Children's knowledge of the relation between intentional action and pretending

Two experiments investigated preschoolers’ understanding of the relation between pretending and intentional action. In Experiment 1, both 3- and 4-year olds recognized that characters whose actions were intended as pretense were pretending. However, children also judged that characters whose actions gave them the appearance of an entity unintentionally were pretending to be that entity. In Experiment 2, 3-year olds reliably chose a character whose pretense actions were intentional as pretending over a character whose actions were guided by another intention. These data suggest that preschoolers have some understanding of the role of intentional action in pretense.     

Pulling out the intentional structure of action: the relation between action processing and action production in infancy

Adults and children readily construct action representations organized with respect to an ultimate goal. These representations allow one to predict the consequences of action, interpret and describe actions, and categorize action sequences. In this paper, we explore the ontogeny of hierarchically organized action representations, and its relation to infants' ability to produce similar sequences. To do so, we examine infants' perception and performance of a means-end sequence: pulling a cloth to retrieve a toy. Using a visual habituation paradigm, we demonstrate that 12-month-old infants understand that the initial step of the cloth-pulling sequence is directed toward the ultimate goal of attaining the toy, and use their knowledge of the causal constraints of the sequence to make this goal attribution. Ten-month-olds, however, appear transitional with respect to this understanding: their ability to identify the goal of the cloth-pulling sequence is related to their own ability to planfully solve a similar sequence. These findings are consistent with a burgeoning body of literature suggesting an intimate link between action production and perception, and suggest that this link is in place by at least 10 months of age.     

On the relation between recent neurobiological data on perception (and action) and the Husserlian theory of constitution

The phenomenological theory of constitution promises a solution for the problem of consciousness insofar as it changes the traditional terms of this problem by systematically correlating subject and object in the unifying context of intentional acts. I argue that embodied constitution must depend upon the role of kinesthesia as a constitutive operator. In pursuing the path of intentionality in its descent from an idealistic level of pure constitution to this fully embodied kinesthetic constitution, we are able to gain access to different ontological regions such as physical thing, owned body and shared world. Neuroscience brings to light the somatological correlates of noemata. Bridging the gap between incarnation and naturalisation represents the best way of realizing the foundational program of transcendental phenomenology.     

On the distinction between sensory storage and short-term visual memory

A pattern made by randomly filling cells in a square matrix was presented for 1 see and followed, after various intervals, by an identical or similar pattern. Ss responded “same” or “different.” Performance was fast and accurate if the interval was short and there was no movement or masking of the pattern during the interval. Performance was slower, less accurate, and highly dependent on pattern complexity if the interval exceeded 100 msec or if there was movement or masking. The results are interpreted as evidence for two distinct classes of visual memory: high-capacity sensory storage which is tied to spatial position and is maskable and brief; and schematic short-term visual memory which is not tied to spatial position, which is protected against masking, and which becomes less effective over the first few seconds but not over the first 600 msec.     

On the relation between genuine and simulated amnesia

When claims of amnesia are made in legal cases, it is necessary to determine whether they are genuine or simulated. This article assesses current knowledge of the relation between genuine and simulated amnesia and discusses issues that are critical to understanding of the problem. It is argued that there are few well established facts regarding the nature of simulated amnesia, and no evidence that experts can distinguish accurately between genuine and simulated amnesia. Suggestions are made for future research that draw upon recent advances in cognitive psychology, social psychology, and neuropsychology.     

On the relation between similarity and ratio estimates

Summary Data obtained in four sets of experiments involving pitch, heaviness, greyness, and circular area were re-analyzed. It was found (1) that similarity estimates S _ijare a power function of stimulus ratios S _ijwith the exponent n _s,(2) that ratio estimates q _ijare also a power function of stimulus ratios S _ijwith the exponent n _q(i.e., Stevens' power law), (3) that the exponent n of similarity estimates as power function of ratio estimates is equal to the ratio n _s/n _q,and (4) that, inversely, the exponent m of ratio estimates as power function of similarities is equal to the ratio n _q/n _s.The investigation was supported by a grant from the Swedish Council for Social Science Research.     

On the relation between perceptual priming and recognition memory

Two experiments evaluated the hypothesis that perceptual fluency is used to infer prior occurrence. Subjects heard (Experiment 1) or saw (Experiment 2) a list of words and then were presented in the same modality with both these and other words twice in succession: first in a more or less impoverished fashion, and then in clear fashion. For the first of these two presentations, the subjects tried to identify the word; for the second, they gave a recognition judgement. As predicted by the perceptual fluency hypothesis, and as has been found in previous research, the recognition judgments were more positive for identified words than for unidentified words. However, degree of impoverishment, by which apparent perceptual fluency was brought under experimental control, did not affect the recognition judgments. The perceptual fluency hypothesis was therefore not supported, and the observed relation between identification and recognition was attributed to an item selection effect.     

On the relation between frequency estimates and recognition memory

The paper concerns the relation between frequency estimates and recognition decisions. Theories postulating that these two measures reflect independent retrieval processes and theories that postulate that frequency estimation and recognition are mutually dependent processes are discussed. Empirical results apparently supporting both positions are also reviewed. Results of experiments in which instructions and test methods are varied factorially and results of conditional and correlational analyses establishing a dependency between frequency estimates and recognition decisions are taken as evidence supporting the dependent process view. However, the results do not permit discrimination within this class of theories.     

