An Essay on the Houston Conference Policy Statement: Static Yet Incomplete or a Work in Progress?

Ardila (Neuropsychol. Rev. 12: 3, 2002) criticizes the Policy Statement from the Houston Conference on Specialty Education and Training in Clinical Neuropsychology (Hannay et al., Arch. Clin. Neuropsychol. 13: 157–250, 1998) as possessing deficiencies in the training of clinical neuropsychologists in three fundamental knowledge areas: the history of the discipline, neuropsychological syndromes, and neuropsychological theory. These problems are seen here as a result of a more pervasive problem associated with the Houston Conference training model's emphasis on technical skill over science and the attempt to micromanage the training of the clinical neuropsychologist at the administrative level.     

On an Intuitionistic Modal Logic

In this paper we consider an intuitionistic variant of the modal logic S4 (which we call IS4). The novelty of this paper is that we place particular importance on the natural deduction formulation of IS4— our formulation has several important metatheoretic properties. In addition, we study models of IS4— not in the framework of Kirpke semantics, but in the more general framework of category theory. This allows not only a more abstract definition of a whole class of models but also a means of modelling proofs as well as provability.     

Car following from the driver’s perspective

In this commentary, it is argued that the car following models discussed in Brackstone, M., and McDonald, M. (Transportation Research – Part F (2000), pp. 181–196) ignore one or more of the following issues that characterize to observed driver behavior. These include: (i) car following is only one of many tasks that drivers perform simultaneously and receives therefore only intermittent attention and control (task scheduling/attention management), (ii) drivers are satisfied with a range of conditions that extend beyond the boundaries imposed by perceptual and control limitation (satisficing instead of optimal performance evaluation), and (iii) in each driving task drivers use a set of highly informative perceptual variables to guide decision making and control (perceptual rather than Newtonian input). To elucidate these issues, a general driver modeling framework is presented in which the car-following task is highlighted (Boer, E. R., & Hoedemaeker, M. (1998). In Proceedings of the XVIIth European Annual Conference on Human Decision making and Manual Control December 14–16. France: Valenciennes; Boer, E. R., Hildreth, E. C., & Goodrich, M. A. (1998). In Proceedings of the XVIIth European Annual Conference on Human Decision making and Manual Control December 14–16. France: Valenciennes).     

Logic-based XML data integration: a semi-materializing approach

We first describe the approach to XML data integration in the XPathLog/LoPiX project that uses a warehouse strategy. We show that the DOM model and the XML Query Data Model are not suitable for this task since the integrated database is not necessarily a tree, but a set of overlapping (original and integrated) trees. The problem is solved by using a node-labeled graph-based data model, called XTreeGraph, for the internal XML database that represents multiple, overlapping XML trees, or tree views.In the second part, we return to the standard XML data model—by still keeping the overlapping tree idea by “simulating” it: The data is internally represented by XML where the “overlayed” resulting tree is represented by XLink elements that refer to the original sources. By using a logical, transparent data model for XLinks as investigated in [May, in: 11th WWW Conference, 2002], all queries behave as stated against the XTreeGraph. The use of links for partial materialization also turns the approach from a warehouse approach into a mixed approach that combines the advantages of the warehouse approach and of the virtual approach. The approach is again illustrated by using XPathLog as data integration language.     

Children's knowledge of the earth: a new methodological and statistical approach

In the field of children’s knowledge of the earth, much debate has concerned the question of whether children’s naive knowledge—that is, their knowledge before they acquire the standard scientific theory—is coherent (i.e., theory-like) or fragmented. We conducted two studies with large samples (N = 328 and N = 381) using a new paper-and-pencil test, denoted the EARTH (EArth Representation Test for cHildren), to discriminate between these two alternatives. We performed latent class analyses on the responses to the EARTH to test mental models associated with these alternatives. The naive mental models, as formulated by Vosniadou and Brewer, were not supported by the results. The results indicated that children’s knowledge of the earth becomes more consistent as children grow older. These findings support the view that children’s naive knowledge is fragmented.     

