Search Results (13)

Considering that the teaching of mathematics in elementary school is an important prerequisite for the development of mathematically literate citizens, it is essential to identify what makes it effective. The aim of this study is to determine the characteristics of effective interventions in elementary school mathematics education. To this end, a scoping review was conducted that included 44 experimental studies published between 2014 and 2023. Through a qualitative analysis of the intervention descriptions, we identified 27 characteristics, which were categorized into nine thematic units. We found that, on average, seven characteristics were used per intervention. The results of this study suggest that effective elementary school mathematics instruction should foster students’ conceptual understanding and procedural fluency through problem-solving, active learning, and mathematical games. This can be achieved through a dynamic alternation of whole-class instruction and cooperative and individual learning with the use of manipulatives and visualizations to reach the level of abstraction. Considering that the analyzed interventions rarely addressed students’ common errors and critical thinking, future research could focus on these aspects in elementary school mathematics education. Full article

We tested predictions deriving from the “Pleasure-Interest Model of Aesthetic Liking” (PIA Model), whereby aesthetic preferences arise from two fluency-based processes: an initial automatic, percept-driven default process and a subsequent perceiver-driven reflective process. One key trigger for reflective processing is stimulus complexity. Moreover, if meaning can be derived from such complexity, then this can engender increased interest and elevated liking. Experiment 1 involved graffiti street-art images, pre-normed to elicit low, moderate and high levels of interest. Subjective reports indicated a predicted enhancement in liking across increasing interest levels. Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during image viewing revealed different patterns of alpha power in temporal brain regions across interest levels. Experiment 2 enforced a brief initial image-viewing stage and a subsequent reflective image-viewing stage. Differences in alpha power arose in most EEG channels between the initial and deliberative viewing stages. A linear increase in aesthetic liking was again seen across interest levels, with different patterns of alpha activity in temporal and occipital regions across these levels. Overall, the phenomenological data support the PIA Model, while the physiological data suggest that enhanced aesthetic liking might be associated with “flow-feelings” indexed by alpha activity in brain regions linked to visual attention and reducing distraction. Full article

Creative or novel behaviors in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) can be indicators of flexible thinking and problem solving. Over 50 years ago, two rough-tooth dolphins demonstrated creative novel behaviors acquired through reinforcement training in human care. Since this novel training, a variety of species have been trained to respond to this conceptual cue. The current study assessed the creativity of 12 bottlenose dolphins (5 females, 7 males) housed at the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences (RIMS) in Roatan, Honduras. Individual differences were found across four constructs measured for creativity: fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality. Variability in performance occurred across test sessions. Animals with less experience with this task performed fewer “innovative” behaviors as compared to more experienced animals. Despite errors, dolphins continued to attempt the task during test sessions, suggesting the concept of “innovate” was intrinsically rewarding and cognitively engaging. This task may be utilized across species to promote the comparative study of innovative or creative behavior as well as to promote cognitive welfare. Full article

Recent studies have proposed valid precision models and valid Research and Diagnostic Algorithmic Rules (RADAR) for recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of the current study was to construct precision models and RADAR scores in patients experiencing first-episode MDD and to examine whether adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and negative life events (NLE) are associated with suicidal behaviors (SB), cognitive impairment, and phenome RADAR scores. This study recruited 90 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) in an acute phase, of whom 71 showed a first-episode MDD (FEM), and 40 controls. We constructed RADAR scores for ACE; NLE encountered in the last year; SB; and severity of depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, and physiosomatic symptoms using the Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Rating Scales and the FibroFatigue scale. The partial least squares analysis showed that in FEM, one latent vector (labeled the phenome of FEM) could be extracted from depressive, anxiety, fatigue, physiosomatic, melancholia, and insomnia symptoms, SB, and cognitive impairments. The latter were conceptualized as a latent vector extracted from the Verbal Fluency Test, the Mini-Mental State Examination, and ratings of memory and judgement, indicating a generalized cognitive decline (G-CoDe). We found that 60.8% of the variance in the FEM phenome was explained by the cumulative effects of NLE and ACE, in particular emotional neglect and, to a lesser extent, physical abuse. In conclusion, the RADAR scores and plots constructed here should be used in research and clinical settings, rather than the binary diagnosis of MDD based on the DSM-5 or ICD. Full article

