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2022. vol. 19. No. 4
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Special Theme of the Issue.
Cognitive Research: New Approaches and Methods
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663–683
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3D perception is a crucial ability for human existence in the environment. Numerous studies have been focused on the neural mechanisms that are at the core of perceiving 3D information. However, there is no clear consensus on the reported results due to the wide variety of utilized tasks, stimuli, and visual cues. This fMRI meta-analysis study aims to a) define which specific brain areas are more active in processing of different depth cues during perceiving 3D information across the neuroimaging studies, b) explore a map of the functional brain activation associated with perceiving 3D within the brain areas that have received little attention, and c) identify selective areas that are more sensitive to types of stimuli and task paradigms. Data from 26 experiments was included in an Activation Likelihood Estimation analysis (ALE). The findings revealed six clusters of activation including the bilateral occipital, bilateral temporal, right parietal, and left frontal areas associated with the processing of visual depth cues. The analyses of task types showed higher activation in the right precuneus, and the left middle, and inferior occipital gyri for the active judgment paradigm and the left fusiform gyrus for passive viewing. The results showed that the left fusiform gyrus is sensitive to static image stimuli. This study for the first time provides a concordant map of activation for the perception process of 3D (rather than 2D) and suggests that perceiving 3D requires increased brain resources. |
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684–702
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The Wernicke-Geschwind model has been considered the main reference in regard to the neural basis of language function. Indeed, this model has been systematically used to explain and interpret different aphasic disorders. However, recent findings across several neuroimaging studies challenge the suitability of this model to explain the cerebral dynamics observed after brain damage. This paper provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the most recent findings on language neuroscience. Thus, a consistent body of evidence obtained from the use of various techniques (including fMRi, EEG, MEG, TMS, tDCS, among others) strongly indicates the existence of a dynamic brain network involved in language function that recruits distant brain regions across both hemispheres, hence revealing the obsoleteness of traditional approaches for a complete understanding of language dysfunction. Despite these systematic and well-stablished findings, this and other language models are still considered nowadays in the educational and clinical practice, with detrimental implications for the successful characterization and rehabilitation of aphasic patients. Taking into account the dynamic reorganization of the language neural network, the use of modern brain neuro-modulatory techniques, together with the implementation of intense speech therapy, are discussed as the first option to be considered for the successful treatment of aphasia. |
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703–724
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The article is devoted to the application of dual eye tracking (DUET) eye tracking technology in the analysis of multimodal cooperation in the process of learning the child-adult dyad. The methodology is described and the double eye tracking (DUET) procedure was tested during the performance of a learning task in the adultchild dyad. Synchronous registration of the dyad's eye movements was carried out by two portable trackers in the form of Pupil Headset goggles. A comparative study of the synchrony of perceptual processes was carried out in a sample of preschoolers 4-6 years old: typically developing children and children with hearing impairment after cochlear implantation (with sensorineural hearing loss, ICD-10 class H90). An analysis of the ways in which the gaze of the adult-child dyad moves makes it possible to model the learning process as the emergence and dynamic transformation of an intersubjective connection between the perceptionaction systems of a child and an adult. Comparison of gaze patterns showed that contrasting groups of children use different perceptual strategies in the learning process: the specificity of eye movements of contrasting groups is manifested in the perceptual actions themselves and in the pattern of eye movements relative to fixations in relevant areas corresponding to the task. It was found that the oculomotor activity of an adult changes in the process of interaction with children of contrasting groups and is organized taking into account the specific features of the child's perceptual activity. |
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725–735
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Incidental findings defined as valuable findings that are not searched purposely by the experts were originally discovered by radiologists. Despite the importance and great practical value of this phenomenon for visual search, it was almost not studied by cognitive psychologists and vision science experts. The current study aimed to examine experimentally incidental findings in visual search. The main objective was to clarify independence of incidental findings from subsequent search misses, another well-known visual search phenomenon. In order to do that, the standard experimental paradigm for detecting subsequent search misses was used. At the same time the stimuli material and tasks were created to closely fit the definition of incidental findings. The participants were asked to find the images of plastic bags and paper wastes (targets) among the images of leaves and snags (distractors) on the computer screen in a simulated “garbage collection” task. Their accuracy and reaction times were analyzed. Specifically, the trials with a single target were compared with dual-target trials. The findings revealed that subsequent search misses, but not incidental findings, were observed. The results suggest that incidental findings may be closely related to subsequent search misses. As well as that, the difficulty of the task, particularly induced by target-distractor similarity, may be one of the major factors leading to the emergence of subsequent search misses instead of incidental findings. |
Articles
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736–756
