Dynamics of 1:2 Coordination: Sources of Symmetry Breaking

Three asymmetries in the dynamics of 1:2 interlimb coordination were examined: the asymmetry in uncoupled frequencies, the asymmetry in coupled frequencies, and the left-right functional asymmetry of the body. In a bimanual 1:2 task, participants (N = 8) oscillated hand-held pendulums whose uncoupled frequencies were adjusted so that the first kind of asymmetry could be manipulated. For any given pendulum pair, the pendulum assuming the faster motion in the 1:2 coordination was oscillated in the right and the left hands. By assigning combinations of uncoupled eigenfrequencies and coupled task-specified frequencies across hands, the authors studied the interaction of all 3 asymmetries. The results confirm the appropriateness of generalized relative phase as a collective variable for 1:2 coordination. Additionally, they suggest that the generalized form of the detuning parameter represents the first asymmetry and that the coupling function expresses the second asymmetry. In 1:2 coordination, the body's functional asymmetry plays a limited role.     

A Review of: Darwinian Politics: The Evolutionary Origin of Freedom

This article takes a critical look at identity politics and conflict in Jos, a setting once regarded as “the home of peace and tourism in Nigeria.” The study situates the conflict within the relationship between the “indigene-settler” syndrome and the state, with its ugly hydra-headed manifestations. It argues that the conflict with a coloration of ethnic/religious garb was orchestrated under the façade of politics. It is suggested that the commitment of good governance remains the surest means of nipping in the bud the crises in Jos. The findings have important implications for aggregate research on ethnic/religious conflicts in Nigeria.     

Correction to: Introduction: The Varieties of Enactivism

Topoi - The original article was published with incomplete acknowledgement. The complete acknowledgement section is given in this correction.     

Toward a Philosophy of Blockchain: A Symposium: Introduction

This article introduces the symposium “Toward a Philosophy of Blockchain,” which provides a philosophical contemplation of blockchain technology, the digital ledger software underlying cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, for the secure transfer of money, assets, and information via the Internet without needing a third‐party intermediary. The symposium offers philosophical scholarship on a new topic, blockchain technology, from a variety of perspectives. The philosophical themes discussed include mathematical models of reality, signification, and the sociopolitical institutions that structure human life and interaction. The symposium also investigates the metaphilosophical theme of how to create a philosophy of anything, specifically a new topic such as blockchain technology. Repeated themes are identified, in all areas of philosophical inquiry (ontology, epistemology, and axiology), and conceptual resources are elaborated to contribute to a philosophical understanding of blockchain technology. Thus, philosophy as a metaphilosophical approach is shown to be able to provide an understanding of the conceptual, theoretical, and foundational dimensions of novelty and emergence in the world, with a particular focus on blockchain technology.     

Imitation of Self-Stimulation:

Three autistic children participated in single subject, reversal designs to compare the impact of over correction and adult imitation on self-stimulation. In addition to continuous 10-second observations of frequency of self-stimulation during 10 minute sessions, experimenter and observer also rated the child's mood, attention to the experimenter and quality of attention paid. The order of interventions was randomized fro each subject with baseline preceding each intervention. Although each child's response pattern was unique, the data showed systematic changes in rates of self-stimulation across conditions for two of the children with mean levels of self-stimulation declining during the over correction procedure and increasing during imitation. There were parallel changes in mood and attention with all three children appearing “happiest” and most attentive when their self-stimulatory behavior was imitated by the adult. These results raise interesting possibilities for using adult imitation as a vehicle for establishing a reinforcing relationship with the autistic child.     

Dynamics of 1:2 Coordination: Generalizing Relative Phase to n:m Rhythms

Interlimb rhythmic movements can be modeled as coupled oscillators, with stable performance characterized by the relative phase between the limbs. In the present study, that modeling strategy, verified previously for 1:1 coordination, was generalized to 1:2 coordination with a view to n:m coordination. The generalized model predicted interactions between coordination (specifically, 1:1 vs. 1:2) and the frequency asymmetry between the limbs determining mean relative phase and its variability. The predicted interactions were evaluated with bimanual 1:2 and 1:1 rhythmic tasks in which participants (N = 8) oscillated hand-held pendulums whose uncoupled frequencies could be adjusted so that different interlimb asymmetries were produced. The authors needed new analytic procedures to verify stable 1:2 coordination and to resolve stochastic and deterministic sources of variability in the component oscillations. The major expectations from the generalized model were confirmed, and the implications of additional but unpredicted findings for the modeling of multifrequency behavior are discussed.     

