Wittgenstein,mindreading and perception

Can we perceive others' mental states? Wittgenstein is often claimed to hold, like some phenomenologists, that we can. The view thus attributed to Wittgenstein is a view about the correct explanation of mindreading: He is taken to be answering a question about the kind of process mindreading involves. But although Wittgenstein claims we see others' emotions, he denies that he is thereby making any claim about that underlying process and, moreover, denies that any underlying process could have the significance it is claimed to have for this debate. For Wittgenstein, the question is not “Is this perception?” but “What do we mean by ‘perception' here?” and that question is answered by investigating the grammar of the relevant concepts. That investigation, however, reveals similarities and differences between what we call “perception” here and elsewhere. Hence, Wittgenstein's answer to the question “Can we perceive others' mental states?” is yes and no: Both responses can be justified by appeal to different concepts of perception. Wittgenstein, then, has much to contribute to our understanding of mindreading, but what he has to contribute is nothing like the view typically attributed to him here.     

The effects of state anxiety on the suggestibility and accuracy of child eyewitnesses

The negative effect of misleading information on memory is a well‐established fact in eyewitness testimony. However, individual differences have rarely been studied in this context, particularly in children. This paper is one of the first to explore whether objectively measured state anxiety levels have a moderating influence on suggestibility. A group of 83 9–10‐year‐old schoolchildren took part in the experiment. They were tested on their recall of details surrounding a minor car accident shown on video. No effects of state anxiety on accuracy were found. Clear misleading information effects were found, however (p < 0.001). Furthermore, both analysis of covariance and Pearson's correlation coefficients showed that higher anxiety levels were associated with a reduction in the number of misled responses given by the misinformed participants relative to low‐anxious participants (p < 0.05). The theoretical relevance of these findings are discussed in the light of processing efficiency theory and the ‘affect as information’ hypothesis. The practical implications for children as witnesses are also considered. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Obituary

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

Attentional and intentional cueing in a Simon task: An EEG-based approach

Advance information about the location of a stimulus (attentional cueing) does not affect the Simon effect (a shortening of manual response times whenever the position of a stimulus that is irrelevant for the task corresponds to the side of the response). However, advance information about the side of a response (intentional cueing) enhances the Simon effect. At first sight, these well-established results contradict two important assumptions about the origin of the Simon effect: (a) the effect originates at least in part in a covert shift of visual attention that forces the preparation of a response towards the location of the attentional shift and (b) interference between stimulus location and response side takes place within a response selection stage. We replicated the behavioral finding in a study that measured event-related potentials (ERPs) of the EEG. ERPs indicated that the mechanisms causing the Simon effect remain widely unaffected by advance information. Clear evidence for both response preparation and attentional shifts in the cue-target interval was found. Additionally, ERPs suggested that the increment of the Simon effect by intentional cueing might be due to perceptual factors rather than to an alteration in the mechanisms involved in the generation of a regular Simon effect. The implications of these data for the role of attention and of response selection in Simon tasks are discussed.     

Rules and problem solving: another look

College students were trained on problems similar to the water jar problems developed by Luchins (1942). Some students were instructed that a particular rule would solve all the problems, others had the same problems but were not instructed about the rule, and a third set of students had a series of novel problems in which no single rule operated throughout. In two experiments students in the instructed rule group not only performed best in training but also performed best when transferred to a condition in which a single novel rule was appropriate. Although results from the set of conditions most similar to those of Luchins suggested that students sometimes inappropriately persisted in rule usage, the overall results suggest that rigidity is not a necessary outcome of instructed problem solving. Indeed, many of the results were consistent with the notion that instructed problem solving is flexible problem solving.     

Do Childhood Emotional Lability and ADHD Symptoms Have Shared Neuropsychological Roots?

Emotional Lability (EL) is a source of impairment in multiple mental disorders of children, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It has been proposed that the overlap between EL and ADHD symptoms is the result of common neuropsychological deficits. The aim of the present study was to test this hypothesis by using a multi-method approach. In a mixed sample of 61 children (49 community sample and 12 children with an ADHD diagnosis) aged between 8 and 12 years, we examined the relationship between parental reports of ADHD and EL, real-time children’s emotional expressions in an experimental context, children’s performance on neuropsychological tasks and parental ratings of neuropsychological functioning. Parental EL ratings were significantly predicted by task-based reaction time variability and by questionnaire measures of Self-Direction & Organization and Arousal Regulation. Parental EL ratings were also significantly related to both ADHD symptom dimensions. After controlling for shared neuropsychological factors, ADHD symptoms no longer predicted parental EL ratings. Neuropsychological task performance was not significantly related to real time emotional expressions. However, positive emotional expressions were significantly predicted by higher parental ratings of Cognition and negative emotional expressions by parental ratings of low Effort engagement – accounting for some of the correlation with ADHD symptoms. The current results highlight the plausible role of cognitive energetic processes in explaining the EL and ADHD symptom association.

     

An Exploration of Implicit Racial Bias as a Source of Diagnostic Error

Recent events led this author to realize that an error made during the Vietnam War by him and others had been due to focusing too narrowly on predisposing factors for PTSD while failing to consciously acknowledge acute systemic stressors. In not accepting that along with the stress of combat, Black troops daily experienced acute pervasive systemic racism, he failed to understand correctly their disproportionately higher levels of PTSD when compared to white troops. Motivating factors to examine this error included a recent movie by Spike Lee. Oral histories of Black veterans were then used to research the experience of Blacks in the military in two world wars and the Vietnam War. Little change in the treatment of Black service members was evident across the time frame which included WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. An understanding of Shay’s concept of moral injury was found very valuable in understanding the consequences of PTSD.

     

Changes in the dynamics of tremor during goal-directed pointing.

For successful performance of activities requiring a fine level of manipulative control and dexterity, precise control over the intrinsic oscillations (tremor) in each segment is essential. However, the question of how individuals control (minimize) their tremor during precise postural movements remains unresolved. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes observed in limb tremor during goal-directed postural pointing tasks. Seven subjects attempted to minimize limb tremor during a pointing task whereby progressively greater levels of accuracy were required. Subjects held a small lightweight laser pointer in their extended hand during all tasks, the goal being to maintain the laser emission within a specified target area. Frequency analysis showed that the tremor profile for the hand and index finger was characterized by two prominent frequency peaks, located between 2-4 and 8-12 Hz. When the accuracy requirement of the task increased, there was a significant increase in the amplitude of the 8-12 Hz peak for all segments. Analysis of the time series component of tremor revealed a similar trend with the root mean square (RMS) and approximate entropy (ApEn) of the finger tremor increasing as the accuracy requirement increased. This same pattern was not seen for hand tremor where a small but systematic decrease in both the tremor RMS and ApEn was observed. Overall, it would appear that subjects attempted to reduce tremor at the finger by exerting greater control over the hand (as evidenced by decreased tremor output and increased regularity in the tremor signal). Unfortunately, the consequence of this strategy was that the tremor in the distal effector actually increased. Changes in the tremor output observed as a result of defining an explicit external goal probably resulted from the enhanced visual information provided by the laser emission. However, it would appear that subjects were not able to utilize this feedback effectively to reduce their tremor during the targeting tasks.