scholarly journals Hunters, busybodies, and the knowledge network building associated with curiosity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Lydon-Staley ◽  
Dale Zhou ◽  
Ann Sizemore Blevins ◽  
Perry Zurn ◽  
Danielle S Bassett
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Small World ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Knowledge Networks ◽  
Knowledge Network ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Network Growth ◽  
Network Building ◽  
Over Time

The information gained when practicing curiosity promotes well-being over extended timescales. The open-ended and internally driven nature of curiosity, however, makes characterizing the diverse styles of information seeking that accompany it a daunting endeavor. A recently developed historicophilosophical taxonomy of curious practice distinguishes between the collection of disparate, loosely connected pieces of information and the seeking of related, tightly connected pieces of information. With this taxonomy, we use a novel knowledge network building framework of curiosity to capture styles of curious information seeking in 149 participants as they explore Wikipedia for over 5 hours spanning 21 days. We create knowledge networks in which nodes consist of distinct concepts (unique Wikipedia pages) and edges represent the similarity between the content of Wikipedia pages. We quantify the tightness of each participants' knowledge networks using graph theoretical indices and use a generative model of network growth to explore mechanisms underlying the observed information seeking. We find that participants create knowledge networks with small-world and modular structure. Deprivation sensitivity, the tendency to seek information that eliminates knowledge gaps, is associated with the creation of relatively tight networks and a relatively greater tendency to return to previously-visited concepts. We further show that there is substantial within-person variability in knowledge network building over time and that building looser networks than usual is linked with higher than usual sensation seeking. With this framework in hand, future research can quantify the information collected during curious practice and examine its association with well-being.

scholarly journals Firm’s strategic choices and network knowledge dynamics: how do they affect innovation?

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Antonio Belso-Martinez ◽  
Isabel Diez-Vial
Keyword(s):  
Absorptive Capacity ◽  
Knowledge Networks ◽  
Knowledge Network ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Network Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Innovative Capacity ◽  
Over Time

Purpose This paper aims to explain how the evolution of knowledge networks and firms’ strategic choices affect innovation. Endogenous factors associated with a path-dependent evolution of the knowledge network are jointly considered with a firm’s development of international relationships and increasing internal absorptive capacity over time. Design/methodology/approach In a biotech cluster, the authors gathered data on the firms’ characteristics and network relationships by asking about the technological knowledge they received in the cluster in 2007 and 2012 – “roster-recall” method. Estimation results were obtained using moderated regression analysis. Findings Firms that increase their involvement in knowledge networks over time also tend to increase their innovative capacity. However, efforts devoted to building international links or absorptive capacity negatively moderate the impact of network growth on innovation. Practical implications Practitioners have two alternative ways of increasing innovation inside knowledge networks: they can increase their centrality by developing their knowledge network interactions or invest in developing their internal absorptive capacity and new international sources of knowledge. Investing in both of these simultaneously does not seem to improve a firm’s innovative capacity. Originality/value Coupling firms’ strategic options with knowledge network dynamics provide a more complete way of explaining how firms can improve their innovative capacity.

scholarly journals On Curiosity: A Fundamental Aspect of Personality, a Practice of Network Growth

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Perry Zurn ◽  
Danielle S. Bassett
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Network Science ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Mathematical Object ◽  
Knowledge Network ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Architectural Style ◽  
Network Growth ◽  
Network Building ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractHuman personality is reflected in patterns—or networks—of behavior, either in thought or action. Curiosity is an oft-treasured component of one’s personality, commonly associated with information-seeking proclivities with distinct neurophysiological correlates. The markers of curiosity can differ substantially across people, suggesting the possibility that personality also determines the architectural style of one’s curiosity. Yet progress in defining those styles, and marking their neurophysiological basis, has been hampered by fairly fundamental difficulties in defining curiosity itself. Here, we offer and exercise a definition of the practice of curiosity as knowledge network building, one particular pattern of thought behavior. To unpack this definition and motivate its utility, we begin with a short primer on network science and describe how the mathematical object of a network can be used to map items and relations that are characteristic of bodies of knowledge. Next, we turn to a discussion of how networks grow, how their growth can be modeled, and how the practice of curiosity can be formalized as a process of network growth. We pay particular attention to how individuals may differ in how they build their knowledge networks, and discuss how the sort, manner, and action of building can be modulated by experience. We discuss how this definition of the practice of curiosity motivates new experiments and theory development at the interdisciplinary intersection of network science, personality neuroscience, education, and curiosity studies. We close with a note on the potential of network science to inform studies of other domains of personality, and the patterns of thought– or action–behavior characteristic thereof.

