A response to Penrose’s “Sandel on enhancement: A response to Van Niekerk”

In this article the author responds to Brian Penrose’s critical response to his (Van Niekerk’s) article “Biomedical enhancement and the pursuit of mastery and perfection: a critique of the views of Michael Sandel” that appeared in the PSSA conference edition of the SAJP 33(2), 2014. While Van Niekerk is appreciative of the opportunity for spirited dialogue that Penrose’s response provides, he nevertheless takes issue with several charges Penrose raises. He responds to Penrose’s claims that Van Niekerk does not fully understand “the Sandel project” and thus that Van Niekerk creates and shoots down a straw man in his argument against Sandel. Van Niekerk argues that Penrose’s claims are indicative of significant methodological differences between their respective approaches. Penrose acknowledges the “fuzziness” of Sandel’s arguments with regards to biomedical enhancement. He then develops an interpretation of Sandel’s views that claims to have “filled in the complete picture” of what Sandel attempts to do, and then reproaches Van Niekerk for not responding to that “completed picture”, i.e. the “Sandel project”. Van Niekerk finds this to be an unreasonable and methodologically highly problematic demand on him. Van Niekerk responds to a number of Penrose’s arguments, and then concludes that while there are, of course, good reasons to exercise caution at the prospect of biomedical enhancement with regard to its risks, the possibilities offered by enhancement need not elicit a prima facie reaction of pessimism. Rather, such prospects can also be regarded in a positive light as an exciting opportunity to take our own evolution in hand.     

Self-directedness and the susceptibility to distraction by saliency

People with low Self-directedness (SD) tend to explain their behaviour as being significantly influenced by events in the external environment. One important dimension of external cues is their level of salience: highly salient external stimuli are more likely to capture attention, even when such stimuli are not relevant to goals. We examined whether adults reporting low SD would exhibit greater susceptibility to distraction by highly salient external stimuli. Fifty-four (42 males) subjects completed the Attention Modulation by Salience Task (AMST) measuring reaction times to early- or late-onset auditory stimuli in the presence of high- or low-salience visual distractors. SD was assessed via self-report, and analyses tested the relationship between SD and performance on the AMST. Results showed a slowed early response to auditory cues during high salience compared to low salience. Indeed, individuals reporting low SD showed stronger salience interference, suggesting that external causality attribution is accompanied by a subconscious perceptual deficit.     

Effects of NMDA receptor channel blockade on aggression in isolated male mice

N‐Methyl‐D ‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists are perspective candidates for medication development for a number of diseases/states that are associated with increased aggressiveness (e.g., opioid withdrawal). The prototypic NMDA receptor antagonist phencyclidine (PCP) itself is a widely abused substance and is known to elevate levels of aggression in drug users. The present study was aimed at testing several drugs that share with PCP the ability to block NMDA receptor–associated channel. The resident‐intruder procedure was used to assess drug effects on aggressive behavior in isolated male mice. Resident aggressive mice were administered NMDA channel blockers (PCP; 0.3–10 mg/kg), dizocilpine (MK‐801; 0.01–0.3 mg/kg), memantine (1–30 mg/kg), and MRZ 2/579 (0.1–5.6 mg/kg). The competitive NMDA receptor antagonist D CPPene (0.1–5.6 mg/kg) was also tested as a compound representing an alternative approach to reduce activity of NMDA receptor complex. PCP, dizocilpine, and memantine inhibited expression of aggressive behaviors only at doses that produced ataxia. The novel channel blocker MRZ 2/579 also produced ataxia at the highest dose level but failed to affect aggressiveness. Reduction in aggression with a corresponding increase in sociability was observed after administration of D ‐CPPene. Overall, the present results suggest that NMDA receptor channel blockers do not exert selective effects on aggressive behavior. Aggr. Behav. 25:381–396, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Comparison of impulsiveness, venturesomeness and empathy (I7) structure in English and Spanish samples: Analysis of different structural equation models

The present study analyzed the factorial structure of the I₇ Impulsiveness questionnaire (Impulsiveness, Venturesomeness and Empathy) with a Spanish sample of 742 males and 1.075 females, through exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis. In relation to the original English data, a three-factor structure showed global congruency coefficients of 0.92 and 0.94 for men and women. Venturesomeness had a modest congruency for males (0.83). A cross-validation analytical strategy showed that the 24-item I₇ was invariant only for the female sample. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis with 24 items showed a sound factor structure. The 24-item version showed the best and most robust structure and similar internal consistency coefficients in regard to the 54-item version. No important differences were founded between I₇ long and short versions with impulsiveness scales of ZKPQ, BIS-10 and SPSRQ.     

