This thesis presents a biologically inspired model of learning and development. This model decomposes the lifetime of a single learning system into a number of stages, analogous to the infant, juvenile, adolescent and adult stages of development in a biological system. This model is then applied to Kohonen's SOM algorithm.In order to better understand the operation of Kohonen's SOM algorithm, a theoretical analysis of self-organisation is performed. This analysis establishes the role played by lateral connections in organisation, and the significance of the Laplacian lateral connections common to many SOM architectures.This analysis of neighbourhood interactions is then used to develop three key variations on Kohonen's SOM algorithm. Firstly, a new scheme for parameter decay, known as Butterworth Step Decay, is presented. This decay scheme provides training times comparable to the best training times possible using traditional linear decay, but precludes the need for a priori knowledge of likely training times. In addition, this decay scheme allows Kohonen's SOM to learn in a continuous manner.Secondly, a method is presented for establishing core knowledge in the fundamental representation of a SOM. This technique is known as Syllabus Presentation. This technique involves using a selected training syllabus to reinforce knowledge known to be significant. A method for developing a training syllabus, known as Percept Masking, is also presented.Thirdly, a method is presented for preventing the loss of trained representations in a continuously learning SOM. This technique, known as Arbor Pruning, involves restricting the weight update process to prevent the loss of significant representations. This technique can be used if the data domain varies within a known set of dimensions. However, it cannot be used to control forgetfulness if dimensions are added to or removed from ++ / the data domain.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-122). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-90). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-90). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-122). Also available on the Internet.

The aim of this thesis is to produce a substantive grounded theory of junior-to-senior transition and as a result of this work, to provide knowledge and guidance for coaches, sport psychologists and other personnel supporting young aspirant athletes. Underpinned by a social constructionist philosophy, the research programme was designed to capture and interpret the social world of the participants and to interpret the perceptions derived from their own lived experience of the transition. The thesis consists of three studies which, in a concatenated programme of research, are predicated one upon another. In order that understanding in social research can be advanced, the development of theory requires several rounds of fieldwork, analysis and publication (Stebbins, 1992,2006). Thus the building of theory took place over the initial two studies, the first of which involved the in-depth interviewing of nine participants from individual sports (M age = 24.5 years, S. D. = 4.3 years). As a consequence of this exercise, rich data were collected, depicting the participants' experiences of the juniorsenior transition. Grounded in these data, a preliminary model of junior-to-senior transition was constructed using Strauss and Corbin's (1998) guidelines for grounded theory analysis. More specifically, the resultant model revealed a cyclical process: of learning, identity development and progress at transition. Inception of the process is characterised by immersion in the post-transition environment during the pre-transition phase, in which significant observational learning occurs via the use of more senior role models. This process leads to the identification of discrepancies between the actual (or junior) and ideal (or senior) self. This promotes a period of adjustment in which the behaviours relevant to senior status are incorporated within the self, bringing about a sense of readiness, or ability to cope with the transition. In essence, the athletes had sought to structure their pre-transition environment to represent that which they would encounter post-transition, thereby generating stability for their self-identity. The modification of identity, through the adjustment of behaviours and roles, predicted a competitive breakthrough, at which point the athletes began to think about the subsequent step at senior level, and hence the cycle of immersion, learning and adjustment continued. (Continues...).

