Logics of Informational Interactions

The pre-eminence of logical dynamics, over a static and purely propositional view of Logic, lies at the core of a new understanding of both formal epistemology and the logical foundations of quantum mechanics. Both areas appear at first sight to be based on purely static propositional formalisms, but in our view their fundamental operators are essentially dynamic in nature. Quantum logic can be best understood as the logic of physically-constrained informational interactions (in the form of measurements and entanglement) between subsystems of a global physical system. Similarly, (multi-agent) epistemic logic is the logic of socially-constrained informational interactions (in the form of direct observations, learning, various forms of communication and testimony) between “subsystems” of a social system. Dynamic Epistemic Logic (DEL) provides us with a unifying setting in which these informational interactions, coming from seemingly very different areas of research, can be fully compared and analyzed. The DEL formalism comes with a powerful set of tools that allows us to make the underlying dynamic/interactive mechanisms fully transparent.     

Understanding Family Interactions:

The purpose of this study was to examine the reactions by different family members to various social behaviors by a target child to determine what are the most probable consequences that child will experience. These analyses were based on the home observations of 47 nonclinical families with an identified target child between the ages of four and eight. The probabilities of several possible responses to the target child were computed as well as the conditional probability of those responses given different target child behaviors. Which responses were most likely to be emitted by family members in general and differences in the response patterns of parents and siblings are reported. IrnpIications of these analyses for understanding normative family interactions and for clinical intervention are discussed.     

Interactions among levels of processing

This article examines associations among representations of physical, name, and category information by determining effects of category repetition on and following physical, name, and category match trials. Subjects decided whether two letters were from the same half of the alphabet. Category repetition effects were evidenced by faster ~nd more accurate responses when letters from the same half of the alphabet were used on successive trials. Although physical matches showed no effect of category repetition, name and category matches did. Trials following physical matches were less affected by category repetition than were trials following name or category matches. The results suggested that these category repetition effects were mediated by interletter associations: Reaction time increased with the alphabetic distance between preceding and current letters. However, these distance effects held only for forward (A → B) and not backward (B → A) alphabetic sequences, suggesting that the alphabetic representation is ordinal and unidirectional.     

Understanding Advice in Supportive Interactions

Previous research on advice in supportive interactions has focused on the influence of facework, and has not systematically considered the effects of advice content. Further, this research has obtained quality evaluations of researcher‐constructed messages rather than assessing the outcomes of naturally occurring advice. The current study examines the relative influence of advice content characteristics (usefulness, feasibility, and absence of limitations), facework, and support‐seekers' receptiveness to advice on advice message quality evaluations and advice outcomes (facilitation of coping, sufficiency of support, and intention to implement the advice). Participants (N = 280) completed questionnaires reporting on a recent instance of receiving advice with regard to a personal problem. Results indicated that the predictor variables had diverse impacts on message evaluations and outcomes. Absence of limitations and support‐seeker receptiveness to advice had the most consistent influence across the dependent variables. Facework had a less consistent influence, but did have a major impact on facilitation of coping.     

Measured Gene-Environment Interactions in Psychopathology

ABSTRACT— There is much curiosity about interactions between genes and environmental risk factors for psychopathology, but this interest is accompanied by uncertainty. This article aims to address this uncertainty. First, we explain what is and is not meant by gene-environment interaction. Second, we discuss reasons why such interactions were thought to be rare in psychopathology, and argue instead that they ought to be common. Third, we summarize emerging evidence about gene-environment interactions in mental disorders. Fourth, we argue that research on gene-environment interactions should be hypothesis driven, and we put forward strategies to guide future studies. Fifth, we describe potential benefits of studying measured gene-environment interactions for basic neuroscience, gene hunting, intervention, and public understanding of genetics. We suggest that information about nurture might be harnessed to make new discoveries about the nature of psychopathology.     

