Language and Cognition Interaction Neural Mechanisms

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Perlovsky, Leonid

2011-01-01

How language and cognition interact in thinking? Is language just used for communication of completed thoughts, or is it fundamental for thinking? Existing approaches have not led to a computational theory. We develop a hypothesis that language and cognition are two separate but closely interacting mechanisms. Language accumulates cultural wisdom; cognition develops mental representations modeling surrounding world and adapts cultural knowledge to concrete circumstances of life. Language is acquired from surrounding language “ready-made” and therefore can be acquired early in life. This early acquisition of language in childhood encompasses the entire hierarchy from sounds to words, to phrases, and to highest concepts existing in culture. Cognition is developed from experience. Yet cognition cannot be acquired from experience alone; language is a necessary intermediary, a “teacher.” A mathematical model is developed; it overcomes previous difficulties and leads to a computational theory. This model is consistent with Arbib's “language prewired brain” built on top of mirror neuron system. It models recent neuroimaging data about cognition, remaining unnoticed by other theories. A number of properties of language and cognition are explained, which previously seemed mysterious, including influence of language grammar on cultural evolution, which may explain specifics of English and Arabic cultures. PMID:21876687

Language and Cognition Interaction Neural Mechanisms

OpenAIRE

Perlovsky, Leonid

2011-01-01

How language and cognition interact in thinking? Is language just used for communication of completed thoughts, or is it fundamental for thinking? Existing approaches have not led to a computational theory. We develop a hypothesis that language and cognition are two separate but closely interacting mechanisms. Language accumulates cultural wisdom; cognition develops mental representations modeling surrounding world and adapts cultural knowledge to concrete circumstances of life. Language is a...

Deficits in social cognition and response flexibility in pediatric bipolar disorder.

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McClure, Erin B; Treland, Julia E; Snow, Joseph; Schmajuk, Mariana; Dickstein, Daniel P; Towbin, Kenneth E; Charney, Dennis S; Pine, Daniel S; Leibenluft, Ellen

2005-09-01

Little is known about neuropsychological and social-cognitive function in patients with pediatric bipolar disorder. Identification of specific deficits and strengths that characterize pediatric bipolar disorder would facilitate advances in diagnosis, treatment, and research on pathophysiology. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that youths with bipolar disorder would perform more poorly than matched healthy comparison subjects on measures of social cognition, motor inhibition, and response flexibility. Forty outpatients with pediatric bipolar disorder and 22 comparison subjects (no differences in age, gender, and IQ) completed measures of social cognition (the pragmatic judgment subtest of the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language, facial expression recognition subtests of the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy Scale, the oral expression subtest of the Test of Language Competence), inhibition and response flexibility (stop and stop-change tasks), and motor inhibition (continuous performance tasks). Pediatric bipolar disorder patients performed more poorly than comparison subjects on social-cognitive measures (pragmatic judgment of language, facial expression recognition) and on a task requiring response flexibility. These deficits were present in euthymic patients. Differences between patients and comparison subjects could not be attributed to comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Findings of impaired social cognition and response flexibility in youths with pediatric bipolar disorder suggest continuity between pediatric bipolar disorder and adult bipolar disorder. These findings provide a foundation for neurocognitive research designed to identify the neural mechanisms underlying these deficits.

Intensity of Multilingual Language Use Predicts Cognitive Performance in Some Multilingual Older Adults

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Keijzer, Merel; de Bot, Kees

2018-01-01

Cognitive advantages for bilinguals have inconsistently been observed in different populations, with different operationalisations of bilingualism, cognitive performance, and the process by which language control transfers to cognitive control. This calls for studies investigating which aspects of multilingualism drive a cognitive advantage, in which populations and under which conditions. This study reports on two cognitive tasks coupled with an extensive background questionnaire on health, wellbeing, personality, language knowledge and language use, administered to 387 older adults in the northern Netherlands, a small but highly multilingual area. Using linear mixed effects regression modeling, we find that when different languages are used frequently in different contexts, enhanced attentional control is observed. Subsequently, a PLS regression model targeting also other influential factors yielded a two-component solution whereby only more sensitive measures of language proficiency and language usage in different social contexts were predictive of cognitive performance above and beyond the contribution of age, gender, income and education. We discuss these findings in light of previous studies that try to uncover more about the nature of bilingualism and the cognitive processes that may drive an advantage. With an unusually large sample size our study advocates for a move away from dichotomous, knowledge-based operationalisations of multilingualism and offers new insights for future studies at the individual level. PMID:29783764

[Advances in research on cognitive function related to temporal lobe epilepsy: focus on social cognitive function].

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Yamano, Mitsuhiko; Akamatsu, Naoki; Tsuji, Sadatoshi

2012-09-01

Research on cognitive function related to temporal lobe epilepsy has thus far focused on memory, language, and general intelligence. Recently, however, the concept of social cognitive function has been proposed in the field of neuropsychology. Social cognitive function refers collectively to the higher cognitive functions that are essential in our social lives, and its representative aspects are facial expression recognition and decision-making. Emotional processing centered around the amygdala is thought to play a key role in the neural mechanism of this function. We conducted a study on the social cognitive function (decision-making) of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, and found that this function is reduced in these patients, and that the right amygdalo-hippocampal complexes play an important role. In order to ensure the best possible treatment for epilepsy patients, it is necessary not only to make an accurate diagnosis and provide appropriate treatment, but also to provide support for enabling a smoother social life from the perspective of social cognitive function. Future research developments in this field are expected to contribute to total management in medical care for epilepsy patients.

Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience: Insights from Deafness

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Corina, David; Singleton, Jenny

2009-01-01

The condition of deafness presents a developmental context that provides insight into the biological, cultural, and linguistic factors underlying the development of neural systems that impact social cognition. Studies of visual attention, behavioral regulation, language development, and face and human action perception are discussed. Visually…

The Role of Executive Functions in Social Cognition among Children with Down Syndrome: Relationship Patterns

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Amadó, Anna; Serrat, Elisabet; Vallès-Majoral, Eduard

2016-01-01

Many studies show a link between social cognition, a set of cognitive and emotional abilities applied to social situations, and executive functions in typical developing children. Children with Down syndrome (DS) show deficits both in social cognition and in some subcomponents of executive functions. However this link has barely been studied in this population. The aim of this study is to investigate the links between social cognition and executive functions among children with DS. We administered a battery of social cognition and executive function tasks (six theory of mind tasks, a test of emotion comprehension, and three executive function tasks) to a group of 30 participants with DS between 4 and 12 years of age. The same tasks were administered to a chronological-age control group and to a control group with the same linguistic development level. Results showed that apart from deficits in social cognition and executive function abilities, children with DS displayed a slight improvement with increasing chronological age and language development in those abilities. Correlational analysis suggested that working memory was the only component that remained constant in the relation patterns of the three groups of participants, being the relation patterns similar among participants with DS and the language development control group. A multiple linear regression showed that working memory explained above 50% of the variability of social cognition in DS participants and in language development control group, whereas in the chronological-age control group this component only explained 31% of the variability. These findings, and specifically the link between working memory and social cognition, are discussed on the basis of their theoretical and practical implications for children with DS. We discuss the possibility to use a working memory training to improve social cognition in this population. PMID:27679588

Differential lexical correlates of social cognition and metacognition in schizophrenia; a study of spontaneously-generated life narratives.

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Buck, Benjamin; Minor, Kyle S; Lysaker, Paul H

2015-04-01

Social cognition and metacognition have been identified as important cognitive domains in schizophrenia, which are separable from general neurocognition and predictive of functional and treatment outcomes. However, one challenge to improved models of schizophrenia has been the conceptual overlap between the two. One tool used in previous research to develop cognitive models of psychopathology is language analysis. In this article we aimed to clarify distinctions between social cognition and metacognition in schizophrenia using computerized language software. Fifty-eight (n=58) individuals with schizophrenia completed the Metacognitive Assessment Scale Abbreviated and measures of social cognition using the Hinting, Eyes, BLERT and Picture Arrangement test. A lexical analysis of participants' speech using Language Inquiry and Word Count software was conducted to examine relative frequencies of word types. Lexical characteristics were examined for their relationships to social cognition and metacognition. We found that lexical characteristics indicative of cognitive complexity were significantly related to level of metacognitive capacity while social cognition was related to second-person pronoun use, articles, and prepositions, and pronoun use overall. The relationships between lexical variables and metacognition persisted after controlling for demographics, verbal intelligence, and overall word count, but the same was not true for social cognition. Our findings provided support for the view that metacognition requires more synthetic and complex verbal and linguistic operations, while social cognition is associated with the representation and clear identification of others. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Toward Cognitively Constrained Models of Language Processing: A Review

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Margreet Vogelzang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Language processing is not an isolated capacity, but is embedded in other aspects of our cognition. However, it is still largely unexplored to what extent and how language processing interacts with general cognitive resources. This question can be investigated with cognitively constrained computational models, which simulate the cognitive processes involved in language processing. The theoretical claims implemented in cognitive models interact with general architectural constraints such as memory limitations. This way, it generates new predictions that can be tested in experiments, thus generating new data that can give rise to new theoretical insights. This theory-model-experiment cycle is a promising method for investigating aspects of language processing that are difficult to investigate with more traditional experimental techniques. This review specifically examines the language processing models of Lewis and Vasishth (2005, Reitter et al. (2011, and Van Rij et al. (2010, all implemented in the cognitive architecture Adaptive Control of Thought—Rational (Anderson et al., 2004. These models are all limited by the assumptions about cognitive capacities provided by the cognitive architecture, but use different linguistic approaches. Because of this, their comparison provides insight into the extent to which assumptions about general cognitive resources influence concretely implemented models of linguistic competence. For example, the sheer speed and accuracy of human language processing is a current challenge in the field of cognitive modeling, as it does not seem to adhere to the same memory and processing capacities that have been found in other cognitive processes. Architecture-based cognitive models of language processing may be able to make explicit which language-specific resources are needed to acquire and process natural language. The review sheds light on cognitively constrained models of language processing from two angles: we

Understanding Cognitive Language Learning Strategies

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Sergio Di Carlo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Over time, definitions and taxonomies of language learning strategies have been critically examined. This article defines and classifies cognitive language learning strategies on a more grounded basis. Language learning is a macro-process for which the general hypotheses of information processing are valid. Cognitive strategies are represented by the pillars underlying the encoding, storage and retrieval of information. In order to understand the processes taking place on these three dimensions, a functional model was elaborated from multiple theoretical contributions and previous models: the Smart Processing Model. This model operates with linguistic inputs as well as with any other kind of information. It helps to illustrate the stages, relations, modules and processes that occur during the flow of information. This theoretical advance is a core element to classify cognitive strategies. Contributions from cognitive neuroscience have also been considered to establish the proposed classification which consists of five categories. Each of these categories has a different predominant function: classification, preparation, association, elaboration and transfer-practice. This better founded taxonomy opens the doors to potential studies that would allow a better understanding of the interdisciplinary complexity of language learning. Pedagogical and methodological implications are also discussed.

Theory of Mind deficits and social emotional functioning in preschoolers with Specific Language Impairment

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Constance Vissers

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI often experience emotional and social difficulties. In general, problems in social emotional functioning can be cognitively explained in terms of Theory of Mind (ToM. In this mini-review, an overview is provided of studies on social-emotional functioning and ToM in preschoolers (average age from 2.3 to 6.2 years with SLI. It is concluded that, similar to school-aged children with SLI, preschoolers with SLI have several social-emotional problems and that both cognitive and affective aspects of ToM are impaired in those children. Based hereon, three possible causal models for the interrelation between language, ToM and social emotional functioning are put forward. It is proposed that future research on the construct and measurement of early ToM, social emotional functioning and language development in preschoolers with SLI is needed to achieve early detection, tailored treatment, and ultimately insight into the pathogenesis of SLI.

Neural Cognition and Affective Computing on Cyber Language.

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Huang, Shuang; Zhou, Xuan; Xue, Ke; Wan, Xiqiong; Yang, Zhenyi; Xu, Duo; Ivanović, Mirjana; Yu, Xueer

2015-01-01

Characterized by its customary symbol system and simple and vivid expression patterns, cyber language acts as not only a tool for convenient communication but also a carrier of abundant emotions and causes high attention in public opinion analysis, internet marketing, service feedback monitoring, and social emergency management. Based on our multidisciplinary research, this paper presents a classification of the emotional symbols in cyber language, analyzes the cognitive characteristics of different symbols, and puts forward a mechanism model to show the dominant neural activities in that process. Through the comparative study of Chinese, English, and Spanish, which are used by the largest population in the world, this paper discusses the expressive patterns of emotions in international cyber languages and proposes an intelligent method for affective computing on cyber language in a unified PAD (Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance) emotional space.

Neural Cognition and Affective Computing on Cyber Language

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Shuang Huang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Characterized by its customary symbol system and simple and vivid expression patterns, cyber language acts as not only a tool for convenient communication but also a carrier of abundant emotions and causes high attention in public opinion analysis, internet marketing, service feedback monitoring, and social emergency management. Based on our multidisciplinary research, this paper presents a classification of the emotional symbols in cyber language, analyzes the cognitive characteristics of different symbols, and puts forward a mechanism model to show the dominant neural activities in that process. Through the comparative study of Chinese, English, and Spanish, which are used by the largest population in the world, this paper discusses the expressive patterns of emotions in international cyber languages and proposes an intelligent method for affective computing on cyber language in a unified PAD (Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance emotional space.

Key cognitive preconditions for the evolution of language.

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Donald, Merlin

2017-02-01

Languages are socially constructed systems of expression, generated interactively in social networks, which can be assimilated by the individual brain as it develops. Languages co-evolved with culture, reflecting the changing complexity of human culture as it acquired the properties of a distributed cognitive system. Two key preconditions set the stage for the evolution of such cultures: a very general ability to rehearse and refine skills (evident early in hominin evolution in toolmaking), and the emergence of material culture as an external (to the brain) memory record that could retain and accumulate knowledge across generations. The ability to practice and rehearse skill provided immediate survival-related benefits in that it expanded the physical powers of early hominins, but the same adaptation also provided the imaginative substrate for a system of "mimetic" expression, such as found in ritual and pantomime, and in proto-words, which performed an expressive function somewhat like the home signs of deaf non-signers. The hominid brain continued to adapt to the increasing importance and complexity of culture as human interactions with material culture became more complex; above all, this entailed a gradual expansion in the integrative systems of the brain, especially those involved in the metacognitive supervision of self-performances. This supported a style of embodied mimetic imagination that improved the coordination of shared activities such as fire tending, but also in rituals and reciprocal mimetic games. The time-depth of this mimetic adaptation, and its role in both the construction and acquisition of languages, explains the importance of mimetic expression in the media, religion, and politics. Spoken language evolved out of voco-mimesis, and emerged long after the more basic abilities needed to refine skill and share intentions, probably coinciding with the common ancestor of sapient humans. Self-monitoring and self-supervised practice were necessary

Thought and Language in Cognitive Science

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Destéfano, Mariela

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In cognitive science, the discussion about the relations between language and thought is very heterogeneous. It involves developments on linguistics, philosophy, psychology, etc. Carruthers and Boucher (1998 identify different criteria that would organize the diversity of positions about language and thought assumed in linguistics, philosophy and psychology. One of them is the constitution thesis (CT, which establishes that language is constitutively involved in thought. In this paper I would like to show some problems of CT in order to understand the relation between language and thought in cognitive science.

Autism, Language Disorder, and Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder: DSM-V and Differential Diagnoses.

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Simms, Mark D; Jin, Xing Ming

2015-08-01

• Based on strong research evidence (1), the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has increased over the past decade, with a 2010 prevalence of 1:68 (1.5%) in children age 8 years. • Based on some research evidence as well as consensus (3), the most recent revision of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) identifies two core dimensions for the diagnosis of ASD: social (social communication and social interaction) and nonsocial (restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, or activities). • Based on some research evidence as well as consensus (3) (31) (32) (33) (34), DSM-V identifies social pragmatic communication disorder (SPCD) as a dissociable dimension of language and communication ability that affects how individuals use language for social exchanges. SPCD is often found in children with language impairments and children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other genetic/neurologic conditions. • Based on strong research evidence (2) (26) (27) (28), childhood language disorders affect 7.4% of kindergarteners, and 50% to 80% of these children experience persistent language, academic, and social-emotional difficulties into their adult years, despite having normal nonverbal cognitive abilities. • Based primarily on consensus due to lack of relevant clinical studies, differential diagnosis of autism and language disorders may require a multidisciplinary evaluation that takes into account a child’s overall development, including cognitive, communication, and social abilities. Monitoring the response to appropriate interventions and trajectory of development over time may improve the accuracy of diagnosis, especially in very young children.

A Cognitive Approach to Tantric Language

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Sthaneshwar Timalsina

2016-11-01

Full Text Available By applying the contemporary theories of schema, metonymy, metaphor, and conceptual blending, I argue in this paper that salient cognitive categories facilitate a deeper analysis of Tantric language. Tantras use a wide range of symbolic language expressed in terms of mantric speech and visual maṇḍalas, and Tantric texts relate the process of deciphering meaning with the surge of mystical experience. In this essay, I will focus on some distinctive varieties of Tantric language with a conviction that select cognitive tools facilitate coherent reading of these expressions. Mystical language broadly utilizes images and metaphors. Deciphering Tantric language should therefore also provide a framework for reading other varieties of mystical expressions across cultures.

Bilingualism, social cognition and executive functions: A tale of chickens and eggs.

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Cox, Simon R; Bak, Thomas H; Allerhand, Michael; Redmond, Paul; Starr, John M; Deary, Ian J; MacPherson, Sarah E

2016-10-01

The influence of bilingualism on cognitive functioning is currently a topic of intense scientific debate. The strongest evidence for a cognitive benefit of bilingualism has been demonstrated in executive functions. However, the causal direction of the relationship remains unclear: does learning other languages improve executive functions or are people with better executive abilities more likely to become bilingual? To address this, we examined 90 male participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936; 26 were bilingual, 64 monolingual. All participants underwent an intelligence test at age 11 years and were assessed on a wide range of executive and social cognition tasks at age 74. The only notable differences between both groups were found for the Simon Effect (which indexes stimulus-response conflict resolution; β=-.518, p=0.025) and a trend effect for the Faux Pas task (a measure of complex theory of mind; ToM, β=0.432, p=0.060). Controlling for the influence of childhood intelligence, parental and own social class significantly attenuated the bilingual advantage on the Faux Pas test (β=0.058, p=0.816), whereas the Simon task advantage remained (β=-.589, p=0.049). We find some weak evidence that the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive functions may be selective and bi-directional. Pre-existing cognitive and social class differences from childhood may influence both ToM ability in older age and the likelihood of learning another language; yet, bilingualism does not appear to independently contribute to Faux Pas score. Conversely, learning a second language is related to better conflict processing, irrespective of initial childhood ability or social class. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Neuro-cognition and social cognition elements of social functioning and social quality of life.

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Hasson-Ohayon, Ilanit; Mashiach-Eizenberg, Michal; Arnon-Ribenfeld, Nitzan; Kravetz, Shlomo; Roe, David

2017-12-01

Previous studies have shown that deficits in social cognition mediate the association between neuro-cognition and functional outcome. Based on these findings, the current study presents an examination of the mediating role of social cognition and includes two different outcomes: social functioning assessed by objective observer and social quality of life assessed by subjective self-report. Instruments measuring different aspects of social cognition, cognitive ability, social functioning and social quality of life were administered to 131 participants who had a diagnosis of a serious mental illness. Results showed that emotion recognition and attributional bias were significant mediators such that cognitive assessment was positively related to both, which in turn, were negatively related to SQoL. While one interpretation of the data suggests that deficits in emotion recognition may serve as a possible defense mechanism, future studies should re-assess this idea. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The social life of cognition.

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Korman, Joanna; Voiklis, John; Malle, Bertram F

2015-02-01

We begin by illustrating that long before the cognitive revolution, social psychology focused on topics pertaining to what is now known as social cognition: people's subjective interpretations of social situations and the concepts and cognitive processes underlying these interpretations. We then examine two questions: whether social cognition entails characteristic concepts and cognitive processes, and how social processes might themselves shape and constrain cognition. We suggest that social cognition relies heavily on generic cognition but also on unique concepts (e.g., agent, intentionality) and unique processes (e.g., projection, imitation, joint attention). We further suggest that social processes play a prominent role in the development and unfolding of several generic cognitive processes, including learning, attention, and memory. Finally, we comment on the prospects of a recently developing approach to the study of social cognition (social neuroscience) and two potential future directions (computational social cognition and social-cognitive robotics). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cognitive performance and engagement in physical, social and intellectual activities in older adults: The FIBRA study

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Giovana Sposito

Full Text Available Cognitive decline in aging can negatively impact quality of life in the elderly. However, studies have shown that elderly engaged in advanced activities of daily living (AADLs can maintain or enhance global cognitive function or specific domains.Objective:To investigate the relationship between engagement in AADLs and domains of cognition in elderly from seven different locations in Brazil.Methods:A cross-sectional study involving 2,549 elderly without cognitive deficits suggestive of dementia was conducted. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, health status, the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE by subdomain (orientation, memory, attention/calculus, language and constructional praxis, and engagement in AADL grouped under physical, social and intellectual activities.Results:Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed an association, albeit modest, between intellectual AADLs and the domains orientation, attention/calculus, language and constructional praxis (R2=0.005, 0.008, 0.021, and 0.021 respectively. Social AADLs were correlated with memory (R2=0.002 and language (R2=0.004 domains. No association was found between physical AADLs and MMSE domains. Schooling and family income were the sociodemographic variables exhibiting the strongest relationship with cognitive domains.Conclusion:The study found associations between intellectual and social AADLs with higher cognitive performance, suggesting that active aging can provide opportunities to attenuate cognitive decline in aging.

Social cognition in preschoolers: effects of early experience and individual differences

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Daniela Bulgarelli

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Social cognition is the way in which people process, remember and use information in social contexts to explain and predict their own behaviour and that of others. Children’s social cognition may be influenced by multiple factors, both external and internal to the child. In the current study, two aspects of social cognition were examined: Theory of Mind (ToM and Emotion Understanding (EU. The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of type of early care (0-3 years of age, maternal education, parents’ country of birth, and child’s language on the social cognition of 118 Italian preschoolers. To our knowledge, the joint effect of these variables on social cognition has not previously been investigated in the literature. The measures used to collect social cognition and linguistic data were not parent- or teacher-reports, but based on direct assessment of the children through two standardized tests, the Test of Emotion Comprehension and the ToM Storybooks. Relationships among the variables showed a complex pattern. Overall, maternal education and linguistic competence showed a systematic effect on social cognition; the linguistic competence mediated the effect of maternal education. In children who had experienced centre-base care in the first three years of life, the effect of maternal education disappeared, supporting the protective role of centre-base care for children with less educated mothers. The children with native and foreign parents did not significantly differed on the social cognition tasks. Limits of the study, possible educational outcomes and future research lines were discussed.

Cross-cultural differences in social desirability scales: Influence of cognitive ability

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Aletta Odendaal

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Orientation: The use of personality tests for selection and screening has been consistently criticised resulting from the risk of socially desirable responding amongst job applicants. Research purpose: This study examined the magnitude of culture and language group meanscore differences amongst job applicants and the moderating effect of race on the relationship between social desirability and cognitive ability. Motivation for the study: The influence of cognitive ability and potential race and ethnic group differences in social desirability scale scores, which can lead to disproportional selection ratios, has not been extensively researched in South Africa. Research design, approach and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional research design, based on secondary datasets obtained from the test publisher, was employed. The dataset consisted of 1640 job applicants across industry sectors. Main findings: Moderated multiple regression analyses revealed that the relationship between social desirability and general reasoning was moderated by culture and language, with group differences in social desirability being more pronounced at the low general reasoning level. This suggests that social desirability scales may be an ambiguous indicator of faking as the scales may indicate tendency to fake, but not the ability to fake, that is likely to be connected to the level of cognitive ability of the respondent. Practical/managerial implications: Individual differences in social desirability are not fully explained by cognitive ability as cultural differences also played a role. Responding in a certain manner, reflects a level of psychological sophistication that is informed by the level of education and socio-economic status. In relation to selection practice, this study provided evidence of the potentially adverse consequences of using social desirability scales to detect response distortion. Contribution/value-add: The exploration of cross

Social Cognition Deficits: Current Position and Future Directions for Neuropsychological Interventions in Cerebrovascular Disease

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Progress Njomboro

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Neuropsychological assessments of cognitive dysfunction in cerebrovascular illness commonly target basic cognitive functions involving aspects of memory, attention, language, praxis, and number processing. Here, I highlight the clinical importance of often-neglected social cognition functions. These functions recruit a widely distributed neural network, making them vulnerable in most cerebrovascular diseases. Sociocognitive deficits underlie most of the problematic social conduct observed in patients and are associated with more negative clinical outcomes (compared to nonsocial cognitive deficits. In clinical settings, social cognition deficits are normally gleaned from collateral information from caregivers or from indirect inferences made from patients’ performance on standard nonsocial cognitive tests. Information from these sources is however inadequate. I discuss key social cognition functions, focusing initially on deficits in emotion perception and theory of mind, two areas that have gained sizeable attention in neuroscientific research, and then extend the discussion into relatively new, less covered but crucial functions involving empathic behaviour, social awareness, social judgements, and social decision making. These functions are frequently impaired following neurological change. At present, a wide range of psychometrically robust social cognition tests is available, and this review also makes the case for their inclusion in neuropsychological assessments.

Embodied social cognition

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Lindblom, Jessica

2015-01-01

This book clarifies the role and relevance of the body in social interaction and cognition from an embodied cognitive science perspective. Theories of embodied cognition have during the last decades offered a radical shift in explanations of the human mind, from traditional computationalism, to emphasizing the way cognition is shaped by the body and its sensorimotor interaction with the surrounding social and material world. This book presents a theoretical framework for the relational nature of embodied social cognition, which is based on an interdisciplinary approach that ranges historically in time and across different disciplines. It includes work in cognitive science, artificial intelligence, phenomenology, ethology, developmental psychology, neuroscience, social psychology, linguistics, communication, and gesture studies. The theoretical framework is illustrated by empirical work that provides some detailed observational fieldwork on embodied actions captured in three different episodes of spontaneous s...

Toward cognitively constrained models of language processing : A review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vogelzang, Margreet; Mills, Anne C.; Reitter, David; van Rij, Jacolien; Hendriks, Petra; van Rijn, Hedderik

2017-01-01

Language processing is not an isolated capacity, but is embedded in other aspects of our cognition. However, it is still largely unexplored to what extent and how language processing interacts with general cognitive resources. This question can be investigated with cognitively constrained

Effects of social cognitive impairment on speech disorder in schizophrenia.

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Docherty, Nancy M; McCleery, Amanda; Divilbiss, Marielle; Schumann, Emily B; Moe, Aubrey; Shakeel, Mohammed K

2013-05-01

Disordered speech in schizophrenia impairs social functioning because it impedes communication with others. Treatment approaches targeting this symptom have been limited by an incomplete understanding of its causes. This study examined the process underpinnings of speech disorder, assessed in terms of communication failure. Contributions of impairments in 2 social cognitive abilities, emotion perception and theory of mind (ToM), to speech disorder were assessed in 63 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 21 nonpsychiatric participants, after controlling for the effects of verbal intelligence and impairments in basic language-related neurocognitive abilities. After removal of the effects of the neurocognitive variables, impairments in emotion perception and ToM each explained additional variance in speech disorder in the patients but not the controls. The neurocognitive and social cognitive variables, taken together, explained 51% of the variance in speech disorder in the patients. Schizophrenic disordered speech may be less a concomitant of "positive" psychotic process than of illness-related limitations in neurocognitive and social cognitive functioning.

Relationship between social interaction bids and language in late talking children.

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Vuksanovic, Jasmina R

2015-03-28

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between language development and the frequency of social interaction (SI) behaviours during language acquisition in late-talking (LT) children who exhibit delays in expressive vocabulary development but have age-appropriate cognitive skills. The research consists of a longitudinal study with a first test followed by two re-tests 5 months apart, in which LT children were compared to 5-months-younger typically-developing (TD) children. Data showed that LT children performed significantly fewer initiation of SI behaviours, but no differences between groups in responding to SI behaviours were observed. Furthermore, LT children who have lower language comprehension scores initiate social interaction more frequently. The results showed that LT children seem to be less active in starting social interaction and participation, but, once they get involved, they respond similarly to TD children of comparable expressive language competence. Additionally, the correlation pattern between the frequency of SI behaviours and language functions showed that LT toddlers with more prominent receptive language delay are more interested in initiating interaction with their partner, thus suggesting that they need a partner's "scaffolding" to overcome this lack.

Seamless Language Learning: Second Language Learning with Social Media

OpenAIRE

Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Sing-Chai, Ching; Poh-Aw, Guat

2017-01-01

This conceptual paper describes a language learning model that applies social media to foster contextualized and connected language learning in communities. The model emphasizes weaving together different forms of language learning activities that take place in different learning contexts to achieve seamless language learning. It promotes social interactions with social media about the learners’ day-to-day life using the targeted second or foreign language. The paper first identifies three ke...

Extended, Embodied Cognition and Second Language Acquisition

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Atkinson, Dwight

2010-01-01

A "cognitivist" approach to cognition has traditionally dominated second language acquisition (SLA) studies. In this article, I examine two alternative approaches--"extended cognition" and "embodied cognition"--for how they might help us conceptualize SLA. More specifically, I present: (i) summaries of extended and embodied cognition, followed by…

A Language Socialization Approach to Uzbek Language Learning

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Baburhan Uzum

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Using an ethnographic case study design, this study investigates language learners' socialization into the cultural values of Uzbek language. Informed by a language socialization theoretical framework, the study focuses on the classroom routines and interactions that socialize students into certain social values through mini-lectures that are beyond the linguistic objectives of the curriculum. The research questions addressed are: What social values are being taught implicitly or explicitly? What cultural values are students being socialized into? What constitutes valuable cultural knowledge as claimed by the teacher? In the audio and video recorded observation data, a selected excerpt of typical classroom interactions is analyzed adopting discourse analysis methods. The findings of the study could be implemented in teacher education programs and in designing textbooks and curriculum for less commonly taught languages.

Early Social, Imitation, Play, and Language Abilities of Young Non-Autistic Siblings of Children with Autism

OpenAIRE

Toth, Karen; Dawson, Geraldine; Meltzoff, Andrew N.; Greenson, Jessica; Fein, Deborah

2007-01-01

Studies are needed to better understand the broad autism phenotype in young siblings of children with autism. Cognitive, adaptive, social, imitation, play, and language abilities were examined in 42 non-autistic siblings and 20 toddlers with no family history of autism, ages 18–27 months. Siblings, as a group, were below average in expressive language and composite IQ, had lower mean receptive language, adaptive behavior, and social communication skills, and used fewer words, distal gestures,...

Language, embodiment, and the cognitive niche.

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Clark, Andy

2006-08-01

Embodied agents use bodily actions and environmental interventions to make the world a better place to think in. Where does language fit into this emerging picture of the embodied, ecologically efficient agent? One useful way to approach this question is to consider language itself as a cognition-enhancing animal-built structure. To take this perspective is to view language as a kind of self-constructed cognitive niche: a persisting but never stationary material scaffolding whose crucial role in promoting thought and reason remains surprisingly poorly understood. It is the very materiality of this linguistic scaffolding, I suggest, that gives it some key benefits. By materializing thought in words, we create structures that are themselves proper objects of perception, manipulation, and (further) thought.

PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDREN’S COGNITIVE TOWARD LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

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Cucu Ardiah Ningrum

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to explain how the Cognitive Psychology supports the language development on children. The supporting data was taken from some related books and journals. The data collection is conducted through the proper source collection used for obtaining various information related to the topic. Then the information obtained from many sources was analyzed. The result of the analyses shows that the language acquisition process begins even since infancy period. In this process, the cognitive psychology supported it. In the process of acquiring the language, the children will pass through four steps of Cognitive process namely, sensorimotor stage, pre-operational stage, concrete operation stage, and formal operation stage. The entire stages are related to human’s age. In addition there are some assumptions of children’s cognitive development which are children’s schemas, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.

Probabilistic language models in cognitive neuroscience: Promises and pitfalls.

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Armeni, Kristijan; Willems, Roel M; Frank, Stefan L

2017-12-01

Cognitive neuroscientists of language comprehension study how neural computations relate to cognitive computations during comprehension. On the cognitive part of the equation, it is important that the computations and processing complexity are explicitly defined. Probabilistic language models can be used to give a computationally explicit account of language complexity during comprehension. Whereas such models have so far predominantly been evaluated against behavioral data, only recently have the models been used to explain neurobiological signals. Measures obtained from these models emphasize the probabilistic, information-processing view of language understanding and provide a set of tools that can be used for testing neural hypotheses about language comprehension. Here, we provide a cursory review of the theoretical foundations and example neuroimaging studies employing probabilistic language models. We highlight the advantages and potential pitfalls of this approach and indicate avenues for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Epilepsy, language, and social skills.

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Caplan, Rochelle

2017-10-04

Language and social skills are essential for intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning and quality of life. Since epilepsy impacts these important domains of individuals' functioning, understanding the psychosocial and biological factors involved in the relationship among epilepsy, language, and social skills has important theoretical and clinical implications. This review first describes the psychosocial and biological factors involved in the association between language and social behavior in children and in adults and their relevance for epilepsy. It reviews the findings of studies of social skills and the few studies conducted on the inter-relationship of language and social skills in pediatric and adult epilepsy. The paper concludes with suggested future research and clinical directions that will enhance early identification and treatment of epilepsy patients at risk for impaired language and social skills. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social cognitive radio networks

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Chen, Xu

2015-01-01

This brief presents research results on social cognitive radio networks, a transformational and innovative networking paradigm that promotes the nexus between social interactions and cognitive radio networks. Along with a review of the research literature, the text examines the key motivation and challenges of social cognitive radio network design. Three socially inspired distributed spectrum sharing mechanisms are introduced: adaptive channel recommendation mechanism, imitation-based social spectrum sharing mechanism, and evolutionarily stable spectrum access mechanism. The brief concludes with a discussion of future research directions which ascertains that exploiting social interactions for distributed spectrum sharing will advance the state-of-the-art of cognitive radio network design, spur a new line of thinking for future wireless networks, and enable novel wireless service and applications.

New social tasks for cognitive psychology; or, new cognitive tasks for social psychology.

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Wettersten, John

2014-01-01

To elucidate how differing theories of rationality lead to differing practices, their social rules must be analyzed. This is true not merely in science but also in society at large. This analysis of social thinking requires both the identification of innate cognitive social psychological processes and explanations of their relations with differing rules of rational practice. These new tasks can enable social psychologists to contribute to the study of how social situations facilitate or inhibit rational practice and enable cognitive psychologists to improve social psychological theory. In contrast to dominant current research strategies, social and cognitive psychologists can integrate social studies of rational practices and their consequences with studies of underlying cognitive psychological processes. In this article I do not attempt to carry out these tasks but rather point to both their lack of recognition and their importance.

Cognitive Neuroscience of Natural Language Use

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willems, R.M.

2015-01-01

When we think of everyday language use, the first things that come to mind include colloquial conversations, reading and writing e-mails, sending text messages or reading a book. But can we study the brain basis of language as we use it in our daily lives? As a topic of study, the cognitive

Relations among motor, social, and cognitive skills in pre-kindergarten children with developmental disabilities.

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Kim, Helyn; Carlson, Abby G; Curby, Timothy W; Winsler, Adam

2016-01-01

Despite the comorbidity between motor difficulties and certain disabilities, limited research has examined links between early motor, cognitive, and social skills in preschool-aged children with developmental disabilities. The present study examined the relative contributions of gross motor and fine motor skills to the prediction of improvements in children's cognitive and social skills among 2,027 pre-kindergarten children with developmental disabilities, including specific learning disorder, speech/language impairment, intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorder. Results indicated that for pre-kindergarten children with developmental disabilities, fine motor skills, but not gross motor skills, were predictive of improvements in cognitive and social skills, even after controlling for demographic information and initial skill levels. Moreover, depending on the type of developmental disability, the pattern of prediction of gross motor and fine motor skills to improvements in children's cognitive and social skills differed. Implications are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social cognition is not associated with cognitive reserve in older adults.