Differences in the transmission of sensory input into motor output between introverts and extraverts: Behavioral and psychophysiological analyses

The present study was designed to investigate extraversion-related individual differences in the speed of transmission of sensory input into motor output. In a sample of 16 introverted and 16 extraverted female volunteers, event-related potentials, lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs), and electromyogram (EMG) were recorded as participants performed a visual choice reaction time task. As additional behavioral indicators of performance, measures of reaction time (RT) and response dynamics were obtained. Although extraversion-related differences were found neither for behavioral measures nor for the N1 and P3 components of the evoked potential, introverts showed a reliably shorter latency in stimulus-locked LRP than extraverts. This latter finding supports the notion of faster stimulus analysis in introverts compared to extraverts. Furthermore, there was no indication of extraversion-related individual differences in speed of response organization and response execution as indicated by response-locked LRP and EMG latencies, respectively. However, a significantly higher EMG amplitude observed with introverts pointed to a less accurately adjusted motor output system of introverts compared to extraverts.     

Cognition and self-control: Cognitive control of painful sensory input

Eighty Ss were first tested for base-level response to a pain-producing stimulus and then were re-tested on the same pain stimulus after receiving 1 of 8 experimental treatments. The 8 treatments were arranged in a 2×2×2 factorial design: presence or absence of hypnotic induction procedure; presence or absence of instructions for anesthesia; and presence or absence of demands for honest reports. Neither the hypnotic-induction procedure nor the demands for honesty affected the Ss’ reports of the degree of pain experienced. The anesthesia instructions—“think of the hand as numb and insensitive as if it were a piece of rubber...”— produced an equal degree of pain reduction in hypnotic and non-hypnotic Ss and in Ss who were and those who were not exposed to demands for honesty. The results indicate that (a) Ss’ reports of pain are less affected by demands for honesty and are more closely related to their actual experiences than has been previously assumed and (b) instructions which direct Ss to exercise cognitive control over painful sensory input are effective (with or without ‘hypnosis’) in reducing the experience of pain.     

On the relation between visual surround and motion aftereffect velocity

Two experiments examined the effect of changes in the visual surround upon the velocity of motion aftereffects. Experiment I showed that introduction or reintroduction of a patterned surround midway through the test period was sufficient to produce an increase in apparent velocity. However, a greater increase was observed when a patterned surround instead of a dark homogeneous surround had been used during the induction period. Experiment II demonstrated that luminance change was also sufficient to produce an increase in apparent velocity, although the extent of the increase was not as great as that produced through the use of the patterned surround in Experiment I. These results indicate that a change in stimulus surround is sufficient to produce an increase in the velocity of a motion aftereffect and that the extent of the increase is dependent upon the characteristics of both the induction and test surrounds.     

On the relation between transfer and difficulty of initial task

Subjects were required to throw at a target under three conditions of varying difficulty. Six groups of 14 subjects were used, each group receiving one of the six possible orders of presentation of the three conditions.

Results in terms of mean distance from the “bull” indicated that the three conditions were producing different transfer effects. These could not be adequately explained in terms of stimulus-or response-similarity, and accordingly a tentative hypothesis is put forward in terms of the relative difficulty of the condition presented first, to those presented subsequently. It is suggested that transfer tends to be positive from a relatively difficult initial task to a subsequent task which is easier, while transfer will tend to be negative from a relatively easy initial task to one which is more difficult.

The first of the three conditions presented exerted considerably more powerful transfer effects than the second. Three possibilities as to why this should be so, are outlined.     

On the relation between object manipulation and stereotypic self-injurious behavior

Results from a number of studies have shown an inverse relationship between stereotypic behavior and object manipulation. The purposes of this study were to determine whether techniques similar to those used previously (prompting and reinforcement) would be effective in increasing object manipulation under both prompted and unprompted conditions, and to ascertain whether increases in object manipulation would result in decreases in stereotypic self-injurious behavior (SIB). Two individuals with developmental disabilities who engaged in SIB maintained by automatic reinforcement participated. Results showed that object manipulation increased from baseline levels when experimenters prompted participants to manipulate leisure items, but that object manipulation was not maintained under unprompted conditions, and rates of SIB stayed within baseline levels. We then attempted to increase object manipulation further by (a) reinforcing object manipulation, (b) blocking SIB while reinforcing manipulation, and (c) preventing SIB by applying protective equipment while reinforcing object manipulation. Reinforcing object manipulation alone did not affect levels of object manipulation. Blocking effectively reduced attempts to engage in SIB for 1 participant but produced no increase in object manipulation. When the 2nd participant was prevented from engaging in SIB through the use of protective equipment, rates of object manipulation increased dramatically but were not maintained when the equipment was removed. These results suggest that stimulation derived from object manipulation, even when supplemented with arbitrary reinforcement, may not compete with stimulation produced by stereotypic SIB; therefore, direct interventions to reduce SIB are required.     

On the relation between demographic variables and neuropsychological test performance

This paper reports a study of the relation between demographic variables and neuropsychological test performance in a sample of 141 normal subjects. A preliminary analysis demonstrated the importance of age, educational level, sex, and Verbal IQ for the prediction of neuropsychological test performance. The main study is a detailed analysis of the relation between these four variables and neuropsychological test performance. The results are presented in the form of standardized regression coefficients and are discussed in relation to the problem of predicting expected premorbid performance in neuropsychological tests.