Differences in adults’ spatial scaling based on visual or haptic information

The present study examined differences in adults’ spatial-scaling abilities across three perceptual conditions: (1) visual, (2) haptic, and (3) visual and haptic. Participants were instructed to encode the position of a convex target presented in a simple map without a time limit. Immediately after encoding the map, participants were presented with a referent space and asked to place a disc at the same location from memory. All spaces were designed as tactile graphics. Positions of targets varied along the horizontal dimension. The referent space was constant in size while sizes of maps were systematically varied, resulting in three scaling factor conditions: 1:4, 1:2, 1:1. Sixty adults participated in the study (M = 21.18; SD = 1.05). One-third of them was blindfolded throughout the entire experiment (haptic condition). The second group of participants was allowed to see the graphics (visual condition); the third group were instructed to see and touch the graphics (bimodal condition). An analysis of participants’ absolute errors showed that participants produced larger errors in the haptic condition as opposed to the visual and bimodal conditions. There was also a significant interaction effect between scaling factor and perceptual condition. In the visual and bimodal conditions, results showed a linear increase in errors with higher scaling factors (which may suggest that adults adopted mental transformation strategies during the spatial scaling process), whereas, in the haptic condition, this relation was quadratic. Findings imply that adults’ spatial-scaling performance decreases when visual information is not available.

Considerations on Armenian Political Elites, Diasporas and Armenian Economy in 1991-2019 Period

After the liberation of Dağlık Karabağ and close vicinity from the long-standing Armenian occupation by Azerbaijan in 2020, different scenarios concerning the future of Armenia and South Caucasus have come to fore. Therefore, there should be a realistic evaluation of status quo of Armenian political elites, diasporas and Armenian economy relations before taking into account of the scenarios. It is not difficult to estimate that since the realization of optimistic scenarios need a mental transformation of Armenian political elites and diasporas that takes considerable time, they are not likely to happen let alone in the short run but even in the medium run. The aim of this paper is to investigate the status quo of Armenian political elites, diasporas, and Armenian economy relations during 1991-2019 period so as to be able to set up a scientific base on which the evaluation of scenarios concerning the future of Armenia and South Caucasus is placed. The method adopted in the paper is a descriptive one and data are collected via internet. Paper suggests that the divergence of Armenian political elites and diasporas on fundamental issues such as Armenia-diaspora relations, Armenia-Russia relations, Armenia-the West Relations and Armenia-Turkey-Azerbaijan relations blackens not only the future of Armenia but also the future of South Caucasus.

Spatial Thinking in Term and Preterm-Born Preschoolers: Relations to Parent–Child Speech and Gesture

Spatial skills predict important life outcomes, such as mathematical achievement or entrance into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Children significantly vary in their spatial performance even before they enter formal schooling. One correlate of children's spatial performance is the spatial language they produce and hear from others, such as their parents. Because the emphasis has been on spatial language, less is known about the role of hand gestures in children's spatial development. Some children are more likely to fall behind in their spatial skills than others. Children born premature (gestational age <37 weeks) constitute such a risk group. Here, we compared performance of term and preterm-born children on two non-verbal spatial tasks—mental transformation and block design. We also examined relations of children's performance on these tasks to parental spatial language and gesture input and their own production of spatial language and gesture during an independent puzzle play interaction. We found that while term and preterm-born children (n = 40) as a group did not differ in the mental transformation or block design performance, children varied widely in their performance within each group. The variability in mental transformation scores was predicted by both a subset of spatial words (what aspects of spatial information) and all spatial gestures children produced. Children's spatial language and gesture were in turn related to their parents' spatial language and gesture. Parental spatial language and gesture had an indirect relation on children's mental transformation, but not block design, scores via children's spatial language, and gesture use. Overall, results highlight the unique contributions of speech and gesture in communicating spatial information and predicting children's spatial performance.

