Out of Mind, Out of Sight: Unexpected Scene Elements Frequently Go Unnoticed Until Primed

The human visual system employs a sophisticated set of strategies for scanning the environment and directing attention to stimuli that can be expected given the context and a person’s past experience. Although these strategies enable us to navigate a very complex physical and social environment, they can also cause highly salient, but unexpected stimuli to go completely unnoticed. To examine the generality of this phenomenon, we conducted eight studies that included 15 different experimental conditions and 1,577 participants in all. These studies revealed that a large majority of participants do not report having seen a woman in the center of an urban scene who was photographed in midair as she was committing suicide. Despite seeing the scene repeatedly, 46 % of all participants failed to report seeing a central figure and only 4.8 % reported seeing a falling person. Frequency of noticing the suicidal woman was highest for participants who read a narrative priming story that increased the extent to which she was schematically congruent with the scene. In contrast to this robust effect of inattentional blindness, a majority of participants reported seeing other peripheral objects in the visual scene that were equally difficult to detect, yet more consistent with the scene. Follow-up qualitative analyses revealed that participants reported seeing many elements that were not actually present, but which could have been expected given the overall context of the scene. Together, these findings demonstrate the robustness of inattentional blindness and highlight the specificity with which different visual primes may increase noticing behavior.     

IX—On Being Bored Out of Your Mind

The contemporary philosophical debate over practical reasoning—over how one ought to figure out what to do—has been almost entirely focused on whether there is more to it than means-ends reasoning. But a prior and very difficult question has to do with why instrumental deliberation is so important an aspect of our cognitive life (regardless of whether there is anything else). I consider an answer broached by Harry Frankfurt, that having ends is the alternative to being literally bored out of one's mind, and adapt an argument from John Stuart Mill's political and psychological writings to show what more there is to not being bored than just having something to aim for.     

Out of Sight Is Not Out of Mind: Developmental Changes in Infants' Understanding of Visual Perception During the Second Year

Three experiments investigated 14-, 18-, and 24- month-old infants' understanding of visual perception. Infants viewed films in which a protagonist was either able to view the location of a hidden object (Visual Access condition) or was blindfolded when the object location was revealed (No Visual Access condition). When requested to find the object, the protagonist pointed either at the correct location or at the incorrect location. Across experiments, 18-month-olds looked longer at the unexpected action (e.g., person pointing at the incorrect location in the Visual Access condition). By 24 month of age, infants could infer the correct search behavior from gaze alone. These findings suggest that by the middle of the second year of life, infants understand the psychological relation between an observer and an object, even if the object is no longer visible.     

Religious Knowledge and Its Use in Psychiatry

Clinicians' knowledge of and sensitivity to religious issues have been questioned. The present study measures religious knowledge and willingness to utilize such knowledge in clinical practice. We administered a 41-item questionnaire testing religious knowledge and willingness to utilize such knowledge to 28 psychiatric clinicians. The mean religious knowledge score was 61% of the total possible score. In spite of low scores, only 33% of clinicians consistently refrained from initiating discussions of religious issues. Results support a low level of religious knowledge but do not support a contention that clinicians are insensitive to religious issues.     

Partly versus Completely Out of Your Mind: Effects of Incubation and Distraction on Resolving Fixation

Incubation has long been proposed as a mechanism in creative problem solving (Wallas, 1926). A new trial‐by‐trial method for observing incubation effects was used to compare the forgetting fixation hypothesis with the conscious work hypothesis. Two experiments examined the effects of incubation on initially unsolved Remote Associates Test (RAT) problems. Following exposure to misleading clues designed to induce initial fixation on RAT problems, versus no clues, participants were retested on problems either immediately after their first attempt (no‐incubation), or after a 40‐second incubation period. Resolution of initially unsolved RAT problems (fixated versus non‐fixated) was examined as a function of complete interruption (Experiment 1) or partial distraction (Experiment 2). An incubation effect, that is, better resolution of initially unsolved problems retested after a delay rather than retesting immediately, was seen only in Experiment 1, in which unsolved problems were completely removed from sight. Furthermore, an incubation effect was found only for initially fixated problems, and not for problems that were not accompanied by misleading clues. The results are consistent with the forgetting fixation hypothesis (Smith & Blankenship, 1989), which states that putting unsolved problems completely out of mind allows initial fixation to dissipate, and the results indicate that the opportunity for some conscious work during incubation periods may not be optimal for resolving fixation.     

