Linear theory, dimensional theory, and the face-inversion effect

We contrast 2 theories within whose context problems are conceptualized and data interpreted. By traditional linear theory, a dependent variable is the sum of main-effect and interaction terms. By dimensional theory, independent variables yield values on internal dimensions that in turn determine performance. We frame our arguments within an investigation of the face-inversion effect--the greater processing disadvantage of inverting faces compared with non-faces. We report data from 3 simulations and 3 experiments wherein faces or non-faces are studied upright or inverted in a recognition procedure. The simulations demonstrate that (a) critical conclusions depend on which theory is used to interpret data and (b) dimensional theory is the more flexible and consistent in identifying underlying psychological structures, because dimensional theory subsumes linear theory as a special case. The experiments demonstrate that by dimensional theory, there is no face-inversion effect for unfamiliar faces but a clear face-inversion effect for celebrity faces.     

Compatibilism,determinism, and the identity theory

Two issues are raised with regard to Ted Honderich's A Theory of Determinism. First, regarding the relation between a token identity theory of mental and physical events and Honderich's ‘psychoneural union theory’, it is suggested that a token identity theory would serve Honderich's purposes while securing a simpler ontology. Second, it is argued that there is a substantive philosophical issue dividing compatibilists and incompatibilists on the question of whether persons possess free will, contrary to Honderich's contention that the compatibilist and incompatibilist differ only in responsive attitude.     

Intrinsic feedback, interpolation, and the closed-loop theory

The amount of experience of a target location, or its surrounding locations, was manipulated to test Adams' (1971) prediction that the perceptual trace (stored perception of the correct response) is based on repeated sensations of the correct response. Sixteen learning trials, each followed by knowledge of results, on a linear-positioning task were permitted for all subjects. Each learning trial required movement to an adjustable physical stop. In learning condition without target experience, movements never terminated in a zone within which the target was interpolated. Other groups experienced movements terminating at the target point. The strength of the perceptual trace was inferred from the ability to move to the target during 20 test trials with the stop removed and without knowledge of the results. Slow movements could be made to a novel location equally as well as to a repeatedly practiced location.     

Detection theory,micromatching, and the constant-ratio rule

The conformance of detection theory and micromatching with the constant-ratio rule (CRR) was determined by calculations for sets of three stimuli and subsets of two stimuli. For an arbitrary selection of sets, the CRR would be expected to hold quite well if either detection theory or micromatching lay behind the responses. For specific stimulus configurations, however, detection theory and micromatching differ considerably from one another and from the CRR. These configurations are found particularly for the univariate distributions, and this corresponds to empirical findings that the CRR holds better for multidimensional than for unidimensional stimuli. It is shown how the differences between the three theories in the implied constancies of ratios can be used in diagnosis of the basis ofempirical confusion matrices.     

Decision theory,reinforcement learning,and the brain

Decision making is a core competence for animals and humans acting and surviving in environments they only partially comprehend, gaining rewards and punishments for their troubles. Decision-theoretic concepts permeate experiments and computational models in ethology, psychology, and neuroscience. Here, we review a well-known, coherent Bayesian approach to decision making, showing how it unifies issues in Markovian decision problems, signal detection psychophysics, sequential sampling, and optimal exploration and discuss paradigmatic psychological and neural examples of each problem. We discuss computational issues concerning what subjects know about their task and how ambitious they are in seeking optimal solutions; we address algorithmic topics concerning model-based and model-free methods for making choices; and we highlight key aspects of the neural implementation of decision making.     

Necessity, control, and the divine command theory

The simplest Divine Command Theory is one which identifies rightness with being commanded or willed by God. Two clear and appealing arguments for this theory turn on the idea that laws require a lawgiver, and the idea that God is sovereign or omnipotent. Critical examination of these arguments reveals some fundamental principles at odds with the Divine Command Theory, and yields some more penetrating versions of traditional objections to that theory. This paper is dedicated to the memory ofPhilip L. Quinn, in honor of his long and generous service to the profession of philosophy, the discipline of philosophy of religion, and for his kind and uncommonly helpful comments on this paper.     