O presente trabalho estuda os impactos na constituição subjetiva de seis auxiliares de educação infantis (ADIs) que trabalhavam em Centros de Educação Infantil da rede municipal de ensino de São Paulo e que passaram por formação docente em Curso Normal, em nível médio, que foi denominado Programa ADI-Magistério, promovido pela Secretaria Municipal de Educação de São Paulo e que atendeu cerca de 3700 profissionais em exercício. Ele apoiou-se em estudos protagonizados por Vigotsky, e retomados por Bruner, Leme, Grandesso, dentre outros, e utilizou a perpectiva teórico-metodológica da Rede de Significações (Rossetti-Ferreira et allii.) para a análise dos dados. Através do exame das narrativas produzidas em entrevistas abertas, a análise buscou identificar os contextos formativos da subjetividade de cada ADI, o que incluiu os acontecimentos históricos, os princípios e métodos de ensino do Programa ADI-Magistério, as relações sociais e as experiências relatadas, e a apreciação de cada uma sobre o novo papel social que assumiram em decorrência da formação - ser professor, avaliando as circunstâncias favorecedoras ou não de mudanças. A partir da configuração dessa rede, verificou como o discurso de cada entrevistada apontava mudanças no olhar para si mesma, ampliação na visão do próprio mundo e dos acontecimentos, alterações na prática profissional, e modificações na concepção de educação infantil. Por último, analisou as conseqüências das experiências provocadas pelo Programa ADI-Magistério para o processo de constituição subjetiva de cada ADI-aluna. Este trabalho poderá contribuir para o planejamento de outros processos formativos, como suporte e estruturação curricular de novos cursos, além de realçar a função social dos processos de formação. / The current study analyses the impact of the subjective development of six Assistant of Child Development, who underwent a teacher preparation programme, named Programa ADI-Magistério, promoted by the Municipal Secretary of Education of the City of Sao Paulo, which enrolled around 3700 professionals working in the Child Education Centers of its educational system. Starting from a hypothesis that the teacher´s way of being and thinking plays an active role in the teaching-learning interface, the objective of this study is to analyze the subjective developmental changes that appear in the subjects\' narratives and to evaluate the favorable and unfavorable circumstances for these changes, based on Vygotsky, Bruner, Leme, Grandesso, and the theoretical-methodological perspective elaborated by Rossetti-Ferreira and allii. and called Network of Meanings. In their interwiews, the subjects were stimulated to reflect about some contexts of their development as their life history, their social relationships and experiences, the principles and methods of the Teaching Preparation Program, and their appreciation of the new social role which they were formally assuming: to be a teacher. From the configuration of this network, the narratives elaborated by the interviewed persons have pointed out changes in their self-image, enlargement in their world vision, changes in their professional practice, and the modification in their concept of early childhood education. A final analysis discussed the mediation of the Teaching Preparation Program in the process of subjective development of each ADI student. In future, this study can contribute for planning other formation processes, and can be used as a support in the formulation of new formative curricula, besides enhancing the social vision of the graduation courses.

The present study is an empirical phenomenological investigation of the influence of peer group Focusing practice (Gendlin, 1981) on doctoral psychology students' senses of their developing clinical expertise. Focusing, a therapeutic bodily awareness and symbolization practice, was proposed as a method that would support the development of student self-reflection, self-assessment, and self-care. The present study investigates the experiences of three female doctoral students who participated in a peer-initiated and peer-run Focusing group for five semesters. The methodological procedures for a reflective empirical phenomenological study as articulated by Giorgi and Giorgi (2003), Robbins (2006), and Wertz (1984) were followed. Procedures adapted from Walsh (1995) to ensure phenomenological researcher reflexivity and to explicate the researcher's approach to the phenomenon were also used. All participants provided data via audiotaped individual interviews, read provisional interpretations and provided written and verbal feedback to the researcher. The interpretive analyses of these texts indicated that all participants found their participation in the peer Focusing group to enhance some aspects of their clinical expertise. The findings support the idea that peer group Focusing is a helpful method for directly training psychology graduate students in self-reflection, self-assessment, and self-care. Relationships between these findings and research on the use of mindfulness meditation in graduate psychology training are discussed. Implications for curriculum development, including a discussion of the relationship between the findings and the training concepts of personal professional development and professional development are explored. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts / Clinical Psychology / PhD / Dissertation

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by Susan P. Keane; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 28, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-39).

To be accepted into social groups, individuals must internalise and reproduce appropriate group conventions, such as rituals. The high fidelity copying of such rigid and socially stipulated behavioural sequences places heavy demands on executive function abilities. Given previous research showing that challenging executive functioning also improves it, it was hypothesised that prolonged engagement in ritualistic behaviours would improve executive functioning in children, in turn improving their ability to delay gratification. A three month circle-time-games intervention with primary school children in two contrasting cultural environments (Slovakia and Vanuatu) was conducted. In both environments we found the intervention improved children's executive function and in turn their ability to delay gratification. Moreover, these effects were amplified when the intervention task was imbued with ritual, rather than instrumental, cues. The findings presented in this thesis have potentially far-reaching implications for child-rearing and educational practices, suggesting ritual participation may be necessary for the cultivation of future mindedness.