Luke 2:2: Making Sense of the Date of Jesus' Birth

The suggestion made in this note is that in Luke 2:2 we shouldread ‘Quintilius’ instead of ‘Quirinius’.The evidence is primarily that of Tertullian, and the conclusionis that Luke 2:2 as emended confirms that the evangelist orhis source held that Jesus was born not in AD 6, but in 7 or6 BC, in line with other evidence in Luke himself and in Matthew.Further textual suggestions as to how we could make sense ofthe census are appended.     

Introduction: Levinas and Education: The Question of Implication

Studies in Philosophy and Education -     

The Intersubjective Turn in Psychoanalysis: A Comparison of Contemporary Theorists: Part 1: Jessica Benjamin

This paper on Benjamin is part 1 of a series presenting the wor of three contemporary theorists whose ideas are associated with the intersubjective turn in psychoanalysis. Part 2, on Bollas, and part 3, on Ehrenberg, will appear in subsequent issues of Psychoanalytic Dialogues. Although we have made a minimal attempt to critically review the different theories, we have allowed ourselves the fiction of trying to produce a representational text in which the different arguments of the different theorists are presented, more or less, in their own terms. While this version of textual production on our part may be troubling, as it obscures as much as it reveals, insofar as our own position is never quite declared, our intent is to try to minimize our own mediating voice and focus on the different theorists in their own right by giving clinical examples to demonstrate their claims. The irony, even folly, of attempting to eliminate our own presence from this series on intersubjectivity is not lost on us—and neither is our plea for special circumstances. However, given the growing interest in the intersubjective turn, in order that it not be construed as privileging the emotional authenticity of the two-person exchange, we believe it is absolutely essential to understand the theorists' self-articulated arguments and to keep alive their differences rather than to assimilate the intersubjective perspective as a unified or hegemonic approach. It is in the spirit of keeping alive these differences—itself a crucial commitment of the intersubjective approach—that our somewhat exegetical text should be understood.     

心理学全球化的趋势

全球化心理学或心理学全球化是当代心理学的一个新取向。它产生的基本动力是当今世界全球化浪潮的出现,主流心理学的局限以及本土心理学的兴起,其基本目标是研究全体人类的心理和行为,力图建构起最具统合性的心理学。     

Part II: Applications of Process-Based Theories: Process and Emergence: Normative Function and Representation

Kim's argument appears to render causally efficacious emergence impossible: Hume's argument appears to render normative emergence impossible, and, in its general form, it precludes any emergence at all. I argue that both of these barriers can be overcome, and, in fact, that they each constitute reductions of their respective underlying presuppositions. In particular, causally efficacious ontological emergence can be modeled, but only within a process metaphysics, thus avoiding Kim's argument, and making use of non-abbreviatory forms of definition, thus avoiding Hume's argument. I illustrate these points with models of the emergent nature of normative function and of representation.     

A taxometric analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV): further evidence of dimensionality

A taxometric analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV; S. D. Hart, D. N. Cox, & R. D. Hare, 1995) was performed on a group of 2,250 male and female forensic/psychiatric patients and jail/prison inmates. The 4 PCL:SV facet scores (Interpersonal, Affective, Impulsive Lifestyle, Antisocial Behavior) served as indicators in this study, and the data were analyzed with 3 principal taxometric procedures--mean above minus below a cut, maximum eigenvalue, and latent mode factor analysis. The results show evidence of dimensional structure on the PCL:SV in the full sample as well as in all 8 subsamples (men, women, Whites, Blacks, hospital patients, jail/prison inmates, file review with an interview, file review without an interview). These findings corroborate recent taxometric research on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (R. D. Hare, 1991, 2003) in which results have been largely dimensional in nature. It is concluded that scores on the PCL:SV differ quantitatively as points on a dimension (high vs. low psychopathy) rather than partitioning into qualitatively distinct categories of behavior (psychopath vs. nonpsychopath).     

