Moray revisited: High-priority affective stimuli and visual search

Previous research offers conflicting suggestions about whether “high-priority” verbal stimuli such as an individual's own name or emotionally charged words automatically grab attention and/or can be detected without the usual capacity limitations. Nine experiments investigated this issue, using visual search through displays of words. In speeded search tasks, the subject's own name was detected more quickly than other targets, but in no case were search slopes flat enough to suggest parallel search or “pop-out”. Further, names were not found to be unusually potent distractors. Emotionally charged words were neither more readily detected as targets nor more potent as distractors than neutral words. Acomparison of observers' accuracy in searching briefly exposed simultaneous vs. successive displays provided further evidence that search for “high-priority” word targets is subject to the same severe capacity limitations as those that are found with search for neutral words.     

Probabilistic Subset Conjunction

The authors introduce subset conjunction as a classification rule by which an acceptable alternative must satisfy some minimum number of criteria. The rule subsumes conjunctive and disjunctive decision strategies as special cases. Subset conjunction can be represented in a binary-response model, for example, in a logistic regression, using only main effects or only interaction effects. This results in a confounding of the main and interaction effects when there is little or no response error. With greater response error, a logistic regression, even if it gives a good fit to data, can produce parameter estimates that do not reflect the underlying decision process. The authors propose a model in which the binary classification of alternatives into acceptable/unacceptable categories is based on a probabilistic implementation of a subset-conjunctive process. The satisfaction of decision criteria biases the odds toward one outcome or the other. The authors then describe a two-stage choice model in which a (possibly large) set of alternatives is first reduced using a subset-conjunctive rule, after which an alternative is selected from this reduced set of items. They describe methods for estimating the unobserved consideration probabilities from classification and choice data, and illustrate the use of the models for cancer diagnosis and consumer choice. They report the results of simulations investigating estimation accuracy, incidence of local optima, and model fit. The authors thank the Editor, the Associate Editor, and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions, and also thank Asim Ansari and Raghuram Iyengar for their helpful comments. They also thank Sawtooth Software, McKinsey and Company, and Intelliquest for providing the PC choice data, and the University of Wisconsin for making the breast-cancer data available at the machine learning archives.     

Conjunction errors and semantic transparency

Memory conjunction errors occur when aspects of two different events are falsely recognized or recalled as having occurred as parts of the same event. One theoretical account of conjunction errors is rooted in traditional dual-process models of recognition judgments, in which responses are based on an item’s familiarity or the retrieval of recollected details associated with the encoding of that item. We manipulated the familiarity of test probes by varying their semantic overlap with studied items, taking advantage of the inherent semantic transparency of compound words. Transparent compounds are those whose component parts (lexemes) are semantically related to the meaning of the entire word. In contrast, opaque compounds’ lexemes do not contribute directly to the meaning of the compound. We showed that the familiarity of semantically transparent assembly lures created from their lexemes (study dog and house, test on doghouse) is greater than the familiarity of opaque assembly lures (study back and draw, test on drawback). A response-signal experiment revealed no evidence for the use of a recall-to-reject process for either semantically transparent or opaque lures.     

Selfextensional Logics with a Conjunction

A logic is selfextensional if its interderivability (or mutual consequence) relation is a congruence relation on the algebra of formulas. In the paper we characterize the selfextensional logics with a conjunction as the logics that can be defined using the semilattice order induced by the interpretation of the conjunction in the algebras of their algebraic counterpart. Using the charactrization we provide simpler proofs of several results on selfextensional logics with a conjunction obtained in [13] using Gentzen systems. We also obtain some results on Fregean logics with conjunction.This paper is a version of the invited talk at the conference Trends in Logic III, dedicated to the memory of A. MOSTOWSKI, H. RASIOWA and C. RRAUSZER, and held in Warsaw and Ruciane-Nida from 23rd to 25th September 2005.     

Conjunction in the Language of Emotions

Abstract

Oatley and Johnson-Laird (1987) have proposed a cognitive theory of emotion. According to this theory, there are five basic emotions. A major prediction of the theory is that it should permit satisfactory definitions for all the emotion words in a language, and this was essayed for the English language by Johnson-Laird and Oatley (1989). The theory proposes that only one emotional state can be operative at a time, and therefore words referring to mixed emotions were defined by Johnson-Laird and Oatley as disjunctions of basic emotions. Two experiments are reported which com pared these disjunctive definitions with conjunctive definitions (i.e. definitions inconsistent with the theory). For a number of words, conjunctive definitions tended to be preferred. This tendency was increased when the disjunctions and conjunctions were made more explicit. This finding sug gests that Oatley and Johnson-Laird's theory should be modified so as to embrace the conjunction of emotion. That is, it should allow that two or more emotions can be exnerienced in parallel.     

A clash of bottom-up and top-down processes in visual search: the reversed letter effect revisited

It is harder to find the letter "N" among its mirror reversals than vice versa, an inconvenient finding for bottom-up saliency accounts based on primary visual cortex (V1) mechanisms. However, in line with this account, we found that in dense search arrays, gaze first landed on either target equally fast. Remarkably, after first landing, gaze often strayed away again and target report was delayed. This delay was longer for target "N" We suggest that the delay arose because bottom-up saliency clashed with top-down shape recognition. Thus, although gaze landed accurately and quickly to the distinctive feature in the target shape (the orientation of the diagonal bar in "N" or "И"), the identical zigzag shape of target and distractors was registered, leading to temporary confusion. In sparser search arrays with smaller set sizes, top-down target shape recognition occurs earlier and bottom-up saliency is weaker. The clash in this case causes search asymmetry even before target location at first gaze landing. Our findings rule out previous suggestions that search asymmetry stems from stronger preattentive salience for the reversed target and/or faster rejection of familiar distractors.     

