Understanding religious behavior

The attached (to mother) fetus-infant finds his religious expression in Buddhism. The attached (to group) juvenile finds his religious expression in Judaism and other tribalisms. The attached (to spouse) adult finds his religious expression in agnosticism and secularism. Attached phases are placid and of progressively decreasing emotional intensity. The three detaching phases are hurtful and hence soteriological, and are also of progressively decreasing emotional intensity. The toddler-young child finds his religious expression in Christianity, the adolescent in atheism and/or Marxism, and the aged, sick or dying plucks at any religious or secular aid.He has written numerous papers on aspects of child care, medical history, interrelations between medicine and religion, and between Judaism and Christianity.     

Temporal dissociation between distractors and targets: the impact of residual distractor processing on target responses

The authors manipulated the extent of distractor interference with learned, mapped responses by presenting distractors to participants (N = 16) before, simultaneously with, or after the target. Interference was significantly less when the distractor preceded the target's presentation by 200 ms than when distractor and target were presented simultaneously. Interference decreased progressively with increasing intervals. For both simultaneous and temporally separated distractor-target presentations, incongruent distractors were associated with the greatest interference, and neutral and congruent distractors interfered to a lesser degree. Distractors at fixation had a crucially greater impact on goal-directed responses to the target than did distractors at periphery. The authors discuss the findings in the context of (a) the time course of the processing of all inputs, (b) the subsequent enhancement of target-related information and responses, and (c) the inhibition of distractor-related information and responses.     

Accommodation and stereoacuity

Stereoacuity and resolution acuity were measured (1)through apertures set at various distances from O and (2) through plus lenses producing an accommodative error for the target equal to that produced by the presence of the apertures. Stereoacuity was degraded by the apertures but not by the lenses, whereas resolution acuity was degraded by the lenses but not by the apertures. Although stereoacuity progressively declined with decreasing target distance, it did not change significantly if accommodation remained constant. The decline of stereoacmty in the water ts attributed to increased accommodation resulting from different sources and to a “Ganzfeld” effect of the typical underwater scene.     

Creating Computer-Mediated Communities of Practice in Special Education

Summary

The convergence of theory and research on socially shared cognition represents a promising new direction for understanding how to enhance the intellectual growth of individuals. In this article, we draw upon the metaphor of “apprenticeship” to explain how individual cognitive development of children and adults alike can be enhanced by mentoring relationships within a particular educational “culture.” The view advanced here is that computers and related technologies can be instrumental in creating socially interactive and reflective learning communities. Within these communities there is active transmission of knowledge between individuals as they are guided from the periphery through to the center of the learning enterprise. Examples of communities of learners are provided to illustrate the process of socially shared cognition and development of knowledge networks. Principles for the creation of sustainable learning communities apply equally to traditional educational settings and on-line communities. The concept of the “collective zone of proximal development” is advanced here to explain how cognitive growth progressively occurs for community members who are operating within a socially interactive and reflective learning environment. Finally, principles and recommendations are offered on how to design communities so that all individuals can achieve their optimal functioning level through guided social participation.     

Locating the neutral expression in the facial-emotion space

Woodworth and Schlosberg (1954) introduced a two-dimensional model of emotional expression perception. Since then, many refinements have been made based on a variety of different methodologies. These show robust findings as to the structure of facial-emotion space. One disputed finding, however, is the location of the neutral face within this space. Some evidence suggests it should be located at the centre of the space, whereas other evidence places it at the periphery as an emotion in its own right. The current experiment used objective similarity judgements on 25 emotions posed by the same individual. Multidimensional scaling was employed to find a perceptual facial-emotion space. This space confirmed the general arrangement of emotions in such a space and locates neutral faces at the periphery. It appears, therefore, that the neutral face is an emotion in itself and cannot be seen as an absence of emotion.     

