When relearning words, patients with semantic dementia (SD) exhibit a characteristic rigidity, including a failure to generalise names to untrained exemplars of trained concepts. This has been attributed to an over-reliance on the medial temporal region which captures information in sparse, non-overlapping and therefore rigid representations. The…

Frontal oscillatory dynamics in the theta (4-8 Hz) and beta (20-30 Hz) frequency bands have been implicated in cognitive control processes. Here we investigated the changes in coordinated activity within and between frontal brain areas during feedback-based response learning. In a time estimation task, participants learned to press a button after…

There is no hypothesis to explain how direct and indirect basal ganglia (BG) pathways interact to reach a balance during the learning of motor procedures. Both pathways converge in the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) carrying the result of striatal processing. Unfortunately, the mechanisms that regulate synaptic plasticity in striatonigral…

In this study, we examined the relationship between trait-like communication apprehension (CA) and resting alpha range asymmetry in the anterior cortex (AC). Although theory and research in cognitive neuroscience suggest that asymmetry in the AC constitutes a relatively stable, inborn, substrate of emotion, some studies indicate that asymmetry can…

The 2011 elections are complete and Amy Smith has been elected to lead NASP in 2012. Amy has a long history of serving her state and national professional organizations, most recently as NASP program manager for advocacy and before that as the Pennsylvania delegate and Northeast Region delegate representative. She served the Association of School…

This article examines the current state of the global fight against cancer and of noncommunicable disease in general, the progress to date against cancer, and postulates that there has never been a more challenging--nor more ideal--time to succeed in making significant headway against the disease worldwide. Based on progress made particularly in…

This article describes a strategy to support students' development of creative writing and construction of text in a sequential manner. The goal of the Suggest-Choose-Plan-Compose (SCPC) strategy is to improve students' ability to create a story by helping them clarify their thoughts as they generate and organize ideas and basic story elements.…

A "humanitarian market" for off-grid renewable energy technologies for displaced populations in remote areas has emerged. Within this market, there are multiple stakeholder agendas. End-user needs and sustainable development goals are currently not considered through the customer-enterprise relationship and the applied product and…

Annual "Profiles" reports are comprehensive digests of data on education management organizations. Analysis and interpretation of the data in this report are, for the most part, limited to describing general trends over time. The report is intended for a broad audience. Policymakers, educators, school district officials, and school board…

Was CONFINTEA VI, the sixth UNESCO international conference on adult education, which took place in Belem, Brazil, in December, a success or failure? Do such inter-governmental events make any difference to learning opportunities for adults, North or South? The answer to the first question depends on what one compares the event with. From the…

"The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies in Literacy" brings together state-of-the-art research on literacy learning among deaf and hard of hearing learners (DHH). With contributions from experts in the field, this volume covers topics such as the importance of language and cognition, phonological or orthographic awareness, morphosyntactic…

ACTA's 12th state higher education report examines questions of great urgency for the state of Mississippi: How should individual public universities choose their leadership? Are the public universities careful stewards of taxpayer dollars? Is free speech protected on Mississippi's college campuses? The report assesses institutions on measures of…

Why are so many non-tenure-track faculty being hired? The answer may at first seem so obvious as to make the question itself seem absurd. Most department chairs, deans, and tenured or tenure-track faculty members would likely point to budget shortfalls, last-minute increases in enrollments, and the inability to win approval for new tenure-track…

This article is an account of the actions and achievements, i.e. the "contribution", of the Ireland Province of the Vincentian Congregation, known officially as "the Congregation of the Mission", in respect of Catholic education in Ireland and England. The approach is, first, to outline the motives and intentions of the…

The election of Mayor Bill de Blasio in November 2013 was a historic moment for proponents of student-centered, equity-driven public education. During the campaign, de Blasio ran on an agenda of ending New York City's "Tale of Two Cities" and elevated a comprehensive vision for improving the city's more than 1,800 public schools as a…