From Kanizsa Back to Benussi: Varieties of Intentional Reference

The essay analyses the mereological structure of an act of intentional presentation, on the basis of Benussi' and Kanizsa's works. Several aspects are discussed, among which: The existence of diverse formats of representation, their eventual continuity, the presence of subjective integrations at primary levels, and the identification of phrases in the phenomenic structure of an act of presentation. It is argued that the difference between perceptual and mental presence, as elaborated by Kanizsa, proves to be a valid instrument for the categorial analysis of phenomenic appearances.     

When the past becomes history: effects of temporal order on explanations of trends

When people are asked to ‘explain’ a time series consisting of population statistics, they will suggest factors responsible for later events rather than for earlier events. This is shown in Experiment 1 for pairs of events and in Experiment 2 for triads of events with one deviant member. When the deviant statistic is the most recent one, it will in most cases be singled out for explanation. When it comes first, it is rarely explained, but accepted as a given fact. This is seen as an instance of the temporal order effect, where the first event in a pair or a series is taken for granted, whereas later events are considered more ‘mutable’, i.e. they could have been different. In line with this, later statistics are considered to be more in need of support from additional information than earlier statistics (Experiment 3). The focus on temporally later events can be distinguished from other primacy and recency effects by being due to chronological order, rather than order of presentation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A preliminary study of medial temporal lobe function in youths with a history of caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect

Previous research findings have linked caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect with sensitivity to threatening cues. The present preliminary study investigated whether dysfunctions of the medial temporal lobe could underlie these associations. Using fMRI, we measured medial temporal lobe responses to emotional faces (angry, fearful, happy, neutral) among 30 youths. Eleven of the youths had a history of caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect. Attention states (i.e., attention to anger, fear, or physical attributes, or passive viewing) were systematically manipulated. Relative to comparison youths, youths with a history of caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect showed significantly greater left amygdala and left anterior hippocampus activation during the processing of threatening information. To our knowledge, these findings are the first to demonstrate altered medial temporal lobe function during the processing of threat cues in youths with a history of caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect.     

Prismatic displacement and the remembered location of targets

Following adaptation, only the trained limb misreaches to the remembered location of targets. This suggests a change in the feit position of the trained limb, but conflicts with recent reports, and with the hypothesis that when a limb changes, the remembered location of targets encountered only by that limb undergo some change too. It suggests that information is stored independently of the mode of acquisition.     

Dichotic temporal interactions: Fusion and temporal order

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - Several phenomena are associated with a monotonic increase in interaural temporal asymmetry (Δt) of equally intense auditory stimuli:...     

Hegel and the history of idealism

ABSTRACT

This article attempts to expose an unwarranted narrowness in the study of idealism in nineteenth century philosophy, and to show that the field of idealism is much wider than usually assumed. This narrowness stems from the influence of Hegel’s history of philosophy, which saw the idealist tradition as beginning in Kant, passing through Fichte and Schelling, and then culminating in his own system. This conception of history has been disseminated by Hegel’s followers and still prevails today. I argue that this conception is too narrow for several reasons. First, it ignores the romantic idealists (Hölderlin, Novalis, Schlegel); second, it excludes the opposing tradition of idealism of Herbart, Fries and Beneke, which affirmed (against Schelling and Hegel) transcendental idealism, an empiricist epistemology, the existence of the thing-in-itself and the value of the Kantian dualisms; and, third, it neglects the history of idealism after Hegel later in the nineteenth century, more specifically, the idealism of Trendelenburg, Lotze and Hartmann.