Wilde's dot-row phenomenon as a special case of aniseikonia

Summary In this investigation on Wilde's dot-row phenomenon vertical lines were used instead of dots. If was found that within the conditions of these experiments the apparent rotation of the patterns increased with increasing difference between the width of the monocular patterns (magnification between 5% and 10%), and decreased with increasing distance between the lines of the patterns. This distance varied from 4 arcmin to 10 arcmin. The apparent rotation of the patterns could be expressed by the regression equation R=a–b₁+b₂M, in which is the distance between the lines of the patterns and M is the percentage of magnification of one of the patterns in relation to the other one. From this regression equation the apparent rotation in aniseikonic random-dot patterns could be predicted. It was concluded that Wilde's phenomenon can be considered as an aniseikonic depth effect inhibited by the equal distance between the lines of the pattern.     

Qualitative probabilistic inference under varied entropy levels

In previous work, we studied four well known systems of qualitative probabilistic inference, and presented data from computer simulations in an attempt to illustrate the performance of the systems. These simulations evaluated the four systems in terms of their tendency to license inference to accurate and informative conclusions, given incomplete information about a randomly selected probability distribution. In our earlier work, the procedure used in generating the unknown probability distribution (representing the true stochastic state of the world) tended to yield probability distributions with moderately high entropy levels. In the present article, we present data charting the performance of the four systems when reasoning in environments of various entropy levels. The results illustrate variations in the performance of the respective reasoning systems that derive from the entropy of the environment, and allow for a more inclusive assessment of the reliability and robustness of the four systems.     

Perceptual-cognitive control as a special case in equivalent multisensory-sensorimotor interactions

In his primary thesis on the purely perceptual-cognitive nature of movement control, F. Mechsner (2004) entirely neglects, or in fact negates, the influences of action on perception. In this commentary, the author follows the logical steps of Mechsner, illustrates what he conceives to be an error in Mechsner's reasoning, and synthesizes those arguments in favor of a hypothesis of a system of equivalent elements (senses and effectors) in interaction.     

Condensed detachment as a rule of inference

Condensed detachment is usually regarded as a notation, and defined by example. In this paper it is regarded as a rule of inference, and rigorously defined with the help of the Unification Theorem of J. A. Robinson. Historically, however, the invention of condensed detachment by C. A. Meredith preceded Robinson's studies of unification. It is argued that Meredith's ideas deserve recognition in the history of unification, and the possibility that Meredith was influenced, through ukasiewicz, by ideas of Tarski going back at least to 1939, and possibly to 1930 or earlier, is discussed. It is proved that a term is derivable by substitution and ordinary detachment from given axioms if and only if it is a substitution instance of a term which is derivable from these axioms by condensed detachment, and it is shown how this theorem enables the ideas of ukasiewicz and Tarski mentioned above to be formalized and extended. Finally, it is shown how condensed detachment may be subsumed within the resolution principle of J. A. Robinson, and several computer studies of particular Hilbert-type propositional calculi using programs based on condensed detachment or on resolution are briefly discussed.     

On the proper formulation of conditionalization

Synthese - Conditionalization is a norm that governs the rational reallocation of credence. I distinguish between factive and non-factive formulations of Conditionalization. Factive formulations...     

Behavior identification as a mediator of dispositional inference.

According to Trope's (1986) 2-stage model, the use of situational information ("A was teased") to identify behavior ("A reacted aggressively") may result in subsequent dispositional inferences ("A is an aggressive person") that seem insensitive to situational information. Two determinants of the situational biasing effect on behavior identification were varied, namely, behavior ambiguity and order of situational and behavioral information. It was found that when behavior was ambiguous and preceded by situational information, the latter affected behavior identification but not dispositional inference; in contrast, when behavior was unambiguous or when it was followed by situational information, the latter affected dispositional inference but not behavior identification. Thus, the same conditions that allowed situational information to bias behavior identification also nullified the effect of situational information on dispositional inference.     

Exemplar models as a mechanism for performing Bayesian inference

Probabilistic models have recently received much attention as accounts of human cognition. However, most research in which probabilistic models have been used has been focused on formulating the abstract problems behind cognitive tasks and their optimal solutions, rather than on mechanisms that could implement these solutions. Exemplar models are a successful class of psychological process models in which an inventory of stored examples is used to solve problems such as identification, categorization, and function learning. We show that exemplar models can be used to perform a sophisticated form of Monte Carlo approximation known as importance sampling and thus provide a way to perform approximate Bayesian inference. Simulations of Bayesian inference in speech perception, generalization along a single dimension, making predictions about everyday events, concept learning, and reconstruction from memory show that exemplar models can often account for human performance with only a few exemplars, for both simple and relatively complex prior distributions. These results suggest that exemplar models provide a possible mechanism for implementing at least some forms of Bayesian inference.     