An explanation of the indentation size effect in ceramics

Abstract

A quantitative model is proposed to explain the indentation size effect (ISE) often observed in the hardness response of hard brittle materials, namely that hardness is observed to increase with decreasing indentation size. The model is based on a mixed elastic/plastic materials deformation response whereby plastic deformation occurs in a discrete manner progressively to relieve stresses created by elastic flexure of the surface at the edges of the indentation. During unloading of the indenter, recovery of the elastic increment of deformation, which precedes each new band of plastic deformation, results in the indentation appearing smaller than expected, particularly as the indentation sizes decrease to approach the scale of the plastic deformation band spacing. The model fits observed experimental data well and analysis of hardness/size data in this way is shown to allow both a bulk hardness value and a characteristic deformation band scale to be calculated for a given sample.     

The USSR instead/inside of Europe: Soviet political geography in the 1930s–1950s

The article addresses the special conditions in Soviet society during the Stalin period that contributed to the emergence of latent ideas about the unique position of the USSR on the map of the world, of Europe in particular. The focus is on pedagogical methods, the theory and practice of cartography, literary and journalistic texts, cinematography, and pop music, all of which present an image of the USSR as the “center of world civilization” and thereby sustain its inculcation in public consciousness. An interesting and significant example is the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, launched on Stalin’s initiative and carried out under his patronage (1947). In this context, the logic and the rhetoric of encyclopedia articles on the physical and political geography of Europe must be analyzed as a kind of territorial “crowding out” (vytesnenie) of Europe to the periphery of the Soviet Union. “Crowding out,” not only by geographical but also by ideological illusions of space, which emphasize and reproduce fairy-tale and epic orientations of social self-knowledge, brings the illusory space clearly into view. These means motivate the cyclical movement from centre to periphery and from periphery to centre.     

We-ness,Embodied Simulation,and Psychoanalysis: Reply to Commentaries

Neuroscience is progressively revealing the intimate relationship between embodied simulation and the understanding of verbal communication, including its affective quality. The neuroscientific investigation of linguistic aspects of interpersonal relations and the functional mechanism of embodied simulation are discussed in relation to the understanding of therapeutic action in psychoanalysis.     

Responses to Optical Looming in the Retinal Center and Periphery

Stoffregen (1985, 1986) found that the periphery of the retina is insensitive to radially structured optic flow specifying postural sway. This raised the issue of whether the retinal periphery is sensitive to radially structured flow per se, that is, to radial flow specifying events other than postural sway. In the experiment discussed herein we addressed this question in the context of optical looming. Computer-generated optical displays were presented to the retinal center or periphery of standing participants, who were required to dodge out of the path of the depicted object at the last moment before impact. Depicted trajectories were slightly eccentric, requiring participants to employ a directional response. Results showed that the trajectory and time-to-contact of the simulated object strongly influenced responses for peripheral as well as central looms. In general, responses to peripheral looms closely matched those to central looms. These findings indicate that the periphery of the retina is sensitive to optically specified time-to-contact, despite the fact that such information is carried in radially structured flow patterns. We argue that impending collision and postural sway can be distin- guished on the basis of dynamics that are characteristic of each event.     

The complexity continuum in the radex and hierarchical models of intelligence

The hierarchical and radex models of ability organization are shown to be parallel. Both models suggest a complexity continuum along which cognitive performance tasks can be arrayed. In our revised radex model, the complexity continuum from the center to the periphery is shown to correspond to the general-to-specific dimension in factor analyses, or to test correlations with the general factor; complexity is redefined as apparent processing complexity. Examination of the theoretical and empirical bases for this continuum indicates its central importance for theories of intelligence.     

Form identification in peripheral vision

Outlined and solid-surfaced metric histoforms and polygons we;e employed in an identification task where choice forms were fixed at 0 deg and target forms at six points along the temporal horizontal meridian in the periphery (nasal retina). Accuracy in the identification of solid-surfaced polygons in the far periphery (80 deg from the fovea) was much higher than has been previously reported. Polygons were identified more quickly than histaforms, but a significant difference was not obtained between the speed of identification of outlined and solid shapes. Combined speed and error data indicated that shape (histoform or polygon) is the most salient dimension of a form less than 50 deg from the fovea. whereas beyond 50 deg from the fovea the surface (outlined or solid) of a form is its most salient dimension. Finally. comparisons of the functional relations provided by these performance data with anatomical and physiological data produced the following hypothesis: Spatial summation of rod receptors beyond 20 deg of angular eccentricity in the nasal retina is directly proportional to the density of rod receptors.     

