Mice and rats fail to integrate exogenous timing noise into their time-based decisions

Endogenous timing uncertainty results in variability in time-based judgments. In many timing tasks, animals need to incorporate their level of endogenous timing uncertainty into their decisions in order to maximize the reward rate. Although animals have been shown to adopt such optimal behavioral strategies in time-based decisions, whether they can optimize their behavior under exogenous noise is an open question. In this study, we tested mice and rats in a task that required them to space their responses for a minimum duration (DRL task) in different task conditions. In one condition, the minimum wait time was fixed, whereas in other conditions minimum wait time was a Gaussian random variable. Although reward maximization entailed waiting longer with added exogenous timing variability, results indicated that both mice and rats became more impulsive and deviated from optimality with increasing levels of exogenous noise. We introduce a reward-rate-dependent sampling function to SET to account for optimal performance in noiseless and suboptimal performance in noisy environments.     

What Mary Didn't Read: On Literary Narratives and Knowledge

In the philosophy of art, one of the most important debates concerns the so‐called ‘cognitive value’ of literature. The main question is phrased in various ways. Can literary narratives provide knowledge? Can readers learn from works of literature? Most of the discussants agree on an affirmative answer, but it is contested what the relevant notions of truth and knowledge are and whether this knowledge and learning influence aesthetic or literary value. The issue takes on a wider, not only philosophical, importance as it is one of the central tenets of humanistic education that art and literature are valuable not only because the pleasure they afford. This paper offers a new line of argument in departing from propositional truth, arguing that literary narratives provide aesthetically significant knowledge, however, this knowledge cannot be captured in propositional form. My position depends crucially on Frank Jackson's influential knowledge argument. The paper describes a modified ‘What Mary Didn't Read’ case. In doing so, it is argued that the knowledge literary works provide should be understood as a type of experiential knowing of ‘what it is like’ analogous to what Mary acquires in the original case of seeing a new colour for the first time. 1 1 I would like to thank first and foremost David Weberman for his comments on the draft of this paper. Also, I am grateful to colleagues at the 7th In‐house Philosophy Graduate Conference of Central European University for a productive discussion. Thirdly, I am indebted to Howard Robinson and Philip Goff for illuminating debates about Jackson's thought experiment.
     

Relationship Between Perceived Organizational Support,Proactive Personality,and Perceived Employability in Workers Over 50

This article examines the relationship between perceived organizational support, proactive personality, and perceived employability in a sample of workers over 50. An online questionnaire assessing these variables were filled by 213 employees. Results confirmed that individual dispositions have a significant impact on perceived employability but also indicated that organizational context may have a greater impact on employability. The implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions are offered for future research on employability.     

Realism in Confidence Judgments as a Function of Working in Dyads or Alone

This study compares the realism of confidence judgments made by individuals and pairs of their answers to general knowledge questions, using a within-subjects design. In the initial Control condition, subjects first answered 30 questions and then confidence rated the chosen answer. For the next 30 questions (Condition 2), they wrote down an argument for the chosen answer and then confidence-rated their answer. In the third condition, the 40 subjects were divided into 20 pairs who then answered and confidence-rated the same 30 questions as in Condition 2. Pair members were asked to collaborate on all parts of the task. The results showed that overconfidence decreased in the Pair condition compared with the Single conditions. Analysis of the interaction in the Pair condition showed a higher overconfidence in those instances where one pair member dominated the interaction totally. Other analyses of the interaction in the Pair condition also supported the importance of argumentation between the pair members for realistic confidence judgments. A comparison with previous research suggests that the fact that the subjects first attempted the questions individually may have increased the proportion correct answers and limited the increase in confidence in the Pair condition. A control study, checking for the effect of subjects answering the same questions twice, found no effect of repetition for any of the three calibration measures used.     