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Lavrencic, Louise M; Kurylowicz, Lisa; Valenzuela, Michael J; Churches, Owen F; Keage, Hannah A D

2016-01-01

Social and general cognitive abilities decline in late life. Those with high cognitive reserve display better general cognitive performance in old age; however, it is unknown whether this is also the case for social cognition. A total of 115 healthy older adults, aged 60-85 years (m = 44, f = 71) were assessed using The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT-R; social cognition), the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ; cognitive reserve), and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI-II; general cognitive ability). The LEQ did not predict performance on any TASIT-R subtest: Emotion Evaluation Test (β = -.097, p = .325), Social Inference - Minimal (β = -.004, p = .972), or Social Inference - Enriched (β = -.016, p = .878). Sensitivity analyses using two alternative cognitive reserve measures, years of education and the National Adult Reading Test, supported these effects. Cognitive reserve was strongly related to WASI-II performance. Unlike general cognitive ability, social cognition appears unaffected by cognitive reserve. Findings contribute to the emerging understanding that cognitive reserve differentially affects individual cognitive domains, which has implications for the theoretical understanding of cognitive reserve and its brain correlates. Cognitive measures unbiased by cognitive reserve may serve as best indicators of brain health, free of compensatory mechanisms.

Bayley-III Cognitive and Language Scales in Preterm Children.

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Spencer-Smith, Megan M; Spittle, Alicia J; Lee, Katherine J; Doyle, Lex W; Anderson, Peter J

2015-05-01

This study aimed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III), Cognitive and Language scales at 24 months for predicting cognitive impairments in preterm children at 4 years. Children born cognitive functioning. Test norms and local term-born reference data were used to classify delay on the Bayley-III Cognitive and Language scales. Impairment on the DAS-II Global Conceptual Ability, Verbal, and Nonverbal Reasoning indices was classified relative to test norms. Scores cognitive delay on the Bayley-III for predicting impairment on DAS-II indices ranged from 29.4% to 38.5% and specificity ranged from 92.3% to 95.5%. The sensitivity of mild/moderate language delay on the Bayley-III for predicting impairment on DAS-II indices ranged from 40% to 46.7% and specificity ranged from 81.1% to 85.7%. The use of local reference data at 24 months to classify delay increased sensitivity but reduced specificity. Receiver operating curve analysis identified optimum cut-point scores for the Bayley-III that were more consistent with using local reference data than Bayley-III normative data. In our cohort of very preterm children, delay on the Bayley-III Cognitive and Language scales was not strongly predictive of future impairments. More children destined for later cognitive impairment were identified by using cut-points based on local reference data than Bayley-III norms. Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Determining the Association between Language and Cognitive Tests in Poststroke Aphasia

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Kylie J. Wall

2017-05-01

Full Text Available BackgroundIndividuals with aphasia are often excluded from studies exploring poststroke cognition because so many of the standard cognitive assessments rely on language ability. Our primary objective was to examine the association between performance on cognitive tests and performance on comprehension and naming tests in poststroke aphasia. Second, we aimed to determine the association between language performance and a real-life measure of cognition (Kettle Test. Third, we explored the feasibility of administering cognitive tests in aphasia.MethodsThirty-six participants with poststroke aphasia and 32 controls were assessed on a battery of pen-and-paper cognitive tests recommended in stroke. Auditory comprehension was measured using the Comprehensive Aphasia Test and naming was measured using the Boston Naming Test. Twenty-two community dwelling participants with aphasia and controls were also asked to complete the Kettle Test. Multiple linear regressions were used to explore the relationship between language performance and performance on the cognitive tests. Feasibility was determined by quantifying missing data.ResultsThe cognitive tests with the highest variance accounted for by auditory comprehension and naming were animal fluency (R2 = 0.67, R2 = 0.78 and the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (recognition discrimination index (R2 = 0.65, R2 = 0.78. All cognitive tests were significantly associated with auditory comprehension and naming, except for the Star Cancellation Test and the Kettle Test. Thirty-three percent of participants with aphasia were unable to complete all the cognitive tests.ConclusionLanguage and non-linguistic cognitive processes are often interrelated. Most pen-and-paper cognitive tests were significantly associated with both auditory comprehension and naming, even in tests that do not require a verbal response. Language performance was not significantly associated with a real-life cognitive performance measure. Task

Language and Literacy in Social Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Maybin, Janet, Ed.

Readings on language and literacy within their social context include: "The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages" (Bronislaw Malinowski); "Toward Ethnographies of Communication" (Dell Hymes); "Language as Social Semiotic" (M. A. K. Halliday); "Language and Ideology" (V. N. Volosinov); "Family…

Cardiac vagal regulation in infancy predicts executive function and social competence in preschool: Indirect effects through language.

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Whedon, Margaret; Perry, Nicole B; Calkins, Susan D; Bell, Martha A

2018-05-21

Parasympathetic nervous system functioning in infancy may serve a foundational role in the development of cognitive and socioemotional skills (Calkins, 2007). In this study (N = 297), we investigated the potential indirect effects of cardiac vagal regulation in infancy on children's executive functioning and social competence in preschool via expressive and receptive language in toddlerhood. Vagal regulation was assessed at 10 months during two attention conditions (social, nonsocial) via task-related changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). A path analysis revealed that decreased RSA from baseline in the nonsocial condition and increased RSA in the social condition were related to larger vocabularies in toddlerhood. Additionally, children's vocabulary sizes were positively related to their executive function and social competence in preschool. Indirect effects from vagal regulation in both contexts to both 4-year outcomes were significant, suggesting that early advances in language may represent a mechanism through which biological functioning in infancy impacts social and cognitive functioning in childhood. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Socially Extended Cognition and Shared Intentionality

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Holger Lyre

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The paper looks at the intersection of extended cognition and social cognition. The central claim is that the mechanisms of shared intentionality can equally be considered as coupling mechanisms of cognitive extension into the social domain. This claim will be demonstrated by investigating a detailed example of cooperative action, and it will be argued that such cases imply that socially extended cognition is not only about cognitive vehicles, but that content must additionally be taken into account. It is finally outlined how social content externalism can in principle be grounded in socially extended cognition.

Language and cognitive outcome for high-risk neonates at the age of 2-3 years - experience from an Arab Country.

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Abou-Elsaad, Tamer; Abdel-Hady, Hesham; Baz, Hemmat; ElShabrawi, Doaa

2017-02-08

To investigate the effect of different neonatal risk factors on different language parameters as well as cognitive abilities among Arabic speaking Egyptian children at the age of two to three years of life and to find out which risk factor(s) had the greatest impact on language and cognitive abilities. This retrospective cohort study was conducted on 103 children with age range of 2-3 years (median age 31 mo). They were 62 males and 41 females who were exposed to different high-risk factors in the perinatal period, with exclusion of metabolic disorders, sepsis/meningitis, congenital anomalies and chromosomal aberrations. The studied children were subjected to a protocol of language assessment that included history taking, clinical and neurological examination, audiological evaluation, assessment of language using modified preschool language scale-4, IQ and mental age assessment and assessment of social age. The studied children had a median gestational age of 37 wk, median birth weight of 2.5 kg. The distribution of the high-risk factors in the affected children were prematurity in 25 children, respiratory distress syndrome in 25 children, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in 15 children, hyperbilirubinemia in 10 children, hypoglycemia in 13 children, mixed risk factors in 15 children. The results revealed that high-risk neonatal complications were associated with impairment of different language parameters and cognitive abilities ( P language and cognitive delay significantly by 3.9 fold. Arabic-speaking children aged 2-3 years who were exposed to high-risk conditions in the perinatal period are likely to exhibit delays in the development of language and impairments in cognitive abilities. The most significant risk factor associated with language and cognitive impairments was prematurity.

Exploring social cognition in schizophrenia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Revsbech, Rasmus; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Frederiksen, Julie Elisabeth Nordgaard

2017-01-01

The aim of the study was to compare social cognition between groups of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and healthy controls and to replicate two previous studies using tests of social cognition that may be particularly sensitive to social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Thirty......-eight first-admitted patients with schizophrenia and 38 healthy controls solved 11 “imaginary conversation (i.e., theory of mind)” items, 10 “psychological understanding” items, and 10 “practical understanding” items. Statistical tests were made of unadjusted and adjusted group differences in models adjusting...... nonsignificant. When intelligence and global cognitive functioning is taken into account, schizophrenia patients and healthy controls perform similarly on social cognitive tests. © 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg...

Relative Contribution of Perception/Cognition and Language on Spatial Categorization

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Choi, Soonja; Hattrup, Kate

2012-01-01

This study investigated the relative contribution of perception/cognition and language-specific semantics in nonverbal categorization of spatial relations. English and Korean speakers completed a video-based similarity judgment task involving containment, support, tight fit, and loose fit. Both perception/cognition and language served as resources…

Social cognition in schizophrenia: cognitive and affective factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ziv, Ido; Leiser, David; Levine, Joseph

2011-01-01

Social cognition refers to how people conceive, perceive, and draw inferences about mental and emotional states of others in the social world. Previous studies suggest that the concept of social cognition involves several abilities, including those related to affect and cognition. The present study analyses the deficits of individuals with schizophrenia in two areas of social cognition: Theory of Mind (ToM) and emotion recognition and processing. Examining the impairment of these abilities in patients with schizophrenia has the potential to elucidate the neurophysiological regions involved in social cognition and may also have the potential to aid rehabilitation. Two experiments were conducted. Both included the same five tasks: first- and second-level false-belief ToM tasks, emotion inferencing, understanding of irony, and matrix reasoning (a WAIS-R subtest). The matrix reasoning task was administered to evaluate and control for the association of the other tasks with analytic reasoning skills. Experiment 1 involved factor analysis of the task performance of 75 healthy participants. Experiment 2 compared 30 patients with schizophrenia to an equal number of matched controls. Results. (1) The five tasks were clearly divided into two factors corresponding to the two areas of social cognition, ToM and emotion recognition and processing. (2) Schizophrenics' performance was impaired on all tasks, particularly on those loading heavily on the analytic component (matrix reasoning and second-order ToM). (3) Matrix reasoning, second-level ToM (ToM2), and irony were found to distinguish patients from controls, even when all other tasks that revealed significant impairment in the patients' performance were taken into account. The two areas of social cognition examined are related to distinct factors. The mechanism for answering ToM questions (especially ToM2) depends on analytic reasoning capabilities, but the difficulties they present to individuals with schizophrenia are due

Social Cognition in Williams Syndrome: Face Tuning.

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Pavlova, Marina A; Heiz, Julie; Sokolov, Alexander N; Barisnikov, Koviljka

2016-01-01

Many neurological, neurodevelopmental, neuropsychiatric, and psychosomatic disorders are characterized by impairments in visual social cognition, body language reading, and facial assessment of a social counterpart. Yet a wealth of research indicates that individuals with Williams syndrome exhibit remarkable concern for social stimuli and face fascination. Here individuals with Williams syndrome were presented with a set of Face-n-Food images composed of food ingredients and in different degree resembling a face (slightly bordering on the Giuseppe Arcimboldo style). The primary advantage of these images is that single components do not explicitly trigger face-specific processing, whereas in face images commonly used for investigating face perception (such as photographs or depictions), the mere occurrence of typical cues already implicates face presence. In a spontaneous recognition task, participants were shown a set of images in a predetermined order from the least to most resembling a face. Strikingly, individuals with Williams syndrome exhibited profound deficits in recognition of the Face-n-Food images as a face: they did not report seeing a face on the images, which typically developing controls effortlessly recognized as a face, and gave overall fewer face responses. This suggests atypical face tuning in Williams syndrome. The outcome is discussed in the light of a general pattern of social cognition in Williams syndrome and brain mechanisms underpinning face processing.

Cognitive independence in foreign language learning

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Maylín Rodríguez Sánchez

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The paper is intended to describe a didactic strategy to contribute to the development of foreign languages course students’ cognitive independence at Camagüey University. In its theoretical conception it is re-defined the concept “cognitive independence”, springing from the context in which the research is carried out, and the distinguishing features that characterize this capacity in students of foreign languages for pedagogical purposes are determined. The strategy comprises four stages: diagnosis, planning, execution, and evaluation. It is included the exemplification of the actions comprised in each stage, as well as the valuation of its effectiveness by means of experts’ opinions. Theoretical and empirical methods were applied, allowing the identification of the scientific problem and the modeling of its solution.

Scientific thinking in elementary school: Children's social cognition and their epistemological understanding promote experimentation skills.

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Osterhaus, Christopher; Koerber, Susanne; Sodian, Beate

2017-03-01

Do social cognition and epistemological understanding promote elementary school children's experimentation skills? To investigate this question, 402 children (ages 8, 9, and 10) in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades were assessed for their experimentation skills, social cognition (advanced theory of mind [AToM]), epistemological understanding (understanding the nature of science), and general information-processing skills (inhibition, intelligence, and language abilities) in a whole-class testing procedure. A multiple indicators multiple causes model revealed a significant influence of social cognition (AToM) on epistemological understanding, and a McNemar test suggested that children's development of AToM is an important precursor for the emergence of an advanced, mature epistemological understanding. Children's epistemological understanding, in turn, predicted their experimentation skills. Importantly, this relation was independent of the common influences of general information processing. Significant relations between experimentation skills and inhibition, and between epistemological understanding, intelligence, and language abilities emerged, suggesting that general information processing contributes to the conceptual development that is involved in scientific thinking. The model of scientific thinking that was tested in this study (social cognition and epistemological understanding promote experimentation skills) fitted the data significantly better than 2 alternative models, which assumed nonspecific, equally strong relations between all constructs under investigation. Our results support the conclusion that social cognition plays a foundational role in the emergence of children's epistemological understanding, which in turn is closely related to the development of experimentation skills. Our findings have significant implications for the teaching of scientific thinking in elementary school and they stress the importance of children's epistemological understanding in

Child Modifiability as a Predictor of Language Abilities in Deaf Children Who Use American Sign Language.

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Mann, Wolfgang; Peña, Elizabeth D; Morgan, Gary

2015-08-01

This research explored the use of dynamic assessment (DA) for language-learning abilities in signing deaf children from deaf and hearing families. Thirty-seven deaf children, aged 6 to 11 years, were identified as either stronger (n = 26) or weaker (n = 11) language learners according to teacher or speech-language pathologist report. All children received 2 scripted, mediated learning experience sessions targeting vocabulary knowledge—specifically, the use of semantic categories that were carried out in American Sign Language. Participant responses to learning were measured in terms of an index of child modifiability. This index was determined separately at the end of the 2 individual sessions. It combined ratings reflecting each child's learning abilities and responses to mediation, including social-emotional behavior, cognitive arousal, and cognitive elaboration. Group results showed that modifiability ratings were significantly better for stronger language learners than for weaker language learners. The strongest predictors of language ability were cognitive arousal and cognitive elaboration. Mediator ratings of child modifiability (i.e., combined score of social-emotional factors and cognitive factors) are highly sensitive to language-learning abilities in deaf children who use sign language as their primary mode of communication. This method can be used to design targeted interventions.

Brain. Conscious and Unconscious Mechanisms of Cognition, Emotions, and Language

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Roman Ilin

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Conscious and unconscious brain mechanisms, including cognition, emotions and language are considered in this review. The fundamental mechanisms of cognition include interactions between bottom-up and top-down signals. The modeling of these interactions since the 1960s is briefly reviewed, analyzing the ubiquitous difficulty: incomputable combinatorial complexity (CC. Fundamental reasons for CC are related to the Gödel’s difficulties of logic, a most fundamental mathematical result of the 20th century. Many scientists still “believed” in logic because, as the review discusses, logic is related to consciousness; non-logical processes in the brain are unconscious. CC difficulty is overcome in the brain by processes “from vague-unconscious to crisp-conscious” (representations, plans, models, concepts. These processes are modeled by dynamic logic, evolving from vague and unconscious representations toward crisp and conscious thoughts. We discuss experimental proofs and relate dynamic logic to simulators of the perceptual symbol system. “From vague to crisp” explains interactions between cognition and language. Language is mostly conscious, whereas cognition is only rarely so; this clarifies much about the mind that might seem mysterious. All of the above involve emotions of a special kind, aesthetic emotions related to knowledge and to cognitive dissonances. Cognition-language-emotional mechanisms operate throughout the hierarchy of the mind and create all higher mental abilities. The review discusses cognitive functions of the beautiful, sublime, music.

Music and language perception: expectations, structural integration, and cognitive sequencing.

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Tillmann, Barbara

2012-10-01

Music can be described as sequences of events that are structured in pitch and time. Studying music processing provides insight into how complex event sequences are learned, perceived, and represented by the brain. Given the temporal nature of sound, expectations, structural integration, and cognitive sequencing are central in music perception (i.e., which sounds are most likely to come next and at what moment should they occur?). This paper focuses on similarities in music and language cognition research, showing that music cognition research provides insight into the understanding of not only music processing but also language processing and the processing of other structured stimuli. The hypothesis of shared resources between music and language processing and of domain-general dynamic attention has motivated the development of research to test music as a means to stimulate sensory, cognitive, and motor processes. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Plasticity of Human Spatial Cognition: Spatial Language and Cognition Covary across Cultures

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Haun, Daniel B. M.; Rapold, Christian J.; Janzen, Gabriele; Levinson, Stephen C.

2011-01-01

The present paper explores cross-cultural variation in spatial cognition by comparing spatial reconstruction tasks by Dutch and Namibian elementary school children. These two communities differ in the way they predominantly express spatial relations in language. Four experiments investigate cognitive strategy preferences across different levels of…

Evidence for shared cognitive processing of pitch in music and language.

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Perrachione, Tyler K; Fedorenko, Evelina G; Vinke, Louis; Gibson, Edward; Dilley, Laura C

2013-01-01

Language and music epitomize the complex representational and computational capacities of the human mind. Strikingly similar in their structural and expressive features, a longstanding question is whether the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying these abilities are shared or distinct--either from each other or from other mental processes. One prominent feature shared between language and music is signal encoding using pitch, conveying pragmatics and semantics in language and melody in music. We investigated how pitch processing is shared between language and music by measuring consistency in individual differences in pitch perception across language, music, and three control conditions intended to assess basic sensory and domain-general cognitive processes. Individuals' pitch perception abilities in language and music were most strongly related, even after accounting for performance in all control conditions. These results provide behavioral evidence, based on patterns of individual differences, that is consistent with the hypothesis that cognitive mechanisms for pitch processing may be shared between language and music.

Developmental Pathways for Social Understanding: Linking Social Cognition to Social Contexts

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Kimberly eBrink

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Contemporary research, often with looking-time tasks, reveals that infants possess foundational understandings of their social worlds. However, few studies have examined how these early social cognitions relate to the child’s social interactions and behavior in early development. Does an early understanding of the social world relate to how an infant interacts with his or her parents? Do early social interactions along with social-cognitive understandings in infancy predict later preschool social competencies? In the current paper, we propose a theory in which children’s later social behaviors and their understanding of the social world depend on the integration of early social understanding and experiences in infancy. We review several of our studies, as well as other research, that directly examine the pathways between these competencies to support a hypothesized network of relations between social-cognitive development and social-interactive behaviors in the development from infancy to childhood. In total, these findings reveal differences in infant social competences that both track the developmental trajectory of infants’ understanding of people over the first years of life and provide external validation for the large body of social-cognitive findings emerging from laboratory looking-time paradigms.

Meta-Analysis of Social Cognition in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

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Bora, Emre; Yener, Görsev G

2017-07-01

Social cognitive abilities are impaired in Alzheimer disease and other dementias. Recent studies suggested that social cognitive abilities might be also impaired in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Current meta-analysis aimed to summarize available evidence for deficits in theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition in MCI. In this meta-analysis of 17 studies, facial emotion recognition and ToM performances of 513 individuals with MCI and 693 healthy controls were compared. Mild cognitive impairment was associated with significant impairments falling in the medium effect sizes range in ToM ( d = 0.63) and facial emotion recognition ( d = 0.58). Among individual emotions, recognition of fear and sadness were particularly impaired. There were no significant between-group differences in recognition of disgust, happiness, and surprise. Social cognitive deficits were more severe in multidomain MCI. There is a need for longitudinal studies investigating the potential role of social cognitive impairment in predicting conversion to dementia.

A Metaphor-Enriched Social Cognition

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Landau, Mark J.; Meier, Brian P.; Keefer, Lucas A.

2010-01-01

Social cognition is the scientific study of the cognitive events underlying social thought and attitudes. Currently, the field's prevailing theoretical perspectives are the traditional schema view and embodied cognition theories. Despite important differences, these perspectives share the seemingly uncontroversial notion that people interpret and…

Gestural coupling and social cognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Michael, John; Krueger, Joel William

2012-01-01

Social cognition researchers have become increasingly interested in the ways that behavioral, physiological, and neural coupling facilitate social interaction and interpersonal understanding. We distinguish two ways of conceptualizing the role of such coupling processes in social cognition: strong...... an essential enabling feature for social interaction and interpersonal understanding more generally and thus ought to exhibit severe deficits in these areas. We challenge SI's prediction and show how MS cases offer compelling reasons for instead adopting MI's pluralistic model of social interaction...... and interpersonal understanding. We conclude that investigations of coupling processes within social interaction should inform rather than marginalize or eliminate investigation of higher-level individual cognition...

Seamless Language Learning: Second Language Learning with Social Media

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Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Chai, Ching Sing; Aw, Guat Poh

2017-01-01

This conceptual paper describes a language learning model that applies social media to foster contextualized and connected language learning in communities. The model emphasizes weaving together different forms of language learning activities that take place in different learning contexts to achieve seamless language learning. it promotes social…

Social cognition in schizophrenia: from social stimuli processing to social engagement

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Pablo eBilleke

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Social cognition consists of several skills which allow us to interact with other humans. These skills include social stimuli processing, drawing inferences about others' mental states, and engaging in social interactions. In recent years, there has been growing evidence of social cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia. Apparently, these impairments are separable from general neurocognitive impairments, such as attention, memory and executive functioning. Moreover, social cognition seems to be a main determinant of functional outcome and could be used as a guide to elaborate new pharmacological and psychological treatments. However, most of these studies focus on individual mechanisms and observational perspectives; only few of them study schizophrenic patients during interactive situations. We first review evidences of social cognitive impairments both in social stimuli processing and in mental state attribution. We focus on the relationship between these functions and both general cognitive impairments and functional outcome. We next review recent game theory approaches to the study of how social engagement occurs in schizophrenic patients. The advantage of using game theory is that game-oriented tasks can assess social decision-making in an interactive everyday situation model. Finally, we review proposed theoretical models used to explain social alterations and their underlying biological mechanisms. Based on interactive studies, we propose a framework which takes into account the dynamic nature of social processes. Thus, understanding social skills as a result of dynamical systems could facilitate the development of both basic research and clinical applications oriented to psychiatric populations.

Enabling Robotic Social Intelligence by Engineering Human Social-Cognitive Mechanisms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wiltshire, Travis; Warta, Samantha F.; Barber, Daniel

2017-01-01

for artificial cognitive systems. We discuss a recent integrative perspective of social cognition to provide a systematic theoretical underpinning for computational instantiations of these mechanisms. We highlight several commitments of our approach that we refer to as Engineering Human Social Cognition. We...... then provide a series of recommendations to facilitate the development of the perceptual, motor, and cognitive architecture for this proposed artificial cognitive system in future work. For each recommendation, we highlight their relation to the discussed social-cognitive mechanisms, provide the rationale...

Speech and language development in cognitively delayed children with cochlear implants.

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Holt, Rachael Frush; Kirk, Karen Iler

2005-04-01

The primary goals of this investigation were to examine the speech and language development of deaf children with cochlear implants and mild cognitive delay and to compare their gains with those of children with cochlear implants who do not have this additional impairment. We retrospectively examined the speech and language development of 69 children with pre-lingual deafness. The experimental group consisted of 19 children with cognitive delays and no other disabilities (mean age at implantation = 38 months). The control group consisted of 50 children who did not have cognitive delays or any other identified disability. The control group was stratified by primary communication mode: half used total communication (mean age at implantation = 32 months) and the other half used oral communication (mean age at implantation = 26 months). Children were tested on a variety of standard speech and language measures and one test of auditory skill development at 6-month intervals. The results from each test were collapsed from blocks of two consecutive 6-month intervals to calculate group mean scores before implantation and at 1-year intervals after implantation. The children with cognitive delays and those without such delays demonstrated significant improvement in their speech and language skills over time on every test administered. Children with cognitive delays had significantly lower scores than typically developing children on two of the three measures of receptive and expressive language and had significantly slower rates of auditory-only sentence recognition development. Finally, there were no significant group differences in auditory skill development based on parental reports or in auditory-only or multimodal word recognition. The results suggest that deaf children with mild cognitive impairments benefit from cochlear implantation. Specifically, improvements are evident in their ability to perceive speech and in their reception and use of language. However, it may

Language Views on Social Networking Sites for Language Learning: The Case of Busuu

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Álvarez Valencia, José Aldemar

2016-01-01

Social networking has compelled the area of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) to expand its research palette and account for new virtual ecologies that afford language learning and socialization. This study focuses on Busuu, a social networking site for language learning (SNSLL), and analyzes the views of language that are enacted through…

Cognition and norms: toward a developmental account of moral agency in social dilemmas.

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Meyer, Leandro F F; Braga, Marcelo J

2014-01-01

Most recent developments in the study of social dilemmas give an increasing amount of attention to cognition, belief systems, valuations, and language. However, developments in this field operate almost entirely under epistemological assumptions which only recognize the instrumental form of rationality and deny that "value judgments" or "moral questions" have cognitive content. This standpoint erodes the moral aspect of the choice situation and obstructs acknowledgment of the links connecting cognition, inner growth, and moral reasoning, and the significance of such links in reaching cooperative solutions to many social dilemmas. Concurrently, this standpoint places the role of communication and mutual understanding in promoting cooperation in morally relevant conflicts of action in a rather mysterious situation. This paper draws on Habermas's critique of instrumental action, and on the most recent developments in institutional and behavioral economics with a view to enhancing our knowledge of the interventions used to cope with social dilemmas. We conclude the paper with a brief presentation of a research strategy for examining the capacity of alternative developmental models to predict dissimilar choices under similar incentive conditions in social dilemmas.

The Two-Systems Account of Theory of Mind: Testing the Links to Social- Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities

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Bozana Meinhardt-Injac

2018-01-01

Full Text Available According to the two-systems account of theory of mind (ToM, understanding mental states of others involves both fast social-perceptual processes, as well as slower, reflexive cognitive operations (Frith and Frith, 2008; Apperly and Butterfill, 2009. To test the respective roles of specific abilities in either of these processes we administered 15 experimental procedures to a large sample of 343 participants, testing ability in face recognition and holistic perception, language, and reasoning. ToM was measured by a set of tasks requiring ability to track and to infer complex emotional and mental states of others from faces, eyes, spoken language, and prosody. We used structural equation modeling to test the relative strengths of a social-perceptual (face processing related and reflexive-cognitive (language and reasoning related path in predicting ToM ability. The two paths accounted for 58% of ToM variance, thus validating a general two-systems framework. Testing specific predictor paths revealed language and face recognition as strong and significant predictors of ToM. For reasoning, there were neither direct nor mediated effects, albeit reasoning was strongly associated with language. Holistic face perception also failed to show a direct link with ToM ability, while there was a mediated effect via face recognition. These results highlight the respective roles of face recognition and language for the social brain, and contribute closer empirical specification of the general two-systems account.

The Two-Systems Account of Theory of Mind: Testing the Links to Social- Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities.

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Meinhardt-Injac, Bozana; Daum, Moritz M; Meinhardt, Günter; Persike, Malte

2018-01-01

According to the two-systems account of theory of mind (ToM), understanding mental states of others involves both fast social-perceptual processes, as well as slower, reflexive cognitive operations (Frith and Frith, 2008; Apperly and Butterfill, 2009). To test the respective roles of specific abilities in either of these processes we administered 15 experimental procedures to a large sample of 343 participants, testing ability in face recognition and holistic perception, language, and reasoning. ToM was measured by a set of tasks requiring ability to track and to infer complex emotional and mental states of others from faces, eyes, spoken language, and prosody. We used structural equation modeling to test the relative strengths of a social-perceptual (face processing related) and reflexive-cognitive (language and reasoning related) path in predicting ToM ability. The two paths accounted for 58% of ToM variance, thus validating a general two-systems framework. Testing specific predictor paths revealed language and face recognition as strong and significant predictors of ToM. For reasoning, there were neither direct nor mediated effects, albeit reasoning was strongly associated with language. Holistic face perception also failed to show a direct link with ToM ability, while there was a mediated effect via face recognition. These results highlight the respective roles of face recognition and language for the social brain, and contribute closer empirical specification of the general two-systems account.

Theorizing and Studying the Language-Teaching Mind: Mapping Research on Language Teacher Cognition

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Burns, Anne; Freeman, Donald; Edwards, Emily

2015-01-01

The overarching project of the conceptual and empirical contributions in this special issue is to redraw boundaries for language teacher cognition research. Our aim in this final article is to complement the foregoing collection of articles by conceptualizing ontologically and methodologically past and current trajectories in language teacher…

Exploring social cognition in schizophrenia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Revsbech, R.; Mortensen, E. L.; Nordgaard, J.

2017-01-01

The aim of the study was to compare social cognition between groups of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and healthy controls and to replicate two previous studies using tests of social cognition that may be particularly sensitive to social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Thirty......-eight first-admitted patients with schizophrenia and 38 healthy controls solved 11 “imaginary conversation (i.e., theory of mind)” items, 10 “psychological understanding” items, and 10 “practical understanding” items. Statistical tests were made of unadjusted and adjusted group differences in models adjusting...... for intelligence and neuropsychological test performance. Healthy controls performed better than patients on all types of social cognitive tests, particularly on “psychological understanding.” However, after adjusting for intelligence and neuropsychological test performance, all group differences became...

Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (Project CALLA), Community School District 2 Special Alternative Instruction Program. Final Evaluation Report, 1992-93. OREA Report.

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Lynch, Joanne

Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (Project CALLA) was a federally funded program serving 960 limited-English-proficient students in 10 Manhattan (New York) elementary schools in 1992-93 its third year of operation. The project provided instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL), mathematics, science, and social studies in…

Social Cognition in the Mirrors of «Cognitive Revolutions»

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Khoroshilov D.A.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the problem of the social determination of cognition from the point of view of «cognitive revolutions» (R. Harré in dialogue between psychology, social theory and history, neurobiology and aesthetics. The research inquiry is the cultural-historical analysis of the social representations of the everyday life. The «aesthetic paradigm» (T.D. Martsinkovskaya uses the art-based methods to study the cultural forms of social cognition. Theoretical discussions are illustrated by the social psychological, clinical and contemporary art research of the mass consciousness of the Russian society at the beginning of the 21st century. The article presents the experience of the genre analysis of the tragedy of culture (G. Simmel, personal drama (L.S. Vygotsky and comedy of social life (A.P. Chekhov. The final result is a new aesthetic concept of social cognition.

Grounding language in action and perception: from cognitive agents to humanoid robots.

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Cangelosi, Angelo

2010-06-01

In this review we concentrate on a grounded approach to the modeling of cognition through the methodologies of cognitive agents and developmental robotics. This work will focus on the modeling of the evolutionary and developmental acquisition of linguistic capabilities based on the principles of symbol grounding. We review cognitive agent and developmental robotics models of the grounding of language to demonstrate their consistency with the empirical and theoretical evidence on language grounding and embodiment, and to reveal the benefits of such an approach in the design of linguistic capabilities in cognitive robotic agents. In particular, three different models will be discussed, where the complexity of the agent's sensorimotor and cognitive system gradually increases: from a multi-agent simulation of language evolution, to a simulated robotic agent model for symbol grounding transfer, to a model of language comprehension in the humanoid robot iCub. The review also discusses the benefits of the use of humanoid robotic platform, and specifically of the open source iCub platform, for the study of embodied cognition. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reflections of social relations in the language of Andrić's prose for children and young adults

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Stakić Mirjana M.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the language of Andrić's prose on the example of his short stories 'Deca' (Children, 'Kula' (Tower, and 'Prozor' (Window written for children and young adults, interpreting social relations which represent their thematic, sociological, cultural, and historical context. We studied causes of social prejudices which represent the main cause of interpersonal and internal conflicts of the main protagonists in the context of learning sociological theories (sociocognitive theory, theory of social identity, and theory of social learning and from the standpoint of the psycholinguistic approach. We also observed language as a medium in discovering the internal and external characterization of protagonists achieved by means of verbalization of internal and external conflicts. We interpreted social relations and conflicts reflected in the language as an aesthetic, cultural, and social phenomenon as the conceptual framework of Andrić's prose. Literary language thus becomes a medium that achieves a cognitive role, in addition to its aesthetic role, discovering and illuminating social relations and conflicts which represent a reflexive core woven into the conceptual framework of the three short stories for children and young adults: 'Deca' (Children, 'Kula' (Tower, and 'Prozor' (Window.

Language and other artifacts: socio-cultural dynamics of niche construction.

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Sinha, Chris

2015-01-01

Niche construction theory is a relatively new approach in evolutionary biology that seeks to integrate an ecological dimension into the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. It is regarded by many evolutionary biologists as providing a significant revision of the Neo-Darwinian modern synthesis that unified Darwin's theory of natural and sexual selection with 20th century population genetics. Niche construction theory has been invoked as a processual mediator of social cognitive evolution and of the emergence and evolution of language. I argue that language itself can be considered as a biocultural niche and evolutionary artifact. I provide both a general analysis of the cognitive and semiotic status of artifacts, and a formal analysis of language as a social and semiotic institution, based upon a distinction between the fundamental semiotic relations of "counting as" and "standing for." I explore the consequences for theories of language and language learning of viewing language as a biocultural niche. I suggest that not only do niches mediate organism-organism interactions, but also that organisms mediate niche-niche interactions in ways that affect evolutionary processes, with the evolution of human infancy and childhood as a key example. I argue that language as a social and semiotic system is not only grounded in embodied engagements with the material and social-interactional world, but also grounds a sub-class of artifacts of particular significance in the cultural history of human cognition. Symbolic cognitive artifacts materially and semiotically mediate human cognition, and are not merely informational repositories, but co-agentively constitutive of culturally and historically emergent cognitive domains. I provide examples of the constitutive cognitive role of symbolic cognitive artifacts drawn from my research with my colleagues on cultural and linguistic conceptualizations of time, and their cultural variability. I conclude by reflecting on

Language and other artifacts: socio-cultural dynamics of niche construction.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chris eSinha

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Niche construction theory is a relatively new approach in evolutionary biology that seeks to integrate an ecological dimension into the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. It is regarded by many evolutionary biologists as providing a significant revision of the Neo-Darwinian modern synthesis that unified Darwin’s theory of natural and sexual selection with 20th century population genetics. Niche construction theory has been invoked as a processual mediator of social cognitive evolution and of the emergence and evolution of language. I argue that language itself can be considered as a biocultural niche and evolutionary artifact. I provide both a general analysis of the cognitive and semiotic status of artifacts, and a formal analysis of language as a social and semiotic institution, based upon a distinction between the fundamental semiotic relations of counting as and standing for. I explore the consequences for theories of language and language learning of viewing language as a biocultural niche. I suggest that not only do niches mediate organism-organism interactions, but also that organisms mediate niche-niche interactions in ways that affect evolutionary processes, with the evolution of human infancy and childhood as a key example. I argue that language as a social and semiotic system is not only grounded in embodied engagements with the material and social-interactional world, but also grounds a sub-class of artifacts of particular significance in the cultural history of human cognition. Symbolic cognitive artifacts materially and semiotically mediate human cognition, and are not merely informational repositories, but co-agentively constitutive of culturally and historically emergent cognitive domains. I provide examples of the constitutive cognitive role of symbolic cognitive artifacts drawn from my research with my colleagues on cultural and linguistic conceptualizations of time, and their cultural variability. I conclude

Memory and Language Improvements Following Cognitive Control Training

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Hussey, Erika K.; Harbison, J. Isaiah; Teubner-Rhodes, Susan E.; Mishler, Alan; Velnoskey, Kayla; Novick, Jared M.

2017-01-01

Cognitive control refers to adjusting thoughts and actions when confronted with conflict during information processing. We tested whether this ability is causally linked to performance on certain language and memory tasks by using cognitive control training to systematically modulate people's ability to resolve information-conflict across domains.…

Theory of Mind and social functioning in schizophrenia: correlation with figurative language abnormalities, clinical symptoms and general intelligence.

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Piovan, Cristiano; Gava, Laura; Campeol, Mara

2016-01-01

Over past few decades, studies displayed Theory of Mind (ToM) as a system, including cognitive and affective features, rather than an unitary process. Within domains defining social cognition, ToM stands for the best predictor of poor social functioning in schizophrenia. The current study aimed to explore competence in ToM tasks, in metaphorical and idiomatic language identification tasks and in a conversational rules observance test, as well as relationship with social functioning, in a group of outpatients suffering from schizophrenia. METHODS.: 30 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 24 healthy subjects have been recruited. Both groups underwent TIB as premorbid IQ evaluation, PANSS, Theory of Mind Picture Sequencing Task, a metaphors and idiomatic expressions comprehension test and a conversational test. Social functioning was assessed with PSP. Results.Mean values of premorbid IQ showed no significant difference between patients and control group. In ToM and pragmatic competence tasks, differences between groups resulted in high significance, due to patients' lower performance. A correlation between metaphors and idiomatic expressions comprehension and second order false beliefs was detected. PSP showed a correlation with PANSS and cognitive-ToM, whereas leaving aside affective-ToM. Results showed how people affected with schizophrenia, in stable clinical condition, do have clear impairments in ToM and figurative language comprehension assignments. In our theoretical framework, correlation arisen between cognitive-ToM, pragmatic deficits, clinical status and social functioning level suggests usefulness of rehabilitative interventions to recover metacognitive functions and pragmatic abilities, in order to reduce social disability in schizophrenia.

