(2008). Neuroscientific Investigator of High Mathematical Ability: An Interview with Michael W. O'Boyle. Roeper Review, v30 n3 p153-157 Jul. This article presents an interview with Michael W. O'Boyle, a neuroscientific investigator of high mathematical ability. O'Boyle is a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech University, and Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. His research has been pushing back the frontiers of giftedness by revealing intriguing connections between neuroscientific investigations and mathematical high ability. Here, in light of his research, he describes the difference between the brain of a mathematically gifted adolescent and one of more \average\ math ability. He also discusses the studies that led him to the conclusions about enhanced development and reliance on the right hemisphere during information processing in the math-gifted brain…. [Direct]
(2017). Ecosante: Using Daily Prompts and Photo Capturing to Encourage Multiple Behavior Change in a Sustainable Lifestyle Intervention. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Northwestern University. The United States has a weight problem. It's not just about food intake but also about energy consumption [97, 153]. This dissertation asks: "How can we encourage people to act in ways that are mutually beneficial for themselves and the environment?" To date, there is no single behavior intervention in the literature targets behavioral changes containing both health and pro-environmental implications. Based on emerging knowledge from research in HCI, health communication, behavior interventions, psychology, pro-environmental psychology, habit formation (tiny habit theory), and experience sampling, this work describes the design and study of the EcoSante Lifestyle Intervention, a mobile behavior intervention app that engages participants with daily challenge prompts designed to engage health and environmental action simultaneously. A study of EcoSante engaged a total of 139 participants (83.5% women, 82.1% under 35 years old) in a 20-day intervention on sustainable… [Direct]
(2007). Remembering 1500 Pictures: The Right Hemisphere Remembers Better than the Left. Brain and Cognition, v63 n2 p105-113 Mar. We hypothesized that the right hemisphere would be superior to the left hemisphere in remembering having seen a specific picture before, given its superiority in perceptually encoding specific aspects of visual form. A large set of pictures (N=1500) of animals, human faces, artifacts, landscapes, and art paintings were shown for 2 s in central vision, or tachistoscopically (for 100 ms) in each half visual field, to normal participants who were then tested 1-6 days later for their recognition. Images that were presented initially to the right hemisphere were better recognized than those presented to the left hemisphere. These results, obtained with participants with intact brains, large number of stimuli, and long retention delays, are consistent with previously described hemispheric differences in the memory of split-brain patients…. [Direct]
(1982). Left Brain to Right Brain: Notes from the Human Laboratory. Humanist, v42 n5 p34-37,56 Sep-Oct. Examines the implications of the left brain-right brain theory on communications styles in male-female relationships. The author contends that women tend to use the vagueness of their emotional responses manipulatively. Men need to apply rational approaches to increase clarity in communication. (AM)…
(2010). A Review of EEG, ERP, and Neuroimaging Studies of Creativity and Insight. Psychological Bulletin, v136 n5 p822-848 Sep. Creativity is a cornerstone of what makes us human, yet the neural mechanisms underlying creative thinking are poorly understood. A recent surge of interest into the neural underpinnings of creative behavior has produced a banquet of data that is tantalizing but, considered as a whole, deeply self-contradictory. We review the emerging literature and take stock of several long-standing theories and widely held beliefs about creativity. A total of 72 experiments, reported in 63 articles, make up the core of the review. They broadly fall into 3 categories: divergent thinking, artistic creativity, and insight. Electroencephalographic studies of divergent thinking yield highly variegated results. Neuroimaging studies of this paradigm also indicate no reliable changes above and beyond diffuse prefrontal activation. These findings call into question the usefulness of the divergent thinking construct in the search for the neural basis of creativity. A similarly inconclusive picture emerges… [Direct]
(2008). Real-Life Contextual Manifestations of Wisdom. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, v67 n4 p273-303. Wisdom pertains to managing human affairs, and it arises in highly contextualized situations. The present study aims to investigate manifestations of wisdom in real-life contexts through semi-structured interviews with 66 individuals nominated as wise persons. All nominees were ethnic Chinese from Taiwan, an East Asian country which has Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism as its predominant philosophies. Analysis of these interview transcripts yielded 220 wisdom incidents that fall into five categories of wisdom. Results of the present study suggests that in real life, wisdom most likely is manifested through: 1) striving for common good by helping others and contributing to society; 2) achieving and maintaining a satisfactory state of life; 3) deciding and developing life paths; 4) resolving difficult problems at work; and 5) insisting on doing the right thing when facing adversity…. [Direct]
