Search Results (278)

While theoretical frameworks posit mindfulness as a catalyst for wisdom development, longitudinal evidence remains scarce. This study examines the developmental trajectory of wisdom during emerging adulthood and investigates the intra-person and within-person effects of mindfulness on wisdom through a three-wave longitudinal design. A sample of 719 Chinese first-year college students completed assessments of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Situated Wise Reasoning Scale, and the Wise Thinking Scale across three timepoints. Longitudinal multilevel analysis (LMA) and random intercepts cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were employed to distinguish between stable individual differences and temporary fluctuations. Three key findings emerged: (1) Both wise reasoning and wise thinking exhibited linear growth trajectories. (2) At the between-person level, dispositional mindfulness showed strong positive associations with wisdom. (3) Within-person analyses revealed that mindfulness fluctuations prospectively predicted changes in wise reasoning and thinking, establishing temporal precedence. This study provides new evidence that wisdom can be both a developing ability and a stable trait during emerging adulthood. The observed dynamic links between mindfulness and wisdom highlight the potential of mindfulness-based interventions to foster the growth of wisdom. Full article

This study aimed to compare the changes in brain functional connectivity between states of stress induction and recovery in mentally stable, healthy individuals to investigate the effects of stress on brain networks. We selected a stable group comprising 20 healthy adults with Perceived Stress Scale scores of 0–13 points and a mean age of 24.4 ± 4.3 years. We used the Montreal Imaging Stress Task to induce stress and captured images of the brain using a 3T magnetic resonance imaging scanner. We analyzed the region of interest (ROI)-to-ROI connectivity and compared the differences in functional connectivity between the stress and recovery phases. In the stress state, we observed increased connectivity between the dorsal attention and sensorimotor networks and between the visual and default mode networks. In the recovery state, the default mode network became reactivated, and connectivity supporting self-referential thinking and stability was observed. The connectivities observed only in the recovery phase were Language.pSTG (R)—DefaultMode.LP (R) and DefaultMode.LP (R)—Visual.Lateral (R). Our findings provide important basic data for the development of stress management and recovery strategies. By assessing healthy individuals, our findings provide new perspectives on stress resilience in the brain. Full article

Previous studies suggest that representational gestures support divergent thinking and that mental imagery is necessary for gestures to aid convergent thinking. However, less is known about non-representational gesture use (i.e., beat and palm-revealing) during creative thinking. Across two experiments, we examined whether these gestures supported or hindered creativity and the effects of mental imagery on creative thinking. In Experiment 1, we tested both gesture-spontaneous and gesture-encouraged conditions during divergent thinking. Beat gestures, irrespective of condition, were negatively associated with originality in divergent thinking for individuals with high mental imagery. Encouraged palm-revealing gestures were negatively associated with fluency, flexibility, and elaboration in divergent thinking, regardless of mental imagery. In Experiment 2, we examined spontaneous gestures during both divergent and convergent thinking and assessed mental imagery vividness and skills. Beat gestures were negatively associated with convergent thinking for individuals with low or average imagery vividness. Similarly, palm-revealing gestures were negatively associated with convergent thinking for individuals with low mental imagery skills. Vividness of imagery was the only consistent positive predictor of divergent thinking. Spontaneous gestures were not associated with divergent thinking. These findings show that, unlike representational, non-representational gesture use does not facilitate and might even hurt creativity, depending on individual differences in mental imagery. Full article

Mental calculation is key to the development of number sense and flexibility in thinking, but in practice, it is often neglected in favour of written algorithms. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the success in mental calculation and the number of strategies used, as well as to explore differences between age groups and genders. The study included 233 participants from various age groups, and data were collected through a mental calculation test and individual interviews regarding the strategies employed. The study follows quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational-comparative design, and the data was analyzed using key statistical techniques including the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Pearson’s correlation analysis, linear regression, one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc correction, and two-way ANOVA to examine main effects and interactions. The results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the number of strategies and success in mental calculation. Differences between age groups were marginally significant; it was found that upper primary and secondary school students used a greater number of strategies. Additionally, boys, on average, applied more strategies than girls. In conclusion, the variety of mental calculation strategies positively correlates with accuracy in mental calculation, and teaching a greater number of strategies may contribute to the development of flexibility and confidence in mathematical thinking. It is recommended that greater emphasis is placed on the development of mental strategies within formal education. Full article