Redrawing the Boundaries on Theory, Research, and Practice Concerning Language Teachers' Philosophies and Language Teacher Cognition: Toward a Critical Perspective

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Crookes, Graham V.

2015-01-01

Two areas of investigation and professional practice--language teachers' philosophies and language teacher cognition--can be considered as related, perhaps overlapping, insofar as they are both the result of thought. The concept of a philosophy of teaching may hold together sets of language teacher cognitions, or guide specific investigations of…

Action and language integration: from humans to cognitive robots.

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Borghi, Anna M; Cangelosi, Angelo

2014-07-01

The topic is characterized by a highly interdisciplinary approach to the issue of action and language integration. Such an approach, combining computational models and cognitive robotics experiments with neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and linguistic approaches, can be a powerful means that can help researchers disentangle ambiguous issues, provide better and clearer definitions, and formulate clearer predictions on the links between action and language. In the introduction we briefly describe the papers and discuss the challenges they pose to future research. We identify four important phenomena the papers address and discuss in light of empirical and computational evidence: (a) the role played not only by sensorimotor and emotional information but also of natural language in conceptual representation; (b) the contextual dependency and high flexibility of the interaction between action, concepts, and language; (c) the involvement of the mirror neuron system in action and language processing; (d) the way in which the integration between action and language can be addressed by developmental robotics and Human-Robot Interaction. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Developing an international scoring system for a consensus-based social cognition measure: MSCEIT-managing emotions.

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Hellemann, G S; Green, M F; Kern, R S; Sitarenios, G; Nuechterlein, K H

2017-10-01

Measures of social cognition are increasingly being applied to psychopathology, including studies of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Tests of social cognition present unique challenges for international adaptations. The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, Managing Emotions Branch (MSCEIT-ME) is a commonly-used social cognition test that involves the evaluation of social scenarios presented in vignettes. This paper presents evaluations of translations of this test in six different languages based on representative samples from the relevant countries. The goal was to identify items from the MSCEIT-ME that show different response patterns across countries using indices of discrepancy and content validity criteria. An international version of the MSCEIT-ME scoring was developed that excludes items that showed undesirable properties across countries. We then confirmed that this new version had better performance (i.e. less discrepancy across regions) in international samples than the version based on the original norms. Additionally, it provides scores that are comparable to ratings based on local norms. This paper shows that it is possible to adapt complex social cognitive tasks so they can provide valid data across different cultural contexts.

A rapid review of key strategies to improve the cognitive and social development of children in Scotland.

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Geddes, Rosemary; Frank, John; Haw, Sally

2011-06-01

Inequalities in health and educational outcomes in Scotland show a strong and persistent socioeconomic status gradient. Our aims were to provide policy-makers with a synthesis of international research evidence that assesses the effectiveness of early childhood interventions aimed at equitably promoting cognitive and social development and suggest potential areas for action in Scotland. A rapid review was conducted of review level studies of early childhood interventions with outcome measures relating to child cognitive-language or social-emotional development, subsequent academic and life achievement. Websites were searched and interviews were conducted to identify relevant interventions, policies and programmes delivered in Scotland. : Early childhood intervention programmes can reduce disadvantage due to social and environmental factors. Scottish health policy demonstrates a clear commitment to early childhood development but much work remains in terms of detail of policy implementation, identification of high risk children and families, and early childhood monitoring systems. Programmes should provide a universal seamless continuum of care and support from pregnancy through to school entry with the intensity of support graded according to need. The current information systems in Scotland would be inadequate for monitoring the effects of early childhood interventions especially in relation to cognitive-language and social-emotional development. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive functioning in socially anxious adults: Insights from the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery

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Sonya Violet Troller-Renfree

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Theory suggests that individuals with social anxiety manifest unique patterns of cognition with less efficient fluid cognition and unperturbed crystallized cognition; however, empirical support for these ideas remains inconclusive. The heterogeneity of past findings may reflect unreliability in cognitive assessments or the influence of confounding variables. The present study examined the relations among social anxiety and performance on the reliable, newly established NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery. Results indicate that high socially anxious adults performed as well as low anxious participants on all measures of fluid cognition. However, highly socially anxious adults demonstrated enhanced crystallized cognitive abilities relative to a low socially anxious comparison group.

White matter microstructure predicts longitudinal social cognitive outcomes after paediatric traumatic brain injury: a diffusion tensor imaging study.

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Ryan, N P; Genc, S; Beauchamp, M H; Yeates, K O; Hearps, S; Catroppa, C; Anderson, V A; Silk, T J

2018-03-01

Deficits in social cognition may be among the most profound and disabling sequelae of paediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, the neuroanatomical correlates of longitudinal outcomes in this domain remain unexplored. This study aimed to characterize social cognitive outcomes longitudinally after paediatric TBI, and to evaluate the use of sub-acute diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to predict these outcomes. The sample included 52 children with mild complex-severe TBI who were assessed on cognitive theory of mind (ToM), pragmatic language and affective ToM at 6- and 24-months post-injury. For comparison, 43 typically developing controls (TDCs) of similar age and sex were recruited. DTI data were acquired sub-acutely (mean = 5.5 weeks post-injury) in a subset of 65 children (TBI = 35; TDC = 30) to evaluate longitudinal prospective relationships between white matter microstructure assessed using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics and social cognitive outcomes. Whole brain voxel-wise analysis revealed significantly higher mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD) and radial diffusivity (RD) in the sub-acute TBI group compared with TDC, with differences observed predominantly in the splenium of the corpus callosum (sCC), sagittal stratum (SS), dorsal cingulum (DC), uncinate fasciculus (UF) and middle and superior cerebellar peduncles (MCP & SCP, respectively). Relative to TDCs, children with TBI showed poorer cognitive ToM, affective ToM and pragmatic language at 6-months post-insult, and those deficits were related to abnormal diffusivity of the sCC, SS, DC, UF, MCP and SCP. Moreover, children with TBI showed poorer affective ToM and pragmatic language at 24-months post-injury, and those outcomes were predicted by sub-acute alterations in diffusivity of the DC and MCP. Abnormal microstructure within frontal-temporal, limbic and cerebro-cerebellar white matter may be a risk factor for long-term social difficulties observed in children with TBI. DTI may have

The Utility of Cognitive Plausibility in Language Acquisition Modeling: Evidence From Word Segmentation.

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Phillips, Lawrence; Pearl, Lisa

2015-11-01

The informativity of a computational model of language acquisition is directly related to how closely it approximates the actual acquisition task, sometimes referred to as the model's cognitive plausibility. We suggest that though every computational model necessarily idealizes the modeled task, an informative language acquisition model can aim to be cognitively plausible in multiple ways. We discuss these cognitive plausibility checkpoints generally and then apply them to a case study in word segmentation, investigating a promising Bayesian segmentation strategy. We incorporate cognitive plausibility by using an age-appropriate unit of perceptual representation, evaluating the model output in terms of its utility, and incorporating cognitive constraints into the inference process. Our more cognitively plausible model shows a beneficial effect of cognitive constraints on segmentation performance. One interpretation of this effect is as a synergy between the naive theories of language structure that infants may have and the cognitive constraints that limit the fidelity of their inference processes, where less accurate inference approximations are better when the underlying assumptions about how words are generated are less accurate. More generally, these results highlight the utility of incorporating cognitive plausibility more fully into computational models of language acquisition. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Comparison of the recovery patterns of language and cognitive functions in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits and in patients with aphasia following a stroke.

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Vukovic, Mile; Vuksanovic, Jasmina; Vukovic, Irena

2008-01-01

In this study we investigated the recovery patterns of language and cognitive functions in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits and in patients with aphasia following a stroke. The correlation of specific language functions and cognitive functions was analyzed in the acute phase and 6 months later. Significant recovery of the tested functions was observed in both groups. However, in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits the degree of recovery of most language functions and some cognitive functions was higher. A significantly greater correlation was revealed within language and cognitive functions, as well as between language functions and other aspects of cognition in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits than in patients with aphasia following a stroke. Our results show that patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits have a different recovery pattern and a different pattern of correlation between language and cognitive functions compared to patients with aphasia following a stroke. (1) Better understanding of the differences in recovery of language and cognitive functions in patients who have suffered strokes and those who have experienced traumatic brain injury. (2) Better understanding of the relationship between language and cognitive functions in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits and in patients with aphasia following a stroke. (3) Better understanding of the factors influencing recovery.

Evaluative language, cognitive effort and attitude change.

OpenAIRE

van der Pligt, J.; van Schie, E.C.M.; Martijn, C.

1994-01-01

Tested the hypotheses that evaluatively biased language influences attitudes and that the magnitude and persistence of attitude change depends on the amount of cognitive effort. 132 undergraduates participated in the experiment, which used material focusing on the issue of restricting adolescent driving over the weekends to reduce the number of fatal traffic accidents. Results indicate that evaluatively biased language can affect attitudes. Using words that evaluate the pro-position positivel...

Mental exercising through simple socializing: social interaction promotes general cognitive functioning.

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Ybarra, Oscar; Burnstein, Eugene; Winkielman, Piotr; Keller, Matthew C; Manis, Melvin; Chan, Emily; Rodriguez, Joel

2008-02-01

Social interaction is a central feature of people's life and engages a variety of cognitive resources. Thus, social interaction should facilitate general cognitive functioning. Previous studies suggest such a link, but they used special populations (e.g., elderly with cognitive impairment), measured social interaction indirectly (e.g., via marital status), and only assessed effects of extended interaction in correlational designs. Here the relation between mental functioning and direct indicators of social interaction was examined in a younger and healthier population. Study 1 using survey methodology found a positive relationship between social interaction, assessed via amount of actual social contact, and cognitive functioning in people from three age groups including younger adults. Study 2 using an experimental design found that a small amount of social interaction (10 min) can facilitate cognitive performance. The findings are discussed in the context of the benefits social relationships have for so many aspects of people's lives.

Language and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Practice Paper-Literature Review and Case Example

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Satwant Singh

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the impact of language on cognitive behavioural therapy. Language is emotive and studies carried out in the linguistic field have shown second language is less emotive when describing events occuring in the first language. This paper has been written based on the experiences of a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT service providing therapy to patients from a diverse cultural and ethnic population. Patients whose first language is not English often receive therapy in their second language. Global migration is a common phenomenon and mainly occurs for economic reasons or threat of violence. This paper has been drawn from the results of a literature review on first and second languages and therapy. Despite being an area that is extremely relevant to therapy, there is an apparent lack of literature in relation to cognitive behavioural therapy for depression and other disorders. CBT is one of the recommended therapies by National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. Findings from the linguistic field highlight the potential short comings providing therapy in a patient’s second language. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance that therapists working in this field have an understanding of how first and second languages function and the role they play in maintaining patients’ psychological problems. This practice paper discusses measures that can be used in cognitive behavioural therapy to deal with this using a case example.

Assessing Group Interaction with Social Language Network Analysis

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Scholand, Andrew J.; Tausczik, Yla R.; Pennebaker, James W.

In this paper we discuss a new methodology, social language network analysis (SLNA), that combines tools from social language processing and network analysis to assess socially situated working relationships within a group. Specifically, SLNA aims to identify and characterize the nature of working relationships by processing artifacts generated with computer-mediated communication systems, such as instant message texts or emails. Because social language processing is able to identify psychological, social, and emotional processes that individuals are not able to fully mask, social language network analysis can clarify and highlight complex interdependencies between group members, even when these relationships are latent or unrecognized.

The Six Languages of Social Work.

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Bloom, Martin; And Others

1991-01-01

Describes six languages that scientifically minded and practice-competent social workers need to be fluent in lay language of client, abstract language of theorist, empirical and often quantitative language of researcher, categorical language of information scientist, technical terminology or jargon used by helping professionals, and preferential…

Cognition and Norms: Toward a Developmental Account of Moral Agency in Social Dilemmas

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Leandro Frederico Ferraz Meyer

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Most recent developments in the study of social dilemmas give an increasing amount of attention to cognition, belief systems, valuations, and language. However, developments in this field operate almost entirely under epistemological assumptions which only recognize the instrumental form of rationality and deny that value judgments or moral questions have cognitive content. This standpoint erodes the moral aspect of the choice situation and obstructs acknowledgment of the links connecting cognition, inner growth, and moral reasoning, and the significance of such links in reaching cooperative solutions to many social dilemmas. Concurrently, this standpoint places the role of communication and mutual understanding in promoting cooperation in morally relevant conflicts of action in a rather mysterious situation. This paper draws on Habermas’s critique of instrumental action, and on the most recent developments in institutional and behavioral economics with a view to enhancing our knowledge of the interventions used to cope with social dilemmas. We conclude the paper with a brief presentation of a research strategy for examining the capacity of alternative developmental models to predict dissimilar choices under similar incentive conditions in social dilemmas.

Cognition and norms: toward a developmental account of moral agency in social dilemmas

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Leandro F. F.; Braga, Marcelo J.

2015-01-01

Most recent developments in the study of social dilemmas give an increasing amount of attention to cognition, belief systems, valuations, and language. However, developments in this field operate almost entirely under epistemological assumptions which only recognize the instrumental form of rationality and deny that “value judgments” or “moral questions” have cognitive content. This standpoint erodes the moral aspect of the choice situation and obstructs acknowledgment of the links connecting cognition, inner growth, and moral reasoning, and the significance of such links in reaching cooperative solutions to many social dilemmas. Concurrently, this standpoint places the role of communication and mutual understanding in promoting cooperation in morally relevant conflicts of action in a rather mysterious situation. This paper draws on Habermas’s critique of instrumental action, and on the most recent developments in institutional and behavioral economics with a view to enhancing our knowledge of the interventions used to cope with social dilemmas. We conclude the paper with a brief presentation of a research strategy for examining the capacity of alternative developmental models to predict dissimilar choices under similar incentive conditions in social dilemmas. PMID:25610414

Social Institutions as Tools in Normative Cognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jeppe Sinding

Social institutions are normative cognitive tools, the functions of which should be an important subject in cognitive anthropology......Social institutions are normative cognitive tools, the functions of which should be an important subject in cognitive anthropology...

What can atypical language hemispheric specialization tell us about cognitive functions?

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Qing; Van der Haegen, Lise

2015-04-01

Recent studies have made substantial progress in understanding the interactions between cognitive functions, from language to cognitive control, attention, and memory. However, dissociating these functions has been hampered by the close proximity of regions involved, as in the case in the prefrontal and parietal cortex. In this article, we review a series of studies that investigated the relationship between language and other cognitive functions in an alternative way - by examining their functional (co-)lateralization. We argue that research on the hemispheric lateralization of language and its link with handedness can offer an appropriate starting-point to shed light on the relationships between different functions. Besides functional interactions, anatomical asymmetries in non-human primates and those underlying language in humans can provide unique information about cortical organization. Finally, some open questions and criteria are raised for an ideal theoretical model of the cortex based on hemispheric specialization.

Attention, Joint Attention, and Social Cognition

OpenAIRE

Mundy, Peter; Newell, Lisa

2007-01-01

Before social cognition there is joint processing of information about the attention of self and others. This joint attention requires the integrated activation of a distributed cortical network involving the anterior and posterior attention systems. In infancy, practice with the integrated activation of this distributed attention network is a major contributor to the development of social cognition. Thus, the functional neuroanatomies of social cognition and the anterior–posterior attention ...

Social cognition in humans

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frith, Christopher; Frith, Uta

2007-01-01

We review a diversity of studies of human social interaction and highlight the importance of social signals. We also discuss recent findings from social cognitive neuroscience that explore the brain basis of the capacity for processing social signals. These signals enable us to learn about...

Social Cognition in Williams Syndrome: Relations Between Performance on the Social Attribution Task and Cognitive and Behavioral Characteristics

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Faye eVan der Fluit

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Williams syndrome (WS is a developmental disorder of genetic origin, with characteristic cognitive and personality profiles. Studies of WS point to an outgoing and gregarious personality style, often contrasted with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs; however, recent research has uncovered underlying social reciprocity difficulties in people with WS. Participants in the current study included 24 children with WS ages 8 through 15. A lab-based measure of social perception and social cognition was administered (Social Attribution Test, as well as an intellectual functioning measure (KBIT-II and parent reports of communication and reciprocal social skills (Social Communication Questionnaire, Social Responsiveness Scale. Relations between social cognition, cognitive abilities, and social-communication were examined. Results demonstrated relations between parent-reported social reciprocity and the typicality of the responses provided in the lab-based measure, even once variability in intellectual functioning was taken into account. In addition, a significant improvement in performance was seen with the added scaffolding particularly for participants with stronger intellectual functioning.

Association of Social Support and Family Environment with Cognitive Function in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients.

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Wang, Qin; Yang, Zhi-Kai; Sun, Xiu-Mei; Du, Yun; Song, Yi-Fan; Ren, Ye-Ping; Dong, Jie

♦ BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment (CI) is a common phenomenon and predictive of high mortality in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. This study aimed to analyze the association of social support and family environment with cognitive function in PD patients. ♦ METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of PD patients from Peking University First Hospital and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University. Global cognitive function was measured using the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS), executive function was measured by the A and B trail-making tests, and other cognitive functions were measured by the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. Social support was measured with the Social Support Scale developed by Xiaoshuiyuan and family environment was measured with the Chinese Version of the Family Environment Scale (FES-CV). ♦ RESULTS: The prevalence of CI and executive dysfunction among the 173 patients in the study was, respectively, 16.8% and 26.3%. Logistic regression found that higher global social support (odds ratio [OR] = 1.09, 1.01 - 1.17, p = 0.027) and subjective social support predicted higher prevalence of CI (OR = 1.13, 1.02 - 1.25, p = 0.022), adjusting for covariates. Analyses of the FES-CV dimensions found that greater independence was significantly associated with better immediate memory and delayed memory. Moreover, higher scores on achievement orientation were significantly associated with poorer language skills. ♦ CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that social support is negatively associated with the cognitive function of PD patients and that some dimensions of the family environment are significantly associated with several domains of cognitive function. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis.

Reading as Situated Language: A Sociocognitive Perspective.

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Gee, James Paul

2001-01-01

Situates reading within a broad perspective that integrates work on cognition, language, social interaction, society, and culture. Argues that reading and writing cannot be separated from speaking, listening, and interacting, on the one hand, or using language to think about and act on the world, on the other. Introduces "social languages" as a…

Language and other artifacts: socio-cultural dynamics of niche construction

Science.gov (United States)

Sinha, Chris

2015-01-01

Niche construction theory is a relatively new approach in evolutionary biology that seeks to integrate an ecological dimension into the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. It is regarded by many evolutionary biologists as providing a significant revision of the Neo-Darwinian modern synthesis that unified Darwin’s theory of natural and sexual selection with 20th century population genetics. Niche construction theory has been invoked as a processual mediator of social cognitive evolution and of the emergence and evolution of language. I argue that language itself can be considered as a biocultural niche and evolutionary artifact. I provide both a general analysis of the cognitive and semiotic status of artifacts, and a formal analysis of language as a social and semiotic institution, based upon a distinction between the fundamental semiotic relations of “counting as” and “standing for.” I explore the consequences for theories of language and language learning of viewing language as a biocultural niche. I suggest that not only do niches mediate organism-organism interactions, but also that organisms mediate niche-niche interactions in ways that affect evolutionary processes, with the evolution of human infancy and childhood as a key example. I argue that language as a social and semiotic system is not only grounded in embodied engagements with the material and social-interactional world, but also grounds a sub-class of artifacts of particular significance in the cultural history of human cognition. Symbolic cognitive artifacts materially and semiotically mediate human cognition, and are not merely informational repositories, but co-agentively constitutive of culturally and historically emergent cognitive domains. I provide examples of the constitutive cognitive role of symbolic cognitive artifacts drawn from my research with my colleagues on cultural and linguistic conceptualizations of time, and their cultural variability. I conclude by

How relevant is social interaction in second language learning?

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Laura eVerga

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Verbal language is the most widespread mode of human communication, and an intrinsically social activity. This claim is strengthen by evidence emerging from different fields, which clearly indicate that social interaction influences human communication, and more specifically, language learning. Indeed, research conducted with infants and children shows that interaction with a caregiver is necessary to acquire language. Further evidence on the influence of sociality on language comes from social and linguistic pathologies, in which deficits in social and linguistic abilities are tightly intertwined, as it is the case for Autism, for example. However, studies on adult second language learning have been mostly focused on individualistic approaches, partly because of methodological constraints especially of imaging methods. The question as to whether social interaction should be considered as a critical factor impacting upon adult language learning still remains underspecified. Here, we review evidence in support of the view that sociality plays a significant role in communication and language learning, in an attempt to emphasize factors that could facilitate this process in adult language learning. We suggest that sociality should be considered as a potentially influential factor in adult language learning and that future studies in this domain should explicitly target this factor.

How relevant is social interaction in second language learning?

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Verga, Laura; Kotz, Sonja A

2013-09-03

Verbal language is the most widespread mode of human communication, and an intrinsically social activity. This claim is strengthened by evidence emerging from different fields, which clearly indicates that social interaction influences human communication, and more specifically, language learning. Indeed, research conducted with infants and children shows that interaction with a caregiver is necessary to acquire language. Further evidence on the influence of sociality on language comes from social and linguistic pathologies, in which deficits in social and linguistic abilities are tightly intertwined, as is the case for Autism, for example. However, studies on adult second language (L2) learning have been mostly focused on individualistic approaches, partly because of methodological constraints, especially of imaging methods. The question as to whether social interaction should be considered as a critical factor impacting upon adult language learning still remains underspecified. Here, we review evidence in support of the view that sociality plays a significant role in communication and language learning, in an attempt to emphasize factors that could facilitate this process in adult language learning. We suggest that sociality should be considered as a potentially influential factor in adult language learning and that future studies in this domain should explicitly target this factor.

Oxytocin, testosterone, and human social cognition.

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Crespi, Bernard J

2016-05-01

I describe an integrative social-evolutionary model for the adaptive significance of the human oxytocinergic system. The model is based on a role for this hormone in the generation and maintenance of social familiarity and affiliation across five homologous, functionally similar, and sequentially co-opted contexts: mothers with offspring, female and male mates, kin groups, individuals with reciprocity partners, and individuals within cooperating and competing social groups defined by culture. In each situation, oxytocin motivates, mediates and rewards the cognitive and behavioural processes that underlie the formation and dynamics of a more or less stable social group, and promotes a relationship between two or more individuals. Such relationships may be positive (eliciting neurological reward, reducing anxiety and thus indicating fitness-enhancing effects), or negative (increasing anxiety and distress, and thus motivating attempts to alleviate a problematic, fitness-reducing social situation). I also present evidence that testosterone exhibits opposite effects from oxytocin on diverse aspects of cognition and behaviour, most generally by favouring self-oriented, asocial and antisocial behaviours. I apply this model for effects of oxytocin and testosterone to understanding human psychological disorders centrally involving social behaviour. Reduced oxytocin and higher testosterone levels have been associated with under-developed social cognition, especially in autism. By contrast, some combination of oxytocin increased above normal levels, and lower testosterone, has been reported in a notable number of studies of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, and, in some cases, higher oxytocin involves maladaptively 'hyper-developed' social cognition in these conditions. This pattern of findings suggests that human social cognition and behaviour are structured, in part, by joint and opposing effects of oxytocin and testosterone, and that extremes of such joint

Phenotypic continuum between autism and schizophrenia: Evidence from the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC).

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, Gilles; Alexandre, Charlotte; Mam-Lam-Fook, Célia; Bendjemaa, Narjes; Gaillard, Raphaël; Garel, Patricia; Dziobek, Isabel; Amado, Isabelle; Krebs, Marie-Odile

2017-07-01

Schizophrenic (SCZ) and autism (ASD) spectrum disorders share several features including social cognition impairments. In SCZ, the link between symptomatic dimensions and social cognition deficits remains unclear. The Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) test, available in several languages including English, investigates mental state attribution capabilities in complex interpersonal situations. After its translation into French, we used MASC to direct compare social cognition in 36 young participants with SCZ to 19 with ASD and 20 healthy controls (HC) matched for gender, age (18-25y.o.) and level of education. The MASC discriminated each group from the others, patients with SCZ exhibiting difficulties compared to ASD (MASC total score 28.1 (4) and 24.2 (6.6), respectively; pautism quotient, and with disorganization symptoms. Finally, in SCZ, over-mentalizing difficulties were correlated with age at disease onset. Our results demonstrate the validity of the French version of the MASC and bring direct evidence supporting the hypothesis of a phenotypic continuum between autism and schizophrenia. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identity, Language Learning, and Social Change

Science.gov (United States)

Norton, Bonny; Toohey, Kelleen

2011-01-01

In this review article on identity, language learning, and social change, we argue that contemporary poststructuralist theories of language, identity, and power offer new perspectives on language learning and teaching, and have been of considerable interest in our field. We first review poststructuralist theories of language, subjectivity, and…

Cognitive pragmatics of language disorders in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, G Albyn

2007-05-01

Cognitive pragmatics is the study of the mental structures and processes involved in the use of language in communicative contexts. Paradigms of cognitive psychology (off-line and on-line) have been applied to the study of the abilities to go beyond the literal (inference) and derive meaning in relation to context (e.g., metaphor and sarcasm). These pragmatic functions have been examined for the involvement of processes of meaning activation, embellishment, and revision. Clinical investigators have explored abilities and deficits in acquired aphasia, right hemisphere dysfunction, and closed head injury. This article reviews and provides some analysis of clinical studies that are consistent with the themes constituting cognitive pragmatics.

Can Social Functioning in Schizophrenia Be Improved through Targeted Social Cognitive Intervention?

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David L. Roberts

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Efforts to use cognitive remediation in psychosocial intervention for schizophrenia have increasingly incorporated social cognition as a treatment target. A distinction can be made in this work between “broad-based” interventions, which integrate social cognitive training within a multicomponent suite of intervention techniques and “targeted” interventions; which aim to enhance social cognition alone. Targeted interventions have the potential advantage of being more efficient than broad-based interventions; however, they also face difficult challenges. In particular, targeted interventions may be less likely to achieve maintenance and generalization of gains made in treatment. A novel potential solution to this problem is described which draws on the social psychological literature on social cognition.

Relational Language Facilitates the Development of Cognitive Flexibility

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Gomila, Antoni

2013-04-01

Full Text Available In several papers, Gentner has shown that relational language facilitates spatial analogical reasoning tasks. In this work we set this question in the context of the development of cognitive flexibility, understood not just as at the representation level, but also at the executive one. To this extent, we modify the design by Ratterman & Gentner (1988 by including order of presentation of the elements as a variable, to increase the executive demands of the task so that the elements to be mentally ordered, which also allows to exclude that the successful answer is based on perceptual appearance. Our results confirm the facilitatory effect of relational language on the development of cognitive flexibility. They also point that a disordered presentation also facilitates correct responses.

How social cognition can inform social decision making

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Lee, Victoria K.; Harris, Lasana T.

2013-01-01

Social decision-making is often complex, requiring the decision-maker to make inferences of others' mental states in addition to engaging traditional decision-making processes like valuation and reward processing. A growing body of research in neuroeconomics has examined decision-making involving social and non-social stimuli to explore activity in brain regions such as the striatum and prefrontal cortex, largely ignoring the power of the social context. Perhaps more complex processes may influence decision-making in social vs. non-social contexts. Years of social psychology and social neuroscience research have documented a multitude of processes (e.g., mental state inferences, impression formation, spontaneous trait inferences) that occur upon viewing another person. These processes rely on a network of brain regions including medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), superior temporal sulcus (STS), temporal parietal junction, and precuneus among others. Undoubtedly, these social cognition processes affect social decision-making since mental state inferences occur spontaneously and automatically. Few studies have looked at how these social inference processes affect decision-making in a social context despite the capability of these inferences to serve as predictions that can guide future decision-making. Here we review and integrate the person perception and decision-making literatures to understand how social cognition can inform the study of social decision-making in a way that is consistent with both literatures. We identify gaps in both literatures—while behavioral economics largely ignores social processes that spontaneously occur upon viewing another person, social psychology has largely failed to talk about the implications of social cognition processes in an economic decision-making context—and examine the benefits of integrating social psychological theory with behavioral economic theory. PMID:24399928

How social cognition can inform social decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Victoria K; Harris, Lasana T

2013-12-25

Social decision-making is often complex, requiring the decision-maker to make inferences of others' mental states in addition to engaging traditional decision-making processes like valuation and reward processing. A growing body of research in neuroeconomics has examined decision-making involving social and non-social stimuli to explore activity in brain regions such as the striatum and prefrontal cortex, largely ignoring the power of the social context. Perhaps more complex processes may influence decision-making in social vs. non-social contexts. Years of social psychology and social neuroscience research have documented a multitude of processes (e.g., mental state inferences, impression formation, spontaneous trait inferences) that occur upon viewing another person. These processes rely on a network of brain regions including medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), superior temporal sulcus (STS), temporal parietal junction, and precuneus among others. Undoubtedly, these social cognition processes affect social decision-making since mental state inferences occur spontaneously and automatically. Few studies have looked at how these social inference processes affect decision-making in a social context despite the capability of these inferences to serve as predictions that can guide future decision-making. Here we review and integrate the person perception and decision-making literatures to understand how social cognition can inform the study of social decision-making in a way that is consistent with both literatures. We identify gaps in both literatures-while behavioral economics largely ignores social processes that spontaneously occur upon viewing another person, social psychology has largely failed to talk about the implications of social cognition processes in an economic decision-making context-and examine the benefits of integrating social psychological theory with behavioral economic theory.

Recognizing the Effects of Language Mode on the Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism

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Ziying Yu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available For bilinguals, it is argued that a cognitive advantage can be linked to the constant management and need for conflict resolution that occurs when the two languages are co-activated (Bialystok, 2015. Language mode (Grosjean, 1998, 2001 is a significant variable that defines and shapes the language experiences of bilinguals and consequently, the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. Previous work, however, has not sufficiently tested the effects of language mode on the bilingual experience. In this brief conceptual analysis, we discuss the significance of language mode in bilingual work on speech perception, production, and reading. We offer possible explanations for conflicting findings and ways in which future work should control for its modulating effects.

Recognizing the Effects of Language Mode on the Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Ziying; Schwieter, John W.

2018-01-01

For bilinguals, it is argued that a cognitive advantage can be linked to the constant management and need for conflict resolution that occurs when the two languages are co-activated (Bialystok, 2015). Language mode (Grosjean, 1998, 2001) is a significant variable that defines and shapes the language experiences of bilinguals and consequently, the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. Previous work, however, has not sufficiently tested the effects of language mode on the bilingual experience. In this brief conceptual analysis, we discuss the significance of language mode in bilingual work on speech perception, production, and reading. We offer possible explanations for conflicting findings and ways in which future work should control for its modulating effects. PMID:29615949

Recognizing the Effects of Language Mode on the Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Ziying; Schwieter, John W

2018-01-01

For bilinguals, it is argued that a cognitive advantage can be linked to the constant management and need for conflict resolution that occurs when the two languages are co-activated (Bialystok, 2015). Language mode (Grosjean, 1998, 2001) is a significant variable that defines and shapes the language experiences of bilinguals and consequently, the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. Previous work, however, has not sufficiently tested the effects of language mode on the bilingual experience. In this brief conceptual analysis, we discuss the significance of language mode in bilingual work on speech perception, production, and reading. We offer possible explanations for conflicting findings and ways in which future work should control for its modulating effects.

The language and social background questionnaire: Assessing degree of bilingualism in a diverse population.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, John A E; Mak, Lorinda; Keyvani Chahi, Aram; Bialystok, Ellen

2018-02-01

Research examining the cognitive consequences of bilingualism has expanded rapidly in recent years and has revealed effects on aspects of cognition across the lifespan. However, these effects are difficult to find in studies investigating young adults. One problem is that there is no standard definition of bilingualism or means of evaluating degree of bilingualism in individual participants, making it difficult to directly compare the results of different studies. Here, we describe an instrument developed to assess degree of bilingualism for young adults who live in diverse communities in which English is the official language. We demonstrate the reliability and validity of the instrument in analyses based on 408 participants. The relevant factors for describing degree of bilingualism are: (1) the extent of non-English language proficiency and use at home, and (2) non-English language use socially. We then use the bilingualism scores obtained from the instrument to demonstrate their association with: (1) performance on executive function tasks, and (2) previous classifications of participants into categories of monolinguals and bilinguals.

Dual Language as a Social Movement: Putting Languages on a Level Playing Field

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Cortina, Regina; Makar, Carmina; Mount-Cors, Mary Faith

2015-01-01

As a social movement, dual language challenges and co-exists alongside traditional English-only classrooms in the US. Using Manuel Pastor's social movements framework, we demonstrate how dual language provides teaching methods and languages of instruction that allow varying student populations to excel in learning the official curriculum. In this…

Attitude change through understanding (cognition of the influence of the persuasive language of liturgy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferdi Kruger

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to argue that the use of language in liturgy during worship services should be meaningful to contribute to persuasion in the lives of the participants in liturgy. Language is a prominent medium to convey meaning. In fact, the essence of liturgy that has to lead to the liturgy of life is in itself a meaningful act. The question regarding the meaning of worship services that people often raise is another reason why research on the influence of liturgy is crucial. This investigation is anchored in research on the importance of cognition in persuasive language use to promote attitude change. The research gathers insights from the fields of language philosophy and cognitive psychology. It is clear that the meaning of words in language can never be separated from people’s understanding of the meaning of language. Communication and communion are not opposites. In the normative phase of this investigation, perspectives from Romans 12 are offered. The renewal of the mind that leads to discernment of God’s will must also lead to a new cognition (understanding or phronesis of each believer’s place within the Body of Christ. The insights gained from language philosophy, cognitive psychology and the normative grounding make it evident that people always try to make sense of what they are experiencing and of what they are observing. The attempt to understand necessitates further reflection on the importance of cognition. Finally, practical theological perspectives are offered to indicate that cognition is important to create a meaningful liturgy. This cognition is anchored in God’s presence during worship services and, therefore, it requires meaningful words from liturgists.

Oxytocin and Social Cognition in Affective and Psychotic Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Perez-Rodriguez, M. Mercedes; Mahon, Katie; Russo, Manuela; Ungar, Allison K.; Burdick, Katherine E.

2014-01-01

Impairments in social cognition are now recognized as core illness features in psychotic and affective disorders. Despite the significant disability caused by social cognitive abnormalities, treatments for this symptom dimension are lacking. Here, we describe the evidence demonstrating abnormalities in social cognition in schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder, as well as the neurobiology of social cognition including the role of oxytocin. We then review clinical trials of oxytocin administration in psychotic and affective disorders and the impact of this agent on social cognition. To date, several studies have demonstrated that oxytocin may improve social cognition in schizophrenia; too few studies have been conducted in affective disorders to determine the effect of oxytocin on social cognition in these disorders. Future work is needed to clarify which aspects of social cognition may be improved with oxytocin treatment in psychotic and affective disorders. PMID:25153535

Gender-Specific Effects of Cognitive Load on Social Discounting.

Science.gov (United States)

Strombach, Tina; Margittai, Zsofia; Gorczyca, Barbara; Kalenscher, Tobias

2016-01-01

We live busy, social lives, and meeting the challenges of our complex environments puts strain on our cognitive systems. However, cognitive resources are limited. It is unclear how cognitive load affects social decision making. Previous findings on the effects of cognitive load on other-regarding preferences have been ambiguous, allowing no coherent opinion whether cognitive load increases, decreases or does not affect prosocial considerations. Here, we suggest that social distance between individuals modulates whether generosity towards a recipient increases or decreases under cognitive load conditions. Participants played a financial social discounting task with several recipients at variable social distance levels. In this task, they could choose between generous alternatives, yielding medium financial rewards for the participant and recipient at variable social distances, or between a selfish alternative, yielding larger rewards for the participant alone. We show that the social discount function of male participants was significantly flattened under high cognitive load conditions, suggesting they distinguished less between socially close and socially distant recipients. Unexpectedly, the cognitive-load effect on social discounting was gender-specific: while social discounting was strongly dependent on cognitive load in men, women were nearly unaffected by cognitive load manipulations. We suggest that cognitive load leads men, but not women to simplify the decision problem by neglecting the social distance information. We consider our study a good starting point for further experiments exploring the role of gender in prosocial choice.

