Frankfurt versus Frankfurt: a new anti-causalist dawn

There is an important anomaly to the causalist/compatibilist paradigm in the philosophy of action and free will. This anomaly, which to my knowledge has gone unnoticed so far, can be found in the philosophy of Harry Frankfurt. Two of his most important contributions to the field – his influential counterexample to the Principle of Alternate Possibilities and his ‘guidance’ view of action – are incompatible. Frankfurt's counterexample to the Principle works only if we do not understand action as Frankfurt does in his guidance account. If, on the other hand, we understand agency in terms of the agent's guidance, then his counterexample to the Principle fails because, then, counterfactual scenarios of Frankfurt-type counterexamples are such that what happens does not count as the relevant agent's action. So Frankfurt-type counterexamples do not show that the agent could not have avoided acting as she did: so they fail to offer a scenario in which the agent is intuitively responsible even though she could not have avoided acting as she did. Therefore, Frankfurt-type counterexamples do not challenge the Principle, according to which ‘a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise’. The importance of this inconsistency goes far beyond the issue of coherence within Frankfurt's philosophy. I shall argue that this inconsistency represents an important anomaly within the causalist/compatibilist framework; so that we should start to seriously consider having to move on from the established paradigm.     

注意范围分布对视觉工作记忆巩固过程的影响

以往研究发现个体能够同时巩固一定数量的项目信息进入视觉工作记忆系统。本研究将考察视觉工作记忆的巩固容量是否会受到分配到记忆项目上的注意资源量的影响。实验1在同时序列掩蔽范式的基础上, 用控制记忆项目呈现区域的大小的方法操纵被试的注意范围, 从而达到操纵分配到单个项目上的注意资源量的目的。研究结果显示, 被试的记忆成绩随着注意范围的扩大显著降低, 但在并行和序列呈现条件之间不存在显著差异; 实验2则证实实验1中对注意资源量分配的控制不会影响对项目的知觉编码效率。本研究结果表明, 分配在记忆项目上的注意资源量能够影响记忆巩固的效率, 但不会影响巩固容量。     

One-trial conditioned suppression: effects of instructions on extinction

Two experimental groups of undergraduate volunteers received a single Pavlovian conditioning trial consisting of a paired presentation of a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) and a shock unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Control groups received either the CS alone or the UCS alone. Subjects from one experimental group were subsequently instructed that they would not receive further shocks, while the other experimental group received no such instructions. The CS alone was then presented once to all four groups while subjects were engaged in a button-pressing task maintained by slide reinforcement. During the latter phase, rate of button-pressing was measured. Classically conditioned suppression of button-pressing was obtained in the noninstructed experimental group but not in the instructed group. The results demonstrate that suppression can be a sensitive index of Pavlovian conditioning in humans but question the use of conditioned suppression as an adequate experimental analog of clinically observed anxiety-motivated behavior.     

“打”出来的手机成瘾？父母粗暴养育对青少年智能手机成瘾的作用

对湖北省两所中学3219名初一至初三年级学生进行问卷调查,建立结构方程模型考察父母粗暴养育、核心自我评价、友谊质量和青少年智能手机成瘾的关系。结果发现：（1）核心自我评价在父母粗暴养育和青少年智能手机成瘾之间起部分中介作用,即父母粗暴养育既对青少年智能手机成瘾产生直接影响,也通过核心自我评价对青少年智能手机成瘾产生间接影响;（2）父母粗暴养育和核心自我评价的关系（中介作用的前半段路径）受到友谊质量的调节,即在高友谊质量和低友谊质量条件下,随着粗暴养育程度的增加,青少年核心自我评价均显著下降,但在高友谊质量的条件下,下降的程度更高。研究结果有助于揭示父母粗暴养育对青少年智能手机成瘾的影响及其作用机制,为预防和干预青少年智能手机成瘾带来一些重要的启示。     

Effects of verbal ability and fluid intelligence on children's emotion understanding

This study investigated the role of verbal ability and fluid intelligence on children's emotion understanding, testing the hypothesis that fluid intelligence predicts the development of emotion comprehension over and above age and verbal ability. One hundred and two children (48 girls) aged 3.6–6 years completed the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) that comprised external and mental components, the Coloured Progressive Matrices and the Test for Reception of Grammar. Regression analysis showed that fluid intelligence was not equally related to the external and mental components of the TEC (Pons & Harris, 2000). Specifically, the results indicated that the external component was related to age and verbal ability only, whereas recognition of mental emotional patterns required abstract reasoning skills more than age and verbal ability. It is concluded that the development of fluid intelligence has a significant role in the development of mental component of emotion comprehension.     

