Holocaust Humor and Our Aesthetic Sensibility of American Genocide

The specific form of holocaust humor that I will address—as developed by comedians Larry David, Sarah Silverman, Rachel Bloom, Ilana Glazer, and Abbi Jacobson—is neither trivial nor trivializes the suffering of the Jews but rather can expose the complicity of our narratives about the holocaust with our own white indifference to the pervasive ruthlessness of American genocide against black communities and our failure to bear witness to the survival of certain genocidal logics from the past in the American present.     

Reduced efficiency and capacity limitations in multidimension signal recognition

The first part of Experiment I showed that subjects recognized difficult frequency and intensity signals significantly less well when these were presented together than when they were presented alone. It was estimated that contingent variability resulting from other dimension signal and response context occurring on the same trial accounted for a third of the reduction, and capacity limitations for the remainder. Efficiency on the two dimensions presented together was found to be related and two data subsets were identified for which no efficiency reduction occurred. In the second part of Experiment I subjects recognized correlated frequency and intensity signals and showed a significant improvement in performance over either dimension performed alone. The gain in efficiency was well predicted by the “integration” model of Green and Swets (1966) from one- but not from two-dimension performance. The result suggested that the reduction in efficiency associated with capacity limitations was a function not of the number of signals but of the number of difficult decisions. Experiment II replicated the first part of Experiment I with easy signals. Efficiency was the same whether the signals were presented together or alone. The result indicated that the reduction in efficiency with difficult signals was not due to response interference or to failures of post-recognition retention. The implications of the results for models of attentional capacity are discussed.     

Are beliefs signals?

Eric Funkhouser argues that beliefs can function as social signals. I argue that Funkhouser’s argument for this conclusion rests on a problematic definition of “signal,” and that on standard definitions, the imperceptibility of beliefs disqualifies them from counting as signals. However, I also argue that Funkhouser’s insights about the social functions of beliefs can be true even if his claim that beliefs are signals is false.     

A wireless portable physiology recorder for psychophysiology research based on a personal digital assistant

Psychophysiology research is increasingly relying on portable instruments that can assess physiological responses during real-life situations at locations outside of research labs, such as at school, home, work, and outdoors. In this article, I report on the feasibility of a personal digital assistant-based portable physiology recording system with online signal graphing and wireless digital telemetry for psychophysiology research. I demonstrate that such a system can measure electrocardiogram and electrodermal activity and send this data over a wireless communication link to a PC. It enables users to inspect the integrity of the acquired signals on the portable device and on a PC base station, and it allows users to place time markers for online data analysis.     

Choice and the dependability of stimuli that predict shock and safety

This study assessed whether choosing a signalled shock condition over an unsignalled one is controlled by a stimulus that predicts the presence of shock (Experiment I), or by a stimulus that predicts the absence of shock (Experiment II). The dependability of these stimuli as predictors of either the presence or the absence of shock was parametrically varied over a wide range, and subjects (rats) were given an option to change from an unsignalled to a signalled condition. In the first experiment, all shocks were preceded by signals; however, the probability of a signal being followed by shock varied from 1.0 to 0.02. The data obtained indicate that the dependability of the signal as a predictor of shock is unimportant. Rats changed to the signalled condition when the signal was completely dependable (all signals followed by shock) and when the dependability of the signal was systematically degraded. In the second experiment, all signals were followed by shock; however, some shocks were not preceded by a signal. The data show that the dependability of a stimulus predicting the absence of shock is important in that, as dependability decreases, changing to the signalled condition also decreases.     

Government Surveillance and Why Defining Privacy Matters in a Post‐Snowden World

There is a long‐running debate as to whether privacy is a matter of control or access. This has become more important following revelations made by Edward Snowden in 2013 regarding the collection of vast swathes of data from the Internet by signals intelligence agencies such as NSA and GCHQ. The nature of this collection is such that if the control account is correct then there has been a significant invasion of people's privacy. If, though, the access account is correct then there has not been an invasion of privacy on the scale suggested by the control account. I argue that the control account of privacy is mistaken. However, the consequences of this are not that the seizing control of personal information is unproblematic. I argue that the control account, while mistaken, seems plausible for two reasons. The first is that a loss of control over my information entails harm to the rights and interests that privacy protects. The second is that a loss of control over my information increases the risk that my information will be accessed and that my privacy will be violated. Seizing control of another's information is therefore harmful, even though it may not entail a violation of privacy. Indeed, seizing control of another's information may be more harmful than actually violating their privacy.     