Relational Anxiety in Interracial Interactions

ABSTRACT— Most of the research on intergroup anxiety has examined the impact of people's own anxiety on their own outcomes. In contrast, we show that in intergroup interactions, one's partner's anxiety is just as important as one's own anxiety (if not more important). Using a diary study among college roommates, we show that partners' anxiety predicts respondents' anxiety across time on a daily basis, as well as respondents' interest in living together again the next year. We discuss the importance of taking a relational approach to understanding intergroup interactions.     

Anxiogenic Patterns in Mother-Child Interactions

ABSTRACT

The current study examined psychosocial variables associated with the development of anxiety in children. While previous literature has established parental affectionless control as an important contributor to the development of anxiety in children, few have examined this construct within the dynamic context of parent-child interaction. In the current study, the affect and behavior of anxious mothers and their children (ages 6 to 12 years) were examined during two mildly stressful tasks, with a total of 64 mother-child dyads participating in the study. Analyses supported the hypothesis that maternal affectionless control mediates the relationship between child anxiety and child disengagement/withdrawal from difficult tasks. Results are discussed in terms of implications for psychosocial mechanisms of the familial transmission of anxiety.     

Parent-Child Interactions in Anxious Families

A considerable amount of research has examined factors associated with the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders in children. The familial nature of anxiety has been well-established, with genetic studies showing that approximately 30% of the variance is accounted for by genetic factors. Research into the family environment documents behavioral differences in interactions between non-anxious parent-child and anxious parent-child dyads, including less granting of autonomy, and parental withdrawal and disengagement. Recent theoretical work in the field of anxiety suggests that attachment models and coercive operant patterns could create a bi-directional coercive interaction pattern, similar to that seen in interactions of parents and aggressive children. The current study investigated parent and child behaviors coded from interaction tasks across four groups based on anxiety status: anxious parent/anxious child, non-anxious parent/anxious child, anxious parent/non-anxious child, and non-anxious parent/non-anxious child to empirically examine hypothesized interactive patterns. The study sample consisted of 158 parent-child (ages 3–12 years) dyads. Results support an interaction between parent and child anxiety on behavior within dyads. The current study provides an important step in identifying processes linked to familial anxiety.     

Sexual Interactions and Sexual Infidelity

The Journal of Ethics - This paper establishes what constitutes a sexual interaction between two or more people. It does this by first defining a sexual activity as one in which the agent intends...     

Cognitive-Emotional Interactions in the Brain

Abstract

Emotion and cognition are mediated by separate but interacting systems of the brain. The core of the emotional system is a network that evaluates (computes) the biological significance of stimuli, including stimuli from the external or internal environment or from within the brain (thoughts, images, memories). The computation of stimulus significance takes place prior to and independent of conscious awareness, with only the computational products reaching awareness, and only in some instances. The amygdala may be a focal structure in the affective network. By way of neural interactions between the amygdala and brain areas involved in cognition (particularly the neocortex and hippocampus), affect can influence cognition and cognition can influence affect. Emotional experiences, it is proposed, result when stimulus representations, affect representations, and self representations coincide in working memory.     

Interactions between area and numerosity

Summary The concept of filled area, i.e. the impressionistic ensemble of parts of a stimulus field occupied by dots, is used to account for various kinds of numerosity illusions due to perceptual interaction between a number of dots and their spatial arrangement. A measure of filled area is derived from a model for the perceptual clustering of dots on the basis of relative proximity. It is shown that the quantified concept of filled area successfully predicts illusion data from earlier studies. Subsequently, a two-alternatives forced-choice numerosity experiment is reported, the data of which gave further evidence of the predictive power of the filled-area hypothesis. Our approach is discussed with respect to spatial features of dot stimuli that might be in rivalry with the filled-area factor in numerosity-estimation tasks.     

