Sperry's cognitive revolution.

Comments on R. W. Sperry's (see record 1994-00012-001) discussion of bidirectionality in the relationship between brain functioning and consciousness. A tridirectional view is presented which parallels Sperry's bidirectional account. It is argued that sociohistorical functions are implicated in the control of both consciousness and brain functions even as the latter are implicated in sociohistorical functions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology's cognitive revolution.

Questions the assertions of R. W. Sperry (see record 1994-00012-001) that (1) tying cognitive events directly to brain activity avoids the classification of dualism and (2) the cognitive revolution in contemporary psychology was made possible by the overthrow of a dominant materialist philosophy. It is concluded that nothing as dramatic as a paradigmatic shift or revolution has taken place in psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freedom and the cognitive mind.

In this speech, the author discusses cognitive needs in behavior, not only in the learning of the rat, but also in the behavior of the professor, with the significance of this factor to questions of academic freedom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation and the cognitive revolution.

Describes how the concept of motivation in American psychology has broadened to include cognitive aspects. Strict behaviorism and stimulus-response theory was inadequate to deal with various phenomena of memory, language, and perception. One result of the wider perspective on motivation has been the inclusion in a scientific framework of increasingly complex and interesting behaviors which cannot be handled by any current motivational theories. Examples of such behaviors are found in laboratory studies of compliance and hypnotic suggestion, and particularly in real-life studies of destructive and self-destructive acts. All these point toward a need for a hypothesis of the motivational power of ideation, especially in its extreme form, ideology. In ideology there seem to exist whole "transportation systems" of thought which dominate and override other sources of behavioral control. In fact, ideological demands may be in direct conflict to biological demands. The assumption that dominance of behavior by rational cognitive processes will necessarily assure favorable outcomes is challenged; unbridled ideation, especially in its extreme form, ideology, may be as dangerous as unrestrained emotionality. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact and promise of the cognitive revolution.

Opening a new era in science, psychology's cognitive revolution contradicts traditional doctrine that science has no use for consciousness to explain brain function. Subjective mental states as emergent interactive properties of brain activity become irreducible and indispensable for explaining conscious behavior and its evolution and get primacy in determining what a person is and does. Dualistic unembodied consciousness is excluded. A modified 2-way model of interlevel causal determinism introduces new principles of downward holistic and subjective causation. Growing adoption in other disciplines suggests the 2-way model may be replacing reductive physicalism as the basic explanatory paradigm of science. The practice, methods, and many proven potentials of science are little changed. However, the scientific worldview becomes radically revised in a new unifying vision of ourselves and the world with wide-ranging humanistic and ideologic as well as scientific implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theory of mind associations with other cognitive functions and brain imaging in normal aging.

The study investigated age-related differences in theory of mind and explored the relationship between this ability, other cognitive abilities, and structural brain measures. A cohort of 106 adults (ages 50–90 years) was recruited. Participants completed tests of theory of mind, verbal and performance intelligence, executive function, and information processing speed and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (measurement of whole brain volume, volume of white matter hyperintensities, and diffusion tensor imaging of white matter integrity). Theory of mind ability declined with increasing age, and the relationship between theory of mind and age was fully mediated by performance intelligence, executive function, and information processing speed and was partially mediated by verbal intelligence. Theory of mind performance correlated significantly with diffusion tensor imaging measures of white matter integrity but not with volume of white matter hyperintensities or whole-brain volume. Theory of mind age-related decline may not be independent of other cognitive functions; it may also be particularly susceptible to changes in white matter integrity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental issues in the evolution of the mind.

D. J. Povinelli (see record 1993-35769-001) did not integrate theory-of-mind (TOM) literature with that in other cognitive domains, and did not reference other investigators' research on TOM in great apes. Povinelli's claim that most chimpanzees do not display evidence of self-recognition until age 6–8 yrs is refuted with reference to this research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critical issues in cognitive remediation.

Describes cognitive remediation (CGR) as a rehabilitation intervention that gained momentum in the early 1970s when a group of investigators at New York University Medical Center began a series of systematic studies to examine the learning styles of brain-damaged patients and to determine if their cognitive deficits were amenable to treatment. Although CGR is widely applied to individuals with brain injury, insufficient large-scale research has been conducted supporting its efficacy. Several principles that underlie successful CGR are discussed. These include (1) the existence of a logical basis for the ordering of treatment, (2) generalization as the goal and outcome of CGR, (3) psychotherapy as a mediator of successful CGR, and (4) the need to modify existing methodologies to assess treatment efficacy. The use of single-case experimental designs is suggested as a means of expanding the literature on the utility of CGR. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The mind’s we: Contextualism in cognitive psychology.

