فصلنامه تازه های علوم شناختی
سال چهاردهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 55، پاییز 1391)

Cognitive metaphor as a special cognitive mechanism, which facilitates the comprehension of higher level concepts via the comprehension of the lower level concepts, is acquired by bilinguals in the process of second language acquisition by means of collocation and lexical selection following anumber of phases. The hierarchical feature of this type of acquisition accounts for certain problems in comprehension and production of second language facing bilinguals. The present research aims to assess the levels involved in the cognitive metaphor acquisition of bilinguals. An ex post facto experimental design with a descriptive-analytic nature is applied to 248 English- Persian bilingual participants in both genders and Persian monolinguals between 11-17 years of age. The research instrument comprises a validated researcher– ade questionnaire based on Bloom’s taxonomy within the cognitive domain. The relevant statistical tools consist of mean, standard deviation, correlation coefficient of each question with the total score, alpha coefficient, reviewers agreement coefficient, Pearson coefficient between re-test values, standard T and Zscores, and discrimination analysis. Findings offer a validated cognitive metaphor acquisition questionnaire (0.82 validity and 0.96 reliability) and a database of bilingual levels of metaphor acquisition in the targeted age limit. It is also observed that the level of acquisition of cognitive metaphors along with the level of complexity increases with an increase in age. Although demonstrating a good capacity for acquiring cognitive metaphors at the levels of knowledge and comprehension,bilinguals show a considerable amount of difficulty at higher levels of cognitive domain, namely analysis and synthesis.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of gender in overconfidence. Overconfidence is individual’s excessive assessments of his/ her skills, knowledge or judgment. People often have more confidence in the accuracy of their performance. For reasons not yet clear, decisions by both professionals and non-professionals are affected by it. Various factors play a role in this phenomenon. It has been suggested that one of them is sex. In this study, using cluster random sampling,389 students (274 men and 115 women) from universities in Tehran were selected. Each participant responded to two-choice general knowledge questions. After each item, they reported degree of their confidence. Using confidence scores and correct answers, their overconfidence scores were obtained. Finally, theindependent t- test was used for statistical analysis. Based on the t-test performed to compare the mean overconfidence scores difference between men and women,the observed mean difference in bias scores and Brier scores for men and women was not statistically significant (P =0/577, t = 0/558). Results showed that all subjects of the research were overconfident. Between men and women, although men were slightly more confident than women, the difference was not significant.

In order to properly and effectively perform electrical stimulation in neural prostheses one should understand the effects of stimulation on the operation of the neural system.

To come up with proper physical and electrical stimulation parameters, the first step is to perform mathematical modeling and computer simulations. This paper studies the response of ganglion cells to electrical stimulations in an epiretinal visual prosthesis received from a microelectrode array. The excitation process of the electrically stimulated retinal cells is simulated in a two step procedure. In the first step, the target ganglion cell is represented with all its compartments. In the next step, the resulting extracellular potential is calculated along the neural structure, and finally, the voltage response of the cell membrane to the applied stimulation is analyzed. Unlike the models that have previously appeared in the literature, here the morphology of all compartments of the model cell are considered. Moreover, the electrical potential along all of the three-dimensional compartments is calculated for the duration of the stimulation process. The stimulation source is considered as a point electrode in an infinite and homogenous environment. In the simulations both monophasic and biphasic current pulses are used.

The results show that the responses are in accordance with the values and diagrams of experimental results of previous literature.

The results predicted by the model that is proposed in this work exhibit higher accuracy than the results of other models.

This research examines the role of memory test (recall & recognition) and context of the content on everyday student's memory performance.

Using random clustered sampling 128 students in boukan payame noor university, in law, computer, consulting and education subjects, were divided to 4 groups, completely randomly sampling. There is no significant difference in Wechsler's clinical memory test. Everyday memory was examined using educational content about quantum physics. 4 groups of questions were extracted using table of specification. A 2×2 factor design (two recall & recognition and two internal & external context of the content.

ANOVA results showed significance interaction between test type and context on the everyday memory performance)P<0.05& f=4.226) and no significance effect of test type and context factors. In other words internal conceptual context of the content leads to a better function of everyday memory.

Research conclusion emphasized the internal conceptual context of content in recognition tests and external context of the content in recall tests, in order to more student's achievement.

Occupational noise is one of the major causes of hearing loss and tinnitus. In the present study, the effect of occupational noise-induced tinnitus on auditory attention was investigated. A sample of 42 man, all workers, ages 40 to 56, participated in the study in three groups of workers with hearing loss, hearing loss and tinnitus, and normal hearing. Workers in two first groups had a long history of working in environments with excessive noise, and third group was matched control workers with normal hearing. For all subjects the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Bergen dichotic listening test were performed in identical conditions. In all three conditions of attention, including non-forced, forced right, and forced left attentions, right ear advantage (REA) was lower in tinnitus and hearing loss group than the two other groups. The difference between the tinnitus and hearing loss groups and the control group was significant in the non-forced attention condition (p<0.047). Furthermore, both groups had poorer result in the MSSE test compared to the control group (p<0.025). Our study revealed effect of noiseinduced tinnitus on selective and divided auditory attention. It seems that tinnitus is affects both both bottom- up and top-down processing of speech stimuli.

The present research did to standardize the figural – cognitive subscales of Meeker's cognitive abilities test in 3th to 5th grade elementary school students of Ilam. The Sample was consisted of 317 boys and girls students. Meeker's Figural – cognivtive subscales has four subscales that is based on multifactroial model – of intelligence developed by Guilford (1959). The results showed that internal consistency of subscales ranged from. 70 to. 80. The total internal consistency was 0.80. Concurrent validity method was used for criterion validity of the test, The results showed that there is a significant relationship between Meeker's subscales and teacher rating of student (P <0/001).The findings of the standardization of figural – cognitive subscales of Meeker have presented based on percentile and evaluation Levels.It can identify strengths and weaknesses points of individuals and then promote them by drawing cognitive profile of individuals.

This study aims to compare executive function (EF) in students with and without mathematical learning disorder. In order to compare the executive function in students with and without mathematical learning disorder, ten female students with mathematical learning disorder, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria and the standard diagnostic test with Key Math were compared with ten ordinary students with consistent performance using the Tower of London (PC version) and the Stroop test. Tower of London test showed significant differences between students with mathematical learning disorder and normal students; this was significant at levels 2 and 3 of the Tower of London task. In the continuous performance test, the commission errors in math disorder students were significantly more than that in normal students(P<0/05). The omission errors in math disorder students were higher significantly too. In the Stroop test his distinction in terms of indicators, namely the time difference and time difference of colors, was significant between the two groups. In addition, the time for naming colors in students with mathematical learning disorder was longer. This study revealed that students with mathematical learning disorder have deficits in executive functions when compared with normal students.