Indistinguishability, Choices, and Logics of Agency

This paper deals with structures ${\langle{\bf T}, I\rangle}$ in which T is a tree and I is a function assigning each moment a partition of the set of histories passing through it. The function I is called indistinguishability and generalizes the notion of undividedness. Belnap’s choices are particular indistinguishability functions. Structures ${\langle{\bf T}, I\rangle}$ provide a semantics for a language ${\mathcal{L}}$ with tense and modal operators. The first part of the paper investigates the set-theoretical properties of the set of indistinguishability classes, which has a tree structure. The significant relations between this tree and T are established within a general theory of trees. The aim of second part is testing the expressive power of the language ${\mathcal{L}}$ . The natural environment for this kind of investigations is Belnap’s seeing to it that (stit). It will be proved that the hybrid extension of ${\mathcal{L}}$ (with a simultaneity operator) is suitable for expressing stit concepts in a purely temporal language.     

The Church–Fitch knowability paradox in the light of structural proof theory

Anti-realist epistemic conceptions of truth imply what is called the knowability principle: All truths are possibly known. The principle can be formalized in a bimodal propositional logic, with an alethic modality ${\diamondsuit}$ and an epistemic modality ${\mathcal{K}}$ , by the axiom scheme ${A \supset \diamondsuit \mathcal{K} A}$ (KP). The use of classical logic and minimal assumptions about the two modalities lead to the paradoxical conclusion that all truths are known, ${A \supset \mathcal{K} A}$ (OP). A Gentzen-style reconstruction of the Church–Fitch paradox is presented following a labelled approach to sequent calculi. First, a cut-free system for classical (resp. intuitionistic) bimodal logic is introduced as the logical basis for the Church–Fitch paradox and the relationships between ${\mathcal {K}}$ and ${\diamondsuit}$ are taken into account. Afterwards, by exploiting the structural properties of the system, in particular cut elimination, the semantic frame conditions that correspond to KP are determined and added in the form of a block of nonlogical inference rules. Within this new system for classical and intuitionistic “knowability logic”, it is possible to give a satisfactory cut-free reconstruction of the Church–Fitch derivation and to confirm that OP is only classically derivable, but neither intuitionistically derivable nor intuitionistically admissible. Finally, it is shown that in classical knowability logic, the Church–Fitch derivation is nothing else but a fallacy and does not represent a real threat for anti-realism.     

Dysfunctional Personal Experiences and Existential Dilemmas

This article presents a theoretical discussion of the results from the research, “An Existential Understanding of Anxiety: An Integration of the Ideas of May, Yalom, and Schneider.” It focuses on the development of dysfunctional experiences according to the theoretical perspectives of Rollo May, Irvin Yalom, and Kirk Schneider. Dysfunctional experiences emerge when human beings experience (implicitly or consciously) different existential dilemmas and are unable to make consistent decisions and confront the experience of anxiety that results from such contact. In this sense, dysfunctional experiences are not developed simply from the consciousness of existential givens, as suggested by Yalom (1980 Yalom , I. ( 1980 ). Existential psychotherapy . New York , NY : Basic Books . [Google Scholar]), but by the dialectical and paradoxical relationship with the following human dilemmas: life versus death, freedom versus determinisms, isolation versus intersubjectivity, meaning versus insignificancy, individuation versus adaptation, and sense of power versus impotence. This idea implies that anxiety and dysfunctional experiences could emerge, in daily life, from the need to take concrete decisions when faced with several possibilities or dilemmas, and not only from the awareness of those possibilities.     

Processing Italian Relative Clauses: Working Memory Span and Word Order Effects on RTs

In this study, the authors aim to clarify whether the subject–object asymmetry in relative clause comprehension is due to the use of parsing strategies (Active Filler Theory) or to a greater memory load generated by object sentences. Two experiments investigate how individual differences in working memory span may influence the reading times of relative sentences in Italian, a language characterized by a flexible structure. The results of Experiment 1 indicate that object extraction is more complex than subject extraction when sentences have a canonical structure. Furthermore, low-span participants have particular difficulties with object relative sentence comprehension. The results of Experiment 2 show that subject-relative clauses with uncanonical structures are more complex to understand than object-relative clauses, and low-span participants have more difficulties than high-span participants in elaborating both subject and object relative clauses. These data seem to be coherent with the Active Filler Theory.     