Multisensory self‐motion encoding in parietal cortex

Navigation through the environment requires the brain to process a number of incoming sensory signals, such as visual optical flow on the retina and motion information originating from the vestibular organs. In addition, tactile as well as auditory signals can help to disambiguate the continuous stream of incoming information and determining the signals resulting from one's own set of motion. In this review I will focus on the cortical processing of motion information in one subregion of the posterior parietal cortex, i.e., the ventral intraparietal area (VIP). I will review (1) electrophysiological data from single cell recordings in the awake macaque showing how self‐motion signals across different sensory modalities are represented within this area and (2) data from fMRI recordings in normal human subjects providing evidence for the existence of a functionally equivalent area of macaque area VIP in the human cortex.     

The Epistemic Edge of Majority Voting Over Lottery Voting

I aim to explain why majority voting can be assumed to have an epistemic edge over lottery voting. This would provide support for majority voting as the appropriate decision mechanism for deliberative epistemic accounts of democracy. To argue my point, I first recall the usual arguments for majority voting: maximal decisiveness, fairness as anonymity, and minimal decisiveness. I then show how these arguments are over inclusive as they also support lottery voting. I then present a framework to measure accuracy so as to compare the two decision mechanisms. I go over four arguments for lottery voting and three arguments for majority voting that support their respective accuracy. Lottery voting is then shown to have, compared to majority voting, a decreased probability of discrimination. That is, I argue that with lottery voting it is less probable under conditions of normal politics that if the procedure selects X, X is reasonable. I then provide two case scenarios for each voting mechanism that illustrate my point.     

Comparing the effects of static and dynamic signals during multiple schedules

The extent to which multiple schedules are an effective schedule thinning method following functional communication training (FCT) relies on the control the schedule-correlated stimuli exert over behavior. Thus, the stimuli used to signal the schedule in place (e.g., reinforcement and extinction) in a multiple schedule arrangement require special attention. To date, the majority of the research on multiple schedules has evaluated the use of different arbitrary signals as schedule-correlated stimuli (e.g., poster boards). These signals are considered static as they lack movement. More recently, some studies have successfully used dynamic signals, which include movement or animation, within multiple schedule arrangements. However, the extent to which one type of signal may result in faster stimulus control over behavior has not been evaluated. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare the use of static and dynamic signals as schedule-correlated stimuli in multiple schedules used within the context of FCT. Four children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder participated in the study. The results suggest that no differences in discriminated manding were observed for three out of four participants. Only dynamic signals resulted in discriminated manding for one participant.     

Modified group psychotherapy with chronic renal dialysis patients

Renal dialysis is a life saving, chronic medical procedure for those patients whose kidneys no longer function. However, the psychological reactions to this procedure, which necessitates a state of passivity for several hours, often overshadow the medical implications, and, in some instances, are decisive in terms of the patient's adjustment to treatment. Frequently, patients are unable to utilize individual psychotherapy to its maximum because of their need to perceive their illness as only medical. Group therapy however provides a less threatening psychological milieu and tends to give rise to peer support and mutual interaction.Barbara Halin Willinger, M.S.W., A.C.S.W., was the social work supervisor of the Renal Dialysis Unit at Metropolitan Hospital at the writing of this paper. She is a private psychotherapist and is affiliated with a mental health clinic where she also practices individual and group psychotherapy.The author wishes to thank Martin Saltzman, M.D. and Haley Glazer, M.S.W. for their suggestions.     

Visual spatial constancy and modularity: Does intention penetrate vision?

