From “Block-Things” to “Time-Things”: Merleau-Ponty’s temporal ontology in part two of the phenomenology of perception

Continental Philosophy Review - Scholars such as Renaud Barbara and Bernhard Waldenfels and Regula Giuliani have emphasized time’s central role in Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy, and...     

NoA’s ark: Influence of the number of associates in visual word recognition

The main aim of this study was to explore the extent to which the number of associates of a word (NoA) influences lexical access, in four tasks that focus on different processes of visual word recognition: lexical decision, reading aloud, progressive demasking, and online sentence reading. Results consistently showed that words with a dense associative neighborhood (high-NoA words) were processed faster than words with a sparse neighborhood (low-NoA words), extending previous findings from English lexical decision and categorization experiments. These results are interpreted in terms of the higher degree of semantic richness of high-NoA words as compared with low-NoA words. 2008 Psychonomic Society, Inc. Author Note     

Blok,Vincent: Heidegger’s concept of philosophical method: innovating philosophy in the age of global warming

Continental Philosophy Review - This review discusses Vincent Blok’s book Heidegger’s Concept of Philosophical Method. Blok’s daring and important argument is that Heidegger has...     

The grammar of aesthetic intuition: on Ernst Cassirer’s concept of symbolic form in the visual arts

This paper provides a précis of Ernst Cassirer’s concept of art as a symbolic form. It does so, though, in a specific respect. It points to the fact that Cassirer’s concept of “symbolic form” is two-sided. On the one hand, the concept captures general cultural phenomena that are not only meaningful but also manifest the way man makes sense of the world; thus myth, religion, and art are considered general symbolic forms. On the other hand, it captures the formal structures and semiotic tools thanks to which meaning is constructed within each general symbolic form (Cassirer called these structures “modes of objectivation”); thus, in art, perspective or the golden section are well-known examples of symbolic forms, now in a narrow sense, i.e. they are means to configure parts into an organized, meaningful whole. The paper will comment on art along both these two dimensions, but its main goal is to provide with concrete examples of aesthetic symbolic forms in the narrow sense in order to show how conceptual meaning can be inscribed in the space of aesthetic intuition.     

Role of medial prefrontal cortex in representing one’s own subjective emotional responses: A preliminary study

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been implicated in attending to one’s own emotional states, but the role of emotional valence in this context is not understood. We examined valence-specific BOLD activity in a previously validated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm. Ten healthy subjects viewed emotional pictures and categorized their experience as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. All three categories activated a common region within mPFC. Subtraction of neutral from pleasant or unpleasant conditions instead revealed ventromedial PFC (vmPFC), suggesting that this region represents emotional valence. During exteroceptive attention, greater mPFC responses were observed in response to emotional relative to neutral stimuli, consistent with studies implicating mPFC in the top-down modulation of emotion-biased attention. These findings may help to integrate the two proposed roles of mPFC in emotional representation and top-down modulation of subcortical structures.     

“It’s Scary but It’s Also Exciting”: Evidence of Meta-Affective Learning in Science

We study the case of Marya, a freshman engineering major who showed and spoke of a drastic shift in her feelings and approach to learning physics during an introductory course. For the first several weeks, she was anxiously manipulating equations without considering physical meaning, and she was terribly worried about being correct. By the end of the semester, however, she was sense-making and taking pleasure in it, showing and expressing an enjoyment of challenges and uncertainty. In this paper, we illustrate Marya’s transformation using data from her interview and coursework, and we propose it as an example of meta-affective learning. We argue that meta-affective learning was an important part of Marya’s physics learning and that it was deeply entangled with her developing epistemology.     

The joint effect of forward and backward visual masking: Some comments on Uttal’s “Character in the hole” experiment

The joint effect of forward and backward visual masking appears to be more extended in time than that predicted from an algebraic summation of individual forward and backward masking effects. It is suggested that this apparent extension of the temporal range of masking arises from the summation of forward and backward masking effects which in themselves are insufficient to influence observed performance. Such latent masking effects are possible if it is not assumed that when stimulus identification reaches the 100% level the mask has no effect at all on the stimulus.     

The vision in “blind” justice: Expert perception,judgment, and visual cognition in forensic pattern recognition

Many forensic disciplines require experts to judge whether two complex patterns are sufficiently similar to conclude that both originate from the same source. Studies in this area have revealed that there are a number of factors that affect perception and judgment and that decisions are subjective and susceptible to extraneous influences (such as emotional context, expectation, and motivation). Some studies have shown that the same expert examiner, examining the same prints but within different contexts, may reach different and contradictory decisions. However, such effects are not always present; some examiners seem more susceptible to such influences than do others—especially when the pattern matching is “hard to call” and when the forensic experts are not aware that they are being observed in an experimental study. Studying forensic examiners can contribute to our understanding of expertise and decision making, as well as have implications for forensic science and other areas of expertise.     

