Vehicle-representationalism and hallucination

This paper is a new defense of the view that visual hallucinations lack content. The claim is that visual hallucinations are illusory not because their content is nonveridical, but rather because they seem to represent when they fail to represent anything in the first place. What accounts for the phenomenal character of visual experiences is not the content itself (content-representationalism), but rather the vehicle of content (vehicle-representationalism), that is, not the properties represented by visual experience, but rather the relational properties of experience (or of the brain) of representing singular contents, namely particular instantiations of properties. I argue that the Russellian particular-involving proposition is the only appropriate model for the representational content of visual experience and hence that visual hallucinations are just like failed demonstrations.

     

Not your mother's view: the dynamics of toddler visual experience

Human toddlers learn about objects through second-by-second, minute-by-minute sensory-motor interactions. In an effort to understand how toddlers' bodily actions structure the visual learning environment, mini-video cameras were placed low on the foreheads of toddlers, and for comparison also on the foreheads of their parents, as they jointly played with toys. Analyses of the head camera views indicate visual experiences with profoundly different dynamic structures. The toddler view often consists of a single dominating object that is close to the sensors and thus that blocks the view of other objects such that individual objects go in and out of view. The adult view, in contrast, is broad and stable, with all potential targets continually in view. These differences may arise for several developmentally relevant reasons, including the small visuo-motor workspace of the toddler (short arms) and the engagement of the whole body when actively handling objects.     

Differences between girls and boys in emerging language skills: Evidence from 10 language communities

The present study explored gender differences in emerging language skills in 13,783 European children from 10 non‐English language communities. It was based on a synthesis of published data assessed with adapted versions of the MacArthur‐Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) from age 0.08 to 2.06. The results showed that girls are slightly ahead of boys in early communicative gestures, in productive vocabulary, and in combining words. The difference increased with age. Boys were not found to be more variable than girls. Despite extensive variation in language skills between language communities, the difference between girls and boys remained. This suggests that the difference is caused by robust factors that do not change between language communities.     

Ecological Contexts in Adolescent Pregnancy: The Role of Individual,Sociodemographic, Familial and Relational Variables in Understanding Risk of Occurrence and Adjustment Patterns

Adolescent pregnancy appears today as an intricate tapestry where different dimensions interact. In our study we examined the associations between individual, sociodemographic, familial, and relational variables and their impact on the occurrence of pregnancy and adolescents’ adjustment to it. Participants were Portuguese pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents (N = 833). Ecological contexts were characterized, and individual and relational adjustment (depressive symptoms and quality of life; perceived quality of relationship with significant others—parents, romantic partner and friends) were evaluated. Differences between the ecologies of adolescents in both groups were identified. Familial and relational variables were significantly associated with both the risk of pregnancy and more difficulties in adjustment. Implications for preventive intervention are discussed.     

Untangling the Relationship Between Income and Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Perceived Income Adequacy and Borrowing Constraints

This paper aims to untangle the relationship between income and subjective well-being. To accomplish this, we investigate how subjective well-being is affected by two financially-related determinants that have not been investigated before or scarcely so. Specifically, we research the impact on subjective well-being of how people are coping with their present income as well as of their borrowing constraints. The results indicate that both variables determine subjective well-being and that they mediate the effects of other variables, namely income, which is not directly related to well-being. Additionally, they signal that income matters to the extent to which it contributes to meeting the desired consumption needs and eases borrowing constraints. Such mediating effects thus contribute to explain how income affects subjective well-being. We also inspect differences in life satisfaction responsiveness to perceived income adequacy and borrowing constraints in certain groups of individuals, and find that the subjective well-being of individuals in a more fragile financial position is particularly responsive to the alleviation of borrowing constraints.     

Effects of Participation in Decision Making on Performance and Employee Attitudes: A Quality Circles Meta-analysis

This study explores the effects of a participative technique, quality circles (QCs), on several employee attitudes and performance. The sample included 36 studies with 42 independent samples. Mean effect sizes were small for employee attitudes and moderate for job performance suggesting QCs affected job performance to a greater degree than employee attitudes. For organizations involved in quality management these results seem to suggest that quality interventions have a stronger impact on job performance than on employee attitudes. The study conclusions provide a positive outlook on the effects of total quality management interventions on productivity.