(2008). Does Choice Influence Quality of Life for People with Mild Intellectual Disabilities?. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, v46 n1 p12-26 Feb. Consumer choice is a key concept in developmental disability intervention, but relatively little quantitative research has focused on the relationship between choice and quality of life. This study used data from Washington state's Division of Developmental Disabilities 2002 National Core Indicators study (Human Services Research Institute, 2001a, 2001b) to examine the relationship between choice and 3 quality-of-life indicators: community inclusion, rights, and opportunities for relationships. Consumers (N = 224) with mild intellectual disabilities participated in the study. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the influence of type of living arrangement and choice on quality of life. Consumers who lived in the community and made more choices had higher scores on quality-of-life indicators. The findings have implications for disability policy, practice, and future research…. [Direct]
(1983). The Right to Education: Reaganism, Reaganomics, or Human Capital? Occasional Paper, 1983, No. 5. This paper begins with the theme that because education is so important to the exercise of one's fundamental rights and to personal, social, cultural, political, economic, and human development, it is one of the unenumerated rights retained by the American people through Amendment IX of the Bill of Rights. After arguing for the proposition that education is a right, the paper examines how Reagan administration policies undermine education through budget cuts for domestic human services and resource programs, neofederalism, block grants, and expanded support for the military establishment. Finally, economic growth and social and political development are discussed in relation to education; the focus here is upon education as an essential element in human capital development and in the preservation and enhancement of a democratic polity. The overall thesis of this work is that public support for human services and investment, particularly education, is an indispensable part of any…
(2009). Layoff Policies Could Diminish Teacher Reform. Education Week, v28 n22 p1, 12-13 Feb. This article reports that with the poor economy endangering more novice teachers' jobs, researchers and policymakers have begun to question the human-capital costs of \last hired, first fired\ layoff policies. Such layoffs, those experts argue, do not consider teacher effectiveness, meaning that teachers who make vital contributions to school success can nevertheless be among those to receive pink slips. Seniority-based layoffs are the norm for the profession. According to a database maintained by the National Council on Teacher Quality, a Washington-based group that advocates stronger state teacher-quality policies, all but five of the nation's 25 largest school districts follow seniority-based layoff policies set by contracts or state law. And all but one of those five is located in a right-to-work state without mandatory collective bargaining for teachers. Typically, layoffs–frequently referred to in contracts as reductions in force (RIFs)–are enforced within teachers'… [Direct]
(2011). A Cultural Political Economy of School Desegregation in Seattle. Teachers College Record, v113 n4 p703-734. Background/Context: School desegregation has been variably conceptualized as a remedy for racial injustice, a means toward urban (economic) revitalization, an opportunity to celebrate human diversity, and an attempt to more equally distribute educational resources. At the center of the debate over the years is the extent to which school desegregation is a matter of class or race, of redistribution or recognition. A cultural political economy of school desegregation begins with a rejection of the popular notion that desegregation is simply, or even primarily, about race. It also eschews the idea that what is needed is a "corrective" interjection of social class and economic justice. In proposing neither a racial nor an economic solution, cultural political economy sheds doubt on the very proposition of a "racial" or "economic" analysis, politics, or remedy and helps us more powerfully explain how the cultural and material force of race and class breathes… [Direct]
