Time and defeasibility in FIPA ACL semantics

Inferences about speech acts are often conditional, non-monotonic, and involve the issue of time. Most agent communication languages, however, ignore these issues, due to the difficulty to combine them in a single formalism. This paper addresses such issues in defeasible logic, and shows how to express a semantics for ACLs in order to make non-monotonic inferences on the basis of speech acts.     

The organization and dissolution of semantic-conceptual knowledge: Is the ‘amodal hub’ the only plausible model?

In recent years, the anatomical and functional bases of conceptual activity have attracted a growing interest. In particular, Patterson and Lambon-Ralph have proposed the existence, in the anterior parts of the temporal lobes, of a mechanism (the 'amodal semantic hub') supporting the interactive activation of semantic representations in all modalities and for all semantic categories. The aim of then present paper is to discuss this model, arguing against the notion of an 'amodal' semantic hub, because we maintain, in agreement with the Damasio's construct of 'higher-order convergence zone', that a continuum exists between perceptual information and conceptual representations, whereas the 'amodal' account views perceptual informations only as a channel through which abstract semantic knowledge can be activated. According to our model, semantic organization can be better explained by two orthogonal higher-order convergence systems, concerning, on one hand, the right vs. left hemisphere and, on the other hand, the ventral vs. dorsal processing pathways. This model posits that conceptual representations may be mainly based upon perceptual activities in the right hemisphere and upon verbal mediation in the left side of the brain. It also assumes that conceptual knowledge based on the convergence of highly processed visual information with other perceptual data (and mainly concerning living categories) may be bilaterally represented in the anterior parts of the temporal lobes, whereas knowledge based on the integration of visual data with action schemata (namely knowledge of actions, body parts and artefacts) may be more represented in the left fronto-temporo-parietal areas.     

When the whole is more than the sum of its parts: Group motivation gains in the wild

Whereas negative effects of groups on individual motivation have been reported for many years, recent research has begun to show when and why working in a group can produce motivation gains compared to individual work. So far, this evidence has been limited to laboratory settings and rather simple tasks. Using data from swimming competitions at the 2008 Olympics, evidence is presented that motivation gains in groups also occur in field settings with more complex tasks. Based on an instrumentality × value approach, we expect that late positions in a relay trigger motivation gains in groups due to an increase in perceived indispensability for the group outcome. This idea has been initially tested in a pilot study with competitive swimmers, demonstrating that perceived indispensability for the relay outcome indeed increases with later serial positions in a relay. Moreover, the main study with data from the 2008 Olympics revealed performance times consistent with this pattern of indispensability perceptions: while starting swimmers in the swimming relays performed at similar levels as in their individual competitions, swimmers at the later positions showed higher performance in the relay compared to their individual competition heats.     

Psychological distance to reward: Effects of S+ duration and the delay reduction it signals

A concurrent-chains procedure was used to examine choice between segmented (two-component chained schedules) and unsegmented schedules (simple schedules) in terminal links with equal inter-reinforcement intervals. Previous studies using this kind of experimental procedure showed preference for unsegmented schedules for both pigeons and humans. In this study, two changes in the experimental procedure were made relative to the usual experimental procedure reported in the literature. The first was that in the segmented schedule the second terminal-link stimulus appeared close to reinforcement presentation and the second was that the change in stimulus was brief, allowing the first stimulus to reappear and to be contiguous with reinforcement. With these changes, preference occurred for the segmented schedule. This result is consistent with principles of conditioned reinforcement, including delay-reduction theory.     

Skepticism: Lehrer versus Mooreanism

I will compare Lehrer??s anti-skeptical strategy from a coherentist point of view with the anti-skeptical strategy of the Mooreans. I will argue that there are strong similarities between them: neither can present a persuasive argument to the skeptic and both face the problem of easy knowledge in one way or another. However, both can offer a complete and self-explanatory explanation of knowledge although Mooreanism can offer the more natural one. Hence, one has good reasons to prefer Mooreanism to Lehrer??s anti-skeptical approach, if one does not prefer coherentism to foundationalism for other reasons.     