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According to the embodied cognition view, abstract concepts, including emotional ones, are grounded in our sensorimotor experience of the physical environment. For example, emotionally positive words (happiness) are associated with the upper part of vertical space, whereas the negative ones (desperation) are linked with the lower parts of physical space. Interactions between different representational domains are expressed, among others, in the so-called cross-modal correspondence effect — facilitation of stimulus processing in one modality by congruent aspects of information presented in another modality (e.g., high-pitch sound — high vertical location). The present study attempted, for the first time, to induce this effect using auditory stimuli of varied pitch and emotional words with defined spatial connotations. Thirty-six volunteers (26 women, 18–34 years old) were simultaneously presented with 1000 or 2000 Hz tones and words of varied emotional valence that had been rated for their spatial associations in vertically oriented space. The participants’ task was to identify the pitch of the presented tone as high or low. The analysis of reaction times using a linear mixed-effects model demonstrated statistically significant differences between congruent (e.g., emotionally positive word — high tone) and noncongruent conditions, as well as between congruent and neutral conditions. The effect of cross-modal correspondence was also evaluated for each stimulus word as well as for high and low tones separately, showing its specificity to high-pitch sounds and a subset of words. In sum, the results showed a cross-modal correspondence effect that spans across different levels of cognitive processing: from perceptual analysis of auditory signals to verbal semantic processing of complex abstract ideas. Importantly, we also present a set of Russian-language nouns rated for their spatial and emotional properties that can be used in future psycho- and neurolinguistic studies on embodied semantics. |
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757–783
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Despite a significant number of scientific endeavors in the field of development and assessment of soft skills, this topic remains highly relevant. In fact, teachers and students still face difficulties in combining two trajectories in a single educational process. On the one hand, it is essential to engage in educational activities mastering specific subject knowledge. On the other hand, there is a growing need to develop significant personal and cognitive skills related to communication, creativity, mental flexibility, and critical thinking. This article presents an overview of a competency approach to the education system within the framework of the new learning system “Plurilingual Intercultural Creative Keys” (PICK). Plurilingual, intercultural, and creative competencies were analyzed along three competency components: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The prudence of selecting these three competencies is determined by practical aspects of modern life related to globalization, multiculturalism, and instability, on the one hand. On the other, the results of empirical research conducted over the past 20 years provided evidence for the close link between multilingual and intercultural practices and development of specific cognitive functions and personality traits underlying creativity. |
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784–804
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The article is devoted to the study of the relationship between the individual values of the respondents and their psychosemantic assessment of the visual image (on the example of a photo-image of the architectural tiles of the Moscow Kremlin). In the study, we relied on the theory of values of S. Schwartz (Schwartz, 1992), the psychosemantic approach (Artemyev, 1999) and the socio-psychological approach to the perception of architectural objects (Vyrva, Leontiev, 2015). The sample included 415 respondents. We used the following scales: the PVQ-R questionnaire of individual values (Shvarts, 2012), the authors’ bipolar semantic differential based on the personal semantic differential by C. Osgood, J. Susi, P. Tannenbaum (1972) and the architectural semantic differential by S.E. Gabidulina (2012). The results were processed using exploratory factor and regression analyses. The data obtained showed that the photo image of the tile is evaluated in a positive way on almost all the scales of the semantic differential. The five-factor psychosemantic structure of the tiles’ images was revealed. The most weight has the factor “Strong”, followed by the factors “Uncomfortable”, “Passive”, “Friendly”, and “Well-known”. The relationship between the individual values of the respondents and the psychosemantic assessment of the photo-images of the tiles were found: Openness to Change values are associated with the perception of the image as “strong” and “friendly”; Conservation values contribute to the assessment of the photo images of the tiles as "strong", "friendly", "famous", but at the same time "passive"; Self-Transcendence values are positively related to the perception of the images on the tiles as "friendly" and negatively related to its perception as "uncomfortable". We did not find the relationship of SelfEnhancement values with psychosemantic assessment of the images of the tiles. Psychosemantic assessment of the images of architectural tiles in a medieval temple, which are an element of traditional Russian culture, was studied for the first time. Additionally, we have identified the role of individual values in this process. This is the novelty of this article. The obtained results can be used in sightseeing and tourism, educational and developmental, spiritual and enlightenment activities, in urbanism and planning of comfortable urban spaces, in art creativity. |
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805–821
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The article is focused on the theoretical discussion about the activity theory in Soviet psychology of the 1960s and 70s. Its main participants were the author of the activity theory A.N. Le - ontiev, and B.F. Lomov, who objected to its use as a framework concept for the whole of Soviet psychology and started promoting systems approach as its alternative in the 1970s. The discussion is considered based on the published works of the two authors, as well as on the archival materials. The article highlights the main topics of the discussion: the interaction of the biological and the social, the basis for the autonomy of psychology, the nature of the mind. Examined within the sociocultural context of the period, A.N. Leontiev’s theory can be viewed as a manifestation of the approach prevailing in university psychology at the beginning of the 20th century, for which the emphasis on the originality of theoretical postulates, compact experiments and formulation of conclusions with specific attention to the potential of using them in teaching was typical, and which predominated in the researchers' work schedules. B.F. Lomov, on the other hand, was a representative of post-war psychology, which was fully affected by the trends of the big science”: orientation toward large-scale experiments, the prevalence of applied research, and particular attention towards securing support for costly experimental work. The article also examines the discussion within its particular historical circumstances, and the analysis indicates that it can be seen as conceived by the configuration of schools of the Soviet psychology, especially the predominance of experimentation in the “Leningrad school” and of theorizing in “Moscow school”. |
