Self-organizing maps for internal representations

Summary One of the biological mechanisms that has so far been poorly understood is the ability of the brain to form representations of primary sensory experiences at increasingly higher levels of abstraction. At many lower perceptual levels, sensory information first becomes represented in topographically ordered sensory maps. In these maps neurons become tuned in a regular manner to simple stimulus features, such as amplitude, frequency, or direction of sound. In this paper it is shown that a model, originally devised by Kohonen for the understanding of the self-organized formation of such lower-level maps, can also explain the formation of more abstract maps, such as adaptive maps for use in motor control, or maps in which, during a learning stage, the neurons become tuned in an orderly fashion to aspects of the semantic meaning of words. The actual presence of such maps in the brain is speculative at present, but many maps of simpler type have been found. It is argued that the process of the adaptive formation of maps may offer a way to a more unified understanding of many aspects of information processing in the brain.On leave to the University of Bielefeld, Department of Computer Science, D-4800 Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany.     

Reply to William R. Ferrell’s paper “A model for realism of confidence judgments: Implications for underconfidence in sensory discrimination”

Ferrell’s decision-variable partition model and our subjective distance model belong to the same family of Thurstonial models. The subjective distance model is limited to sensory discrimination with the method of constant stimuli and rooted in such notions as discriminal dispersion and sense distance. Ferrell’s model is intended to be wider in scope and to apply to both cognitive and sensory tasks. Both models need supplementary assumptions to predict calibration phenomena. The point of departure for us is the fact that the model predicts under-confidence under “guessing” and the empirical finding that people are about 100% correct when they report “absolutely certain.” Ferrell makes assumptions about cutoffs on the decision variable. The respondent is assumed to adjust or not adjust cutoffs according to “cues to difficulty.” We disagree with Ferrell’s claim that the hard-easy effect is explained by the respondent’s failure to adjust cutoffs sufficiently when there is a change in level of difficulty, and argue that this amounts to little more than a translation of the hard-easy effect into the lingua of Ferrell’s decision-variable partition model. Our argument is that the hard-easy effect is a consequence of the post hoc division of items according to solution probability. In addition, error variance may contribute to regression effects that enlarge the hard-easy effect. Finally, in contrast to Ferrell’s position, we regard inference (cognitive uncertainty) and discrimination (sensory uncertainty) as different psychological processes. An understanding of calibration in these two areas requires separate models.     

On the logic of adverbs

In the paper I investigate aspects of adverbial modification as an operation applying an adverb or adverbial phrase to a predicate and thereby creating a new predicate. The logic of adverbial modification, on this view, belongs to the logic of predicate modifiers. The theory I present is intended to cover not only adverbial modification but also attributive modification, but problems concerning the latter will not be given any special attention.     

Art therapy in transcultural family therapy

The increased existence of foreign culture patterns in the child population calls for transcultural comprehension in child psychiatry. This case report describes transcultural aspects in the therapy of an 11 year-old Moslem girl admitted to a child psychiatric department. Her symptoms were abdominal pain, headache, anxiety, and pretended fever. A family therapeutic approach was used together with elements of art therapy and individual therapy in a successful treatment. The family therapeutic approach was based on art therapy as a part of the communication where cultural symbols were an important part. An interpreter was not used. The cultural context where it is acceptable to overstep the borderline between reality and fantasy is seen as an important healing capacity.I would like to acknowledge my debt and my appreciation to Ebba Ernst, psychologist of the department and supervisor in the therapy of the S. family. I would also like to thank professor Kai Tolstrup and child psychiatrist Torben Marner for stimulating support in the process of writing the article. A grant from Enkefrue Hermansens Mindelegat made the participation in the Krakow Congress possible.     

Educating the Senses: Explorations in Aesthetics,Embodiment and Sensory Pedagogy

Studies in Philosophy and Education - This volume takes two different, albeit intertwined approaches. The first concerns a reformulation of aesthetics in education—one which highlights the...     

Evidence for altered configural body processing in women at risk of disorders characterized by body image disturbance

Two studies were conducted to assess appearance-related visual processing mechanisms in populations at risk of disorders characterized by body image disturbance. Using inverted stimuli, Experiment 1 assessed visual processing mechanisms associated with body, face, and house viewing in adolescents. Experiment 2 applied the same protocol to assess appearance-related configural processing in high- and low-risk adolescent women, and women recovering from disorders characterized by body image disturbance. Experiment 1 found evidence for typical configural face and body processing, although adolescent women reported higher levels of body image concern (BIC) and self-objectified to a greater extent than adolescent men. In Experiment 2, typical body inversion effects were seen in the low-risk group, whilst there was some evidence to suggest a disruption to the configural processing of body stimuli in high-risk adolescents and in women recovering from body image disorders. Women in recovery were also quicker to respond to all stimuli, whilst high-risk adolescents took longer to respond to bodies than to other stimuli. Configural face processing was intact in all groups, and effects did not directly relate to BIC or self-objectification. These findings have implications for future research looking to inform early interventions and treatment, suggesting that there could be a tendency to visually process individual body parts at the expense of the whole-body form in women at risk of developing body image disorders, as well as those in recovery.     

Self-Compassion and Need Frustration Moderate the Effects of Upward Appearance Comparisons on Body Image Discrepancies

Abstract

Drawing from diverse theoretical frameworks, we examined predictors of discrepancy between current and ideal body image in a sample of 396 Greek adolescents. The participants completed assessments of the frequency of comparing oneself with someone of perceived better appearance, appearance evaluations, frustration of basic psychological needs, and appearance self-compassion. We found that upward appearance comparisons negatively predicted appearance evaluation, which in turn was a negative predictor of body image discrepancy. Moderated mediation analyses showed that appearance self-compassion buffered, whereas psychological need frustration augmented the negative effects of upward comparisons on appearance evaluation. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on body image discrepancies in adolescence by examining moderating factors that amplify or buffer such discrepancies, hence identifying viable intervention pathways.