A Note on Schema and Exemplar Approaches to Motor Skill Representation in Memory

Given the need for a memory representation of well-learned motor skills, a common assumption in motor behavior is that this knowledge is stored in a central, abstracted form. Active production of motor skills has not been used in experimental designs that have provided empirical support for this view of representation, however. Much of the faith in centralized, abstracted forms of memory representation for motor skills is due to the popularity of Schmidt's schema theory, which has adapted the prototype abstraction model from category learning research to the representation of motor skills. Since schema theory was proposed, however, an alternative view that seriously questions the preeminence of the prototype abstraction model for the central representation of knowledge has arisen in the category learning literature. This particular view, termed the specific exemplar model, has led a number of researchers in cognition to develop mixed models that involve both prototypic abstraction and specific exemplar elements. This note, then, identifies what can be perceived as a gap in the empirical knowledge base in motor behavior and discusses the possibility of using the debate about representation for category learning as a stimulus for initiating a similar investigation into the representation of motor skills. A hypothetical specific exemplar model for the memory representation of motor skills is outlined, and possible empirical comparisons between this model and the schema abstraction model are suggested.     

Sanctuary and presence: An existential view of the therapist's contribution

Abstract

This inquiry endeavors to form an understanding of the summons to caring. The effort will expand upon the work of Milton Mayeroff and Martin Heidegger by way of incorporating an existential interpretation of the Buddhist concept of suffering.     

economic fluctuation and crime: a time-series analysis of the effects of oil development in the coastal regions of Louisiana

This research examines the relationship between patterns of crime and the development of the oil and gas extraction industry in the coastal regions of Louisiana using pooled time-series analysis. The suggestion of a link between these phenomena has often been made, but little systematic research has been conducted to determine if there is indeed a crime–oil development nexus. Limited previous research has focused primarily on the issue of “boom and bust” cycles on some forms of deviant behavior, but the data and the methods used were inadequate, and thus, the resulting conclusions were often misleading or possibly erroneous. The results from the analysis suggest that changes in oil activity and high levels of labor market involvement in the offshore oil industry are neither strongly nor consistently associated with community disruption in the form of crime.     

The New Cosmological Argument: O’Connor on Ultimate Explanation

Timothy O’Connor presents a novel and powerful version of the cosmological argument from contingency. What distinguishes his argument is that it does not depend on the Principle of Sufficient Reason. This version thus avoids powerful objections facing the Principle. We present and develop the argument, strengthening it in various ways. We fill in big gaps in the argument and answer criticisms. These include the criticisms that O’Connor considers as well as new criticisms. We explain how his replies to a Kantian criticism and to the demand for contrastive explanation fail, and properly answer the criticism and the demand. We develop two new criticisms, the objection from opaqueness and the objection from constitution, and explain how these objections can be answered.     

Live Theater and the Limits of Human Freedom

This paper argues that there is a relationship between the structure of live theater and the question of whether human beings have free will, and that the practice of live theater and the pursuit of philosophical certitude regarding free will are both constructive human experiences coalesced around roughly the same set of sensations.     

The Psychology of Courage: Modern Research on an Ancient Virtue

While drawing on a limited field of articles and chapters on courage, the editors of The Psychology of Courage: modern research on an ancient virtue have postulated a viable history of the evolution of courage in psychology and chosen a select set of articles which advocate the influence of some of the more modern approaches to psychological thought, while relying only slightly on the historical and alternative views of courage. An alternative view and application of courage presented here examines the impact of courage as a component of a dynamic system. This dynamic systems approach allows for courage to have an interactional impact on the individual regardless of cultural identity or label.