Packaging design is one of the most important visual representations of low-fat foods and is a key factor in the perception of the health of the product. The complexity of packaging induces the automatic processing of relevant concepts by consumers, which affects their attitudes; however, this process is not well understood. We developed a sequential mediation model based on the theories of conceptual fluency and conceptual metaphor to examine the impact of packaging complexity on consumers’ purchase intentions. In this study, 353 volunteers were recruited to participate, and variables were measured using questionnaires on packaging intention, brand complexity, concept fluency, and brand attitude. The results indicated that it was simple to increase consumers’ conceptual fluency and brand attitude; conceptual fluency had a significant predictive effect on brand attitude and purchase intention; brand attitude had a significant predictive effect on purchase intention and conceptual fluency; and brand attitude served as a mediator between packaging complexity and purchase intention. This study demonstrated that the general characteristics of packaging design could influence consumers’ purchase intentions and provide direction for the packaging design of low-fat foods. In addition, we examine the study’s theoretical and practical implications. Full article

The current study investigated the mental lexicon features of the Hakka-Mandarin dialect bilingual from two perspectives: the structural features of lexicons and the relations between lexicons. Experiment one used a semantic fluency task and complex-network analysis to observe the structural features of lexicons. Experiment two used a cross-language long-term repetition priming paradigm to explore the relations between lexicons, with three sub-experiments focusing on conceptual representation, lexical representation, and their relations, respectively. The results from experiment one showed that the dialect bilingual lexicons were small-world in nature, and the D2 (Mandarin) lexicon was better organized than the D1 (Hakka) lexicon. Experiment two found that D1 and D2 might have partially shared conceptual representations, separate lexical form representations, and partially shared lemma representations. Based on the findings, we tentatively proposed a two-layer activation model to simulate the lexicon features of dialect bilingual speakers. Full article

Task complexity has long been posited as an influential task feature inspiring much research. However, task complexity frameworks might be in need of adjustment, as they tend to emphasize the role of cognitive factors and neglect affective ones despite the fact that learner agency and potential for creativity have been linked to certain aspects of task performance, possibly exerting their influence through learners’ affects. Thus, to investigate the role of agency and creativity in task-based L2 writing, this study aimed to explore the relationship between task conditions conceptualized as the levels of learner agency and the potential for creativity in Chinese students’ English written performances on the one hand, and the possible role that the study contexts might play in the written performances in each task condition on the other. Participants of the study were two groups of Chinese intermediate learners of English studying in Hungary and China (n = 40), producing 120 narratives altogether. In our study, different aspects of task performance, i.e., syntactic and lexical complexity and accuracy, were associated with learner agency and potential for creativity. Moreover, differences were found in fluency between Chinese students studying in the different contexts, indicating the possible role of study contexts in this regard. Full article

Puerperium may lead to memory and executive/attentional complaints that interfere with women’s daily life. This might be prevented by dietary compounds, such as neuroprotective polyphenols. Their bioactivity depends on their effects on lipid metabolism in different tissues, such as the brain, fat, and breast. Thus, a polyphenol-related cognitive improvement may be associated with changes of lipids in human milk, which are key for infant neurodevelopment. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 75 postpartum women from Córdoba (Argentina), involving several neuropsychological tests. Diet was registered to identify polyphenol intake and food pattern adherence, with sociodemographic and other psychological variables (insomnia, stress, subjective cognitive complaints) being also studied. Triacylglycerols, cholesterol, and their oxidative forms were analyzed as milk biomarkers. Multivariate statistical methods were applied. Results confirmed that women who consumed polyphenols presented better executive/attentional performance (i.e., higher correct responses, conceptual level responses, complete categories, verbal fluency; lower attentional interferences, and perseverative errors) and word retention with lower interference. Polyphenols were positively associated with milk lipids, which were higher in women with better cognition. Furthermore, they had lower oxidized triacylglycerols. In conclusion, polyphenolic intake during postpartum may improve executive/attentional functioning, memory, and milk lipid profile. Full article