How Social Cognition Can Inform Social Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria eLee

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Social decision-making is often complex, requiring the decision-maker to make inferences of others’ mental states in addition to engaging traditional decision-making processes like valuation and reward processing. A growing body of research in neuroeconomics has examined decision- making involving social and nonsocial stimuli to explore activity in brain regions such as the striatum and prefrontal cortex, largely ignoring the power of the social context. Perhaps more complex processes may influence decision-making in social versus nonsocial contexts. Years of social psychology and social neuroscience research have documented a multitude of processes (e.g. mental state inferences, impression formation, spontaneous trait inferences that occur upon viewing another person. These processes rely on a network of brain regions including medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus, temporal parietal junction, and precuneus among others. Undoubtedly, these social cognition processes affect social decision-making since mental state inferences occur spontaneously and automatically. Few studies have looked at how these social inference processes affect decision-making in a social context despite the capability of these inferences to serve as predictions that can guide future decision-making. Here we review and integrate the person perception and decision-making literatures to understand how social cognition can inform the study of social decision-making in a way that is consistent with both literatures. We identify gaps in both literatures—while behavioral economics largely ignores social processes that spontaneously occur upon viewing another person, social psychology has largely failed to talk about the implications of social cognition processes in an economic decision-making context—and examine the benefits of integrating social psychological theory with behavioral economic theory.

Neural activity during emotion recognition after combined cognitive plus social-cognitive training in schizophrenia

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Christine I.; Bruce, Lori; Fisher, Melissa; Verosky, Sara C.; Miyakawa, Asako; Vinogradov, Sophia

2012-01-01

Cognitive remediation training has been shown to improve both cognitive and social-cognitive deficits in people with schizophrenia, but the mechanisms that support this behavioral improvement are largely unknown. One hypothesis is that intensive behavioral training in cognition and/or social-cognition restores the underlying neural mechanisms that support targeted skills. However, there is little research on the neural effects of cognitive remediation training. This study investigated whether a 50 hour (10-week) remediation intervention which included both cognitive and social-cognitive training would influence neural function in regions that support social-cognition. Twenty-two stable, outpatient schizophrenia participants were randomized to a treatment condition consisting of auditory-based cognitive training (AT) [Brain Fitness Program/auditory module ~60 minutes/day] plus social-cognition training (SCT) which was focused on emotion recognition [~5–15 minutes per day] or a placebo condition of non-specific computer games (CG) for an equal amount of time. Pre and post intervention assessments included an fMRI task of positive and negative facial emotion recognition, and standard behavioral assessments of cognition, emotion processing, and functional outcome. There were no significant intervention-related improvements in general cognition or functional outcome. FMRI results showed the predicted group-by-time interaction. Specifically, in comparison to CG, AT+SCT participants had a greater pre-to-post intervention increase in postcentral gyrus activity during emotion recognition of both positive and negative emotions. Furthermore, among all participants, the increase in postcentral gyrus activity predicted behavioral improvement on a standardized test of emotion processing (MSCEIT: Perceiving Emotions). Results indicate that combined cognition and social-cognition training impacts neural mechanisms that support social-cognition skills. PMID:22695257

Can language acquisition be facilitated in cochlear implanted children? Comparison of cognitive and behavioral psychologists' viewpoints.

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Monshizadeh, Leila; Vameghi, Roshanak; Yadegari, Fariba; Sajedi, Firoozeh; Hashemi, Seyed Basir

2016-11-08

To study how language acquisition can be facilitated for cochlear implanted children based on cognitive and behavioral psychology viewpoints? To accomplish this objective, literature related to behaviorist and cognitive psychology prospects about language acquisition were studied and some relevant books as well as Medline, Cochrane Library, Google scholar, ISI web of knowledge and Scopus databases were searched. Among 25 articles that were selected, only 11 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Based on the inclusion criteria, review articles, expert opinion studies, non-experimental and experimental studies that clearly focused on behavioral and cognitive factors affecting language acquisition in children were selected. Finally, the selected articles were appraised according to guidelines of appraisal of medical studies. Due to the importance of the cochlear implanted child's language performance, the comparison of behaviorist and cognitive psychology points of view in child language acquisition was done. Since each theoretical basis, has its own positive effects on language, and since the two are not in opposition to one another, it can be said that a set of behavioral and cognitive factors might facilitate the process of language acquisition in children. Behavioral psychologists believe that repetition, as well as immediate reinforcement of child's language behavior help him easily acquire the language during a language intervention program, while cognitive psychologists emphasize on the relationship between information processing, memory improvement through repetitively using words along with "associated" pictures and objects, motor development and language acquisition. It is recommended to use a combined approach based on both theoretical frameworks while planning a language intervention program.

Learning a Foreign Language: A New Path to Enhancement of Cognitive Functions.

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Shoghi Javan, Sara; Ghonsooly, Behzad

2018-02-01

The complicated cognitive processes involved in natural (primary) bilingualism lead to significant cognitive development. Executive functions as a fundamental component of human cognition are deemed to be affected by language learning. To date, a large number of studies have investigated how natural (primary) bilingualism influences executive functions; however, the way acquired (secondary) bilingualism manipulates executive functions is poorly understood. To fill this gap, controlling for age, gender, IQ, and socio-economic status, the researchers compared 60 advanced learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to 60 beginners on measures of executive functions involving Stroop, Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) and Wechsler's digit span tasks. The results suggested that mastering English as a foreign language causes considerable enhancement in two components of executive functions, namely cognitive flexibility and working memory. However, no significant difference was observed in inhibitory control between the advanced EFL learners and beginners.

Factor Structure of Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: Is Empathy Preserved?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Corbera

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Social cognitive impairments are core features of schizophrenia and are closely associated with poor functional outcome. This study sought to identify specific aspects of social cognition and their relationships to measures of social function, quality of life, and neurocognition. Principal component analysis was performed using social cognitive measures in patients with schizophrenia and healthy matched controls and revealed three factors: Interpersonal Discomfort, Basic Social Cognition, and Empathy. Patients had higher scores on Interpersonal Discomfort and lower scores on Basic Social Cognition than controls, but the two groups were the same on Empathy. Lower social performance was significantly correlated with poor Basic Social Cognition in patients and with high Interpersonal Discomfort in controls. While neurocognition was significantly associated with Basic Social Cognition in both groups, it was not associated with Empathy. Social cognitive interventions should emphasize improving basic social cognitive processing deficits, managing Interpersonal Discomfort, and utilizing preserved capacity for empathy as a potential strength in social interactions.

Good-enough linguistic representations and online cognitive equilibrium in language processing.

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Karimi, Hossein; Ferreira, Fernanda

2016-01-01

We review previous research showing that representations formed during language processing are sometimes just "good enough" for the task at hand and propose the "online cognitive equilibrium" hypothesis as the driving force behind the formation of good-enough representations in language processing. Based on this view, we assume that the language comprehension system by default prefers to achieve as early as possible and remain as long as possible in a state of cognitive equilibrium where linguistic representations are successfully incorporated with existing knowledge structures (i.e., schemata) so that a meaningful and coherent overall representation is formed, and uncertainty is resolved or at least minimized. We also argue that the online equilibrium hypothesis is consistent with current theories of language processing, which maintain that linguistic representations are formed through a complex interplay between simple heuristics and deep syntactic algorithms and also theories that hold that linguistic representations are often incomplete and lacking in detail. We also propose a model of language processing that makes use of both heuristic and algorithmic processing, is sensitive to online cognitive equilibrium, and, we argue, is capable of explaining the formation of underspecified representations. We review previous findings providing evidence for underspecification in relation to this hypothesis and the associated language processing model and argue that most of these findings are compatible with them.

Neural activity during emotion recognition after combined cognitive plus social cognitive training in schizophrenia.

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Hooker, Christine I; Bruce, Lori; Fisher, Melissa; Verosky, Sara C; Miyakawa, Asako; Vinogradov, Sophia

2012-08-01

Cognitive remediation training has been shown to improve both cognitive and social cognitive deficits in people with schizophrenia, but the mechanisms that support this behavioral improvement are largely unknown. One hypothesis is that intensive behavioral training in cognition and/or social cognition restores the underlying neural mechanisms that support targeted skills. However, there is little research on the neural effects of cognitive remediation training. This study investigated whether a 50 h (10-week) remediation intervention which included both cognitive and social cognitive training would influence neural function in regions that support social cognition. Twenty-two stable, outpatient schizophrenia participants were randomized to a treatment condition consisting of auditory-based cognitive training (AT) [Brain Fitness Program/auditory module ~60 min/day] plus social cognition training (SCT) which was focused on emotion recognition [~5-15 min per day] or a placebo condition of non-specific computer games (CG) for an equal amount of time. Pre and post intervention assessments included an fMRI task of positive and negative facial emotion recognition, and standard behavioral assessments of cognition, emotion processing, and functional outcome. There were no significant intervention-related improvements in general cognition or functional outcome. fMRI results showed the predicted group-by-time interaction. Specifically, in comparison to CG, AT+SCT participants had a greater pre-to-post intervention increase in postcentral gyrus activity during emotion recognition of both positive and negative emotions. Furthermore, among all participants, the increase in postcentral gyrus activity predicted behavioral improvement on a standardized test of emotion processing (MSCEIT: Perceiving Emotions). Results indicate that combined cognition and social cognition training impacts neural mechanisms that support social cognition skills. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All

Social inclusion and its interrelationships with social cognition and social functioning in first-episode psychosis.

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Gardner, Andrew; Cotton, Sue M; Allott, Kelly; Filia, Kate M; Hester, Robert; Killackey, Eóin

2017-10-27

People with psychosis are at risk of social exclusion. Research is needed in this area due to the lack of direct measurement of social inclusion, which becomes salient in adolescence and is relevant to first-episode psychosis (FEP; the onset of which typically occurs during or shortly after adolescence). Social inclusion may be impacted by impaired social cognition and social functioning, which are related features observed in psychosis. The aim of this study was to explore interrelationship(s) between social cognition, social functioning and social inclusion in FEP while controlling for symptomatology (positive, negative and depressive symptoms) and demographic characteristics. A series of cross-sectional hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to examine whether: social cognition (theory of mind, emotion recognition) predicted social functioning; social functioning predicted social inclusion, and whether social functioning mediated the relationship between social cognition and social inclusion in people aged 15 to 25 (M = 20.49, SD = 2.41) with FEP (N = 146). Age, sex, premorbid IQ, positive and negative psychotic symptoms and depression were control variables. Poor facial emotion recognition (β = -.22, P social functioning. Role-specific social functioning (ie, current employment) predicted greater social inclusion (β = .17, P social inclusion (β = -.43, P Social functioning did not mediate the relationship between social cognition and inclusion. Psychotic symptoms were unrelated to social inclusion. Employment and depression may influence social inclusion somewhat independently of psychotic symptomatology in FEP. Inferences should be viewed with caution given this study did not involve longitudinal data. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Social cognition and neurocognitive deficits in first-episode schizophrenia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bliksted, Vibeke Fuglsang; Fagerlund, Birgitte; Weed, Ethan

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Recent research has shown a significant impact of social cognitive domains on real world functioning and prognosis in schizophrenia. However, the correlations between specific aspects of social cognition, neurocognition, IQ and clinical symptoms remain unclear in first-episode schizop...... are comparable to the implicit and explicit mentalising discussed in the developmental literature. The two forms of social cognitive deficits are likely to require quite different social cognitive interventions.......BACKGROUND: Recent research has shown a significant impact of social cognitive domains on real world functioning and prognosis in schizophrenia. However, the correlations between specific aspects of social cognition, neurocognition, IQ and clinical symptoms remain unclear in first...

The Social Brain Is Not Enough: On the Importance of the Ecological Brain for the Origin of Language.

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Ferretti, Francesco

2016-01-01

In this paper, I assume that the study of the origin of language is strictly connected to the analysis of the traits that distinguish human language from animal communication. Usually, human language is said to be unique in the animal kingdom because it enables and/or requires intentionality or mindreading. By emphasizing the importance of mindreading, the social brain hypothesis has provided major insights within the origin of language debate. However, as studies on non-human primates have demonstrated that intentional forms of communication are already present in these species to a greater or lesser extent, I maintain that the social brain is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to explain the uniqueness of language. In this paper, I suggest that the distinctive feature of human communication resides in the ability to tell stories, and that the origin of language should be traced with respect to the capacity to produce discourses, rather than phrases or words. As narrative requires the ability to link events distant from one another in space and time, my proposal is that in order to explain the origin of language, we need to appeal to both the social brain and the ecological brain - that is, the cognitive devices which allow us to mentally travel in space and time.

RC2S: a cognitive remediation program to improve social cognition in schizophrenia and related disorders

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Elodie ePEYROUX

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In people with psychiatric disorders, particularly those suffering from schizophrenia and related illnesses, pronounced difficulties in social interactions are a key manifestation. These difficulties can be partly explained by impairments in social cognition, defined as the ability to understand oneself and others in the social world, which includes abilities such as emotion recognition, theory of mind, attributional style, and social perception and knowledge. The impact of several kinds of interventions on social cognition has been studied recently. The best outcomes in the area of social cognition in schizophrenia are those obtained by way of cognitive remediation programs. New strategies and programs in this line are currently being developed, such as RC2S (Cognitive Remediation of Social Cognition in Lyon, France. Considering that the social cognitive deficits experienced by patients with schizophrenia are very diverse, and that the main objective of social cognitive remediation programs is to improve patients’ functioning in their daily social life, RC2S was developed as an individualized and flexible program that allows patients to practice social interaction in a realistic environment through the use of virtual-reality techniques. In the RC2S program, the patient’s goal is to assist a character named Tom in various social situations. The underlying idea for the patient is to acquire cognitive strategies for analyzing social context and emotional information in order to understand other characters’ mental states and to help Tom manage his social interactions. In this paper, we begin by presenting some data regarding the social cognitive impairments found in schizophrenia and related disorders, and we describe how these deficits are targeted by social cognitive remediation. Then we present the RC2S program and discuss the advantages of computer-based simulation to improve social cognition and social functioning in people with

RC2S: A Cognitive Remediation Program to Improve Social Cognition in Schizophrenia and Related Disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Peyroux, Elodie; Franck, Nicolas

2014-01-01

In people with psychiatric disorders, particularly those suffering from schizophrenia and related illnesses, pronounced difficulties in social interactions are a key manifestation. These difficulties can be partly explained by impairments in social cognition, defined as the ability to understand oneself and others in the social world, which includes abilities such as emotion recognition, theory of mind (ToM), attributional style, and social perception and knowledge. The impact of several kinds of interventions on social cognition has been studied recently. The best outcomes in the area of social cognition in schizophrenia are those obtained by way of cognitive remediation programs. New strategies and programs in this line are currently being developed, such as RC2S (cognitive remediation of social cognition) in Lyon, France. Considering that the social cognitive deficits experienced by patients with schizophrenia are very diverse, and that the main objective of social cognitive remediation programs is to improve patients' functioning in their daily social life, RC2S was developed as an individualized and flexible program that allows patients to practice social interaction in a realistic environment through the use of virtual reality techniques. In the RC2S program, the patient's goal is to assist a character named Tom in various social situations. The underlying idea for the patient is to acquire cognitive strategies for analyzing social context and emotional information in order to understand other characters' mental states and to help Tom manage his social interactions. In this paper, we begin by presenting some data regarding the social cognitive impairments found in schizophrenia and related disorders, and we describe how these deficits are targeted by social cognitive remediation. Then we present the RC2S program and discuss the advantages of computer-based simulation to improve social cognition and social functioning in people with psychiatric disorders.

RC2S: A Cognitive Remediation Program to Improve Social Cognition in Schizophrenia and Related Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Peyroux, Elodie; Franck, Nicolas

2014-01-01

In people with psychiatric disorders, particularly those suffering from schizophrenia and related illnesses, pronounced difficulties in social interactions are a key manifestation. These difficulties can be partly explained by impairments in social cognition, defined as the ability to understand oneself and others in the social world, which includes abilities such as emotion recognition, theory of mind (ToM), attributional style, and social perception and knowledge. The impact of several kinds of interventions on social cognition has been studied recently. The best outcomes in the area of social cognition in schizophrenia are those obtained by way of cognitive remediation programs. New strategies and programs in this line are currently being developed, such as RC2S (cognitive remediation of social cognition) in Lyon, France. Considering that the social cognitive deficits experienced by patients with schizophrenia are very diverse, and that the main objective of social cognitive remediation programs is to improve patients’ functioning in their daily social life, RC2S was developed as an individualized and flexible program that allows patients to practice social interaction in a realistic environment through the use of virtual reality techniques. In the RC2S program, the patient’s goal is to assist a character named Tom in various social situations. The underlying idea for the patient is to acquire cognitive strategies for analyzing social context and emotional information in order to understand other characters’ mental states and to help Tom manage his social interactions. In this paper, we begin by presenting some data regarding the social cognitive impairments found in schizophrenia and related disorders, and we describe how these deficits are targeted by social cognitive remediation. Then we present the RC2S program and discuss the advantages of computer-based simulation to improve social cognition and social functioning in people with psychiatric disorders

Early Social, Imitation, Play, and Language Abilities of Young Non-Autistic Siblings of Children with Autism

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Toth, Karen; Dawson, Geraldine; Meltzoff, Andrew N.; Greenson, Jessica; Fein, Deborah

2007-01-01

Studies are needed to better understand the broad autism phenotype in young siblings of children with autism. Cognitive, adaptive, social, imitation, play, and language abilities were examined in 42 non-autistic siblings and 20 toddlers with no family history of autism, ages 18-27 months. Siblings, as a group, were below average in expressive…

Social cognition and neurocognition as independent domains in psychosis.

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van Hooren, S; Versmissen, D; Janssen, I; Myin-Germeys, I; à Campo, J; Mengelers, R; van Os, J; Krabbendam, L

2008-08-01

Patients with psychosis display alterations in social cognition as well as in the realm of neurocognition. It is unclear, however, to what degree these cognitive domains represent two separate dimensions of liability or the pleiotropic expression of a single deficit. The purpose of the present study was to investigate (i) to what extent alterations in social cognition represent an independent area of vulnerability to psychosis, separate from neurocognitive deficits and (ii) whether social cognition is one construct or can be divided into several subcomponents. Five social cognition and three neurocognitive tasks were completed by 186 participants with different levels of vulnerability for psychosis: 44 patients with psychotic disorder; 47 subjects at familial risk; 41 subjects at psychometric risk and 54 control subjects. The social cognition tasks covered important basic subcomponents of social cognition, i.e. mentalisation (or theory of mind), data gathering bias (jumping to conclusions), source monitoring and attribution style. Neurocognitive tasks assessed speed of information processing, inhibition, cognitive shifting and strategy-driven retrieval from semantic memory. The results of factor analysis suggested that neurocognition and social cognition are two separate areas of vulnerability in psychosis. Furthermore, the social cognition measures lacked significant overlap, suggesting a multidimensional construct. Cognitive liabilities to psychosis are manifold, and include key processes underlying basic person-environment interactions in daily life, independent of cognition quantified by neuropsychological tests.

Motivation and Social Cognition in Patients with Schizophrenia.

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Fervaha, Gagan; Siddiqui, Ishraq; Foussias, George; Agid, Ofer; Remington, Gary

2015-07-01

Social cognition, referring to one's ability to perceive and process social cues, is an important domain in schizophrenia. Numerous studies have demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia have poorer performance on tests assessing social cognition relative to healthy comparison participants. However, whether variables such as motivation are related to performance on these tests in patients with schizophrenia is unclear. One thousand three-hundred and seventy-eight patients with schizophrenia completed the Facial Emotion Discrimination Task as a measure of emotional processing, a key facet of social cognition. Level of motivation was also evaluated in these patients using a derived measure from the Quality of Life Scale. The relationship between motivation and task performance was examined using bivariate correlations and logistic regression modeling, controlling for the impact of age and overall severity of psychopathology, the latter evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Motivation was positively related to performance on the social cognition test, and this relationship remained significant after controlling for potential confounding variables such as age and illness severity. Social cognition was also related to functioning, and the relationship was mediated by level of motivation. The present study found a significant relationship between motivation and performance on a test of social cognition in a large sample of patients with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that amotivation undermines task performance, or alternatively that poor social cognitive ability impedes motivation. Future studies evaluating social cognition in patients with schizophrenia should concurrently assess for variables such as effort and motivation.

Social resources and cognitive ageing across 30 years

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gow, Alan J.; Mortensen, Erik Lykke

2016-01-01

Background: to examine associations between social resources and cognitive ageing over 30 years. Methods: participants in the Glostrup 1914 Cohort, a year of birth sample, completed a standardarised battery of cognitive ability tests every 10 years from age 50 to 80, summarised as general cognitive...... a negative association. Marital status (at ages 50 and 60) and loneliness at age 70 were the only social resources associated with cognitive change; married individuals and those not feeling lonely experienced less cognitive decline. When the social resources showing significant associations were considered...... ability. Participants also provided information concerning a range of social resources, including marital status and living arrangements from age 50, and from age 70, details regarding social support, social contact and loneliness. Results: across the follow-up, participants were less likely to be married...

Social and cognitive functions of music based on the example of Tuvan throat singing

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Shen-Mou Hsu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Music is pervasive across human cultures and throughout times. Particularly, music serves great importance at social functions. Like many cultures’ use of music, throat singing or khöömei, the most distinguished aspect of Tuva’s music, contributes significantly to social communication, emotional expression, social bonding and religious rituals. Acknowledgment and consideration of current social cognitive findings of music may thus provide a better insight into the nature of throat singing. To date, evidence has indicated that similar to language, music is a fundamental channel of communication, and these two constructs may have common origins in a single communicative system. Moreover, music may modulate neural activity in the brain structures associated with emotions and alter our autonomic responses. In addition to information sharing, music thus has the capacity to convey emotions. This ability may further render music a powerful mechanism to facilitate social bonding and ritual practice, as individuals’ internal states during these social events become synchronized through musical engagement. In conclusion, I suggest that those social cognitive perspectives may point toward new directions for a continuing discourse on our understanding of throat singing.

Effects of early language, speech, and cognition on later reading: A mediation analysis

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Vanessa N Durand

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This longitudinal secondary analysis examined which early language and speech abilities are associated with school-aged reading skills, and whether these associations are mediated by cognitive ability. We analyzed vocabulary, syntax, speech sound maturity, and cognition in a sample of healthy children at age 3 years (N=241 in relation to single word reading (decoding, comprehension, and oral reading fluency in the same children at age 9 to 11 years. All predictor variables and the mediator variable were associated with the three reading outcomes. The predictor variables were all associated with cognitive abilities, the mediator. Cognitive abilities partially mediated the effects of language on reading. After mediation, decoding was associated with speech sound maturity; comprehension was associated with receptive vocabulary; and oral fluency was associated with speech sound maturity, receptive vocabulary, and syntax. In summary, all of the effects of language on reading could not be explained by cognition as a mediator. Specific components of language and speech skills in preschool made independent contributions to reading skills 6 to 8 years later. These early precursors to later reading skill represent potential targets for early intervention to improve reading.

Cognitive aspects in games workshops for learning a foreign language

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Claudia Ferrareto Lopes

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The goal of the study was to analyze the cognitive aspects related to learning English as a foreign language, by means of games workshops with students of the 6th grade of elementary school from a state school in Londrina. The paper is grounded on Piagetian theory and is descriptive-interpretative study with a qualitative perspective. Two guiding questions motivate the study: what is the role of games workshops for learning English as a foreign language? In what way the cognitive processes are held in the games workshops for learning English? To meet the proposed goals, workshops were implemented with games containing the linguistic contents studied in English classes. The games workshops enabled the observation and analysis of the cognitive aspects involved in learning a foreign language. Results show that the games workshops promote the participation of the students motivating action and output, evidencing gaps on the knowledge and providing equilibration processes. Subjects are asked to produce outputs via games demands, thus evoking knowhow, as well as the thinking about their own products, suggesting a conscious-awareness process.

Language Mediated Concept Activation in Bilingual Memory Facilitates Cognitive Flexibility

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Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This is the first attempt of empirical investigation of language mediated concept activation (LMCA in bilingual memory as a cognitive mechanism facilitating divergent thinking. Russian–English bilingual and Russian monolingual college students were tested on a battery of tests including among others Abbreviated Torrance Tests for Adults assessing divergent thinking traits and translingual priming (TLP test assessing the LMCA. The latter was designed as a lexical decision priming test, in which a prime and a target were not related in Russian (language of testing, but were related through their translation equivalents in English (spoken only by bilinguals. Bilinguals outperformed their monolingual counterparts on divergent thinking trait of cognitive flexibility, and bilinguals’ performance on this trait could be explained by their TLP effect. Age of second language acquisition and proficiency in this language were found to relate to the TLP effect, and therefore were proposed to influence the directionality and strength of connections in bilingual memory.

The relation of the number of languages spoken to performance in different cognitive abilities in old age.

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Ihle, Andreas; Oris, Michel; Fagot, Delphine; Kliegel, Matthias

2016-12-01

Findings on the association of speaking different languages with cognitive functioning in old age are inconsistent and inconclusive so far. Therefore, the present study set out to investigate the relation of the number of languages spoken to cognitive performance and its interplay with several other markers of cognitive reserve in a large sample of older adults. Two thousand eight hundred and twelve older adults served as sample for the present study. Psychometric tests on verbal abilities, basic processing speed, and cognitive flexibility were administered. In addition, individuals were interviewed on their different languages spoken on a regular basis, educational attainment, occupation, and engaging in different activities throughout adulthood. Higher number of languages regularly spoken was significantly associated with better performance in verbal abilities and processing speed, but unrelated to cognitive flexibility. Regression analyses showed that the number of languages spoken predicted cognitive performance over and above leisure activities/physical demand of job/gainful activity as respective additional predictor, but not over and above educational attainment/cognitive level of job as respective additional predictor. There was no significant moderation of the association of the number of languages spoken with cognitive performance in any model. Present data suggest that speaking different languages on a regular basis may additionally contribute to the build-up of cognitive reserve in old age. Yet, this may not be universal, but linked to verbal abilities and basic cognitive processing speed. Moreover, it may be dependent on other types of cognitive stimulation that individuals also engaged in during their life course.

Tracking the cognitive, social and neuroanatomical profile in early neurodegeneration: Type III Cockayne syndrome

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Sandra eBaez

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Cockayne syndrome (CS is an autosomal recessive disease associated with premature aging, progressive multiorgan degeneration and nervous system abnormalities including cerebral and cerebellar atrophy, brain calcifications and white matter abnormalities. Although several clinical descriptions of CS patients have reported developmental delay and cognitive impairment with relative preservation of social skills, no previous studies have carried out a comprehensive neuropsychological and social cognition assessment. Furthermore, no previous research in individuals with CS has examined the relationship between brain atrophy and performance on neuropsychological and social cognition tests. This study describes the case of an atypical late-onset type III CS patient who exceeds the mean life expectancy of individuals with this pathology. The patient and a group of healthy controls underwent a comprehensive assessment that included multiple neuropsychological and social cognition (emotion recognition, theory of mind and empathy tasks. In addition, we compared the pattern of atrophy in the patient to controls and to its concordance with ERCC8 gene expression in a healthy brain. The results showed memory, language and executive deficits that contrast with the relative preservation of social cognition skills. The cognitive profile of the patient was consistent with his pattern of global cerebral and cerebellar loss of gray matter volume (frontal structures, bilateral cerebellum, basal ganglia, temporal lobe, and occipito-temporal/occipito-parietal regions, which in turn was anatomically consistent with the ERCC8 gene expression level in a healthy donor’s brain. The study of exceptional cases, such as the one described here, is fundamental to elucidating the processes that affect the brain in premature aging diseases, and such studies provide an important source of information for understanding the problems associated with normal and pathological aging.

Tracking the Cognitive, Social, and Neuroanatomical Profile in Early Neurodegeneration: Type III Cockayne Syndrome

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Baez, Sandra; Couto, Blas; Herrera, Eduar; Bocanegra, Yamile; Trujillo-Orrego, Natalia; Madrigal-Zapata, Lucia; Cardona, Juan Felipe; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin; Villegas, Andres

2013-01-01

Cockayne syndrome (CS) is an autosomal recessive disease associated with premature aging, progressive multiorgan degeneration, and nervous system abnormalities including cerebral and cerebellar atrophy, brain calcifications, and white matter abnormalities. Although several clinical descriptions of CS patients have reported developmental delay and cognitive impairment with relative preservation of social skills, no previous studies have carried out a comprehensive neuropsychological and social cognition assessment. Furthermore, no previous research in individuals with CS has examined the relationship between brain atrophy and performance on neuropsychological and social cognition tests. This study describes the case of an atypical late-onset type III CS patient who exceeds the mean life expectancy of individuals with this pathology. The patient and a group of healthy controls underwent a comprehensive assessment that included multiple neuropsychological and social cognition (emotion recognition, theory of mind, and empathy) tasks. In addition, we compared the pattern of atrophy in the patient to controls and to its concordance with ERCC8 gene expression in a healthy brain. The results showed memory, language, and executive deficits that contrast with the relative preservation of social cognition skills. The cognitive profile of the patient was consistent with his pattern of global cerebral and cerebellar loss of gray matter volume (frontal structures, bilateral cerebellum, basal ganglia, temporal lobe, and occipito-temporal/occipito-parietal regions), which in turn was anatomically consistent with the ERCC8 gene expression level in a healthy donor’s brain. The study of exceptional cases, such as the one described here, is fundamental to elucidating the processes that affect the brain in premature aging diseases, and such studies provide an important source of information for understanding the problems associated with normal and pathological aging. PMID:24324434

Early Social Cognition in Three Cultural Contexts

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Callaghan, Tara; Moll, Henrike; Rakoczy, Hannes; Warneken, Felix; Liszkowski, Ulf; Behne, Tanya; Tomasello, Michael

2011-01-01

The influence of culture on cognitive development is well established for school age and older children. But almost nothing is known about how different parenting and socialization practices in different cultures affect infants' and young children's earliest emerging cognitive and social-cognitive skills. In the current monograph, we report a…

Gender Differences in Human Cognition. Counterpoints: Cognition, Memory, and Language Series.

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Caplan, Paula J.; Crawford, Mary; Hyde, Janet Shibley; Richardson, John T. E.

Noting the fascination of both researchers and the general public with possible gender differences in human cognition and whether these differences originate in biology, childhood influences, or cultural stereotypes, this book summarizes research studies on gender differences in cognition. The book examines social and cultural implications of this…

Cognitive approach to the construction of three-language terminological thesaurus

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Grigorij Chetverikov

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Cognitive approach to the construction of three-language terminological thesaurus The paper is devoted to developing a lexicographic database of a three-language terminological dictionary. The detailed analysis of a relations scheme between tables and structures of tables with the help of three-layer decomposition predicate method is carried out, which has allowed to define ways of solving direct and reversible three-language electronic dictionaries creation problem.

Explicit versus implicit social cognition testing in autism spectrum disorder.

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Callenmark, Björn; Kjellin, Lars; Rönnqvist, Louise; Bölte, Sven

2014-08-01

Although autism spectrum disorder is defined by reciprocal social-communication impairments, several studies have found no evidence for altered social cognition test performance. This study examined explicit (i.e. prompted) and implicit (i.e. spontaneous) variants of social cognition testing in autism spectrum disorder. A sample of 19 adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and 19 carefully matched typically developing controls completed the Dewey Story Test. 'Explicit' (multiple-choice answering format) and 'implicit' (free interview) measures of social cognition were obtained. Autism spectrum disorder participants did not differ from controls regarding explicit social cognition performance. However, the autism spectrum disorder group performed more poorly than controls on implicit social cognition performance in terms of spontaneous perspective taking and social awareness. Findings suggest that social cognition alterations in autism spectrum disorder are primarily implicit in nature and that an apparent absence of social cognition difficulties on certain tests using rather explicit testing formats does not necessarily mean social cognition typicality in autism spectrum disorder. © The Author(s) 2013.

Explaining differences in adult second language learning : The role of language input characteristics and learners’ cognitive aptitudes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ćurčić, M.

2018-01-01

This dissertation examines how adult learning of novel language structures is affected by the characteristics of the language input that learners are exposed to and by learners’ cognitive aptitudes, such as analytical ability and working memory capacity. In a series of experiments, adult native

Cognitive functioning and social problem-solving skills in schizophrenia.

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Hatashita-Wong, Michi; Smith, Thomas E; Silverstein, Steven M; Hull, James W; Willson, Deborah F

2002-05-01

This study examined the relationships between symptoms, cognitive functioning, and social skill deficits in schizophrenia. Few studies have incorporated measures of cognitive functioning and symptoms in predictive models for social problem solving. For our study, 44 participants were recruited from consecutive outpatient admissions. Neuropsychological tests were given to assess cognitive function, and social problem solving was assessed using structured vignettes designed to evoke the participant's ability to generate, evaluate, and apply solutions to social problems. A sequential model-fitting method of analysis was used to incorporate social problem solving, symptom presentation, and cognitive impairment into linear regression models. Predictor variables were drawn from demographic, cognitive, and symptom domains. Because this method of analysis was exploratory and not intended as hierarchical modelling, no a priori hypotheses were proposed. Participants with higher scores on tests of cognitive flexibility were better able to generate accurate, appropriate, and relevant responses to the social problem-solving vignettes. The results suggest that cognitive flexibility is a potentially important mediating factor in social problem-solving competence. While other factors are related to social problem-solving skill, this study supports the importance of cognition and understanding how it relates to the complex and multifaceted nature of social functioning.

From social cognition to social epistemology (in memory of G.M. Andreeva

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Dmitry A. Khoroshilov

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper is dedicated to scientific and literary heritage of Galina M. Andreeva. The methodology of social cognition, for more than half a century developed by Galina M. Andreeva as a tool of social analysis, is discussed. The problem of social cognition, first indicated by V. Turner, Z. Bauman and M. Mamardashvili, is analysed in terms of mentalization, interpersonal interaction and mass consciousness. Based on G. Andreeva’s theoretical research, the correlation between micro-processes of individual cognition construction and macro-processes of society in communication, dialogue and discourse is proved. The issue of finding the correct definition of a group, mass or public consciousness epistemological status is taken as a result of an old trend toward anthropomorphizing the collective cognition subject. This impedes the correlation between personality and society in psychology, meaning “agency” and “structure” in sociology. G.Andreeva discusses the last one, connecting cognitive psychology, social constructionism and activity theory. Theoretical assumptions of social cognition as the process of world image construction are formulated as follows: 1 presumption of general knowledge; 2 active constructive nature; 3 categorization and classification as the basic process; 4 the relationship between discourse and cognition; 5 emotionality; 6 critical orientation; 7 prospective for the clinical analysis of sociocultural realities. With respect to the abovementioned facts, it can be said that the ideas of scientific school founded by Galina М. Andreeva allow to innovatively define social psychology as a modern social and cultural epistemology.

Association between Primary Caregiver Education and Cognitive and Language Development of Preterm Neonates.

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Asztalos, Elizabeth V; Church, Paige T; Riley, Patricia; Fajardo, Carlos; Shah, Prakesh S

2017-03-01

Objective  This study aims to explore the association between primary caregiver education and cognitive and language composite scores of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd ed. (Bayley-III) in preterm infants at 18 to 21 months corrected age. Design  An observational study was performed on preterm infants born before 29 weeks' gestation between 2010 and 2011. Primary caregivers were categorized by their highest education level and cognitive and language composite scores of the Bayley-III were compared among infants between these groups with adjustment for perinatal and neonatal factors. Results  In total, 1,525 infants/caregivers were included in the multivariate analysis. Compared with those with less than a high school education, infants with primary caregivers who received partial college/specialized training displayed higher cognitive (adjusted difference [AD]: 4.6, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.8-7.4) and language scores (AD: 4.0, 95% CI: 0.8-7.1); infants with primary caregivers with university graduate education or above also demonstrated higher cognitive (AD: 6.4, 95% CI: 2.6-10.1) and language scores (AD: 9.9, 95% CI: 5.7-14.1). Conclusion  Higher levels of education of the primary caregiver were associated with increased cognitive and language composite scores at 18 to 21 months corrected age in preterm infants. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Decreasing Cognitive Load for Learners: Strategy of Web-Based Foreign Language Learning

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Zhang, Jianfeng

2013-01-01

Cognitive load is one of the important factors that influence the effectiveness and efficiency of web-based foreign language learning. Cognitive load theory assumes that human's cognitive capacity in working memory is limited and if it overloads, learning will be hampered, so that high level of cognitive load can affect the performance of learning…

Neural and cognitive correlates of social cognition. Findings from neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayakawa, Mutsutaka; Kawamura, Mitsuru

2011-01-01

Social cognition includes various components of information processing related to communication with other individuals. In this review, we have discussed 3 components of social cognitive function: face recognition, empathy, and decision making. Our social behavior involves recognition based on facial features and also involves empathizing with others; while making decisions, it is important to consider the social consequences of the course of action followed. Face recognition is divided into 2 routes for information processing: a route responsible for overt recognition of the face's identity and a route for emotional and orienting responses based on the face's personal affective significance. Two systems are possibly involved in empathy: a basic emotional contagion 'mirroring' system and a more advanced 'theory of mind' system that considers the cognitive perspective. Decision making is mediated by a widespread system that includes several cortical and subcortical components. Numerous lesion and neuroimaging studies have contributed to clarifying the neural correlates of social cognitive function, and greater information can be obtained on social cognitive function by combining these 2 approaches. (author)

[Neural and cognitive correlates of social cognition: findings on neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies].

