Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi on Zhang Zai��s and Wang Fuzhi��s Philosophies of Qi: A Critical Reflection

As the founders of Contemporary Neo-Confucianism, Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi developed different interpretations of Zhang Zai’s and Wang Fuzhi’s philosophies of qi. In this essay, both the strength and weakness of their interpretations will be critically examined. As a contrast, an alternative interpretation of the School of qi in Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism will be outlined. This new interpretation will uncover that, like Leibniz, Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi introduced a non-substantivalist approach in natural philosophy in terms of an innovative concept of force. This interpretation not only helps to show the limitations of Mou Zongsan’s and Tang Junyi’s understandings of Zhang Zai’s and Wang Fuzhi’s doctrines of qi, but also indicates a way to bridge the traditional Chinese philosophy of nature and modern physics. More generally, our critical discussions will bring to light a new angle with which to re-appreciate Mou Zongsan’s and Tang Junyi’s contributions to the development of Confucianism.     

Relationship of visual motor development and academic performance of young children in Hong Kong assessed on the Bender-Gestalt test

This study compared the Qualitative Scoring System for the Modified Version of the Bender-Gestalt test and the Developmental Scoring System for the Bender-Gestalt test in predicting performance on the Standardized Attainment Test of young children in Hong Kong. The study was done in two phases. First, 748 middle class children ages 4 to 8 years from 6 kindergartens and 6 primary schools were given the Bender-Gestalt test individually in kindergarten and in groups for older children, respectively. Both scoring systems were used to measure the children's visual motor development. Second, among the participants' protocols, 257 Primary 1 to Primary 3 children ages 6 to 8 years were selected to compare the Qualitative Scoring System for the 6 designs of the Modified Version of the Bender-Gestalt test and the Developmental Scoring System for the 9 designs of the Bender-Gestalt test in predicting performance on the Standardized Attainment Test. Results indicated that the Qualitative Scoring System differentiates better than the Developmental Scoring System in evaluating visual-motor development among young Chinese children from Hong Kong. Results also indicated that the Qualitative Scoring System correlated significantly with achievement in Chinese and English at all three levels. Scores on the Developmental Scoring System correlated significantly with only marks for Primary 1 and Primary 2 Chinese.     

Unlearning a stimulus–response association

After a response has been associated with a particular stimulus, would this association be “unlearned” when the circumstances call for a new response to be made to that stimulus? This question was investigated in the present study with a negative priming (NP) paradigm developed by Shiu and Kornblum (1996). In the study, participants first practiced with a particular pairing of stimuli and responses in a four-choice reaction time (RT) task. Then, in the transfer phase, they switched to a different pairing of the same set of stimuli and responses. The results showed that a transfer response was slow if this response and the stimulus in the preceding trial had been paired in the training phase. Such NP effects persisted even after extended practice with the new pairing, suggesting that the “old” stimulus–response (SR) associations remain despite acquisition of some “new” associations.     

The importance of material-processing interactions in inducing false memories

Deep encoding, relative to shallow encoding, has been shown to increase the probability of false memories in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm (Thapar & McDermott, 2001; Toglia, Neuschatz, & Goodwin, 1999). In two experiments, we showed important limitations on the generalizability of this phenomenon; these limitations are clearly predicted by existing theories regarding the mechanisms underlying such false memories (e.g., Roediger, Watson, McDermott, & Gallo, 2001). Specifically, asking subjects to attend to phonological relations among lists of phonologically associated words (e.g., weep, steep, etc.) increased the likelihood of false recall (Experiment 1) and false recognition (Experiment 2) of a related, nonpresented associate (e.g., sleep), relative to a condition in which subjects attended to meaningful relations among the words. These findings occurred along with a replication of prior findings (i.e., a semantic encoding task, relative to a phonological encoding task, enhanced the likelihood of false memory arising from a list of semantically associated words), and they place important constraints on theoretical explanations of false memory.     

Meta-analytic structural equation modeling: a two-stage approach

To synthesize studies that use structural equation modeling (SEM), researchers usually use Pearson correlations (univariate r), Fisher z scores (univariate z), or generalized least squares (GLS) to combine the correlation matrices. The pooled correlation matrix is then analyzed by the use of SEM. Questionable inferences may occur for these ad hoc procedures. A 2-stage structural equation modeling (TSSEM) method is proposed to incorporate meta-analytic techniques and SEM into a unified framework. Simulation results reveal that the univariate-r, univariate-z, and TSSEM methods perform well in testing the homogeneity of correlation matrices and estimating the pooled correlation matrix. When fitting SEM, only TSSEM works well. The GLS method performed poorly in small to medium samples.     

