Providing Foundations for Coherentism

We prove that four theses commonly associated with coherentism are incompatible with the representation of a belief state as a logically closed set of sentences. The result is applied to the conventional coherence interpretation of the AGM theory of belief revision, which appears not to be tenable. Our argument also counts against the coherentistic acceptability of a certain form of propositional holism. We argue that the problems arise as an effect of ignoring the distinction between derived and non-derived beliefs, and we suggest that the kind of coherence relevant to epistemic justification is the coherence of non-derived beliefs. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Parental loss of close family members and propensities towards absorption in offspring

Parental unresolved/disorganized responses to loss assessed in the Adult Attachment Interview predict infant disorganized (D) attachment. Parental experiences of loss near the birth of an infant should therefore increase the likelihood of D attachment to that parent. Liotti (1992) suggested that D attachment may increase tendencies to altered states of consciousness, and some support for this hypothesis has been obtained in clinical and high-risk samples. Here, Tellegen's Absorption Scale was used to measure propensities to altered consciousness in two low-risk samples of young adults (N=136, N=308). In both studies, participants whose parents experienced familial loss within two years of their birth showed elevated levels of absorption. These outcomes (a) support the proposed connection between disorganized attachment and tendencies to altered consciousness, and (b) suggest that queries regarding parental loss experiences should be further explored as a ‘rough and ready’ estimate of disorganized attachment in large-scale studies.     

Motion structure in five-dot patterns as a determinant of perceptual grouping

The effect of basic motion structures on perceptual grouping was studied with five-dot motion patterns. Four basic motion structures were identified in terms of proximal common and relative motion vectors. In a forced-choice situation, the observers had to decide to which of two pairs of dots a fifth critical dot seemed to belong. Thus, one of two possible three-dot units was chosen by the observers. The two possible three-dot units defined different motion structures, and the chosen motion structure was considered to have stronger grouping power than the alternative structure had. It was found that parallel common motions (perceived translation in the plane) had the strongest grouping power; these were followed by circular common motions (perceived rotation in the plane), concurrent relative motions (perceived translation in depth), and, finally, parallel relative motions (perceived rotation in depth). The results also suggested effects of proximity and orientation of axis of rotation. It is further argued that the relative grouping power of the motion structures could not solely be interpreted in terms of changes of directions and distances between the dots. Instead it is suggested that vector analysis is a fundamental perceptual activity and that basic motion structures determine grouping power.     

Ask me why,don't tell me why: Asking children for explanations facilitates relational thinking

Identifying abstract relations is essential for commonsense reasoning. Research suggests that even young children can infer relations such as “same” and “different,” but often fail to apply these concepts. Might the process of explaining facilitate the recognition and application of relational concepts? Based on prior work suggesting that explanation can be a powerful tool to promote abstract reasoning, we predicted that children would be more likely to discover and use an abstract relational rule when they were prompted to explain observations instantiating that rule, compared to when they received demonstration alone. Five- and 6-year-olds were given a modified Relational Match to Sample (RMTS) task, with repeated demonstrations of relational (same) matches by an adult. Half of the children were prompted to explain these matches; the other half reported the match they observed. Children who were prompted to explain showed immediate, stable success, while those only asked to report the outcome of the pedagogical demonstration did not. Findings provide evidence that explanation facilitates early abstraction over and above demonstration alone.     

Altered Arm-Body Coordination with Triggered Pointing Responses as Influenced by Task Predictability

Abstract

Reaching movements generate reaction forces that affect postural stability, requiring sophisticated coordination between body and arm movement to maintain balance. In voluntary movement, this coordination involves feedforward shifts of posture, and such anticipatory postural muscle activity also accompanies the rapid modulation of an ongoing point to suddenly a shifting target (double-step). However, it is unknown if this early postural activity depends on target-shift predictability and whether arm and body motion are similar coordinated to voluntary movement. Body and arm motion coordination during double-step pointing movements from standing were done under differing conditions of target-shift predictability. In a proportion of trials, the pointing target was displaced, with the predictability of target-shift direction varied between two peripheral targets (target-shift direction known) and two central targets (target-shift direction uncertain). The target jump evoked an adjustment in the arm then body response, opposite to the pointing responses to the initial target. The triggered arm-then-body ordering was consistent across target-shift predictability, although known target-shift direction resulted in closer timing of arm and body onsets. The altered coordination in triggered corrections suggests that the body component in triggered reactions depend on response predictability, showing an altered control of arm and body motion.     

Effects of cognitive behavioural therapy and return-to-work intervention for patients on sick leave due to stress-related disorders: Results from a randomized trial

The aim of this study was to evaluate specific effects for patients with adjustment or exhaustion disorder, the Stress subgroup (n = 152), regarding symptom severity and sick leave after CBT, a return-to-work intervention (RTW-I), and a combination of them (COMBO), using data from a randomized trial. In the original study, primary care patients on sick leave (N = 211) were randomized to CBT (n = 64), RTW-I (n = 67), or COMBO (n = 80). Blinded Clinician Severity Rating (CSR) of symptoms and sick leave registry data were primary outcomes. Subgroup analyses showed that for the Stress subgroup, CBT led to greater reduction of symptoms than RTW-I posttreatment, but COMBO did not differ from CBT or RTW-I. Regarding sick leave, there was no difference between treatments in the Stress subgroup. An exploratory analysis of the treatment effects in a subgroup of patients with depression, anxiety or insomnia indicates that RTW-I reduced sick leave faster than CBT. We conclude that CBT may be promising as an effective treatment of stress and exhaustion disorder.     

Discourse,memory, and the adult attachment interview: A note with emphasis on the emerging cannot classify category

This brief report focuses on the emergence of a new Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) category, Cannot Classify. The Adult Attachment Interview classification system is discussed with emphasis upon differences in AAI categories as they relate to strategies or lapses in strategy for the integration and focus of attention and memory. The Cannot Classify category is understood to differ from the other AAI categories in that it appears to represent a global breakdown in the organization and maintenance of a singular strategy for adhering to the discourse tasks of the AAI. Some recent findings and speculations regarding clinical implications of the Cannot Classify category are provided.     

Attention to one word at a time in reading is still a viable hypothesis: rejoinder to Inhoff, Radach, and Eiter (2006)

A. W. Inhoff, R. Radach, and B. Eiter argue that the current version of the E-Z Reader model (A. Pollatsek, E. D. Reichle, & K. Rayner) cannot explain 2 key findings in their data, and as a result, the assumption of words being attended to 1 at a time is likely to be false. In this rejoinder, the authors argue that the E-Z Reader model can easily explain the 1st of the 2 phenomena and that the 2nd phenomenon is likely to be at least partially an artifact of changing displays during fixations. The authors also argue that their assumptions about attention shifting are not contrary to the attention literature and that the assumption that A. W. Inhoff et al. deem to be unrealistic (i.e., instantaneous shifting of attention) is easily modified within the architecture of the model.     

Effects of mand-tact versus tact-only training on the acquisition of tacts

We sought to replicate and extend Carroll and Hesse's (1987) study of the acquisition of tacts by including participants with and without developmental disabilities. As in Carroll and Hesse, the present results showed that mand-tact training, rather than tact-only training, led to more rapid acquisition of tacts. Tacting on follow-up tests did not differ. In addition, our results show that mand-tact training established both verbal operants involved about as rapidly as tact-only training established only one verbal operant. DESCRIPTORS: verbal behavior, tact acquisition, mand-tact training, tact-only training, follow-up