Trajectory of Performance Status and Symptom Scores for Patients With Cancer During the Last Six Months of Life

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1151-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsien Seow ◽  
Lisa Barbera ◽  
Rinku Sutradhar ◽  
Doris Howell ◽  
Deborah Dudgeon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Status ◽  
Symptom Assessment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
Average Pain ◽  
Observational Cohort ◽  
Over Time

Purpose Ontario's cancer system is unique because it has implemented two standardized assessment tools population-wide to improve care: the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) measures severity of nine symptoms (scale 0 to 10; 10 indicates the worst) and the Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) measures performance status (scale 0 to 100; 0 indicates death). This article describes the trajectory of ESAS and PPS scores 6 months before death. Patients and Methods Observational cohort study of cancer decedents between 2007 and 2009. Decedents required ≥1 ESAS or PPS assessment in the 6 months before death for inclusion. Outcomes were the decedents' average ESAS and PPS scores per week before death. Results Ten thousand seven hundred fifty-two (ESAS) and 7,882 (PPS) decedents were included. The mean age was 65 years, half were female, and approximately 75% of assessments occurred in cancer clinics. Average PPS score declined slowly over the 6 months before death, starting at approximately 70 and ending at 40, declining more rapidly in the last month. For ESAS symptoms, average pain, nausea, anxiety, and depression scores remained relatively stable over the 6 months. Conversely, shortness of breath, drowsiness, well-being, lack of appetite, and tiredness increased in severity over time, particularly in the month before death. More than one third of the cohort reported moderate to severe scores (ie, 4 to 10) for most symptoms in the last month of life. Conclusion In this large outpatient cancer population, trajectories of mean ESAS scores followed two patterns: increasing versus generally flat. The latter was perhaps due to available treatment (eg, prescriptions) for those symptoms. Future research should prioritize addressing symptoms that worsen over time.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Relationships Between Subjective Cognitive Decline and Objective Memory: Depressive Symptoms Mediate Between-Person Associations

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Nikki L. Hill ◽  
Sakshi Bhargava ◽  
Emily Bratlee-Whitaker ◽  
Jennifer R. Turner ◽  
Monique J. Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Over Time

Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) may be an early indicator of cognitive impairment, but depressive symptoms can confound this relationship. Associations may be influenced by differences between individuals (i.e., between-persons) or how each individual changes in their experiences over time (i.e., within-persons). Objective: We examined depressive symptoms as a mediator of the between- and within-person associations of SCD and objective memory in older adults. Methods: Coordinated analyses were conducted across four datasets drawn from large longitudinal studies. Samples (range: n = 1,889 to n = 15,841) included participants 65 years of age or older with no dementia at baseline. We used multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the mediation of SCD and objective memory through depressive symptoms, as well as direct relationships among SCD, objective memory, and depressive symptoms. Results: Older adults who were more likely to report SCD had lower objective memory on average (between-person associations), and depressive symptoms partially mediated this relationship in three of four datasets. However, changes in depressive symptoms did not mediate the relationship between reports of SCD and declines in objective memory in three of four datasets (within-person associations). Conclusion: Individual differences in depressive symptoms, and not changes in an individual’s depressive symptoms over time, partially explain the link between SCD and objective memory. Older adults with SCD and depressive symptoms may be at greater risk for poor cognitive outcomes. Future research should explore how perceived changes in memory affect other aspects of psychological well-being, and how these relationships influence cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease risk.