Brightness and retinal locus: Effects of target size and spectral composition

Ss gave numerical estimates of brightness for stimuli presented to the foveal and peripheral retina. Experiment 1 showed that the periphery’s superior sensitivity to white light is relatively independent of target size. Experiment 2 showed that the periphery is more sensitive than the fovea to violet light, but is less sensitive than the fovea to red light. These results are explicable in terms of differences between rod and cone mediation of brightness.     

Effect of Gender and Life-Stage on Love Styles in the Indian Context

This study examined how love styles evolve over a period of time and if gender shapes the use of love styles. The sample comprised 120 people (60 males and 60 females): 20 couples in a dating relationship, 20 couples married for less than 2 years (childless) and 20 couples married for more than 15 years (with children). The sample consisted of Indian population and only those married couples were selected who had married out of ‘love’. Results indicated significant differences across life stages for Eros, decreasing progressively with life stages. No other love style differed significantly across life styles. Gender differences were found on Pragma and Mania, with females using both Pragma and Mania more than males, in line with the evolutionary perspective.     

Evidence Supporting the Importance of Peripheral Visual Information for the Directional Control of Aiming Movement

The focus of the present study was on determining whether the high level of directional accuracy found in aiming studies in which the subjects can see their hand in the visual periphery supports the existence of a kinetic visual channel or, rather, the advantage of binocular over monocular vision for movement directional control. The limits of this kinetic visual channel were also explored. The results of the 1st experiment indicated that seeing one's hand in the visual periphery is sufficient to ensure optimal directional aiming accuracy. Further, no differences in aiming accuracy were noted between monocular and binocular vision. These results supported the existence of a visual kinetic channel. In the 2nd experiment, whether this kinetic visual channel would operate with movements slower (55 degrees /s) than those usually used in studies that had proved its existence (over 110 degrees /s) was delineated. The results indicated that this visual kinetic channel was operative even at relatively slow movement velocities. Central vision of the hand seemed to be used for on-line directional control of relatively slow movements.     

PLAR in Nursing: Implications of Situated Learning, Communities of Practice and Consequential Transition Theories for Recognition

The under-utilization of recently arrived immigrants is almost an accepted fact in Canada. A persistent problem is the non-recognition of prior learning (e.g. competencies) of immigrant professionals. Based on findings of a research study, the purpose of this article is to examine possible reasons for the non-recognition of immigrant nurses' prior learning in the province of Ontario. The theoretical concepts of situated learning, communities of practice and consequential transition are explored for their relevance to the question, ‘why is recognition so difficult to achieve?’ These concepts coupled with an inductive thematic analysis of prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) candidates' perspectives on nursing, PLAR and their role as professionals are combined to identify possible explanations and their implications. Findings suggest that, in the absence of some form of assessment, transition and recognition process, individuals located outside the periphery of legitimate participation are powerless to negotiate the meaning of their knowledge and skills. Internationally educated nurses who bring competencies acquired in cultures and educational systems unfamiliar to Canadian authorities stand outside the periphery of the nursing community without a place or voice in the discourse. The findings also suggest that if labour force development and professional integration are public goals, the full engagement of the nursing community of practice (including internationally educated nurses and the regulatory body) is necessary for the development of a shared understanding of PLAR, its quality and its outcomes.     

Flow structure versus retinal location in the optical control of stance

In four experiments I examined the importance of the retinal center and periphery in the pickup of optical information for controlling stance as a function of the dynamic geometrical structure of the optical flow. All experiments were performed in a moving room so that the magnitude of compensatory sway in response to room movements could be measured. In Experiments 1 and 2 I found stronger sway response to flow having a largely lamellar structure that was presented to the retinal periphery than to more radially structured flow in the center. In Experiment 3 observers turned their heads to face the right wall of the room, placing radial flow in the periphery and lamellar flow in the center of the visual field. Radial flow presented to the retinal periphery induced no compensatory sway. Lamellar flow in the center of the retina produced some sway. Flow structure apparently interacts with the exposed retinal area in controlling stance.     

