No Place for Private Practice

Topoi - Wittgenstein harshly criticized what he considered “mythologies” infecting our understanding of how mathematics work. He was especially reluctant to the idea that they describe...     

Conditioned suppression of the proboscis-extension response in young, middle-aged, and old Drosophila melanogaster flies: acquisition and extinction

Young (7 days old), middle-aged (30 days old), and old (50 days old) Drosophila melanogaster males were used in an inhibitory conditioning of the proboscis-extension response. Two reinforcement schedules were applied, constant vs. partial. Partial reinforcement increased the number of trials needed to reach the learning criterion to the same extent in all age groups. Young flies needed fewer trials to reach the criterion than both middle-aged and old flies, which did not differ from each other. Extinction was delayed in the partial reinforcement groups by the same amount in all age groups. The slowest rate of extinction was observed in the old group and the fastest for the middle-aged flies. The results are discussed in connection with hypotheses that consider extinction an index either of behavioral rigidity or of strength of the initial learning.     

Children's self-assessment of performance and task-related help seeking

The present research examined the role of self-assessment of performance on children's use of help-seeking as an achievement strategy. In two experiments, third- and fifth-grade children were blocked into low and high verbal skill groups. Children performed a multitrial verbal task in which they were required to indicate their confidence in the correctness of their tentative solution and then were given the opportunity to seek help before providing a final solution on each trial. The second experiment differed from the first in that subjects were provided with a common motivation for seeking help. Subjects' confidence in the correctness of their solution was found to influence both the frequency and type of help sought. High task-related skill was associated with the discriminating use of help-seeking as an achievement strategy, especially among boys. Also, both the frequency and type of help sought varied with self-assessments for older children more than for younger children. Findings are discussed in terms of grade and sex differences in the use of internally based cues for performance evaluation. The importance of accounting for the interplay of children's age and task specific skill with achievement-related goals is stressed.     

Multidimensional scaling of rorschach inkblots: Relationships with structured self-report

This study attempted a replication of previous multidimensional scaling (MDS) results concerning the most salient perceptual features of the Rorschach inkblots. A second purpose was the investigation of the relationships between individual S's relative reliance on these salient features, and personality characteristics as assessed by the Jackson Personality Inventory (JPI). The two-dimension solution obtained in previous research, involving inkblot color and twomess of form, was closely replicated. Only very low correlations between Ss' use of these dimensions, and personality characteristics as measured by the JPI, were obtained. The MDS-Rorschach approach may prove useful in delimiting peculiarities of attention and perception in clinical states. The usefulness of the approach in furthering study of personality constructs assessed through traditional Rorschach administration is currently in question.     

小剂量酒精伤害驾驶行为的时序效应

酒后开车普遍存在并致交通肇事居高不下的现实,对法定酒精限量的科学性提出质疑.本实验在多数国家交通法规采用的体内血液酒精水平BAL＜0.5‰的标准以下,设计三项任务对12名被试在酒前酒后四段时间内的行为实施测试,结果表明个体无法准确估计安全的酒精摄入量;小剂量酒精仍具有伤害行为的效应;酒精影响依行为复杂程度呈现时序效应.