Cultural issues in making and using the visual problem appraisal “Kerala’s Coast”

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is a complex multi-actor issue. Staff members of Cochin University (CUSAT) from India and colleagues from the Netherlands interpreted this issue as a challenge to initiate and enhance multi-stakeholder dialogue and action and the idea was born to produce a Visual Problem Appraisal (VPA). VPA is a film-based learning system that aims to induce social learning, to increase problem and policy analysis competencies, to reduce self-referentiality, to increase commitment for concerned stakeholders, and to enhance intersubjective consensus. In 2003 Indian and Dutch university staff members and Indian filmmakers produced two documentaries and 23 films portraying the Keralite stakeholders in their natural environment, exposing their engagement with, and different perspectives on, ICZM. Although produced for formal education, the notion emerged that the VPA might as well work in the reality of ICZM in Kerala. It was a fascinating conversion of questioning the nature of some events and frictions that occurred during the production process. As critical incidents were attributed to various cultural disparities such as local/foreign, male/female, higher/lower status, the hypothesis was formulated that if producing the VPA had already set a deep impact; how about using it directly with involved stakeholders? This hypothesis was tested in 2004 in workshops with publics, ranging from CUSAT students to local stakeholders of the Thycattussery Panchayat. The process of producing and testing the VPA Kerala’s Coast was a complex and intriguing multidisciplinary and multicultural project. We wondered what made the project a success. Framing the project as a space of cultural communication gave guidance to the questions that articulated our search to understand the process we had been immersed in. In this article we describe the events and analyze critical incidents that occurred during the production and the use of the VPA. The outcome leads to valuable recommendations for international and intercultural teams working on similar production and research projects.     

Nebbiosi’s Third: A Discussion of Gianni Nebbiosi’s “The Smell of Paper”

Gianni Nebbiosi’s clinical paper is discussed as music to the hammer of the commentator’s ear. Three overlapping points are presented. The first centers on Nebbiosi’s tone of voice with his analysand Teresa. The second point is about music and psychoanalysis. The final point is about Nebbiosi’s free association to Beethoven’s Third Symphony.     

On the detectability of straight lines in visual noise: An extension of French’s paradigm into the millisecond domain

We report the results of a study that investigated the effects of four experimental parameters on the tachistoscopic detectability of dotted lines in a noisy background consisting of dynamic patterns of identical dots. Characteristics of the lines that were explored included dot spacing, dot numerosity, and line orientation. Dot spacing was shown to be the most powerful parameter in determining the masking effect: the closer the dots, the more easily the line was detected. Increasing the number of the dots was also effective in increasing the detectability of a line, but only up to a limit of five dots. The orientation of the line, on the other hand, did not alter its detectability. Increasing the density of the visual masking noise monotonically reduced the detectability of the line. These studies are an extension of French’s (1953, 1954) work, differing mainly in the fact that the stimulus material was presented tachistoscopically rather than in a mode that allowed prolonged (up to 5 sec) examination of the figures. Thus, they put the results in a domain in which physiological interpretations may be more critically evaluated. A comparison of the results suggests that essentially the same sorts of cognitive mechanisms are operating in the millisecond domain as in the longer exposures. This suggests that simple neurological models utilizing the concept of feature filters or detectors may be being prematurely applied to relatively complex perceptual processes.     

The importance of visual angle in word recognition: A “shrinking screen” modification for visual displays

The visual angle subtended by alphabetic stimuli seems to be given little regard in a large proportion of reading research. Existing empirical evidence suggests that this disregard may be unwise. We describe a modification to video monitors and oscilloscopes that allows the screen size of stimuli to be varied and permits words to be displayed at appropriate visual angles with accuracy and comparative ease. Other advantages of these modifications are also discussed.     