Social Cognition and the So-Called Conjunction Fallacy

The so-called ‘conjunction effect’, in which participants incorrectly assert that an instance from the conjunction of two sets is more probable than an instance from one of the two conjoining sets alone, has been a source of debate as to whether it is a genuine fallacy of individual thinking or not. We argue that reasoning about individuals follows a different process than reasoning about sets. 35 participants took part in 3 tasks: a) one involving blocks of different sizes and colours designed to evoke set-based reasoning, b) one where a particular block was ‘individuated’ by stating that it represented a particular person, and c) the original Tversky and Kahneman (Psychological Review 90(4):293–315, 1983) ‘Linda’ problem. As predicted, set-based reasoning was significantly more prevalent for the blocks task than for the other two tasks. Participants’ reasons for their choices suggest that some individuals correctly use set-based logic in one task and a social reasoning process for the other tasks.     

Nurturing Spirituality: In Conjunction with Integral Education

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - Spirituality facilitates a deeper contemplation of reality, and it provides a better understanding of the self and the daily struggles of life....     

Reduction revisited

Abstract

This is a first tentative examination of the possibility of reinstating reduction as a valid candidate for presenting relations between mental and physical properties. Classical Nagelian reduction is undoubtedly contaminated in many ways, but here I investigate the possibility of adapting to problems concerning mental properties an alternative defmition for theory reduction in philosophy of science. The defmition I offer is formulated with the aid of non-monotonic logic, which I suspect might be a very interesting realm for testing notions concerning localized mental-physical reduction. The reason for this is that non-monotonic reasoning by defmition is about appeals made not only to explicit observations, but also to an implicit selection of background knowledge containing heuristic information. The flexibility of this defmition and the fact that it is not absolute, i.e. that the relation of reduction may be retracted or allowed to shift without fuss, add at least an interesting alternative factor to current materialist debates.     

Countertransference revisited

A female patient of mine recounts her week. I listen with interest, waiting for her to arrive at particular conclusions. She has suffered a great deal and still does, but prefers not to dwell on it. My interest turns into patience as she continues to talk but circumvents her discontent. She is adroit at avoidance, but easily offended when I point such things out. "I'd better wait" I think. I grow more aware that I must encourage her digressions. I feel frustrated. Getting further and further away, she skirts the issue with supple grace, then strays off into tangentiality. I forget her point and lose my focus, then get down on myself. The opportunity is soon gone. I glance at the clock as her monologue drones on into banality. I grow more uninterested and distant. There is a subtle irritation to her voice; a whiney indecisive ring begins to pervade my consciousness. I home in on her mouth with aversion, watching apprehensively as this disgusting hole flaps tirelessly but says nothing. It looks carnivorous, voracious. Now she is unattractive, something I have noticed before. I forget who my next patient is. I think about the meal I will prepare for my wife this evening, then glance at the time once more. Then I am struck: Why am I looking at the clock? So soon? The session has just begun. I catch myself. What is going on in me, between us? I am detached, but why? Is she too feeling unattuned, disconnected? I am failing my patient. What is her experience of me? I lamentingly confess that I do not feel I have been listening to her, and wonder what has gone wrong between us. I ask her if she has noticed. We talk about our feelings, our impact on one another, why we had lost our sense of connection, what it means to us. I instantly feel more involved, rejuvenated, and she continues, this time with me present. Her mouth is no longer odious, but sincere and articulate. She is attractive and tender; I suddenly feel empathy and warmth toward her. We are now very close. I am moved. Time flies, the session is soon over; we do not want it to end.     

Interference From Multi-dimensional Objects During Feature and Conjunction Discriminations

Feature discrimination performance within an attended object and interference from irrelevant, multi-dimensional objects (distractors) were examined in a two-choice, response compatibility paradigm. Results showed that the amount of interference by multi-dimensional distractors was dependent on three factors: (1) the discriminability of the incompatible, task-relevant distractor features; (2) the number of incompatible, task-relevant distractor features; and (3) whether the task-relevant, incompatible features matched the task goals. The most interesting finding was that additive priming effects were found for multiple, task-relevant features that matched the task goals, whether these features were present in the attended object or in the ignored object. Models that assume that each task-relevant feature primes its corresponding decision/response asynchronously and that this priming is combined to meet a decision/response criterion (at least when attended) can account for distractor interference during conjunction discriminations. Implications of these findings for feature integration models, template models, and a response selection model are discussed.     

佛教文献中的假设连词"若也"

本文运用社会语言学的方法,全面考察假设连词"若也"在佛典文献与藏外文献中的使用情况,发现"若也"是一个以佛教社团为背景的词汇成分,它产生于汉语,没有外来影响,主要在唐宋时期使用.     

Marburg revisited

Michael Pye (ed.), Marburg revisited, institutions and strategies in the study of religion, Marburg, diagonal-Verlag, 1989, DM45,00/$30.00