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.     

Extraversion and neuroticism in team sport participants, individual sport participants, and nonparticipants

Scores on Extraversion and on Neuroticism as measured by the Eysenck Personality Inventory were compared for 90 undergraduate team sport participants, individual sport participants, and nonparticipants (43 men, 47 women, M age = 20.3 yr.). From past research and Eysenck's biological theory of personality, it was hypothesized that sport participants would score higher on Extraversion and lower on Neuroticism than nonparticipants, and that team participants would score higher on Extraversion and perhaps higher on Neuroticism than individual sport participants. By comparing scores for students in first year and final year, it was also investigated whether pre-existing personality differences drew people to sport (the gravitational hypothesis) or whether personality changed as a function of sport participation (the developmental hypothesis). The main findings were that team participants scored higher on Extraversion than both individual sport participants and nonparticipants, and that test scores did not change over time, supporting the gravitational hypothesis for Extraversion.     

Working memory deficits in transgenic rats overexpressing human adenosine A2A receptors in the brain

Adenosine receptors in the central nervous system have been implicated in the modulation of different behavioural patterns and cognitive functions although the specific role of A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) subtype in learning and memory is still unclear. In the present work we establish a novel transgenic rat strain, TGR(NSEhA2A), overexpressing adenosine A(2A)Rs mainly in the cerebral cortex, the hippocampal formation, and the cerebellum. Thereafter, we explore the relevance of this A(2A)Rs overexpression for learning and memory function. Animals were behaviourally assessed in several learning and memory tasks (6-arms radial tunnel maze, T-maze, object recognition, and several Morris water maze paradigms) and other tests for spontaneous motor activity (open field, hexagonal tunnel maze) and anxiety (plus maze) as modification of these behaviours may interfere with the assessment of cognitive function. Neither motor performance and emotional/anxious-like behaviours were altered by overexpression of A(2A)Rs. TGR(NSEhA2A) showed normal hippocampal-dependent learning of spatial reference memory. However, they presented working memory deficits as detected by performance of constant errors in the blind arms of the 6 arm radial tunnel maze, reduced recognition of a novel object and a lack of learning improvement over four trials on the same day which was not observed over consecutive days in a repeated acquisition paradigm in the Morris water maze. Given the interdependence between adenosinic and dopaminergic function, the present results render the novel TGR(NSEhA2A) as a putative animal model for the working memory deficits and cognitive disruptions related to overstimulation of cortical A(2A)Rs or to dopaminergic prefrontal dysfunction as seen in schizophrenic or Parkinson's disease patients.     

Tötungsdelinquenten im Normalvollzug unter besonderer Berücksichtigung psychiatrisch unauffälliger Mörder

We collected data on 121 cases of homicide and manslaughter in the normal penitentiary system and counted the cases of perpetrators with, and without, psychiatric diagnosis. About 30% of the sample consisted in perpetrators without any psychiatric diagnosis; in contrast, about 40% were diagnosed as personality disorder; some few cases (7%) were classified as alcoholism or polytoxicomania, respectively; and the rest (23%) were cases of both personality disorder and alcoholism/polytoxicomania. Perpetrators without psychiatric diagnosis differed in systematic ways from perpetrators with psychiatric diagnosis. The former committed their offenses more on victims in partnership and family, while perpetrators with psychiatric diagnosis frequently offended strangers. Perpetrators lacking a diagnosis used poison, and striking to dead, relatively more frequently while homicide and manslaughter by stabbing, shooting, or some combination thereof were committed mainly by perpetrators with psychiatric diagnosis. Diagnosed perpetrators had more frequently been previously convicted (nearly 70%). In sum we found a considerable percentage of perpetrators who lacked a psychiatric diagnosis. We argue that this group can properly be distinguished from perpetrators who have some psychiatric diagnosis.     

Draining the pond: why Singer’s defense of the duty to aid the world’s poor is self-defeating

Philosophical Studies - Peter Singer’s defense of the duty to aid the world’s poor by the pond analogy is self-defeating. It cannot be both true that you ought to save the drowning...