Mechanisms of short-term saccadic adaptation

A number of processes have been identified that adaptively modify oculomotor control components. The adaptive process studied here can be reliably produced over a short period of time by a visual stimulus that forces postsaccadic error. This short-term adaptive process, usually termed parametric adaptation, consists of a change in response amplitude that develops progressively over 50 to 100 training stimuli. The resulting compensation is proportional to, but substantially less than, the error induced by the training stimuli. Both increases and decreases in response amplitude can be evoked by an appropriately timed and directed movement of the stimulus target, which forces postsaccadic error. Results show that a single type of training stimulus can influence movements over a broad spatial region, provided these movements are in the same direction as the training stimulus. Experiments that map the range of modification suggest that the increasing adaptive modification operates by remapping final position, whereas the decreasing adaptive modification is achieved through an overall reduction of gain. Training stimuli that attempt to evoke both increases and decreases in the same region show a net modification equivalent to the algebraic addition of individual adaptive processes.     

Evidence Supporting the Importance of Peripheral Visual Information for the Directional Control of Aiming Movement

The focus of the present study was on determining whether the high level of directional accuracy found in aiming studies in which the subjects can see their hand in the visual periphery supports the existence of a kinetic visual channel or, rather, the advantage of binocular over monocular vision for movement directional control. The limits of this kinetic visual channel were also explored. The results of the 1st experiment indicated that seeing one's hand in the visual periphery is sufficient to ensure optimal directional aiming accuracy. Further, no differences in aiming accuracy were noted between monocular and binocular vision. These results supported the existence of a visual kinetic channel. In the 2nd experiment, whether this kinetic visual channel would operate with movements slower (55°/s) than those usually used in studies that had proved its existence (over 110°/s) was determined. The results indicated that this visual kinetic channel was operative even at relatively slow movement velocities. Central vision of the hand seemed to be used for on-line directional control of relatively slow movements.     

Adults with dyslexia demonstrate space-based and object-based covert attention deficits: shifting attention to the periphery and shifting attention between objects in the left visual field

Performance on a covert visual attention task is compared between a group of adults with developmental dyslexia (specifically phonological difficulties) and a group of age and IQ matched controls. The group with dyslexia were generally slower to detect validly-cued targets. Costs of shifting attention toward the periphery when the target was invalidly cued were significantly higher for the group with dyslexia, while costs associated with shifts toward the fovea tended to be lower. Higher costs were also shown by the group with dyslexia for up-down shifts of attention in the periphery. A visual field processing difference was found, in that the group with dyslexia showed higher costs associated with shifting attention between objects in they LVF. These findings indicate that these adults with dyslexia have difficulty in both the space-based and the object-based components of covert visual attention, and more specifically to stimuli located in the periphery.     

Nesting of Focal Within Peripheral Vision Promotes Interactions Across Nested Time Scales in Head Sway: Multifractal Evidence From Accelerometry During Manual and Walking-Based Fitts Tasks

Nesting is a major cornerstone in ecological theorizing about visual perception, through both nesting of surface layout in locomotory movements and nesting of visually available surfaces within each other, from focal to peripheral vision. This work sought to probe these nesting relationships by examining the effects of the visual periphery on the strength of interactions among nested time scales in head sway. That is, we tested whether spatial nesting of the focal within peripheral visual fields stimulated nonlinear interactions amid temporal nesting. We examined head sway during 2 variants of the Fitts task, one involving manual pointing by seated participants and another involving walking comfortably with upright standing posture. All participants completed both tasks but were randomly assigned to experience these tasks with or without the visual periphery available. Multifractal analysis of head sway revealed that visual availability of the periphery promoted nonlinear interactions across nested time scales, but this effect depended on how much head sway extended across a plane than more ballistically along a single axis of variability.