Virtue theory,ideal observers,and the supererogatory

I argue that recent virtue theories (including those of Hursthouse, Slote, and Swanton) face important initial difficulties in accommodating the supererogatory. In particular, I consider several potential characterizations of the supererogatory modeled upon these familiar virtue theories (and their accounts of rightness) and argue that they fail to provide an adequate account of supererogation. In the second half of the paper I sketch an alternative virtue-based characterization of supererogation, one that is grounded in the attitudes of virtuous ideal observers, and that avoids the concerns raised in the first part of the paper.     

Descriptive axioms for common factor theory,image theory and component theory

Through an extension of work by Guttman, common factor theory, image theory, and component theory are derived from distinct minimum subsets of assumptions chosen out of a set of five possible assumptions. It is thence shown that the problem of indeterminacy of factor scores in the common factor model is precisely reflected in the problem of the non-orthogonality of anti-images. Indeed, image scores are determinate for the same reason that the usual estimates of factor scores are determinate, and image scores cannot be used as though they were factor scores for the same reason that factor score estimates cannot be used as though they were factor scores.     

Choice, similarity, and the context theory of classification

Medin and Schaffer's (1978) context theory of classification learning is interpreted in terms of Luce's (1963) choice theory and in terms of theoretical results obtained in multidimensional scaling theory. En route to this interpretation, quantitative relationships that may exist between identification and classification performance are investigated. It is suggested that the same basic choice processes may operate in the two paradigms but that the similarity parameters that determine performance change systematically according to the structure of the choice paradigm. In particular, when subjects are able to attend selectively to the component dimensions that compose the stimuli, the similarity parameters may tend toward what is optimal for maximizing performance.     

Reduction, integrated theory, and the study of religion

The philosophy of science helps us to sort out and evaluate conflicting claims about reduction. Some persons maintain that reductions can be useful in constructing theories in science. Others hold that, with certain possible exceptions, reductions are likely to prove unproductive as well as inelegant. Such disagreements sometimes turn on differences in the scale or scope of the reductions envisioned. A promising strategy is to subsume considerations of reduction into efforts to find compatibilities among the claims and theoretical constructs of different disciplines. The postulation of compatibilities, advanced under rubrics such as ‘unified theory’, ‘consilience’, and ‘integrated theory’, holds great promise for studies of religion undertaken with reference to the contemporary cognitive and evolutionary sciences. Numbers of such studies view religious phenomena as, in part, expressions of evolved capacities and propensities that are not themselves necessarily religious.     

Dissonance theory,self-perception and the bogus pipeline

Studied attitude change following counter-attitudinal advocacy where there was little incentive for subject compliance in an attempt to compare dissonance and self-perception theory predictions. The extent of attitude change was determined either by self-report or by having subjects predict their own true attitudes purportedly monitored by the experimenter using a ‘bogus pipeline’. Forty-eight male and female subjects, students from an introductory Psychology course, were invited to take part in a study of Current Campus Issues. They wrote a short statement that argued against an issue for which they had previously held a positive attitude. Results indicate that there was a significant attitude change in both conditions (p < .003). Attitude change under these circumstances is more successfully explained by the self-perception theory than dissonance theory.     

Values, counselling theory and the school counsellor

This paper begins with an examination of the values implicit in the four dominant counselling theories found in England and Wales — client-centred, psychoanalytic, behaviourist, and eclectic. It then presents the findings of a study which attempted to measure the extent of support given to each of these theories. A 16-item questionnaire was answered by 107 school counsellors; in addition, 42 counsellors were interviewed. The data showed that British counsellors strongly supported the Rogerian and eclectic positions, and rejected both the psychoanalytic and behaviourist views.