Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested the hypothesis that cinematic structure sh... more Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested the hypothesis that cinematic structure shapes variation in social-cognitive brain activity. Using our film, we completed an exploratory analysis of how activations in the temporal-parietal junction (TPJ), and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) are shaped by variations in insert shots (e.g., shots showing objects that a character has looked at), and by character entrances and exits. We found that IPS and TPJ consistently responded to insert shots, and the correlation between TPJ and IPS responses significantly predicted the prevalence of belief inferences during the sequence. In addition, TPJ responded significantly to entrances and exits of characters. We also completed a qualitative analysis of moments during a sequence that induced relative peaks in TPJ and IPS responding. These analyses not only demonstrate that consistent brain responses can distinguish among meaningful variations in cinematic events but also that these analyses confirm and refine our understanding of the apparent specializations for visual attention and domain-specific event processing in parietal attention networks.
The Peabody College Professional Student Colloquium Series has been designed with several end goa... more The Peabody College Professional Student Colloquium Series has been designed with several end goals in mind: * to interact with our most well regarded faculty, regardless of the department in which each student is enrolled, * to develop professional and academic relationships with student colleagues from other departments across campus, * to develop an understanding of the breadth of Peabody's activities and the way in which multiple scholarly perspectives can inform a single issue, and * to model the "habits of mind" that are a hallmark of graduates of our professional programs. The 2009-2010 theme is the achievement gap. Bruce McCandliss discusses his work titled Brain Imaging Insights into Individual Learning Progress.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Jul 1, 2021
The development of enumeration skills over childhood is thought to reflect improvements in both s... more The development of enumeration skills over childhood is thought to reflect improvements in both subitizing (for small sets) and serial counting (for larger sets). However, investigations into the contribution of subitizing to advancing mathematics ability are limited by challenges in measuring subitizing capacity across developmental populations. Subitizing capacity in adults is traditionally assessed by calculating the bilinear inflection point for reaction times or accuracy across set sizes, but in children greater variability and dramatic improvements in counting ability introduce problems with this approach. This study demonstrates this limitation in a sample of elementary school children and proposes a novel probabilistic approach to measuring subitizing capacity. This metric captures well-established trends in the development of children's subitizing. Furthermore, the proposed metric predicts unique variance in symbolic arithmetic ability, corroborating previous research that suggests a foundational role for subitizing in the development of numerical cognition. Findings demonstrate the advantages of a probabilistic approach to determining subitizing capacity in young children and suggest that it may be practically and theoretically well-suited for investigating subitizing and its role in mathematics development.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested the hypothesis that cinematic structure sh... more Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested the hypothesis that cinematic structure shapes variation in social-cognitive brain activity. Using our film, we completed an exploratory analysis of how activations in the temporal-parietal junction (TPJ), and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) are shaped by variations in insert shots (e.g., shots showing objects that a character has looked at), and by character entrances and exits. We found that IPS and TPJ consistently responded to insert shots, and the correlation between TPJ and IPS responses significantly predicted the prevalence of belief inferences during the sequence. In addition, TPJ responded significantly to entrances and exits of characters. We also completed a qualitative analysis of moments during a sequence that induced relative peaks in TPJ and IPS responding. These analyses not only demonstrate that consistent brain responses can distinguish among meaningful variations in cinematic events but also that these analyses confirm and refine our understanding of the apparent specializations for visual attention and domain-specific event processing in parietal attention networks.
The Peabody College Professional Student Colloquium Series has been designed with several end goa... more The Peabody College Professional Student Colloquium Series has been designed with several end goals in mind: * to interact with our most well regarded faculty, regardless of the department in which each student is enrolled, * to develop professional and academic relationships with student colleagues from other departments across campus, * to develop an understanding of the breadth of Peabody's activities and the way in which multiple scholarly perspectives can inform a single issue, and * to model the "habits of mind" that are a hallmark of graduates of our professional programs. The 2009-2010 theme is the achievement gap. Bruce McCandliss discusses his work titled Brain Imaging Insights into Individual Learning Progress.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Jul 1, 2021
The development of enumeration skills over childhood is thought to reflect improvements in both s... more The development of enumeration skills over childhood is thought to reflect improvements in both subitizing (for small sets) and serial counting (for larger sets). However, investigations into the contribution of subitizing to advancing mathematics ability are limited by challenges in measuring subitizing capacity across developmental populations. Subitizing capacity in adults is traditionally assessed by calculating the bilinear inflection point for reaction times or accuracy across set sizes, but in children greater variability and dramatic improvements in counting ability introduce problems with this approach. This study demonstrates this limitation in a sample of elementary school children and proposes a novel probabilistic approach to measuring subitizing capacity. This metric captures well-established trends in the development of children's subitizing. Furthermore, the proposed metric predicts unique variance in symbolic arithmetic ability, corroborating previous research that suggests a foundational role for subitizing in the development of numerical cognition. Findings demonstrate the advantages of a probabilistic approach to determining subitizing capacity in young children and suggest that it may be practically and theoretically well-suited for investigating subitizing and its role in mathematics development.
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