Cognition

This paper aims to study Vygotsky’s (1987) sociocultural theory of learning with respect to how it relates to technology-based second language learning and teaching. The researchers selected their participants from advanced students from Payame Noor University. We divided the participants into two groups- an experimental group and a control group. After teaching the course an experimental group was asked to continue practicing language in an online learning environment, whereas those in the control group were not told anything about practice procedure. We found that students’ engagement in an interactive group activity in the online learning can be a useful approach to facilitating and motivating internalization, learning, and better performance.

To succeed in tests does not require only content knowledge. Test-taking strategies are other factors which help students to achieve high scores in tests. The present mixed-method study set out to examine the relationship between test-taking strategies and reading test performance. To achieve the objectives of the study, a reading comprehension test, and a 35-item Likert type strategy questionnaire were given to 214 male and female university students. Analysis of the gathered data revealed that there was a positive relationship between test-taking strategies and reading test performance and that successful, moderately, successful, and unsuccessful test-takers differed in their use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. To gain an in depth view on strategy use pattern of the test-takers, retrospective interviews along with think-aloud protocols were applied which revealed the use of metacognitive test-taking strategies more than cognitive ones. These findings can have beneficial implications for language testers, teachers, learners, and course developers.

Si nous admettons avec W. von Humboldt que toute langue confère au sujet une vision du monde qui lui est propre, il semble évident que s’approprier une nouvelle langue influe sur la perception, c’est-à-dire la manière d’organiser et de dire les choses. S’approprier une nouvelle langue permettrait donc d’élargir ou d’approfondir d’une certaine manière la subjectivité du locuteur i.e. au sens d’unicité subjective – tout en augmentant les signes dans le discours de subjectivité discursive. Mais en quel sens cette subjectivité se trouve-t-elle modifiée par l’apprentissage d’une autre langue ? Si cette déduction semble tomber sous les sens, ses manifestations dans l’acte de langage, perceptibles uniquement dans les énoncés, paraissent difficilement identifiables. Nous analysons donc, le lien entre la langue et la cognition qui nous permet de situer le sujet non plus dans l’immanence de la langue, mais en-deçà de la langue ; dans la cognition. Cette approche nous permettra également de jeter un nouveau regard sur la subjectivité d’un locuteur lorsqu’il s’approprie une autre langue, et de déterminer les différents stades de son appropriation de la langue in fieri.

This paper examines the differences between two types of categorization and then the use of conventional metaphor and metonymy and their relationship among Persian-speaking Iranians. Recent studies on categorization show that Persian speakers, similar to the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese, categorize based on thematic relationships, unlike the European Americans who categorize based upon taxonomic relations. These studies have shown that Eastern Asians, with regard to categorization, act on the syntagmatic axis and the units in the context, and Westerners act upon the paradigmatic axis. Therefore, the hypothesis was put forth that these different cognitive functions are also represented in the application of metaphor and metonymy that is, those who use the category-based classification are more likely to use metaphors, and those who are inclined to use the relationship-based categorization tend more toward using metonymy. Examining the Persian corpus of 30,000 sentences confirmed this hypothesis. Persian speakers, who categorize based on relationships, use metonymy, which works on syntagmatic axis and based on the contiguity of two things, more than metaphor, which is based on the similarity and paradigmatic relation between two entities. The present study confirms this fact again that cognition is not the same in all human beings.

It is a typological observation in more than 90% of languages where the basic word order is either subject–verb–object (SVO) or subject–object–verb (SOV). Functional typologists believe that the prevalence of these two orders; in which the subject precedes the two other elements, and the verb and the object are contiguous is due to the functions of language in the real world. Hence, the two principles of subject salience and verb-object contiguity have been proposed. The typological explanations put forward for these two principles hold that transitive sentences of a language have come into existence as a result of the encoding of the prototypical transitive action scenario. In such a scenario, subject salience is a result of the fact that the transitive action scenario is started by the doer of the activity. Also, because of the tight causal relationship between the activity and its receiver, the linguistic counterparts of these two elements, too, tend to be contiguous. Since functional pressures can only be manifested in language through human cognition, the present paper looks at the cognitive processes involved in the cross-linguistic prevalence of the afore-mentioned word orders.

Cognitive appraisal of individuals directs to the creation of an emotional response, which is related to emotional intelligence. The present study shows the presence of induced emotions as an unrelated factor on the construct of a TOEFL iBT reading test which can interplay with emotional intelligence for regulating the induced emotions towards reading passages. The present participants were 393 Iranian EFL TOEFL iBT candidates. The present researchers detected induced emotions based on PANAS before and after reading the three selected passages of a TOEFL iBT reading section. Also, emotional intelligence was detected by Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test after reading the selected passages. Our results confirmed this hypothesis statistically by reporting that induced emotion from the passages of the selected TOEFL iBT test has a significant effect on emotional intelligence. This study found that if test developers provide a condition for test-takers to activate their emotional intelligence, they might control the induced emotion as the construct-irrelevant variable during reading.