“Socialism of the soul:” Holocaust in Saul Bellow’s The Victim

Saul Bellow wrote his second novel The Victim at the Partisan Review group’s instance. In the aftermath of the Holocaust the PR group advocated the assimilation of the American Jews into mainstream American life for their future safety and prosperity. Keeping in view Bellow’s creative potentials and belief in Marxism/Trotskyism, the PR members asked him to educate the Jews in this matter through his fiction. Bellow treated the subject of Jewish assimilation in an allegorical vein, projecting the idea of universal brotherhood based on common human grounds. Here, a Jew, Asa Leventhal, behaves like a Gentile and a Gentile, Kirby Allbee, like a Jew as victim and victimizer of each other. Their repeated encounters mitigate their racial apprehensions and bring the two closer to each other. Both discover one into the other as his inescapable self, bound by a common human connection. Finally they make peace with each other, projecting Bellow’s allegory of inexorable cosmic kinship—“socialism of the soul”—despite their differences of blood, race and religion.     

Inspecting visual mental images: Can people “see” implicit properties as easily in imagery and perception?

Can people “see” previously unnoticed properties in objects that they visualize, or are they locked into the organization of the pattern that was encoded during perception? To answer this question, we first asked a group to describe letters of the alphabet and found that some properties (such as the presence of a diagonal line) are often mentioned, whereas others (such as symmetry) are rarely if ever mentioned. Then we showed not only that other participants could correctly detect both kinds of properties in visualized letters, but also that the relative differences in the ease of detecting these two types of properties are highly similar in perception (when the letters are actually visible) and imagery (when the letters are merely visualized). These findings provide support for the view that images can be reinterpreted in ways much like what occurs during perception and speak to the wider issue of the long-standing debate about the format of mental images.     

Wittgenstein’s Peculiar Use of “Internal Relation” in Aspect-Seeing

“Internal relation” is a significant term in both Wittgenstein’s early and later philosophy. The term is used in relation to many problems, including our topic here, “aspect-seeing.” Some scholars have attempted to present a persuasive interpretation of this terminology; however, Wittgenstein’s remarks on “aspect-seeing” somehow thwart their approaches. The obstacle lies in the relata involved: Which terms are connected by an internal relation in the perception of an aspect? In this paper, I review the existing interpretations and present two proposals, one of which is conservative and the other slightly more radical. I argue that Wittgenstein makes divergent use of the distinction between “internal/external relations,” and that this may reveal the potential ambiguities of the words “internal” and “relation.”     

Getting satisfied with “satisfaction of search”: How to measure errors during multiple-target visual search

Visual search studies are common in cognitive psychology, and the results generally focus upon accuracy, response times, or both. Most research has focused upon search scenarios where no more than 1 target will be present for any single trial. However, if multiple targets can be present on a single trial, it introduces an additional source of error because the found target can interfere with subsequent search performance. These errors have been studied thoroughly in radiology for decades, although their emphasis in cognitive psychology studies has been more recent. One particular issue with multiple-target search is that these subsequent search errors (i.e., specific errors which occur following a found target) are measured differently by different studies. There is currently no guidance as to which measurement method is best or what impact different measurement methods could have upon various results and conclusions. The current investigation provides two efforts to address these issues. First, the existing literature is reviewed to clarify the appropriate scenarios where subsequent search errors could be observed. Second, several different measurement methods are used with several existing datasets to contrast and compare how each method would have affected the results and conclusions of those studies. The evidence is then used to provide appropriate guidelines for measuring multiple-target search errors in future studies.     

The Transtheoretical model’s processes of change in the heart of a physical activity intervention: A series of n-of-1

The objectives were a) to test whether a Processes of Change (POC)-personalized Transtheoretical model (TTM)-based intervention could increase physical activity (PA) among inactive adults, and b) to examine whether the intervention increased the level of TTM theoretical constructs. The following hypotheses were formulated: 1) PA levels will be significantly higher during and after the intervention in comparison to baseline measures; 2) the level of targeted POCs will increase during the intervention; 3) non targeted POCs will stay stable, and 4) self-efficacy and decisional balance levels will increase during the intervention. A series of N-of-1 with A (1 to 2-week)-B(10-week)-A'(2-week) design were conducted with 12 inactive adults. Behavioral counselors used behavior change techniques to target TTM constructs and supervise PA. Interventions were individualized based on the 5 POCs with the lowest pre-intervention level. Device-based and subjective PA along with TTM measures were collected weekly online. PA data were analyzed with piecewise linear models. A visual analysis was run to examine the TTM constructs. Device, self-reported and TTM data were available for five, seven and five participants, respectively. A significant self-reported PA increase for six participants was found during the phase B and A2. A significant device-measured PA increase was observed in two participants during the study. A substantial increase of targeted POC from baseline for all participants with available data was observed. This study provides the first evidence of behavioral and psychological effects of a POC-personalized TTM-based intervention in inactive adults.