The matter of mental transformation of logos

The article dwells upon a vital matter of the logos’ mental transformation in metamodern logic, which determined its novelty. The article aims to conceptualize the concept of “logos” within the “depth sociology” (sociology of imagination) and study the socio-psychological process of its change in the current socio-crisis conditions. As the methodological basis of the research, the author suggests the psychoanalytic approach and rich scientific heritage of G. Durand, whose 100th anniversary would be celebrated on May 1, 2021, by the world scientific community. In the world, he is known as a sociologist and researcher of forms and functions of imagination, the author of the concept, theory and scientific method of “depth sociology” (sociology of imagination). The study also used general scientific and psychoanalytic methods of cognition and an interdisciplinary approach, which paved the way for the use of culturological and hermeneutic analysis methods. At the same time, other elements of culturological and sociological cases have been adopted, borrowing concepts and perspectives for explaining socio-psychological phenomena that have a complex psychological nature. Based on the theoretical analysis results, a generalized description of the logos is presented within the framework of its conceptualization in the topic of depth sociology, which to some extent reveals the psychological nature and meaning of the concept. The author proposes a modification of the paradigmatic model of logos variability. The socio-psychological process of its transformation is studied based on G. Durand’s construction. Based on the results of the analysis of the logos state in the current social crisis, the paper shows fragments of its varieties and probabilistic mechanisms of variability. Simultaneously, the institutional uncertainty of the modern geopolitical future in the world creates a basis for pressure on the “two-story” (socio-psychological) topic, where the prospect of further research will be the problem of synchronicity (according to C.-G. Jung).

Rene Descartes and secular salons of the XVII century

The scale of persona of Rene Descartes, who was the founder of several trends of philosophical thought, often overshadows the intellectual life of the era and the environment that gave rise to Cartesianism. At the same time, we observe a unique situation, when the philosophical doctrine being seized by the secular educated society, rather than the intellectual elite. The key condition for such impact of the philosophical system consists in the fact that the philosophy should meet the demands the era and the environment it is proliferated within. Therefore, the author places Rene Descartes and some aspects of his philosophy in a specific historical context, pursuing correlation with the thoughts and ideas of his contemporaries. This method indicates how the philosophy of Descartes completes and structures the mental transformation that have already taken place or were taking place in French society. Descartes’ perception of his mission, his appeal to future generations, should not deceive or allow to forget that Descartes is not just philosopher with whom the finest minds of the next centuries are engaged into a dialogue or debate , but also a nobleman of the XVII, who responded to the demands of his time. It were not the complicated philosophical tasks that he tried to solve, but the particular answers that influenced and formed the European mentality of the Modern Age without the fact that the perception of his philosophy by the contemporaries would of fully correspond to its essence, and the impact correspond to the letter. Affected by the philosophy of Descartes, the society develops new behavioral norms that underlie the subconscious of modern culture; and from this space of the unsconsious affect the life of modern society.

Critically Explore Perceptions of Human Development in Classical Muslim Educational Thought and Discuss its Implications for Contemporary Islamic Education.

Education is a contemporary social science that has received a lot of attention. As education defines society, it is imperative to introspect the philosophy of education. Moreover, the current philosophy of education in conventional settings is confined to empiricism. Thus, the broader concepts of education such as spiritual transformation and character reformation seem to be non-existent. The lack of discussion-based pedagogies compounds the educational crisis. This article aims to explore human development models relevant to Islamic education as its purpose is, alongside enhancing academic prowess, to provide spiritual transformation that leads to Gods pleasure and good character. The inquiry uses a historical-textual methodology with a particular focus on psychological foundations of Islamic theory to answer its questions. It will aim to explore childhood developmental models briefly and the concept of self-reflection more specifically and how it can be applied in Islamic education. The key findings of the study illustrate the concept of the three types of Nafs and how self-reflection is integral in achieving transformation, a concept that is condoned in conventional educational practice. Muhāsibī’s Risālatul Mustarshidīn with Shaykh Abdul Fattāh Abū Ghudda’s footnotes is the primary text used to establish the broader purpose of education. A brief overview of Qushayrī’s Risālah and Ibn Qayyim’s Kitābul Rūh will be outlined. Moreover, multiple attributes of human development conform to the demands of contemporary psychology to achieve a healthy mental transformation.