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayakawa, Mutsutaka; Kawamura, Mitsuru

2011-12-01

Social cognition includes various components of information processing related to communication with other individuals. In this review, we have discussed 3 components of social cognitive function: face recognition, empathy, and decision making. Our social behavior involves recognition based on facial features and also involves empathizing with others; while making decisions, it is important to consider the social consequences of the course of action followed. Face recognition is divided into 2 routes for information processing: a route responsible for overt recognition of the face's identity and a route for emotional and orienting responses based on the face's personal affective significance. Two systems are possibly involved in empathy: a basic emotional contagion "mirroring" system and a more advanced "theory of mind" system that considers the cognitive perspective. Decision making is mediated by a widespread system that includes several cortical and subcortical components. Numerous lesion and neuroimaging studies have contributed to clarifying the neural correlates of social cognitive function, and greater information can be obtained on social cognitive function by combining these 2 approaches.

The construct of cognition in language teacher education and development

OpenAIRE

Bartels, Nathaniel

2006-01-01

Chapter 1: Central issues in the field of second language teacher education (SLTE) rest on conceptions of human cognition: what knowledge is, how it is acquired, and how it is used. However, human cognition is not a focus of the academic disciplines which usually are in charge of SLTE programs; research and theory on the nature of human cognition is usually not included in debates on SLTE. The purpose of this dissertation is to use a wide range of work on human cognition to address and evalua...

A Questionnaire-Based Study on the Perceptions of Canadian Seniors About Cognitive, Social, and Psychological Benefits of Digital Games.

Science.gov (United States)

Duplàa, Emmanuel; Kaufman, David; Sauvé, Louise; Renaud, Lise

2017-06-01

This study explored the perceptions of seniors who play digital games on the potential benefits of these games and on the factors associated with these perceptions. We developed and administered a questionnaire to a sample of 590 Canadian seniors in British Columbia and Quebec that addressed demographics, digital game practices, and perceived benefits. Results of administering the questionnaire showed that cognitive benefits were reported more frequently than social or psychological benefits. First language and gender were associated with the benefits reported, with fewer Francophones and women reporting benefits. The most important factor found was whether or not they played online, as playing online was associated with greater perceptions of social, as well as cognitive, benefits. Social and cognitive benefits are reported by seniors from playing digital games and should be investigated through future experimental and quasi-experimental research.

[Study on the association between social isolation and cognitive function among elderly in Daqing city, Heilongjiang province].

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Wang, Y H; Huang, F Y; Zheng, Y; Shi, G S; Wang, L; Liao, S S

2017-04-10

Objective: To examine the association between social isolation and cognitive function among the elderly living in the communities of Daqing city. Methods: A total of 981 community residents aged 60 years or over, were surveyed with a questionnaire. Both Lubben Social Network Scale-6 (LSNS-6) and Montreal Congnitive Assessment (MoCA) Changsha Versions were used to respectively screen the status of social isolation and cognitive function, on these elderly. Results: The average age was 71 years old for the 981 study participants. 10.60 % (104/981) of the participants were assessed as having the status of social isolation, 9.48 % (93/981) as having marginal family ties and 13.97 % (137/981) as having marginal friendship ties. Results from the multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that participants with higher scores of LSNS-6 presenting better cognitive function score, with a partial regression coefficient as 0.10 ( P social isolation (20.38±5.54) were significantly lower than the ones without social isolation (22.10±5.01) and the difference was statistically significant ( P Social isolation was significantly related to the domain scores on visuo-spatial constructional executive functions ( P =0.02), naming ( P =0.03), language ( P =0.01) and delayed memory functions ( P social isolation was mainly caused by the lack of friendship ties and associated with cognitive function and among the elderly in Daqing city, Heilongjiang province.

Language and Social Identity Construction: A Study of a Russian Heritage Language Orthodox Christian School

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Ekaterina Leonidovna

2012-01-01

Grounded in discourse analytic and language socialization paradigms, this dissertation examines issues of language and social identity construction in children attending a Russian Heritage Language Orthodox Christian Saturday School in California. By conducting micro-analysis of naturally-occurring talk-in-interaction combined with longitudinal…

The social brain is not enough: on the importance of the ecological brain for the origin of language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Ferretti

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, I assume that the study of the origin of language is strictly connected to the analysis of the traits that distinguish human language from animal communication. Usually, human language is said to be unique in the animal kingdom because it enables and/or requires intentionality or mindreading. By emphasizing the importance of mindreading, the social brain hypothesis has provided major insights within the origin of language debate. However, as studies on non-human primates have demonstrated that intentional forms of communication are already present in these species to a greater or lesser extent, I maintain that the social brain is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to explain the uniqueness of language. In this paper, I suggest that the distinctive feature of human communication resides in the ability to tell stories, and that the origin of language should be traced with respect to the capacity to produce discourses, rather than phrases or words. As narrative requires the ability to link events distant from one another in space and time, my proposal is that in order to explain the origin of language, we need to appeal to both the social brain and the ecological brain – that is, the cognitive devices which allow us to mentally travel in space and time.

Cognitive and Linguistic Precursors to Early Literacy Achievement in Children With Specific Language Impairment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Weerdenburg, M.W.C. van; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Balkom, L.J.M. van; Bosman, A.M.T.

2009-01-01

This study investigated the role of cognitive and language skills as predictors of early literacy skills in children with Specific Language Impairment. A range of cognitive and linguistic skills were assessed in a sample of 137 eight-year-old children with SLI at the beginning of the school year,

The association between social phobia, social anxiety cognitions and paranoid symptoms.

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Schutters, S I J; Dominguez, M-d-G; Knappe, S; Lieb, R; van Os, J; Schruers, K R J; Wittchen, H-U

2012-03-01

Previous research suggests high levels of comorbidity between social phobia and paranoid symptoms, although the nature of this association remains unclear. Data were derived from the Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology study, a 10-year longitudinal study in a representative German community sample of 3021 participants aged 14-24 years at baseline. The Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used to assess social phobia and paranoid symptoms, along with data on social phobia features. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were conducted. Differential associations with environmental risk factors and temperamental traits were investigated. Lifetime social phobia and paranoid symptoms were associated with each other cross-sectionally (OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.31-2.47). Lifetime paranoid symptoms were associated specifically with social anxiety cognitions. Lifetime cognitions of negative evaluation predicted later onset of paranoid symptoms, whereas onset of social phobia was predicted by cognitions of loss of control and fear/avoidance of social situations. Lifetime social phobia and paranoid symptoms shared temperamental traits of behavioural inhibition, but differed in environmental risks. The present study showed that paranoid symptoms and social phobia share similarities in cognitive profile and inhibited temperament. Avoidance appears to be important in the development of social phobia, whereas cannabis use and traumatic experiences may drive paranoid thinking in vulnerable individuals. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Learning a Foreign Language: A New Path to Enhancement of Cognitive Functions

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Shoghi Javan, Sara; Ghonsooly, Behzad

2018-01-01

The complicated cognitive processes involved in natural (primary) bilingualism lead to significant cognitive development. Executive functions as a fundamental component of human cognition are deemed to be affected by language learning. To date, a large number of studies have investigated how natural (primary) bilingualism influences executive…

Creative Cognition in Social Innovation

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Jiang, Mingming; Thagard, Paul

2014-01-01

Social innovations are creative products and changes that are motivated by social needs and bring value to society by meeting those needs. This article uses case studies to investigate the cognitive and social processes that contribute to creativity in social innovation. The cases are: Wendy Kopp with Teach For America in education, Cicely…

FORMATION OF COGNITIVE INTEREST AT ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL: TECHNOLOGIES, METHODS, TECHNIQUES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kotova, E.G.

2017-09-01

Full Text Available There are a lot of didactic and technological methods and techniques that shape and develop cognitive interest of primary school students in modern methodology of teaching foreign languages. The use of various forms of gaming interaction, problem assignments, information and communication technologies in the teaching of primary school students allows diversifying the teaching of a foreign language, contributes to the development of their creative and cognitive activity. The use of health-saving technologies ensures the creation of a psychologically and emotionally supportive atmosphere at the lesson, which is an essential condition for acquiring new knowledge and maintaining stable cognitive interest among students while learning a foreign language.

Embodied artificial agents for understanding human social cognition.

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Wykowska, Agnieszka; Chaminade, Thierry; Cheng, Gordon

2016-05-05

In this paper, we propose that experimental protocols involving artificial agents, in particular the embodied humanoid robots, provide insightful information regarding social cognitive mechanisms in the human brain. Using artificial agents allows for manipulation and control of various parameters of behaviour, appearance and expressiveness in one of the interaction partners (the artificial agent), and for examining effect of these parameters on the other interaction partner (the human). At the same time, using artificial agents means introducing the presence of artificial, yet human-like, systems into the human social sphere. This allows for testing in a controlled, but ecologically valid, manner human fundamental mechanisms of social cognition both at the behavioural and at the neural level. This paper will review existing literature that reports studies in which artificial embodied agents have been used to study social cognition and will address the question of whether various mechanisms of social cognition (ranging from lower- to higher-order cognitive processes) are evoked by artificial agents to the same extent as by natural agents, humans in particular. Increasing the understanding of how behavioural and neural mechanisms of social cognition respond to artificial anthropomorphic agents provides empirical answers to the conundrum 'What is a social agent?' © 2016 The Authors.

Autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia: meta-analysis of the neural correlates of social cognition.

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Gisela Sugranyes

Full Text Available CONTEXT: Impaired social cognition is a cardinal feature of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD and Schizophrenia (SZ. However, the functional neuroanatomy of social cognition in either disorder remains unclear due to variability in primary literature. Additionally, it is not known whether deficits in ASD and SZ arise from similar or disease-specific disruption of the social cognition network. OBJECTIVE: To identify regions most robustly implicated in social cognition processing in SZ and ASD. DATA SOURCES: Systematic review of English language articles using MEDLINE (1995-2010 and reference lists. STUDY SELECTION: Studies were required to use fMRI to compare ASD or SZ subjects to a matched healthy control group, provide coordinates in standard stereotactic space, and employ standardized facial emotion recognition (FER or theory of mind (TOM paradigms. DATA EXTRACTION: Activation foci from studies meeting inclusion criteria (n = 33 were subjected to a quantitative voxel-based meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation, and encompassed 146 subjects with ASD, 336 SZ patients and 492 healthy controls. RESULTS: Both SZ and ASD showed medial prefrontal hypoactivation, which was more pronounced in ASD, while ventrolateral prefrontal dysfunction was associated mostly with SZ. Amygdala hypoactivation was observed in SZ patients during FER and in ASD during more complex ToM tasks. Both disorders were associated with hypoactivation within the Superior Temporal Sulcus (STS during ToM tasks, but activation in these regions was increased in ASD during affect processing. Disease-specific differences were noted in somatosensory engagement, which was increased in SZ and decreased in ASD. Reduced thalamic activation was uniquely seen in SZ. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced frontolimbic and STS engagement emerged as a shared feature of social cognition deficits in SZ and ASD. However, there were disease- and stimulus-specific differences. These findings may aid future

Social stress in young people with specific language impairment

OpenAIRE

Wadman, Ruth; Durkin, Kevin; Conti-Ramsden, Gina

2010-01-01

Social interactions can be a source of social stress for adolescents. Little is known about how adolescents with developmental difficulties, such as specific language impairment (SLI), feel when interacting socially. Participants included 28 adolescents with SLI and 28 adolescents with typical language abilities (TL). Self-report measures of social stress, social skills and social acceptance were obtained. Participants with SLI reported experiencing significantly more social stress than did p...

Bridging the gap: Cognitive and social approaches to research in second language learning and teaching. Editor's introduction & Editor's closing thoughts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hulstijn, J.H.; Young, R.F.; Ortega, L.

2014-01-01

For some, research in learning and teaching of a second language (L2) runs the risk of disintegrating into irreconcilable approaches to L2 learning and use. On the one side, we find researchers investigating linguistic-cognitive issues, often using quantitative research methods including inferential

Factor Structure of Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: Is Empathy Preserved?

OpenAIRE

Corbera, Silvia; Wexler, Bruce E.; Ikezawa, Satoru; Bell, Morris D.

2013-01-01

Social cognitive impairments are core features of schizophrenia and are closely associated with poor functional outcome. This study sought to identify specific aspects of social cognition and their relationships to measures of social function, quality of life, and neurocognition. Principal component analysis was performed using social cognitive measures in patients with schizophrenia and healthy matched controls and revealed three factors: Interpersonal Discomfort, Basic Social Cognition, and...

Systemic Cognition: Human Artifice in Life and Language

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cowley, Stephen; Vallée-Tourangeau, Frédéric

2013-01-01

Rather than rely on functionalist or enactivist principles, Cognition Beyond the Brain traces thinking to human artifice. In pursuing this approach, we gradually developed what can be deemed a third position in cognitive science. This is because, like talking, doing things with artefacts draws...... on both biological and cultural principles. On this systemic view, skills embody beliefs, roles and social practices. Since people rely on interactivity or sense-saturated coordination, action also re-enacts cultural history. Bidirectional dynamics connect embodiment to non-local regularities. Thinking...... simulation to manage thought, feeling and action. The systemic nature of cognition connects now, the adjacent possible, implications for others and, potentially, social and environmental change....

Social Class in English Language Education in Oaxaca, Mexico

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López-Gopar, Mario E.; Sughrua, William

2014-01-01

This article explores social class in English-language education in Oaxaca, Mexico. To this end, first, we discuss social class in Mexico as related to coloniality; second, for illustration, the paper presents the authors' own social-class analysis as language educators in Oaxaca; third, we discuss how social class impacts English education…

[Influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder].

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Li, Guo-Kai; Liu, Gui-Hua; Qian, Qin-Fang; Ge, Pin; Xie, Yan-Qin; Yang, Min-Yan; Wang, Zhang-Qiong; Ou, Ping

2017-05-01

To investigate the influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The 1-3 Years Child Home Nurture Environment Scale, Gesell Developmental Scale, and Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment Scale were used for the evaluation of 125 children with DLD. A total of 130 children with normal language development matched for age and sex were enrolled as control group. Compared with the control group, the DLD group had a significantly higher proportion of children in a bad home nurture environment and significantly lower scores of all domains of home nurture environment (Pnurture environment score was positively correlated with the level of language development (r=0.536, Pnurture environment had direct influence on language development in children with DLD and affected their language development via the mediating effect of social emotion. Home nurture environment influences language development and social emotion in children with DLD, and social emotion has a partial mediating effect between home nurture environment and language development.

Language and Social Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-01

another informal or ditzy (“OK, we haven’t talked about cognitive dissonance much in class.… I mean, it’s so cool because it’s super easy…”), etc. The...grammatical (e.g., articles, pronouns, verbs) and psychological (e.g., emotions, cognitive mechanism words, social words) categories. By analyzing the...interactions, however, we have not found compelling evidence to suggest that the use of we-words is associated with greater marital satisfaction

A social-cognitive framework of multidisciplinary team innovation.

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Paletz, Susannah B F; Schunn, Christian D

2010-01-01

The psychology of science typically lacks integration between cognitive and social variables. We present a new framework of team innovation in multidisciplinary science and engineering groups that ties factors from both literatures together. We focus on the effects of a particularly challenging social factor, knowledge diversity, which has a history of mixed effects on creativity, most likely because those effects are mediated and moderated by cognitive and additional social variables. In addition, we highlight the distinction between team innovative processes that are primarily divergent versus convergent; we propose that the social and cognitive implications are different for each, providing a possible explanation for knowledge diversity's mixed results on team outcomes. Social variables mapped out include formal roles, communication norms, sufficient participation and information sharing, and task conflict; cognitive variables include analogy, information search, and evaluation. This framework provides a roadmap for research that aims to harness the power of multidisciplinary teams. Copyright © 2009 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Research provides an introduction to the Vygotskianperspective (also called "Socio-cultural Theory"- SCT on second language (SL Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Research provides an introduction to the Vygotskianperspective (also called "Socio-cultural Theory"- SCT on second language (SL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gloria Gil

2008-04-01

Full Text Available studies by presenting some studies which adopted this point of view to carry out different types of second language related research. The main tenet of Vygotskian Theory (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986 is that human cognition is socially developed and constructed; thus, this approach offers the possibility of bringing together the cognitive and social domains, traditionally separated in human sciences. The book can be divided into two parts: a theoretical Chapter 1, and nine chapters that report on empirical studies carried out within the Vygotskian perspective studies by presenting some studies which adopted this point of view to carry out different types of second language related research. The main tenet of Vygotskian Theory (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986 is that human cognition is socially developed and constructed; thus, this approach offers the possibility of bringing together the cognitive and social domains, traditionally separated in human sciences. The book can be divided into two parts: a theoretical Chapter 1, and nine chapters that report on empirical studies carried out within the Vygotskian perspective

Social Media, Collaboration and Social Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mondahl, Margrethe; Razmerita, Liana

2014-01-01

Social media has created new possibilities for digitally native students to engage, interact and collaborate in learning tasks that foster learning processes and the overall learning experience. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this article discusses experiences and challenges of using...... a social media-enhanced collaborative learning environment in case-based teaching of foreign languages. Based on social constructivismwe argue that foreign language learning is an individual as well as collaborative process and cognitive processes underlying learning and in particular foreign language...... learning are facilitated by means of social media and especially for new generation of students. This article contributes to understanding of how best to make use of social media in an educational setting and how learning may be fostered in social, collaborative knowledge construction, sharing and building...

Cognitive indicators of social anxiety in youth: a structural equation analysis.

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Rudy, Brittany M; Davis, Thompson E; Matthews, Russell A

2014-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated significant relationships among various cognitive variables such as negative cognition, self-efficacy, and social anxiety. Unfortunately, few studies focus on the role of cognition among youth, and researchers often fail to use domain-specific measures when examining cognitive variables. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine domain-specific cognitive variables (i.e., socially oriented negative self-referent cognition and social self-efficacy) and their relationships to social anxiety in children and adolescents using structural equation modeling techniques. A community sample of children and adolescents (n=245; 55.9% female; 83.3% Caucasian, 9.4% African American, 2% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 2% "other," and 1.2% not reported) completed questionnaires assessing social cognition and social anxiety symptomology. Three latent variables were created to examine the constructs of socially oriented negative self-referent cognition (as measured by the SONAS scale), social self-efficacy (as measured by the SEQSS-C), and social anxiety (as measured by the SPAI-C and the Brief SA). The resulting measurement model of latent variables fit the data well. Additionally, consistent with the study hypothesis, results indicated that social self-efficacy likely mediates the relationship between socially oriented negative self-referent cognition and social anxiety, and socially oriented negative self-referent cognition yields significant direct and indirect effects on social anxiety. These findings indicate that socially oriented negative cognitions are associated with youth's beliefs about social abilities and the experience of social anxiety. Future directions for research and study limitations, including use of cross-sectional data, are discussed. © 2013.

The Role of Cognitive Factors in Childhood Social Anxiety: Social Threat Thoughts and Social Skills Perception.

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van Niekerk, Rianne E; Klein, Anke M; Allart-van Dam, Esther; Hudson, Jennifer L; Rinck, Mike; Hutschemaekers, Giel J M; Becker, Eni S

2017-01-01

Models of cognitive processing in anxiety disorders state that socially anxious children display several distorted cognitive processes that maintain their anxiety. The present study investigated the role of social threat thoughts and social skills perception in relation to childhood trait and state social anxiety. In total, 141 children varying in their levels of social anxiety performed a short speech task in front of a camera and filled out self-reports about their trait social anxiety, state anxiety, social skills perception and social threat thoughts. Results showed that social threat thoughts mediated the relationship between trait social anxiety and state anxiety after the speech task, even when controlling for baseline state anxiety. Furthermore, we found that children with higher trait anxiety and more social threat thoughts had a lower perception of their social skills, but did not display a social skills deficit. These results provide evidence for the applicability of the cognitive social anxiety model to children.

A Social Model of Loneliness: The Roles of Disability, Social Resources, and Cognitive Impairment.

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Burholt, Vanessa; Windle, Gill; Morgan, Deborah J

2017-11-10

We consider the points at which cognitive impairment may impact on the pathway to loneliness for older people, through impeding social interaction with family and friends, or by interfering with judgments concerning satisfaction with relationships. We conceptualize a mediation model anticipating that social resources (LSNS-6) will mediate the pathway between disability (Townsend Disability Scale) and loneliness (De Jong Gierveld 6-item scale) and a moderated-mediation model in which we hypothesize that cognitive impairment (MMSE) will moderate the association between disability and social resources and between social resources and loneliness. To validate the hypothesized pathways, we draw on the CFAS Wales data set (N = 3,593) which is a nationally representative study of community-dwelling people aged 65 and older in Wales. Disability had a significant indirect effect on loneliness through the mediating variable social resources. Cognitive impairment was significantly associated with social resources, but did not moderate the relationship between disability and social resources. Cognitive impairment had a significant impact on loneliness, and moderated the effect of social resources on loneliness. Social structures can (dis)empower people with cognitive impairment and lead to exclusion from social resources or impact on the social construction of aging, cognitive impairment, and dementia. The sense of self for an older person with cognitive impairment may be influenced by social norms and stereotypes, or through a temporal social comparison with an "earlier" sense of self. We conclude that loneliness interventions should be theoretically informed to identify key areas for modification. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.

[Behavioral and cognitive profile of corpus callosum agenesia - Review].

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Lábadi, Beatrix; Beke, Anna Maria

2016-11-30

Agenesis of corpus callosum is a relatively frequent congenital cerebral malformation including dysplasia, total or partial absence of corpus callosum. The agenesis of corpus callosum can be occured in isolated form without accompanying somatic or central nervous system abnormalities and it can be associated with other central nervus system malformations. The behavioral and cognitive outcome is more favorable for patients with isolated agenesis of corpus callous than syndromic form of corpus callosum. The aim of this study is to review recent research on behavioral and social-cognitive functions in individuals with agenesis of corpus callosum. Developmental delay is common especially in higher-order cognitive and social functions. An internet database search was performed to identify publications on the subject. Fifty-five publications in English corresponded to the criteria. These studies reported deficits in language, social cognition and emotions in individuals with agenesis of corpus callosum which is known as primary corpus callous syndrome. The results indicate that individuals with agenesis of corpus callosum have deficiency in social-cognitive domain (recognition of emotions, weakness in paralinguistic aspects of language and mentalizing abilities). The impaired social cognition can be manifested in behavioral problems like autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Language, Cognitive Flexibility, and Explicit False Belief Understanding: Longitudinal Analysis in Typical Development and Specific Language Impairment

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Farrant, Brad M.; Maybery, Murray T.; Fletcher, Janet

2012-01-01

The hypothesis that language plays a role in theory-of-mind (ToM) development is supported by a number of lines of evidence (e.g., H. Lohmann & M. Tomasello, 2003). The current study sought to further investigate the relations between maternal language input, memory for false sentential complements, cognitive flexibility, and the development of…

White Matter Pathways and Social Cognition.

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Wang, Yin; Metoki, Athanasia; Alm, Kylie H; Olson, Ingrid R

2018-04-20

There is a growing consensus that social cognition and behavior emerge from interactions across distributed regions of the "social brain". Researchers have traditionally focused their attention on functional response properties of these gray matter networks and neglected the vital role of white matter connections in establishing such networks and their functions. In this article, we conduct a comprehensive review of prior research on structural connectivity in social neuroscience and highlight the importance of this literature in clarifying brain mechanisms of social cognition. We pay particular attention to three key social processes: face processing, embodied cognition, and theory of mind, and their respective underlying neural networks. To fully identify and characterize the anatomical architecture of these networks, we further implement probabilistic tractography on a large sample of diffusion-weighted imaging data. The combination of an in-depth literature review and the empirical investigation gives us an unprecedented, well-defined landscape of white matter pathways underlying major social brain networks. Finally, we discuss current problems in the field, outline suggestions for best practice in diffusion-imaging data collection and analysis, and offer new directions for future research. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The relationship between executive functioning and language: Examining vocabulary, syntax, and language learning in preschoolers attending Head Start.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Lisa J; Alexander, Alexandra; Greenfield, Daryl B

2017-12-01

Early childhood marks a time of dynamic development within language and cognitive domains. Specifically, a body of research focuses on the development of language as related to executive functions, which are foundational cognitive skills that relate to both academic achievement and social-emotional development during early childhood and beyond. Although there is evidence to support the relationship between language and executive functions, existing studies focus mostly on vocabulary and fail to examine other components of language such as syntax and language learning skills. To address this gap, this study examined the relationship between executive functioning (EF) and three aspects of language: syntax, vocabulary, and language learning. A diverse sample of 182 children (67% Latino and 33% African American) attending Head Start were assessed on both EF and language ability. Findings demonstrated that EF related to a comprehensive latent construct of language composed of vocabulary, syntax, and language learning. EF also related to each individual component of language. This study furthers our understanding of the complex relationship between language and cognitive development by measuring EF as it relates to various components of language in a sample of preschoolers from low-income backgrounds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relationships between Social Cognition and Sibling Constellations.

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Goebel, Barbara L.

1985-01-01

First and second born college students (N=178) responded to measures of four social cognition factors. Multivariate analysis of variance identified relationships of social cognition factors with five sibling constellation components: subject's sex, subject's birth order (first or second), adjacent first or second born sibling's sex, spacing…

Prefrontal Cortex and Social Cognition in Mouse and Man

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Bicks, Lucy K.; Koike, Hiroyuki; Akbarian, Schahram; Morishita, Hirofumi

2015-01-01

Social cognition is a complex process that requires the integration of a wide variety of behaviors, including salience, reward-seeking, motivation, knowledge of self and others, and flexibly adjusting behavior in social groups. Not surprisingly, social cognition represents a sensitive domain commonly disrupted in the pathology of a variety of psychiatric disorders including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Schizophrenia (SCZ). Here, we discuss convergent research from animal models to human disease that implicates the prefrontal cortex (PFC) as a key regulator in social cognition, suggesting that disruptions in prefrontal microcircuitry play an essential role in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders with shared social deficits. We take a translational perspective of social cognition, and review three key behaviors that are essential to normal social processing in rodents and humans, including social motivation, social recognition, and dominance hierarchy. A shared prefrontal circuitry may underlie these behaviors. Social cognition deficits in animal models of neurodevelopmental disorders like ASD and SCZ have been linked to an altered balance of excitation and inhibition (E/I ratio) within the cortex generally, and PFC specifically. A clear picture of the mechanisms by which altered E/I ratio in the PFC might lead to disruptions of social cognition across a variety of behaviors is not well understood. Future studies should explore how disrupted developmental trajectory of prefrontal microcircuitry could lead to altered E/I balance and subsequent deficits in the social domain. PMID:26635701

Social Stress in Young People with Specific Language Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Wadman, Ruth; Durkin, Kevin; Conti-Ramsden, Gina

2011-01-01

Social interactions can be a source of social stress for adolescents. Little is known about how adolescents with developmental difficulties, such as specific language impairment (SLI), feel when interacting socially. Participants included 28 adolescents with SLI and 28 adolescents with typical language abilities (TL). Self-report measures of…

Cognitive processes and neural basis of language switching: proposal of a new model.

Science.gov (United States)

Moritz-Gasser, Sylvie; Duffau, Hugues

2009-12-09

Although studies on bilingualism are abundant, cognitive processes and neural foundations of language switching received less attention. The aim of our study is to provide new insights to this still open question: do dedicated region(s) for language switching exist or is this function underlain by a distributed circuit of interconnected brain areas, part of a more general cognitive system? On the basis of recent behavioral, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation studies, we propose an original 'hodological' model of language switching. This process might be subserved by a large-scale cortico-subcortical network, with an executive system (prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulum, caudate nucleus) controlling a more dedicated language subcircuit, which involves postero-temporal areas, supramarginal and angular gyri, Broca's area, and the superior longitudinal fasciculus.

Skype me! Socially Contingent Interactions Help Toddlers Learn Language

Science.gov (United States)

Roseberry, Sarah; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick

2013-01-01

Language learning takes place in the context of social interactions, yet the mechanisms that render social interactions useful for learning language remain unclear. This paper focuses on whether social contingency might support word learning. Toddlers aged 24- to 30-months (N=36) were exposed to novel verbs in one of three conditions: live interaction training, socially contingent video training over video chat, and non-contingent video training (yoked video). Results suggest that children only learned novel verbs in socially contingent interactions (live interactions and video chat). The current study highlights the importance of social contingency in interactions for language learning and informs the literature on learning through screen media as the first study to examine word learning through video chat technology. PMID:24112079

Comparison of the Recovery Patterns of Language and Cognitive Functions in Patients with Post-Traumatic Language Processing Deficits and in Patients with Aphasia Following a Stroke

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Vukovic, Mile; Vuksanovic, Jasmina; Vukovic, Irena

2008-01-01

In this study we investigated the recovery patterns of language and cognitive functions in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits and in patients with aphasia following a stroke. The correlation of specific language functions and cognitive functions was analyzed in the acute phase and 6 months later. Significant recovery of the…

Social Interaction Affects Neural Outcomes of Sign Language Learning As a Foreign Language in Adults.

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Yusa, Noriaki; Kim, Jungho; Koizumi, Masatoshi; Sugiura, Motoaki; Kawashima, Ryuta

2017-01-01

Children naturally acquire a language in social contexts where they interact with their caregivers. Indeed, research shows that social interaction facilitates lexical and phonological development at the early stages of child language acquisition. It is not clear, however, whether the relationship between social interaction and learning applies to adult second language acquisition of syntactic rules. Does learning second language syntactic rules through social interactions with a native speaker or without such interactions impact behavior and the brain? The current study aims to answer this question. Adult Japanese participants learned a new foreign language, Japanese sign language (JSL), either through a native deaf signer or via DVDs. Neural correlates of acquiring new linguistic knowledge were investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The participants in each group were indistinguishable in terms of their behavioral data after the instruction. The fMRI data, however, revealed significant differences in the neural activities between two groups. Significant activations in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were found for the participants who learned JSL through interactions with the native signer. In contrast, no cortical activation change in the left IFG was found for the group who experienced the same visual input for the same duration via the DVD presentation. Given that the left IFG is involved in the syntactic processing of language, spoken or signed, learning through social interactions resulted in an fMRI signature typical of native speakers: activation of the left IFG. Thus, broadly speaking, availability of communicative interaction is necessary for second language acquisition and this results in observed changes in the brain.

Social cognition and the brain: a meta-analysis.

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Van Overwalle, Frank

2009-03-01

This meta-analysis explores the location and function of brain areas involved in social cognition, or the capacity to understand people's behavioral intentions, social beliefs, and personality traits. On the basis of over 200 fMRI studies, it tests alternative theoretical proposals that attempt to explain how several brain areas process information relevant for social cognition. The results suggest that inferring temporary states such as goals, intentions, and desires of other people-even when they are false and unjust from our own perspective--strongly engages the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Inferring more enduring dispositions of others and the self, or interpersonal norms and scripts, engages the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), although temporal states can also activate the mPFC. Other candidate tasks reflecting general-purpose brain processes that may potentially subserve social cognition are briefly reviewed, such as sequence learning, causality detection, emotion processing, and executive functioning (action monitoring, attention, dual task monitoring, episodic memory retrieval), but none of them overlaps uniquely with the regions activated during social cognition. Hence, it appears that social cognition particularly engages the TPJ and mPFC regions. The available evidence is consistent with the role of a TPJ-related mirror system for inferring temporary goals and intentions at a relatively perceptual level of representation, and the mPFC as a module that integrates social information across time and allows reflection and representation of traits and norms, and presumably also of intentionality, at a more abstract cognitive level.

From proto-mimesis to language: evidence from primatology and social neuroscience.

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Zlatev, Jordan

2008-01-01

How can we reconcile the conception of language as a conventional-normative semiotic system with a perception/action-based account of its structure and meaning? And why should linguistic meaning--as opposed to linguistic expression--be so closely related to motor activity and its neural underpinnings, as suggested by recent findings? A conceptual framework and evolutionary scenario building on the concept of bodily mimesis [Zlatev, J., 2005. What's in a schema? Bodily mimesis and the grounding of language. In: Hampe, B. (Ed.), From Perception to Meaning: Image Schemas in Cognitive Linguistics. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 313-343] imply answers to these questions. The article presents evidence for a particular evolutionary stage model by reviewing recent evidence on the capacity of non-human primates for intersubjectivity, imitation and gestural communication, and from neuroscientific studies of these capacities in monkeys and human subjects. It is argued that "mirror neuron" systems can subserve basic motoric and social capacities, but they need to be considerably extended in order to provide an efficient basis for bodily mimesis, and even more so for language. It is argued that while language may be ultimately "grounded" in perception and action, it is essential not to try to reduce it to them.

Language structure is partly determined by social structure.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary Lupyan

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Languages differ greatly both in their syntactic and morphological systems and in the social environments in which they exist. We challenge the view that language grammars are unrelated to social environments in which they are learned and used. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a statistical analysis of >2,000 languages using a combination of demographic sources and the World Atlas of Language Structures--a database of structural language properties. We found strong relationships between linguistic factors related to morphological complexity, and demographic/socio-historical factors such as the number of language users, geographic spread, and degree of language contact. The analyses suggest that languages spoken by large groups have simpler inflectional morphology than languages spoken by smaller groups as measured on a variety of factors such as case systems and complexity of conjugations. Additionally, languages spoken by large groups are much more likely to use lexical strategies in place of inflectional morphology to encode evidentiality, negation, aspect, and possession. Our findings indicate that just as biological organisms are shaped by ecological niches, language structures appear to adapt to the environment (niche in which they are being learned and used. As adults learn a language, features that are difficult for them to acquire, are less likely to be passed on to subsequent learners. Languages used for communication in large groups that include adult learners appear to have been subjected to such selection. Conversely, the morphological complexity common to languages used in small groups increases redundancy which may facilitate language learning by infants. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We hypothesize that language structures are subjected to different evolutionary pressures in different social environments. Just as biological organisms are shaped by ecological niches, language structures appear to adapt to the

The interrelationships between motor, cognitive, and language development in children with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities.

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Houwen, Suzanne; Visser, Linda; van der Putten, Annette; Vlaskamp, Carla

2016-01-01

It is generally agreed that cognitive and language development are dependent on the emergence of motor skills. As the literature on this issue concerning children with developmental disabilities is scarce, we examined the interrelationships between motor, cognitive, and language development in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and compared them to those in children without IDD. In addition, we investigated whether these relationships differ between children with different levels of cognitive delay. Seventy-seven children with IDD (calendar age between 1;0 and 9;10 years; mean developmental age: 1;8 years) and 130 typically developing children (calendar age between 0;3 and 3;6 years; mean developmental age: 1;10 years) were tested with the Dutch Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition, which assesses development across three domains using five subscales: fine motor development, gross motor development (motor), cognition (cognitive), receptive communication, and expressive communication (language). Results showed that correlations between the motor, cognitive, and language domains were strong, namely .61 to .94 in children with IDD and weak to strong, namely .24 to .56 in children without IDD. Furthermore, the correlations showed a tendency to increase with the severity of IDD. It can be concluded that both fine and gross motor development are more strongly associated with cognition, and consequently language, in children with IDD than in children without IDD. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of early interventions that boost both motor and cognitive development, and suggest that such interventions will also enhance language development. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Appraisal Psychology, Neurobiology, and Language.

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Schumann, John H.

2001-01-01

Proposes that the confluence of stimulus appraisal and social cognition that is effected by the neural system in the brain has important implications for language and learning theories. Describes the anatomy and functions of this neural system and discusses how it may operate in motivation for second language acquisition and how in conjunction…

The Relationship between Early Language, Cognitive and Social Development through a Longitudinal Study of Autistic Children.

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Ogura, Tamiko

The development of and relationship between early language, symbolic play, sensorimotor skills, and social development were examined in a longitudinal study conducted in Japan with two young autistic males who were observed from the approximate ages of 2 to 4 years in clinic, day care, and home settings. One child acquired speech; the other did…

Social Competence among Low-Income Preschoolers: Emotion Socialization Practices and Social Cognitive Correlates.

