This essay offers a rationale for deploying ecofeminist science fiction stories as object-oriented thought experiments in science and environmental education, with particular reference to developments in genetics and evolutionary biology, and their implications for human (and more-than-human) reproduction and kinship in the period following the…

The significance of illusion as a positive force in everyday life has been underestimated in both societal discourse and in empirical science. The objective of this study is to provide a synthesis of many academic disciplines' understanding of illusion and reality by proposing a taxonomy of functional and dysfunctional subjective realities as…

In this paper a multi-level theoretical and methodological framework for educational neuroscience is presented. The framework incorporates levels of explanation and methodologies both from education and brain sciences. The purpose is to initiate a discussion on the major goals of educational neuroscience as a field, discuss which approaches can…

Presents a short biography of one of the winners of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology (2012). Thomas L. Griffiths won the award for bringing mathematical precision to the deepest questions in human learning, reasoning, and concept formation. In his pioneering work,…

Science's inductive method required patient, humble and self-controlled behavior; Christian revelation demanded the same virtues. The discoveries of science and the truths of scripture would always harmonize as long as both men of science and men of faith conducted themselves in scrupulous accordance with their duty. So ran a central argument in…

Presents a short biography of one of the winners of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology. The 2012 winner is Laurie R. Santos for creative and insightful investigations of cognition across a broad range of species and psychological domains, illuminating cognitive…

We present a detailed framework for understanding the numerous and complicated interactions among psychological and social determinants of pain through examination of the process of pain communication. The focus is on an improved understanding of immediate dyadic transactions during painful events in the context of broader social phenomena.…

Cognitive load theory has been concerned primarily with techniques that will facilitate the acquisition by students of knowledge previously generated by others and deemed to be important by society. The initial generation of that knowledge, a creative process, has been largely ignored. The recent expansion of cognitive load theory's cognitive…

David C. Geary's thesis has the potential to alter our understanding of those aspects of human cognition relevant to instruction. His distinction between biologically primary knowledge that we have evolved to acquire and biologically secondary knowledge that is culturally important, taught in educational institutions and which we have not evolved…

Since language is a biological trait, it is necessary to investigate its evolution, development, and functions, along with the mechanisms that have been set aside, and are now recruited, for its acquisition and use. It is argued here that progress toward each of these goals can be facilitated by new programs of research, carried out within a new…

Evolutionary theories of morality, beginning with Darwin, have focused on explanations for altruism. More generally, these accounts have concentrated on conscience (self-regulatory mechanisms) to the neglect of condemnation (mechanisms for punishing others). As a result, few theoretical tools are available for understanding the rapidly…

Dr. David C. Geary's article centers on the concept of inherited folk psychology modules, together with the idea of a transition from primary to secondary learning. This article suggests that there exist only effective folk psychology modules, which are the result of interaction of inherited primary emotional systems with the physical, biological,…

The emergence of modern humans with their extraordinary cognitive capacities is ascribed to a novel type of cognitive computational process (sustained non-routine multi-level operations) required for abstract projectuality, held to be the common denominator of the cognitive capacities specific to modern humans. A brain operation (latching) that…

In this article we discuss the traditional behavioral models of depression and some of the challenges analyzing a phenomenon with such complex and varied features. We present the traditional model and suggest that it does not capture the complexity of the phenomenon, nor do syndromal models of depression that dominate the mainstream…

Selection theory requires multiple, distinct, simultaneously-actualized states. In cognition, each thought or cognitive state changes the "selection pressure" against which the next is evaluated; they are not simultaneously selected amongst. Creative thought is more a matter of honing in on a vague idea through redescribing successive iterations…