(2009). Differential Neural Contributions to Native- and Foreign-Language Talker Identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, v35 n6 p1950-1960 Dec. Humans are remarkably adept at identifying individuals by the sound of their voice, a behavior supported by the nervous system's ability to integrate information from voice and speech perception. Talker-identification abilities are significantly impaired when listeners are unfamiliar with the language being spoken. Recent behavioral studies describing the language-familiarity effect implicate functionally integrated neural systems for speech and voice perception, yet specific neuroscientific evidence demonstrating the basis for such integration has not yet been shown. Listeners in the present study learned to identify voices speaking a familiar (native) or unfamiliar (foreign) language. The talker-identification performance of neural circuitry in each cerebral hemisphere was assessed using dichotic listening. To determine the relative contribution of circuitry in each hemisphere to ecological (binaural) talker identification abilities, we compared the predictive capacity of dichotic… [Direct]
(2006). Your Rights under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Fact Sheet. US Department of Health and Human Services Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a national law that protects qualified individuals from discrimination based on their disability. The nondiscrimination requirements of the law apply to employers and organizations that receive financial assistance from any Federal department or agency, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). These organizations and employers include many hospitals, nursing homes, mental health centers and human service programs. Section 504 forbids organizations and employers from excluding or denying individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to receive program benefits and services. It defines the rights of individuals with disabilities to participate in, and have access to, program benefits and services. This Fact Sheet outlines who is protected from discrimination, as well as prohibited discriminatory acts in health care and human services settings. Contact information on how to file a complaint of… [PDF]
(2006). Comparative and Familial Analysis of Handedness in Great Apes. Psychological Bulletin, v132 n4 p538-559 Jul. Historically, population-level handedness has been considered a hallmark of human evolution. Whether nonhuman primates exhibit population-level handedness remains a topic of considerable debate. This paper summarizes published data on handedness in great apes. Comparative analysis indicated that chimpanzees and bonobos show population-level right handedness, whereas gorillas and orangutans do not. All ape species showed evidence of population-level handedness when considering specific tasks. Familial analyses in chimpanzees indicated that offspring and maternal (but not paternal) handedness was significantly positively correlated, but this finding was contingent upon the classification criteria used to evaluate hand preference. Overall, the proportion of right handedness is lower in great apes compared with humans, and various methodological and theoretical explanations for this discrepancy are discussed…. [Direct]
(2012). Power Experienced by Women as Described by Chief Academic Officers at Women's Colleges and Universities in the United States. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota. Power is embedded within all aspects of human experience and has been a fundamental constituent in social systems since the beginning of recorded history. Power exists in every organization and evolves as the culture of the organization exerts its influence. Organizational structures and systems dictate the elements of power, its use, and its operators. According to Vail (2004), "power defines every aspect of our experience of reality" (p. 3) and French and Raven (1959) stated, "the processes of power are pervasive, complex, and often disguised in our society" (p. 150). Invisible and intangible power dynamics imbue relationships within organizations. For some individuals, power is perplexing with countless layers of meaning. Given the ubiquitous nature of power, this descriptive phenomenological study sought to understand the meaning of power through the question: What is the experience of power for women who are chief academic officers at women's colleges… [Direct]
(2012). How Faith and Leadership are Connected: A Study of Catholic Women Administrators in a Southern Public Institution of Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College. Studies concerning spirituality and higher education, particularly for the college student, are beginning to appear in journals, conference papers, and presentations. However, there is little research conducted with professionals in higher education on the construct of spirituality. Spirituality has so many different definitions in the literature, it is difficult to define, and perhaps even more complex to study academically. Using a research-based conceptual model for religious faith, developed within the study of family sciences, this study examines the lived experience of how and why Catholic women administrators connect their faith and leadership in a setting of public institutions of higher education. Using a grounded theory qualitative approach to research the how, why and processes of the faith and leadership connection for women administrators, interviews were conducted with ten Catholic women administrators. Findings include four emergent themes which begin to explain and… [Direct]