Philosophy of Education in a Poor Historical Moment: A Personal Account

Under the post-metaphysical sky “old” humanistic-oriented education is possible solely at the cost of its transformation into its negative, into a power that is determined to diminish human potentials for self-exaltation. Nothing less than total metamorphosis is needed to rescue the core of humanistic genesis: the quest for edifying Life and resistance to the call for “home-returning” into the total harmony that is promised to us within nothingness.     

Environmental and Psychological Factors that Influence the Creative Excellence of Brazilian and Portuguese Women

There is increasing recognition of the importance of creativity for social development. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were differences among Brazilian and Portuguese women recognized for their creative excellence in relation to the psychological and environmental factors that might impact their achievements. The sample was composed of 33 women; 18 who were socially recognized for excellence in creativity in different areas (nine Brazilian, nine Portuguese) were compared to 15 who were not recognized (nine Brazilian, six Portuguese). The instruments used were the Biographical Questionnaire of Creative Women, a semi‐structured interview guide, and the Creative Production Analysis Guide. Non‐parametric tests indicated significant differences in environmental factors and personal cognitive characteristics between the creative and non‐creative women when compared within each country. However, no significant differences among Brazilian and Portuguese creative women were found, thus indicating that they present similar psychological profiles.     

Choose change: Situation modification,distraction, and reappraisal in mild versus intense negative situations

Motivation and Emotion - Despite the theoretical importance and applied potential of situation modification as an emotion regulation strategy, empirical research on how people change situations to...     

Phase correction in sensorimotor synchronization: nonlinearities in voluntary and involuntary responses to perturbations

When finger taps are synchronized with an auditory sequence, both a global phase shift (PS) and a local event onset shift (EOS) in the sequence elicit a phase correction response (PCR) on the next tap. The PCR to an expected PS is intended and large, whereas that to an expected EOS is unintended and smaller. PCR magnitude increases linearly with perturbation magnitude up to about +/-15% of the sequence period (500 milliseconds). With larger perturbations, voluntary PCRs increase more slowly whereas involuntary PCRs reach an asymptote. These results, obtained previously in a blocked design [J. Exp. Psychol. Human Percept. Perform. (in press)], were replicated in a randomized design and in two additional task contexts that varied participants' intentions while neutralizing their expectations. Neither design nor expectations seemed to play a role. However, considerable individual differences were noted. The results confirm that phase correction is partially automatic and partially subject to voluntary control, and they provide empirical estimates of error correction functions that may be useful in formal modeling of sensorimotor synchronization behavior.     

Action-based and vision-based selection of input: Two sources of control

In the first part of this paper we review evidence suggesting that there exists a mechanism that selects input on the basis of its similarity to the required action. This response-based input selection differs from the more established space- and object-based input selection in that it is not constrained by the structure of the input. Our evidence suggests that the two-choice Stroop effect is caused by this response-based selection mechanism. By contrast, it is known that the flanker effect is determined by the space- and object- based selection mechanisms. We explore whether the conflict resolution of the Stroop and flanker tasks is different as well by embedding these two tasks in a PRP (Psychological Refractory Period) paradigm. We show that the Stroop and the PRP effects are additive whereas the flanker and the PRP effects are underadditive, suggesting that the processes in charge of the conflict resolution in the Stroop and the flanker tasks are indeed different. We discuss possible reasons for this difference, and discuss possible ways in which the response-based mechanism can be implemented in information processing models.     

In support of Pockett's critique of Libet's studies of the time course of consciousness

Susan Pockett presents sound arguments supporting her reinterpretations of data that Libet and co-workers used to support a number of intriguing and influential conclusions regarding the microgenesis and timing of (a) conscious sensory experience and (b) volitionally controlled motor responses. The following analysis, extending and elaborating some of her main arguments, proposes that Libet's experimental methodologies and rationales, and thus also his interpretation of data, are flawed and that neglect or ignorance of methodological and empirical constraints well known to sensory psychologists risks drawing premature or faulty conclusions about the timing of conscious experience.     

Win-shift and win-stay learning in the short-beaked echidna (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tachyglossus aculeatus</Emphasis>)

Numerous previous investigators have explained species differences in spatial memory performance in terms of differences in foraging ecology. In three experiments we attempted to extend these findings by examining the extent to which the spatial memory performance of echidnas (or "spiny anteaters") can be understood in terms of the spatio-temporal distribution of their prey (ants and termites). This is a species and a foraging situation that have not been examined in this way before. Echidnas were better able to learn to avoid a previously rewarding location (to "win-shift") than to learn to return to a previously rewarding location (to "win-stay"), at short retention intervals, but were unable to learn either of these strategies at retention intervals of 90 min. The short retention interval results support the ecological hypothesis, but the long retention interval results do not. Electronic Publication