Cutaneous coding of optical signals: The optohapt

Means of transmuting optical signals into cutaneous patterns are sufficiently rare to warrant a fresh attempt at devising one. An instrument called the “optohapt” is described. It converts printed or typed characters into tactual signals having various spatial and temporal properties. These are impressed on nine widely scattered bodily loci. Data on discriminability of a wide range of patterns are reported, and there is proposed a promising coding system for the instrument.     

A metric and an ordering on sets

Beginning with sets of arbitrary elements, concepts of distance and betweenness of sets are defined. Since betweenness as defined is not transitive, an investigation is made of the conditions which ensure desirable regularity. It is found that a straight line or linear array of sets is a generalization of nested sets (Guttman scales). Close relationships among the notions of distance, betweenness, and linear arrays are demonstrated. Parallel and perpendicular arrays, dimensions, and multidimensional spaces are characterized.     

Authority Argument Schemes,Types, and Critical Questions

Authority arguments generate support for claims by appealing to an agent’s authority status, rather than to reasons independent of it. With few exceptions, the current literature on argument schemes acknowledges two basic authority types. The epistemic type grounds in knowledge, the deontic type grounds in power. We review how historically earlier scholarship acknowledged an attractiveness-based and a majority-based authority type as equally basic type. Crossing these with basic speech act types thus yields authority argument sub-schemes. Focusing on the epistemic-assertive sub-scheme (‘an epistemic authority A_E asserts a proposition P’), we apply a meta-level approach to specifying critical questions. Results improve the evaluation of this sub-scheme and show how similar improvements are obtainable for other schemes.

     

Does covenant marriage predict latent trajectory groups of newlywed couples?

Covenant marriage is a legally distinct marriage license available in Arizona, Louisiana, and Arkansas in the United States. This study revisited one of the largest longitudinal dyadic studies on covenant versus standard newlywed couples. Using this dataset of 677 different-sex couples, we explored whether being in a covenant marriage could predict how marital satisfaction developed over the first five marital years. We applied the Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM) method to identify groups that differed in their initial marital satisfaction and trajectory. The results revealed three different trajectory groups—one group showing high and stable marital satisfaction, which we named High Stable, and two groups showing declines in marital satisfaction, one being medium and the other one being low in satisfaction at the beginning of the marriage, and we named them Medium Declining and Low Declining respectively. Spouses with lower initial marital satisfaction experienced a faster decline and suffered the highest divorce rate. Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) analysis revealed that one's group membership was predicted by their partner's membership, suggesting a mutual influence on marital development. Being in a covenant marriage was able to predict husbands' membership as covenant husbands were found to be more likely in the high stable group.     

Robustness of the rule-learning effect in 7-month-old infants: A close,multicenter replication of Marcus et al. (1999)

We conducted a close replication of the seminal work by Marcus and colleagues from 1999, which showed that after a brief auditory exposure phase, 7-month-old infants were able to learn and generalize a rule to novel syllables not previously present in the exposure phase. This work became the foundation for the theoretical framework by which we assume that infants are able to learn abstract representations and generalize linguistic rules. While some extensions on the original work have shown evidence of rule learning, the outcomes are mixed, and an exact replication of Marcus et al.'s study has thus far not been reported. A recent meta-analysis by Rabagliati and colleagues brings to light that the rule-learning effect depends on stimulus type (e.g., meaningfulness, speech vs. nonspeech) and is not as robust as often assumed. In light of the theoretical importance of the issue at stake, it is appropriate and necessary to assess the replicability and robustness of Marcus et al.'s findings. Here we have undertaken a replication across four labs with a large sample of 7-month-old infants (N = 96), using the same exposure patterns (ABA and ABB), methodology (Headturn Preference Paradigm), and original stimuli. As in the original study, we tested the hypothesis that infants are able to learn abstract “algebraic” rules and apply them to novel input. Our results did not replicate the original findings: infants showed no difference in looking time between test patterns consistent or inconsistent with the familiarization pattern they were exposed to.     

On Logics with Coimplication

This paper investigates (modal) extensions of Heyting–Brouwer logic, i.e., the logic which results when the dual of implication (alias coimplication) is added to the language of intuitionistic logic. We first develop matrix as well as Kripke style semantics for those logics. Then, by extending the Gödel-embedding of intuitionistic logic into S4 , it is shown that all (modal) extensions of Heyting–Brouwer logic can be embedded into tense logics (with additional modal operators). An extension of the Blok–Esakia-Theorem is proved for this embedding.     

The Case for Early Intervention in Diagnosing Specific Reading Disability

In the present article, we argue against the use of psychometric assessment as the primary or sole vehicle for diagnosing specific reading disability. We suggest instead that the diagnostic enterprise should be initiated with early and labor intensive remedial intervention, and that the child’s ability to profit from such intervention should be the most important piece of information in making the diagnosis, notwithstanding the confirmatory value of psychometric assessment in given cases. We support our arguments with selected findings from an intervention study we have recently completed demonstrating that most children who perform poorly in reading can be readily brought to at least an average level of performance if their reading difficulties are addressed at the beginning stage of reading development.