Electrophysiological evidence for the time-course of verifying text ideas

We examined how verb factivity influences the ability of readers to detect and resolve the mismatch of receiving false referents in relation to true referents in discourse contexts. Factive verbs (e.g., know), but not nonfactive verbs (believe), entail the truth of their complements. Recent research by Singer [Singer, M. (2006). Verification of text ideas during reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 54, 574-591] suggests that there are pragmatic costs associated with knowing something that is clearly false and only believing something that is clearly true. However, because Singer measured reading times for full sentences, it could not be determined whether these costs were initiated upon the appearance of the critical target word (i.e., the word that validated or invalidated previous text ideas) or at a later point in the sentences. In the present research we recorded event-related brain potentials while people read the same passages for comprehension and analyzed potentials evoked to the critical target words. Our results demonstrate that the brain distinguishes between true and false target words by at least 200ms after their onset, and that the pragmatic costs identified by Singer lead to interactions between verb factivity and truth in both early (P2) and later occurring brain components (late phase of N400 and late frontal positivity). In general, the results suggest readers had greater difficulty integrating false nouns than true nouns following factive than nonfactive verbs, and that detection of this mismatch also occurred earlier following factive verbs. Our results provide insight into the time-course of the processes that underlie the verification of text ideas, and extend neurocognitive research on anaphoric resolution.     

Stroop interference in naming and verifying spatial locations

Two experiments are reported that were designed to assess effects of semantic similarity on naming and verification of spatial locations. In Experiment I, the wordsabove, below, left, andright occurred as distractors when Ss named the location of the word relative to a dot, or the location of a dot relative to the word. In Experiment II. the same dot-word displays were used, but Ss reported whether or not the word correctly specified its own location relative to the dot or the location of the dot relative to itself. The naming task showed some within-dimension facilitation and interference effects, most notably when Ss named the location occupied by the distractor word. The verification tasks showed quite substantial retardation of “no” responses when the word and location represented different values on either the horizontal or the vertical dimension.     

On second-order family therapy

If family therapists remain aware of the indivisible and recursive nature of their interactions with families, and if they use this awareness to form a collaborative rather than a hierarchical therapeutic system, and at the same time minimize their attempts to change persons or family structures in strategic or predetermined ways, then they may be said to be practicing a "second-order" family therapy. This article analyzes the development of the second-order position on therapist power and influence, concluding that it is inconsistent and possibly disingenuous.     

The process of verifying affirmative and negative sentences against pictures

Experiments 1 and 2 investigated sentence context effects on picture encoding in a sentence-picture verification and a picture naming task, respectively. The results showed that a picture following a sentence was encoded faster when the two were congruent than when they were incongruent. Experiment 3 compared two conditions: Under one condition, true affirmatives, false affirmatives, true negatives, and false negatives were mixed in each block of presentation. Under the other condition, different sentence types were presented in different blocks. The results showed (l) that errors committed in verification were largely negation errors, but seldom falsification errors, and (2) that there was a decrease of falsification time, but a resistance to change in negation time from the mixed to the blocked presentation. These results were interpreted to mean that falsification time results from a longer time to encode the picture and to confirm or disconfirm the truth index value by the polarity of the sentence in false affirmatives and true negatives than in true affirmatives and false negatives, whereas negation time and negation errors result from a response-suppression operation.     

On becoming a family therapist: The first three years

The process of learning to conduct family therapy involves encountering and mastering specific issues which can be conceptualized as occurring in a hierarchy of stages. This article describes five stages in the development of a beginning family therapist: immobilization, collecting techniques, examination of self, in search of a theory, and maintaining energy.     

People consider reliability and cost when verifying their autobiographical memories

Because memories are not always accurate, people rely on a variety of strategies to verify whether the events that they remember really did occur. Several studies have examined which strategies people tend to use, but none to date has asked why people opt for certain strategies over others. Here we examined the extent to which people's beliefs about the reliability and the cost of different strategies would determine their strategy selection. Subjects described a childhood memory and then suggested strategies they might use to verify the accuracy of that memory. Next, they rated the reliability and cost of each strategy, and the likelihood that they might use it. Reliability and cost each predicted strategy selection, but a combination of the two ratings provided even greater predictive value. Cost was significantly more influential than reliability, which suggests that a tendency to seek and to value “cheap” information more than reliable information could underlie many real-world memory errors.     

Behavioural family therapy and the influence of a systems framework

A family approach using the techniques of behaviour modification, to a family presenting with problems of encopressis in a five-year-old boy, is described. The usefulness of taking a broader analysis of the context of the behaviours targeted for modification under the impact of systems theories is emphasized. A one-year follow-up after treatment demonstrated both symptomatic and family changes.     

微观、中观和宏观工程伦理问题——五谈工程伦理学

伦理学中存在着微观、中观和宏观三种不同"层次"或"尺度"的伦理问题.从微观、中观和宏观的相互联系、相互作用中认识和分析伦理问题有可能成为一种新的伦理学研究范式.伦理学研究者应该善于识别"三观"伦理问题,强化从"三观"互动中分析伦理问题的意识和能力.在工程伦理学中,工程共同体成员--工程师、投资者、管理者、工人、其他利益相关者--的"个体伦理"是微观伦理问题,有关企业、组织、制度、行业、项目等等的伦理问题是中观伦理问题,而宏观伦理则是指国家和全球尺度的伦理问题.微观、中观和宏观伦理问题既有性质、层次、范围上的区别,同时又相互渗透、相互纠缠、密切联系、相互作用.     

Toward a social ecology of the minister's family

The family life of the clergy has received scant attention in the published literature. Existing studies which may be relevant generally do not address the family directly from within an organized conceptual framework. This article proposes to set forth the broad outlines of an ecological systems model, in which the minister's family is to be understood as a social system embedded within a more complex web of interlocking socioemotional systems. The discussion will be organized according to Urie Bronfenbrenner's four levels of the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. In addition, the phenomenon of boundary ambiguity between the clergy family and the congregational family will be cited as an example of the utility of an ecosystem approach.