Emotion and cognition are both considered influential factors in language learning. In this study, the role of "emotioncy" (which is a combination of emotion and frequency) in the cognitive load and sentence comprehension of a group of language learners was examined. Emotioncy includes emotions that are evoked by the senses. To this aim, 200 English as a foreign language (EFL) learners were asked to fill out the NASA Task Load Test, a sentence comprehension test, and an emotioncy scale. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was run to measure the construct validity of the emotioncy scale. Subsequently, Pearson Product-Moment correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data. The results showed that emotioncy has a significantly negative and positive relationship with cognitive load and sentence comprehension, respectively (p

 Space perception is the firs t s tep towards recognizing and communicating with the environment. Despite similar perception sys tems in human beings, the perception of surroundings is different from person to person. Therefore, different perceptions of similar objective spaces can result from several factors, and only one influential factor cannot determine the perceived subject. This s tudy seeks to identify cognitive aspects of different areas of the elderly perception in architecture and determine the cognitive characteris tics of independent elderly residents in Shahrak-e-Gharb of Tehran to obtain primary data and their perceptual, cognitive characteris tics using cognitive maps. This is a theoretical-applied s tudy with a qualitative-quantitative method. The library method was used for data collection, field observation to measure the s tatus quo, and interview and cognitive maps technique to collect research data. The sample size of 38 persons was calculated using the Cochran formula. According to the findings, the average perceived cognitive paths of the men group were higher than that of women, and the average perceived cognitive places of the women group were higher than that of men. Aging and length of residence do not affect the number of perceived elements.  As aging occurs, the number of perceived places decreases, and the number of perceived paths increases. Mos t recognized spaces in cognitive maps represent a place for people's memories. So, cognitive spaces should be improved before the cognitive abilities of the elderly decline.

Recognizing the link between “Cognition" and "Architectural Creation” indicates that there is a relation between subject and object. Correct understanding of this relationship helps artistic creativity, especially in the architecture, to take steps towards proving truth that have caused works to be continued over the past times. Knowledge and cognitions in architecture are categories that today theory of which have been neglected to be explained. Failure to comply with epistemology1, i.e. incorrect epistemology, has resulted to subjective ideas which are emerged in the framework of ideologies expressed in architecture, as a form inconsistent with national and Islamic identity. So that once more, the ideas resulting from perception of the created works, with replacement of concepts and ideas instead of principles and truth of work, tend to reject previous cognition and suggest new cognition-based theories which not only will not lead to integration in works creation but it will be one step away from reality. This process continues until now, due to lack of understanding about the origins of the crisis, the trend is adopted as an individualistic process and art knowledge is juxtaposed with artistic taste. This study is an attempt to review and recognize the role of knowledge in the past process of Islamic architecture in Iran with an analytical- interpretation approach in order to show the role of knowledge in the circle of creation and understanding of architecture as causes of inefficient contemporary theories put forward in this area, by exploring a philosophy of cognition.

The question from the mission of architecture and its relationship with human as the artist or the audience, without addressing to the reality issue and the manner of cognition is not possible. As a human phenomenon, architecture is a product of human awareness on various aspects such as scientific, engineering, and artistic aspects. Therefore, clarifying the nature and the manner of awareness, cognition and the methods and tools, can contribute to understand the art work. In continue the manner of advent and perception of wisdom in the Islamic architectural work would be analyzed. The research method is logical reasoning. Therefore, initially the Islamic worldview is posed based on the transcendental philosophy as the last and most important and major Islamic philosophy evolution, this approach is a strong system with logical method and has a strong theoretical transparency in order to understand the definition of components such as ontology, anthropology, epistemology and cosmology. After explaining principles of mental structures according to proposed Islamic worldview, the manner of emergence of the architectural work by creator of the work and how it is perceived by the audience and the work relationship with reality, based on the quad and quintet causes, ultimate and in instance, nominative, substantial, formal which have been considered in the formal position of discussion. The manner of Islamic architecture as nominative cause and the advent of thought and imagination, as the ultimate and in instance cause and actuality of the mass and the space, as substantial causes in the form of the face of place as formal cause is the purpose of this research. The manner of creation and perception of the work and the manner of presence and the advent of reality in architecture are exامینed by determining nature and the manner of emotions, perceptions and cognition. The most important result of this study is to address the main mission of architecture as the creator of the cognition factor.

In many aspects, U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy-making was in sharp contrast with that of his predecessors, particularly post-WWII presidents. His hostility toward the long-lasting liberal international order that was crafted and maintained by former presidents, his eccentric ways of solving foreign policy issues, and his unusual rhetoric regarding U.S. allies and adversaries, are all indications of his “unorthodox” foreign policy approach. In an attempt to explain this unorthodoxy, in this article we aim to examine Trump’s cognitions and compare them to those of his post-WWII predecessors. In particular, we have measured the cognitive complexity score for each of these presidents to determine Trump’s position among them. In order to do so, we have calculated the Flesch-Kincaid readability score of the presidents’ verbal statements, assuming that the complexity of the statements indicates the complexity of their author’s thoughts. The results have clearly demonstrated that Trump was at the lowest level of cognitive complexity among the presidents under examination, and since a low level of cognitive complexity pertains to viewing the situation from limited perspectives, a low need for broader information, adhering to a limited number of policy options, ignoring advice, and decisiveness, we may reasonably infer that his cognitive simplicity played an important role in the unorthodoxy of his foreign policy approach.