Mind and Its Evolution: A Dual Coding Theoretical Approach

The Psychological Record -     

人=机器人论题的困境与出路——评勃克斯的逻辑机器哲学

计算机科学与信息技术的迅猛发展,必然引起哲学范式的转换,从而提出具有创新意义的研究纲领.逻辑机器哲学是传统哲学与现代计算机科学、信息技术的哲学思考相结合的产物.它通过人与计算机的类比,探讨用计算机模拟人类心智的可能性以及有关的哲学问题.从本质上看,勃克斯的逻辑机器哲学及其人=机器人论题建基于心智的计算观,而心智的计算观不断地受到了严重的质疑.人工生命的进化研究成果表明,心智的计算观的困境是可以摆脱的."人工意识"的计算机生成和进化系统的动力学研究,将为拯救和发展心智的计算观开辟了新的道路.     

寺庙也在卖"权"!

《北京青年报》2005年1月25日有则新闻,读了后让人如同喉咙扎了鱼刺一样,咽不下,吐不出,总感到有话要说,但很久也理不出一个头绪来。现将这则新闻主要内容摘引如下:“今年春节潭柘寺、戒台寺头炷香的进香权将首次实行拍卖。昨天,记者从潭柘戒台风景管理处获悉,拍卖将于本周六上午10时30分在潭柘嘉福饭店进行。”其负责人表示,“此次拍卖实行无底价拍卖方式,除潭柘寺、戒台寺2005年春节头炷香的进香权外,戒台寺古钟大年初一的‘首撞权’也将进行拍卖。头炷香的进香时间定于2月8日(除夕,引者注)晚12时……大年初一的头炷香和第一响钟声被认为…     

儿童心理理论对责任教育的启示

心理理论是指对自己和他人心理状态的认识,并由此对相应行为作出因果性的预测和解释。心理理论的发展不仅是儿童脱离自我中心、建立良好同伴关系的重要条件,而且还通过影响儿童的观点采择等心理机制影响儿童责任意识的形成与发展。这一理论对于当前的责任教育具有重要启示意义。     

生态危机的根源及其解决方法:马克思主义经济学的视角

经济学中的不同流派对生态危机问题进行了深入的研究,但该领域的主导范式坚持认为自然资源的合理定价和资源市场的完善能够解决环境恶化问题,并对马克思主义经济学的洞见保持沉默,否认环境问题和特定的生产方式存在必然的联系.马克思主义经济学在环境问题产生的根源分析和根本的解决方法的寻找方面具有独特的价值.对当代资本主义生产方式进行彻底的变革可能是真正解决造成环境恶化的个人理性与集体理性困境的关键.     

文化模式及其对心理与行为的影响

文化可分为集体主义文化和个体主义文化两种模式。集体主义文化培育出集体中心的人格倾向,个体主义文化培育出个体中心的人格倾向。这两种人格倾向具有不同的自我概念,并进而对认知、学习、情绪和动机等产生影响。由此得出的结论是：心理学的研究成果具有文化的局限性,没有所谓的“放之四海而皆准”的心理和行为定律。     

自闭症儿童的中心信息整合及其与心理理论的关系

研究用积木测验和镶嵌图形测验测量中心信息整合,用5个信念任务测量心理理论能力,比较了12名自闭症儿童和同等言语能力的28名正常儿童的表现,并分析了心理理论和中心信息整合的相关。结果表明:(1)中心信息整合的测量指标积木测验和镶嵌图形测验成绩保持中高度相关;(2)自闭症儿童中心信息整合显著弱于正常儿童;(3)心理理论和中心信息整合成绩相互独立。     

Psychiatry in the labyrinth: Deconstructing deviancy

Abstract

Deviancy is a key concept in psychiatry and other therapeutic disciplines, because it dramatizes the way in which they depend on the establishment of norms, in order to justify their theory and practice. The writings of Derrida as well as Goethe provide a different view: that “deviation” from a “norm” can be fundamentally important to the well‐being of the norm. Thus deviancy can be viewed not as something to be “corrected” but rather as a creative possibility to be encouraged and shaped in productive ways. As a case of “deviancy” we have selected the writings of John Perceval, whose Narrative provides a critique of the mental‐health establishment of his day, particularly the asylum, and offers an alternative to 19th‐century views of “lunacy.” We see his “schizophrenic” commentary on his “psychosis” and its treatment as analogous to the deconstructive, “schizophrenic” discourse of postmodernity which is similarly critical of the reigning, modernist psychiatric order.