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Garner, Pamela W.; And Others

1994-01-01

Two studies investigated the relationship between emotion socialization variables, social cognitive knowledge, and children's social competence in preschoolers from low-income families. Found that mothers' self-reported emotion socialization practices were related to children's emotional knowledge and sibling caregiving behavior. (MDM)

Social cognition in borderline personality disorder

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Stefan eRoepke

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Many typical symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD occur within interpersonal contexts, suggesting that BPD is characterized by aberrant social cognition. While research consistently shows that BPD patients have biases in mental state attribution (e.g., evaluate others as malevolent, the research focusing on accuracy in inferring mental states (i.e., cognitive empathy is less consistent. For complex and ecologically valid tasks in particular, emerging evidence suggests that individuals with BPD have impairments in the attribution of emotions, thoughts, and intentions of others (e.g., Preißler et al., 2010. A history of childhood trauma and co-morbid PTSD seem to be strong additional predictors for cognitive empathy deficits. Together with reduced emotional empathy and aberrant sending of social signals (e.g., expression of mixed and hard-to-read emotions, the deficits in attribution might contribute to behavioral problems in BPD. Given the importance of social cognition on the part of both the sender and the recipient in maintaining interpersonal relationships and therapeutic alliance, these impairments deserve more attention.

Teaching social skills in the language classroom | Venter | Journal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bullying has become a major problem in schools worldwide. It might escalate to serious forms of anti-social behaviour, therefore the teaching of social skills are important in the school as a whole. The language classroom is the ideal place to teach social and communication skills. In the whole language approach, combined ...

The influence of combined cognitive plus social-cognitive training on amygdala response during face emotion recognition in schizophrenia.

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Hooker, Christine I; Bruce, Lori; Fisher, Melissa; Verosky, Sara C; Miyakawa, Asako; D'Esposito, Mark; Vinogradov, Sophia

2013-08-30

Both cognitive and social-cognitive deficits impact functional outcome in schizophrenia. Cognitive remediation studies indicate that targeted cognitive and/or social-cognitive training improves behavioral performance on trained skills. However, the neural effects of training in schizophrenia and their relation to behavioral gains are largely unknown. This study tested whether a 50-h intervention which included both cognitive and social-cognitive training would influence neural mechanisms that support social ccognition. Schizophrenia participants completed a computer-based intervention of either auditory-based cognitive training (AT) plus social-cognition training (SCT) (N=11) or non-specific computer games (CG) (N=11). Assessments included a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task of facial emotion recognition, and behavioral measures of cognition, social cognition, and functional outcome. The fMRI results showed the predicted group-by-time interaction. Results were strongest for emotion recognition of happy, surprise and fear: relative to CG participants, AT+SCT participants showed a neural activity increase in bilateral amygdala, right putamen and right medial prefrontal cortex. Across all participants, pre-to-post intervention neural activity increase in these regions predicted behavioral improvement on an independent emotion perception measure (MSCEIT: Perceiving Emotions). Among AT+SCT participants alone, neural activity increase in right amygdala predicted behavioral improvement in emotion perception. The findings indicate that combined cognition and social-cognition training improves neural systems that support social-cognition skills. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Example-based learning: Integrating cognitive and social-cognitive research perspectives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T.A.J.M. van Gog (Tamara); N. Rummel (Nikol)

2010-01-01

textabstractExample-based learning has been studied from different perspectives. Cognitive research has mainly focused on worked examples, which typically provide students with a written worked-out didactical solution to a problem to study. Social-cognitive research has mostly focused on modeling

The role of social cognition in parasite and pathogen avoidance.

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Kavaliers, Martin; Choleris, Elena

2018-07-19

The acquisition and use of social information are integral to social behaviour and parasite/pathogen avoidance. This involves social cognition which encompasses mechanisms for acquiring, processing, retaining and acting on social information. Social cognition entails the acquisition of social information about others (i.e. social recognition) and from others (i.e. social learning). Social cognition involves assessing other individuals and their infection status and the pathogen and parasite threat they pose and deciding about when and how to interact with them. Social cognition provides a framework for examining pathogen and parasite avoidance behaviours and their associated neurobiological mechanisms. Here, we briefly consider the relationships between social cognition and olfactory-mediated pathogen and parasite avoidance behaviours. We briefly discuss aspects of (i) social recognition of actual and potentially infected individuals and the impact of parasite/pathogen threat on mate and social partner choice; (ii) the roles of 'out-groups' (strangers, unfamiliar individuals) and 'in-groups' (familiar individuals) in the expression of parasite/pathogen avoidance behaviours; (iii) individual and social learning, i.e. the utilization of the pathogen recognition and avoidance responses of others; and (iv) the neurobiological mechanisms, in particular the roles of the nonapeptide, oxytocin and steroid hormones (oestrogens) associated with social cognition and parasite/pathogen avoidance.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Evolution of pathogen and parasite avoidance behaviours'. © 2018 The Author(s).

A Dual Coding Model of Processing Chinese as a Second Language: A Cognitive-Load Approach

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Sham, Diana Po Lan

2002-01-01

The research was conducted in Sydney and Hong Kong using students, from grades 5 to 9, whose first language or teaching medium was English, learning to read Chinese as second language. According to cognitive load theory, the processing of single Chinese characters accompanied by pictures should impose extraneous cognitive load and thus hinders…

Language and communication skills in preschool children with autism spectrum disorders: contribution of cognition, severity of autism symptoms, and adaptive functioning to the variability.

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Kjellmer, Liselotte; Hedvall, Åsa; Fernell, Elisabeth; Gillberg, Christopher; Norrelgen, Fritjof

2012-01-01

This study examined the contribution of cognitive function, severity of autism, and adaptive functioning to the variability in language and communication skills in 129 preschool children (aged 24-63 months) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants were selected from a representative research cohort of 208 preschool children on the basis of caregiver completion of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). The children were classified into three cognitive groups: (a) Normal intelligence; (b) Developmental delay; and (c) Intellectual disability. Autism symptom severity was measured by the Autistic Behavior Checklist (ABC), and adaptive functioning by the Daily Living Skills (DLS) and Socialization (Soc) subscales from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. For each of five CDI variables (Phrases understood, Words understood, Words produced, Gestures and actions, and Language use), the contribution of cognition, severity of autism symptoms, and adaptive functioning to the variability was examined. Cognition and age explained about half or more of the variance in the four verbal language CDI variables, but only about one fourth of the variance in the non-verbal communication variable Gestures and actions. Severity of autism symptoms and the two adaptive measures (DLS and Soc) each only accounted for a few percent more of the variance in the four CDI language variables; however, for Gestures and actions, an additional 11-21% of the variance was accounted for. In conclusion, for children with ASD, receptive and expressive language is mainly related to cognitive level, whereas non-verbal communication skills seem to also be related to severity of autism symptoms and adaptive functioning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of social activities, social networks, social support and social relationships on the cognitive functioning of healthy older adults: a systematic review.

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Kelly, Michelle E; Duff, Hollie; Kelly, Sara; McHugh Power, Joanna E; Brennan, Sabina; Lawlor, Brian A; Loughrey, David G

2017-12-19

Social relationships, which are contingent on access to social networks, promote engagement in social activities and provide access to social support. These social factors have been shown to positively impact health outcomes. In the current systematic review, we offer a comprehensive overview of the impact of social activities, social networks and social support on the cognitive functioning of healthy older adults (50+) and examine the differential effects of aspects of social relationships on various cognitive domains. We followed PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines, and collated data from randomised controlled trials (RCTs), genetic and observational studies. Independent variables of interest included subjective measures of social activities, social networks, and social support, and composite measures of social relationships (CMSR). The primary outcome of interest was cognitive function divided into domains of episodic memory, semantic memory, overall memory ability, working memory, verbal fluency, reasoning, attention, processing speed, visuospatial abilities, overall executive functioning and global cognition. Thirty-nine studies were included in the review; three RCTs, 34 observational studies, and two genetic studies. Evidence suggests a relationship between (1) social activity and global cognition and overall executive functioning, working memory, visuospatial abilities and processing speed but not episodic memory, verbal fluency, reasoning or attention; (2) social networks and global cognition but not episodic memory, attention or processing speed; (3) social support and global cognition and episodic memory but not attention or processing speed; and (4) CMSR and episodic memory and verbal fluency but not global cognition. The results support prior conclusions that there is an association between social relationships and cognitive function but the exact nature of this association remains unclear

Skype me! Socially contingent interactions help toddlers learn language.

Science.gov (United States)

Roseberry, Sarah; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta M

2014-01-01

Language learning takes place in the context of social interactions, yet the mechanisms that render social interactions useful for learning language remain unclear. This study focuses on whether social contingency might support word learning. Toddlers aged 24-30 months (N = 36) were exposed to novel verbs in one of three conditions: live interaction training, socially contingent video training over video chat, and noncontingent video training (yoked video). Results suggest that children only learned novel verbs in socially contingent interactions (live interactions and video chat). This study highlights the importance of social contingency in interactions for language learning and informs the literature on learning through screen media as the first study to examine word learning through video chat technology. © 2013 The Authors. Child Development © 2013 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Continuous formation of liturgy through social cognition

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Ferdi Kruger

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This article researches two focal points, namely liturgical formation and the influence that social cognition has on liturgical formation. Within a South African context it is evident that Western liturgical traditions encounter African traditions and vice versa. This encounter is challenging because it creates new questions. The process of enculturation is prominent in recent research. The article refers to the process of social cognition as the manner in which people observe each other and try to make sense of other cultures and the people of those cultures. People’s cognition can be wrong, leading to distortions. The main research question for this investigation emanates from this possibility, namely: How does social cognition influence the process of liturgical formation? The authors first of all offer a descriptive– empirical vantage point to investigate this matter. Two local congregations were visited. The authors reflect on their own cognition, but also examine the cognition of the leaders through interviews. Based on the findings of this endeavour, normative perspectives are formulated from Acts 17:16–35 to highlight the role of cognition in liturgical formation. Throughout, the article includes consideration of the hermeneutic interaction between the various elements of this research and provides hermeneutic guidelines.

Behavioral and social cognitive processes in preschool children's social dominance.

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Pellegrini, Anthony D; Van Ryzin, Mark J; Roseth, Cary; Bohn-Gettler, Catherine; Dupuis, Danielle; Hickey, Meghan; Peshkam, Annie

2011-01-01

This longitudinal, naturalistic study addressed behavioral and social cognitive processes implicated in preschool children's social dominance. In the first objective, we examined the degree to which peer aggression, affiliation, and postaggression reconciliation predicted social dominance across a school year. Consistent with predictions, all three predicted dominance early in the year while only affiliation predicted dominance later in the year, suggesting that aggression, affiliation, and reconciliation were used to establish social dominance where affiliation was used to maintain it. In the second, exploratory, objective we tested the relative importance of social dominance and reconciliation (the Machiavellian and Vygotskian intelligence hypotheses, respectively) in predicting theory of mind/false belief. Results indicated that social dominance accounted for significant variance, beyond that related to reconciliation and affiliation, in predicting theory of mind/false belief status. Results are discussed in terms of specific behavioral and social cognitive processes employed in establishing and maintaining social dominance. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Language and Cognitive Predictors of Text Comprehension: Evidence from Multivariate Analysis

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Kim, Young-Suk

2015-01-01

Using data from children in South Korea (N = 145, M[subscript age] = 6.08), it was determined how low-level language and cognitive skills (vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, and working memory) and high-level cognitive skills (comprehension monitoring and theory of mind [ToM]) are related to listening comprehension and whether listening…

Brain-Based Aspects of Cognitive Learning Approaches in Second Language Learning

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Moghaddam, Alireza Navid; Araghi, Seyed Mahdi

2013-01-01

Language learning process is one of the complicated behaviors of human beings which has called many scholars and experts' attention especially after the middle of last century by the advent of cognitive psychology that later on we see its implication to education. Unlike previous thought of schools, cognitive psychology deals with the way in which…

Social cognitive interventions for people with schizophrenia: A systematic review.

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Tan, Bhing-Leet; Lee, Sara-Ann; Lee, Jimmy

2016-07-27

Social cognition is the mental process which underpins social interactions. Increasingly, it has been recognized to be impaired in people with schizophrenia, resulting in functional problems. Correspondingly, the past ten years have seen huge developments in the study of interventions to ameliorate social cognitive deficits among people with schizophrenia. In the present review, we systematically reviewed published studies on social cognitive interventions from 2005 to 2015. Of the 61 studies included in this review, 20 were on broad-based social cognitive interventions, which incorporated neurocognitive training, specialized learning technique or virtual reality social skills training. On the other hand, 31 studies on targeted interventions either focused on specific social cognitive domains, or a range of domains. Improvements in emotion processing and theory of mind were often reported, while social perception and attributional style were less frequently measured. Both broad-based and targeted interventions achieved gains in social functioning, albeit inconsistently. Lastly, nine studies on the use of oxytocin and one study on transcranial direct current stimulation reported positive preliminary results in higher-order cognition and facial affect recognition respectively. This review revealed that a wide range of social cognitive interventions is currently available and most have shown some promise in improving social cognition outcomes. However, there is a need to use a common battery of measurements for better comparisons across interventions. Future research should examine combination therapies and the sustainability of gains beyond the intervention period. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Early social cognition in three cultural contexts.

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Callaghan, Tara; Moll, Henrike; Rakoczy, Hannes; Warneken, Felix; Liszkowski, Ulf; Behne, Tanya; Tomasello, Michael

2011-08-01

The influence of culture on cognitive development is well established for school age and older children. But almost nothing is known about how different parenting and socialization practices in different cultures affect infants' and young children's earliest emerging cognitive and social-cognitive skills. In the current monograph, we report a series of eight studies in which we systematically assessed the social-cognitive skills of 1- to 3-year-old children in three diverse cultural settings. One group of children was from a Western, middle-class cultural setting in rural Canada and the other two groups were from traditional, small-scale cultural settings in rural Peru and India.In a first group of studies, we assessed 1-year-old children's most basic social-cognitive skills for understanding the intentions and attention of others: imitation, helping, gaze following, and communicative pointing.Children's performance in these tasks was mostly similar across cultural settings. In a second group of studies, we assessed 1-year-old children's skills in participating in interactive episodes of collaboration and joint attention.Again in these studies the general finding was one of cross-cultural similarity. In a final pair of studies, we assessed 2- to 3-year-old children's skills within two symbolic systems (pretense and pictorial). Here we found that the Canadian children who had much more experience with such symbols showed skills at an earlier age.Our overall conclusion is that young children in all cultural settings get sufficient amounts of the right kinds of social experience to develop their most basic social-cognitive skills for interacting with others and participating in culture at around the same age. In contrast, children's acquisition of more culturally specific skills for use in practices involving artifacts and symbols is more dependent on specific learning experiences.

Skype me! Socially Contingent Interactions Help Toddlers Learn Language

OpenAIRE

Roseberry, Sarah; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick

2013-01-01

Language learning takes place in the context of social interactions, yet the mechanisms that render social interactions useful for learning language remain unclear. This paper focuses on whether social contingency might support word learning. Toddlers aged 24- to 30-months (N=36) were exposed to novel verbs in one of three conditions: live interaction training, socially contingent video training over video chat, and non-contingent video training (yoked video). Results sugges...

Social cognition and individual effectiveness in interpersonal scenarios: A conceptual review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nilamadhab Kar

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Social cognition, the ability to act wisely in social interaction, is being actively researched in various fields besides the clinical, behavioral, and psychological sciences. The objectives of this paper are to review the conceptual basis of social cognition and its applicability in the areas of social competence and effectiveness in interpersonal environments. Social cognitive skills enable understanding of social situations. The relationship between social cognitive skills and ability of emotional decoding of self and others has been explored. The paper discusses various processes that are operative in the interactional scenarios and have relevance in individual effectiveness. Concepts such as emotional intelligence, trait transference, person-perception, categorical thinking, and knowledge construction have been discussed in relation to social cognition and effectiveness. The role of thoughts, feelings, expectations, and relational schemas in interpersonal situations has been linked to performances. In addition, effectiveness is influenced by motivated social cognitions, ego-tasks, global, and context-specific goals. Various strategies such as cognitive and social problem-solving and proactive-coping have been elaborated which lead to better outcomes in interpersonal environments.

The Importance of Social Cognition in Improving Functional Outcomes in Schizophrenia

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Javed, Afzal; Charles, Asha

2018-01-01

Social cognition has become recognized as an important driver of functional outcomes and overall recovery in patients with schizophrenia, mediating the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning. Since antipsychotic therapy targeting remission of clinical symptoms has been shown to have a limited impact on social cognition, there has been an increasing drive to develop therapeutic strategies to specifically improve social cognition in schizophrenia. We sought to review current evidence relating to social cognition in schizophrenia and its clinical implications, including interventions designed to target the core domains of social cognition (emotion processing, theory of mind, attributional bias, and social perception) as a means of improving functional outcomes and thereby increasing the likelihood of recovery. Relevant articles were identified by conducting a literature search in PubMed using the search terms “schizophrenia” AND “cognition” AND “social functioning,” limited to Title/Abstract, over a time period of the past 10 years. Current evidence demonstrates that schizophrenia is associated with impairments in all four core domains of social cognition, during the pre-first-episode, first-episode, early, and chronic phases of the disease, and that such impairments are important determinants of functional outcome. Interventions targeting the four core domains of social cognition comprise psychosocial approaches (social cognition training programs) and pharmacological therapies. Social cognition training programs targeting multiple and specific core domains of social cognition have shown promise in improving social cognition skills, which, in some cases, has translated into improvements in functional outcomes. Use of some psychosocial interventions has additionally resulted in improvements in clinical symptoms and/or quality of life. Pharmacological therapies, including oxytocin and certain antipsychotics, have yielded more mixed

The Importance of Social Cognition in Improving Functional Outcomes in Schizophrenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Afzal Javed

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Social cognition has become recognized as an important driver of functional outcomes and overall recovery in patients with schizophrenia, mediating the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning. Since antipsychotic therapy targeting remission of clinical symptoms has been shown to have a limited impact on social cognition, there has been an increasing drive to develop therapeutic strategies to specifically improve social cognition in schizophrenia. We sought to review current evidence relating to social cognition in schizophrenia and its clinical implications, including interventions designed to target the core domains of social cognition (emotion processing, theory of mind, attributional bias, and social perception as a means of improving functional outcomes and thereby increasing the likelihood of recovery. Relevant articles were identified by conducting a literature search in PubMed using the search terms “schizophrenia” AND “cognition” AND “social functioning,” limited to Title/Abstract, over a time period of the past 10 years. Current evidence demonstrates that schizophrenia is associated with impairments in all four core domains of social cognition, during the pre-first-episode, first-episode, early, and chronic phases of the disease, and that such impairments are important determinants of functional outcome. Interventions targeting the four core domains of social cognition comprise psychosocial approaches (social cognition training programs and pharmacological therapies. Social cognition training programs targeting multiple and specific core domains of social cognition have shown promise in improving social cognition skills, which, in some cases, has translated into improvements in functional outcomes. Use of some psychosocial interventions has additionally resulted in improvements in clinical symptoms and/or quality of life. Pharmacological therapies, including oxytocin and certain antipsychotics, have

Preschool Predictors of Kindergarten Language Outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne Walk

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study is to explore a variety of cognitive and social variables which are most relevant to children’s linguistic success in an educational setting. The study examines kindergarten English language outcomes in classrooms containing monolingual English speaking children and bilingual children who speak English and one other language. Data from the National Center for Early Development and Learning Multistate Study of Pre-Kindergarten (2001-2003 regarding classroom and student characteristics were used for bilingual (N = 120 and monolingual (N = 534 children. Hierarchical regression analysis (Study 1 and path analysis (Study 2 were conducted to determine the cognitive and social variables present in preschool that are most predictive of English skills in kindergarten. The results of the studies demonstrate that social variables were important for both monolingual and bilingual children. Personality variables were more predictive for monolingual children, whereas teacher relationship variables were more important for bilingual children. Simple and routine adult interaction was predictive of English skills in both groups, which may indicate the importance of implicit learning over explicit instruction in early language acquisition. The present studies found different predictors of English language skills for monolingual and bilingual kindergarteners.

Contributions of cognitive inflexibility to eating disorder and social anxiety symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Arlt, Jean; Yiu, Angelina; Eneva, Kalina; Taylor Dryman, M; Heimberg, Richard G; Chen, Eunice Y

2016-04-01

Eating disorders and social anxiety are highly co-occurring. These disorders share fears of social evaluation, possibly maintained by similar cognitive content and styles, including an inability to adapt or flexibly respond to unexpected conditions. However, the role of cognitive inflexibility in eating disorders in relation to social anxiety has not been explored. In this study, the link between eating disorder symptoms and cognitive inflexibility, while accounting for social anxiety, is examined. Participants (N=461) were undergraduates who completed the Detail and Flexibility Questionnaire 12-item Cognitive Rigidity subscale, the Eating Disorders Diagnostic Scale, and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale. Eating disorder symptoms and social anxiety were both positively correlated with cognitive inflexibility. After controlling for social anxiety, the relationship between eating disorder symptoms and cognitive inflexibility remained robust. Further examination of cognitive inflexibility in eating disorders and comorbid social anxiety in clinical samples is warranted. We suggest future directions for examining cognitive inflexibility as a trans-diagnostic construct important to eating disorders and frequently comorbid disorders, consistent with NIMH Research Domain Criteria. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Preverbal Infants Infer Third-Party Social Relationships Based on Language

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Liberman, Zoe; Woodward, Amanda L.; Kinzler, Katherine D.

2017-01-01

Language provides rich social information about its speakers. For instance, adults and children make inferences about a speaker's social identity, geographic origins, and group membership based on her language and accent. Although infants prefer speakers of familiar languages (Kinzler, Dupoux, & Spelke, 2007), little is known about the…

Conflicting Ideologies and Language Policy in Adult ESL: Complexities of Language Socialization in a Majority-L1 Classroom

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Mori, Miki

2014-01-01

This study looks at how language ideologies affect and are revealed in language socialization practices in a majority-L1 adult ESL classroom, particularly looking at language use and policy. It draws on recent theories and critiques of language socialization (Bayley & Langman, 2011; Bronson & Watson-Gegeo, 2008; Garrett &…

Psychometrics of social cognitive measures for psychosis treatment research.

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Davidson, Charlie A; Lesser, Rebecca; Parente, Lori T; Fiszdon, Joanna M

2018-03-01

Social cognition represents an important treatment target, closely linked to everyday social function. While a number of social cognitive interventions have recently been developed, measures used to evaluate these treatments are only beginning to receive psychometric scrutiny. Study goals were to replicate recently-published psychometrics for several social cognitive measures, and to provide information for additional social cognitive measures not included in recent reports. Forty-eight outpatients with psychotic-spectrum disorders completed measures of emotion perception, theory of mind, and attributional bias on two occasions, one month apart. Measures were tested for distributional characteristics, test-retest reliability, utility as a repeated measure, and relationship to symptoms and functioning. For a subgroup of participants, information about sensitivity to social cognitive treatment was also available. We replicated aspects of prior work, including largely favorable psychometric characteristics for the Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task, and promising but weaker characteristics for The Awareness of Social Inferences Test subscales and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task. The Hinting Task had adequate test-retest statistics but a more pronounced ceiling effect. Ambiguous Intentions and Hostility Questionnaire data showed evidence of validity but were limited by inconsistency over time. Our results strongly support the Davos Assessment of Cognitive Biases Scale for future evaluation as a social cognitive treatment outcome measure. Its scores were adequately distributed, consistent over time, related to symptoms and functioning, and sensitive to treatment effects. Other relatively novel assessments of attributional bias and theory of mind showed some promise, although more work is needed. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A DYNAMIC-SYSTEMS MODEL OF COGNITIVE AND LANGUAGE GROWTH

NARCIS (Netherlands)

VANGEERT, P

In the first part of the article, a conceptual framework is sketched to define cognitive growth, including language growth, as a process of growth under limited resources. Important concepts are the process, level, and rate of growth; minimal structural growth level; carrying capacity and unutilized

Social Cognitive Career Theory and Middle School Student Career Exploration

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Sickinger, Pamela H.

2013-01-01

Within the framework of social cognitive career theory, social cognitive career variables, demographic variables, and the contextual variable, parent support, were examined to determine their predictive value for eighth-grade students' career exploration behavior. Results suggest that the social cognitive career variable, intentions/goals,…

Tone Language Speakers and Musicians Share Enhanced Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities for Musical Pitch: Evidence for Bidirectionality between the Domains of Language and Music

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Bidelman, Gavin M.; Hutka, Stefanie; Moreno, Sylvain

2013-01-01

Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese) speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory). While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language. PMID:23565267

Tone language speakers and musicians share enhanced perceptual and cognitive abilities for musical pitch: evidence for bidirectionality between the domains of language and music.

Science.gov (United States)

Bidelman, Gavin M; Hutka, Stefanie; Moreno, Sylvain

2013-01-01

Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese) speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory). While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language.

Tone language speakers and musicians share enhanced perceptual and cognitive abilities for musical pitch: evidence for bidirectionality between the domains of language and music.

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Gavin M Bidelman

Full Text Available Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory. While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language.

Abstract concepts, language and sociality: from acquisition to inner speech.

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Borghi, Anna M; Barca, Laura; Binkofski, Ferdinand; Tummolini, Luca

2018-08-05

The problem of representation of abstract concepts, such as 'freedom' and 'justice', has become particularly crucial in recent years, owing to the increased success of embodied and grounded views of cognition. We will present a novel view on abstract concepts and abstract words. Since abstract concepts do not have single objects as referents, children and adults might rely more on input from others to learn them; we, therefore, suggest that linguistic and social experience play an important role for abstract concepts. We will discuss evidence obtained in our and other laboratories showing that processing of abstract concepts evokes linguistic interaction and social experiences, leading to the activation of the mouth motor system. We will discuss the possible mechanisms that underlie this activation. Mouth motor system activation can be due to re-enactment of the experience of conceptual acquisition, which occurred through the mediation of language. Alternatively, it could be due to the re-explanation of the word meaning, possibly through inner speech. Finally, it can be due to a metacognitive process revealing low confidence in the meaning of our concepts. This process induces in us the need to rely on others to ask/negotiate conceptual meaning. We conclude that with abstract concepts language works as a social tool: it extends our thinking abilities and pushes us to rely on others to integrate our knowledge.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use, and representation in the brain'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Social Cognition in Child and Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa

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ipek Percinel

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Social cognition represents the mental processes of social interaction between oneself and others. In recent years, the interest in social cognition skills has increased in cases with eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is associated with the multiple factors in etiology. Treatment of anorexia nervosa is still controversial. The youths diagnosed with anorexia nervosa are known to be as the most difficult group in eating disorders for building therapeutic relations. Studies, mostly suggests that there are difficulties in social cognitive functions in patients with anorexia nervosa. However, there are studies that reported different results. It seems that, the majority of studies which evaluate the social cognitive functions in patients with anorexia nervosa, are carried out with the adult age group. There are limited number of studies in child and adolescent age group. The purpose of this paper was to examinate the studies of social cognitive skills in children and adolescents diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and present the general characteristics. [Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry 2015; 7(2: 178-189

Incubation environment impacts the social cognition of adult lizards.

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Siviter, Harry; Deeming, D Charles; van Giezen, M F T; Wilkinson, Anna

2017-11-01

Recent work exploring the relationship between early environmental conditions and cognition has shown that incubation environment can influence both brain anatomy and performance in simple operant tasks in young lizards. It is currently unknown how it impacts other, potentially more sophisticated, cognitive processes. Social-cognitive abilities, such as gaze following and social learning, are thought to be highly adaptive as they provide a short-cut to acquiring new information. Here, we investigated whether egg incubation temperature influenced two aspects of social cognition, gaze following and social learning in adult reptiles ( Pogona vitticeps ). Incubation temperature did not influence the gaze following ability of the bearded dragons; however, lizards incubated at colder temperatures were quicker at learning a social task and faster at completing that task. These results are the first to show that egg incubation temperature influences the social cognitive abilities of an oviparous reptile species and that it does so differentially depending on the task. Further, the results show that the effect of incubation environment was not ephemeral but lasted long into adulthood. It could thus have potential long-term effects on fitness.

Gender affects body language reading

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Arseny A Sokolov

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Body motion is a rich source of information for social cognition. However, gender effects in body language reading are largely unknown. Here we investigated whether, and, if so, how recognition of emotional expressions revealed by body motion is gender dependent. To this end, females and males were presented with point-light displays portraying knocking at a door performed with different emotional expressions. The findings show that gender affects accuracy rather than speed of body language reading. This effect, however, is modulated by emotional content of actions: males surpass in recognition accuracy of happy actions, whereas females tend to excel in recognition of hostile angry knocking. Advantage of women in recognition accuracy of neutral actions suggests that females are better tuned to the lack of emotional content in body actions. The study provides novel insights into understanding of gender effects in body language reading, and helps to shed light on gender vulnerability to neuropsychiatric impairments in visual social cognition.

Spatial Frames of Reference in Traditional Negev Arabic: Language-to-Cognition Correlation.

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Cerqueglini, Letizia

2015-09-01

Linguistic and cognitive tasks on spatial Frames of Reference (FoRs) in Traditional Negev Arabic (TNA) show that TNA is a referentially promiscuous language, using Intrinsic, Relative and Absolute FoRs. FoRs are selected in context according to culture-specific features of the ground (G). TNA speakers exclusively use the Absolute FoR in cognitive tasks, similarly to Mesoamerican languages (Bohnemeyer et al. in Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Austin, 2014). Absolute FoR in TNA is anchored on the four cardinal directions. Nevertheless, in TNA and in other varieties of Nomadic Arabic, geocentric sub-types of the Absolute FoR are also observable. Indeed, as in other Absolute-framing systems worldwide, different anchoring strategies (geocentric and astronomic) tend to coexist. I define their coexistence "Absolute Referential Modularity" (ARM). ARM appears in TNA in cognitive referential tasks and in some lexical items, not in linguistic tasks (as elaborated by Levinson et al. in Space stimuli kit 1.2: November 1992. Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, pp 7-14, 1992). Cardinal directions across Nomadic Arabic varieties show great cultural salience. They are associated with concrete geographical elements and encode topological relations: east-west axis encodes the mountain-sea opposition, beside many symbolic meanings, and encodes the oppositions Up/Down and Inside (familiar)/Outside (foreign). The detection of cognitive and linguistic Absolute referential practices-characterized by Modularity-and the cultural salience of cardinal directions within the whole Nomadic Arabic linguistic group, support the bias for Absolute cognition in promiscuous systems and its antecedence with respect to later linguistic referential strategies (Bohnemeyer et al. 2014). TNA linguistic promiscuity represents an innovation with respect to the cognitive concepts and demonstrates that language first generates semantic structures

Uncovering the Mechanisms Responsible for Why Language Learning May Promote Healthy Cognitive Aging

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Mark Antoniou

2017-12-01

Full Text Available One of the great challenges facing humankind in the 21st century is preserving healthy brain function in our aging population. Individuals over 60 are the fastest growing age group in the world, and by 2050, it is estimated that the number of people over the age of 60 will triple. The typical aging process involves cognitive decline related to brain atrophy, especially in frontal brain areas and regions that subserve declarative memory, loss of synaptic connections, and the emergence of neuropathological symptoms associated with dementia. The disease-state of this age-related cognitive decline is Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, which may cause older adults to lose their independence and rely on others to live safely, burdening family members and health care systems in the process. However, there are two lines of research that offer hope to those seeking to promote healthy cognitive aging. First, it has been observed that lifestyle variables such as cognitive leisure activities can moderate the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, which has led to the development of plasticity-based interventions for older adults designed to protect against the adverse effects of cognitive decline. Second, there is evidence that lifelong bilingualism acts as a safeguard in preserving healthy brain function, possibly delaying the incidence of dementia by several years. In previous work, we have suggested that foreign language learning programs aimed at older populations are an optimal solution for building cognitive reserve because language learning engages an extensive brain network that is known to overlap with the regions negatively affected by the aging process. Here, we will outline potential future lines of research that may uncover the mechanism responsible for the emergence of language learning related brain advantages, such as language typology, bi- vs. multi-lingualism, age of acquisition, and the elements that are likely to result in the largest

Uncovering the Mechanisms Responsible for Why Language Learning May Promote Healthy Cognitive Aging

Science.gov (United States)

Antoniou, Mark; Wright, Sarah M.

2017-01-01

One of the great challenges facing humankind in the 21st century is preserving healthy brain function in our aging population. Individuals over 60 are the fastest growing age group in the world, and by 2050, it is estimated that the number of people over the age of 60 will triple. The typical aging process involves cognitive decline related to brain atrophy, especially in frontal brain areas and regions that subserve declarative memory, loss of synaptic connections, and the emergence of neuropathological symptoms associated with dementia. The disease-state of this age-related cognitive decline is Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, which may cause older adults to lose their independence and rely on others to live safely, burdening family members and health care systems in the process. However, there are two lines of research that offer hope to those seeking to promote healthy cognitive aging. First, it has been observed that lifestyle variables such as cognitive leisure activities can moderate the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, which has led to the development of plasticity-based interventions for older adults designed to protect against the adverse effects of cognitive decline. Second, there is evidence that lifelong bilingualism acts as a safeguard in preserving healthy brain function, possibly delaying the incidence of dementia by several years. In previous work, we have suggested that foreign language learning programs aimed at older populations are an optimal solution for building cognitive reserve because language learning engages an extensive brain network that is known to overlap with the regions negatively affected by the aging process. Here, we will outline potential future lines of research that may uncover the mechanism responsible for the emergence of language learning related brain advantages, such as language typology, bi- vs. multi-lingualism, age of acquisition, and the elements that are likely to result in the largest gains. PMID:29326636

Centre and/or periphery? On the cognitive and social construal of identity in a local community

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hovmark, Henrik

2010-01-01

-cultural setting, mass media, and politics (the island as periphery). Interestingly, the latter discourse could also be connected to local practices in which the new role of the island was being enacted and entrenched by the informants in their local environment. The data show that cognitive models can be subject......Centre and/or periphery? On the cognitive and social construal of identity in a local community Danish Directional Adverbs (DDA) (for instance op ‘up', ned ‘down', ud ‘out', ind ‘in') are very frequently used deictically to profile a specific conceptualisation of and relation to places, persons...... communicative and social spheres or deictic centres within the wider language community: individual, local, and supra-local (Hovmark 2007). Local communities can develop and conventionalise specific conceptualisations ("world views"), thus supporting recent findings that (dia)lectal variation is important...

Are There Any Connections between Language Deficits and Cognitive Slowing in Alzheimer's Disease

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Michael Schecker

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Speech disorders already occur in the early phases of Alzheimer's disease (AD. As a possible cause, problems of executive processes are discussed. Cognitive slowing is also repeatedly addressed. Aims: Are there any connections between cognitive slowing and speech disorders in AD? And is there a relationship between cognitive slowing and executive processes? Methods: The data of 72 healthy controls and 52 AD patients were examined with regard to their language performance and their response times in a computerized Stroop paradigm. Results: The AD patients showed significantly worse results in all language tests as well as much longer reaction times in all Stroop conditions, especially in the interference condition (Stroop 3. Speech errors and response times correlated with severity (MMSE, and the speech errors correlated with the reaction times in Stroop 3 (interference condition, which reflects the processing time of executive processes. Conclusion: The most interesting question now is: How are language processing and executive processing time (Stroop 3 related?

Spanish Language Self-Efficacy Beliefs among Spanish-Speaking Social Workers: Implications for Social Work Education

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Arriaza, Pablo

2015-01-01

Limited research exists about Spanish-speaking social workers that provide bilingual social work services. To date, studies have not exclusively focused on actual language competence of bilingual social workers or even their self-perceived language beliefs. This study reviews the results of a cross-sectional Internet-based survey exploring…

Differential effects of MDMA and methylphenidate on social cognition.

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Schmid, Yasmin; Hysek, Cédric M; Simmler, Linda D; Crockett, Molly J; Quednow, Boris B; Liechti, Matthias E

2014-09-01

Social cognition is important in everyday-life social interactions. The social cognitive effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') and methylphenidate (both used for neuroenhancement and as party drugs) are largely unknown. We investigated the acute effects of MDMA (75 mg), methylphenidate (40 mg) and placebo using the Facial Emotion Recognition Task, Multifaceted Empathy Test, Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition, Social Value Orientation Test and the Moral Judgment Task in a cross-over study in 30 healthy subjects. Additionally, subjective, autonomic, pharmacokinetic, endocrine and adverse drug effects were measured. MDMA enhanced emotional empathy for positive emotionally charged situations in the MET and tended to reduce the recognition of sad faces in the Facial Emotion Recognition Task. MDMA had no effects on cognitive empathy in the Multifaceted Empathy Test or social cognitive inferences in the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition. MDMA produced subjective 'empathogenic' effects, such as drug liking, closeness to others, openness and trust. In contrast, methylphenidate lacked such subjective effects and did not alter emotional processing, empathy or mental perspective-taking. MDMA but not methylphenidate increased the plasma levels of oxytocin and prolactin. None of the drugs influenced moral judgment. Effects on emotion recognition and emotional empathy were evident at a low dose of MDMA and likely contribute to the popularity of the drug. © The Author(s) 2014.

