Simulation of the filtering role of habituation to stimuli

In the context of a medium-term study designed to integrate the simulation of different types and processes of learning-such as classical, operant, and some cognitive types--one must start with other more elementary ones that are facilitators of the more complex types and processes. Of special interest is habituation, owing to the filtering out of irrelevant stimuli, which means that the simulated agent does not have to respond to them. This paper presents two difference functions constructed to computationally simulate the characteristics that define habituation. The behavior of these functions is described, as are differences arising from stimulus intensity and interstimulus intervals. Results are compared with existing empirical data.     

The immoral gene: Does it really exist?

Over the last years several European patents were opposed for protecting technology violating the morality requirement under Article 53(a) EPC. Attempts have been made by the Appeal Boards of the European Patent Office (EPO), as well as by amendments introduced into the Implementing Regulations of the European Patent Convention (EPC), to address this sensitive patentability requirement more precisely. The most recent hot topic coming up in this context is the patentability of stem cells. It is to be expected that this discussion will still go on in the field of biotechnological inventions for the next several years. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “The Ethics of Intellectual Property Rights and Patents,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 23–24 April, 2004.     

The odd-even effect in addition: an analysis per problem type

The odd-even effect is a well documented finding in the literature on mental arithmetic, at least for multiplication. It implies that false answers with the same parity as the correct answer are rejected more slowly than false answers with a different parity. For addition, this effect is not so well documented. The study by Krueger and Hallford (1984) is the only one that investigated odd-even effects for addition. However, they did not investigate odd-even effects per problem, even though there are indications that problem type can modulate odd-even effects for multiplication (Lemaire & Reder, 1999). Therefore, we wanted to get more insight into odd-even effects for addition by investigating odd-even effects per problem type. Our results extended the findings of Krueger and Hallford. First of all, we found an interaction between split and problem type. The most important and new result of present study, however, was a strong parity effect for E + E problems. We discuss our results in terms of two alternative explanations for odd-even effects, namely use of a parity rule on the one hand and familiarity with even outcomes on the other.     

Social dominance orientation,prejudice, and discrimination: A new computer-based method for studying discriminatory behaviors

A number of studies have shown that the scale of social dominance orientation (SDO), used to measure the degree of preference for inequality among social groups, is a predictive measure of social and political attitudes toward stigmatized outgroups. However, the relationship between SDO and discrimination has received little attention. The main goal of this study was to assess the validity of a new computer-based method used to measure discriminatory behaviors in a laboratory setting. An additional goal was to test the mediating role of prejudice in the relation between SDO and discrimination. The results provide a first validation of this new method and demonstrate that the effect of SDO on discrimination is mediated by prejudice.     

A matter of facts

We discuss the justification of Bickle's “ruthless” reductionism. Bickle intends to show that we know enough about neurons to draw conclusions about the “whole” brain and about the mind. However, his reductionism does not take into account the complexity of the nervous system and the fact that new properties emerge at each significant level of integration from the coupled functioning of elementary components. From a methodological point of view, we argue that neuronal and cognitive models have to exert a mutual constraint(MC) on each other. This approach would refuse to award any priority of cognitive approaches over neuroscience, and reciprocally, to refuse any priority of neuroscience over cognitive approaches. MC thus argues against radicalreductionism at the methodological level.     

Female physical attractiveness in Britain and Malaysia: a cross-cultural study

Two purported cues to perceived female physical attractiveness are body mass index (BMI) and body shape as measured by the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). This study examined the relative contribution of both cues in several culturally socio-economically distinct populations. Six hundred and eighty-two participants from Britain and Malaysia were asked to rate a set of images of real women with known BMI and WHR. The results showed that BMI is the primary determinant of female physical attractiveness, whereas WHR failed to emerge as a significant predictor. The results also showed that there were significant differences in preferences for physical attractiveness along a gradient of socio-economic development, with urban participants preferring images of women with significantly lower BMIs than their rural counterparts. The findings are discussed in terms of evolutionary psychological explanations of mate selection, and sociocultural theory, which emphasises the learning of preferences for body sizes in social and cultural contexts.     

Hopelessness as a risk factor for post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among interpersonal violence survivors

Post-traumatic stress disorder often co-occurs with depression, and they may share common risk factors. One possible common cognitive risk factor is hopelessness. Thus, we examined whether hopelessness was related to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Participants were 202 female survivors of interpersonal violence. Relationships between self-reported and interviewer-rated measures of hopelessness gathered at 2 weeks post-trauma and self-reported and interviewer-rated symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder gathered at 2 weeks and 3 months post-trauma were examined. Hierarchical, simultaneous regression analyses that co-varied trauma type revealed that hopelessness was related to self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, both concurrently and prospectively. Follow-up analyses revealed that relationships between hopelessness and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder were due almost entirely to shared variance with depression. No relationships were found between hopelessness and interviewer-rated symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.     

Measuring Impulsivity in School-Aged Boys and Examining Its Relationship with ADHD and ODD Ratings

Seven different laboratory measures of impulsivity were administered to a group of 165 school-aged boys. Parents' and teachers' ratings of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional/Defiant Disorder were also obtained. Factor analyses of impulsivity measures revealed the existence of a strong Inhibitory Control Factor including measures derived from Stop Task, the Continuous Performance Test, the Matching Familiar Figures Test, and the Circle Tracing Task. Other forms of impulsivity like resistance to interference, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and efficiency in the DRL Task loaded on a second independent factor. The Inhibitory Control factor was correlated with ADHD ratings, whereas the second factor was slightly related to the presence of ODD symptoms. Discussion is focused on the relevance of inhibitory control in impulsivity and ADHD research.     

Ethnic categorisation of faces is not independent of face identity

Is the extraction of a visually derived semantic code from faces (ethnicity) affected by face identity (familiarity) or not? The traditional view considers that this operation is made independently of face identity, and in parallel with the recognition of identity. However, some recent studies cast doubt on this parallel thesis regarding other visually derived semantic codes, namely: facial expression, facial speech, apparent age, and gender. Twenty-eight Caucasian participants were enrolled in an 'ethnic-decision' task on morphed faces made of an Asiatic source face and a Caucasian source face, in the proportion of 70%-30%. Half of the original faces were previously made familiar by a learning procedure (associating the face, surname, occupation, and city of residence of the person displayed), while the remaining half were unfamiliar. The results showed clearly that ethnic decision was affected by face familiarity. This adds support to the thesis according to which the identification of identity and the extraction of visually derived semantic codes are not made independently from each other and that the 'parallel-route' hypothesis becomes weakly supported.