The horizontal-vertical illusion in photographs of concrete scenes with and without depth information

On the basis of the hypothesis of misapplied constancy scaling, the perception of an abstract horizontal-vertical illusion figure embedded in photographs of natural scenes with depth cues is investigated. The effect is compared with that of a figure on photographs containing no depth information and with a figure on a neutral surface. It is shown that the magnitude of the illusion in the perspective scenes is greater than in the other two conditions. The results are considered compatible with a constancy theory of the illusion. Finally, the evidence for misapplied constancy scaling in the horizontal-vertical illusion in relation to a retinal theory is discussed.     

Representation and retention of three-event sequences in pigeons

The present experiments studied a three-event delayed sequence-discrimination (DSD) task: one arrangement (order) of two stimuli (red and yellow overhead lights) taken three in succession (e.g., red, yellow, red) was the positive sequence and the remaining seven arrangements were the negative sequences for responding and reward during the subsequent test stimulus. In Experiment 1, the final stimulus (recency) and the order of stimuli in the positive sequence controlled acquisition of discrimination. In Experiment 2, increasing the duration of memory intervals between stimuli reduced the discriminability of those negative sequences identical to the positive sequence after the delay. Three-event DSD performance in Experiments 1 and 2 was similar to two-event DSD performance in comparable published experiments. Models developed to explain pigeon performance in two-event DSD were extended to the three-event task. Results from both two- and three-event versions of the DSD task falsified a noncumulative model and several cumulative integration models (i.e., adding, averging, and some multiplying models), but corroborated one cumulative, multiplying model.     

Interhemispheric phase relations in children of early school age

The cross-correlation method was used to measure interhemisphere phase differences over four areas of the brain in 22 healthy children aged between 7 and 10 years. Apart from defining normal values, the authors describe age-dependent characteristics and changes that take place as a result of mental stress.     

Has the cataphasic form of schizophrenia increased in modern times?

According to our investigations the incidence of cataphasia, which is a subtype of schizophrenia, has become more common in the last years and on average, has started earlier in life. As the central disorder of this illness concerns thinking perhaps there exists a relation of our finding to the rapid modern development of techniques, insofar as the cognitive function is overstrained in childhood and adolescence, when the nervous system has not matured yet. Introverted individuals seem to be at a particular risk. However, it must not be disregarded that cataphasia is an inherited illness which cannot be caused by external influences, but can only be promoted in its manifestation.     

Disturbed coarticulation in apraxia of speech: acoustic evidence

The results of a recent perceptual study (W. Ziegler & D. von Cramon, 1985, Anticipatory coarticulation in a patient with apraxia of speech. Brain and Language 26, 117-130) provided evidence for disturbed coarticulation in verbal apraxia. Further support for this finding is now provided by acoustic analyses. Formant frequencies and LP reflection coefficients were chosen to assess anticipatory vowel-to-vowel coarticulation and vowel anticipation in stop consonants, respectively. These parameters revealed a lack of coarticulatory cohesion in the speech of a patient suffering from verbal apraxia, explainable by a consistent delay in the initiation of anticipatory vowel gestures. The findings are discussed with respect to prosodic features and to theoretical and clinical concepts of verbal apraxia.     

Attitudes to new technology in relation to social beliefs and group memberships: A preliminary investigation

Though the term “new technology” is widely used and discussed, there has been very little systematic study of attitudes to technology and their relation to other beliefs and group memberships. This article describes an initial investigation into the nature of attitudes towards new technology (n=534 undergraduates) and demonstrates that, as yet, these attitudes are only weakly structured and are not fully integrated with other social beliefs. General evaluations of the benefits of technological advance appear to be almost unrelated to beliefs about the inevitability of these advances or the desire to acquire training to deal with them. Contrary to popular expectations, evaluations of video games are unrelated to other beliefs about technology while other social beliefs are, as yet, only weakly integrated with these attitudes. This study also identifies gender differences in the assessment of potential benefits and highlights other differences attributable to academic group memberships. These finding are discussed with reference to the literature on sex-role stereotyping and group socialization processes.     

Parity,moral options,and the weights of reasons

The (moral) permissibility of an act is determined by the relative weights of reasons, or so I assume. But how many weights does a reason have? Weight Monism is the idea that reasons have a single weight value. There is just the weight of reasons. The simplest versions hold that the weight of each reason is either weightier than, less weighty than, or equal to every other reason. We'll see that this simple view leads to paradox in at least two ways. We must complicate the picture somehow. I consider two candidate complications. The first, Parity Monism, is inspired by Ruth Chang's suggestion that parity is a fourth comparative beyond the traditional three (>, <, =). This view complicates the single weight relation by allowing that the weights of reasons can be on a par. Unfortunately, Parity Monism resolves only one of the two paradoxes that afflict simple versions of Weight Monism. To resolve both paradoxes, we need our second candidate complication, Weight Pluralism. This view holds that reasons have at least two weight values (e.g., justifying weight and requiring weight) and these two values aren't always equivalent. Parity is no substitute for Pluralism.     

Llamas use social information from conspecifics and humans to solve a spatial detour task

Animal Cognition - Learning by observing others (i.e. social learning) is an important mechanism to reduce the costs of individual learning. Social learning can occur between conspecifics but also...