Why reliabilism does not permit easy knowledge

Reliabilism furnishes an account of basic knowledge that circumvents the problem of the given. However, reliabilism and other epistemological theories that countenance basic knowledge have been criticized for permitting all-too-easy higher-level knowledge. In this paper, I describe the problem of easy knowledge, look briefly at proposed solutions, and then develop my own. I argue that the easy knowledge problem, as it applies to reliabilism, hinges on a false and too crude understanding of ‘reliable’. With a more plausible conception of ‘reliable’, a simple and elegant solution emerges.     

Lingering effects of inattention on the recognition of novel forms

Two experiments are reported in which participants were instructed to attend to one of two overlapping figures and report how distinctive it was (Experiment 1), or how angular it was or what it resembled (Experiment 2). Tests of recognition memory indicated that recognition of the unattended figures was below chance, consistent with the conclusion that an implicit memory of the unattended figures and an “action tag” to not respond to the figures combine at recognition to suppress positive identification. Furthermore, participants that scored high on an index of working memory ability showed worse memory for the unattended shapes, suggesting that the ability to control attention not only enhances memory for attended items, but also leads to greater suppression of unattended distractors.     

The bandwidth of consolidation into visual short-term memory depends on the visual feature

We investigated the nature of the bandwidth limit in the consolidation of visual information into visual short-term memory. In the first two experiments, we examined whether previous results showing differential consolidation bandwidth for colour and orientation resulted from methodological differences by testing the consolidation of colour information with methods used in prior orientation experiments. We briefly presented two colour patches with masks, either sequentially or simultaneously, followed by a location cue indicating the target. Participants identified the target colour via buttonpress (Experiment 1) or by clicking a location on a colour wheel (Experiment 2). Although these methods have previously demonstrated that two orientations are consolidated in a strictly serial fashion, here we found equivalent performance in the sequential and simultaneous conditions, suggesting that two colours can be consolidated in parallel. To investigate whether this difference resulted from different consolidation mechanisms or a common mechanism with different features consuming different amounts of bandwidth, Experiment 3 presented a colour patch and an oriented grating either sequentially or simultaneously. We found a lower performance in the simultaneous than the sequential condition, with orientation showing a larger impairment than colour. These results suggest that consolidation of both features share common mechanisms. However, it seems that colour requires less information to be encoded than orientation. As a result, two colours can be consolidated in parallel without exceeding the bandwidth limit, whereas two orientations or an orientation and a colour exceed the bandwidth and appear to be consolidated serially.     

Who's using treatment manuals? A national survey of practicing therapists

Treatment manuals are currently the most common way treatments are disseminated to practicing clinicians, although little is known about the rates with which practicing therapists incorporate these manuals into their practice. In light of a widely acknowledged research-practice gap, understanding how often therapists are using manuals is important for shaping future dissemination efforts. This study collected data on rates of manual use among a national sample of mental health clinicians representative of those likely to be targeted in dissemination efforts (N = 756), as well as predictors of use. Results indicated that few clinicians (<10%) routinely incorporated manuals into their practice, although most employed them to some degree. Predictors of manual use included greater openness to new treatments, younger age, and a cognitive-behavioral treatment orientation (ps < .05). Implications for future dissemination efforts are discussed.     

The role of primary and secondary control in adaptation to age-related vision loss: a study of older adults with macular degeneration

This study examines the effect of primary and secondary control on 3 major outcomes experienced by visually impaired older adults, that is, functional ability, adaptation to vision loss, and positive affect. The authors' theoretical model is based on the J. Heckhausen and R. Schulz (1995) control framework, as well as a conceptual integration of these outcomes, and they hypothesized that control beliefs can substantially contribute to explaining interindividual differences in these outcomes. A path model applied to data from a sample (N = 90) of visually impaired older adults, suffering from age-related macular degeneration, the major cause of vision loss in old age, generally supports this expectation.     

They all look the same to me (unless they're angry): from out-group homogeneity to out-group heterogeneity

People often find it more difficult to distinguish ethnic out-group members compared with ethnic in-group members. A functional approach to social cognition suggests that this bias may be eliminated when out-group members display threatening facial expressions. In the present study, 192 White participants viewed Black and White faces displaying either neutral or angry expressions and later attempted to identify previously seen faces. Recognition accuracy for neutral faces showed the out-group homogeneity bias, but this bias was entirely eliminated for angry Black faces. Indeed, when participants' cognitive processing capacity was constrained, recognition accuracy was greater for angry Black faces than for angry White faces, demonstrating an out-group heterogeneity bias.     

Flicker-induced color and form: interdependencies and relation to stimulation frequency and phase

Our understanding of human visual perception generally rests on the assumption that conscious visual states represent the interaction of spatial structures in the environment and our nervous system. This assumption is questioned by circumstances where conscious visual states can be triggered by external stimulation which is not primarily spatially defined. Here, subjective colors and forms are evoked by flickering light while the precise nature of those experiences varies over flicker frequency and phase. What's more, the occurrence of one subjective experience appears to be associated with the occurrence of others. While these data indicate that conscious visual experience may be evoked directly by particular variations in the flow of spatially unstructured light over time, it must be assumed that the systems responsible are essentially temporal in character and capable of representing a variety of visual forms and colors, coded in different frequencies or at different phases of the same processing rhythm.     

Functional projection: how fundamental social motives can bias interpersonal perception

Results from 2 experimental studies suggest that self-protection and mate-search goals lead to the perception of functionally relevant emotional expressions in goal-relevant social targets. Activating a self-protection goal led participants to perceive greater anger in Black male faces (Study 1) and Arab faces (Study 2), both out-groups heuristically associated with physical threat. In Study 2, participants' level of implicit Arab-threat associations moderated this bias. Activating a mate-search goal led male, but not female, participants to perceive more sexual arousal in attractive opposite-sex targets (Study 1). Activating these goals did not influence perceptions of goal-irrelevant targets. Additionally, participants with chronic self-protective and mate-search goals exhibited similar biases. Findings are consistent with a functionalist, motivation-based account of interpersonal perception.