Word learning as Bayesian inference

The authors present a Bayesian framework for understanding how adults and children learn the meanings of words. The theory explains how learners can generalize meaningfully from just one or a few positive examples of a novel word's referents, by making rational inductive inferences that integrate prior knowledge about plausible word meanings with the statistical structure of the observed examples. The theory addresses shortcomings of the two best known approaches to modeling word learning, based on deductive hypothesis elimination and associative learning. Three experiments with adults and children test the Bayesian account's predictions in the context of learning words for object categories at multiple levels of a taxonomic hierarchy. Results provide strong support for the Bayesian account over competing accounts, in terms of both quantitative model fits and the ability to explain important qualitative phenomena. Several extensions of the basic theory are discussed, illustrating the broader potential for Bayesian models of word learning.     

Logic programming as classical inference

We propose a denotational semantics for logic programming based on a classical notion of logical consequence which is apt to capture the main proposed semantics of logic programs. In other words, we show that any of those semantics can be viewed as a relation of the form $T{\models }^{\star }X$ where T is a theory which naturally represents the logic program under consideration together with a set of formulas playing the role of “hypotheses”, in a way which is dictated by that semantics, ${\models }^{\star }$ is a notion of logical consequence which is classical because negation, disjunction and existential quantification receive their classical meaning, and X represents what can be inferred from the logic program, or an intended interpretation of that logic program (such as an answer-set, its well-founded model, etc.). The logical setting we propose extends the language of classical modal logic as it deals with modal operators indexed by ordinals. We make use of two kinds of basic modal formulas: ${\square }_{\alpha }\phi$ which intuitively means that the logical program can generate φ by stage α of the generation process, and ${◇}_{\alpha }{\square }_{\beta }\phi$ with $\alpha >\beta$, which intuitively means that φ can be used as a hypothesis from stage β of the generation process onwards, possibly expecting to confirm φ by stage α (so expecting ${\square }_{\alpha }\phi$ to be generated). This allows us to capture Rondogiannis and Wadge's version of the well-founded semantics [27] where a member of the well-founded model is a closed atom which receives an ordinal truth value of ${\mathtt{true}}_{\alpha }$ or ${\mathtt{false}}_{\alpha }$ for some ordinal α: in our framework, this corresponds to having $T{\models }^{\star }{\square }_{\alpha }\phi$ or $T{\models }^{\star }{\square }_{\alpha }\neg \phi$, respectively, with T being the natural representation of the logic program under consideration and the right set of “hypotheses” as dictated by the well-founded semantics. The framework we present goes much beyond the proposed traditional semantics for logic programming, as it can for instance let us investigate under which conditions a set of hypotheses can be minimal, with each hypothesis being activated as late as possible and confirmed as soon as possible, setting the theoretical foundation to sophisticated ways of making local use of hypotheses in knowledge-based systems, while still being theoretically grounded in a classical notion of logical consequence.     

Transfer of recalibration from audition to touch: modality independence as a special case of anatomical independence

An important step in developing a theory of calibration is establishing what it is that participants become calibrated to as a result of feedback. Three experiments used a transfer of calibration paradigm to investigate this issue. In particular, these experiments investigated whether recalibration of perception of length transferred from audition to dynamic (i.e., kinesthetic) touch when objects were grasped at one end (Experiment 1), when objects were grasped at one end and when they were grasped at a different location (i.e., the middle) (Experiment 2), and when false (i.e., inflated) feedback was provided about object length (Experiment 3). In all three experiments, there was a transfer of recalibration of perception of length from audition to dynamic touch when feedback was provided on perception by audition. Such results suggest that calibration is not specific to a particular perceptual modality and are also consistent with previous research that perception of object length by audition and dynamic touch are each constrained by the object's mechanical properties.     

Sexuality as a treatment issue with a special population of adolescents

The handicapped adolescent population heretofore has not been properly identified or serviced. These adolescents have to deal with body image and sexual identity problems. Working with the adolescent individually, in groups, and in a therapeutic community setting, we have developed methods of dealing with the issue of sexuality.     

Individual therapy as a special form of complex psychotherapy]

A combination of several psychotherapeutic methods will be meaningfull only if they are tuned to, and supplement, each other. Indiscriminate combinations may produce harmful effects. The choice of psychotherapeutic methods depends upon the objective that the psychotherapist desires to accomplish. In psychotherapy it is essential that all actions taken be governed by plans worked out in accordance with the particular objectives to be accomplished.