Inference suppression and semantic memory retrieval: Every counterexample counts

Reasoning with conditionals involving causal content is known to be affected by retrieval of counterexamples from semantic memory. In this study we examined the characteristics of this search process in everyday conditional reasoning. In Experiment 1 we manipulated the number (zero to four) of explicitly presented counterexamples (alternative causes or disabling conditions) for causal conditionals. In Experiment 2, using a generation pretest, we measured the number of counterexamples participants could retrieve for a set of causal conditionals. One month after the pretest, participants were presented a reasoning task with the same conditionals. The experiments indicated that acceptance of modus ponens linearly decreased with every additionally retrieved disabler, whereas affirmation of the consequent acceptance linearly decreased as a function of the number of retrieved alternatives. Results for denial of the antecedent and modus tollens were less clear. The findings show that the search process does not necessarily stop after retrieval of a single counterexample and that every additional counterexample has an impact on the inference acceptance.     

Every moment counts: smooth transitions of object boundaries reflect constant updating in object-based attention

Detection of a target is faster when it is presented on an attended rather than an unattended object (i.e., object-based attention). Using the double-rectangle cuing paradigm (Egly, Driver, & Rafal, 1994), we previously showed that object-based attention operates on a dynamic representation: Object-based attentional guidance is affected by subsequent changes occurring to an attended object (Lin & Yeh, 2011). The present study provides further support for our dynamic-updating hypothesis, demonstrating that changes are indeed updated into the existing object representation. After a cue display, we introduced changes between the initial display (four hashes) and the final display (four squares with an occluder between them). We found object-based attention only with smooth transitions between the initial and final displays, not when transitions were in the reverse order (Exp. 1) or contained any single disruption of the smooth transition (Exp. 2). These results confirm our hypothesis that attention operates on a dynamic object representation that is constantly and continuously updated.     

Death on Every Weekend

This essay is a personal account of situations experienced by a medical technician in a large emergency room. It includes examples of stressful situations that daily confront medical personnel and the inability of medical institutions to aid them in understanding and coping with death and dying. Stemming from these stressful situations, the paper illustrates the importance of the need for medical institutions to pay direct attention to the stressful topic of death itself if the medical personnel are to work efficiently in an environment where death and dying are everyday occurrences. Although some institutions do offer in-service sessions to nurses, these services are far and few between. But the stress for all medical personnel remains high, and there remains an unfulfilled need to teach effective thanatological techniques to all medical personnel.     

Every Dogma has its day

This paper is a reexamination of Two Dogmas in the light of Quine's ongoing debate with Carnap over analyticity. It shows, first, that analytic is a technical term within Carnap's epistemology. As such it is intelligible, and Carnap's position can meet Quine's objections. Second, it shows that the core of Quine's objection is that he (Quine) has an alternative epistemology to advance, one which appears to make no room for analyticity. Finally, the paper shows that Quine's alternative epistemology is itself open to very serious objections. Quine is not thereby refuted, but neither can Carnap's analyticity be dismissed as dogma.     

形形色色的算命迷信

最近,收到一位不到20岁的海外学子的来信,信中说他带着从小的梦想和满腔的热情到国外攻读学位,但意外的看了"好易通"上的八字命评,说是什么"此人般般事不成,得来即是去之时",自此精神上受到了打击,生活和学习都摆脱不了这个迷信的阴影,十分苦恼,希望得到帮助.     

Why Every Theory of Luck is Wrong

There are three theories of luck in the literature, each of which tends to appeal to philosophers pursuing different concerns. These are the probability, modal, and control views. I will argue that all three theories are irreparably defective; not only are there counterexamples to each of the three theories of luck, but there are three previously undiscussed classes of counterexamples against them. These are the problems of lucky necessities, skillful luck, and diachronic luck. I conclude that a serious reevaluation of the role of luck in philosophy is called for.     

Every world can see a reflexive world

Let be the class of frames satisfying the condition

Italian Adagio: Every Law has Its Loophole

Science and Engineering Ethics - The Italian law of December 2010 establishes new criteria and parameters for the evaluation of faculty members. The parameters are represented by the number of...     

Every Clinical Social Worker Is in Post-Adoption Practice

No abstract available for this article.     

The good guys

Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy -     

Southeast Asian immigrants' perceptions of good adolescents and good parents

The authors examined the extent to which Southeast Asian immigrant parents and adolescents agree on what it means to be a "good" parent and a "good" adolescent. Thirty-six parents and 37 adolescents of Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese descent participated in a series of focus groups. Content analyses of their discussions showed that good adolescents were obedient, helpful around the house, and respectful to parents and elders, and good parents were those who provide for, nurture, and monitor children's activities. The findings suggest that ideas about good parents and good adolescents are influenced by both the parents' traditions and by adolescents' acculturation to American values.     

复活的喜讯

经文:林前15:1-10 17-22 太28:1-10 保罗告诉我们:我当日所领受又传给你们的福音,就是"基督照圣经所说,为我们的罪死了,而且埋葬了,又照圣经所说,第三天复活了"。 基督从死里复活的福音,是保罗自己领受的,而且也是他传扬的中心。不但如此,彼得和众使徒也都为"这事做见证",甚至使徒们愿意为主复活的见证而死。现在我们一起来默想耶稣复活清晨的情景。     

The good engineer

Conclusion So why be a good engineer? There are basically three reasons: 1) possible detection and the harm that dishonorable acts might cause, 2) a common responsibility to the professional engineering community, and 3) a negative impact on one’s own integrity when one behaves badly. But what if, in the face of these arguments, one is still not convinced? I must admit that there appears to be no knock-down ethical argument available to change the mind of a person set on behaving badly. There remains the option to act in whatever way one may wish. Engineers must realize however that bad manners and/or immorality and/or illegality, even if undetected, will most likely result in harm to themselves and thus rational behavior should result in honorable conduct of professional duties. While the Viking society of northern Europe was in many ways cruel and crude, they had a very simple code of honor. Their goal was to live life so that when they died, others would say “He was a good man”. The definition of what they meant by a “good man” might be quite different by contemporary standards but the principle is important. If engineers conduct their professional lives so as to uphold the exemplary values of engineering, the greatest professional honor would be to be remembered as a good engineer.