The study of individual experience during the performance of a psychological task using a phenomenological approach is a relatively new area of research. The aim of this paper was to combine first‐ and third‐person approaches to investigate whether the strategies individuals use during a working memory task are associated with specific task conditions, whether the strategies combine to form stable patterns, and whether the use of specific strategies is related to task accuracy. Thirty‐one participants took part in an experiment in (...) which they were instructed to remember colors, orientations, or positions of stimuli presented in a change detection task. After every 7th–15th trial, participants took part in an in‐depth phenomenological interview in which they described their experiences during the trial that immediately preceded the interview. Qualitative analysis revealed a set of 18 strategies that participants used while performing the task, which we divided into active and passive strategies of encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Quantitative analysis revealed that while many strategies were used in all task conditions, some strategies and their combinations may be better suited to the specific task demands, while others are more general in nature. The results also suggest a distinction between strategies for encoding object identity and spatial features. Finally, our results did not provide robust evidence for a relationship between specific strategies and task accuracy. (shrink)

Sustained neural activity during the delay phase of spatial working memory tasks is compelling evidence for the neural correlate of active storage and maintenance of spatial information, however, it does not provide insight into specific mechanisms of spatial coding. This activity may reflect a range of processes, such as maintenance of a stimulus position or a prepared motor response plan. The aim of our study was to examine neural evidence for the use of different coding strategies, depending on the characteristics (...) and demands of a spatial working memory task. Thirty-one and 44 participants performed a spatial working memory task while we measured their brain activity using fMRI in two separate experiments. Participants were asked to remember the position of a briefly presented target stimulus and, after a delay period, to use a joystick to indicate either the position of the remembered target or an indicated non-matching location. The task was designed so that the predictability of the response could be manipulated independently of task difficulty and memory retrieval process. We were particularly interested in contrasting conditions in which participants could use prospective coding of the motor response or had to rely on retrospective sensory information. Prospective motor coding was associated with activity in somatomotor, premotor, and motor cortices and increased integration of brain activity with and within the somatomotor network. In contrast, retrospective sensory coding was associated with increased activity in parietal regions and increased functional connectivity with and within secondary visual and dorsal attentional networks. The observed differences in activation levels, dynamics of differences over trial duration, and integration of information within and between brain networks provide compelling evidence for the use of complementary spatial working memory strategies optimized to meet task demands. (shrink)

In experimental cognitive psychology, objects of inquiry are typically operationalized with psychological tasks. When interpreting results from such tasks, we focus primarily on behavioral measures such as reaction times and accuracy rather than experiences – i.e., phenomenology – associated with the task, and posit that the tasks elicit the desired cognitive phenomenon. Evaluating whether the tasks indeed elicit the desired phenomenon can be facilitated by understanding the experience during task performance. In this paper we explore the breadth of experiences that (...) are elicited by and accompany task performance using in-depth phenomenological and qualitative methodology to gather subjective reports during the performance of a visuo-spatial change detection task. Thirty-one participants were asked to remember either colors, orientations or positions of the presented stimuli and recall them after a short delay. Qualitative reports revealed rich experiential landscapes associated with the task-performance, suggesting a distinction between two broad classes of experience: phenomena at the front of consciousness and background feelings. The former includes cognitive strategies and aspects of metacognition, whereas the latter include more difficult-to-detect aspects of experience that comprise the overall sense of experience. We focus primarily on the background feelings, since strategies of task-performance to a large extent map onto previously identified cognitive processes and discuss the methodological implications of our findings. (shrink)