Work in Progress
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822–834
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The analysis of the short form of the EmIn questionnaire by Dmitry Lyusin is presented. The short form was designed for the rapid assessment of emotional intelligence. Eight items were selected from the full form, two items for each of the following scales: Understanding of One’s Own Emotions, Management of One’s Own Emo tions, Understanding of Others’ Emo - tions, Management of Others’ Emo tions. Participants (N = 292) filled out the short and full forms of the EmIn questionnaire and some other inventories. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the short form yielded a four-factor structure matching the theoretical model of the questionnaire. Internal consistency of the short form is satisfactory (about 0.60), which is typical for the short questionnaires when their items summarize different aspects of the construct. The short and full forms strongly correlate with each other (r = 0.77) with the highest correlations between the similar scales of the two forms. Emotional intelligence measured with the short and full forms of the EmIn questionnaire (a) positively correlates with extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience, and negatively correlates with neuroticism (the highest absolute correlation was obtained for neuroticism) and (b) positively correlates with life satisfaction and negatively correlates with negative affect. The obtained correlation pattern with basic personality traits and subjective well-being is typical for any emotional intelligence questionnaires. We recommend to use the short version of the EmIn questionnaire for the assessment of general emotional intelligence, as well as intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional intelligence. |
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835–846
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The presented study’s objective is to identify the mediating role of conscious self-regulation in the relationship between the components of school engagement and the academic performance of students of different grades. We used the following methods: the Russian version of the questionnaire "Multidimensional School Enga gement Scale" (Wang et al., 2019b; Fomina, Morosanova, 2020); V.I. Moro sanova's questionnaire "The Self-Regu la tion Profile of Learning Activity Ques tion naire (SRPLAQ)" (Morosanova, Bon darenko, 2017). The study analyzes the data obtained from a sample of students in grades 5–11 (N = 1127). New significant results were obtained on the relationship between conscious self-regulation and school engagement, as well as the specifics of their joint contribution to the academic performance of students of different ages. It is shown that conscious self-regulation acts not only as a resource for academic success but also as a factor mediating the impact of school engagement (its general level and individual components) on academic performance. The analysis showed the mediating effects of conscious self-regulation related to cognitive, emotional, behavioral and social components of school engagement. The analysis of moderated mediation revealed significant moderating effects of the age factor (school grade) on the relationship between self-regulation, school engagement and academic performance. The most pronounced mediating effects were found in grades 7, 10, 11. The obtained results are discussed in the context of the problem of conscious self-regulation development, the dynamics of school engagement and academic motivation in different periods of education, and the possibility of developing practical programs aimed at maintaining school engagement and academic performance of students. |
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847–854
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The article presents study results in the effects of eight-weeks mindful meditation practice on self-regulation. We hypothesized that mindful meditation effects on the mechanisms of selfregulation may be following: regular meditation leads to improvement in emotional state, increases productive and decreases unproductive reflection, develops self-control and self-regulation. Repeated measures design (embedded mixed-methods design with quantitative base) was used to verify this hypothesis: the first and the last measures were taken at the start and in the end of the eight-week course. The study participants were students in eight-week online mindful meditation program: 61 respondents (47 women and 14 men aged 21 to 52 years). The obtained results make it possible to conclude that eight weeks of meditation are associated with a versatile transformation in the self-control and self-regulation system manifested in development of self-motivation, self-relaxation, cognitive self-control, ability to concentrate, action after failure, integration of inconsistencies; mood improvement, mindfulness, harmony and decrease in unproductive forms of reflection. Overall, the results indicate the development of contact with the present moment and increase in flexibility of self-regulation. |
Reviews
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855–871
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The term “restoration” in environmental psychology refers to recovery of physiological and psychological adaptive resources through perception of nature. Being one of the consensus explanations for the beneficial effect of nature contact on the physiological and psychological state of a person, “restoration” at the same time causes a lot of discussion. The article provides an overview of current views on the restoration associated with two resonant theories — Attention Restoration Theory and Stress Recovery Theory. One of the objectives of the overview is to discuss the controversial issues that are relevant for research on the restorative effect of nature contacts. The first topic is a discussion about the mechanisms of restoration: due to the qualities of the natural environment (bottom-up theories) or due to subjective factors (top-down theories). Another topic is going beyond the adaptation paradigm. It is realized through expansion of the meaning of the concept or through the inclusion of restoration as an element in a wider system of effects of nature contact. Arguments in favor of “preserving the boundaries” of the concept as a physiological, affective and cognitive restoration are outlined. The se - cond objective of this overview is to offer a systematic view of the empirical measures of restoration (as in research practices there are examples of confusion of restoration-related constructs). A categorization of measures is proposed: objective physiological measures; objective cognitive tests; self-reported emotional states/traits scales; self-reported restoration and restorativeness scales (online/recalled restorative outcome, online/recalled restorativeness). The article may be of interest to researchers of the psychological effects of nature contact in the Russian-speaking context. |
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