Nutrition and Cognitive Science
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Nutrition and Cognitive Science
Just like every other bodily function, the cognitive function can also benefit from appropriate nutrition. The question is what is the appropriate nutrition to enhance cognitive functions? That is one area of research focus at the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The facility at Lausanne is reportedly the world’s biggest private facility for nutrition related fundamental research. According to the company, “Research areas include safety of products, processes and ingredients, sensory and nutritional quality, physiology and metabolism, food structure, food consumer interactions, nutrient uptake and the evolution of nutritional needs with age.”
Nestle has recently invited applications for the position of Research Scientist in Cognitive Science to join their Cognitive Sciences group, which “is committed to find nutritional solutions to improve cognitive function and mental health throughout life, from early childhood to old age.”
The research scientist will have to build and guide research lines in the area of cognitive enhancement through such functions as designing studies and preparing study protocols, interpreting and reporting findings, contribute to idea generations and write proposals, write internal scientific evaluations, publish scientific papers and work with external collaborators.
The company is looking for PhDs in cognitive neuroscience, experimental psychology, psychopharmacology etc.
Full details are available at Nature Jobs.
Tags: biotechnology, cognitive science, nutrition research
Posted in biotechnology, cognitive development, cognitive science | 1 Comment »
Religion and Cognitive Science
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Psychology involved observing the way we think and feel, with the observer looking into his or her own thinking and feeling processes. This was not a particularly scientific approach and behaviourists rejected it and focused on outward behaviour and the observable triggers of such behaviour. This was also not a scientific approach as it ignored behaviour triggers that could not be observed explicitly.
During the same period, our understanding of the physical causes of behaviour in the form of electrical signals passing along the neural circuits in our brain was also increasing. Stimulating specific areas of the brain caused specific feelings and behaviour. And damage to brain circuits affected these in specific ways. Neuroscience became part of “mind research.”
Evolution also plays a part in the way we think and feel. We do not think and feel like our animal ancestors (or even human ancestors, which might be more an effect of culture).
Cognitive science seeks to combine all these different approaches to studying the way we think, feel, understand, and respond, for example. And it has started looking at the religious experience also. It is seeking to answer, for example, what happens inside our brains when we pray or feel connected to GOD. Religion has many aspects including influencing moral behaviour (by making people believe that their behaviour is being observed even when nobody is around).
Read dcoda’s blog on cognitive studies.
Tags: cognitive science, moral behavior, religious experience
Posted in behavior, cognitive science, culture | No Comments »
Babies and Robots to Learn about Behavior Development
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Developmental psychologists at University of Miami and computer scientists from University of California at San Diego are engaged in an interesting research.
Firstly, they observed 13 mothers playing with their infants aged one to six months. The observation was for five minute periods every week for approximately 14 sessions per mother-infant. The sessions were videotaped for a subsequent interdisciplinary study.
Researchers found that babies and mothers find a pattern while playing, which becomes stable and predictable as the child grows. When the baby smiles, the mom smiles and when the baby stops mom also stops. Babies soon learn to expect people to respond to them in a particular manner. In time, babies also learn to respond to their moms. And social skills begin to develop.
The next phase is to program a baby robot (1.3 meters tall and modeled after a one-year old child) with basic social skills and the ability to learn more complicated interactions.
In essence, babies teach researchers how to program the robot, and while doing the programming, scientists get deeper insights into human behavior development. The robot seeks mechanically to closely simulate human motor system. The study thus helps both robotics and understanding of behavior development.
Read more details at Science Blog.
Tags: behavior development, cognitive science, robotics
Posted in behavior, cognitive development, cognitive science, learning | No Comments »
Teenagers and Alcohol
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
Alcohol use is seen as a rite of passage into adulthood by adolescents, and peer pressure might induce them to show off their capacity for drinking. The danger in heavy alcohol use during adolescence is that it can damage the frontal lobe, which is responsible for development of social skills and judgment. The question before adolescents is thus whether to succumb to peer pressure or let these critical skills develop; few might want to forego social skills that make them popular.