Caregiving in quarantine: Humor styles, reframing, and psychological well-being among parents of children with disabilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 026540752110435
Author(s):  
Heidi L. Fritz
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Family Satisfaction ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Humor Styles ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Over Time

Prior research links adaptive humor styles (affiliative and self-enhancing) with enhanced psychological well-being and maladaptive humor styles (aggressive and self-defeating) with worse psychological well-being, primarily through humor styles’ influence on individuals’ social interactions and efforts to positively reframe stressors. The present study examined the unique relation of each humor style with psychological well-being with a focus on understanding mechanisms of adjustment under highly stressful conditions. Ninety-nine parents of children with disabilities were surveyed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in March 2020, and 79 parents completed follow-up surveys in July 2020. As predicted, at T1, self-enhancing humor was associated with less psychological distress and greater family satisfaction, self-defeating humor was associated with greater distress, and aggressive humor was associated with lower family satisfaction. Moreover, affiliative humor predicted decreased psychological distress over time, whereas self-defeating humor predicted increased psychological distress and decreased family satisfaction over time. Relations were largely mediated by caregiver positive reappraisal, family efforts to reframe daily disability-related challenges, and negative social interactions. Future research should further examine the influence of caregiver humor styles on family dynamics, family reframing norms, and caregiving efficacy.

scholarly journals Geospatial Response for Innovation in the Wine Industry: Knowledge Creation through Institutional Mobility in China

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 495
Author(s):  
HaeOk Choi ◽  
Chaolin Gu
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Creation ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Knowledge Networks ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Knowledge Network ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Enterprise Networks ◽  
Chinese Wine ◽  
Early Market ◽  
Over Time

Thus far, knowledge network research has been quantitative research, emphasizing that in limited industries, knowledge creation increasingly strengthens through geographical proximity or institutional connections. Although it has been suggested that knowledge networks should be researched using dynamic rather than static methods, the dynamic process of knowledge networks according to spatiotemporal changes has not been sufficiently researched. This paper uses the Chinese wine industry case to conduct related research. The results show that, first of all, wine-related knowledge creation activities were carried out in the big cities that formed the early market in the mid-2000s, and the geographical conditions in which the spatial scope was expanded were in the places that gradually developed over time. Second, although the spatial scope of knowledge creation activities is expanding with the active participation of private enterprise networks, private enterprises and the overall knowledge creation process are relatively isolated. Finally, in terms of the process of knowledge creation related to wine, in the development of regional linkages organizations relate to the knowledge providers who provide the required information, and have little to do with the geographically close knowledge providers.

scholarly journals When the meditating mind wanders

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnaud Delorme ◽  
Tracy Brandmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Meditation Practice ◽  
Over Time

The capacity for thought and the ability to assemble and manipulate concepts are cognitive features unique to humans. Spontaneous thoughts often occur when we are engaged in attention demanding tasks, with an increased frequency predicting negative affect. Meditation does not require thinking, however thinking occurs naturally during meditation. We develop the hypothesis that chronic thinking associated with strong emotional arousal during meditation practice might be detrimental to meditation practice and well being. One goal of meditation is to identify the arousal of emotions and thoughts, and remain equanimous with them. Over time, meditation may help dampen the attention grabbing power of these thoughts both during practice and in daily life, which may consequently help deepen meditation practice. However, when meditators fail to remain equanimous, the effects of these thoughts may be deleterious. We discuss how this hypothesis may help guide future research on meditation.

scholarly journals Lower Levels of Directed Exploration and Reflective Thinking Are Associated With Greater Anxiety and Depression

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Smith ◽  
Samuel Taylor ◽  
Robert C. Wilson ◽  
Anne E. Chuning ◽  
Michelle R. Persich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Ambiguity Aversion ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Information Seeking Behavior ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Reflective Cognition

