attention becomes disconnected from perception, and people's minds wander to times and places removed from the current environment (e.g., Schooler et al., 2004). At other times, however, people's minds may seem to go nowhere at all—they simply disappear. This mental state—mind-blanking—may represent an extreme decoupling of perception and attention, one in which attention fails to bring any stimuli into conscious awareness. In the present research, we outline the properties of mind-blanking, differentiating this mental state from other mental states in terms of phenomenological experience, behavioral outcomes, and underlying cognitive processes. Seven experiments suggest that when the mind seems to disappear, there are times when we have simply failed to monitor its whereabouts—and there are times when it is actually gone. PMID:24098287

Creative Thinking with Fairy Tales.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flack, Jerry

2001-01-01

This article discusses how creative thinking can be encouraged in students through such classic tools as brainstorming and the productive thinking elements of fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. It describes how fairy tales can be used to foster these thinking skills and suggests classroom activities. (Contains two references.) (CR)

Traditional Literacy and Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dando, Priscille

2016-01-01

How school librarians focus on activating critical thinking through traditional literacy development can proactively set the stage for the deep thinking that occurs in all literacy development. The critical-thinking skills students build while becoming accomplished readers and writers provide the foundation for learning in a variety of…

Open, aware, and active: contextual approaches as an emerging trend in the behavioral and cognitive therapies.

PubMed

Hayes, Steven C; Villatte, Matthieu; Levin, Michael; Hildebrandt, Mikaela

2011-01-01

A wave of new developments has occurred in the behavioral and cognitive therapies that focuses on processes such as acceptance, mindfulness, attention, or values. In this review, we describe some of these developments and the data regarding them, focusing on information about components, moderators, mediators, and processes of change. These "third wave" methods all emphasize the context and function of psychological events more so than their validity, frequency, or form, and for these reasons we use the term "contextual cognitive behavioral therapy" to describe their characteristics. Both putative processes, and component and process evidence, indicate that they are focused on establishing a more open, aware, and active approach to living, and that their positive effects occur because of changes in these processes. © 2011 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved

Think tank (3) - Present activities of other representative organizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obara, Michio

There were some think tank businesses in Japan before the war. South Manchuria Railway Company established its Research Department for the purpose of getting power to control Manchuria as a colony, and got the good results. Think tank business was flourishing three times after the war. This business attracts much attention when the social and economic paradigm is going to change. Among the key large-scale think tanks in Japan, Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI) was the first to enhance the system functions by the merger, and posted think tank function up in the SI business. Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. (MRI) intends to be an orthodox think tank, and established an advanced research institute and the laboratory for R&D. Daiwa Institute of Research, Ltd. (DIR) focuses on economic forecast by using system. Fuji Research Institute, Corp. (FUJI RIC) focuses on survey and policy proposing in macro-economics, and analyzing technology. The Japan Research Institute, Ltd. (JRI) focuses on regional development, and R&D in advanced technology.

Empathic control through coordinated interaction of amygdala, theory of mind and extended pain matrix brain regions.

PubMed

Bruneau, Emile G; Jacoby, Nir; Saxe, Rebecca

2015-07-01

Brain regions in the "pain matrix", can be activated by observing or reading about others in physical pain. In previous research, we found that reading stories about others' emotional suffering, by contrast, recruits a different group of brain regions mostly associated with thinking about others' minds. In the current study, we examined the neural circuits responsible for deliberately regulating empathic responses to others' pain and suffering. In Study 1, a sample of college-aged participants (n=18) read stories about physically painful and emotionally distressing events during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), while either actively empathizing with the main character or trying to remain objective. In Study 2, the same experiment was performed with professional social workers, who are chronically exposed to human suffering (n=21). Across both studies activity in the amygdala was associated with empathic regulation towards others' emotional pain, but not their physical pain. In addition, psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis and Granger causal modeling (GCM) showed that amygdala activity while reading about others' emotional pain was preceded by and positively coupled with activity in the theory of mind brain regions, and followed by and negatively coupled with activity in regions associated with physical pain and bodily sensations. Previous work has shown that the amygdala is critically involved in the deliberate control of self-focused distress - the current results extend the central importance of amygdala activity to the control of other-focused empathy, but only when considering others' emotional pain. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Systems Thinking : Ancient Maya's Evolution of Consciousness and Contemporary Systems Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jere Lazanski, Tadeja

2010-11-01

to a limited consciousness, whereas systems thinking opens the possibilities of conscious co-creation for the benefits of sustainable society and future of the planet.

Envision and Observe: Using the Studio Thinking Framework for Learning and Teaching in Digital Arts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheridan, Kimberly M.

2011-01-01

The Studio Thinking Framework (STF) focuses on habits of mind taught through studio arts rather than disciplinary content or media-specific techniques. It is well suited to integrate studies of arts learning and teaching in a range of contexts, and it provides a framework for understanding how visual arts participation is dramatically changing…