Spatial Mental Transformation Skills Discriminate Fitness to Drive in Young and Old Adults

Literature on driving research suggests a relationship between cognition and driving performance in older and younger drivers. There is little research on adults and driving, despite them being the largest age cohort behind the wheel. Among the cognitive domains, visuospatial abilities are expected to be highly predictive of driving skills and driving fitness. The relationship between specific spatial mental transformation skills (i.e., object and self-based ones) and driving performance has not yet been examined. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between overall cognitive functioning, self and object-based spatial mental transformation skills, and driving performance in a sample of younger and older adult drivers. Participants were comprised of one hundred younger and 83 older adult Italian drivers. Participants completed a computerized driving test assessing traffic stress resilience, visual and motor reaction time, and the ability to obtain an overview of the traffic scenario (DT, vRT, mRT, and ATAV respectively in the Shufried®-Vienna Test System–DRIVESC). The Mental Rotation Test (MRT) and the Object Perspective Taking Test (OPT) were administered in order to assess object-based and self-based spatial mental transformation skills. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MoCA) was administered control for global cognitive functioning. The effects of education and gender were also controlled in the analysis. The results of the present study suggested that: (1) The effect of age, favoring younger participants, was found in DT, vRT, mRT, and ATAVT tests. (2) The effect of global cognitive functioning was found in DT and ATAV tests. (3) The effect of the spatial mental transformation tests was found in DT, vRT (MRT only), and ATAVT (OPT only) tests. Taken together, these results suggest the specific contribution of spatial mental transformation skills in the execution of complex behaviors connected to the fitness to drive. Prospectively, the results of the present study relating spatial mental transformation skills and driving processes may be a valuable source of knowledge for researchers dealing with the relationship between cognitive resources and navigation aids.

Visual-Spatial Perspective-Taking in Spatial Scenes and in American Sign Language

As spatial languages, sign languages rely on spatial cognitive processes that are not involved for spoken languages. Interlocutors have different visual perspectives of the signer’s hands requiring a mental transformation for successful communication about spatial scenes. It is unknown whether visual-spatial perspective-taking (VSPT) or mental rotation (MR) abilities support signers’ comprehension of perspective-dependent American Sign Language (ASL) structures. A total of 33 deaf ASL adult signers completed tasks examining nonlinguistic VSPT ability, MR ability, general ASL proficiency (ASL-Sentence Reproduction Task [ASL-SRT]), and an ASL comprehension test involving perspective-dependent classifier constructions (the ASL Spatial Perspective Comprehension Test [ASPCT] test). Scores on the linguistic (ASPCT) and VSPT tasks positively correlated with each other and both correlated with MR ability; however, VSPT abilities predicted linguistic perspective-taking better than did MR ability. ASL-SRT scores correlated with ASPCT accuracy (as both require ASL proficiency) but not with VSPT scores. Therefore, the ability to comprehend perspective-dependent ASL classifier constructions relates to ASL proficiency and to nonlinguistic VSPT and MR abilities.

Moral and psychological stability as a condition of constructive life perspective of the personality

The article presents a theoretical generalization and empirical study of psychological features of the process of becoming moral-psychological stability of modern youth. The paper systematizes and generalizes the main theoretical and methodological approaches to modeling strategies of moral behavior in the context of personality socialization. As an important moment of subjective personality development in the adolescent-genesis period of Genesis being defined moral and psychological stability as a condition of a constructive life perspective of the youth personality. This methodological setup is relevant to the essential nature of the psychological practice of educational activity in the dimensions of humanization of modern society. An empirical examination of the substantive characteristics of the personal profile of schoolchildren, students and cadets of adolescence and youth showed that the field of respondents' moral qualities was unclear. The empirical analysis of the dimensions of moral and psychological stability of modern youth has concluded that Ukrainian society needs a profound mental transformation, which will lead to harmonization of moral aspects of behavior and the establishment of patriotism of schoolchildren and students in a fragile society.