Cognitive Neuroscience Research, Intelligence, and Memories

Week 3 - Discussion

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Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Prior to beginning this discussion, please read the Frost and Lumia (2012) and the  Rhodes, Rodriguez, and Shah (2014) required articles as well as the following selections from your required text:

• “Attention in Cognition and Early Learning” (pp. 71-77)
• “Cognition and Emotion” (pp. 78-84) 
• “Memory” (pp. 85-91)
• “Intelligence” (pp. 92-98)
• “Concept learning” (pg. 99-103)

Review the information in The Critical Thinking Community (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. In your initial post, you will apply what you learned from each of the five articles from your text, but you will discuss the findings and implications for just one of these articles. The articles are assigned based on the first letter of your last name. Please see the list below to determine which of the articles you will focus on for your initial post. Last name begins with:

• A through E: “Intelligence”

Explain the empirical findings presented in your assigned article, applying appropriate citations and references. Describe, in your own words, how the research relates to your own experiences as well as how this area of neuroscience may have affected your past or current beliefs about knowledge development. Do the research findings refute or support your current beliefs, and in what ways? Are there variables about knowledge development for which you were unaware based on your article?

Based on the information presented in the five articles from the text, how prevalent are false autobiographical memories in your own life? In your own words, describe how emotion and episodic memory development affect these memories. Apply the basic research findings from the “Intelligence” article (Sternberg, 2010) that intelligence is highly inheritable and fixed to your own experiences and compare them with the suggestions you drew from the findings of your assigned article. Apply skeptical inquiry to the potential problems that might arise from the premise of fixed intelligence. Provide a rationale for whether or not this premise is valid and/or appropriate based on the findings reported by the assigned articles: “Attention in Cognition and Early Learning,” “Cognition and Emotion,” “Memory,” “Intelligence,” and “Concept Learning.” It is recommended that you research articles in the Ashford University Library to support your assertions should the required articles not provide sufficient information.

Guided Response: Review several of your colleague’s posts and respond to at least two of your peers who were assigned a different article than you were by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required replies early each week to stimulate more meaningful and interactive discourse in your discussions. Are the rationales provided by your peers well supported? Do your peers’ explanations provide a complete and elaborate understanding of findings and implications of their article’s research findings to the field of learning and cognition? What clarifications would you recommend? Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (MST) on Day 7 of the week and respond to anyone who replies to your initial post. Be sure to also respond to your instructor’s comments to you in this forum by Day 7. Peer responses may vary in length but should be detailed and thought-provoking. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses