Temporal integration of motion and stereo cues to depth

In three experiments we investigated the integration of three-dimensional information provided over time by different depth cues. In the first experiment, we found that the perceptual derivation of surface orientation from the optic flow was affected by the prior presentation of static stereo information in the same spatial location. This bias weakened as the length of the motion sequence increased, but it was still present after 800 msec. In the second experiment, conversely, we found that the perceived orientation of a stereo-specified surface was not influenced by the prior presentation of a static stereo surface. In a third experiment, we found that two surfaces defined by identical disparity fields did not elicit the same perceived depth if, previously, one of them had been specified by a conjunction of stereo and motion information. This effect was found to last for at least 400 msec. Taken together, these findings indicate that interactions exist among different sources of depth information, even when they are provided at different moments of time.     

Distortions of depth-order relations and parallelism in structure from motion

Four experiments related human perception of depth-order relations in structure-from-motion dis-plays to current Euclidean and affine theories of depth recovery from motion. Discrimination between parallel and nonparallel lines and relative-depth judgments was observed for orthographic projections of rigidly oscillating random-dot surfaces. We found that (1) depth-order relations were perceived veridically for surfaces with the same slant magnitudes, but were systematically biased for surfaces with different slant magnitudes. (2) Parallel (virtual) lines defined by probe dots on surfaces with different slant magnitudes were judged to be nonparallel. (3) Relative-depth judgments were internally inconsistent for probe dots on surfaces with different slant magnitudes. It is argued that both veridical performance and systematic misperceptions may be accounted for by a heuristic analysis of the first-order optic flow.     

Conceptualizing institutions

Being part of the life of institutions requires a considerable amount of conceptual knowledge. In institutional settings, we must learn the relevant concepts to act meaningfully, and these concepts are internal in a peculiar way, namely, they are strictly relative to the rules of a given institution because they are constituted by those rules. However, institutions do not come out of nothing: They are inscribed in a social setting and this setting determines, at least in a broad sense, what is the nature of the institution. Our social life therefore creates more or less defined contexts for meaningful institutional activities, and these contexts in their own turn involve concepts. In this paper, I address this question by distinguishing between three kinds of concepts relevant for an institution and trying to identify the different relations that these concepts have with constitutive rules. I then proceed to explain how this distinction can improve our understanding of practical reasoning in institutional context.     

Communities of the Converted: Ukrainians and Global Evangelism

Russia and the other states that were created from the Soviet Union have developed, under the conditions of the re-emergence of religion in the public sphere, a set of patterned relations between the state and religious institutions that we may call the post-Soviet religious model. This paper identifies the primary characteristics of this model as it has been put into place in the region (excluding the Baltic states, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine, which have substantially different situations from the other post-Soviet states) and explores reasons for the formation of a common post-Soviet religious model. The model has three characteristic features: formal and legal secularity; development of the category of ‘traditional’ religions; and the subordinated position of religious institutions in their (usually mutually beneficial) relation with a state, accompanied by a ‘licence to preach’. The model is not fully developed: it is in statu nascendi, and it may develop further in several directions. In this context, the article points to some variations among CIS countries in the application of the model.     

Differential roles of the basolateral amygdala and nucleus basalis magnocellularis during post-reactivation contextual fear conditioning reconsolidation in rats

The roles of the basolateral amygdala and nucleus basalis magnocellularis in fear conditioning reconsolidation were investigated by means of tetrodotoxin bilateral inactivation performed 96 h after conditioning, immediately after reactivation training. Footshocks of 1.2 mA intensity were employed to induce the generalization phenomenon. Basolateral amygdala inactivation disrupts the contextual fear response and its generalization but not acoustic CS trace retention, when measured 72 and 96 h after tetrodotoxin administration. Nucleus basalis magnocellularis functional inactivation does not affect memory post-reactivation phase of any of the three conditioned fear responses. The present findings show a differential role of the two structures in fear memory reconsolidation and can be a starting point for future investigation of the neural circuits subserving generalization.     

Through the looking glass: self and others

In the present article we discuss the relevance of the mirror mechanism for our sense of self and our sense of others. We argue that, by providing us with an understanding from the inside of actions, the mirror mechanism radically challenges the traditional view of the self and of the others. Indeed, this mechanism not only reveals the common ground on the basis of which we become aware of ourselves as selves distinct from other selves, but also sheds new light on the content of our self and other experience, showing that we primarily experience ourselves and the others in terms of our own and of their motor possibilities respectively.