Adolescence is a period of significant development in the brain. A study into effects of alcohol and other drugs by adolescents indicate that heavy use of alcohol and marijuana can have seriously adverse impact on the development of their minds. Findings of the study is to be published in January 2011 as Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
“Heavy drinking may disrupt normal neurodevelopmental processes that hone and sharpen attention and executive function during adolescence in that alcohol may selectively target the frontal lobes,” said Robert J. Thoma, a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.
The research involved studying a number of adolescents who have been diagnosed with substance abuse/dependence, as well as a control group of 15 individuals plus a number of persons with no personal use but a family history of substance abuse.
Read the report at Science News
Tags: adolescent development, alcohol impact, brain development, cognitive science
Posted in cognitive development, cognitive impairment, cognitive science | No Comments »
Preparing Educators to Develop Whole Persons
Monday, October 25th, 2010
According to a report of National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) of the USA, little effort has been made to base school reform and educator preparation on the developmental sciences. There is a growing volume of evidence that developmental issues have a significant impact on students’ learning.
“A well-functioning school, or a good school culture and climate, can seamlessly reinforce and build on development that took place before school. A dysfunctional or ineffective school environment can interfere with the development of all students, but particularly among those who did not have a good pre-school experience,” said James P. Comer, M.D., M.P.H., Director of Yale Child Study Center School Development Program (SDP).
Many teachers and administrators do not know how to create a school climate or culture that will intentionally focus on development. Teacher education programs need to:
inlcude coursework in the developmental sciences including cognitive science
integrate academic study with opportunities to implement developmental best practices in schools and classrooms
Education policy makers have to consider child and adolescent development issues while designing standards and assessments of student and teacher performance. This is particularly important in developing the approach to turn around low-performing schools.
Read about the NCATE findings and recommendations at Corner School Development Program.
Tags: child and adolescent development, cognitive science, education
Posted in cognitive development, cognitive science, education | No Comments »
Cognitive Science and Society
Saturday, October 16th, 2010
Cognitive science is apparently hard to define with different defintions emphasizing cognition, information processing, mind and behavior, human intelligence and so on. Is this science being applied to solve the practical problems of our society?
Human personality is developed by both genetics and early experiences during childhood. If parents and teachers are adequately aware of the knowledge gained about early childhood development, it could enable them to control the experiences of children more purposefully. And such control could help develop the children into healthy adults able to function positively in society.
Of particular relevance is childhood education. Enriching the early experiences of children can have positive outcomes, according to findings of the science. How this finding is applied depends on the educational policy adopted by concerned policymakers. Equally important is the need to recognize those periods of childhood development when experiences have particularly strong impact and to ensure that children receive rich experiences during those periods.
Deliberate attention needs to be paid to the different dimensions of development – cognitive, emotional and social. Merely trying to cram information into an unreceptive mind or developing math or other skills will not produce the kind of adults that society needs.
Read views about neuro-education initiatives and other topics at the BrainBlogger.
Tags: child development, childhood experiences, cognitive science, education
Posted in cognitive development, cognitive science, education, learning | No Comments »
Educating the Child and Developmental Science
Monday, October 11th, 2010
Developmental science studies how various capabilities develop. Its findings can help teach mathematics, reading skills and more to children. However, teachers are not always trained in developmental science with the result that they are unaware of current findings that could help them teach better. Instead, outdated theories are used to teach children.
Focus is mostly on the subject and lesson plans for mathematics, science and literacy. The capability to learn actually depends on the child’s development as well as way these are taught.
Child development during elementary school is quite dramatic. They learn to do things they do not really want to do, such as doing what the teacher says rather than what they like. They also learn to represent physical things with words and to commit things to memory and reinforce the memory. All the learning tasks are facilitated by the right kind of relationships with adults.