Meeting everyday challenges and responding in a goal-directed manner requires both the ability to maintain the current task set in face of distractors—stable cognitive control, and the ability to flexibly generate or switch to a new task set when environmental requirements change—flexible cognitive control. While studies show that the development varies across individual component processes supporting cognitive control, little is known about changes in complex stable and flexible cognitive control across the lifespan. In the present study, we used the newly (...) developed Cognitive Control Challenge Task to examine the development of complex stable and flexible cognitive control across the lifespan and to gain insight into their interdependence. A total of 340 participants from two samples participated in the study, in which they were asked to complete the C3T along with a series of standard tests of individual components of cognitive control. The results showed that the development of both stable and flexible complex cognitive control follows the expected inverted U-curve. In contrast, the indeces of task set formation and task set switching cost increase linearly across the lifespan, suggesting that stable and flexible complex cognitive control are subserved by separable cognitive systems with different developmental trajectories. Correlations with standard cognitive tests indicate that complex cognitive control captured by the C3T engages a broad range of cognitive abilities, such as working memory and planning, and reflects global processing speed, jointly suggesting that the C3T is an effective test of complex cognitive control that has both research and diagnostic potential. (shrink)

Critics have maintained that John Rawls’s theory of justice is unrealistic and undemocratic. Andrius Gališanka’s incisive intellectual biography argues that in misunderstanding the origins and development of Rawls’s argument, previous narratives fail to explain the novelty of his philosophical approach and so misunderstand his political vision.

Istraživanje daje uvid u glavne dimenzije i aspekte roditeljskog ponašanja roditelja djece s poremećajem iz spektra autizma s obzirom na prisutnost/neprisutnost nepoželjnih ponašanja djece, temeljem samoprocjene. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od N=121 roditelja djece s PSA iz Dalmacije. Rezultati su ukazali na prisutnost restriktivne kontrole i kažnjavanja kada su prisutna nepoželjna ponašanja, dok roditelji čija djeca nemaju nepoželjna ponašanja pokazuju više autonomije za svoje dijete, imaju veće roditeljsko znanje i primjenjuju induktivno rezoniranje. U raspravi se ističe značaj osobnih karakteristika (...) roditelja i partnerstva, kvalitete podrške te znanstveno utemeljenih intervencija i roditeljskog znanja za roditeljsko ponašanje. Predlažu se smjernice za učinkovite intervencije na nepoželjna ponašanja djeteta te poželjne odrednice roditeljskog ponašanja. Također, navode se ograničenja provedenog istraživanja i prijedlozi za buduća istraživanja. The research provides insight into the main dimensions and aspects of behavior of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder with regard to the presence/absence of challenging behavior patterns in children, according to the parents’ self-assessment. The research was conducted on a sample of N=121 parents of children with autism spectrum disorder from the Croatian region of Dalmatia. The results indicate the presence of such parental behaviors as restrictive control and punishment when challenging behaviours are present. On the other hand, the parents whose children do not exhibit challenging behaviors give their child more autonomy, have greater parental knowledge and apply inductive reasoning. The discussion section of the paper emphasizes the importance of parents’ personal characteristics and partnerships, the quality of support, scientifically based interventions, and parental knowledge for parental behavior. Guidelines for empowering parents on effective interventions in cases of challenging behaviors, desirable determinants and aspects of parental behavior, work on personal growth and the quality of relationships are proposed along with suggestions for future research as well as limitations of the conducted research. (shrink)

The research provides insight into the main dimensions and aspects of behavior of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder with regard to the presence/absence of challenging behavior patterns in children, according to the parents’ self-assessment. The research was conducted on a sample of N=121 parents of children with autism spectrum disorder from the Croatian region of Dalmatia. The results indicate the presence of such parental behaviors as restrictive control and punishment when challenging behaviours are present. On the other hand, (...) the parents whose children do not exhibit challenging behaviors give their child more autonomy, have greater parental knowledge and apply inductive reasoning. The discussion section of the paper emphasizes the importance of parents’ personal characteristics and partnerships, the quality of support, scientifically based interventions, and parental knowledge for parental behavior. Guidelines for empowering parents on effective interventions in cases of challenging behaviors, desirable determinants and aspects of parental behavior, work on personal growth and the quality of relationships are proposed along with suggestions for future research as well as limitations of the conducted research. (shrink)

Marcel Proust, as a writer, was even more, shall we say , “steeped” in literary work by others than were so steeped such equally “classic,” as they are by now called, or “canonical” twentieth-century novelists as James Joyce, who, like Proust, seems to have had but in fact did not have a photographic memory, and Vladimir Nabokov, who did have one, or than are such literary critics as ..