Category Archives: Cognitive Styles

In my view, McGilchrist’s “Master” and “Emissary” modes are the mind’s equivalent of what bending and stretching are for the body. So we need to understand the ‘flexors’ and ‘extensors’ of brain operation.
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Why is the denial of brain lateralization so grim, piqued and emotional? The very idea that there are different modes, may be unsettling. The complacency that there is just one right way (and of course this is mine) may be threatened. Furthermore, the notion of two hemispheres suggests that the two modes are equitable.
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In a very inspiring paper, R. Williams, S. Gumtau and J. Mackness offer much insights about a wide spectrum of the cognitive development. It appears very clear and suggests how all the pieces fit together: From embodied cognition, synesthetic abilities, metaphors, to generalizations and abstractions.
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Anthropomorphic speak to communicate about what the computer “knows” or “thinks” can be perfectly ok. But there are problematic areas. One is deep machine learning, where such terms dangerously blur the border between reality and science fiction. Another one is McGilchrist’s “Master and Emissary” for the two brain hemispheres.
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Today’s OLDaily points to a paean of abstraction. I wonder if it is really useful to glorify the abstract in this radical, literal, narrow (well: abstract) sense, or if we are conflating it with other forms of generalizations or indirections, such as patterns or metaphors.
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In a new article on Learning Styles, the old black and white thinking is reiterated: Approaches are wrong because there is no evidence. But also critics with more differentiated views have their say, who advise teachers “to become aware of their own learning style”.
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While both bloggers and forum lovers on CCK08 value diverse, non-linear, “big picture” style conversations, there might be subtle differences in the type of conceptual connections that both camps feel most comfortable with. This differences affect the “closeness” or “nearness” of the concepts, ideas, and aspects under discussion, both “spatially” and temporally.
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Never before I have seen such a vivid visualization of the concept of “facts” as in the Flickr set “Free the Facts”. It employs some simplification but I think it is legitimate and credible.
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Stephen Kosslyn describes an approach of studying a “periodic table of the mind”. I like the chemical metaphor which prompted me to think about modern alchemy.
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Do “creative chaotics” prefer bulky email newsletters over frequent blog posts? There are very different attitudes towards daily habits and long, impressive, linear post collections.
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