Reviews the book, The mind's we: Contextualism in cognitive psychology by Diane Gillespie (1992). In this text the author has both expanded on several of the key insights previously outlined in the critical literature and provided a congenial introductory text for the newcomer; a text to serve as a conceptual bridge between traditional cognitive psychological approaches and their newly emergent contextualist alternatives. As stated in her preface, Gillespie's purpose in preparing this book was to "bring together the work of psychologists who are interested in telling the contextualist story of cognition" and to "reveal and strengthen their insights and perspectives" (p. xiv). Given the philosophical range and theoretical diversity of those interested in telling such a story, the task is certainly a formidable one, but it is nonetheless one that she accomplishes with a commendable degree of elegance. Gillespie clearly articulates the diverse work of a large number of psychological theorists into a coherent and meaningful account that will do much toward imposing order on a field that is, by its very nature, somewhat scattered and contentious. Each of the book's six chapters proceeds carefully through a detailed and representative historical and conceptual analysis of traditional mechanistic approaches to human cognition prior to advancing their contextualist critiques and alternatives. Through a systematic analysis of the manner in which this "contextualist story" has arisen within the mechanistic milieu of traditional scientific psychology, she is able to clarify both the implications and relative merits and liabilities of two, quite often antithetical, conceptualizations of human cognitive phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intersections of mathematical, cognitive, and aesthetic theories of mind.

New mathematical and cognitive theories of the mind are connected to psychological theories of aesthetics. I briefly summarize recent revolutionary advancements toward understanding the mind, due to new methods of neuroimaging studies of the brain and new mathematical theories modeling the brain–mind. These new theories describe abilities for concepts, emotions, instincts, imagination, adaptation, and learning. I consider the operation of these mechanisms in the mind hierarchy. I concentrate on the emotions of satisfaction or dissatisfaction related to understanding or misunderstanding of the surrounding world. These emotions are usually below the threshold of conscious registration at lower levels (of object perception). I discuss why, and in what sense, these emotions are aesthetic, I relate them to appraisal emotions, and I argue that at higher levels of abstract cognition these emotions are related to the perception of art. The contents of cognitive representations at the top of the mind hierarchy are analyzed, and aesthetic appraisal emotions at these highest levels are related to emotions of the beautiful. I emphasize that aesthetic emotions, so important in art, are not specific to art but to cognition at the highest levels of the mind hierarchy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brain and cognitive evolution: Forms of modularity and functions of mind.

Genetic and neurobiological research is reviewed as related to controversy over the extent to which neocortical organization and associated cognitive functions are genetically constrained or emerge through patterns of developmental experience. An evolutionary framework that accommodates genetic constraint and experiential modification of brain organization and cognitive function is then proposed. The authors argue that 4 forms of modularity and 3 forms of neural and cognitive plasticity define the relation between genetic constraint and the influence of developmental experience. For humans, the result is the ontogenetic emergence of functional modules in the domains of folk psychology, folk biology, and folk physics. The authors present a taxonomy of these modules and review associated research relating to brain and cognitive plasticity in these domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of treatment manuals in cognitive therapy: Experience and issues.

This article traces some historical developments in the use of treatment manuals in psychotherapy research and reviews characteristics that have facilitated the development of cognitive therapy manuals. Arguments in favor of and opposed to the further development of treatment manuals are reviewed. Where cognitive therapy research exists that is relevant to these arguments, it is reviewed; where research does not exist, suggestions are provided for research and data that may address these arguments. The article concludes by suggesting three general areas for future treatment-manual research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stages of brain and cognitive maturation.

H. T. Epstein (see PA, Vol 52:9783 and 1986), R. B. McCall (see record 1988-32308-001), and R. B. McCall et al (see record 1984-17419-001) presented discrepant findings regarding the presence of stages in brain and cognitive maturation, as described in Piagetian theory. This article questions whether their variables (e.g., skull circumference and global mental test scores) are appropriate indices from which to make such conclusions. Evidence from direct brain measurements (e.g., the quantitative electroencephalogram [QEEG]) and other neurobiological indices provides stronger support for the conclusion that regional brain maturation exhibits growth spurts and plateaus. The specific neuropsychological functions represented by regional QEEG maturation data give a composite picture of brain growth that is consistent with Piagetian theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The restless mind.