Is vision informationally encapsulated from cognition or is it cognitively penetrated? I shall argue that intentions penetrate vision in the experience of visual spatial constancy: the world appears to be spatially stable despite our frequent eye movements. I explicate the nature of this experience and critically examine and extend current neurobiological accounts of spatial constancy, emphasizing the central role of motor signals in computing such constancy. I then provide a stringent condition for failure of informational encapsulation that emphasizes a computational condition for cognitive penetration: cognition must serve as an informational resource for visual computation. This requires proposals regarding semantic information transfer, a crucial issue in any model of informational encapsulation. I then argue that intention provides an informational resource for computation of visual spatial constancy. Hence, intention penetrates vision.     

Timing of retirement: Including a delay discounting perspective in retirement models

This research examined the influence of delay and anticipated health and enjoyment on the amount of retirement savings sacrificed for early retirement. In addition to testing and supporting predictions that willingness to sacrifice retirement savings would be less with shorter delays to retirement, greater anticipated health, and greater anticipated enjoyment, an individual difference delay discounting measure derived from experimental studies was used to extend the Beehr, Glazer, Nielson, and Farmer’s (2000) model of retirement age. We predicted and found that oldest preferred retirement age related to personal characteristics, current work factors, future retirement factors, and individual differences in delay discounting, with greater delay discounting being associated with a younger preferred retirement age. Findings suggest that delay discounting is an important consideration in retirement planning and also highlight the significance that retirement expectations and being tired of work have in affecting one’s preferred retirement age.     

Divided attention, order of report and responses to immediately successive signals

Two effects, “divided-attention” and “order of report”, are operationally denned. Their relative contributions to the reduction in efficiency which accompanies the recognition of difficult nonverbal signals, presented simultaneously, is considered. Experiment I evaluated the two effects in the absence of a fixed order of report and emphasis instructions, confounding features of previous studies. The results showed: an overall impairment of performance with simultaneous signals; a contribution of both effects to the decrement, with a suggestion of the primacy of the “order of report” effect; and a significant interaction between the latter effect and modality, such that visual signals showed the greater effect. Experiment II using similar signals tested the assumption that simultaneity of presentation is a necessary condition for obtaining reduced efficiency with multiple signals. The assumption was only partially confirmed, a significant decrement in performance occurring only for the second of two successively presented signals. Similarities between the two sets of results are noted, as well as between these and modality differences obtained with verbal materials. Two possible accounts of the data are proposed, one based on “input”, the other on “storage” models of divided-attention. The hypothesis that subjects report the most clearly perceived signal first is rejected as an independent explanation.     

Formal dominance: the emperor's new clothes?

I previously argued that formal dominance requires the ability to attribute knowledge to other individuals (D. Maestripieri, 1996). Formal dominance is otherwise indistinguishable from the way dominance has previously been conceptualized. For example, the notion that nonhuman primates have social relationships and that 2 individuals express their knowledge about the state of their relationship with signals of dominance and submission is intrinsic to the concept of dominance and not peculiar to formal dominance. Moreover, the claims made by formal dominance supporters that macaque signals such as the bared-teeth display are always displayed unidirectionally to other group members and never directed to predators are incorrect. If the mentalistic terms used to describe formal dominance must not be taken literally, then the interpretation of submissive signals such as the bared-teeth display from a formal dominance perspective remains unclear.     

Observing social signals in scaffolding interactions: how to detect when a helping intention risks falling short

In face-to-face interactions, some social signals are aimed at regulating scaffolding processes, by which more knowledgeable people try to help less knowledgeable ones, to enable them to learn new concepts or skills (Vygotsky 1978). Observing face-to-face scaffolding interactions might not only allow us to grasp a large variety of these highly interesting social signals but may also be useful for the sake of scaffolding processes themselves. It often happens, in fact, that the empowering intentions implicit in these processes end up falling short, if the social signals regulating this specific kind of face-to-face interaction are misunderstood. Interestingly, many of these misunderstood aspects are related to the recipient’s role. Indeed, attention is usually focused on the behavior of those imparting the knowledge, while skills already mastered by the learners, as well as their feedback, tend not to be taken as much into account. For the purpose of exploring the often very subtly nuanced social signals regulating on-going scaffolding processes in real-life interactions, an example of a methodological tool is presented: one already used to observe the interactions of dyads of Italian primary school teachers and their pupils, and mothers and their children. The article leads to two main conclusions: that the results of instances of scaffolding may be predicted as to their success or otherwise simply by telescoping crucial social signals during the scaffolding’s initial phases, and that when helpers disregard these signals the effects of their actions may be detrimental or even humiliating for the receivers, notwithstanding the helper’s intentions.     