The Pediatric Neuropsychologist Introduction to the Special Section

Abstract

The rapid expansion of clinical neuropsychology during the past decade has fostered increasing specialization in the practices of neuropsychologists. Recent surveys indicate that a small but significant number of neuropsychologists devote most of their professional activities to children and adolescents. The growing interest in pediatric and child-clinical neuropsychology is reflected most recently in the formation of the Pediatric Neuropsychology Interest Group (PNIG) in August 1995 and the subsequent establishment of an internet mailing list devoted to pediatric neuropsychology in October 1996. This new special section of Child Neuropsychology was created to foster increased communication and opinion exchange among the community of pediatric and child-clinical neuropsychologists regarding research, training, and clinical issues. In this inaugural section, we present a thoughtful discussion of training issues in pediatric neuropsychology. Future sections that are already planned will discuss the reporting of neuropsychological evaluations, and graduate and postdoctoral preparation for specializing in child neuropsychology. As Editors of the special section, we welcome and encourage additional contributions from readers regarding these or any other issues as they pertain to the growth and development of the profession of pediatric neuropsychology.     

The Automatic and Controlled Information-Processing Dissociation: Is It Still Relevant?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dual-process information-processing model of Schneider and Shiffrin (Schneider, W., and Shiffrin, R. M., Psychol. Rev. 84: 1–66, 1977; see also Shiffrin, R. M., and Schneider, W. Psychol. Rev. 84: 127–190, 1977) in light of the research data that have accumulated since the model was introduced more than 20 years ago. First, a brief introduction of the basic model of automatic and controlled information processing will be given. Second, some alternatives to the basic model that were developed over the last two decades will be reviewed. Third, data from neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience that have a bearing upon this framework will be considered. Finally, some comments on the current usefulness of the dual-process framework for neuropsychological research will be offered.     

The curiosity and exploration inventory-II: Development, factor structure, and psychometrics

Given curiosity’s fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being, we sought to refine the measurement of trait curiosity with an improved version of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI; [Kashdan, T. B., Rose, P., & Fincham, F. D. (2004). Curiosity and exploration: Facilitating positive subjective experiences and personal growth opportunities. Journal of Personality Assessment, 82, 291–305]). A preliminary pool of 36 items was administered to 311 undergraduate students, who also completed measures of emotion, emotion regulation, personality, and well-being. Factor analyses indicated a two-factor model—motivation to seek out knowledge and new experiences (Stretching; five items) and a willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life (Embracing; five items). In two additional samples (ns = 150 and 119), we cross-validated this factor structure and provided initial evidence for construct validity. This includes positive correlations with personal growth, openness to experience, autonomy, purpose in life, self-acceptance, psychological flexibility, positive affect, and positive social relations, among others. Applying item response theory (IRT) to these samples (n = 578), we showed that the items have good discrimination and a desirable breadth of difficulty. The item information functions and test information function were centered near zero, indicating that the scale assesses the mid-range of the latent curiosity trait most reliably. The findings thus far provide good evidence for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CEI-II.     

Are There Algorithms That Discover Causal Structure?

There have been many efforts to infer causation from association byusing statistical models. Algorithms for automating this processare a more recent innovation. In Humphreys and Freedman[(1996) British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47, 113–123] we showed that one such approach, by Spirtes et al., was fatally flawed. Here we put our arguments in a broader context and reply to Korb and Wallace [(1997) British Journal for thePhilosophy of Science 48, 543–553] and to Spirtes et al.[(1997) British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48, 555–568]. Their arguments leave our position unchanged: claims to have developed a rigorous engine for inferring causation from association are premature at best, the theorems have no implications for samples of any realistic size, and the examples used to illustrate the algorithms are indicative of failure rather than success. The gap between association and causation has yet to be bridged.     