European learners of English are increasingly using this language recreationally, which is referred to as Extramural English (henceforth EE). The level of EE use in a given country might be reflected in English Language Teaching (ELT) practices. Yet, no research so far has examined cross-nationally what potential for language learning teachers perceive in their learners’ EE engagement and how this relates to ELT practices. To address this gap, the present study draws on interview data from lower secondary English teachers from Austria, France, and Sweden (n = 20). They were enquired about (1) their students’ EE engagement and its effects on learning, (2) their accuracy and fluency teaching methods, and (3) the perceived link between EE and ELT. Swedish teachers seemed to have a more positive and fine-grained conceptualization of the impact of EE on learning than Austrian and French participants, especially in terms of grammar acquisition. The implicit learning environment that Swedish students encounter extramurally might extend to the classroom, where the use of explicit grammar rules occurs less dominantly than in the Austrian and French samples. The countries converged in the type of fluency-based instruction they reported. Gaps in language areas not (fully) developed through EE seem to be more intentionally addressed in ELT in Sweden. Full article

Environmental issues are still challenging and of global concern. To improve the environmental consumption behavior of consumers, this study investigates whether the match between the promotion mode and product type can improve the conceptual fluency of consumers, so as to increase their purchase intention for green products. The results of three experiments reveal that the interaction between promotion mode and product type has a certain impact on the conceptual fluency of consumers, which can, in turn, promote their purchase intention. This research theoretically contributes to the research on green consumption by introducing promotion mode and revealing the mediation effect of conceptual fluency, it also provides some practical implications for alleviating environmental problems. Full article

(1) Background: In the field of creativity studies there is always space for expansion and new conceptualizations of the methods involved. Therefore, we will present in this paper a brief arrangement of the methods used to enhance creativity and consider whether visual mnemonic devices can increase creativity. The devices are used in the teaching process in order to ease the remembering process by creating a visual representation. Visual mnemonic devices are techniques that increase creativity as part of their own performance. (2) Methods: We will use a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent group design, the procedure involving the use of visual mnemonic devices. (3) Results: The results show that the degree of abstracting increased after using visual mnemonic devices, along with fluency and other creativity dimensions. (4) Conclusions: The paper shows that the creativity increased, based on a national percentile system (along with standard creativity index), after using the visual mnemonics devices, thus demonstrating a case for integrating the visual mnemonic devices among methods to foster creativity. Full article

Previous studies have shown how individual differences in creativity relate to differences in the structure of semantic memory. However, the latter is only one aspect of the whole mental lexicon, a repository of conceptual knowledge that is considered to simultaneously include multiple types of conceptual similarities. In the current study, we apply a multiplex network approach to compute a representation of the mental lexicon combining semantics and phonology and examine how it relates to individual differences in creativity. This multiplex combination of 150,000 phonological and semantic associations identifies a core of words in the mental lexicon known as viable cluster, a kernel containing simpler to parse, more general, concrete words acquired early during language learning. We focus on low (N = 47) and high (N = 47) creative individuals’ performance in generating animal names during a semantic fluency task. We model this performance as the outcome of a mental navigation on the multiplex lexical network, going within, outside, and in-between the viable cluster. We find that low and high creative individuals differ substantially in their access to the viable cluster during the semantic fluency task. Higher creative individuals tend to access the viable cluster less frequently, with a lower uncertainty/entropy, reaching out to more peripheral words and covering longer multiplex network distances between concepts in comparison to lower creative individuals. We use these differences for constructing a machine learning classifier of creativity levels, which leads to an accuracy of $65.0\pm 0.9\%$ and an area under the curve of $68.0\pm 0.8\%$ , which are both higher than the random expectation of 50%. These results highlight the potential relevance of combining psycholinguistic measures with multiplex network models of the mental lexicon for modelling mental navigation and, consequently, classifying people automatically according to their creativity levels. Full article

This study examines how processing fluency influences people’s behavioral intention to perform a pro-social behavior. In particular, we predict that high processing fluency enhances self-efficacy perception which, in turn, increases behavioral intention to participate in a pro-social campaign. Study 1 tested the proposed effect in the context of a pro-environmental campaign. Results showed that individual’s subjective feeling of processing fluency affects the degree of self-efficacy and intention to engage in recycling behavior. Study 2 replicated study 1 in the context of organ donation. In addition, we manipulated the degree of conceptual fluency by differently pairing message framing (gain vs. loss) and background color (blue vs. red). As predicted, participants exposed to campaign advertising with conceptually matching framing-color pairs (blue—gain framing and red—loss framing) expressed a greater level of self-efficacy than those who were exposed to mismatched pairs. In addition, self-efficacy mediated the influence of the color–framing match on the intention to donate organs. Our research contributes to the existing literature by identifying critical drivers that promote actions toward pro-social campaigns. It also provides useful guidelines for marketers who design and implement pro-social campaign communications. Full article