Visual-perceptual abilities in healthy controls, depressed patients, and schizophrenia patients

Previous studies have suggested a right hemineglect in schizophrenia, however few assessed possible visual-perceptual implication in this lateralized anomaly. A manual line bisection without (i.e., lines presented on their own) or with a local cueing paradigm (i.e., a number placed at one or both ends of the line) and the Motor-free Visual Perceptual Test-Vertical format (MVPT-V) were used to assess the visual-perceptual abilities of healthy controls, schizophrenia and depressed patients. Whereas healthy controls and depressed patients showed a non-significant leftward bias in manual line bisection, schizophrenia patients bisected significantly to the left of the true centre of the line. Interestingly, the pattern of performances in response to the local cueing paradigm was similar in depressed and schizophrenia patients such that both groups demonstrated a significant change in their bisection performance only in response to a cue placed at the right extremity of the line (control performance was modified by cues at either end of the line). Finally, in the MVPT-V, schizophrenia patients were impaired relative to the other two groups, especially in the spatial working memory and visual closure categories. These results suggest that: 1/a deficit towards the right hemifield, consistent with a mild form of right hemineglect, can be observed in schizophrenia; 2/lateralized anomalies could also be observed in depression using an appropriate tool such as manual line bisection; 3/performances in the MVPT-V suggested that a simple visual-perceptual deficit could not explain the lateralized anomaly observed in the manual line bisection, as it is the case in the hemineglect syndrome.     

Ambivalent Sexism, Belief in a Just World, and Empathy as Predictors of Turkish Students’ Attitudes Toward Rape Victims

The present study investigated whether hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, belief in a just world and empathy predict attitudes toward rape victims in a Turkish sample. Turkish college students (N = 425, mean age = 22) completed scales assessing Ambivalent Sexism, Belief in a Just World and Rape Victim Empathy as predictors of a general measure of attitudes toward rape victims. Male (as compared to female) participants had significantly less positive attitudes toward rape victims. Correlational analyses showed that, for both male and female participants, benevolent as well as hostile sexism, and belief in a just world each predicted less positive attitudes toward rape victims, but empathy predicted more positive attitudes.     

The cross-cultural generalizability of Zuckerman's alternative five-factor model of personality

The aim of this study was to analyze the cross-cultural generalizability of the Alternative five-factor model (AFFM; Zuckerman, Kuhlman, & Camac, 1988). The total sample was made up of 9,152 subjects from six countries: China, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. The internal consistencies for all countries were generally similar to those found for the normative American sample. Factor analyses within cultures showed that the normative American structure was replicated in all cultures; however, the congruence coefficients were slightly lower in China and Italy. A similar analysis at the facet level confirmed the high cross-cultural replicability of the AFFM. Mean-level comparisons did not always show the hypothesized effects. The mean score differences across countries were very small.     

The camera perspective bias: a case study

In this case study, we examined how variations of the camera perspective affect adults' assessment of veracity in a real‐life high‐stake situation; a masked male confessing to a very serious crime. The interview, conducted by one of Sweden's most awarded journalists, lasted 30 minutes and consisted of over 100 detailed questions about the crime. The interview was videotaped simultaneously by three cameras positioned at different locations, each taking a unique visual perspective. One camera focused on the suspect only, one on the interviewer only, and one equally on the suspect and the interviewer. Each videotape was shown to 32 adult observers (N = 96) who were asked to assess the suspect's veracity and to report subjective cues justifying their veracity assessment. The results confirmed the camera perspective bias, by showing that the observers in the ‘suspect only’ condition assessed the confession as significantly more reliable than did the observers in the ‘interviewer only’ condition. The observers reported that they relied heavily on verbal cues when assessing the confession, and particularly regarding confidence and consistency. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Too much ado about belief

Three commitments guide Dennett’s approach to the study of consciousness. First, an ontological commitment to materialist monism. Second, a methodological commitment to what he calls ‘heterophenomenology.’ Third, a ‘doxological’ commitment that can be expressed as the view that there is no room for a distinction between a subject’s beliefs about how things seem to her and what things actually seem to her, or, to put it otherwise, as the view that there is no room for a reality/appearance distinction for consciousness. We investigate how Dennett’s third doxological commitment relates to his first two commitments and whether its acceptance should be seen as a mere logical consequence of acceptance of the first two. We will argue that this is not the case, that Dennett’s doxological commitment is in need of independent motivation, and that this independent motivation is not forthcoming.