This article reviews the hypothesis that mind wandering can be integrated into executive models of attention. Evidence suggests that mind wandering shares many similarities with traditional notions of executive control. When mind wandering occurs, the executive components of attention appear to shift away from the primary task, leading to failures in task performance and superficial representations of the external environment. One challenge for incorporating mind wandering into standard executive models is that it often occurs in the absence of explicit intention--a hallmark of controlled processing. However, mind wandering, like other goal-related processes, can be engaged without explicit awareness; thus, mind wandering can be seen as a goal-driven process, albeit one that is not directed toward the primary task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The analogical mind.

The use of analogy in human thinking is examined from the perspective of a multiconstraint theory, which postulates 3 basic types of constraints: similarity, structure, and purpose. The operation of these constraints is apparent in laboratory experiments on analogy and in naturalistic settings, including politics, psychotherapy, and scientific research. The multiconstraint theory has been implemented in detailed computational simulations of the analogical human mind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The American revolution.

"A revolution of psychological thought and practice was made by Thorndike, Watson, Holt, Hunter, Lashley, Cattell, Terman, Yerkes… Tolman and Skinner between 1898 and 1938." The 1st of 2 stages in the revolution "has been complete for some time, largely in the form of Behaviorism and the study of learning, and it is high time for the rebels to get on with the second one: a behavioristic or learning-theory analysis of the thought process. I propose then to consider a particular aspect of the problem, namely, self-awareness and certain fantasies about the self." Major sections are: Setting and Scope; Theory and the S-R Formula; Mind, Consciousness, and Mediating Process; Hallucination, Body Image, and the Self; and The Problem of Analysis. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2AD35H. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transformations in cognitive science: Implications and issues posed.

Cognitive science currently offers models of cognition that depart substantively from those of information processing models and classical artificial intelligence, while it embraces methods of inquiry that include case-based, ethnographic, and philosophical methods. To illustrate, five overlapping approaches that constitute departures from classical representational cognitive science are briefly discussed in this paper: dynamical cognition, situated cognition, embodied cognition, extended mind theory, and integrative cognition. Critical responses to these efforts from members of the self-proclaimed cognitive science orthodoxy are also summarized. The paper then discusses ethical and epistemological implications arising from the “new” cognitive science and from critical responses to it and considers the broader importance of this literature for theoretical and philosophical psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Don't mind if I do: Disinhibited eating under cognitive load.

Past research has shown that strong emotional or motivational states can cause normally restrained eaters to overeat. In this article it is argued that simple cognitive load can also disinhibit eating by restrained eaters. Two studies examined this disinhibition effect. In Study 1, restrained and unrestrained eaters were given the opportunity to consume high-calorie food while performing either a high cognitive-load or low cognitive-load task. Restrained eaters consumed more food when under high cognitive load than when under low cognitive load; unrestrained eaters showed the opposite pattern. Study 2 replicated the disinhibition effect and ruled out stress, diminished awareness of food consumption, and ironic rebound as probable mediators. Results suggest that cognitive load may disinhibit consumption by preventing restrained eaters from monitoring the dietary consequences of their eating behavior. Implications for theories of self-regulation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The growth of mind.

"What is most unique about man is that his growth as an individual depends upon the history of his species [as reflected in culture]… . the growth of the mind is always growth assisted from the outside… . What a culture does to assist the development of the powers of mind of its members is, in effect, to provide amplification systems… ." These are amplifiers of action, of the senses, and of thought processes. In considering the distinctiveness of man and his potentiality for further evolution: "The 5 great humanizing forces are… tool making, language, social organization, the management of man's prolonged childhood, and man's urge to explain… . [The] psychologist cannot alone construct a theory of how to assist cognitive development and cannot alone learn how to enrich and amplify the powers of a growing human mind." The task belongs to the whole intellectual community. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Questioning Sperry's bridge from brain to mind to values.

Comments on R. W. Sperry's (see record 1977-30777-001) discussion of morality and values in science. Criticisms focus on (1) Sperry's treatment of the mind–body problem and (2) the question of whether it is possible to establish scientifically based values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)