The dynamics of Prägnanz

Summary There is quite wide-spread agreement about the relevance of pattern Pragnanz (Koffka, 1935) with respect to the human interpretation of visual patterns. There is less agreement about whether pattern Pragnanz is based solely on pattern information (static) or also on the history of the perceiver (dynamic). In Van Leeuwen and Van den Hof (1991), experimental data concerning serial patterns are presented within the framework of the dynamic-network approach initiated by Buffart (1986, 1987). These experimental data are claimed to give evidence against the static-coding approach initiated by Leeuwenberg (1969, 1971). In the present paper, however, I show first that Buffart's theoretical basis is incorrect, and that in fact Leeuwenberg's static-coding approach is the basis for the dynamic-network approach. Second, I show that those experimental data rather give evidence in favor of the static-coding approach, by using those same data for a test of the most recent static-coding model (Van der Helm & Leeuwenberg, 1991; Van der Helm, Van Lier, & Leeuwenberg, 1992). Finally, I propose a reconciliation between the two approaches, in the sense that the dynamic-network model could be shaped in such a way that it yields a simulation, and maybe even an enrichment, of the static-coding model.     

On the Relation between Kanizsa's Bias Towards Convexity and the Gestaltists Prägnanz from the Perspective of Current in Shape Recognition

What is the relation between Kanizsa's bias towards convexity and the Gestaltists' demonstrations that perceptual organization obeys a principle of pragnänz, or simplicity? Why should either kind of bias exist? Textbook accounts assign no functional role for these biases. Geon theory (Biederman 1987) proposes that we can understand these biases in terms of fundamental processes by which complex objects are decomposed into convex (or singly concave) regions at points of matched cusps according to the transversality regularity (Hoffman and Richards 1985). Such decomposition yields simple, convex parts segmented between the concavities. A shape that contains concavities is generally regarded as complex insofar as it can be decomposed into the regions, or parts, between the concavities. It is these simple parts that are the stable elements of shape, not the whole object. In fact, geon theory leads to the expectation that shape recognition proceeds most efficiently when the parts are good (in the pragnänz sense) but the object is bad!     

Quantitative Versuche über die Prägnanz von Punktmustern

Summary The intention of the paper is to describe Prägnanz-phenomena in terms of information theory. Two different concepts for the application of informational variables to perceptual processes are discriminated. For several reasons, Attneave's concept (1951) is preferred: In the sense of information theory single figures can be treated as signal structures; thus the degree of regularity in them should be specifiable in terms of informational variables.Two quasi-informational parameters are used to describe the degree of regularity in simple dot patterns.It was expected that perceived figural quality of dot patterns would increase with the redundancy of spatially distributed messages. At a constant word-length (= constant number of dots), the quality perceived should be the better the lower the entropy (or uncertainty) of the figure.In several experiments the information measures used turned out to be closely related to different operationally defined response-variables for figural quality, e.g. figural goodness-ratings and exactness of the reproduction of dot-positions. Besides, an inverse relationship is observed between interestingness-ratings and redundancy measures.The results are discussed in terms of information theory and psychological concepts. It is shown, that it has important implications on the psychological theory of perception to regard the human perceiver as an information-decoding-system. Apparently there must be some dynamically active system which enables the perceiver to utilize the redundancy of spatial brightness-distributions for sure and quick recognition.     

What has happened to Prägnanz? Coding,stability, or resonance

Three theoretical measures of Prägnanz were compared with four data sets. The theoretical measures were a stimulus-coding one (structural information load, SIL), a measure related to within memory processes (stability), and one based on the interaction of perception and memory (resonance). The four data sets were obtained in two experiments and involved goodness rating, grouping, and immediate and delayed recall. A complete set of seven-element binary serial patterns was used in each experiment. Both SIL and resonance were shown to correlate reliably with the data sets across tasks. The resonance measure, however, performed best. Prägnanz thus appears to be explained better by resonance than by stimulus coding or memory storage. Resonance explained all systematic variance in the recall tasks, but not in the other tasks. Regarding these, partial-correlation analyses showed that the effect of stability could be fully reduced to resonance. SIL could not be similarly reduced. Therefore, additional perceptual constraints, other than resonance, would be needed for a complete account of goodness in the judging or grouping tasks.     

Prävention

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Theories and Methodologies in Acculturation Psychology: The Emergence of a Scientific Revolution?

Acculturation can be understood as the continuous meeting of different cultural elements. This phenomenon has increased globally due to advancements in technology, economy and globalization. The development of a psychological study of acculturation has been a complex process with great challenges. This new discipline within cross-cultural psychology has expanded with a great number of articles in psychological journals and subsequently increased in significance within cross-cultural psychology. The acculturation psychological theory of multilinear bidimensionality with its quantitative methodology has been the predominant framework. However, critiques have challenged this paradigm and suggested the emergence of a new paradigm founded on a cultural psychological approach. In this review, the different conceptions and methodologies within acculturation psychology are assessed and suggestions for future research using mixed-methods are presented.     