Some evidence for a limited capacity parallel selfterminating process in simple visual search tasks.

An experiment was carried out in order to investigate the questions of exhaustive vs selfterminating and serial vs parallel processing in a simple visual search task. In the experiment, 1, 2 or 3 letters were placed on an imaginary circle round the fixation point. Two different letters were used, one of which was defined as the ‘signal’. Ss had to respond ‘yes’ when one or more signals were in the display, ‘no’ otherwise. The number of signals in the display was varied from ‘no signals’ to ‘all signals’.A decrease in latencies with increasing number of signals for a fixed number of elements presented was observed indicating a selfterminating search. A decrease in latencies with increasing number of elements when only signals were presented was taken as evidence for a parallel selfterminating process. A further analysis of the error data showed that a limited capacity system had to be assumed. It was shown that it was possible to construct the overall pattern of latencies over conditions from the error data obtained.     

No ground for doomsday

The ability of providing an adequate supervenience base for tensed truths may seem to be one of the main theoretical advantages of both the growing-block and the moving-spotlight theory of time over presentism. However, in this paper I will argue that some propositions appear to be as problematic for growing-block theorists as past-directed propositions are for presentists, namely propositions stating that nothing will be the case in the future. Furthermore, I will show that the moving-spotlight theory can adequately address all the main supervenience challenges that can be levelled against A-theories of time. I will, thus, conclude that, at least as far as the supervenience principle is concerned, the moving-spotlight theory should be preferred over both presentism and the growing-block theory.     

Contributions of elicitation to measures of self-control

Pigeons' not pecking or pecking constituted choice between a delayed, large reinforcer and an immediate, small reinforcer (self-control) and at other times between a delayed reinforcer and no reinforcer (omission). Both a tone and a keylight were tested as choice signals, and the delayed reinforcer was either response independent or response dependent. Pigeons pecked during the choice signals on over 95% of the trials in the self-control procedure, and pecked during the choice signals on over 75% of the trials in the omission procedure. Consistent pecking was observed with either the tone or the keylight as a choice signal, with the exception that a tone paired with a response-independent delayed reinforcer did not maintain pecking in the omission procedure. Pigeons pecked during more choice signals when delayed reinforcers were response dependent than when the delayed reinforcers were response independent. These results indicate that Pavlovian conditioning influences self-control experiments, especially in single-key procedures.     

Effects of temporal uncertainty on watchkeeping performance

Two experiments were conducted to assess the relative effects of signal density and regularity on watchkeeping performance. In Experiment I, three levels of density (6, 24, and 96 signals/hr.) were combined factorially with three levels of variability (coefficients of variation of 0.01, 0.l0, and 1.00), and I0 Ss were assigned at random to each of the nine conditions. In Experiment II, five leveIs of density (6, 12, 24, 48, and 96 signals/hr.) were combined with the same three levels of variability, and 13 Ss were assigned to each condition. Each S monitored a visual “blinking-lights” display for an hour under instructions to detect and report the occurrence of certain “critical signals,” i.e., arrests of alternation of the lights. Response times (RT’s) to correctly detected signals in both experiments decreased as a linear function of logarithmic increases in signal density. An uncertainty metric, the signal surprisal due to density, was derived, and the watchkeeper’s RT was expressed as an increasing linear function of this measure of temporal uncertainty. Interpretation of these and 0 ther data support a functional, psychophysical approach to the study of watchkeeping behavior.