The Ecology of Second Language Acquisition and Socialization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steffensen, Sune Vork; Kramsch, Claire

2017-01-01

Various theories of second language acquisition (SLA) and socialization (SLS) have adopted ecology as a convenient metaphor to promote sociocultural (van Lier 2004) or sociocognitive (Atkinson 2011) approaches to the study of SLA, and socioethnographic approaches (Duff 2011; Duff and Talmy 2011...... such a development is to be welcomed, it also raises serious concerns about the autonomy of the language learner, the collective pressure on individuals to align with the expectations of the community, alternative theories of knowledge and of knowledge acquisition, and the socializing dominance of English around...... the world. This chapter discusses the history of the relationship between acquisition and socialization with regard to foreign/second language learning and use, and the role played by ecological theory in that relationship....

Social context modulates cognitive markers in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

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Santamaría-García, Hernando; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Burgaleta, Miguel; Ayneto, Alba; Alonso, Pino; Menchón, José M; Cardoner, Narcis; Sebastián-Gallés, Nuria

2017-08-03

Error monitoring, cognitive control and motor inhibition control are proposed as cognitive alterations disrupted in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD has also been associated with an increased sensitivity to social evaluations. The effect of a social simulation over electrophysiological indices of cognitive alterations in OCD was examined. A case-control cross-sectional study measuring event-related potentials (ERP) for error monitoring (Error-Related Negativity), cognitive control (N2) and motor control (LRP) was conducted. We analyzed twenty OCD patients and twenty control participants. ERP were recorded during a social game consisting of a visual discrimination task, which was performed in the presence of a simulated superior or an inferior player. Significant social effects (different ERP amplitudes in Superior vs. Inferior player conditions) were found for OCD patients, but not for controls, in all ERP components. Performing the task against a simulated inferior player reduced abnormal ERP responses in OCD to levels observed in controls. The hierarchy-induced ERP effects were accompanied effects over reaction times in OCD patients. Social context modulates signatures of abnormal cognitive functioning in OCD, therefore experiencing a social superiority position impacts over cognitive processes in OCD such as error monitoring mechanisms. These results open the door for the research of new therapeutic choices.

TOWARDS A USAGE-BASED COGNITIVE PHONOLOGY

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Gitten Kristiansen

2006-12-01

Full Text Available The usage-based conception of language is a major tenet in Cognitive Linguistics, but cognitive phonology has not yet been developed sufficiently in this direction. Often, phonemic analysis is carried out at the high level of abstraction of `a language´, disregarding rich patterns of languageinternal variation. This paper first argues that cognitive phonology must aim at a higher degree of descriptive refinement, especially in the direction of social variation. Then it goes on to examine the implications of a usage-based and multi-faceted model for a theoretical discussion of the phoneme as a prototype category.

The interrelationships between motor, cognitive, and language development in children with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Houwen, Suzanne; Visser, Linda; van der Putten, Annette; Vlaskamp, Carla

2016-01-01

It is generally agreed that cognitive and language development are dependent on the emergence of motor skills. As the literature on this issue concerning children with developmental disabilities is scarce, we examined the interrelationships between motor, cognitive, and language development in

Cognitive techniques and language: A return to behavioral origins.

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Froján Parga, María X; Núñez de Prado Gordillo, Miguel; de Pascual Verdú, Ricardo

2017-08-01

the main purpose of this study is to offer an alternative explanatory account of the functioning of cognitive techniques that is based on the principles of associative learning and highlights their verbal nature. The traditional accounts are questioned and analyzed in the light of the situation of psychology in the 1970s. conceptual analysis is employed to revise the concepts of language, cognition and behavior. Several operant- and Pavlovian-based approaches to these phenomena are presented, while particular emphasis is given to Mowrer’s (1954) approach and Ryle (1949) and Wittgenstein’s (1953) philosophical contributions to the field. several logical problems are found in regard to the theoretical foundations of cognitive techniques. A combination of both operant and Pavlovian paradigms based on the above-mentioned approaches is offered as an alternative explanatory account of cognitive techniques. This new approach could overcome the conceptual fragilities of the cognitive standpoint and its dependence upon constructs of dubious logical and scientific validity.

Meta-analysis of social cognition in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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Bora, Emre

2017-03-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is associated with executive dysfunction and behavioural impairment. Recent studies suggested that social cognitive deficits might also be a prominent feature of ALS. Current meta-analysis aimed to summarize available evidence for deficits in social cognition including theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition in ALS. In this meta-analysis of 15 studies, facial emotion recognition and ToM performances of 389 patients with ALS and 471 healthy controls were compared. ALS was associated with significant impairments with medium effect sizes in ToM (d = .65) and facial emotion recognition (d = .69). Among individual emotions recognition of disgust and surprise were particularly impaired. Deficits in perspective taking (d = .73) aspects of ToM (ToM-PT) was more pronounced in comparison to decoding (d = .28) aspects of ToM (ToM-decoding). The severity of social cognitive impairment was similar to level of executive dysfunction and there was a significant relationship between social cognition and executive dysfunction. Deficits in social cognition are part of the cognitive phenotype of ALS. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

THE COGNITIVE FUNCTION OF THE LANGUAGE AS A NEUTRALIZER OF INTERLINGUAL ASYMMETRY

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Liudmila Tazretovna Kalabekova

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with an attempt to show that the comparative-typological researches, conducted in the framework of closely related languages and at the level of unrelated langua-ges, reveal the irrefutable fact that, first of all, the system features of a single natural language lie in the basis of all the differences (lexical, semantic and syntactic. The neutralizer of the interlingual asymmetry that inevitably appears between the compared linguistic systems becomes a cognitive approach to language learning. It may be illustrated by some discrepancies between the French and the Russian language systems that appear on the grammatical and lexical levels transferring some grammatical categories and interlingual lexical homonyms. The cognitive approach to language learning that lies in the basis of the formation of some interlingual lexical homonyms, shows that their values are rarely the same, and the situation where the amount of the value of this kind of vocabulary has significant differences, is quite stereotyped and neutral.In the practice of translation, based on the various manifestations of the relations between the different linguistic cultures, a situation becomes enough frequency where the choice of meanings of different level – not grammatical, lexical or syntactic – is simply inevitable to transfer of any grammatical category, which has no formal counterpart in another language system.

Aerobic Exercise Improves Mood, Cognition, and Language Function in Parkinson's Disease: Results of a Controlled Study.

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Altmann, Lori J P; Stegemöller, Elizabeth; Hazamy, Audrey A; Wilson, Jonathan P; Bowers, Dawn; Okun, Michael S; Hass, Chris J

2016-10-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) results in a range of non-motor deficits that can affect mood, cognition, and language, and many of these issues are unresponsive to pharmacological intervention. Aerobic exercise can improve mood and cognition in healthy older adults, although only a few studies have examined exercise effects on these domains in PD. The current study assesses the effects of aerobic exercise on aspects of cognition, mood, and language production in people with PD. This study compares the effects of aerobic exercise to stretch-balance training and a no-contact control group in participants with idiopathic PD. The aerobic and stretch-balance groups trained three times a week for 16 weeks, while controls continued normal activities. Outcome measures included disease severity, mood, cognition (speed of processing, memory, and executive function), and language production (picture descriptions). Cognition and language were assessed in single and dual task conditions. Depressive symptoms increased only in the control group (pimproved in the aerobic exercise group only in the single task (p=.007) and declined in controls in the dual task. Completeness of picture descriptions improved significantly more in the aerobic group than in the stretch-balance group (pexercise is a viable intervention for PD that can be protective against increased depressive symptoms, and can improve several non-motor domains, including executive dysfunction and related aspects of language production. (JINS, 2016, 22, 878-889).

Exploring Cognitive Relations Between Prediction in Language and Music.

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Patel, Aniruddh D; Morgan, Emily

2017-03-01

The online processing of both music and language involves making predictions about upcoming material, but the relationship between prediction in these two domains is not well understood. Electrophysiological methods for studying individual differences in prediction in language processing have opened the door to new questions. Specifically, we ask whether individuals with musical training predict upcoming linguistic material more strongly and/or more accurately than non-musicians. We propose two reasons why prediction in these two domains might be linked: (a) Musicians may have greater verbal short-term/working memory; (b) music may specifically reward predictions based on hierarchical structure. We provide suggestions as to how to expand upon recent work on individual differences in language processing to test these hypotheses. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Informal Language Learning Setting: Technology or Social Interaction?

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Bahrani, Taher; Sim, Tam Shu

2012-01-01

Based on the informal language learning theory, language learning can occur outside the classroom setting unconsciously and incidentally through interaction with the native speakers or exposure to authentic language input through technology. However, an EFL context lacks the social interaction which naturally occurs in an ESL context. To explore…

Social Support, Social Strain, and Cognitive Function Among Community-Dwelling U.S. Chinese Older Adults.

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Ge, Shaoqing; Wu, Bei; Bailey, Donald E; Dong, XinQi

2017-07-01

Limited research is available on the relationship between social support, social strain, and cognitive function among community-dwelling U.S. Chinese older adults. This study aims to examine the associations between social support/strain and cognitive outcomes. Data were drawn from the Population-Based Study of Chinese Elderly (N = 3,159). Cognitive function was measured by a battery of tests including the East Boston Memory Test, the Digit Span Backwards assessment, and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Social support and strain were measured by the scales drawn from the Health and Retirement study. Multiple regression analyses were conducted. Social support was significantly associated with global cognitive function (β = .11, SE = .02, p function (β = 1.44, SE = .37, p cognitive function (β = .23, SE = .05, p function (β = 2.75, SE = .85, p cognitive function (β = .04, SE = .02, p function (β = .71, SE = .29, p cognitive function (β = .10, SE = .03, p function (β = 1.28, SE = .49, p function (β = 3.59, SE = 1.17, p cognitive outcomes. Future longitudinal studies should be conducted. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Using music to study the evolution of cognitive mechanisms relevant to language.

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Patel, Aniruddh D

2017-02-01

This article argues that music can be used in cross-species research to study the evolution of cognitive mechanisms relevant to spoken language. This is because music and language share certain cognitive processing mechanisms and because music offers specific advantages for cross-species research. Music has relatively simple building blocks (tones without semantic properties), yet these building blocks are combined into rich hierarchical structures that engage complex cognitive processing. I illustrate this point with regard to the processing of musical harmonic structure. Because the processing of musical harmonic structure has been shown to interact with linguistic syntactic processing in humans, it is of interest to know if other species can acquire implicit knowledge of harmonic structure through extended exposure to music during development (vs. through explicit training). I suggest that domestic dogs would be a good species to study in addressing this question.

On social femininatives in Serbian and other Slavic languages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piper Predrag J.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Social femininatives, such as Serbian pevačica, učiteljica, upravnica, available in all Slavic languages, have in recent decades become a subject of language policy based on political correctness in the field of gender relations. As part of this language policy, the requirement is put forward of creating feminine neologisms in respect of each masculine noun, designating a profession or social status. The use of the ideological and political criteria in order to change the grammatical structure of the language is typical of more or less all modern Slavic literary languages. A common feature of such language policy is their communicative and grammatical groundlessness. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 178021: Opis i standardizacija savremenog srpskog jezika

Using social media to measure language use

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhuravleva, Anastasia; de Bot, Kees; Hilton, Nanna

Investigations of language use in multilingual regions are traditionally done through the usage of retrospective questionnaires, either distributed on paper, or digitally. The aim of the present study was to test a new method of measuring language choice and use: by using social media to contact

Language growth in children with heterogeneous language disorders: a population study.

Science.gov (United States)

Norbury, Courtenay Frazier; Vamvakas, George; Gooch, Debbie; Baird, Gillian; Charman, Tony; Simonoff, Emily; Pickles, Andrew

2017-10-01

Language development has been characterised by significant individual stability from school entry. However, the extent to which trajectories of language growth vary in children with language disorder as a function of co-occurring developmental challenges is a question of theoretical import, with implications for service provision. SCALES employed a population-based survey design with sample weighting procedures to estimate growth in core language skills over the first three years of school. A stratified sample (n = 529) received comprehensive assessment of language, nonverbal IQ, and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties at 5-6 years of age and 95% of the sample (n = 499) were assessed again at ages 7-8. Language growth was measured using both raw and standard scores in children with typical development, children with language disorder of unknown origin, and children with language disorders associated with a known clinical condition and/or intellectual disability. Overall, language was stable at the individual level (estimated ICC = 0.95) over the first three years of school. Linear mixed effects models highlighted steady growth in language raw scores across all three groups, including those with multiple developmental challenges. There was little evidence, however, that children with language disorders were narrowing the gap with peers (z-scores). Adjusted models indicated that while nonverbal ability, socioeconomic status and social, emotional and behavioural deficits predicted initial language score (intercept), none predicted language growth (slope). These findings corroborate previous studies suggesting stable language trajectories after ages 5-6 years, but add considerably to previous work by demonstrating similar developmental patterns in children with additional nonverbal cognitive deficits, social, emotional, and behavioural challenges, social disadvantage or clinical diagnoses. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and

Language-Based Social Preferences among Children in South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Kinzler, Katherine D.; Shutts, Kristin; Spelke, Elizabeth S.

2012-01-01

Monolingual English-speaking children in the United States express social preferences for speakers of their native language with a native accent. Here we explore the nature of children's language-based social preferences through research with children in South Africa, a multilingual nation. Like children in the United States, Xhosa South African…

Infant communication and subsequent language development in children from low-income families: the role of early cognitive stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cates, Carolyn Brockmeyer; Dreyer, Benard P; Berkule, Samantha B; White, Lisa J; Arevalo, Jenny A; Mendelsohn, Alan L

2012-09-01

To explore the relationship between early cognitive stimulation in the home, 6-month infant communication, and 24-month toddler language in a low-socioeconomic status sample. Longitudinal analyses of mother-child dyads participating in larger study of early child development were performed. Dyads enrolled postpartum in an urban public hospital. Cognitive stimulation in the home at 6 months was assessed using StimQ-lnfant, including provision of toys, shared reading, teaching, and verbal responsivity. Early infant communication was assessed at 6 months including the following: (1) Emotion and eye gaze (Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale DP-CSBS DP), (2) Communicative bids (CSBS DP), and (3) Expression of emotion (Short Temperament Scale for Infants). Toddler language was assessed at 24 months using the Preschool Language Scale-4, including the following: (1) expressive language and (2) auditory comprehension. Three hundred twenty families were assessed. In structural equation models, cognitive stimulation in the home was strongly associated with early infant communication (β = 0.63, p cognitive stimulation on 24-month language was mediated through early impacts on infant communication (Indirect β = 0.28, p =.001). Reading, teaching, availability of learning materials, and other reciprocal verbal interactions were all related directly to infant communication and indirectly to language outcomes. The impact of early cognitive stimulation on toddler language is manifested through early associations with infant communication. Pediatric primary care providers should promote cognitive stimulation beginning in early infancy and support the expansion and dissemination of intervention programs such as Reach Out and Read and the Video Interaction Project.

Emotion in languaging: Language and emotion as affective, adaptive and flexible behavior in social interaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Wiben Jensen

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This article argues for a view on languaging as inherently affective. Informed by recent ecological tendencies within cognitive science and distributed language studies a distinction between first order languaging (language as whole-body sense making and second order language (language as system like constraints is put forward. Contrary to common assumptions within linguistics and communication studies separating language-as-a-system from language use (resulting in separations between language vs. body-language and verbal vs. non-verbal communication etc. the first/second order distinction sees language as emanating from behavior making it possible to view emotion and affect as integral parts languaging behavior. Likewise, emotion and affect are studied, not as inner mental states, but as processes of organism-environment interactions. Based on video recordings of interaction between 1 children with special needs, and 2 couple in therapy and the therapist patterns of reciprocal influences between interactants are examined. Through analyzes of affective stance and patterns of inter-affectivity it is exemplified how language and emotion should not be seen as separate phenomena combined in language use, but rather as completely intertwined phenomena in languaging behavior constrained by second order patterns.

Prospects for direct social perception: a multi-theoretical integration to further the science of social cognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiltshire, Travis J; Lobato, Emilio J C; McConnell, Daniel S; Fiore, Stephen M

2014-01-01

In this paper we suggest that differing approaches to the science of social cognition mirror the arguments between radical embodied and traditional approaches to cognition. We contrast the use in social cognition of theoretical inference and mental simulation mechanisms with approaches emphasizing a direct perception of others' mental states. We build from a recent integrative framework unifying these divergent perspectives through the use of dual-process theory and supporting social neuroscience research. Our elaboration considers two complementary notions of direct perception: one primarily stemming from ecological psychology and the other from enactive cognition theory. We use this as the foundation from which to offer an account of the informational basis for social information and assert a set of research propositions to further the science of social cognition. In doing so, we point out how perception of the minds of others can be supported in some cases by lawful information, supporting direct perception of social affordances and perhaps, mental states, and in other cases by cues that support indirect perceptual inference. Our goal is to extend accounts of social cognition by integrating advances across disciplines to provide a multi-level and multi-theoretic description that can advance this field and offer a means through which to reconcile radical embodied and traditional approaches to cognitive neuroscience.

The Utility of Cognitive Plausibility in Language Acquisition Modeling: Evidence from Word Segmentation

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Phillips, Lawrence; Pearl, Lisa

2015-01-01

The informativity of a computational model of language acquisition is directly related to how closely it approximates the actual acquisition task, sometimes referred to as the model's "cognitive plausibility." We suggest that though every computational model necessarily idealizes the modeled task, an informative language acquisition…

Social-cognitive functioning and social skills in patients with early treated phenylketonuria: a PKU-COBESO study.

Science.gov (United States)

Jahja, Rianne; van Spronsen, Francjan J; de Sonneville, Leo M J; van der Meere, Jaap J; Bosch, Annet M; Hollak, Carla E M; Rubio-Gozalbo, M Estela; Brouwers, Martijn C G J; Hofstede, Floris C; de Vries, Maaike C; Janssen, Mirian C H; van der Ploeg, Ans T; Langendonk, Janneke G; Huijbregts, Stephan C J

2016-05-01

Early treatment of phenylketonuria (ET-PKU) prevents mental retardation, but many patients still show cognitive and mood problems. In this study, it was investigated whether ET-PKU-patients have specific phenylalanine (Phe-)related problems with respect to social-cognitive functioning and social skills. Ninety five PKU-patients (mean age 21.6 ± 10.2 years) and 95 healthy controls (mean age 19.6 ± 8.7 years) were compared on performance of computerized and paper-and-pencil tasks measuring social-cognitive abilities and on parent- and self-reported social skills, using multivariate analyses of variance, and controlling for general cognitive ability (IQ-estimate). Further comparisons were made between patients using tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4, N = 30) and patients not using BH4. Associations with Phe-levels on the day of testing, during childhood, during adolescence and throughout life were examined. PKU-patients showed poorer social-cognitive functioning and reportedly had poorer social skills than controls (regardless of general cognitive abilities). Quality of social-cognitive functioning was negatively related to recent Phe-levels and Phe-levels between 8 and 12 years for adolescents with PKU. Quality of social skills was negatively related to lifetime phenylalanine levels in adult patients, and specifically to Phe-levels between 0 and 7, and between 8 and 12 years. There were no differences with respect to social outcome measures between the BH4 and non-BH4 groups. PKU-patients have Phe-related difficulties with social-cognitive functioning and social skills. Problems seem to be more evident among adolescents and adults with PKU. High Phe-levels during childhood and early adolescence seem to be of greater influence than current and recent Phe-levels for these patients.

Language and Discourse in Social Media Relational Dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valentini, Chiara; Romenti, Stefania; Kruckeberg, Dean

2016-01-01

constitution perspective that focuses on the power of communicative acts and practices to create organizational realities. The theoretical proposition suggests that social media are communicatively constituted, just as are relationships; thus, relational dynamics in social media that feature oral or written......This article presents and discusses a theoretical proposition to study social media and their relational dynamics based on the role of language and discourse in communicative interactions that occur in social media. We propose a theoretical foundation that is grounded on the communicative...... communications should be analyzed through the study of actors’ language and discourses. The article concludes with reflections on the implications of this theoretical proposition for the study of relational dynamics in social media and provides suggestions for future research....

Experimental Study of Middle-Term Training in Social Cognition in Preschoolers

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Houssa, Marine; Nader-Grosbois, Nathalie

2016-01-01

In an experimental design, we examined the effects of middle-term training in social information processing (SIP) and in Theory of Mind (ToM) on preschoolers' social cognition and social adjustment. 48 preschoolers took part in a pre-test and post-test session involving cognitive, socio-cognitive and social adjustment (direct and indirect)…

The effects of oxytocin on social cognition in borderline personality disorder.

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Servan, A; Brunelin, J; Poulet, E

2018-02-01

Deficits in social cognition and interpersonal difficulties are key features in borderline personality disorder. Social cognition refers to the function of perceiving and adequately dealing with social signals, leading to the establishment and maintenance of healthy and positive social relationships. Evidence suggests that oxytocin (OT) may improve social cognition and human social behavior. Recently, several studies have highlighted the beneficial effects of oxytocin in several psychiatric conditions involving social cognition deficits such as schizophrenia, autism or social phobia. However, despite growing interest, the effects of oxytocin in patients with borderline personality disorder are far from being clearly demonstrated. The objective of this work was to review and discuss studies investigating the interest of oxytocin in alleviating social cognition deficits in patients with borderline personality disorder (recognition of emotion, trust and cooperation, affective and cognitive empathy, emotional expression and social problem-solving). A systematic review of the literature was conducted up to September 31, 2016 on the Pubmed, Science direct, Medline and Scopus databases using "borderline personality disorder" and "oxytocin" as keywords. To be included, studies were to include patients with borderline personality disorder; to investigate social cognition and to investigate the effect of oxytocin on social cognition in patients with TPB. The initial search yielded 52 articles. Among them, 11 studies were selected according to the PRISMA criteria. The effect of oxytocin on social cognition in patients with borderline personality disorder was mainly investigated in relation to recognition of emotions and trust and cooperation. We did not find any studies investigating the effect of oxytocin on affective and cognitive empathy, emotional expression or social problem-solving abilities. In patients with borderline personality disorder, oxytocin had a beneficial

[Formula: see text]Associations among parent-child relationships and cognitive and language outcomes in a clinical sample of preschool children.

Science.gov (United States)

Leiser, Kara; Heffelfinger, Amy; Kaugars, Astrida

2017-02-01

To examine associations among parent-child relationship characteristics and child cognitive and language outcomes. Preschool children (n = 72) with early neurological insult completed assessments of cognitive and language functioning and participated in a parent-child semi-structured interaction. Quality of the parent-child relationship accounted for a significant amount of unique variance (12%) in predicting children's overall cognitive and language functioning. Impact of neurological insult was a significant predictor. Caregiver-child interactions that are harmonious and reciprocal as evidenced by affective and/or verbal exchanges support children's cognitive and language development. Observations of interactions can guide providers in facilitating child- and family-centered interventions.

Examining Effects of Poverty, Maternal Depression, and Children's Self-Regulation Abilities on the Development of Language and Cognition in Early Childhood: An Early Head Start Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Sharkins, Kimberly A.; Leger, Sarah E.; Ernest, James M.

2017-01-01

Early childhood poverty is a prevalent social issue, both in the United States and in the wider international community. It has been well established that factors associated with poverty, including familial income and parental education level, can negatively affect children's language and cognitive development, which can result in academic…

Cognitive differences in second language learners and the critical period effects.

OpenAIRE

Figueiredo, Sandra; Silva, Carlos Fernandes da

2009-01-01

Research has shown a strong association between psychological, affective, neurological and learning variables, related also with age and gender factors, in the process of acquisition and/or learning of a second language. However, there is a theoretical controversy concerning the way the critical period may affect different levels of language competence. We developed an assessment instrument to test the phonological awareness and general cognitive achievement in L2, for application...

[Social cognition of schizophrenia: bridging gap between brain science and psychosocial intervention].

Science.gov (United States)

Ikebuchi, Emi; Nakagome, Kazuyuki; Ikezawa, Satoru; Miura, Sachie; Yamasaki, Syudo; Nemoto, Takahiro; Hidai, Shin-Ichi; Mogami, Tamiko

2012-01-01

The concept and assessment tools for social cognition of schizophrenia were reviewed in order to bridge the gap between brain cognitive science and psycho-social intervention. Social cognition as well as neuro-cognition strongly influences social functioning, and the impact of neuro-cognition is mediated by social cognition. Neuronal networks of personal identification, facial perception, emotional identification, eye contact, "theory of mind", mutual communication, and the decision-making process have been clarified recently. The results of face discrimination and emotion recognition tasks show impairment in persons with schizophrenia as compared with healthy controls, especially fear, dislike, and sad recognition tasks. It might be difficult for them to link ambiguous stimuli with specific emotions, and they have a tendency to recognize uncomfortable emotions easily. "Jumping to conclusions" tendency (JTC) was identified in previous research on delusion. JTC develops from information uptake bias and confidence bias, and they might be thought to be trait and state. Social problem-solving is the skill to use social cognition to comprehensively adjust to specific social situations, and processing skills of social problem-solving are related to divergent thinking. Rating scales and the results of previous studies on emotion recognition, social perception, attribution style, and "theory of mind" were summarized. Furthermore, psycho-social interventions to improve emotion recognition directly, JTC, and divergent thinking were reported. Interventions aiming at improving social cognition or meta-cognition directly have been recently developed, which might improve some components of social functioning that used to be difficult to improve. These concepts of social cognition and researches on brain science, assessment tools, and intervention methods would clarify the mechanisms of the effects of psycho-social interventions, improve their methodology, and help to develop new

Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism: Digging Deeper for the Contributions of Language Dominance, Linguistic Knowledge, Socio-Economic Status and Cognitive Abilities

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Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C.; Thomas, Enlli Mon; Jones, Leah; Guasch, Nestor Vinas; Young, Nia; Hughes, Emma K.

2010-01-01

This study explores the extent to which a bilingual advantage can be observed for executive function tasks in children of varying levels of language dominance, and examines the contributions of general cognitive knowledge, linguistic abilities, language use and socio-economic level to performance. Welsh-English bilingual and English monolingual…

Social cognition in patients at ultra-high risk for psychosis: What is the relation to social skills and functioning?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louise B. Glenthøj

2016-09-01

Conclusion: Significant impairments in social cognition and social skills were found in UHR patients. The patients' social cognitive function was associated with overall functioning and social skills. Negative symptoms appear to play an important role for functioning. Research is needed to investigate how the relations between social cognition, social skills and functioning develop from the UHR state to the stage of manifest illness. Research into how deficits in social cognition and social skills can be ameliorated in UHR patients is warranted.

Cognitive Neuroscience of Foreign Language Education: Myths and Realities

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Ali Nouri

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper summarizes the educational implications of current research on cognitive neuroscience for foreign-language learning to provide an overview of myths and realities in this appealing area of research. Although the potential benefits of neuroscientific research into language acquisition are great, there are a number of popular myths that none of which are supported by scientific evidence. In this paper, three prominent examples of these myths are introduced and discussed how they are based on misinterpretation and misapplication from neuroscience research. The first pervasive example of such misconception is the prevalent belief of being the certain critical periods for learning a second language. It implies that the opportunity to acquire foreign languages is lost forever by missing these biological windows. In fact, however, extensive research shows that there are sensitive periods, but not critical periods, during which an individual can acquire certain aspects of language with greater ease than at other times. Another example of myths is a false conclusion implies that exposing children to a foreign language too early interrupts knowledge of their first language. The reality is that learning a second language not only improves language abilities in the first language, but also positively affects reading abilities and general literacy in school. Like the other myths, there is also a popular conception about ability to learn second language during sleep. It is demonstrated that previously acquired memories are consolidated and new association are learned during sleep, but learning a foreign language requires conscious effort and available data do not support this hypothesis that second language acquire during sleep. The main conclusion arising from this argument is that, while our understanding of the neural bases of language learning is continually evolving, our interpretation of the implications of these findings for foreign language

Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Research provides an introduction to the Vygotskianperspective (also called "Socio-cultural Theory"- SCT) on second language (SL) Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Research provides an introduction to the Vygotskianperspective (also called "Socio-cultural Theory"- SCT) on second language (SL)

OpenAIRE

Gloria Gil

2008-01-01

studies by presenting some studies which adopted this point of view to carry out different types of second language related research. The main tenet of Vygotskian Theory (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986) is that human cognition is socially developed and constructed; thus, this approach offers the possibility of bringing together the cognitive and social domains, traditionally separated in human sciences. The book can be divided into two parts: a theoretical Chapter 1, and nine chapte...

Social Networking Sites and Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Brick, Billy

2011-01-01

This article examines a study of seven learners who logged their experiences on the language leaning social networking site Livemocha over a period of three months. The features of the site are described and the likelihood of their future success is considered. The learners were introduced to the Social Networking Site (SNS) and asked to learn a…

Prospects for direct social perception: A multi-theoretical integration to further the science of social cognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Travis J. Wiltshire

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we suggest that differing approaches to the science of social cognition mirror the arguments between radical embodied and traditional approaches to cognition. We contrast the use in social cognition of theoretical inference and mental simulation mechanisms with approaches emphasizing a direct perception of others’ mental states. We build from a recent integrative framework unifying these divergent perspectives through the use of dual-process theory and supporting social neuroscience research. Our elaboration considers two complementary notions of direct perception: one primarily stemming from ecological psychology and the other from enactive cognition theory. We use this as the foundation from which to offer an account of the informational basis for social information and assert a set of research propositions to further the science of social cognition. In doing so, we point out how perception of the minds of others can be supported in some cases by lawful information, supporting direct perception of social affordances and perhaps, mental states, and in other cases by cues that support indirect perceptual inference. Our goal is to extend accounts of social cognition by integrating advances across disciplines to provide a multi-level and multi-theoretic description that can advance this field and offer a means through which to reconcile radical embodied and traditional approaches to cognitive neuroscience.

Prospects for direct social perception: a multi-theoretical integration to further the science of social cognition

Science.gov (United States)

Wiltshire, Travis J.; Lobato, Emilio J. C.; McConnell, Daniel S.; Fiore, Stephen M.

2015-01-01

In this paper we suggest that differing approaches to the science of social cognition mirror the arguments between radical embodied and traditional approaches to cognition. We contrast the use in social cognition of theoretical inference and mental simulation mechanisms with approaches emphasizing a direct perception of others’ mental states. We build from a recent integrative framework unifying these divergent perspectives through the use of dual-process theory and supporting social neuroscience research. Our elaboration considers two complementary notions of direct perception: one primarily stemming from ecological psychology and the other from enactive cognition theory. We use this as the foundation from which to offer an account of the informational basis for social information and assert a set of research propositions to further the science of social cognition. In doing so, we point out how perception of the minds of others can be supported in some cases by lawful information, supporting direct perception of social affordances and perhaps, mental states, and in other cases by cues that support indirect perceptual inference. Our goal is to extend accounts of social cognition by integrating advances across disciplines to provide a multi-level and multi-theoretic description that can advance this field and offer a means through which to reconcile radical embodied and traditional approaches to cognitive neuroscience. PMID:25709572

Researching Language Teacher Cognition and Practice: International Case Studies

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Barnard, Roger, Ed.; Burns, Anne, Ed.

2012-01-01

This book presents a novel approach to discussing how to research language teacher cognition and practice. An introductory chapter by the editors and an overview of the research field by Simon Borg precede eight case studies written by new researchers, each of which focuses on one approach to collecting data. These approaches range from…

Social and Cognitive Impressions of Adults Who Do and Do Not Stutter Based on Listeners' Perceptions of Read-Speech Samples

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Lauren J. Amick

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by frequent and involuntary disruptions during speech production. Adults who stutter are often subject to negative perceptions. The present study examined whether negative social and cognitive impressions are formed when listening to speech, even without any knowledge about the speaker. Two experiments were conducted in which naïve participants were asked to listen to and provide ratings on samples of read speech produced by adults who stutter and typically-speaking adults without knowledge about the individuals who produced the speech. In both experiments, listeners rated speaker cognitive ability, likeability, anxiety, as well as a number of speech characteristics that included fluency, naturalness, intelligibility, the likelihood the speaker had a speech-and-language disorder (Experiment 1 only, rate and volume (both Experiments 1 and 2. The speech of adults who stutter was perceived to be less fluent, natural, intelligible, and to be slower and louder than the speech of typical adults. Adults who stutter were also perceived to have lower cognitive ability, to be less likeable and to be more anxious than the typical adult speakers. Relations between speech characteristics and social and cognitive impressions were found, independent of whether or not the speaker stuttered (i.e., they were found for both adults who stutter and typically-speaking adults and did not depend on being cued that some of the speakers may have had a speech-language impairment.

Language community as an agent of individual’s socialization

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G. V. Liakhovich

2017-03-01

In the article the analysis of the works of national and foreign researchers in sociolinguistics, sociology of language based on a common interpretation of the language community. Characterized the role of linguistic community in in the construction of social space in the context of the theory P.Berger and T. Lukman. Also the paper presents the analysis of the works of domestic and foreign social scientists who have studied the mechanisms and factors of a young person, her social conditioning. Sociological approach to the explanation of linguistic community as an agent of socialization of the individual is characterized. The authors considers that the notion is interlinked with the categories of linguistic situation, linguistic identity, linguistic picture of the world and linguistic processes. The paper interprets the state of linguistic community depending on the state of languages in society.

Cognitive assessment of refugee children: Effects of trauma and new language acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Ida; Stolk, Yvonne; Valibhoy, Madeleine; Tucker, Alan; Baker, Judy

2016-02-01

Each year, approximately 60,000 children of refugee background are resettled in Western countries. This paper reviews the effects of the refugee experience on cognitive functioning. The distinctive influences for these children include exposure to traumatic events and the need to acquire a new language, factors that need to be considered to avoid overdiagnosis of learning disorders and inappropriate educational placements. Prearrival trauma, psychological sequelae of traumatic events, developmental impact of trauma, and the quality of family functioning have been found to influence cognitive functioning, learning, and academic performance. In addition, the refugee child may be semiproficient in several languages, but proficient in none, whilst also trying to learn a new language. The influence that the child's limited English proficiency, literacy, and school experience may have on academic and test performance is demonstrated by drawing on the research on refugees' English language acquisition, as well as the more extensive literature on bilingual English language learners. Implications for interventions are drawn at the level of government policy, schools, and the individual. The paper concludes with the observation that there is a major need for longitudinal research on refugee children's learning and academic performance and on interventions that will close the academic gap, thereby enabling refugee children to reach their educational potential. © The Author(s) 2015.

Maternal Education Level Predicts Cognitive, Language, and Motor Outcome in Preterm Infants in the Second Year of Life.

Science.gov (United States)

Patra, Kousiki; Greene, Michelle M; Patel, Aloka L; Meier, Paula

2016-07-01

Objective To evaluate the relative impact of maternal education level (MEL) on cognitive, language, and motor outcomes at 20 months' corrected age (CA) in preterm infants. Study Design A total of 177 preterm infants born between 2008 and 2010 were tested at 20 months' CA using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III. Multiple regression analyses were done to determine the relative impact of MEL on cognitive, language, and motor scores. Results Infants born to mothers with high school MEL were 3.74 times more likely to have a subnormal motor index, while those born to mothers with some college and graduate school MEL had reduced odds (0.36 and 0.12, respectively) of having subnormal language index at 20 months. In linear regression, MEL was the strongest predictor of cognitive, language, and motor scores, and graduate school MEL was associated with increases in cognitive, motor, and language scores of 8.49, 8.23, and 15.74 points, respectively. Conclusions MEL is the most significant predictor of cognitive, language, and motor outcome at 20 months' CA in preterm infants. Further research is needed to evaluate if targeted interventions that focus on early childhood learning and parenting practices can ameliorate the impact of low MEL. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Early Language Learning and the Social Brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhl, Patricia K

2014-01-01

Explaining how every typically developing child acquires language is one of the grand challenges of cognitive neuroscience. Historically, language learning provoked classic debates about the contributions of innately specialized as opposed to general learning mechanisms. Now, new data are being brought to bear from studies that employ magnetoencephalograph (MEG), electroencephalograph (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies on young children. These studies examine the patterns of association between brain and behavioral measures. The resulting data offer both expected results and surprises that are altering theory. As we uncover what it means to be human through the lens of young children, and their ability to speak, what we learn will not only inform theories of human development, but also lead to the discovery of neural biomarkers, early in life, that indicate risk for language impairment and allow early intervention for children with developmental disabilities involving language. Copyright © 2014 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved.

