UNIDIMENSIONAL SIMILARITY REVISITED

It is argued that the use of direct scaling methods to derive the perceptual magnitudes in the similarity function is inadvisable on two grounds. (1) Attention may shift from one way of rating to another and thereby affect the perceptual magnitude so that what is rated may depend on the method of rating. (2) Direct methods of scaling seldom give consistent data and present knowledge of the reason for this is limited. The preferred procedure then is to study solely the structure of the similarity matrices themselves. When this is done on four sets of published data it is found that the similarity mechanism of Eisler and Ekman gives a close fit.     

THE COMMUNITY VIEW REVISITED

Abstract: Joining a vast Wittgensteinian anti‐theoretical movement, John Canfield has argued that it is possible to read the claims that (1) “language is essentially communal” and (2) “it is conceptually possible that a Crusoe isolated from birth should speak or follow rules” in such a way that they are perfectly compatible, and, indeed, that Wittgenstein held them both at once. The key to doing this is to drain them of any theoretical content or implications that would put each claim at odds with the other. I argue here, first of all, that it is not possible to detheorize both (1) and (2) and still hope to say anything illuminating about the nature of language. In fact, Canfield himself does not succeed in detheorizing both (1) and (2) but ends up trivializing (1) and leaving (2) with quite a bit of theoretical content. I further argue, however, that this is getting the matter the wrong way around. Contra Canfield et al., it is only when we recognize this that we can appreciate how radical and innovative Wittgenstein's claims about language really are.     

READING SKILL AND SUPPRESSION REVISITED

Abstract— In a previous issue of Psychological Science, we (Gernsbacher, 1993) reported that less skilled readers are less able than more skilled readers to quickly suppress irrelevant information (e.g., the contextually inappropriate meaning of a homonym, such as the playing-card meaning of spade, in the sentence He dug with the spade, or the inappropriate form of a homophone, such as patience, in the sentence He had lots of patients). In the current research, we investigated a ramification of that finding. If less skilled readers are less able to suppress a contextually inappropriate meaning of a homonym, perhaps less skilled readers might be better than more skilled readers at comprehending puns. However, intuition and previous research suggest the contrary, as do the results of the research presented here. On a task that required accepting, rather than rejecting, a meaning of a homonym that was not implied by the sentence context, more skilled readers responded more rapidly than less skilled readers. In contrast, on a task that required accepting a meaning of a homonym that was implied by the sentence context, more and less skilled readers performed equally well. We conclude that more skilled readers are more able to rapidly accept inappropriate meanings of homonyms because they are more skilled at suppression (which in this case involves suppressing the appropriate meanings).     

TEILHARD'S REFLECTIONS ON EASTERN RELIGIONS REVISITED

Abstract. References to Eastern religions are found throughout Teilhard's work. Often considered to be mainly negative, these need to be critically reassessed within the wider context of Teilhard's experience and thought. Primarily interested in the renewal of Christianity (criticized more sharply than Eastern religions), he emphasized the living branches of religion and the need for a gradual convergence toward a religion of action in order to bring about a global transformation of life and thought. He spoke of the “road of the West” or a “new mysticism” which, however, cannot come into existence without the contribution of Eastern religions.     

THE PACE OF LIFE: REVISITED

Ambulation is one routine aspect of the pace of life. In Western societies at least, human ambulation varies in a linear fashion with the size of the local population. This relation can be described adequately by the formula, Velocity = 0.86 log Population + 0.05. Ergonomical, cognitive, social, and economic explanations for this result are examined, and hypotheses for further cross-cultural investigation of urban-rural differences in pace of life are proposed.     

EYEBLINK CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AND AWARENESS REVISITED

Abstract— Dual-task performance was assessed in 140 adults during eyeblink classical conditioning (EBCC) and one of several secondary tasks (timed-interval tapping, recognition memory choice reaction time, video viewing). Four groups received paired-EBCC stimulus presentation and three groups received explicitly unpaired EBCC stimuli. Although the subjects were not laid about the conditioning task, they acquired conditioned responses (CRs) as normal levels. Postsession interviews probed participants' awareness of EBCC stimulus contingencies and production of CRs. Reported awareness of paired-EBCC stimulus contingencies and CK production was not related to actual EBCC performance Twenty-seven percent of the participants receiving explicitly unpaired stimuli reported a stimulus contingency when none existed. The dissociation between awareness and performances provides additional support for the categorization of simple EBCC as a form of nondeclarative learning.