Consciousness, accessibility, and the mesh between psychology and neuroscience

How can we disentangle the neural basis of phenomenal consciousness from the neural machinery of the cognitive access that underlies reports of phenomenal consciousness? We see the problem in stark form if we ask how we can tell whether representations inside a Fodorian module are phenomenally conscious. The methodology would seem straightforward: Find the neural natural kinds that are the basis of phenomenal consciousness in clear cases--when subjects are completely confident and we have no reason to doubt their authority--and look to see whether those neural natural kinds exist within Fodorian modules. But a puzzle arises: Do we include the machinery underlying reportability within the neural natural kinds of the clear cases? If the answer is "Yes," then there can be no phenomenally conscious representations in Fodorian modules. But how can we know if the answer is "Yes"? The suggested methodology requires an answer to the question it was supposed to answer! This target article argues for an abstract solution to the problem and exhibits a source of empirical data that is relevant, data that show that in a certain sense phenomenal consciousness overflows cognitive accessibility. I argue that we can find a neural realizer of this overflow if we assume that the neural basis of phenomenal consciousness does not include the neural basis of cognitive accessibility and that this assumption is justified (other things being equal) by the explanations it allows.     

A study of time management: the correlation between video game usage and academic performance markers.

This study analyzes the correlation between video game usage and academic performance. Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and grade-point average (GPA) scores were used to gauge academic performance. The amount of time a student spends playing video games has a negative correlation with students' GPA and SAT scores. As video game usage increases, GPA and SAT scores decrease. A chi-squared analysis found a p value for video game usage and GPA was greater than a 95% confidence level (0.005 < p < 0.01). This finding suggests that dependence exists. SAT score and video game usage also returned a p value that was significant (0.01 < p < 0.05). Chi-squared results were not significant when comparing time spent studying and an individual's SAT score. This research suggests that video games may have a detrimental effect on an individual's GPA and possibly on SAT scores. Although these results show statistical dependence, proving cause and effect remains difficult, since SAT scores represent a single test on a given day. The effects of video games maybe be cumulative; however, drawing a conclusion is difficult because SAT scores represent a measure of general knowledge. GPA versus video games is more reliable because both involve a continuous measurement of engaged activity and performance. The connection remains difficult because of the complex nature of student life and academic performance. Also, video game usage may simply be a function of specific personality types and characteristics.     

Dynamic perceptual completion and the dynamic snapshot view to help solve the ‘two times’ problem

Perceptual completion fills the gap for discrete perception to become continuous. Similarly, dynamic perceptual completion (DPC) provides an experience of dynamic continuity. Our recent discovery of the ‘happening’ (H) element of DPC completes the total experience for dynamism in the flow of time (FOT). However, a phenomenological explanation for these experiences is essential. The Snapshot Hypotheses especially the Dynamic Snapshot View provides the most comprehensive explanation. From that understanding the ‘two times’ problem (TTP) can be addressed. The static time of spacetime cosmologies has been irreconcilable with the dynamic FOT. Dismissing the FOT as an illusion is unsatisfactory. Therefore, we provide four hypotheses for the TTP.

1) Since cosmological static time demands that all events (cerebral included) are discrete, DPC elements for dynamism should likewise be expected to be discrete and accounted for by a snapshot phenomenology such as the DSV. 2) If temporality can be demonstrated to be similar to apparent motion by being a snapshot phenomenon and not demanding temporal extension it would confirm the DSV and permit reconciliation with static time. 3) If the ‘present moment’ (of the FOT) is subjective as static time theories suggest, it should be possible experimentally for an observer to choose his own ‘present’ by moving (perceptually) to various points in the past with the aid of virtual reality. 4) If dynamism e.g. motion can be precluded without significant information loss or violating physics principles it is a cognitive add-on, thereby contradicting non-static time theories which suggest that time is ‘real.’ We confirm those hypotheses.

     

Finding a serial burglar's home using distance decay and conditional origin–destination patterns: a test of empirical Bayes journey-to-crime estimation in the Hague

Can we tell where an offender lives from where he or she commits crimes? Journey-to-crime estimation is a tool that uses crime locations to tell us where to search for a serial offender's home. In this paper, we test a new method: empirical Bayes journey-to-crime estimation. It differs from previous methods because it utilises an ‘origin–destination’ rule in addition to the ‘distance decay’ rule that prior methods have used. In the new method, the profiler not only asks ‘what distances did previous offenders travel between their home and the crime scenes?’ but also ‘where did previous offenders live who offended at the locations included in the crime series I investigate right now?’. The new method could not only improve predictive accuracy, it could also reduce the traditional distinction between marauding and commuting offenders. Utilising the CrimeStat software, we apply the new method to 62 serial burglars in The Hague, The Netherlands, and show that the new method has higher predictive accuracy than methods that only exploit a distance decay rule. The new method not only improves the accuracy of predicting the homes of commuters—offenders who live outside their offending area—it also improves the search for marauders—offenders who live inside their offending area. After presenting an example of the application of the technique for prediction of a specific burglar, we discuss the limitations of the method and offer some suggestions for its future development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can Community Indicators Live Up to Their Expectations? The Case of the Flemish City Monitor for Livable and Sustainable Urban Development