Intercorporeality as a theory of social cognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Shogo

2015-08-01

The main aim of this article is to revisit Merleau-Ponty's notion of intercorporeality (intercorporéité) and elaborate it as a new theory of social cognition. As is well known, theory of mind has been the central issue in the field of social cognition for more than two decades. In reviewing the basic concepts involved in two major theories (theory theory and simulation theory), I make clear that both theories have been missing the embodied dimension because of their mind-body dualistic supposition. The notion of intercorporeality, in accordance with the recent interaction theory, stresses the role of embodied interactions between the self and the other in the process of social understanding. I develop this notion into two directions and describe the related process of social cognition: one is behavior matching and primordial empathy, the other is interactional synchrony and the sense of mutual understanding. Through these embodied interactions, intersubjective meanings are created and directly shared between the self and the other, without being mediated by mental representations.

Reducing Bullying: Application of Social Cognitive Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Swearer, Susan M.; Wang, Cixin; Berry, Brandi; Myers, Zachary R.

2014-01-01

Social cognitive theory (SCT) is an important heuristic for understanding the complexity of bullying behaviors and the social nature of involvement in bullying. Bullying has been heralded as a social relationship problem, and the interplay between the individual and his or her social environment supports this conceptualization. SCT has been used…

Neuropsychological and social cognitive function in young people at genetic risk of bipolar disorder.

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McCormack, C; Green, M J; Rowland, J E; Roberts, G; Frankland, A; Hadzi-Pavlovic, D; Joslyn, C; Lau, P; Wright, A; Levy, F; Lenroot, R K; Mitchell, P B

2016-03-01

Impairments in key neuropsychological domains (e.g. working memory, attention) and social cognitive deficits have been implicated as intermediate (endo) phenotypes for bipolar disorder (BD), and should therefore be evident in unaffected relatives. Neurocognitive and social cognitive ability was examined in 99 young people (age range 16-30 years) with a biological parent or sibling diagnosed with the disorder [thus deemed to be at risk (AR) of developing BD], compared with 78 healthy control (HC) subjects, and 52 people with a confirmed diagnosis of BD. Only verbal intelligence and affective response inhibition were significantly impaired in AR relative to HC participants; the BD participants showed significant deficits in attention tasks compared with HCs. Neither AR nor BD patients showed impairments in general intellectual ability, working memory, visuospatial or language ability, relative to HC participants. Analysis of BD-I and BD-II cases separately revealed deficits in attention and immediate memory in BD-I patients (only), relative to HCs. Only the BD (but not AR) participants showed impaired emotion recognition, relative to HCs. Selective cognitive deficits in the capacity to inhibit negative affective information, and general verbal ability may be intermediate markers of risk for BD; however, the extent and severity of impairment in this sample was less pronounced than has been reported in previous studies of older family members and BD cases. These findings highlight distinctions in the cognitive profiles of AR and BD participants, and provide limited support for progressive cognitive decline in association with illness development in BD.

How social cognition deficits affect psychopathology: A neuroscientific approach

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Andrić Sanja

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Humans are substantially a social species. Effective mental treatment cannot be obtained without addressing social behavior. Social cognition refers to the mental processes underlying social interactions, which allow individuals to make sense of the other peoples' behavior, to decipher emotions on their faces, and to draw conclusions about their intentions. The core domains of this multifaceted concept are theory of mind, social cue perception, attributional style and emotion perception/ processing. The amygdala, orbital frontal cortex and temporal cortex areas are typically activated during the processing of information within social-emotional context. The aforementioned brain areas are recognized as the major components of the so-called 'social brain'- specialized for the social interactions in humans. Adequate perceiving and processing of the social information is essential for an effective social functioning, which becomes obvious when it goes awry. Various psychiatric disorders are characterized by social cognitive deficits, among which schizophrenias, depression-anxiety and autism spectrum disorders were most broadly studied to date. Growing evidence suggest that these deficits underlie poor functional outcomes in patients with mental health impairments and have an important role in the initiation and maintenance of the disorders' symptoms. One of the most important goals of social neuroscience research is to provide a treatment intervention that will improve patients' social cognitive skills and the functional outcome. All together, the present review aims to provide a contemporary overview of the concept of social cognition, to outline its relation to psychopathology, and to discuss the implications for clinical practice and treatment.

Reliability of two social cognition tests: The combined stories test and the social knowledge test.

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Thibaudeau, Élisabeth; Cellard, Caroline; Legendre, Maxime; Villeneuve, Karèle; Achim, Amélie M

2018-04-01

Deficits in social cognition are common in psychiatric disorders. Validated social cognition measures with good psychometric properties are necessary to assess and target social cognitive deficits. Two recent social cognition tests, the Combined Stories Test (COST) and the Social Knowledge Test (SKT), respectively assess theory of mind and social knowledge. Previous studies have shown good psychometric properties for these tests, but the test-retest reliability has never been documented. The aim of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability and the inter-rater reliability of the COST and the SKT. The COST and the SKT were administered twice to a group of forty-two healthy adults, with a delay of approximately four weeks between the assessments. Excellent test-retest reliability was observed for the COST, and a good test-retest reliability was observed for the SKT. There was no evidence of practice effect. Furthermore, an excellent inter-rater reliability was observed for both tests. This study shows a good reliability of the COST and the SKT that adds to the good validity previously reported for these two tests. These good psychometrics properties thus support that the COST and the SKT are adequate measures for the assessment of social cognition. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Overview of Social Cognitive Dysfunctions in Rare Developmental Syndromes With Psychiatric Phenotype

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Aurore Morel

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Rare neurodevelopmental syndromes often present social cognitive deficits that may underlie difficulties in social interactions and increase the risk of psychosis or autism spectrum disorders. However, little is known regarding the specificities of social cognitive impairment across syndromes while it remains a major challenge for the care. Our review provides an overview of social cognitive dysfunctions in rare diseases associated with psychiatric symptoms (with a prevalence estimated between 1 in 1,200 and 1 in 25,000 live births: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, Prader–Willi syndrome, Rett syndrome, Smith–Magenis syndrome, Turner syndrome, and Williams syndrome and shed some light on the specific mechanisms that may underlie these skills in each clinical presentation. We first detail the different processes included in the generic expression “social cognition” before summarizing the genotype, psychiatric phenotype, and non-social cognitive profile in each syndrome. Then, we offer a systematic review of the social cognitive abilities and the disturbed mechanisms they are likely associated with. We followed the PRISMA process, including the definition of the relevant search terms, the selection of studies based on clear inclusion, and exclusion criteria and the quality appraisal of papers. We finally provide insights that may have considerable influence on the development of adapted therapeutic interventions such as social cognitive training (SCT therapies specifically designed to target the psychiatric phenotype. The results of this review suggest that social cognition impairments share some similarities across syndromes. We propose that social cognitive impairments are strongly involved in behavioral symptoms regardless of the overall cognitive level measured by intelligence quotient. Better understanding the mechanisms underlying impaired social cognition may lead to adapt

Integrating intention and context: assessing social cognition in adults with Asperger syndrome

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Sandra eBaez

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Deficits in social cognition are an evident clinical feature of the Asperger syndrome (AS. Although many daily life problems of adults with AS are related to social cognition impairments, few studies have conducted comprehensive research in this area. The current study examined multiple domains of social cognition in adults with AS assessing the executive functions (EF and exploring the intra and inter-individual variability. Fifteen adults diagnosed with AS and 15 matched healthy controls completed a battery of social cognition tasks. This battery included measures of emotion recognition, theory of mind, empathy, moral judgment, social norms knowledge and self-monitoring behavior in social settings. We controlled for the effect of EF and explored the individual variability. The results indicated that adults with AS had a fundamental deficit in several domains of social cognition. We also found high variability in the social cognition tasks. In these tasks, AS participants obtained mostly subnormal performance. Executive functions did not seem to play a major role in the social cognition impairments. Our results suggest that adults with AS present a pattern of social cognition deficits characterized by the decreased ability to implicitly encode and integrate contextual information in order to access to the social meaning. Nevertheless, when social information is explicitly presented or the situation can be navigated with abstract rules, performance is improved. Our findings have implications for the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with AS as well as for the neurocognitive models of this syndrome.

Integrating intention and context: assessing social cognition in adults with Asperger syndrome

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Baez, Sandra; Rattazzi, Alexia; Gonzalez-Gadea, María L.; Torralva, Teresa; Vigliecca, Nora Silvana; Decety, Jean; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin

2012-01-01

Deficits in social cognition are an evident clinical feature of the Asperger syndrome (AS). Although many daily life problems of adults with AS are related to social cognition impairments, few studies have conducted comprehensive research in this area. The current study examined multiple domains of social cognition in adults with AS assessing the executive functions (EF) and exploring the intra and inter-individual variability. Fifteen adult's diagnosed with AS and 15 matched healthy controls completed a battery of social cognition tasks. This battery included measures of emotion recognition, theory of mind (ToM), empathy, moral judgment, social norms knowledge, and self-monitoring behavior in social settings. We controlled for the effect of EF and explored the individual variability. The results indicated that adults with AS had a fundamental deficit in several domains of social cognition. We also found high variability in the social cognition tasks. In these tasks, AS participants obtained mostly subnormal performance. EF did not seem to play a major role in the social cognition impairments. Our results suggest that adults with AS present a pattern of social cognition deficits characterized by the decreased ability to implicitly encode and integrate contextual information in order to access to the social meaning. Nevertheless, when social information is explicitly presented or the situation can be navigated with abstract rules, performance is improved. Our findings have implications for the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with AS as well as for the neurocognitive models of this syndrome. PMID:23162450

Using Social Media to Measure Language Use

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Zhuravleva, Anastasia; de Bot, Kees; Hilton, Nanna Haug

2016-01-01

Investigations of language use in multilingual regions are traditionally done through the usage of retrospective questionnaires, either distributed on paper, or digitally. The aim of the present study was to test a new method of measuring language choice and use: by using social media to contact individuals several times a day and ask them what…

Appraisal of social concerns: A cognitive assessment instrument for social phobia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Telch, M.J.; Lucas, R.A.; Smits, J.A.J.; Powers, M.B.; Heimberg, R.G.; Hart, T.

2004-01-01

The current study describes the validation of a new cognitive assessment measure for social phobia, entitled the Appraisal of Social Concerns (ASC). Item content is relevant to a range of social situations. The ASC can be used to tailor interventions to patients' idiosyncratic concerns. Data are

A conceptual linkage between cognitive architectures and social interaction

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Zoethout, K.; Jager, W.

Cognitive representations are being shaped and determined by interaction with the environment. The social environment constitutes an important part of this environment. Yet in formal models of cognition, there is little attention for processes resulting from social interaction. On the other hand, in

Lipreading Ability and Its Cognitive Correlates in Typically Developing Children and Children with Specific Language Impairment

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Heikkilä, Jenni; Lonka, Eila; Ahola, Sanna; Meronen, Auli; Tiippana, Kaisa

2017-01-01

Purpose: Lipreading and its cognitive correlates were studied in school-age children with typical language development and delayed language development due to specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Forty-two children with typical language development and 20 children with SLI were tested by using a word-level lipreading test and an extensive…

Language experience differentiates prefrontal and subcortical activation of the cognitive control network in novel word learning.

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Bradley, Kailyn A L; King, Kelly E; Hernandez, Arturo E

2013-02-15

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive control mechanisms in adult English speaking monolinguals compared to early sequential Spanish-English bilinguals during the initial stages of novel word learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a lexico-semantic task after only 2h of exposure to novel German vocabulary flashcards showed that monolinguals activated a broader set of cortical control regions associated with higher-level cognitive processes, including the supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior cingulate (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), as well as the caudate, implicated in cognitive control of language. However, bilinguals recruited a more localized subcortical network that included the putamen, associated more with motor control of language. These results suggest that experience managing multiple languages may differentiate the learning strategy and subsequent neural mechanisms of cognitive control used by bilinguals compared to monolinguals in the early stages of novel word learning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

What can autism teach us about the role of sensorimotor systems in higher cognition? New clues from studies on language, action semantics, and abstract emotional concept processing.

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Moseley, Rachel L; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

2018-03-01

Within the neurocognitive literature there is much debate about the role of the motor system in language, social communication and conceptual processing. We suggest, here, that autism spectrum conditions (ASC) may afford an excellent test case for investigating and evaluating contemporary neurocognitive models, most notably a neurobiological theory of action perception integration where widely-distributed cell assemblies linking neurons in action and perceptual brain regions act as the building blocks of many higher cognitive functions. We review a literature of functional motor abnormalities in ASC, following this with discussion of their neural correlates and aberrancies in language development, explaining how these might arise with reference to the typical formation of cell assemblies linking action and perceptual brain regions. This model gives rise to clear hypotheses regarding language comprehension, and we highlight a recent set of studies reporting differences in brain activation and behaviour in the processing of action-related and abstract-emotional concepts in individuals with ASC. At the neuroanatomical level, we discuss structural differences in long-distance frontotemporal and frontoparietal connections in ASC, such as would compromise information transfer between sensory and motor regions. This neurobiological model of action perception integration may shed light on the cognitive and social-interactive symptoms of ASC, building on and extending earlier proposals linking autistic symptomatology to motor disorder and dysfunction in action perception integration. Further investigating the contribution of motor dysfunction to higher cognitive and social impairment, we suggest, is timely and promising as it may advance both neurocognitive theory and the development of new clinical interventions for this population and others characterised by early and pervasive motor disruption. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights

Behavior problems and social competence in Brazilian children with specific language impairment

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Marina Leite Puglisi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract This study aimed to investigate the behavior and social profile of Brazilian children with specific language impairment (SLI and explore whether the severity of language deficits was associated with behavioral problems and low social competence. Twenty-four children with SLI aged from 6 to 11 years who showed substantial expressive language problems and were receiving speech-language therapy were assessed through the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL. Children with SLI showed high rates of behavioral problems and low levels of social competence. With the exception of two subscales (“somatic” and “rule breaker”, the percentage of children with SLI at risk of behavioral problems was significantly higher than the same proportion in the general population; and almost all children with SLI (95.2 % demonstrated problems with social competence. The severity of language deficits was associated with the risk of behavioral problems according to only one criterion. No associations were found between the severity of language problems and social competence. The study provides cross-cultural evidence to support the existence of behavior problems and reduced social competence in children with SLI. Our findings point to the need of using a combination of measures to classify the severity of language problems rather than a single dimension.

How Can One Learn Mathematical Word Problems in a Second Language? A Cognitive Load Perspective

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Moussa-Inaty, Jase; Causapin, Mark; Groombridge, Timothy

2015-01-01

Language may ordinarily account for difficulties in solving word problems and this is particularly true if mathematical word problems are taught in a language other than one's native language. Research into cognitive load may offer a clear theoretical framework when investigating word problems because memory, specifically working memory, plays a…

Differential Effects of Awake Glioma Surgery in “Critical” Language Areas on Cognition: 4 Case Studies

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Djaina Satoer

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Awake surgery with electrocorticosubcortical stimulation is the golden standard treatment for gliomas in eloquent areas. Preoperatively, mostly mild cognitive disturbances are observed with postoperative deterioration. We describe pre- and postoperative profiles of 4 patients (P1–P4 with gliomas in “critical” language areas (“Broca,” “Wernicke,” and the arcuate fasciculus undergoing awake surgery to get insight into the underlying mechanism of neuroplasticity. Neuropsychological examination was carried out preoperatively (at T1 and postoperatively (at T2, T3. At T1, cognition of P1 was intact and remained stable. P2 had impairments in all cognitive domains at T1 with further deterioration at T2 and T3. At T1, P3 had impairments in memory and executive functions followed by stable recovery. P4 was intact at T1, followed by a decline in a language test at T2 and recovery at T3. Intraoperatively, in all patients language positive sites were identified. Patients with gliomas in “critical” language areas do not necessarily present cognitive disturbances. Surgery can either improve or deteriorate (existing cognitive impairments. Several factors may underlie the plastic potential of the brain, for example, corticosubcortical networks and tumor histopathology. Our findings illustrate the complexity of the underlying mechanism of neural plasticity and provide further support for a “hodotopical” viewpoint.

The Influence of ative Language on Ghanaian Junior Secondary ...

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cce

School Students' Understanding of some Science Concepts ... Language is one of the various media through which every culture expresses its ... development of literacy in student's native language provides the social, cognitive, ..... three years of elementary school instruction in most cases, it is used for the greater.

Cognitive and social cognitive predictors of change in objective versus subjective quality-of-life in rehabilitation for schizophrenia.

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Kurtz, Matthew M; Bronfeld, Melanie; Rose, Jennifer

2012-12-30

A small but growing body of work has studied the role of cognitive skills in predicting response to integrated programs of rehabilitation in schizophrenia. No studies however, have directly compared the roles and interrelationships of cognition, social cognition and other disease factors in predicting improvements in the separate domains of objective quality-of-life (QOL) and subjective satisfaction with life (SWL) in response to rehabilitation in schizophrenia. Forty-four outpatients with schizophrenia were administered measures of cognition, social cognition, and symptoms at entry to a psychosocial and cognitive rehabilitation program. Change in objective QOL and subjective SWL before and after treatment were measured as outcome variables. Cognitive measures of verbal memory and social cognitive measures of facial affect recognition were linked to improvements in objective QOL, while verbal memory and crystallized verbal skill was linked to improvements in SWL. Facial affect recognition partially mediated the relationship between verbal memory and improvements in objective QOL. The implications of these findings for understanding interrelationships between cognition and social cognition and their role in predicting change in different domains of outcome as a function of behavioral treatment are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comparison of the effectiveness of problem solving training and of cognitive-emotional rehabilitation on neurocognition, social cognition and social functioning in people with schizophrenia.

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Veltro, Franco; Mazza, Monica; Vendittelli, Nicola; Alberti, Mirella; Casacchia, Massimo; Roncone, Rita

2011-01-01

Social cognition and Problem Solving (PS) impairments are common characteristics in patients with schizophrenia. Experimental neuropsychological findings support the hypothesis that schizophrenia is characterized by a broad range of heterogeneous cognitive impairments. Since that time Problem Solving Training has been employed as a core strategy in a wide variety of therapeutic settings. Renewed interest in cognitive functioning, including social Problem Solving skills and social cognition in schizophrenia, has led us to reconsider the potential value of metacognitive strategy as a rehabilitation strategy. The present study reports the results obtained by 24 persons with schizophrenia who were randomly assigned to one of two training session groups: Cognitive-Emotional Rehabilitation (REC) vs Problem Solving Training (PST). Both treatments were administered to small groups composed of subjects suffering from schizophrenic disorders over a 12 months period: primary measures of clinical, social outcomes and secondary measures of cognitive and Problem Solving functions were conducted at 0, and 12 months. Results showed that both training methods were found to be effective in psychopathological measures and in social functioning. On cognitive function improvements were specific to the rehabilitative approach. PST are mainly improved capacities for planning and memory, while the REC improved measures such as social cognition Theory of mind and emotion recognition. The results confirmed that it is no necessary to divide the rehabilitation training in treatments directed to specific domains. The conceptualization and applicability of PST and REC its implications for persons with schizophrenia, and future studies in this research area have also been discussed.

The influence of social support on cognitive impairment in the elderly

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Abdul Rashid

2016-08-01

Full Text Available To determine the influence of social support on cognitive impairment among elderly Malaysians. Methods This cross sectional study was conducted using a representative sample for Penang, Malaysia. The Elderly Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire (ECAQ was used to screen for cognitive impairment and Oslo-3 Social Support Scale (OSS-3 was used to measure social support.

A review of the role of social cognition in major depressive disorder.

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Weightman, Michael James; Air, Tracy Michele; Baune, Bernhard Theodor

2014-01-01

Social cognition - the ability to identify, perceive, and interpret socially relevant information - is an important skill that plays a significant role in successful interpersonal functioning. Social cognitive performance is recognized to be impaired in several psychiatric conditions, but the relationship with major depressive disorder is less well understood. The aim of this review is to characterize the current understanding of: (i) the different domains of social cognition and a possible relationship with major depressive disorder, (ii) the clinical presentation of social cognition in acute and remitted depressive states, and (iii) the effect of severity of depression on social cognitive performance. Electronic databases were searched to identify clinical studies investigating social cognition in a major depressive disorder population, yielding 31 studies for this review. Patients with major depressive disorder appear to interpret social cognitive stimuli differently to healthy controls: depressed individuals may interpret emotion through a mood-congruent bias and have difficulty with cognitive theory of mind tasks requiring interpretation of complex mental states. Social cognitive performance appears to be inversely associated with severity of depression, whilst the bias toward negative emotions persists even in remission. Some deficits may normalize following effective pharmacotherapy. The difficulties with social interaction observed in major depressive disorder may, at least in part, be due to an altered ability to correctly interpret emotional stimuli and mental states. These features seem to persist even in remission, although some may respond to intervention. Further research is required in this area to better understand the functional impact of these findings and the way in which targeted therapy could aid depressed individuals with social interactions.

A Review of the Role of Social Cognition in Major Depressive Disorder

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Weightman, Michael James; Air, Tracy Michele; Baune, Bernhard Theodor

2014-01-01

Background: Social cognition – the ability to identify, perceive, and interpret socially relevant information – is an important skill that plays a significant role in successful interpersonal functioning. Social cognitive performance is recognized to be impaired in several psychiatric conditions, but the relationship with major depressive disorder is less well understood. The aim of this review is to characterize the current understanding of: (i) the different domains of social cognition and a possible relationship with major depressive disorder, (ii) the clinical presentation of social cognition in acute and remitted depressive states, and (iii) the effect of severity of depression on social cognitive performance. Methods: Electronic databases were searched to identify clinical studies investigating social cognition in a major depressive disorder population, yielding 31 studies for this review. Results: Patients with major depressive disorder appear to interpret social cognitive stimuli differently to healthy controls: depressed individuals may interpret emotion through a mood-congruent bias and have difficulty with cognitive theory of mind tasks requiring interpretation of complex mental states. Social cognitive performance appears to be inversely associated with severity of depression, whilst the bias toward negative emotions persists even in remission. Some deficits may normalize following effective pharmacotherapy. Conclusions: The difficulties with social interaction observed in major depressive disorder may, at least in part, be due to an altered ability to correctly interpret emotional stimuli and mental states. These features seem to persist even in remission, although some may respond to intervention. Further research is required in this area to better understand the functional impact of these findings and the way in which targeted therapy could aid depressed individuals with social interactions. PMID:25566100

A review of the role of social cognition in major depressive disorder

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Michael James Weightman

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Social cognition – the ability to identify, perceive and interpret socially-relevant information – is an important skill that plays a significant role in successful interpersonal functioning. Social cognitive performance is recognised to be impaired in several psychiatric conditions, but the relationship with major depressive disorder is less well understood. The aim of this review is to characterise the current understanding of (i the different domains of social cognition and a possible relationship with major depressive disorder, (ii the clinical presentation of social cognition in acute and remitted depressive states, and (iii the effect of severity of depression on social cognitive performance.Methods: Electronic databases were searched to identify clinical studies investigating social cognition in a major depressive disorder population, yielding 31 studies for this review.Results: Patients with major depressive disorder appear to interpret social cognitive stimuli differently to healthy controls: depressed individuals may interpret emotion through a mood-congruent bias and have difficulty with cognitive theory of mind tasks requiring interpretation of complex mental states. Social cognitive performance appears to be inversely associated with severity of depression, whilst the bias toward negative emotions persists even in remission. Some deficits may normalise following effective pharmacotherapy.Conclusions: The difficulties with social interaction observed in major depressive disorder may, at least in part, be due to an altered ability to correctly interpret emotional stimuli and mental states. These features seem to persist even in the remitted state, although some may respond to intervention. Further research is required in this area to better understand the functional impact of these findings and the way in which targeted therapy could aid depressed individuals with social interactions.

Exploring Flipped Classroom Effects on Second Language Learners' Cognitive Processing

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Kim, Jeong-eun; Park, Hyunjin; Jang, Mijung; Nam, Hosung

2017-01-01

This study investigated the cognitive effects of the flipped classroom approach in a content-based instructional context by comparing second language learners' discourse in flipped vs. traditional classrooms in terms of (1) participation rate, (2) content of comments, (3) reasoning skills, and (4) interactional patterns. Learners in two intact…

Social Media: An Optimal Virtual Environment for Learning Foreign Languages

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Rdouan Faizi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The present paper aims at exploring the potential role that social media technologies play in learning foreign languages. For this purpose, a survey was carried out to examine students’ and language learners’ perceptions and attitudes about using these platforms. Results of the research study revealed that the great majority of the respondents actually use these web-based applications to enhance their language skills. Most importantly, they noted that social media contribute in improving their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills. Accordingly, we strongly recommend that instructors use these online tools in distant, blended, or face-to-face language learning settings.

Explicit versus Implicit Social Cognition Testing in Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Callenmark, Björn; Kjellin, Lars; Rönnqvist, Louise; Bölte, Sven

2014-01-01

Although autism spectrum disorder is defined by reciprocal social-communication impairments, several studies have found no evidence for altered social cognition test performance. This study examined explicit (i.e. prompted) and implicit (i.e. spontaneous) variants of social cognition testing in autism spectrum disorder. A sample of 19 adolescents…

Developmental Plasticity and Language: A Comparative Perspective.

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Griebel, Ulrike; Pepperberg, Irene M; Oller, D Kimbrough

2016-04-01

The growing field of evo-devo is increasingly demonstrating the complexity of steps involved in genetic, intracellular regulatory, and extracellular environmental control of the development of phenotypes. A key result of such work is an account for the remarkable plasticity of organismal form in many species based on relatively minor changes in regulation of highly conserved genes and genetic processes. Accounting for behavioral plasticity is of similar potential interest but has received far less attention. Of particular interest is plasticity in communication systems, where human language represents an ultimate target for research. The present paper considers plasticity of language capabilities in a comparative framework, focusing attention on examples of a remarkable fact: Whereas there exist design features of mature human language that have never been observed to occur in non-humans in the wild, many of these features can be developed to notable extents when non-humans are enculturated through human training (especially with intensive social interaction). These examples of enculturated developmental plasticity across extremely diverse taxa suggest, consistent with the evo-devo theme of highly conserved processes in evolution, that human language is founded in part on cognitive capabilities that are indeed ancient and that even modern humans show self-organized emergence of many language capabilities in the context of rich enculturation, built on the special social/ecological history of the hominin line. Human culture can thus be seen as a regulatory system encouraging language development in the context of a cognitive background with many highly conserved features. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Self-Efficacy in Second/Foreign Language Learning Contexts

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Raoofi, Saeid; Tan, Bee Hoon; Chan, Swee Heng

2012-01-01

This study reviews the empirical literature of self-efficacy, a central component of social cognitive theory, in the area of second language learning by focusing on two research questions: first, to what extent, has self-efficacy, as a predicting variable, been explored in the field of second language learning? Second, what factors affect…

Social Constructivism: Does It Succeed in Reconciling Individual Cognition with Social Teaching and Learning Practices in Mathematics?

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Bozkurt, Gulay

2017-01-01

This article examines the literature associated with social constructivism. It discusses whether social constructivism succeeds in reconciling individual cognition with social teaching and learning practices. After reviewing the meaning of individual cognition and social constructivism, two views--Piaget and Vygotsky's--accounting for learning…

Scientific inquiry as social and linguistic practice: Language socialization pathways in a ninth-grade physics class

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Braden, Sarah Katherine

English Language Learners (ELLs) in K-12 schools in the United States. have lower standardized test scores and lower high school graduation rates than their native-English speaking peers. Similar performance gaps exist for Latino/a students when compared to White non-Latino/a students, even if they are not identified as English learners and were schooled in the United States. Language minority students are also underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. Equity in access to STEM degrees and professions is a social justice issue with economic implications. STEM careers provide economic security for individuals and growth in STEM industries is important for the United States economy. As the demographics in the United States change to include more workers from language minority backgrounds, it has become even more imperative to ensure equitable access to STEM careers. Traditional approaches to studying equity for K-12 language minority students in the sciences focus on narrowly defined pedagogical methods aimed at improving the performance of language learners on science assessments. However, language socialization research using ethnographic methods suggests that students' classroom-based social positioning shapes their learning and their affiliation or disaffiliation with particular disciplines. Thus, this dissertation explores science expertise as a discursively constructed stance not as a set of acquired facts. In this dissertation research, I use ethnography and classroom discourse analysis to study peer group interactions and explore how language minority students either achieve or do not achieve science expert status in their physics lab groups. In order to trace the language socialization pathways of three Spanish-English bilingual Latina students, it was also necessary to document community-level norms related to academic success. The findings in this dissertation center on these two phenomena: classroom

Role of Comparative Analysis in Cognitive Oriented Teaching Methods of Russian as Foreign Language

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Diana M. Mironova

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This article discusses some basis for the comparative representation of the language material from the view point of cognitive approach in teaching Russian as a foreign language. There is an attempt to comprehend the conceptual significance of the native language consideration during the formation of metalinguistic knowledge of learners in the Russian language. On the example of interlingual lexical correspondences and prepositional-case constructions it is analysed mental structures and mechanisms that provide link between language and extralinguistic reality in the consciousness of the Spanish-speaking students.

Bidirectional Associations among Sensitive Parenting, Language Development, and Social Competence

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Barnett, Melissa A.; Gustafsson, Hanna; Deng, Min; Mills-Koonce, W. Roger; Cox, Martha

2012-01-01

Rapid changes in language skills and social competence, both of which are linked to sensitive parenting, characterize early childhood. The present study examines bidirectional associations among mothers' sensitive parenting and children's language skills and social competence from 24 to 36?months in a community sample of 174 families. In addition,…

Communicative language testing in ESP context

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Alma Cenkaj Vladi

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Language tests have always been important to people. Language is the most important means of communication, and only through it we can convey and receive messages, as well as test our cognitive abilities in different fields of knowledge. But while testing other cognitive areas of human knowledge is considered relatively easy, testing language itself has resulted rather difficult. Language testing theory has undergone several phases of development, from being completely uninterested in reliability and validity, to becoming obsessed with statistical formulae, which would have catered for the much wanted reliability. Swaying from one extreme to the other, communicative language testing seems to have found a balance between reliability through statistical analyses on the one hand, and validity through closely observing elements of language competence and performance, as well as ethical issues which bring tests closer to the social dimension. This article will give a general overview of how communicative language testing came in place, the theory and pertaining elements of such tests, as well as issues that have yet to be answered.

Reward Learning, Neurocognition, Social Cognition, and Symptomatology in Psychosis.

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Lewandowski, Kathryn E; Whitton, Alexis E; Pizzagalli, Diego A; Norris, Lesley A; Ongur, Dost; Hall, Mei-Hua

2016-01-01

Patients with psychosis spectrum disorders exhibit deficits in social and neurocognition, as well as hallmark abnormalities in motivation and reward processing. Aspects of reward processing may overlap behaviorally and neurobiologically with some elements of cognitive functioning, and abnormalities in these processes may share partially overlapping etiologies in patients. However, whether reward processing and cognition are associated across the psychoses and linked to state and trait clinical symptomatology is unclear. The present study examined associations between cognitive functioning, reward learning, and clinical symptomatology in a cross-diagnostic sample. Patients with schizophrenia (SZ; n = 37), bipolar I disorder with psychosis (BD; n = 42), and healthy controls (n = 29) were assessed for clinical symptoms (patients only), neurocognitive functioning using the MATRICS Battery (MCCB) and reward learning using the probabilistic reward task (PRT). Groups were compared on neurocognition and PRT response bias, and associations between PRT response bias and neurocognition or clinical symptoms were examined controlling for demographic variables and PRT task difficulty (discriminability). Patients with SZ performed worse than controls on most measures of neurocognition; patients with BD exhibited deficits in some domains between the level of patients with SZ and controls. The SZ - but not BD - group exhibited deficits in social cognition compared to controls. Patients and controls did not differ on PRT response bias, but did differ on PRT discriminability. Better response bias across the sample was associated with poorer social cognition, but not neurocognition; conversely, discriminability was associated with neurocognition but not social cognition. Symptoms of psychosis, particularly negative symptoms, were associated with poorer response bias across patient groups. Reward learning was associated with symptoms of psychosis - in particular negative

Social cognitive markers of short-term clinical outcome in first-episode psychosis.

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Montreuil, Tina; Bodnar, Michael; Bertrand, Marie-Claude; Malla, Ashok K; Joober, Ridha; Lepage, Martin

2010-07-01

In psychotic disorders, impairments in cognition have been associated with both clinical and functional outcome, while deficits in social cognition have been associated with functional outcome. As an extension to a recent report on neurocognition and short-term clinical outcome in first-episode psychosis (FEP), the current study explored whether social cognitive deficits could also identify poor short-term clinical outcome among FEP patients. We defined the social-cognition domain based on the scores from the Hinting Task and the Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence. Data were collected in 45 FEP patients and 26 healthy controls. The patients were divided into good- and poor-outcome groups based on clinical data at six months following initiation of treatment. Social cognition was compared among 27 poor-outcome, 18 good-outcome, and 26 healthy-control participants. Outcome groups significantly differed in the social cognition domain (z-scores: poor outcome=-2.0 [SD=1.4]; good outcome=-1.0 [SD=1.0]; p=0.005), with both groups scoring significantly lower than the control group (psocial cognition appears to be compromised in all FEP patients compared to healthy controls. More interestingly, significant differences in social cognitive impairments exist between good and poor short-term clinical outcome groups, with the largest effect found in the Cartoon Predictions subtest.

The Coffin-Siris syndrome: data on mental development, language, behavior and social skills in 12 children.

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Swillen, A; Glorieux, N; Peeters, M; Fryns, J P

1995-10-01

In this report we present data on cognitive development, language, behavior and social skills in 12 children and adolescents, nine girls and three boys, aged between 2.5 and 19 years, with Coffin-Siris syndrome (CS). 1. Mental retardation was mild in three patients and moderate in the nine others. 2. Speech onset was severely retarded with little interest in language. In the older group (seven patients aged 7 to 19 years), language comprehension was appropriate to the mental level. 3. Gross-motor functioning and autonomy, with the lowest score on "Task-orientation", were equal to the mental development. 4. Most frequently, aggressive disturbed behavior was observed, especially in the youngest children, while mixed disturbed behavior was observed in the oldest patients. Almost half of the CS patients (5/11) presented symptoms of pervasive developmental disorder, with 2/11 scoring in the pathological range. Obsessive interests, strong dependence on patterns and rituals and unusual fears were characteristic behavioral problems also when they got older.

Developmental Trajectories in Siblings of Children with Autism: Cognition and Language from 4 Months to 7 Years

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Gamliel, Ifat; Yirmiya, Nurit; Jaffe, Dena H.; Manor, Orly; Sigman, Marian

2009-01-01

We compared the cognitive and language development at 4, 14, 24, 36, 54 months, and 7 years of siblings of children with autism (SIBS-A) to that of siblings of children with typical development (SIBS-TD) using growth curve analyses. At 7 years, 40% of the SIBS-A, compared to 16% of SIBS-TD, were identified with cognitive, language and/or academic…

Social cognition and metacognition in obsessive-compulsive disorder: an explorative pilot study.

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Mavrogiorgou, Paraskevi; Bethge, Mareike; Luksnat, Stefanie; Nalato, Fabio; Juckel, Georg; Brüne, Martin

2016-04-01

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a severe psychiatric condition that is, among other features, characterized by marked impairment in social functioning. Although theoretically plausible with regard to neurobiological underpinnings of OCD, there is little research about possible impairments in social cognitive and meta-cognitive abilities and their connections with social functioning in patients with OCD. Accordingly, we sought to examine social cognitive skills and metacognition in OCD. Twenty OCD patients and age-, sex-, and education-matched 20 healthy controls were assessed using neurocognitive and diverse social cognitive skills including the Ekman 60 Faces test, the Hinting Task, the faux pas test, and a proverb test. In addition, the Metacognition Questionnaire-30 was administered to both the OCD and the control groups. Social functioning was measured using the Personal and Social Performance Scale. Symptom severity in patients was determined by the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale and the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory. No group differences emerged in basic social cognitive abilities. In contrast, compared to controls, OCD patients scored higher on all MCQ dimensions, particularly negative beliefs about worry, uncontrollability, and danger; beliefs about need to control thoughts; and cognitive self-consciousness. There were no significant correlations between social or metacognitive parameters and OCD symptom severity. However, in the patient group, depression and metacognition predicted social functioning. OCD patients show normal basal social cognitive abilities, but dysfunctional metacognitive profiles, which may contribute to their psychosocial impairment.