Attachment Styles and Construction of Self in a Clinical Group of Aerophobic: A Pilot Study

These constructivist exploratory study set out to explore the relationship between flying phobia and attachment styles, as well as between phobia and construction of self, others and world. We hyphothesised that individual affected by flying phobia would display avoidant and anxious-ambivalent attachment styles, and that their core constructs would be semantically related to primary ??freedom/dependence?? construct. 40 individuals affected by aerophobia were administered with two self reported instruments (AAQ and ASQ) after compiled a self-characterization. The phobic group was significantly connected to an avoidant style. In addition the phobic individuals define themselves as dependant, fearful, powerless and reserved. Clinical implication of this study, limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Selective impairment of living things and musical instruments on a verbal 'Semantic Knowledge Questionnaire' in a case of apperceptive visual agnosia

Semantic memory was investigated in a patient (MR) affected by a severe apperceptive visual agnosia, due to an ischemic cerebral lesion, bilaterally affecting the infero-mesial parts of the temporo-occipital cortices. The study was made by means of a Semantic Knowledge Questionnaire (Laiacona, Barbarotto, Trivelli, & Capitani, 1993), which takes separately into account four categories of living beings (animals, fruits, vegetables and body parts) and of artefacts (furniture, tools, vehicles and musical instruments), does not require a visual analysis and allows to distinguish errors concerning super-ordinate categorization, perceptual features and functional/encyclopedic knowledge. When the total number of errors obtained on all the categories of living and non-living beings was considered, a non-significant trend toward a higher number of errors in living stimuli was observed. This difference, however, became significant when body parts and musical instruments were excluded from the analysis. Furthermore, the number of errors obtained on the musical instruments was similar to that obtained on the living categories of animals, fruits and vegetables and significantly higher of that obtained in the other artefact categories. This difference was still significant when familiarity, frequency of use and prototypicality of each stimulus entered into a logistic regression analysis. On the other hand, a separate analysis of errors obtained on questions exploring super-ordinate categorization, perceptual features and functional/encyclopedic attributes showed that the differences between living and non-living stimuli and between musical instruments and other artefact categories were mainly due to errors obtained on questions exploring perceptual features. All these data are at variance with the 'domains of knowledge' hypothesis', which assumes that the breakdown of different categories of living and non-living things respects the distinction between biological entities and artefacts and support the models assuming that 'category-specific semantic disorders' are the by-product of the differential weighting that visual-perceptual and functional (or action-related) attributes have in the construction of different biological and artefacts categories.     

The Penn State Worry Questionnaire—Past Day: Development and Validation of a Measure Assessing Daily Levels of Worry

Based on the widely used Penn State Worry Questionnaire for trait worry, a scale was developed to measure the level of worry experienced during the past 24 h. This instrument, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire—Past Day (PSWQ-PD), was administered to a student sample and two clinical samples. The PSWQ-PD demonstrated high internal consistency, good convergent validity and adequate test-retest reliability. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a unifactorial solution provided the best fit. Moreover, it was shown that the PSWQ-PD is a more state-like worry measure than the original PSWQ. The PSWQ-PD is a promising, brief tool for daily worry assessment, which is apt for frequent administration.     

Schwere Anorexia nervosa

Background

Psychosomatic support during acute medical treatment of patients with anorexia nervosa is a special need but up to now a rare constellation. These patients can barely accept necessary somatic procedures even if they suffer from severe consequences of the eating disorder. The ambivalence of patients towards treatment is explained by the loss of the right perception of their bodies and the strong obsession with further weight loss.

Methods

This article reports on eight consecutively treated patients on a medical ward who received a liaison psychosomatic, psychotherapeutic visit twice a week. The aim was to maintain better therapy adherence, to support oral food intake and understanding of the disorder as well as to motivate patients for further psychosomatic treatment.

Results

By means of a respectful cooperation between the departments of internal medicine and psychosomatics it was possible to gain psychotherapeutic access to the patients in this highly complicated situation.

Consequence

The psychodynamic aspects of this collaboration are discussed with a focus on the triangulation of the therapeutic process.