Advances in Cognitive Sciences
Year:2018 | Volume:20 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:12

Introduction: Explaining the nature of consciousness is one of the most important and perplexing areas in philosophy. What is consciousness? How is the conscious mind related to the body? Can consciousness be explained in terms of brain activity? How can we explain the sensation of the smelling of a rose or a conscious visual experience? One question that should be answered by any plausible theory of consciousness is: What makes a mental state a conscious mental state? Some Philosophers have attempted to understand consciousness in terms of some kind of higher-order awareness. But the question is whether these efforts are sufficient or even correct?Method: In this paper I have used the library method which involves the step-by-step process used to gather information found in primary sources.Results: There are a number of different kinds of higher-order theory, depending on how one characterizes the HOR-state in question. In general, the idea that what makes a mental state conscious is that it is the object of some kind of higher-order representation (HOR). So, for example, my desire to write a good article becomes conscious when I become “aware” of the desire. Any theory which attempts to explain consciousness in terms of higher-order states is known as a higher-order (HO) theory of consciousness. In this article, Peter Carruthers’s View, “Dispositionalist Higher- Order Thought Theory”, is discussed.Conclusion: It seems that the Carruthers’s view faces serious problems and answering them on the basis of all representational views (first or second order) is very difficult. This is also the case with Carruthers’s view that claims conscious mental states gain dual intentional content.

Introduction: The possibility that electromagnetic waves affect human cognition arises from the fact that electromagnetic radiation induces magnetic and electrical fields which may affect brain electrical activity and membrane potential of nervous system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of electromagnetic radiation on the working memory of humans.Method: A sample of 24 male students from Shahid Beheshti University (mean age 26.5 ± 2.7 years) were selected for this study and randomly divided into two groups: sham exposed and experimental. To evaluate the psychological condition of participants, the SCL90-R questionnaire was used. The experimental group was exposed to electromagnetic wave at 2450 MHZ frequency for 20 minutes.. The head specific absorption rate (SAR) was estimated to be 0.15 W/kg. The participants’ working memories were assessed at three stages of before, after and 24 hours following exposure using n-back task. In case the reaction time was more than 1, 000 mili-seconds or accuracy rate less than 70%, the data was excluded from further analysis. An analysis of ANOVA with repeated measure was used to analyze the data.Results: A significant decrease in reaction time was observed in the experimental group after exposure as compared to the sham group, but the accuracy rate was not changed significantly.Conclusion: According to the findings of present study, it can be concluded that electromagnetic wave exposure in 2450 MHZ frequency may induce transient effect on working memory in healthy humans by curbing the reaction time.

Introduction: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of working memory capacity on the observational learning of sequential timing tasks.Method: A quasi-experimental research was conducted on a number of 20 university students with a mean age of 21.5 years (SD=1.5) who were selected through convenience sampling and were assigned to high and low working memory groups based on memory quotient scores. Wechler digit span adults test and Sequential timing apparatus were used to collect the data, and evaluate working memory quotient and relative and absolute timing, respectively. The task required participants to press four keys on a numeric keypad (2®6®8®4) with regard to the absolute and relative movement times. All participants observed 72 trials during the practice phase, and performed 12 trials during the immediate, delayed and transfer phases. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the collected data.Results: The analyses demonstrated that during the immediate, delayed and transfer phases, relative and absolute timing errors were significantly lower for high working memory groups, but not for the low working memory groups.Conclusion: Therefore, it seems that working memory capacity may affect learning sequential motor tasks during observational learning.

Introduction: The results of the recent researches suggest that addiction threatens physical, mental, social, and cognitive health in addition to physical health. Of course, the disruption of psychological, social, and cognitive functions can also lead an individual to addiction. This relation is reciprocal, in a way that psycho-social and cognitive dysfunction can lead an individual to addiction.Method: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of cognitive function of inhibition and planning of tendency to addiction in adolescents. Method: This causal-comparative study was conducted in two stages. In stage one, 570 freshmen from Arak University (aged18-20) were selected. They were asked to answer the Iranian Addiction Potential Scale (IAPS) (Zargar 2006). Based on the performance in IAPS, a group of 44 students with high- and a group of 45 with low score (10% of top and 10% of bottom) were selected for stage two. In stage two, participants were asked to perform two tasks: Stroop and Tower of London tests to measure cognitive inhibition and planning respectively.Results: Results of performing two sets of MANOVA revealed that there is no significant difference between high and low groups in stroop task, but the difference in Tower of London measures were significant, and low group had better performance.Conclusion: It might be a remarkable result, and we may be able to conclude that cognitive functions, specifically cognitive planning, are good predictors of tendency to addiction in adolescents.

