In this dissertation, I explore what it means to different people, in different places throughout life's spectrum, to create a space to learn. This dissertation is a collection of work that I have written throughout my time at the CUNY Graduate Center. The chapters herein represent an arch of my learning over the past five years. The title,…

From Piaget to the present, traditional and dual-process theories have predicted improvement in reasoning from childhood to adulthood, and improvement has been observed. However, developmental reversals--that reasoning biases emerge with development--have also been observed in a growing list of paradigms. We explain how fuzzy-trace theory predicts…

Twin and family studies have shown that genetic factors play a role in the development of conduct disorder (CD). The purpose of this study was to identify genetic variants associated with CD using a family-based association study. We used 4,720 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the Illumina Panel and 11,120 SNPs from the Affymetrix 10K…

Mutations in presenilin 2 are rare causes of early onset familial Alzheimer's disease. Eighteen presenilin 2 mutations have been reported, although not all have been confirmed pathogenic. Much remains to be learned about the range of phenotypes associated with these mutations. We have analysed our unique collection of 146 affected cases in 11…

Suggests that doctors may one day be able to identify healthy people who will develop Alzheimer's disease. Discusses recent studies in which characteristics of a person's writing early in life appear to predict the disease, and brain scans can highlight changes that may precede dementia. (CCM)

Discusses the aging process related to physical changes of the human neural structure involved in learning, memory, and reasoning. Presents evidence that indicates such alterations do not necessarily signal the decline in cognitive function. Vignettes provide images of brain structures involved in learning, memory, and reasoning; hippocampal…