Pretabular varieties of modal algebras

We study modal logics in the setting of varieties of modal algebras. Any variety of modal algebras generated by a finite algebra — such, a variety is called tabular — has only finitely many subvarieties, i.e. is of finite height. The converse does not hold in general. It is shown that the converse does hold in the lattice of varieties of K4-algebras. Hence the lower part of this lattice consists of tabular varieties only. We proceed to show that there is a continuum of pretabular varieties of K4-algebras — those are the non-tabular varieties all of whose proper subvarieties are tabular — in contrast with Maksimova's result that there are only five pretabular varieties of S4-algebras.     

Human and machine perception of biological motion

More than 30 years ago, Johansson was the first to show that humans are capable of recovering information about the identity and activity of animate creatures rapidly and reliably from very sparse visual inputs – the phenomenon of biological motion. He filmed human actors in a dark setting with just a few strategic points on the body marked by lights – so-called moving light displays (MLDs). Subjects viewing the MLDs reported a vivid impression of moving human forms, and were even able to tell the activity in which the perceived humans were engaged. Subsequently, the phenomenon has been widely studied and many attempts have been made to model and to understand it. Typical questions that arise are: How precisely is the sparse low-level information integrated over space and time to produce the global percept, and how important is world knowledge (e.g., about animal form, locomotion, gravity, etc.)? In an attempt to answer such questions, we have implemented a machine-perception model of biological motion. If the computational model can replicate human data then it might offer clues as to how humans achieve the task. In particular, if it can do so with no or minimal world knowledge then this knowledge cannot be essential to the perception of biological motion. To provide human data for training and against which to assess the model, an extensive psychophysical experiment was undertaken in which 93 subjects were shown 12 categories of MLDs (e.g., normal, walking backwards, inverted, random dots, etc.) and were asked to indicate the presence or absence of natural human motion. Machine perception models were then trained on normal sequences as positive data and random sequences as negative data. Two models were used: a k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) classifier as an exemplar of ‘lazy’ learning and a back-propagation neural network as an exemplar of ‘eager’ learning. We find that the k-NN classifier is better able to model the human data but it still fails to represent aspects of knowledge about body shape (especially how relative joint positions change under rotation) that appear to be important to human judgements.     

A simplification of a completeness proof of Guaspari and Solovay

The modal completeness proofs of Guaspari and Solovay (1979) for their systems R and R ^– are improved and the relationship between R and R ^– is clarified.     

Real knowledge

Philosophers have sought to characterize a type of knowledge — what I call real knowledge — which is significantly different from the ordinary concept of knowledge. The concept of knowledge as true, justified belief — what I call knowledge simpliciter — failed to depict the sought after real knowledge because the necessary and jointly sufficient conditions of knowledge simpliciter can be felicitously but accidentally fulfilled. Real knowledge is knowledge simpliciter plus a set of requirements which guarantee that the truth, belief and justification conditions are not accidentally conjoined. Two of those requirements have received considerable attention in recent literature by the defeasibility theorists and the causal theorists. I argue that a third requirement is needed to block the merely coincidental cosatisfaction of the belief and justification conditions and to capture our intuitions about the epistemic agent who possesses real knowledge. That condition ascribes a disposition to the real knower to believe all and only justified propositions in virtue of his/her belief that the propositions are justified. Two consequences of that requirement are discussed: (1) if S really knows that p, then S knows simpliciter that S knows simpliciter that p and (2) the iterative feature of real knowledge mentioned in (1) provides a basis for the rejection of a particularly pernicious form of scepticism.     

Hypothetico-Deductivism: Incomplete But Not Hopeless

Alleged counter-examples deployed in Park (2004) [Erkenntnis 60: 229–240] against the account of selective hypothetico-deductive confirmation offered in Gemes (1998) [Erkenntnis 49: 1–20] are shown to be ineffective. Furthermore, the reservations expressed in Gemes (1998) [ibid] and (1993) [Philosophy of Science 62: 477–487] about hypothetico-deductivism (H-D) are retracted and replaced with the conclusion that H-D is a viable account of confirmation that captures much of the practice of working scientists. However, because it cannot capture cases of inference to the best explanation and cases of the observational confirmation of statistical hypotheses, it is concluded that H-D cannot supply a complete theory of confirmation.     

