The pace at which new words are acquired is influenced by the degree of engagement with them on the part of the learner. Insights from Cognitive Linguistics into the non-arbitrary aspects of vocabulary can be turned into stimuli for such engagement. The majority of Cognitive Linguists‟ proposals for vocabulary teaching aim at helping learners appreciate the way a single word form can develop di...

Studies evaluating the impact of modifiable lifestyle factors on cognition offer potential insights into sources of cognitive aging variability. Recently, we reported an association between extent of musical instrumental practice throughout the life span (greater than 10 years) on preserved cognitive functioning in advanced age. These findings raise the question of whether there are training-in...

The introductory essay to this collection correctly observes that there are many "challenges for rapprochement" between anthropology and (the rest of) cognitive science. Still, the possibilities of fruitful interchanges provide some hope for the parties getting back together, at least on an intermittent basis. This response offers some views concerning the "incompatibility" of psychology and an...

Cognitive control is subjectively costly, suggesting that engagement is modulated in relationship to incentive state. Dopamine appears to play key roles. In particular, dopamine may mediate cognitive effort by two broad classes of functions: (1) modulating the functional parameters of working memory circuits subserving effortful cognition, and (2) mediating value-learning and decision-making ab...

The concept of school engagement has attracted increasing attention as representing a possible antidote to declining academic motivation and achievement. Engagement is presumed to be malleable, responsive to contextualfeatures, and amenable to environmental change. Researchers describe behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement and recommend studying engagement as a multifaceted construct....

The present study used multidimensional and person-centered approaches to identify subgroups of adolescents characterized by unique patterns of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement and examined whether adolescent developmental outcomes varied as a function of different combinations of engagement components. Data were collected on 1,025 youths (57% African American, 43% European Ameri...