The understanding of hidden emotions—situations in which individuals deliberately express an emotion different from what they genuinely feel—is a key skill in theory of mind (ToM) development. This ability allows children to reason about discrepancies between internal emotional states and external expressions and is closely tied to linguistic development, particularly vocabulary related to mental states, which supports complex emotional reasoning. Children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), especially those born to hearing non-signing families and raised in oral language environments, may face challenges in early language exposure. This can impact the development of social and emotional skills, including the ability to understand hidden emotions. This study compares the understanding of hidden emotions in hearing children (n = 59) and DHH children (n = 44) aged 7–12 years. All children were educated in spoken language environments; none of the DHH participants had native exposure to sign language. Participants completed a hidden emotions task involving illustrated stories where a character showed a certain emotion in front of two observers, only one of whom was aware of the character’s true emotional state. The task assessed children’s understanding of the character’s emotional state as well as their ability to reason about the impact of hiding emotions on the beliefs of the observers. The results showed that the hearing children outperformed their DHH peers in understanding hidden emotions. This difference was not attributed to hearing status per se but to language use. Specifically, children’s spontaneous use of cognitive verbs (e.g., think or know) in their explanations predicted task performance across the groups, emphasizing the role of mental state language in emotional reasoning. These findings underscore the importance of early and accessible language exposure in supporting the emotional and social cognitive development of DHH children. Full article

Human personality (HP) is seen as an individual’s consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving by today’s psychological studies, in which HPs are characterized in terms of traits—in particular, as relatively enduring characteristics that influence human behavior across many situations. In this sense, more generally, artificial personality (AP) is studied in computer science to develop AI agents who should behave more like humans. However, in this paper, we suggest another approach by which the APs of individual agents are distinguishable based on their behavioral characteristics in achieving tasks and not necessarily in their human-like performance. As an initial step toward AP, we propose an approach to extract human decision-making characteristics as a generative resource for encoding the variability in agent personality. Using an application example, we demonstrate the feasibility of grouping APs, divided into several steps consisting of (1) defining a feature space to measure the commonality of decision making between individual and a group of people; (2) grouping APs by using multidimensional orthogonal features in the feature space to guarantee inter-individual differences between APs in achieving for the same task; and (3) evaluating the consistency of grouping APs by performing a cluster-stability analysis. Finally, our thoughts for the future implementation of APs are discussed and presented. Full article

Global virtual exchange is a mode of teaching that can reach classrooms beyond national borders and across disciplines. This paper utilizes students’ online conversations and learning projects as primary data to demonstrate experiential learning and critical thinking processes in a global virtual classroom between students in the U.S. and China. Findings reveal that guided weekly online conversations between American and Chinese students provided experiential learning about personal and familial experiences as well as deep insights into healthcare and pension policies affecting individuals and societies. Furthermore, collaborative learning projects on healthcare and pension systems among international students embedded critical thinking in the learning process. These learning projects are comparative and thought-provoking, offering students a chance to apply a critical and global lens to the understanding of social policies and services in different social and cultural contexts. The expansion of global virtual exchange may be a byproduct of COVID-19 distant learning; it may have opened new channels for breaking geographic boundaries of learning sociology in global and critical perspectives. Full article

Background/Objectives: Food-related memory influences appetite regulation, with memory inhibition potentially reducing cravings. While obesity is linked to inhibitory deficits, how restrained eating affects memory suppression in healthy-weight individuals remains unclear. This study examined the cognitive and neural mechanisms of food-memory suppression in young women. Methods: Forty-two female participants completed a think/no-think task with high-/low-calorie food cues while an EEG was recorded. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were assessed and time–frequency analyses (theta/beta oscillations) were performed. Results: Restrained eaters showed reduced memory control for both food types. The ERP analysis revealed significant N200 amplitude differences between think/no-think conditions (p = 0.03) and a significant interaction between food calories and think/no-think conditions (p = 0.032). Theta oscillations differed by group, food calories, and conditions (p = 0.038), while beta oscillations reflected food-cue processing variations. Conclusions: In conclusion, restrained eaters exhibit distinct neural processing and attenuated food-memory suppression. These results elucidate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying dietary behavior, suggesting that targeted interventions for maladaptive eating could strengthen memory inhibition. Full article

The growing integration of technology in education has heightened awareness of global risks, such as the spread of disinformation. This awareness is vital for fostering the well-being of individuals, especially teenagers, by promoting critical thinking and responsible digital practices. By cultivating these skills, sustainable education empowers individuals to identify potential threats, protect themselves, and advocate for informed, positive change. As part of a European project, this study aims to analyze the current level of awareness among secondary school students (12 to 17) and their teachers. Differences between both are analyzed in how they deal with disinformation in terms of (1) perceptions, (2) feelings and practices, and (3) knowledge and management. A quantitative approach was adopted for this study, which surveyed 1186 minors and 166 teachers. The analysis was based on non-parametric statistics; the Mann–Whitney U statistic was applied as the appropriate measure for comparing independent samples (teachers and students) with a non-normal distribution (p < 0.05). The results were surprising in that they highlighted that minors were more expert than expected in their use of technology and their awareness of the risks of disinformation. These conclusions make it clear that technological tools have the potential to raise awareness of the dangers of disinformation and improve the sustainability of education. Full article

