What to say to a skeptical metaphysician: a defense manual for cognitive and behavioral scientists

A wave of recent work in metaphysics seeks to undermine the anti-reductionist, functionalist consensus of the past few decades in cognitive science and philosophy of mind. That consensus apparently legitimated a focus on what systems do, without necessarily and always requiring attention to the details of how systems are constituted. The new metaphysical challenge contends that many states and processes referred to by functionalist cognitive scientists are epiphenomenal. It further contends that the problem lies in functionalism itself, and that, to save the causal significance of mind, it is necessary to re-embrace reductionism. We argue that the prescribed return to reductionism would be disastrous for the cognitive and behavioral sciences, requiring the dismantling of most existing achievements and placing intolerable restrictions on further work. However, this argument fails to answer the metaphysical challenge on its own terms. We meet that challenge by going on to argue that the new metaphysical skepticism about functionalist cognitive science depends on reifying two distinct notions of causality (one primarily scientific, the other metaphysical), then equivocating between them. When the different notions of causality are properly distinguished, it is clear that functionalism is in no serious philosophical trouble, and that we need not choose between reducing minds or finding them causally impotent. The metaphysical challenge to functionalism relies, in particular, on a na?ve and inaccurate conception of the practice of physics, and the relationship between physics and metaphysics.     

The training of future scientists

Just as active observation is an essential quality, for all abstractive work depends upon it, the desire for an ever‐deeper understanding of the world is another.

Play is essential, especially in that it develops the child's thirst for knowledge.

Experience leads to intuition for results, especially through geometry. Independence of mind is an essential quality for a researcher.     

Adolescent health. Challenges for behavioral scientists

Clearly, the role of behavioral scientists in adolescent health is not limited to service delivery. They also have a role to play via their contributions to basic knowledge of adolescent health and development, their involvement with the design and evaluation of health systems, their efforts to design and evaluate interventions to reduce adolescent morbidity and mortality, and their contributions to adolescent health policy. The once popular view of adolescence as a period of inevitable storm and stress has been replaced by one that emphasizes the potential of this developmental stage for constructive adaptation and maturation. Behavioral scientists have an important role to play in assuring that the potential of this life stage is reached for future generations of youth.     

The professional liability of behavioral scientists: An overview

Issues regarding the question of what constitutes malpractice by psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals, are reviewed. The legal concepts of negligence, professional liability, and causation are explained and related subjects including the duty of mental health professionals and what constitutes a breach of that duty are discussed and illustrated. Guidelines for avoiding legal jeopardy are also presented.     

The cognitive impact of past behavior: influences on beliefs, attitudes, and future behavioral decisions

To study the processes by which past behavior influences future behavior, participants were led to believe that without being aware of it, they had expressed either support for or opposition to the institution of comprehensive exams. Judgment and response time data suggested that participants' perceptions of their past behavior often influenced their decisions to repeat the behavior. This influence was partly the result of cognitive activity that influenced participants' cognitions about specific behavioral consequences and the attitude they based on these cognitions. More generally, however, feedback about past behavior had a direct effect on participants' attitudes and ultimate behavioral decisions that was independent of the outcome-specific cognitions. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for biased scanning of memory, dissonance reduction, self-perception, and the use of behavior as a heuristic.     

Bridging the schism between behavioral and cognitive analyses

A major schism in modern scientific psychology has occurred between behavior analysts and cognitive psychologists. The two groups speak in different languages, but the languages can be translated so that they are mutually understandable; when either language is translated into the other, similarities emerge from seeming differences. We draw an analogy between the basic units of behavior analysis (the operant and the establishing operation) and cognitive psychology (the production). We argue that both units describe behavior as a function of motivative and discriminative antecedents. In addition, the two perspectives account in analogous ways for ongoing changes in motivation and for control by verbal statements. Adherents of the two perspectives have experimentally analyzed some of the same problems and fashioned similar solutions for applied problems. We conclude that many of the commonly cited differences between the two perspectives are the result of misunderstanding, and that the real differences need not preclude communication and collaboration. The schism can be bridged.     

Neuromodulation of behavioral and cognitive development across the life span

Among other mechanisms, behavioral and cognitive development entail, on the one hand, contextual scaffolding and, on the other hand, neuromodulation of adaptive neurocognitive representations across the life span. Key brain networks underlying cognition, emotion, and motivation are innervated by major transmitter systems (e.g., the catecholamines and acetylcholine). Thus, the maturation and senescence of neurotransmitter systems have direct implications for life span development. Recent progress in molecular genetics has opened new avenues for investigating neuromodulation of behavioral and cognitive development. This special section features 6 selected reviews of recent cognitive genetic evidence on the roles of dopamine and other transmitters in different domains of behavioral and cognitive development, ranging from temperament, executive control, and working memory to motivation and goal-directed behavior in different life periods.     

认知行为治疗的生物学机制

现阶段认知行为治疗的生物学机制尚不明确。本文将从脑功能、神经电生理、神经内分泌与免疫以及遗传与表观遗传这四个方面对认知行为治疗的生物学机制进行讨论, 综合心理、生理和遗传三方面的结果, 从微观、中间和宏观多层面提出了认知行为治疗生物学机制的整合模型。并进一步对目前研究的局限性进行了讨论, 为未来探究认知行为治疗的生物学机制提供了新的方向。     

A cognitive behavioral workshop for subclinical obsessions and compulsions

The present study investigates the effectiveness of a 3-h cognitive behavioral workshop for individuals, ages 18-22, with subclinical obsessions and compulsions. It was hypothesized that, compared to individuals in an assessment-only waitlist group (n = 42), individuals assigned to the workshop group (n = 43) would experience a significant decrease in obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptomatology, comorbidity, and thought action fusion endorsement at 1-month and 5-month follow-up assessments. An additional outcome of interest was the number of incident cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) over the course of the study. The results indicated that the workshop group reported a significantly fewer number of OC symptoms at 5-month follow-up and endorsed significantly less thought action fusion at both follow-up points. However, there were no differences between groups in severity of OC symptoms and number of comorbid diagnoses endorsed. Only one incident case of OCD was observed during the study, from a participant in the waitlist group. These results are discussed in reference to treatment of subclinical anxiety symptoms.     

Training the brain: fact and fad in cognitive and behavioral remediation

Putatively safe and effective for improving cognitive performance in both health and disease, products purported to train the brain appeal to consumers and healthcare practitioners. In an increasingly health-centered society, these applications constitute a burgeoning commercial market. Sparse evidence coupled with lack of scientific rigor, however, leaves claims concerning the impact and duration of such brain training largely unsubstantiated. On the other hand, at least some scientific findings seem to support the effectiveness and sustainability of training for higher brain functions such as attention and working memory. In the present paper we provide a tectonic integration and synthesis of cognitive training approaches. Specifically, we sketch the relative merits and shortcomings of these programs, which often appeal to parents who must choose between side-effect-laden medication and other less conventional options. Here we examine how neuroplasticity allows the healthy as well the impaired to benefit from cognitive training programs. We evaluate the evidence and consider whether brain training can be a stand-alone treatment or an adjunct to pharmacotherapy, outline promising future prospects, and highlight what training outcomes are plausible in line with available data. Future research would determine whether the field of brain training realizes its potential to revolutionize education and rehabilitation or withers away engulfed in controversy.