The Emergence and Irreducibility of Scientific Knowledge： A Multi-Synergic-Holism

The world possesses a hierarchical structure and evolves through emergence. Its levels are the result of emergence, and possess unique properties and functions which their components and emergent bases do not. Each of these levels also possesses basic laws or rules which cannot be logically deduced from other levels, and evince downward causation. Therefore, there are non-linear causal networks among the levels of complex systems in which causal reductionism does not hold. The hierarchical structure is formed in accordance with the increasing organized complexity of the objects, so that different levels give birth to different disciplines, and different disciplines have their own theoretical autonomy and independence. Therefore, theories across different levels are essentially irreducible, and any apparent case of reduction may only be so in the sense of a partial reduction. Emergence-evolution-hierarchy ontology and multi-synergic holism is compatible with reductionism even as it transcends it.     

Précis of The brain and emotion

The topics treated in The brain and emotion include the definition, nature, and functions of emotion (Ch. 3); the neural bases of emotion (Ch. 4); reward, punishment, and emotion in brain design (Ch. 10); a theory of consciousness and its application to understanding emotion and pleasure (Ch. 9); and neural networks and emotion-related learning (Appendix). The approach is that emotions can be considered as states elicited by reinforcers (rewards and punishers). This approach helps with understanding the functions of emotion, with classifying different emotions, and in understanding what information-processing systems in the brain are involved in emotion, and how they are involved. The hypothesis is developed that brains are designed around reward- and punishment-evaluation systems, because this is the way that genes can build a complex system that will produce appropriate but flexible behavior to increase fitness (Ch. 10). By specifying goals rather than particular behavioral patterns of responses, genes leave much more open the possible behavioral strategies that might be required to increase fitness. The importance of reward and punishment systems in brain design also provides a basis for understanding the brain mechanisms of motivation, as described in Chapters 2 for appetite and feeding, 5 for brain-stimulation reward, 6 for addiction, 7 for thirst, and 8 for sexual behavior.     

Homosexualität und Prägung

Ohne ZusammenfassungMit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

Gewaltprävention statt Präventivschlag

Die Psychotherapie -     

What has happened to Pr?gnanz? Coding, stability, or resonance.

Three theoretical measures of Pr?gnanz were compared with four data sets. The theoretical measures were a stimulus-coding one (structural information load, SIL), a measure related to within memory processes (stability), and one based on the interaction of perception and memory (resonance). The four data sets were obtained in two experiments and involved goodness rating, grouping, and immediate and delayed recall. A complete set of seven-element binary serial patterns was used in each experiment. Both SIL and resonance were shown to correlate reliably with the data sets across tasks. The resonance measure, however, performed best. Pr?gnanz thus appears to be explained better by resonance than by stimulus coding or memory storage. Resonance explained all systematic variance in the recall tasks, but not in the other tasks. Regarding these, partial-correlation analyses showed that the effect of stability could be fully reduced to resonance. SIL could not be similarly reduced. Therefore, additional perceptual constraints, other than resonance, would be needed for a complete account of goodness in the judging or grouping tasks.     

Emergence,Adaptation, and Relational Improvisation: Commentary on Terry Marks-Tarlow’s “From Emergency to Emergence: The Deep Structure of Play in Psychotherapy”

Dr. Marks-Tarlow’s paper provides a valuable examination of play processes in psychotherapy, using the novel synthesis of psychoevolutionary and nonlinear dynamical perspectives. The author’s sophisticated blend of psychobiological and intersubjective accounts is of great clinical value, illustrating the need for a rapprochement between affective neuroscience, intersubjectivity, and complexity paradigms. Comparisons are made to the Dynamical Systems Therapy 10 (DST) model (Shapiro, this issue), which similarly aims to integrate psychobiological and intersubjective accounts of psychopathology with internal representations.     

Précis of The rational imagination: how people create alternatives to reality

The human imagination remains one of the last uncharted terrains of the mind. People often imagine how events might have turned out "if only" something had been different. The "fault lines" of reality, those aspects more readily changed, indicate that counterfactual thoughts are guided by the same principles as rational thoughts. In the past, rationality and imagination have been viewed as opposites. But research has shown that rational thought is more imaginative than cognitive scientists had supposed. In The Rational Imagination, I argue that imaginative thought is more rational than scientists have imagined. People exhibit remarkable similarities in the sorts of things they change in their mental representation of reality when they imagine how the facts could have turned out differently. For example, they tend to imagine alternatives to actions rather than inactions, events within their control rather than those beyond their control, and socially unacceptable events rather than acceptable ones. Their thoughts about how an event might have turned out differently lead them to judge that a strong causal relation exists between an antecedent event and the outcome, and their thoughts about how an event might have turned out the same lead them to judge that a weaker causal relation exists. In a simple temporal sequence, people tend to imagine alternatives to the most recent event. The central claim in the book is that counterfactual thoughts are organised along the same principles as rational thought. The idea that the counterfactual imagination is rational depends on three steps: (1) humans are capable of rational thought; (2) they make inferences by thinking about possibilities; and (3) their counterfactual thoughts rely on thinking about possibilities, just as rational thoughts do. The sorts of possibilities that people envisage explain the mutability of certain aspects of mental representations and the immutability of other aspects.