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Healthy aging has been associated with declines in executive functioning (EF) but it remains unclear how different subprocesses of EF are affected by age and by other possibly mediating variables. The principal aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of age and processing speed on three executive functions: set-shifting, planning, and attentional control. Four age groups (20-29 years, 60-69 years, 70-79 years, and 80-89 years) were compared on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the DKEFS Tower Test, the Conner's Continuous Performance Test, and a Letter comparison test of processing speed. Results suggested that increased age was associated with decreased performance on most of the studied executive measures, but not all EF are equally affected by age. A slowdown in processing speed mediates some, but not all, decrements in executive performance. The results are interpreted in light of recent neuroimaging data on age-related changes in brain functioning. / by Maria Beatriz Jurado Noboa. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Kersten, Earles, and Berger (2015) reported a distinction between two kinds of motion representations. Extrinsic motions involve the path of a person or object, with respect to an external frame of reference. Intrinsic motions involve the manner in which the various parts of a person or object move. They found that intrinsic motions are encoded and remembered with the corresponding actor performing the motions in a unitized memory representation. Extrinsic motions are encoded as separate memory representations, making them more difficult to accurately associate with the correct actor. In the proposed experiment, I will examine the generality of this distinction in motion representation, and investigate whether the unitization of intrinsic motion with its corresponding actor occurs during reading comprehension tasks. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Esse trabalho busca apresentar os principais estudos, teorias e métodos de pesquisa da subdisciplina geografia eleitoral, desde os primeiros estudos de mapeamento eleitoral de André Siegfried, na França, e Frederick Turner, no EUA, até a perspectiva de análise eleitoral baseada nos lugares, de John Agnew. Em um segundo momento, discutimos os estudos sobre a influência do contexto no comportamento eleitoral. Argumentamos que os indivíduos do ponto de vista contextual seriam influenciados em dois níveis: por suas redes sociais de contato e de comunicação política, e pelo contexto geográfico ao seu redor, onde ocorrem as práticas sociais cotidianas. Na parte empírica do trabalho, usamos a técnica estatística de análise fatorial para identificar os períodos de mudança e estabilidade nos padrões espaciais de votação das eleições presidenciais de 1989 a 2014. Encontramos um período de estabilidade (voto normal) de 2006 a 2014, com uma clivagem regional norte/sul entre PT e PSDB. Por fim, a partir da hipótese que a mobilidade espacial e as redes de interação social modulariam a influência do contexto no comportamento eleitoral discutimos os resultados de uma análise de dados de surveys, aplicados na cidade de São Paulo em 2016. / This work seeks to present the main studies, theories, and research methods of the Electoral Geography subdiscipline, from the André Siegfrieds first studies of electoral mapping in France, the Frederick Turners in the United States, to the John Agnews place based electoral analysis perspective. After that, we discuss the studies about the context influence on electoral behaviour. We argue that, from the contextual point of view, individual electoral behaviour would be influenced on two levels: by its social networks of contacts and political communication, and by its surrounding geographical context, where everyday social interactions occur. In the empirical section of our work, we use the factorial analysis statistical technique to identify the periods of change and stability of spatial patterns during the presidential elections from 1989 to 2014. We find a stability period (normal vote) from 2006 to 2014, with a North-South regional cleavage between PT party and PSDB party. Finally, through the hypothesis that spatial mobility and networks of social interaction modulate contexts influence on electoral behaviour, we discuss the results of an analysis of data from a survey held in São Paulo city in 2016.

A long standing debate in psychological science is whether the face signals specific emotions. Basic emotion theory presupposes that there are coordinated facial musculature movements that individuals can identify as relating to a core set of basic emotions. In opposition to this view, the constructionist theory contends that the perception of emotion is a far more intricate process involving semantic knowledge and arousal states. The aim of the current investigation was to explore some of the questions at the crux of this debate. We showed participants video clips of real people in real time, where the face was in motion, much as in everyday life. In study 1 we directly manipulated the effects of context to determine what influences emotion perception – situational information or the face? In support of the basic emotion view, participants identified displays of happiness, anger and sadness irrespective of contextual information provided. Importantly, participants also rated one set of facial movements as more intensely expressing a ‘sad’ face. Study 1 also demonstrated unique context effects in partial support for the constructionist view, suggesting that for some facial expressions, the role of context may be important. In study 2, we explored the possible effects that language has on the perception of emotion. In the absence of linguistic cues, participants used significantly more ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ words to label the basic emotion prototype for happiness and for the ‘sad’ face introduced in study 1. Overall, findings from these studies suggest that although contextual cues may be important for specific scenarios, the face is dominant to the layperson when inferring the emotional state of another.