This article reconsiders the double-slit experiment by establishing a new type of relationship between it and the concept of entanglement. While the role of entanglement in the double-slit experiment has been considered, this particular relationship appears to have been missed in preceding discussions of the experiment, even by Bohr, who extensively used it to support his argument concerning quantum physics. The main reason for this relationship is the different roles of the diaphragm with slits in two setups, S1 and S2, defining the double-slit experiment as a quantum experiment. In S1, in each individual run of the experiment one can in principle (even if not actually) know throughout which slit the quantum object considered has passed; in S2 this knowledge is in principle impossible, which impossibility is coextensive with the appearance of the interference pattern, once a sufficient number of individual runs of the experiment have taken place. The article offers the following argument based on two new concepts, an “experimentally quantum object” and an “ontologically quantum object.” In S1 the diaphragm can be treated as part of an observational arrangement and thus considered as a classical object, while the object passing through one or the other slit is considered as an “ontologically quantum object,” defined as an object necessary to establish a quantum phenomenon. By contrast, in S2, the diaphragm can, via the concept of Heisenberg-von-Neumann cut, be treated as an “experimentally quantum object,” defined as an object treatable by quantum theory, even while possibly being an ontologically classical object. This interaction is not an observation but a quantum entanglement between these two quantum objects, one ontologically and one experimentally quantum. This argument is grounded in a particular interpretation of quantum phenomena and quantum theory, which belongs to the class of interpretations designated here as “reality without realism” (RWR) interpretations. The article also argues that wave-particle complementarity, with which the concept of complementarity is often associated, plays little, if any, role in quantum physics, or in Bohr’s thinking, and may be misleading in considering the double-slit experiment, often explained by using this complementarity. Full article

Purpose: This paper examines the differences between transgender persons who self-identify as bisexual (n = 4129) and those who self-identify as pansexual (n = 5056) when it comes to experiencing anti-transgender harassment, discrimination, and violence, serious psychological distress, and suicidal ideation. Methods: Data from the 2015 U.S. National Transgender Survey were used to evaluate the differences between bisexual and pansexual persons in a sample of transgender Americans aged 18 or older. The Kessler-6 scale assessed psychological distress, and a dichotomous measure of past-year suicidal ideation was used. A 20-item scale assessed the extent to which people experienced anti-transgender harassment, discrimination, and violence. Multivariate analysis and structural equation analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: Compared to their bisexual counterparts, pansexual persons experienced more anti-transgender harassment, discrimination, and violence, were more likely to experience serious psychological distress, and were more likely to report suicidal ideation. A structural equation analysis revealed that the bisexual–pansexual distinction is important when understanding transgender persons’ likelihood of experiencing suicidal ideation. It operates indirectly through its direct impact on the number of anti-transgender experiences incurred. Conclusions: Pansexual individuals fare more poorly than their bisexual counterparts on measures of anti-transgender experiences, serious psychological distress, and suicidal ideation. The bisexual–pansexual distinction is a meaningful one when trying to understand the transgender persons’ odds of thinking about dying by suicide. Full article

This study investigates economic decision-making behaviors among welfare recipients in Miami, Florida, by leveraging well-established experimental protocols: the Guessing Game, the Prudence Measurement Task, the Risk Aversion Task, and the Stag Hunt Game. For this purpose, our study defines financial decisions as the underlying individual preferences that serve as validated proxies for savings behavior, debt management, job-search intensity, and participation in cooperative finance. A central objective is to compare the behavior of welfare recipients to that of undergraduate students, a cohort typically used in experimental economics research. The analysis reveals significant differences between the two groups in strategic thinking and coordination, particularly across ethnic and gender lines. Non-Hispanic/Latino participants in Miami displayed significantly higher average guesses in the Guessing Game compared to their counterparts in Tucson, indicating potential discrepancies in the depth of strategic reasoning. Additionally, female participants in Tucson exhibited higher levels of coordination in the Stag Hunt Game compared to females in Miami, suggesting variance in cooperative behavior between these groups. Despite these findings, regression models demonstrate that location, gender, and ethnicity collectively account for only a small fraction of the observed variance, as evidenced by low R² values and substantial mean squared errors across all games. These results suggest that individual heterogeneity, rather than broad demographic variables, may be more influential in shaping economic decisions. This study underscores the complexity of generalizing findings from traditional student samples to more diverse populations, highlighting the need for further investigation into the socioeconomic factors that drive financial decision-making. Full article