A teacher who is aware of these developmental dimensions can observe the child and help the person learn better by adapting the approach ever so slightly as needed. Another teacher who is unaware of these niceties might try to use a “brute” approach to make the child learn things including how to behave. Children differ in their development depending on such factors as their family background and effective teachers should be able to help the developmental process itself in addition to teaching the subjects.
The resource Using Developmental Science … discusses these topics in some detail.
Tags: child development, cognitive science, education, teaching effectiveness
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Learning and the Teenager Brain
Friday, October 8th, 2010
The development of adolescents can be compared to a voyage of discovery. They are discovering the limits of what are possible physically and culturally. For example, they learn what behavior is acceptable in their culture.
The development is a gradual process that does not occur all at once. The rate of development also differs from person to person. Parents can influence the process by careful observation of their children’s interests and abilities, and providing challenges that speed up the development.
If the challenges are too ambitious, the adolescent might feel stressed beyond healthy levels. If the challenges are too low, the adolescent will usually get bored. The only way to get it reasonably right is continuous observation of responses to your actions.
Human behavior is not all that predetermined. There is a significant element of personal choices and a wide range to choose from. The width of the range becomes obvious when we observe the wide disparity in people’s views and actions on such matters as politics and religion.
As the adolescent develops towards adulthood, he or she discovers his or her interests and capabilities. In addition to finding what is physically possible, they also learn what is culturally acceptable.
Read about the views of Dr Robert Sylvester, described as an educator of educators, on the above and related issues at joste2008.com.
Tags: adolescent development, cognitive development, cognitive science
Posted in behavior, cognitive development, cognitive science, culture, learning | No Comments »
Developing Scientists of Tomorrow
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Children are naturally inquisitive, eager to learn all the intricacies of what they see. However, unless nurtured, this inquisitiveness is not developed. In fact, inquisitiveness might even be discouraged and the child taught to accept “authority” without question. Are such children obedient to authority likely to become scientists who are supposed to question even “obvious” statements?
Recent K-12 U.S. education standards mention competence in scientific investigation as a key curriculum goal. From early grades on, children should learn to:
* Formulate a question
* Design an investigation
* Analyze data
* Draw conclusions
Even the National Council of Teachers of English (a non-scientific subject) mention their goal as: “Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources … to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.”
To be effective, it is necessary how the cognitive skills involved in such activities actually develop, and how these can be supported through education. The natural curiosity of children need to be developed into full “scientific thinking” habits. And this needs a clear definition of what scientific thinking involves.
All of us, from childhood, tend to construct “theories” that help us make sense of what we see. And these theories tend to be revised in the light of new experience. Scientific thinking can, for example, probably be defined as the conversion of the above “unconscious” process into a formal thinking process.
Read the article Science Learning by pearlfreeman elaborating on this topic.
Tags: cognitive science, education, scientific thinking, thinking skills
Posted in cognitive science, education, thinking skills | No Comments »
Impact of Computers and Connectivity on Human Relationships and Cognition
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
The explosive growth in computer power and connectivity is changing the relationships among people and organizations. For example, real-time conversation between strangers at opposite ends of the world has become a commonplace occurrence these days. This is something that would have been rare indeed in a pre-Internet world.
What is the impact of such developments on human relationships is something that does indeed deserve serious research.
Another major area affected by powerful computers and connectivity is concerned with learning and discovery. For example, the Web has opened up new learning and information opportunities to the general public all across the world. It has also made possible discoveries in science that would not have been possible with the slow and limited methods of traditional scientific research.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) had announced grants under its Knowledge and Distributed intelligence initiative-a program that fosters interdisciplinary research into the effects of the explosive growth in computer power and connectivity.
A significant number of the finally approved grants were for projects that included a significant cognitive/behavioral/ psychological science aspect, reports the Observer, published by the Association of Psychological Science.
Read the report titled Psychological Science Makes Strong Showing.
Tags: cognitive science, human relationships, learning and discovery, organizational functioning
Posted in behavior, cognitive science, learning | No Comments »