The Correlation Between Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation: The Moderating Effects of Political and Religious Identity

In a secondary analysis performed on a representative sample of the Italian population (N = 887), we examined the correlation between right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO), analyzing the moderating effect exerted on such correlation by political interest and religion importance. RWA and SDO showed a positive, significant correlation (r = .38), moderated by political interest (which heightened it) and religion importance (which lowered it). Limits, implications, and possible developments of the research are discussed.     

Imágenes mentales y desarrollo cognitivo en ciegos totales de nacimiento

Resumen

El objetivo perseguido en este trabajo fue el estudiar las peculiaridades del desarrollo de la imagen mental enlos niños ciegos totales de nacimiento en la edad de adquisición de las operaciones concretas. Para ello se adaptaron algunas pruebas de las utilizadas por Piaget e Inhelder (1966) en su obra sobre la imagen mental, y se aplicaron a 29 ninos ciegos totales de nacimiento entre los 7 y los 15 años de edad, clasificados en 4 niveles de edad. Sus resultados se compararon con los de dos grupos de control de niños videntes, uno de ellos trabajando con los ojos vendados.

Los resultados muestran un retraso importante de los ciegos respecto a los videntes en uso de la visión en las pruebas que se refieren a la evocación de imágenes de configuraciones estáticas complejas, de objetos en movimiento, y de objetos que se transforman. Este retraso se achaca al de la misma cuantía observado en la adquisición de las operaciones concretas. Este desarrollo cognitivo más lento parece deberse únicamente a la modalidad sensorial utilizada, y no a un daño producido por la ceguera congénita, pues los videntes tapados obtienen resultados comparables a los ciegos.     

Design of micro-nanoscale bio-inspired hierarchical materials

In this article two mathematical models, force- or energy-based, are proposed for the design of nanoscale bio-inspired hierarchical materials, considering strong or weak interfaces, respectively. Simple formulas describing the dependence of strength, toughness and stiffness on the considered size scale are derived, taking into account toughening biomechanisms. A simple experimental comparison on a new two-level hierarchical grained material is also discussed.     

Anticipatory Anxiety of an Imminent Economic Collapse

This article describes a prospective study of 1,200 participants, half of whom were offspring of trauma survivors, and their emotional symptom levels before and after the Corralito, an economic crisis that occurred in Argentina at the end of 2001. The authors report pre- and postcrisis data on anxiety and depression in a group of adult offspring of victims of the Dirty War (1976–1983) in an attempt to ascertain whether they are at greater risk than a control group for developing anxiety and depression in response to an economic crisis. The results indicated the offspring of war victims experienced greater emotional distress than the control subjects before, but not after the imposition of the Corralito.     

Development of a new fear of hypoglycemia scale: FH-15

Hypoglycemia is the most common adverse event associated with insulin treatment in diabetes. The consequences of hypoglycemia can be quite aversive and potentially life threatening. The physical sequelae provide ample reason for patients to fear hypoglycemia and avoid episodes. For these reasons, our purpose in this study was to develop a new measure that explores specific fear of hypoglycemia (FH) in adult patients with type 1 diabetes and to examine its psychometric properties. The instrument developed to assess FH was initially made up of 20 items, of which 18 were negative and 2 were positive, assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (1-5). This scale was completed by 229 patients with type 1 diabetes. Additionally, a structured interview and a closed question called subjective fear of hypoglycemia were included as diagnostic criteria. A factor analysis employing the principal-components method and promax rotation was carried out, resulting in a new scale composed of 15 items. Three factors (fear, avoidance, and interference) were obtained and explained 58.27% of the variance. The scale showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .891) and test-retest reliability (r = .908, p < .001), as well as adequate concurrent and predictive validity. The cutoff score that provided the highest overall sensitivity and specificity was set at 28 points. The Fear of Hypoglycemia 15-item scale (FH-15) demonstrated good reliability and validity. This study suggests that the new instrument may serve as a valuable measure of specific FH for use in research and clinical practice.     

Implicit processing of tactile information: evidence from the tactile change detection paradigm

People can maintain accurate representations of visual changes without necessarily being aware of them. Here, we investigate whether a similar phenomenon (implicit change detection) also exists in touch. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants detected the presence of a change between two consecutively-presented tactile displays. Tactile change blindness was observed, with participants failing to report the presence of tactile change. Critically, however, when participants had to make a forced choice response regarding the number of stimuli presented in the two displays, their performance was significantly better than chance (i.e., implicit change detection was observed). Experiment 3 demonstrated that tactile change detection does not necessarily involve a shift of spatial attention toward the location of change, regardless of whether the change is explicitly detected. We conclude that tactile change detection likely results from comparing representations of the two displays, rather than by directing spatial attention to the location of the change.