Anxiety and depression are often associated with strong beliefs that entering specific situations will lead to aversive outcomes – even when these situations are objectively safe and avoiding them reduces well-being. A possible mechanism underlying this maladaptive avoidance behavior is a failure to reflect on: (1) appropriate levels of uncertainty about the situation, and (2) how this uncertainty could be reduced by seeking further information (i.e., exploration). To test this hypothesis, we asked a community sample of 416 individuals to complete measures of reflective cognition, exploration, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found significant associations between each of these measures in expected directions (i.e., positive relationships between reflective cognition and strategic information-seeking behavior or “directed exploration”, and negative relationships between these measures and anxiety/depression symptoms). Further analyses suggested that the relationship between directed exploration and depression/anxiety was due in part to an ambiguity aversion promoting exploration in conditions where information-seeking was not beneficial (as opposed to only being due to under-exploration when more information would aid future choices). In contrast, reflectiveness was associated with greater exploration in appropriate settings and separately accounted for differences in reaction times, decision noise, and choice accuracy in expected directions. These results shed light on the mechanisms underlying information-seeking behavior and how they may contribute to symptoms of emotional disorders. They also highlight the potential clinical relevance of individual differences in reflectiveness and exploration and should motivate future research on their possible contributions to vulnerability and/or maintenance of affective disorders.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Measurement Properties of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 12-13
Author(s):  
Hao Luo ◽  
Björn Andersson ◽  
Gloria H Y Wong ◽  
Terry Y S Lum
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
Cognitive Assessment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Montreal Cognitive Assessment ◽  
Item Parameter ◽  
Measurement Properties ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Longitudinal Measurement ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) has started to be widely used in longitudinal investigations to measure changes in cognition. However, the longitudinal measurement properties of MoCA have not been investigated. We aimed to examine the measurement invariance of individual MoCA items across four time points. Methods We used longitudinal data collected between 2014 and 2017 from a cohort study on health and well-being of older adults in Hong Kong. The Cantonese version of the MoCA was used. We applied multiple group confirmatory factor analysis of ordinal variables to examine measurement invariance by educational level and across time points. Invariant items were identified by sequential model comparisons. Results We included 1029 participants that answered MoCA items across all time points. We found that items Cube, Clock Hand and Clock Number had significantly different item parameters between participants with and without formal education at all time points. The selected model (RMSEA=0.031; SRMR=0.064) indicated that eight items (Trail, Cube, Clock Shape, Clock Number, Clock Hand, Abstraction, Short-term Memory, and Orientation) did not exhibit measurement invariance over time. However, the differences in item parameter estimate over time were marginal. Accounting for the lack of measurement invariance did not substantially affect classification properties based on cutoff values at the 2nd ( major neurocognitive disorder) and 7th (mild cognitive impairment) percentile. Conclusion Our findings support using MoCA to assess changes in cognition over time in the study population. Future research should examine the longitudinal measurement properties of the test in other populations with different characteristics.

Socially Connected but Still Isolated: Smartphone Addiction Decreases Social Support Over Time

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Herrero ◽  
Alberto Urueña ◽  
Andrea Torres ◽  
Antonio Hidalgo
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Smartphone Addiction ◽  
Growth Mixture Model ◽  
Growth Mixture ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Recent literature has suggested that smartphone addiction is negatively associated with users’ psychosocial well-being. Much of the research on this subject, however, is of a correlational nature, which has been pointed out as an important limitation that does not allow distinguishing the antecedents of the consequences. In this study, 416 smartphone users were followed for 1 year (three waves separated by 6 months each) to assess the relationship between smartphone addiction and social support. Cross-lagged model results indicated that social support predicts later addiction to the smartphone and that smartphone addiction decreases social support over time. Growth mixture model results indicated that the decrease in social support during the follow-up year was higher for users with greater smartphone addiction at the beginning of the study. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicated that some personal characteristics of users (extroversion, neuroticism, and sensation-seeking) could affect the evolution of social support related to smartphone addiction. In general, these results suggest that the extensive use of a social communication technology such as the smartphone could have the paradoxical effect of diminishing the psychosocial well-being of its users.

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