Graded effects of number of inserted letters in superset priming

Three masked priming experiments investigated the effects of target word length and number of inserted letters on superset priming, where irrelevant letters are added to targets to form prime stimuli (e.g., tanble-table). Effects of one, two, three, and four-letter insertions were measured relative to an unrelated prime condition, the identity prime condition, and a condition where the order of letters of the superset primes was reversed. Superset primes facilitated performance compared with unrelated primes and reversed primes, and the overall pattern showed a small cost of letter insertion that was independent of target word length and that increased linearly as a function of the number of inserted letters. A meta-analysis incorporating data from the present study and two other studies investigating superset priming, showed an average estimated processing cost of 11 ms per letter insertion. Models of letter position coding are examined in the light of this result.     

关于"上帝"我们将做什么?

本文在分析传统上帝观念对人类社会带来的各种危害的同时,又指出现代无神论相应造成的局限性,认为西方应该批判地重新利用基督教传统作为现代世界的灵性资源,而中国也应该把继承传统文化与发展现代化结合起来。以怀特海哲学为基础的过程神学或过程思想正在努力地实现这种结合。     

为什么终究有一个宇宙,而不是什么都没有?

为什么终究有一个宇宙,而不是什么都没有？这个表述提出的是一个有名无实的问题,它是莱布尼兹于1697与1714年提出的两个相续提问的融合。他这样做是为了给他的有神论解释奠定基础。本文是2004年的长篇（54页）论文《有神论宇宙学的贫困》的续篇,那篇论文发表在《英国科学哲学杂志》第55卷的561至614页上。本文所做的工作是：（1）莱布尼兹要求对那个问题做出解释,而本文所做的批判性考察则得出了一个对之非常不利的结论;（2）本文的论证表明：莱布尼兹将那个疑问句的本体论难题作为他以及R．斯温本（Richard Swinburne）的创世有神论回答的跳板,这种做法是完全失败的。在（1）中的论证是,莱布尼兹的解释要求是一个构思拙劣的启动器,它提出了一个伪问题（pseudoissue）。因此,他以及斯温本支持神圣创世的论据完全是失败的。本文附带的结论是：哲学事业根本不必为莱布尼兹的本体论疑问所累,因为它只是一个幻影。     

反拉图尔论

尽管拉图尔已经与爱丁堡学派分道扬镳,但在外人眼中,他们都属于知识社会学的社会建构主义:他们都对传统的科学社会学提出了批评,他们使用相同的术语,他们的观点是相似的,只不过,拉图尔更为激进.布鲁尔撰写此文对此进行了澄清,他指出,拉图尔并非走得更远,而是在后退,退到了传统的科学社会学.他阐述了他的概念和思想与拉图尔的区别,指出拉图尔主要误解了主客体图式,混淆了自然与人们关于自然的信念或说明之间的区别,拉图尔的批评完全是对知识社会学的曲解.     

Graphical representation fosters discovery in the 2-4-6 task

In the 2-4-6 rule discovery task, reasoners seek to discover a rule that governs the arrangement of three numbers (or triple). The to-be-discovered rule is “ascending numbers”. Upon being given the triple 2-4-6 as an initial example, however, reasoners tend to formulate algebraically specific hypotheses. Traditionally, this task is conducted primarily from an internal representation of the triples and candidate hypotheses. More recently, substantial representational effects have been demonstrated wherein an external representation of the dimensions of the problem space facilitated successful rule discovery. In the two experiments reported here, an interactive graphical representation was created by concurrently plotting each triple produced by the participants. In Experiment 1, participants who performed the task with this external representation were more likely to discover the rule than were a group of control participants. Experiment 2 replicated the effect but also assessed participants' hypotheses for each triple generated. Results indicated that a graphical representation of the triples fostered the development of hypotheses that were less constrained by the implied algebraic specificity of the initial triple.     

After-effects of goal shifting and response inhibition: a comparison of the stop-change and dual-task paradigms

In the present study, we tested three hypotheses that account for after-effects of response inhibition and goal shifting: the goal-shifting hypothesis, the reaction time (RT) adjustment hypothesis, and the stimulus-goal association hypothesis. To distinguish between the hypotheses, we examined performance in the stop-change paradigm and the dual-task paradigm. In the stop-change paradigm, we found that responding on no-signal trials slowed down when a stop-change signal was presented on the previous trial. Similarly, in the dual-task paradigm, we found that responding on no-signal trials slowed down when a dual-task signal was presented on the previous trial. However, aftereffects of unsuccessful inhibition or dual-task performance were observed only when the stimulus of the previous trial was repeated. These results are consistent with stimulus--goal association hypothesis, which assumes that the stimulus is associated with the different task goals on signal trials; when the stimulus is repeated, the tasks goal are retrieved, and interference occurs.     

Evidence for an expectancy-based theory of avoidance behaviour

In most studies on avoidance learning, participants receive an aversive unconditioned stimulus after a warning signal is presented, unless the participant performs a particular response. Lovibond (2006) recently proposed a cognitive theory of avoidance learning, according to which avoidance behaviour is a function of both Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning. In line with this theory, we found that avoidance behaviour was based on an integration of acquired knowledge about, on the one hand, the relation between stimuli and, on the other hand, the relation between behaviour and stimuli.     

What phonological deficit?

We review a series of experiments aimed at understanding the nature of the phonological deficit in developmental dyslexia. These experiments investigate input and output phonological representations, phonological grammar, foreign speech perception and production, and unconscious speech processing and lexical access. Our results converge on the observation that the phonological representations of people with dyslexia may be intact, and that the phonological deficit surfaces only as a function of certain task requirements, notably short-term memory, conscious awareness, and time constraints. In an attempt to reformulate those task requirements more economically, we propose that individuals with dyslexia have a deficit in access to phonological representations. We discuss the explanatory power of this concept and we speculate that a similar notion might also adequately describe the nature of other associated cognitive deficits when present.     

Stimulus complexity and prospective timing: clues for a parallel process model of time perception

Whereas many studies have considered the role of attention in prospective timing, fewer have established relations between movement complexity and prospective timing. The present study aims at assessing to what extent motion complexity interferes with prospective timing and at delineating a neuropsychophysical plausible model. We have thus designed a visual paradigm presenting stimuli in sequential pairs (reference comparison interval). Stimuli are motionless or moving according to different complexities, and stimulus complexities are intermixed within each pair. To prevent a possible attention-sharing effect, no concurrent task was required. Our study suggests that movement complexity is a key component of duration perception, and that the relative judgement of durations depends on spatio-temporal features of stimuli. In particular, it shows that movement complexity can bias subjects’ perception and performance, and that subjects detect that comparison intervals are longer than reference before their end. In the discussion, we advocate that the classical internal clock model cannot easily account for our results. Consequently, we propose a model for time perception, based on a parallel processing between comparison interval perception and the reconstruction of the reference duration.