Introduction: In this article, Fodor’s argument in favour of psychological individualism is studied. Fodor states that psychological individualism is motivated by two taxonomic principles: (A) that cognitive/scientific psychology individuates psychological states with respect to their causal powers; and (B) that psychological causal powers supervene on subject’s intrinsic physiological state or subject’s local microstructure. Then, Fodor’s across-context test is examined. In order To understand whether causal powers are the same or different, the individuals “across contexts rather than within contexts” must be considered. According to Fodor, the idea of the cross-context test is that individuals have the same causal powers if and only if in every context (actual or counterfactual), they have the same effects. That is to say, uniformity of causal powers can only be assessed by appealing to sameness of effects with respect to (actual or counterfactual) shared contexts. Three replies are presented which all reject the cross-context test. The paper concludes that the three replies can reject the cross-context test. Thus, the Fodor’s across-context test in favour of individualism is correct.

Introduction: This article is an attempt to examine the effectiveness of Conceptual Blending Theory by Fauconnier and Turner in explaining cognitive components of the conceptualization process. The scope of the research covers the last fifteen chapters of the Holy Quran.Method: To do this, descriptive-analytic method was used. Data collection was a library and note taking method. Valid interpretations of the Holy Quarn and Noor Comprehensive software have been used in analyzing research data. The main question of this paper is whether it is possible to analyze the conceptual structure of the Holy Quran by using the parameters of Conceptual Blending Theory. It is assumed that by using Conceptual Blending framework we are able to explain the conceptual structure of the Holy Quran. This method of conceptualization has roots in the relationship between the language and mind.Results: The findings of this paper show that the application of Conceptual Blending provides an excellent analytical tool for exploring conceptual structure of the Holy Quran.Conclusion: We can analyze the conceptual structure of the Holy Quran by using Conceptual Blending framework.

Introduction: Based on the fact that attention deficit is considered as a major neuropsychological deficit in bipolar disorder, the objective of this study was to compare selective attention in phases of mania, depression and euthymia between patients with bipolar I disorder and general population in Isfahan in 2016.Method: The study sample consisted of 59 people, including 15 patients in manic phase, 10 patients in depressive phase, 16 patients in euthymic phase, and 18 people in the control group who were selected through convenience sampling. Patients entered the study based on psychiatrist’s diagnosis of BID based on DSM-5, Young Mania Scale (YMRS, 1978) and the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D, 1960). The Symptom Checklist SCL-90-R (SCL-90-R V.4.1, 1976) and 36-item The Short Form Health Survey (SF36, 1993) were used for the control group. Computerized Simple Stroop Test V.4 (2014) was used to measure selective attention. Data were analyzed using One-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and Post Hoc tests. Measured parameters included: time test, error number, no response number, true response number, congruent and incongruent response time, interference number, and interference time.Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between congruent and incongruent response time, and congruent response time in mania-control, depression-control, and incongruent response time in euthymia-mania, mania-control, depression-control (P<0.0001). There was no significant difference between other groups.Conclusion: Considering the weak performance of bipolar patients in selective attention in acute phases of the disorder and continuing this defect in the euthymic phase, it might be claimed that the severity of attention deficit in bipolar disorder is related to phases; However, further studies with greater sample size seem necessary.

Introduction: The main goal of this study is to present a proper index to assess the changes in brain activities of patients with severe depression by applying Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), using Event Related Potentials (ERPs).Method: Seven patients with severe depression (four males, with mean age 34.85±4.25), participated in this study. First, the participants were asked to fill out Hamilton’s anxiety and Beck’s depression questionnaires. Simultaneous to recording their brain signals, subjects were asked to participate in Stroop test. This test entails 360 stimulations which include 120 congruent, 120 incongruent, and 120 neutral stimulations lasting for 12 minutes. After recording the brainwaves, the Dorso Lateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) in patients’ left hemisphere is stimulated using tDCS, with 1mA current for 20 minutes, each session.Results: To analyze the data, ERP components were extracted using synchronous averaging. Then, five features proportional to Wavelet coefficients of each frequency band in every stimulation types were extracted from ERP components. Correlation between percentages of changes and the subjects’ Stroop test results were calculated before and after applying tDCS and the stimulation period. The results showed that the latency period of N400 component after applying tDCS was decreased significantly. Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed between congruent and incongruent stimulations and the increase in the Wavelet coefficients of alpha band in Pz channel with p=0.0128, r=0.9060 and p=0.0037, r=0.95 respectively.Conclusion: Consequently, the alpha band power spectrum of parietal lobe will be significant correlation with the depression level by applying tDCS.