Unit 6. Cognition

And I gave my heart to know wisdom,

and to know madness and folly:

I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

For in much wisdom is much grief:

and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Ecclesiastes 1:17-18

The Bible, King James Version

Lexis: Neurobiology / Physiology / Biochemistry / Molecular Biology / Anthropology / Bioengineering / Philosophy Listening. 2 texts. 2 lectures.

Text a. Why our iq levels are higher than our grandparents?

Exercise 1. Before watching the lecture discuss the questions:

1. How can you explain that our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents’? Does it indicate that modern day humans possess much greater intellectual capacity than their immediate ancestors?

2. How and when did humans evolve such cognitive abilities? Are we still evolving?

3. Are there any ways to increase a person’s cognitive capacity?

Alexander Romanovich Luria (Russian: Алекса́ндр Рома́нович Лу́рия; 1902  – 1977) was a Soviet neuropsychologist and developmental psychologist. He was one of the founders of Cultural-Historical Psychology, and a leader of the Vygotsky Circle, also known as "Vygotsky-Luria Circle". Luria's magnum opus is Higher Cortical Functions in Man (1962), a psychological textbook which has been translated into multiple languages and which he supplemented with The Working Brain in the 1970s.

Exercise 2. Watch the talk given by James Flynn: Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents’ (Video 8, listening for detail) to check your answers in Exercise 1. How does philosopher James Flynn explain the so-called “Flynn effect”?

musket – ударно-капсюльное ружье repeating rifle – многозарядная винтовка machine gun – пулемет to deduce – делать вывод, выводить, заключать to peck – клевать, долбить клювом racially biased – имеющий расовые предрассудки collateral damage – сопутствующий урон, случайно пострадавшие (обычно: гражданские в ходе военных действий mores – моральные нормы, устои, традиции

Exercise 3. In what context does the speaker use the following words and phrases:

mental retardation bullet in the bullseye scientific age tertiary education rural-controlled legislature general practitioner

moral debate collateral damage St. Augustine semicircle humane moral principles ahistorical to end on a pessimistic note

Exercise 4. Using information from the text answer the questions:

1. What experiments of Alexander Luria are described in the text? What did they reveal?

2. How has education changed since the pre-scientific age?

3. What is the contribution of education to the transformation of cognitive capacity?

4. In what ways are modern professionals different from their colleagues of a century ago?

5. What is the role of hypotheticals and universals in how we see and interpret the world? What examples and arguments does the lecturer provide?

6. What is the role of analogy?

7. What positive and negative conclusions does the lecturer draw from the advance of human cognition?

8. In what ways are people of today different from earlier generations? List all differences.

9. How does the speaker explain the differences? List all factors.