Prenatal Representations of Family in Parents and Coparental Interactions as Predictors of Triadic Interactions During Infancy

In this study, we explored the predictive role of family interactions and family representations in mothers and fathers during pregnancy for postnatal mother–father–infant interactions during the first 2 years after birth. Families (N = 42) were seen at the fifth month of pregnancy and at 3 and 18 months after birth. During pregnancy, parents were asked to play with their baby at the first meeting by using a doll in accordance with the procedure of the prenatal Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP; A. Corboz‐Warnery & E. Fivaz‐Depeursinge, 2001; E. Fivaz‐Depeursinge, F. Frascarolo‐Moutinot, & A. Corboz‐Warnery, 2010). Family representations were assessed by administering the Family System Test (T. Gehring, 1998). Marital satisfaction and the history of the couple were assessed through self‐reported questionnaires. At 3 and 18 months, family interactions were assessed in the postnatal LTP. Infant temperament was assessed through parent reports. Results show that (a) prenatal interactions and child temperament are the most important predictors of family interactions and (b) paternal representations are predictive of family interactions at 3 months. These results show that observational assessment of “nascent” family interactions is possible during pregnancy, which would allow early screening of family maladjustment. The findings also highlight the necessity of taking into account paternal representations as a significant variable in the development of family interactions.     

中文阅读中副中央凹与中央凹相互影响的眼动实验

采用眼动轨迹记录法结合边界呈现的实验范式, 当注视点越过特定位置时, 预视字则变为另一目标字, 从而保证预视字只呈现在副中央凹区域。实验1自变量为预视字频率, 预视字与目标字均与当前句子具有语义连贯性。实验发现, 当预视字是低频时, 中央凹的首次注视时间和凝视时间更短。实验2在预视字与当前句子语义不连贯的情况下进一步探讨预视字的字频对中央凹加工的效应。实验发现, 预视字是高频时, 中央凹的首次注视时间和凝视时间更短。然而在以区域作为数据分析的单位时, 副中央凹-中央凹效应仅在首次注视时间上呈现显著。上述结果表明, 副中央凹的词汇属性会对中央凹的加工产生一定的影响, 但这种影响比较微弱, 该结果为阅读加工理论中的并行加工理论提供了一定的支持。     

人际互动中的被洞悉错觉

被洞悉错觉是人际互动中的一种认知偏差。文章回顾了被洞悉错觉在不同领域存在的证据;介绍了被洞悉错觉在旁观者冷漠、刑事审讯、社交障碍、自我泄露感和亲密关系中的相关应用;分析了锚定及其调节效应、知识之祸、自我关注和朴素实在论对被洞悉错觉的理论解释;讨论了以往研究在对象、方法及跨文化比较方面的不足。     

An Interbehavioral Investigation of Remembering Interactions

The Psychological Record - This study evaluated the influence of several factors on the development and evolution of remembering interactions from a thoroughly naturalistic, interbehavioral...     

Letter Interactions in Brief Visual Displays

Three experiments were conducted to examine the influence of non-target letters on target detection performance. It was hypothesised that letters which are similar would exert a stronger masking influence on each other than letters which have a low level of feature similarity. The results indicate, however, that every letter has the same inhibitory potential regardless of its similarity rating to other letters. The highly significant letter interactions which did occur in the study were interpreted as evidence for an additive, rather than a subtractive, influence by the non-targets. It is proposed that when a target has an ambiguous identity, due to an impoverished representation, it may be disambiguated by the addition of feature information from the immediate letter context. The effect of filling in the target representation with a feature value from a non-target letter will be to weight the final representation towards the target which has the value most similar to the one substituted. In a sense, then, non-targets which are similar to a target can actually enhance target detection scores.     

Interactions between Learning Sets in Monkeys

Relationships between stage of moral judgment and antecedent social experiences are presented for a non-Western sample of young adults. Cross sectional data are presented for two groups of Kenyan students: 52 University of Nairobi students; and 40 fourth form secondary school Ss. Critical variables are (a) family modernization, (b) attending ethnically pluralistic secondary schools, and (c) living independently away from home. The correlations between moral judgment stage and these three variables are controlled for, and compared to, correlations between stage of moral judgment and age, sex, race, and academic ability (as measured by standardized achievement tests or by grades). The evidence demonstrates associations between moral stage and all three critical variables, though in different ways for the two age levels of Ss.