Modulating Fitts's Law: perceiving targets at the last placeholder

Fitts's Law predicts increasing movement times (MTs) with increasing movement amplitudes; however, when targets are placed in a structured perceptual array containing placeholders, MTs to targets in the last position are shorter than predicted. We conducted three experiments to determine if this modulation has a perceptual cause. Experiment 1, which used extremely diminished (three pixel) placeholders, showed that the modulation is not due to perceptual interference from neighboring placeholders. Experiment 2, which measured reaction times using a target detection task, showed that the modulation does not result from speeded perceptual processing at the last position of the array. Experiment 3, which measured accuracy using a masked letter-discrimination task, showed that the modulation does not result from the increased quality of perceptual representation at the last position of the array. Overall, these findings suggest that the changes in effectiveness of visual processing (less interference, speeded processing, and increased quality) at the last position in the perceptual array do not drive the modulation. Thus, while the locus of the Fitts's Law modulation appears to be in the movement planning stage, it is likely not due to perceptual mechanisms.     

一条通往和平的道路

帕普罗那,西班牙那瓦拉省(Navarra)的首府,一座古老而宁静的城市。我作为中国惟一的宗教界代表,于2006年11月18日参加了2006年亚欧会议青年对话,即第一届亚欧青年宗教间对话。到达当天,天空中飘着蒙蒙细雨,但当见到其他与会代表时,旅途的劳累     

Arms races and the opportunity for peace

We model the evolution of international conflict as a game of sequential decisions and show that arms races are neither necessary nor sufficient for peace or war. Peaceful intentions are not adequate to insure peace, even when both rivals wish to avoid violence. Peaceful intentions together with complete information are sufficient for peace. A preference for forcefully pursuing foreign policy goals also is not sufficient to preclude the peaceful resolution of disputes, and this is true even if there is complete information. In some circumstances, the absence of an arms race can precipitate violence, even giving the military advantage to a nation that unilaterally stopped getting ready for a war it would initiate. Finally, we also show that empirical research is likely to be biased in favor of the hypothesis that deterrence leads to peace. Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.Vegetius,Artes Latinae     

Making peace in gestational conflicts

Mary Anne Warren's claim that there is room for only one person with full and equal rights inside a single human skin ([1], p. 63) calls attention to the vast range of moral conflict engendered by assigning full basic moral rights to fetuses. Thereby, it serves as a goad to thinking about conflicts between pregnant women and their fetuses in a way that emphasizes relationships rather than rights. I sketch out what a care orientation might suggest about resolving gestational conflicts. I also argue that the care orientation, with its commitment to the significance of the partial and the particular, cannot be absorbed within standard, impartialist moral theory.     

Religious barriers to world peace

Summary At this stage in history, we are all sophisticated enough to understand and realize that major changes in cultural and religious traditions will not take place with any rapidity. People's traditions become strongly established and precious to them and to their children.The best hope for peace and understanding in our day may lie in the area of truly understanding the differences between religious expressions the world over and then teaching such differences to our children in our religious schools universities, etc., rather than in trying to impose our religious beliefs upon others.It also becomes essential that the leaders of our society be taught these differences so that they, too, can better understand the motivating forces and behavior of other people.Medical schools, schools of diplomacy, business administration schools, etc., would be wise to introduce courses in comparative religion and language differentiation that could help those who will be forging the relationships of tomorrow so as to understand why xx treaty falls through, why one diplomat may feel that he has broken through, whereas on the other side, the feeling is one of total failure or frustration.These problems may not be due in reality to the failure of one person or another, but rather to the ignorance of one facet of mankind toward the beliefs of another facet, and perhaps more important than any other factor in this discussion is the reluctance of one group to attempt to understand another because of the sense of superiority held by one group.Rabbi Abraham O. H. Okamoto D.H.L. Assistant Professor of Religion University of Miami, came to the United States in 1958 to study under an S. H. Scheuer Scholarship at the Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. He was ordained a Reform rabbi in 1964. His major interest in Hebraic studies is in the field of the ancient versions of the Bible in Aramaic and Syriac.     

因他是我们的和睦

人都是神所爱的,即使有人尚未认识他,神也仍施慈爱,呼召等待。因此基督徒只能实行爱人,没有理由因信仰不同而与他人对立。     

和谐 和平 人类的共同追求——在世界宗教大会上的发言

尊敬的总统阁下、各位宗教界的朋友、各位来宾:我是中国道教界的代表,很高兴来到美丽的阿斯塔纳参加大会,与世界各国的宗教领袖们讨论我们所关心的问题,禀承先圣们的教导,用一个宗教徒的热诚和爱心,在维护人类和平的伟大事业中努力做出应有的贡献。道教是中国原生的宗教,自建立教团组织以来已有近两千年的历史。中国道教历来热爱和平,反对战争,珍爱生命,主张以宽容来消弥冲突与战争,以“虚”为用。对“道”的信仰就是要学“道”具有容纳一切、慈爱万物的品质。因此,道教希望人们能够“虚怀若谷”,象大海一样广纳百川,不拒细流,处下而不争。…     

MMPI profiles of problem peace officers

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles of officers who had been involved in serious disciplinary actions were compared with those of a matched group of officers who had not been involved in such actions. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) found the profiles of the two groups to be significantly different, with Scales F, 5, 6, and 9 significantly higher and Scale L significantly lower for the problem group. In addition, subjects in the problem group were twice as likely to have a high-point elevation T-score greater than or equal to 70 as their nonproblem counterparts. Overall, these results indicate that any degree of psychopathology, as reflected by MMPI profile elevations, increases the likelihood of serious job performance problems. In addition, a presentation of self as conventional and moderately defended is associated with a lesser likelihood of job difficulty, whereas characteristics such as hypersensitivity, impulsivity, and poor frustration tolerance contribute to significant job problems.