When does visual perceptual grouping affect multisensory integration?

Several studies have shown that the direction in which a visual apparent motion stream moves can influence the perceived direction of an auditory apparent motion stream (an effect known as crossmodal dynamic capture). However, little is known about the role that intramodal perceptual grouping processes play in the multisensory integration of motion information. The present study was designed to investigate the time course of any modulation of the cross-modal dynamic capture effect by the nature of the perceptual grouping taking place within vision. Participants were required to judge the direction of an auditory apparent motion stream while trying to ignore visual apparent motion streams presented in a variety of different configurations. Our results demonstrate that the cross-modal dynamic capture effect was influenced more by visual perceptual grouping when the conditions for intramodal perceptual grouping were set up prior to the presentation of the audiovisual apparent motion stimuli. However, no such modulation occurred when the visual perceptual grouping manipulation was established at the same time as or after the presentation of the audiovisual stimuli. These results highlight the importance of the unimodal perceptual organization of sensory information to the manifestation of multisensory integration.     

The Golden Rule and the potentiality principle: future persons and contingent interests

Duties to future persons are central to numerous key ethical issues including contraception, abortion, genetic selection, treatment of the environment, and population control. Nevertheless, we still seem to be lacking Parfit's 'Theory X', a general theory of beneficence whose appropriateness extends to future generations. Starting from the Golden Rule (TGR), R.M. Hare purportedly derived counterintuitive duties to potential people and 'the potentiality principle'. However, I argue that Hare's derivation involves a hidden and unjustifiable extension from TGR, and show how the most plausible form of TGR is compatible with multiple contradictory principles for the treatment of future persons. I appeal to our own preferences to argue that one extension of TGR follows the spirit of TGR, while the other is deeply implausible. Using the plausible extension, I derive a Contingent Interests Principle (CIP) that offers much promise as Parfit's elusive Theory X. In contrast to Hare's interpretation of TGR, this application provides solid justification for rejecting the potentiality principle.     

Bootstrap standard error and confidence intervals for the correlation corrected for range restriction: a simulation study

The standard Pearson correlation coefficient is a biased estimator of the true population correlation, rho, when the predictor and the criterion are range restricted. To correct the bias, the correlation corrected for range restriction, rc, has been recommended, and a standard formula based on asymptotic results for estimating its standard error is also available. In the present study, the bootstrap standard-error estimate is proposed as an alternative. Monte Carlo simulation studies involving both normal and nonnormal data were conducted to examine the empirical performance of the proposed procedure under different levels of rho, selection ratio, sample size, and truncation types. Results indicated that, with normal data, the bootstrap standard-error estimate is more accurate than the traditional estimate, particularly with small sample size. With nonnormal data, performance of both estimates depends critically on the distribution type. Furthermore, the bootstrap bias-corrected and accelerated interval consistently provided the most accurate coverage probability for rho.     

Factorial structure of the kidcope in Hong Kong adolescents

The Kidcope (A. Spirito, L. J. Stark, & C. Williams, 1988), a brief screening measure of coping strategies for children and adolescents, was subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in a sample of adolescents in Hong Kong. A 2-factor model was found to fit the data when only the 2 emotional regulation items were treated separately and were allowed to load on the 2 different factors. Further analyses showed that factor loadings, factor variances, and factor covariance were invariant across age and gender. On the basis of the factor analyses, the authors created 2 composite scores, representing control-oriented and escape-oriented coping strategies. Implications for the use of the Kidcope in research and preventive intervention are discussed.     

Modulation of word-reading processes in task switching

The authors examined modulation of the simple act of word naming induced by the conflict arising when that task competes with color naming in a task-switching paradigm. Subjects alternated between naming a word printed in black and naming the color of a stimulus in 2 conditions. In the incongruent condition, the colored stimulus was an irrelevant word generating conflict, and in the neutral condition, color was carried by a row of asterisks. Subjects took substantially longer to name a word printed in black in the incongruent condition, implying a form of suppression. This modulation of the word-naming response was adaptive in that it led to more efficient color naming. The modulation effect was replicated using phoneme detection instead of word naming but not with lexical decision or visual comparison, implicating a phonological encoding process.