Emotional sharing and the extended mind

Synthese - This article investigates the relationship between emotional sharing and the extended mind thesis. We argue that shared emotions are socially extended emotions that involve a specific...     

Against Some Recent Arguments for ‘Ought’ Implies ‘Can’: Reasons,Deliberation, Trying,and Furniture

Philosophia - Many philosophers claim that ‘ought’ implies ‘can’. In light of recent empirical evidence, however, some skeptics conclude that philosophers should stop...     

Low-income, nonresident father involvement with their toddlers: variation by fathers' race and ethnicity

Using data from a racially and ethnically diverse sample of low-income mothers of 2-year-old children participating in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (N = 883), the authors examined fathers' education and employment, mother-father relationship, and mothers' relationships with kin in the household to explain variation in nonresident father involvement across racial and ethnic groups. Nonresident White fathers were less involved with their children than were African American and Latino fathers. This difference was explained by the status of mother-father relationships. White nonresident fathers were less likely than minority nonresident fathers to maintain romantic relationships with their child's mother. Mothers in the White father group were also more likely to re-partner, which negatively related to biological fathers' involvement. These findings suggest that approaches to strengthen nonresident father involvement in children's lives need to consider how father ethnicity and mother-father relations are associated with differential patterns of father involvement.     

Parenting styles and their relationship with hyperactivity

The present study aims to determine the relationship among factors that make up the parenting styles according to the PCRI (Parent-Child Relationship Inventory) and hyperactivity reported by parents through the BASC (Behaviour Assessment System for Children). We selected a sample of 32 children between 3 and 14 years old (23 male and 9 female) with risk scores in hyperactivity and another similar group with low scores in hyperactivity. After administering both instruments to the parents, we carried out a binomial logistic regression analysis which resulted in a prediction model for 84.4% of the sample, made up of the PCRI factors: fathers' involvement, communication and role orientation, mothers' parental support, and both parents' limit-setting and autonomy. Moreover, our analysis of the variance produced significant differences in the support perceived by the fathers and mothers of both groups. Lastly, the utility of results to propose intervention strategies within the family based on an authoritative style is discussed.     

Responsibility and the Brain Sciences

Some theorists think that the more we get to know about the neural underpinnings of our behaviors, the less likely we will be to hold people responsible for their actions. This intuition has driven some to suspect that as neuroscience gains insight into the neurological causes of our actions, people will cease to view others as morally responsible for their actions, thus creating a troubling quandary for our legal system. This paper provides empirical evidence against such intuitions. Particularly, our studies of folk intuitions suggest that (1) when the causes of an action are described in neurological terms, they are not found to be any more exculpatory than when described in psychological terms, and (2) agents are not held fully responsible even for actions that are fully neurologically caused.     

A simple 1+ dimensional model of rowing mimics observed forces and motions

We have devised a simple, yet predictive model of the mechanics of both sculling and sweep rowing that reasonably mimics observed kinematic and force data. Our physical model is largely based upon the model proposed by Alexander [Alexander, F. H. (1925). The theory of rowing. In Proceedings of the University of Durham Philosophical Society (pp. 160-179).]. The model's primary features include: one dimensional momentum balance, a point mass rower, infinitely stiff oars with inertia and non-infinitesimal stroke angles, and quadratic relationships between force and velocity for the boat and oar blade. Using an inverse dynamics approach, we are able to construct reasonable fits to force and kinematic data of real rowing. We show that the model is able to reasonably well predict boat velocity even when we do not fit for it. A sensitivity analysis shows that the quality of fit is more sensitive to the boat and oar drag coefficients than to other physical parameters. Allowing oar slip (C(D) < infinity) proves to be a necessary model ingredient but, for example, allowing for oar flexibility does not improve the quality of fit. The model seems to have the key terms and a minimum of superfluous terms for investigations of rowing.     

Improved picture naming in chronic aphasia after TMS to part of right Broca's area: an open-protocol study

Functional imaging studies with nonfluent aphasia patients have observed "over-activation" in right (R) language homologues. This may represent a maladaptive strategy; suppression may result in language improvement. We applied slow, 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to an anterior portion of R Broca's homologue daily, for 10 days in four aphasia patients who were 5-11 years poststroke. Significant improvement was observed in picture naming at 2 months post-rTMS, with lasting benefit at 8 months in three patients. This preliminary, open trial suggests that rTMS may provide a novel treatment approach for aphasia by possibly modulating the distributed, bi-hemispheric language network.     

Amnestic effect of intrahippocampal AM251, a CB1-selective blocker, in the inhibitory avoidance, but not in the open field habituation task, in rats

CB1 is the most abundant metabotropic receptor of the brain, being found in areas classically involved in learning and memory and present at higher density at presynaptic terminals. Different sets of evidence support the idea that endogenous ligands (endocannabinoids) to the CB1 receptors act as modulators of neurotransmission. In hippocampus, endocannabinoids seem to act as retrograde messengers mediating down-regulation of GABA release. Previous reports have described a cognitive impairment effect of cannabinoid agonists, or facilitation by antagonists. The scope of the present study is to investigate the effect of intrahippocampal administration of the CB1-selective antagonist, AM251, in two behavioral tasks. One hundred and twelve male Wistar rats with bilateral cannulae implanted in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus were trained in a step-down inhibitory avoidance task (IA, footshock, 0.5 mA) or an open field habituation task (OF). Immediately, after training, animals received an infusion of 0.55, 5.5, and 55.5 ng/side of AM251 (Tocris), or its vehicle (DMSO/saline), via these cannulae. Our results show that AM251 disrupted memory consolidation of the IA task, but not the OF task, an effect that seems to be purely mnemonic since the drug showed no motor performance effects. Only the intermediate dose (5.5 ng/side) of AM251 was effective in IA and the absence of effect with the larger dose may be the consequence of non-specific binding. The fact that OF was not affected raises the possibility that this endogenous system requires some degree of aversiveness to be recruited. We propose that increased levels of endogenous cannabinoids in the hippocampus, following a training session, contribute to facilitate memory consolidation, a process that may have been disrupted with AM251.     

The Cosmopolitan Imperative: Global Justice Through Accountable Integration

Cosmopolitan political theorists hold that our obligations to distribute resources to others do not halt at state borders, but most do not advocate a restructuring of the global system to achieve their distributive aims. This article argues that promoting democratically accountable economic and political integration between states would be the most effective way to enable cosmopolitan, or routine, tax-financed, trans-state distributions. Movement toward a more integrated global system should encourage the view that larger sets of persons have interests in common that should be protected and promoted in common. Democratically accountable integration also should enable those within less-affluent states to more vigorously press trans-state distributive claims. The still-evolving E.U. is examined as a partial model for the integrated alternative in other geographic regions, as well as, in the much longer term, for some form of democratic global government capable of ensuring that any person born anywhere would have access to adequate resources and life opportunities.A version of this paper was presented at the global justice mini-conference at the American Philosophical Association (Pacific Division) annual meeting, Pasadena, California, 26–29 March 2004. Some of the arguments in this article were introduced in Luis Cabrera, Political Theory of Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Case for the World State (London: Routledge, 2004), Chapter 4. They have been revised and further developed for this article. I would like to thank for their generous comments Jamie Mayerfeld, James A. Caporaso and Mika LaVaque-Manty.