对新冠病毒肺炎危重症患者引入缓和医疗的伦理论证

新型冠状病毒肺炎尚无治疗特效药和疫苗。在继续加强防控的同时,把有限的资源优先放在探索对重症和危重症患者的支持性治疗,积极建立和完善对重症、危重症患者及其家属的缓和医疗等方面,有利于患者群体利益最大化,经得起伦理辩护。缓和医疗有助于改善患者预后,降低住院病死率,有效缓解患者濒死痛苦;对医患双方而言,如果死亡已无可避免,帮助临终者走得平安、少些痛苦,是医学对患者最后的人文关怀。     

学前和初小儿童智能筛查——图片词汇测试法

美国L.M.Dunn 1965年修改发表的皮勃迪图片词汇测试(PeabodyPicture Vocabulary Test简称PPVT)目前仍是美国智力不足协会(AAMD)所介绍的常用智能测试方法之一。本文参考PPVT制订出适合我国城市学前期与小学初期儿童的图片词汇测试;在上海市区进行标准化;制订了智龄量表、智商和百分位数量表。本测试再测信度r=0.945,二测试者间信度r=0.913。奇偶信度r=0.945,测试标准误σ=4.5。本方法与“学前儿童能力筛查五十项”,“画人试验”,“WPPSI”总智商、语言智商、操作智商,语文成绩,算术成绩的效度相关分别为:r=0.478,r=0.466,r=0.590,r=0.531,r=0.427,r=0.652,r=0.609。本测试制订以来已经数千人次应用,证明是一种简便易行,省时经济,准确性较好,且能进行集体测试的学前及小学初期儿童一般智能(generalintelligence)的筛查方法(Screening test)。     

亲子间科技干扰与青少年网络人际关系成瘾：有调节的中介模型

对1353名高中生进行问卷调查,探究亲子间科技干扰与青少年网络人际关系成瘾之间的关系,相对剥夺感的中介作用及内在觉知的调节作用,结果表明：（1）亲子间科技干扰正向预测青少年网络人际关系成瘾;（2）相对剥夺感是亲子间科技干扰与网络人际关系成瘾之间的中介变量;（3）亲子间科技干扰与网络人际关系成瘾的间接效应前半段受到内在觉知的调节。因此,亲子间科技干扰和网络人际关系成瘾之间存在有调节的中介效应。     

Sociodemographic and Clinical Differences Between Suicide Ideators and Attempters: A Study of Mood Disordered Patients 50 Years and Older

Our study sought to characterize mood disordered suicide ideators and attempters 50 years and older admitted to a psychiatric ward either for a recent suicide attempt or for ongoing suicidal ideation. We enrolled 50 patients with suicide ideation consecutively admitted to an inpatient department and 50 patients admitted for a suicide attempt made in the last 48 hours. Suicide attempters more frequently had low social support and an age of onset of mood disorder of 46 years and older, and less frequently had a history of suicidal behaviors in the family members and pharmacological treatment, despite the fact that the groups did not differ with regard to antidepressants prescribed. The groups were not distinguishable based on several variables assumed to be risk factors for suicide behavior, such as proximal life events and stressors or alcohol use disorders. In both samples, comorbidity with organic diseases, the presence of stressful life events in the past 12 months, and a diagnosis of major depression were frequently reported. In conclusion, the presence of low social support and the absence of a pharmacotherapy may increase suicidal behaviors in patients at risk.     

Suicide Attempts in Major Depressed Patients with Personality Disorder

Suicide attempters who met criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD) comorbid with major depressive disorder (MDD) were compared to both suicide attempters suffering from MDD alone and to attempters with comorbid MDD and other personality disorders (PD). Participants were 239 (158 patients with comorbid PD and 81 patients with MDD without comorbidity) inpatients consecutively admitted after a suicide attempt made in the last 24 hours. Suicide attempters with comorbid MDD and BPD had more frequent previous suicide attempts and were more likely to have a history of aggressive behaviors and alcohol and drug use disorders compared with patients suffering from MDD without Axis II comorbidity.