The ADHD Response-Inhibition Deficit as Measured by the Stop Task: Replication with DSM–IV Combined Type, Extension, and Qualification

Although response inhibition has been proposed as a core element of child attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the literature is heavily reliant on studies using DSM–III–R diagnostic criteria, older methods of measuring response inhibition, samples of boys, and failing to control thoroughly for comorbid problems—both as diagnoses and as subclinical variation. The present study replicated a deficit in response inhibition in the ADHD combined type (DSM–IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994) using samples matched on age and sex. The study replicated an effect size of approximately d = .6 in boys with ADHD, and observed an even larger effect size for girls, although the Sex × Group interaction was nonsignificant. Children with ADHD also had problems with response output, shown by variable responding. Excluding comorbid conduct disorder, reading disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder, major depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder from the sample did not alter the results. Correlations indicated that response inhibition was associated with both attentional problems and reading level. Covarying for reading problems did not eliminate the ADHD group effect, but the association of response inhibition with reading clearly requires further examination. Overall, the study supported the role of response inhibition in the DSM–IV ADHD combined type, but with key qualifications as to degree of specificity in reference both to comorbid problems and other executive functions.     

Counterfactuals: Ambiguities,true premises,and knowledge

In this paper I explore the ambiguity that arises between two readings of the counterfactual construction, then–d and thel–p, analyzed in my bookA Theory of Counterfactuals. I then extend the analysis I offered there to counterfactuals with true antecedents, and offer a more precise formulation of the conception of temporal divergence points used in thel–p interpretation. Finally, I discuss some ramifications of these issues for counterfactual analyses of knowledge.     

Social and solipsistic observer training: Effects on agreement with a criterion

The need to train accurate, not necessarily agreeing, observers is discussed. Intraobserver consistency as an intermediate criterion in such training is proposed and contrasted with the more familiar criterion of interobserver agreement. Videotaped observations of social interactions between handicapped and nonhandicapped preschoolers provided the medium for examining the criterion agreement of four observers trained against each type of standard. Observers generally failed to show high levels of criterion agreement whether trained to a within- or to a between-observer agreement standard. The results varied somewhat with the frequency of behaviors, however. Correlations between interobserver agreement and intraobserver consistency were variable but somewhat higher when interobserver agreement was the training criterion than when intraobserver consistency was the criterion. Correlations between interobserver agreement and criterion agreement ranged from — .16 to .89 during interobserver agreement training. Correlations between intraobserver consistency and criterion agreement ranged from — .23 to .99 during intraobserver consistency training.     

The Hennessy–Milner equivalence for continuous time stochastic logic with mu-operator

A continuous stochastic logic with a μ-operator μCSL is defined, and an interpretation through stochastic relations is proposed. We investigate morphisms for models of μCSL, showing that the associated congruences can be used for an investigation of bisimilarity. The Hennessy–Milner equivalence for μCSL is discussed, and it is shown that models are equivalent iff they are bisimilar, using a general criterion for bisimilarity from the theory of stochastic relations.     

How Does Change Occur Within the Psychoanalytic Encounter?

On November 6, 2002, Dr. James Fosshage delivered the following talk at a Clinical Training Conference held at the Blanton-Peale Institute. The Clinical Training Conference at Blanton-Peale provides experiential and conceptual resources to support the therapist-in-training in the context of his/her professional identity. The training conference is attended by candidates of all phases of the Psychoanalytic Program, the Pastoral Psychotherapy Program, and the Marriage and Family Program, as well as faculty members, administrators, staff, and interns of the institute. The residents were asked to review three articles written by Dr. Fosshage in preparation for his presentation: Toward Reconceptualising Transference: Theoretical and Clinical Considerations, International Journal of Psycho-Analysis (1994) 75 (2): 265–280; Countertransference as the Analyst's Experience of the Analysand: Influence of Listening Perspectives, Psychoanalytic Psychology (1995) 12 (3): 375–391; and Listening/Experiencing Perspectives and the Quest for a Facilitating Responsiveness, Conversations in Self Psychology: Progress in Self Psychology, (1997) 13: 33–55.