Low Down

  There is a confusing plethora of labels and style dimensions; there is a shortage of valid and reliable measurement instruments; there is a confusion in the underlying theory; and the practical implications put forward in the literature are scarce and rather mixed, and rarely helpful. So why talk about learning styles? The answer is that there is something genuinely appealing about the notion and what scholars are hoping is that the current confusion is merely due to our insufficient knowledge rather than the scientific inadequacy of the concept. The most well-known learning style construct, field dependence–independence . What is now needed is more evidence of educationally linked applications of such concepts. If such evidence is forthcoming, style concepts may become more central in SLA once again. As is the case with a number of ID variables that turn out to be problematic under close scrutiny, learning styles can initially be defined in a seemingly straightforward and intu...

Serial murder has become part of the public consciousness even though   most people are not really sure what it is, why it happens, and much less   how to investigate it. This ignorance is as much a part of the professional   circles as the lay public. Federal and local law-enforcement officers have a common interest in how to investigate serial murder cases, but no authority has perfected an answer to investigating these most troublesome   cases. When the acts of a serial murderer are discovered, these very law enforcement officers only share the vaguest of ideas on how to solve them. Few offenses involve a sole operator. Instead, they often consist of groups or teams of individuals that, to a greater or lesser extent, have to interact to make the offense possible and make it beneficial for the criminals. This is most obvious in what is known as “organized” crime. To understand how these crimes are possible, the implicit and formal organizational networks of whi...

  There are some of the baddest dudes you can imagine—they’d done some heinous things over the years, things that would make you cringe.   But their pasts weren’t the only things that separated them from the rest of us. When looked at a lot of brain scans over the years, and these had been different. The brains belonging to these killers shared a rare and alarming pattern of low brain function in certain parts of the frontal and temporal lobes—areas commonly associated with self-control and empathy. This makes sense for those with a history of inhuman violence, since the reduction of activity in these regions suggests a lack of a normal sense of moral reasoning and of the ability to inhibit their impulses. As part of the research that had been run - genetic tests and taken brain scans of several Alzheimer’s patients as well as several members who were serving as the normal control group.   But depending on who this person is, the second fifteen minutes can be drama...