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Infant low-frequency EEG cortical power, cortical tracking and phase-amplitude coupling predicts language a year later
Get PDFCortical signals have been shown to track acoustic and linguistic properties of continuous speech. This phenomenon has been measured in both children and adults, reflecting speech understanding by adults as well as cognitive functions such as attention and prediction. Furthermore, atypical low-frequency cortical tracking of speech is found in children with phonological difficulties (developmental dyslexia). Accordingly, low-frequency cortical signals may play a critical role in language acquisition. A recent investigation with infants Attaheri et al., 2022 [1] probed cortical tracking mechanisms at the ages of 4, 7 and 11 months as participants listened to sung speech. Results from temporal response function (TRF), phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) and dynamic theta-delta power (PSD) analyses indicated speech envelope tracking and stimulus-related power (PSD) for delta and theta neural signals. Furthermore, delta- and theta-driven PAC was found at all ages, with theta phases displaying stronger PAC with high-frequency amplitudes than delta. The present study tests whether these previous findings replicate in the second half of the full cohort of infants (N = 122) who were participating in this longitudinal study (first half: N = 61, (1); second half: N = 61). In addition to demonstrating good replication, we investigate whether cortical tracking in the first year of life predicts later language acquisition for the full cohort (122 infants recruited, 113 retained) using both infant-led and parent-estimated measures and multivariate and univariate analyses. Increased delta cortical tracking in the univariate analyses, increased ~2Hz PSD power and stronger theta-gamma PAC in both multivariate and univariate analyses were related to better language outcomes using both infant-led and parent-estimated measures. By contrast, increased ~4Hz PSD power in the multi-variate analyses, increased delta-beta PAC and a higher theta/delta power ratio in the multi-variate analyses were related to worse language outcomes. The data are interpreted within a “Temporal Sampling” framework for developmental language trajectories
Mourning in the Anthropocene: Ecological Grief and Earthly Coexistence by Joshua Trey Barnett, East Lansing, MI, Michigan State University Press, 2022, xxxiv + 238 pp., US$35.95, £30.95 (paperback), ISBN:978-1-61186-434-2
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Development of an exploratory creativity assessment scale
Get PDFExploratory creativity (E-creativity) can be achieved by searching an area of conceptual space governed by specific rules. Existing studies on E-creativity mainly focus on how to use aspects of E-creativity to develop computational creativity tools, but E-creativity assessment scales have not been fully studied. To fill in the gap, this study developed an E-creativity assessment scale based on metrics and experimental determination studies. Eight indexes are promoted through literature investigation, which are related to E-creativity attributes, pre-requirement for the existence of E-creativity, relations between exploratory process and creativity, and results of E-creativity. Then, an empirical case study is applied to investigate the differences between nonprofessionals and professionals when using the developed scale. From the whole research, the results reveal that E-creativity is not simply related to the exploratory process and its concept space; instead, it is also related to the relations between the novelty of the exploratory process and the concept space of E-creativity. The results reflect the role of E-creativity in a creative process. This research provides a further understanding of E-creativity, which can contribute to further develop the definition of E-creativity. The E-creativity assessment scales can be used as a cue to further evaluate machine generated E-creativity
Μετα-απομυθοποίηση και διακειμενικότητα. Tο φάντασμα της Κασσάνδρας του Ανδρέα Φλουράκη. [Post-disenchantment and intertextuality. Cassandra's ghost by Andreas Flourakis.]
No full textPerspectives on cultural economy: personal, institutional, historical
Get PDFThis short essay responds to Toby Bennett’s request for a personal account of the emergence of cultural economy during the 1990s. It brings together reflections on a particular journey into academia, identifies the influence of specific individuals, considers the institutional environment in the UK at the time, and includes observations about the broader political and intellectual context within which cultural economy emerged as a distinct idea
Artists have superior local and global processing abilities but show a preference for initially drawing globally
Get PDFThe attentional demands of drawing require both local processing of an object’s details and global processing of its overall structure. In this study, we examined the extent to which artists have superior local and global processing skills, how these skills relate to artists’ ability to draw realistically and to autistic-related traits, and whether artists initially take a local or global approach to drawing. Forty first-year college art students and 41 nonart students completed two tasks assessing local processing and two tasks assessing global processing. Participants completed two drawing tasks that assessed their ability to draw realistically, two copying tasks that assessed whether they showed a preference for initially copying the local or global aspects of an object, and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient that assessed autistic-related traits. We found that art students outperformed nonart students on both the local and global processing tasks and that drawing ability was related to performance on these tasks. We also found that art students were more likely than nonart students to initially copy the global features in their drawings. Finally, we found that art students did not exhibit more autistic-related traits than nonart students and that the number of autistic-related traits was unrelated to performance on the local and global processing, drawing, or copying tasks. These results suggest that art students have an attentional flexibility that allows them to process information at a local and global level but that they have a preference for initially drawing globally
Integrating the Global Agenda of Social Work and Social Development in the Republic of Cyprus
Get PDFCyprus is a nation of great history, old and new, that makes up a controversial and often stressful environment in which social work is practiced. The intent of this paper is to highlight the Cypriot context and discuss how the Global Agenda is integrated in it. Drawing on the key objectives of the Global Agenda — promoting social and economic equalities; promoting the dignity and worth of peoples; promoting community and environmental sustainability; and, strengthening recognition of the importance of human relationships — the paper explores the challenges and barriers that social work in the nation faces in an attempt to promote the wellbeing and growth of communities, families and individuals. With consideration to the many and rich initiatives toward increasing social solidarity, collaboration and community engagement, the paper makes suggestions to overcome the challenges that prevent social work from fully committing to the agenda
‘Capturing the magic': grassroots perspectives on evaluating open youth work
Get PDFYouth work’s informal and youth-centred nature raises challenges for evaluation, challenges that are intensified by the growing dominance of measurement, market values and surveillance in the context of the neoliberal restructuring of youth services. This article builds on Griffiths’ (2012, Why Joy in Education Is an Issue for Socially Just Policies. Journal of Education Policy 27 (5): 655–670) philosophical argument for valuing the intrinsic contribution of education, thus conceptualising evaluation as encompassing more than measuring outcomes. It reports the findings of a three-year qualitative study in eight open youth work settings in England that investigated the perspectives of 143 young people, youth workers and policy makers on evaluation in youth work. While young people and youth workers had often participated in evaluations they found meaningful, some approaches to impact measurement were experienced as too formal, intrusive, insensitive and burdensome. The article argues that evaluation and accountability processes must be practice-informed, youth-centred, and anti-oppressive. It recommends the participatory and collaborative development of diverse methods and approaches to evaluation that ‘capture the magic’ of youth work while enabling further reflection and development of practice