Dynamics of 1:2 Coordination: Temporal Scaling,Latent 1:1, and Bistability

The simplest interlimb multifrequency coordination of 1:2 can be performed at different speeds and in at least two different styles or modes. The effects of speed and mode (in-phase or antiphase) were evaluated in a bimanual 1:2 rhythmic task in which participants (N = 8) oscillated hand-held pendulums with identical or different uncoupled frequencies. A motion equation in relative phase that captures the asymmetries of components and task predicted the 1:2 coordination equilibria resulting from temporal scaling. According to the experimental results, both coordination modes proved to be equally stable. More detailed analyses of individual trials showed signs that the more fundamental 1:1 coordination intruded into the 1:2 coordination.     

Dynamics of 1:2 Coordination: Temporal Scaling, Latent 1:1, and Bistability

The simplest interlimb multifrequency coordination of 1:2 can be performed at different speeds and in at least two different styles or modes. The effects of speed and mode (in-phase or antiphase) were evaluated in a bimanual 1:2 rhythmic task in which participants (N = 8) oscillated hand-held pendulums with identical or different uncoupled frequencies. A motion equation in relative phase that captures the asymmetries of components and task predicted the 1:2 coordination equilibria resulting from temporal scaling. According to the experimental results, both coordination modes proved to be equally stable. More detailed analyses of individual trials showed signs that the more fundamental 1:1 coordination intruded into the 1:2 coordination.     

Letter to the Editor: Re: The Origins of Psychodrame

Sparked by the 100th Anniversary of Kurt Lewin's birth, this paper re-examines a classic 1939 study by Lewin, Lippitt, and White, of three leadership styles and the resulting different social climates, that is, autocratic, democratic, and laissez faire. A gradual extension of Lewinian field theory to include unconscious motivations in individual and in group behavior has served to broaden the already significant influence of this research on the behavioral sciences. Two recent developments moved me to write this communication: (1) The 100th Anniversary in 1990 of Kurt Lewin's birth (Maccoby, 1992); and (b) a broadening of Lewinian field theory to encompass unconscious motivations (White, 1992).     

Psychoanalytic Training: The Absence of Thirdness: A Review of Impossible Training: A Relational View of Psychoanalytic Education by Emanuel Berman

This paper suggests that the concept of “thirdness” has been essential in the evolution of our thinking about the complexity of the clinical process in psychoanalysis. However, the way psychoanalysis has been, and in most places continues to be, taught and organized remains mired in older, binary, and concrete dichotomies—as Emanuel Berman''s recent volume on the subject demonstrates—an “absence of thirdness” that seems to reinforce and enshrine the marginalization of psychoanalysis from the broad quest for the advancement of human knowledge in the western tradition. In the course of developing these ideas, the paper discusses other aspects of Berman's stimulating and, in some respects, controversial, work.     

Overview: Underserved Areas of Education in the Responsible Conduct of Research: Authorship

In February of 2007, the Responsible Conduct of Research Education Committee of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics convened a mini-conference at the Association’s annual meeting. The purpose of the mini-conference was to examine underserved areas of education in research ethics. The mini-conference consisted of panel discussions for two topics: authorship and social responsibility. Representatives from diverse academic disciplines were invited to participate in each of the two panels. This Special Section of Science and Engineering Ethics consists of the papers based on presentations in the authorship panel. The papers illustrate similarities and differences in authorship and publication practices in various disciplines including engineering, the life sciences, and the social sciences.     

The Tree of Knowledge: Good and Evil: Conflicting Interpretations

This article examines a debate concerning the exegesis of the story of the garden of Eden and the tree of knowledge, as told in Genesis. Two contradictory interpretations of the garden narrative are examined, the first as the story is elucidated by the psychoanalyst and social theorist Erich Fromm and the alternative interpretation by the Talmudic scholar and philosopher Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. This article compares and contrasts their exegeses and the respective implications of each view. The controversy, which has profound implications, reflects differences in world views concerning the good life, autonomy and relatedness, assertion and submission, will and surrender, obedience and rebellion, independence and interdependence, subjectivity and intersubjectivity. Links are drawn to a variety of contemporary psychoanalytic theories, developments, and controversies.     

Book Review: The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness

At a time of transformation, a threshold of a new civilization based on fundamentally new principles, the wisdom of Kabbalah serves as a means to arrive at a new era of individual and collective consciousness. These will be discussed in relation to the way by which Kabbalah, as a method of internal change, can be disseminated, and the implications of its worldwide spreading. While work in Kabbalah is toward personal change, the significance of coming to know this wisdom is paramount to a vitally new social direction, achievement of a corrected civilization, and peaceful life in congruence with nature's laws.