In this post-digital age, writing assessment has been markedly influenced by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing the role of automated formative feedback in supporting second language (L2) writing. This study investigates how Norwegian teachers use an AI-driven automated feedback tool, the Essay Assessment Technology (EAT), in process writing for the first time. Framed by the second and third-order barriers framework, we looked at teachers’ beliefs and the design level changes that they made in their teaching. Data were collected in Autumn 2022, during the testing of EAT’s first prototype. Teachers were first introduced to EAT in a workshop. A total of 3 English as a second language teachers from different schools were informants in this study. Teachers then used EAT in the classroom with their 9th-grade students (13 years old). Through individual teacher interviews, this descriptive qualitative study explores teachers’ perceptions, user experiences, and pedagogical decisions when incorporating EAT into their practices. The findings indicate that teachers’ beliefs about technology and its role in student learning, as well as their views on students’ responsibilities in task completion, significantly influence their instructional choices. Additionally, teachers not only adopt AI-driven tools but are also able to reflect and solve complex teaching and learning activities in the classroom, which demonstrates that these teachers have applied design thinking processes in integrating technology in their teaching. Based on the results in this study, we suggest the need for targeted professional development to support effective technology integration. Full article

This study proposes a computational framework that transforms eye-tracking analysis from statistical description to cognitive structure modeling, aiming to reveal the organizational features embedded in the viewing process. Using the designers’ observation of a traditional Chinese landscape painting as an example, the study draws on the goal-oriented nature of design thinking to suggest that such visual exploration may exhibit latent structural tendencies, reflected in patterns of fixation and transition. Rather than focusing on traditional fixation hotspots, our four-dimensional framework (Region, Relation, Weight, Time) treats viewing behavior as structured cognitive networks. To operationalize this framework, we developed a data-driven computational approach that integrates fixation coordinate transformation, K-means clustering, extremum point detection, and linear interpolation. These techniques identify regions of concentrated visual attention and define their spatial boundaries, allowing for the modeling of inter-regional relationships and cognitive organization among visual areas. An adaptive buffer zone method is further employed to quantify the strength of connections between regions and to delineate potential visual nodes and transition pathways. Three design-trained participants were invited to observe the same painting while performing a think-aloud task, with one participant selected for the detailed demonstration of the analytical process. The framework’s applicability across different viewers was validated through consistent structural patterns observed across all three participants, while simultaneously revealing individual differences in their visual exploration strategies. These findings demonstrate that the proposed framework provides a replicable and generalizable method for systematically analyzing viewing behavior across individuals, enabling rapid identification of both common patterns and individual differences in visual exploration. This approach opens new possibilities for discovering structural organization within visual exploration data and analyzing goal-directed viewing behaviors. Although this study focuses on method demonstration, it proposes a preliminary hypothesis that designers’ gaze structures are significantly more clustered and hierarchically organized than those of novices, providing a foundation for future confirmatory testing. Full article

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbots, such as ChatGPT, presents unique challenges and opportunities in an educational setting; however, they lack empirical evidence as teaching and learning tools. This study sought to investigate the impact of teacher-led AI-focused interventions in higher education institutions in different subject areas. Our aims were to support student engagement, explore the impact of AI tools for learning engagement and efficiency and skill development, and promote awareness of the strengths and limitations of GenAI tools in an educational context. This study was carried out with three distinct cohorts; Physiology, Initial Teacher Education, and Engineering, with year 3 and 4 undergraduate students. Each cohort received two 50 min teacher-led AI-focused interventions, including practical exercises relevant to the specific discipline. Following the interventions, students from all three cohorts received a common (optional) survey that quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated their experiences. Data from the three cohorts was pooled for analysis, with individual cohort analyses for Physiology, Initial Teacher Education, and Engineering provided. Our data indicates that teacher-led introductions to AI tools have positive effects on student engagement with peers, educators, and most notably the subject the students engage in. Students also reported very positive supportive effects with respect to learning engagement, learning efficiency, and critical thinking skills. Students found GenAI tools most useful for gathering knowledge and research purposes, while notable limitations included challenges associated with generating prompts and the accuracy of information. Students noted plagiarism as a significant ethical concern. Taken together, our data collected from diverse teaching and learning contexts support the use of teacher-led AI-focused interventions, specifically ChatGPT, in third-level education. Approaches like this are highly relevant to the university teaching of Physiology, Initial Teacher Education, and Engineering but are also more broadly applicable to third-level education in general to inform opportunities, limitations, and ethical considerations of GenAI in education. Full article