L’énergie géothermique possède un fort potentiel aux Antilles et le développement de son exploitation gagnerait à être accompagné d’une sensibilisation des populations locales, à laquelle un effort en termes de formation et d’éducation pourrait participer. Cette thèse de didactique des sciences s’inscrit dans le cadre des études portant sur les conceptions scientifiques et sur les contextualisations didactiques. Elle fait partie du projet GEOTREF, dont l’objectif est de développer les connaissances et techniques sur la géothermie aux Antilles. La première partie de la thèse décrit les conceptions d’un échantillon représentatif d’élèves à propos de la géothermie, sur trois territoires (Guadeloupe, Martinique et Dominique). Elle révèle que les conceptions sont très différentes en fonction de l’île sur laquelle elles ont été recueillies, et qu’elles sont principalement liées aux contextes géothermiques. La deuxième partie présente un dispositif de formation, basé sur les effets de contextes. Une expérimentation met en collaboration des étudiants du Québec et de Guadeloupe. Les résultats confirment la possibilité de créer des enseignements basés sur les effets de contextes, et permettent de préciser leurs modalités d’émergences et leurs caractéristiques. L’étude montre que la confrontation des étudiants à plusieurs contextes géothermiques permet l’acquisition de conceptions expertes sur le sujet, et que les effets de contextes peuvent servir d’outil à l’acquisition des connaissances. Nous préconisons de construire les enseignements relatifs à la géothermie à partir des conceptions préalables des apprenants, tout en s’appuyant sur le contexte géothermique local. / Geothermal energy has great potential in the West Indies. The exploitation of such resources requires a deep awareness of the local populations, to which an effort in terms of training and education could participate. This science education thesis takes part in the studies related to scientific conceptions and didactic contextualization. It is also part of the GEOTREF project, which aims to develop knowledge and techniques on geothermal energy in the West Indies. The first part of the thesis describes conceptions of students in three territories (Guadeloupe, Martinique and Dominica). It reveals that the conceptions in these three islands are very different, and that they are mainly related to geothermal contexts. The second part presents a pedagogical experiment based on context effects. This experiment brings together students from Quebec and from Guadeloupe. The results confirm the possibility of a teaching based on the effects of contexts, and also make it possible to specify the emergence modalities and the characteristics of these phenomena. The study shows that the confrontation of students’ conceptions, with different geothermal contexts, help with the acquisition of expert conceptions on the subject. Context effects can be used as a tool for the acquisition of knowledge. Finally, geothermal education can be built by taking into account the learners' prior conceptions, while relying on the local geothermal context.

Contextualization is often added to mathematical achievement items to place targeted mathematical operations in a real world context or in combinations with other mathematical skills. Such items may have unintended sources of difficulty, such as greater cognitive complexity than specified in the test blueprint. These types of items are being introduced to achievement exams through assessment programs such as SBAC and PARCC. Cognitive models have been created to assess sources of cognitive complexity in mathematics items, including a global model (Embretson&Daniel, 2008) and an adapted model (Lutz, Embretson,&Poggio, 2010). The current study proposes a new cognitive model structured around sources of working memory burden with an emphasis on contextualization. Full-information item response (IRT) models were applied to a state accountability test of mathematics achievement in middle school to examine impact on psychometric properties related to burden on working memory.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed February 11, 2010). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 681-712).

This research involved the contextual influences on teacher professional expertise in the Central Urban area in Durban. It explores what happens to teachers when their context changes and how they cope with a challenging environment. This study documents and describes a particular group of foundation phase teachers’ experiences in a specific school and how the context of this school influences their professional expertise. The study draws on Dryfus and Dryfus (1986) five stage typology which describes how and why teachers’ abilities, attitudes, capabilities and perspectives change according to the skill levels. An empirical investigation involving a qualitative research methodology was done using the case study method to present this research. The instruments used in this exploration were individual semi-structured interviews with six foundation phase educators and a focus group interview with a group of five foundation phase teachers. A City centre school was used as a sample. One male teacher and five female teachers were selected. All the participants were Indian. Interviews were used because of the need to observe the teachers facial expressions and emotions during the interview. The study was able to identify the various challenges that presented itself to both novice and expert teachers in the profession. The findings are organised under eight themes which are: the conceptions of a novice teacher; the conceptions of an expert teacher; novice teachers and school context; expert teachers and school context; novice teachers and change in curriculum; expert teachers and change in curriculum; the role of experience for novice and expert teachers and novice and expert teachers relationships with peers/leaders and mentors. Emergent findings suggest that both expert and novice teachers experience difficulties in a complex and challenging context are further presented under seven themes in which the researcher did a cross analysis. Cross theme analysis was used to present the findings of a further seven themes which are; conceptions of expert and novice teachers are different, teaching and school context are experienced differently by novice and expert teachers, curriculum change makes teaching challenging for expert and novice teachers, experience is important for expert and novice teachers, every teacher needs a mentor, all teachers are always a novice and the need for flexibility. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-190).