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Gaze following is an early-emerging skill in infancy argued to be fundamental to joint attention and later language development. However, how gaze following emerges is a topic of great debate. Representational theories assume that in order to follow adults’ gaze, infants must have a rich sensitivity to adults’ communicative intention from birth. In contrast, learning-based theories hold that infants may learn to gaze follow based on low-level social reinforcement, without the need to understand others’ mental states. Nagai et al. (2006) successfully taught a robot to gaze follow through social reinforcement and found that the robot learned in stages: first in the horizontal plane, and later in the vertical plane—a prediction that does not follow from representational theories. In the current study, we tested this prediction in an eye-tracking paradigm. Six-month-olds did not follow gaze in either the horizontal or vertical plane, whereas 12-month-olds and 18-month-olds only followed gaze in the horizontal plane. These results confirm the core prediction of the robot model, suggesting that children may also learn to gaze follow through social reinforcement coupled with a structured learning environment.

This research aims at identifying the main mathematical cognition deficits in 17 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia. These subjects participated in a Psychosocial Care Center (Caps) therapeutic group from a city of Rio Grande do Sul. The Caps perspective is based on treatment and recovery of basic cognition factors, which influence the daily activities, the family social environment. This is a research of qualitative, descriptive, cross-sectional approach based on the mathematical instrument of the Literacy Brazilian Program. It emerged from the obtained results four categories guided by the analysis matrix, which indicates that the subjects have cognitive deficits, which could cause significant impacts on their daily life. They presented difficulties in all categories, but the biggest deficit was revealed in the Category IV, which involved a higher degree of complexity, encompassing questions with more than one mathematical operation, inverse operations and number writing with intermediate zero. It was possible to verify after the test performed that 62.74% of the subjects have the ability to solve simple questions, such as adding small quantities and identifying numbers, however only 32.35% of the subjects could solve questions with more than one mathematical operation or higher complexity, which indicates low autonomy index regarding the subjects investigated to solve daily problems. La investigación tuvo como objetivo identificar los principales déficits cognitivos matemáticos en 17 sujetos con diagnóstico de esquizofrenia (edad promedio 50 años). Estos sujetos participaban de un grupo terapéutico de un centro de Atención Psicosocial (Caps) de un municipio de Rio Grande do Sul. La perspectiva del Caps es de tratamiento y restablecimiento (Recovery) de factores cognitivos básicos, que influencian en las actividades cotidianas y en el ámbito familiar y social. Se trata de una investigación de enfoque cualitativo, descriptivo, transversal, con base en el instrumento de matemáticas del programa Brasil Alfabetizado. De los resultados obtenidos surgieron cuatro categorías guiadas por la matriz de análisis, las cuales indican que los sujetos presentan déficits cognitivos que pueden causar importantes impactos en su vida cotidiana. Ellos presentaron dificultades en todas las categorías, sin embargo, el mayor déficit fue revelado en la categoría cuatro (IV), la cual envolvía mayor grado de complejidad, englobando cuestiones con más de una operación matemática, operaciones inversas y escrito de números con cero intermedio. La realización de esta prueba posibilito verificar que 62,74% de los sujetos presentaban capacidad de resolver cuestiones simples, como sumar pequeñas cantidades e identificar números, no obstante, solamente el 32,35% de los sujetos consiguieron resolver cuestiones con más de una operación matemática de mayor complejidad, lo que indica bajo índice de autonomía de los sujetos estudiados para solucionar problemas de lo cotidiano. A investigação teve como objetivo identificar os principais déficits cognitivos matemáticos em sujeitos com esquizofrenia de um grupo terapêutico de um CAPS. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa, descritiva, transversal desenvolvida no CAPS de Ijuí/RS. Utilizou-se o instrumento do programa Brasil alfabetizado de matemática. Os resultados obtidos foram definidos a partir de quatro categorias, guiadas pela matriz de análise. Os resultados indicaram que os sujeitos apresentam déficits cognitivos que variam, com importantes impactos na vida cotidiana desses sujeitos. Concluiu-se que os sujeitos apresentam dificuldades em todas as categorias, porém maior déficit foi revelado na Categoria IV, a qual envolvia maior grau de complexidade englobando mais de uma operação matemática, operações inversas e escrita de número com zero intermediário. Sugere-se o uso educativo na área da saúde mental de material lúdico, concreto e com repetições para beneficiar em sua reabilitação.

Much has been written about the relationships between learning styles and creativity with the aim of finding the ways that students prefer to learn. This study examined the relationship between learning styles (Subjective experience, abstract concepts, active experimental, reflective observation) with creativity. The study sample included 354 students (164 boys, 190 girls), The results showed that there is a significant relationship between learning styles and creativity. Results of regression analyses indicated creative learning styles significantly predicted.

Timing can be defined as the ability to perceive temporal sequences and regulate timed behaviors. As in other animals, our ability to make accurate time estimations is crucial in order to accomplish several activities. Organisms can process time over a wide range of durations ranging from microseconds to days. In the middle of these extremes is the hundreds of milliseconds to seconds range which is important for many everyday behaviors, such as walking, speaking and dancing. Yet, how this is managed remains poorly understood. Some central issues with regard time processing in this particular time range are whether timing is governed by one, or by several different mechanisms, possibly invoked by different effectors used to perform the timing task, as well as, if cognitive capacities are also involved in rhythmic motor timing. This thesis includes three studies. Study I investigated the effects of short- term practice on a motor timing task. Analyses of the timing variability indicated that a substantial amount of learning occurred in the first hour of practice and declined afterwards, exhibiting no trend for further decrease across the remaining 60 or 210 minutes. This effect was similar across effector, amount of feedback, and interval duration. Our results suggested that training effects influenced mainly motor precision and raised the question of whether motor timing training influenced also cognitive capacities. Study II investigated the relationship between motor timing and cognition. Specifically, participants had to train a sensorimotor synchronization task (SMS) over several days, and the question was whether this training would improve cognitive performance. A near transfer effect was found between the sensorimotor synchronization task and the sustained attention task, indicating that sustained attention is involved in motor timing. Study III compared the timing variability between the eyes and the hands, as a function of four different intervals, in order to examine whether these systems are temporally controlled by the same or different mechanism(s). The results showed several positive correlations in variability, between the eye and the finger movements, which, however, were significant only for the longer intervals. In addition, they were differences in variability between the eye and the hand, for the different interval durations. In general, the pattern of results from these studies suggested that voluntary motor timing is managed by overlapping distributed mechanisms and that these mechanisms are related to systems that manage cognitive processes, such as attention. The results partially explain the well-known relationships between cognitive ability and timing.

A commentary on "An enquiry concerning the nature of conceptual categories: a case-study on the social dimension of human cognition", by John Stewart (2014)in 'Frontiers in Psychology', Vol.5.

Knowing animals - Animal Welfare, special issue