The City Monitor is a policy instrument and has been used to measure the state of 13 Flemish cities in 2004, 2006 and 2008. The community indicators of the City Monitor provide feedback on the evolution of a multitude of phenomena, and so they represent an opportunity for policy learning about the livability and sustainability of those cities. Indicators simplify the representation of societal problems and in that sense they are helping the communication between city authorities and their stakeholders. In this article we also focus on two innovative characteristics of the co-design methodology of the City Monitor. First of all, indicators were constructed on the basis of a normative vision about urban sustainability. We argue that a sustainability framework can give value added to map vital signs of the quality of life in Flemish cities. Secondly, the City Monitor was being developed with the participation of about 200 experts, coming from city governments and other administrations, civil society and academic world. It is our argument that the participatory approach fosters the use of community indicators and generates interesting side effects. As a third argument, we indicate the importance of the attitude of city authority people for its implementation within the city organisation. The City Monitor is certainly meant as an input for urban policy debate about the quality of life in the major Flemish cities. Does it live up to its expectations? And will the vision and indicators on urban sustainability stir up the debate about urban sustainable development?     

Infant responding to joint attention, executive processes, and self-regulation in preschool children

Infant joint attention is related to behavioral and social outcomes, as well as language in childhood. Recent research and theory suggests that the relations between joint attention and social-behavioral outcomes may reflect the role of executive self-regulatory processes in the development of joint attention. To test this hypothesis two studies were conducted. The first, cross-sectional study examined the development of responding to joint attention (RJA) skill in terms of increasing executive efficiency of responding between 9 and 18 months of age. The results indicated that development of RJA was characterized by a decreased latency to shift attention in following another person's gaze and head turn, as well as an increase in the proportion of correct RJA responses exhibited by older infants. The second study examined the longitudinal relations between 12-month measures of responding to joint attention and 36-month attention regulation in a delay of gratification task. The results indicated that responding to joint attention at 12-months was significantly related to children's use of three types of self-regulation behaviors while waiting for a snack reward at 36 months of age. These observations are discussed in light of a developmental theory of attention regulation and joint attention in infancy.     

Editorial

Austrian economics ‐ the school of thought associated with Carl Menger, Frederick von Weiser, Eugen von Bohm‐Bawerk, and in this century, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Murray N. Rothbard, and Israel Kirzner ‐ is based on a framework of methodological principles and assumptions much at variance with those of traditional or ‘orthodox’ economists. Robert Nozick, in his ‘On Austrian Methodology’, focuses attention on the most fundamental features of this framework, and subjects them to a thoroughgoing and scathing analysis. Singled out for detailed and critical review are: (1) the praxeological concepts of methodological individualism; (2) the claim that economics is an a priori science of human action; (3) the nature of preference and its relation to choice and action; and (4) the assumptions of time‐preference theory. Although Nozick does not consider Austrian views on business cycles, market process analysis, the coordinative and informational effects of the price system, competition, and several other fundamental aspects of praxeology, his criticism strikes at the very root of the praxeological school. This paper attempts to refute each criticism made of the praxeological school by Nozick on a point‐by‐point basis. It thus follows the same pattern as the original paper, and scrutinizes in detail the arguments made by its author.     

Tyrosine ameliorates heat induced delay in event related potential P300 and contingent negative variation

The efficacy of tyrosine, a catecholamine precursor, as a countermeasure in the reduction of cognitive decline during heat exposure (HE) using event-related potential P300, and contingent negative variation (CNV) was evaluated. Ten healthy males, age 20–30 years participated in the study. Volunteers received placebo or tyrosine (6.5 g) 90 min prior to HE (1.5 h in 45 °C + 30% RH). P300 latency was significantly increased (p < 0.01) during exposure with placebo, which was reduced significantly (p < 0.01) after tyrosine supplementation. There was an increase in CNV M100 latency (p < 0.05) and reaction time (p < 0.01) and decrease in M100 amplitude (p < 0.01) during HE with placebo, which returns to near normal level with the tyrosine administration. A significantly higher plasma norepinephrine (p < 0.05), dopamine and epinephrine levels were detected in tyrosine supplemented group post heat exposure. HE increases the brain catecholamine activity thereby reduces the plasma norepinephrine and dopamine level leading to a reduction in cognitive performances. Tyrosine supplementation increases the catecholamine level and reduces the impairment of cognitive performance during HE.