Investigating teachers’ cognitions, both in general education and in language teaching, has gained momentum in the past few decades. Yet, the practical knowledge-base (PKB) of practitioners who teach languages to students with special needs has not been amply explored. The present study aimed to investigate the personal PKB of EFL teachers of individuals with Down syndrome (IDS). To this end, several classes of three Iranian EFL special education teachers were observed and video-recorded, and the teachers were interviewed using the stimulated-recall method. Analysing the data resulted in the emergence and conceptualization of a framework characterizing the PKB of Iranian EFL special-education teachers in terms of eight major knowledge types: knowledge of learners’ characteristics, learner-based pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of classroom management, visual-impact knowledge, knowledge of self, curriculum knowledge, language subject knowledge, and contextual knowledge. These knowledge types and particularly their subcomponents are argued to be heavily reminiscent of the teachers’ learner-centered (vs. content-oriented) attention to their students’ special needs, characteristics, motivations, limitations, potentials, and deprivations. Dealing with an under-researched domain, the study is hoped to sensitize ELT special-education teachers, teacher trainers, and policy-makers to the possibilities and requirements of quality teaching to IDS. 

Enhancing one's proficiency in English grammar represents a foremost objective for individuals who are learning a foreign language. In EFL contexts, it is commonly observed that children tend to acquire knowledge of grammar rules incidentally, whereas adults usually require formal instruction to attain a more advanced level of proficiency. Numerous contemporary approaches have undergone substantial investigation, yet comparatively limited emphasis has been placed on the acquisition of grammar learning strategies. This article investigates the perspectives of learners with regards to the utilization of grammatical learning strategies during the duration of an English language course. This research centers on the cognitive and affective viewpoints of individuals participating in a grammar study group. The objective of the research is to investigate the utilization of specific strategies by learners for the acquisition of varied grammar structures. Novel methodologies and empirical investigations have the potential to enhance the comprehension of the educational process and self-regulation. The aforementioned holds the possibility of significant repercussions for individuals engaged in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning process, educators facilitating such learning, and professionals responsible for designing EFL curricula.

Textbook evaluation is of paramount importance in ensuring that textbooks are of high quality and aligned with educational goals. This study evaluated two common English language textbooks in Iran (i.e., American English File [private schools] and Vision series [state schools]) based on the brainling (brain+ language) model, heeding EFL learners’ cognition, senses, emotions, and culture. To this end, a brainling-based scale was validated based on “cogling”, “emoling”, “sensoling”, and “cultuling” components of the brainling model and distributed among Iranian teachers (N=218) and EFL learners (N=236). It was found that there were significant differences in the brainling components present in English textbooks used in state and private schools. Moreover, the independent samples t-tests revealed that there were significant differences in mean scores for brainling components between the two types of textbooks for students. However, it is worth noting that such differences were not observed among teachers’ ratings of these components.  The results could assist content developers in incorporating brainling as a worthwhile scale for evaluating English language textbooks.

This paper has the ambitious aim to clarify the putative different meanings of "consciousness" in Kant's Critique, particularly focusing on the concept of apperception. Often misinterpreted merely as the potential for self-attributions of experiences and mental states—technically, as the individual's ability to knowingly refer to himself—such readings overlook the pivot role of transcendental apperception in bridging the inherent gap between nonconceptual content of sensible intuitions and the higher-level conceptual content of propositional attitudes, essential for reasoning and the rational control of actions. In this context, "consciousness" or "self-consciousness" means cognitive accessibility (in Block's sense). But Kant's texts reveal additional meanings of consciousness. Notably, "sensation" means the raw material of intuition when it is apprehended through a synthesis of imagination without conceptual determination, capturing the subjective "what-it-is-like" phenomenal aspect of perception. Conversely, its objective correlate—the ability to discriminate and single out objects from their surroundings—embodies what can be described as "de re awareness" of a yet conceptually undetermined object of intuition. 

In the Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant said that cognition (objective perception) is acquired in the unity of sensibility (the receptivity of the mind to receive empirical representations of things, which yields intuitions) and the understanding (in which concepts – general representations of things – arise), and is mediated by the imagination. Here, it is shown that numbers, either pure or denominate, are cognized in the synthesis of intuition and mathematical concept, and that the phenomenal world of the cognizer is shaped accordingly. Any number can be related to any other number through a general mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer for the purpose. The judgment of the cognizer is manifest in the specifics of the mathematical relationship established between the two numbers in cognition. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical constant then in the (consistent) phenomenal world it will always have been of the value found in cognition, which explains why the universe seems to be fine-tuned for life. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical variable, then the number will be subject to change in accordance with physical laws. Symmetry is a recurrent feature of the phenomenology. A mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer may also relate, one to one, the numerical values of quantities in one set with the numerical values of quantities of different dimensionality in another set, which suggests that physical laws are human inventions and that causality is a pure concept of the understanding.