Computational analyses in cognitive neuroscience: in defense of biological implausibility

Because cognitive neuroscience researchers attempt to understand the human mind by bridging behavior and brain, they expect computational analyses to be biologically plausible. In this paper, biologicallyimplausible computational analyses are shown to have critical and essential roles in the various stages and domains of cognitive neuroscience research. Specifically, biologically implausible computational analyses can contribute to (1) understanding and characterizing the problem that is being studied, (2) examining the availability of information and its representation, and (3) evaluating and understanding the neuronal solution. In the context of the distinct types of contributions made by certain computational analyses, the biological plausibility of those analyses is altogether irrelevant. These biologically implausible models are nevertheless relevant and important for biologically driven research.     

The rage we should have: Comments on Myisha Cherry's The Case for Rage

In The Case for Rage, Myisha Cherry demonstrates that antiracist rage can be instrumentally valuable, a fitting response to racism, and, therefore, wrong for us to dismiss. That is, on Cherry's account, antiracist anger is useful, fitting, and (in some sense) permissible. In this article, I argue that we should go beyond saying that this antiracist rage is permissible, that the correct thing to say is that people should have antiracist anger, and that anger should be of a (somewhat) specific intensity. I further argue that this antiracist anger must also involve action, because the mere experiencing of Lordean rage is not a sufficient act of “resistance.” I lastly argue that we should countenance more “destructive” forms of antiracist rage as permissible, including what Cherry calls “ressentiment rage.”     

Styles of problem solving in suicidal individuals

This study compared qualitative aspects of problem solving among suicide attempters, suicide ideators, and nonsuicidal patients. The subjects completed a suicidal intent scale and a problem-solving task involving three dilemmas. Problem solving was analyzed along eight qualitative categories: versatility of the various solutions, reliance on self versus others, activity versus passivity, confrontation versus avoidance, relevance of the solution to the problem, positive versus negative affect, reference to the future, and extremity of the solution. The statistical analysis yielded differences among the three groups. In general, the solutions of suicidal patients showed less versatility, more avoidance, less relevance, more negative affect, and less reference to the future than the solutions of the nonsuicidal patients. The suicide attempters and nonsuicidal patients offered more active solutions than did the suicide ideators. Our findings emphasize the importance of general coping styles, as well as energetic/motivational aspects and affective aspects of the problem-solving process. Some applications to therapy are discussed.     

An improved Hochberg procedure for multiple tests of significance

We propose a simple modification of Hochberg's step‐up Bonferroni procedure for multiple tests of significance. The proposed procedure is always more powerful than Hochberg's procedure for more than two tests, and is more powerful than Hommel's procedure for three and four tests. A numerical analysis of the new procedure indicates that its Type I error is controlled under independence of the test statistics, at a level equal to or just below the nominal Type I error. Examination of various non‐null configurations of hypotheses shows that the modified procedure has a power advantage over Hochberg's procedure which increases in relationship to the number of false hypotheses.     

When emotions get the better of us: the effect of contextual top‐down processing on matching fingerprints

Twenty‐seven participants made a total of 2,484 judgments whether a pair of fingerprints matched or not. A quarter of the trials acted as a control condition. The rest of the trials included top‐down influences aimed at biasing the participants to find a match. These manipulations included emotional background stories of crimes and explicitly disturbing photographs from crime scenes, as well as subliminal messages. The data revealed that participants were affected by the top‐down manipulations and as a result were more likely to make match judgments. However, the increased likelihood of making match judgments was limited to ambiguous fingerprints. The top‐down manipulations were not able to contradict clear non‐matching fingerprints. Hence, such contextual information actively biases the ways gaps are filled, but was not sufficient to override clear bottom‐up information. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender differences in intimate‐conflict initiation and escalation tendencies

According to gender motivation theory, men are driven by a desire to enhance their status; whereas, women are motivated by a desire to reduce risk, and the behavioral expressions of those motivations are context‐dependent. In order to test this theory in the context of intimate relationships, this study compared men's and women's escalatory tendencies in the initial development of intimate conflict. These tendencies were conceptualized in terms of four attributes: two attributes that represent response intention (decision and style) and two others that represent motivations for that intention (putting one's partner in his or her place and avoiding conflict). These attributes were measured in the context of five hypothetical situations. Each of those scenarios involved potential escalation of intimate conflict, following an intimate partner's aggressive verbal demand. The study involved a convenience sample of 403 male and female participants. The findings show that, in the initial steps of intimate‐conflict development, women tend toward escalation more than men. The findings also show that the escalatory tendency, as conceptualized and measured using the examined scenarios, corresponds to actual behavior exhibited in the resolution of common issues in the couples' lives. These findings reinforce gender motivation theory.

     

Visual mental rotation of possible and impossible objects

Participants were tested on two visual mental rotation tasks using three-dimensional "possible" and "impossible" shapes. Both types of stimuli can be easily encoded by their parts and how they are spatially organized. However, while possible shapes can also be easily encoded as a global image, it is more difficult to encode impossible shapes in such a way. Participants visually rotated both types of stimuli at comparable rates, reflecting that local representations were used in the process of visual mental rotation.     

The Personality of R’ Nahman of Bratslav: Comparing Dream Content Analysis and Biography

The technique of dream content analysis as a source for gaining a clear personality picture of the dreamer was first formalized by Calvin S. Hall. It has been used in this paper to gain a better understanding of a historical, renowned personage—R Nahman of Bratslav, who established a distinct sect within the Jewish-Hasidic circles in Eastern Europe about two hundred years ago. He was a very controversial figure, and remains so to this day. Following a detailed analysis of 17 of his dreams, a personality picture of R Nahman has been derived. A comparison of this picture with what is known from his biography, showed many correspondences, as well as some non correspondences. The dream analysis discloses basic, psychological motivation, while the biography points to relatively more specific behavioral traits, even though both relate to the highly complex personality of R Nahman.     

Complexity as a guide to understanding decision bias: A contribution to the favorite‐longshot bias debate

This paper investigates the origins of a widespread decision bias in betting markets, the favorite‐longshot bias (FLB); in particular, whether it is caused by cognitive errors on the part of bettors or by the pricing policies of bookmakers. The methodology is based on previous literature, which has suggested that: (i) races, as decision tasks for bettors, can be distinguished by their degree of complexity and their attractiveness to those with access to privileged information (insiders), (ii) cognitive errors increase as complexity increases, and (iii) bookmakers set odds in a manner to protect themselves from insiders. The degree of FLB was examined in races of varying complexity and attractiveness to insiders using a dataset of 8545 races drawn from the parallel bookmaker and pari‐mutuel markets operating in the UK in 2004. The results, interpreted in the light of the cognitive error and complexity literature, suggest that neither bettors' nor bookmakers' cognitive errors are the main cause of the bias. Rather, bettors' preferences for risk and the deliberate pricing policies of bookmakers play key roles in influencing the bias in markets where bookmakers and pari‐mutuel operators coexist. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hemispheric processing of idioms in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder

Studies conducted on individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show that they find it difficult to comprehend figurative language, and have a tendency to interpret it literally. This study examines hemispheric processing of idioms in patients with SZ, in comparison to individuals with ASD. Seventeen adults with SZ and 18 adults with ASD participated in the study. The two clinical groups were matched in age, vocabulary scores and verbal executive function scores. Using the divided visual field paradigm, the participants performed a lexical decision task for a target word related to either a literal or a figurative interpretation of an idiom. Whereas SZ patients showed the typical right lateralisation for non-salient literal interpretations of idioms, adults with ASD showed atypical bilateral processing. These findings indicate different hemispheric lateralisation in idiom processing in the two clinical groups.