Stuffed Cabbage in the Old New School Cafeteria

The purpose of this lecture is to celebrate the memory of Aron Gurwitsch by examining and enlarging the domain of phenomenological clarification of some elements of what Gurwitsch called the logic of reality. Chief among those elements are the nature of the taken-for-grantedness of our existential belief, the difference between presentive and non-presentive indices of reality and the ground for the self-illumination of the world of working.     

Knowledge acquisition and strategic action in “Mastermind” problems

In two experiments, the strategies used by subjects playing the logical-deduction game, Mastermind, were examined. In the first experiment, subjects showed improvement resulting from the continued use of a particular strategic action, and the data suggested that the subjects learned the strategy from their transactions with the task. In the second experiment, the question of changes in underlying strategic knowledge of Mastermind was examined. The accuracy and complexity of the subjects' deductions and their use of the previously identified strategy were used to generate a model of the cognitive operations involved in Mastermind. Although there were improvements in the accuracy and complexity of the subjects' deductions resulting from continued play, these improvements were unrelated to the use of the strategy. Moreover, the likelihood of making accurate and complex deductions was well accounted for by a Markovian model, suggesting that the deployment of the strategy was not driven by any change in the subject's underlying knowledge structures. Rather, the subjects seemed to use the strategy to create Mastermind situations whose interpretation was fairly easy. The implications for previous work on the issue of Mastermind strategies and the development of logical-deduction strategies are discussed.     

A low-cost solid state device for producing delayed auditory feedback

This paper presents a design for construction of a relatively low-cost solid state delayed auditory feedback device. The advantages of this unit are that it is reliable, flexible, easy to operate, and it does not require audio tape.     

In vitro fertilization and surrogate motherhood: The Jewish view

This paper examines the legal, moral, ethical, and Jewish religious issues involved inin vitro fertilization and surrogate motherhood. Also briefly discussed are the topics of artificial insemination and sex organ transplants. Jewish views on these subjects are based on the cardinal principles that life is of infinite value, that human life is sacred, and that the divine license to heal granted to the physician carries with it certain well-defined obligations and restrictions.     

A Parallax View of Counseling: The Social Influence Model

Heppner, Paul, & Heesacker, Martin. Interpersonal Influence Process in Real-Life Counseling: Investigating Client Perceptions, Counselor Experience Level, and Counselor Power Over Time. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1982, 29, 215–223. Hackman, Hollis, & Claiborn, Charles. An Attributional Approach to Counselor Attractiveness. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1982, 29, 224–231.     

Attending to feelings and cognitive performance

The effect on cognitive performance of attending to internally generated stimuli was examined. Specifically, the effect of examining feelings and sensations upon performance in the Stroop test and upon the performance of mental addition was measured. In two initial experiments subjects more quickly named, in the Stroop test, the color of the ink (“red”) in which a color word (“green”) was printed following instructions to attend to their feelings. It was found that this facilitation was due in part to the slowing of the automatic, interfering habit of reading for word meanings. In a third experiment, the effect of attending to physical sensations on the back of the hand was found to have a similar facilitating effect and was seen as resulting from the allocation of attention to internally generated stimuli. In a final experiment, attending to feelings and to the physical sensations on the back of the hand was found to increase speed of mental addition. This effect was attributed to increased attention to internally generated stimuli (here knowledge about the arithmetic performance at the moment).     

Cephalic mechanism for social control of fissioning in planarians: III. Central nervous system centers of facilitation and inhibition.

Previous studies have indicated that asexual reproduction (fissioning) in the planarian Dugesia dorotocephala is socially controlled through a cephalic mechanism: Isolation releases fissioning; grouping inhibits it; decapitation, at the level of the auricles, releases it even in grouped subjects. The brain is not necessary for programming the actual events of fissioning; these are orchestrated by the segmental plexus fissioning (SPF) system. Various surgical cuts were made to ablate selected portions of the central nervous system of isolated and grouped planarians in order to ascertain the inhibitory or facilitatory effects of these in the physiological mediation of such control on the SPF system. These results were synthesized into a model of this control system; the anterior lobes and optic regions of the brain inhibit the SPF system, and the anterior and caudal segmental plexuses facilitate it. These influences are partially tonic and partially contingent upon social stimulation.     

NSF programs in the behavioral and neural sciences

The National Science Foundation’s new Division of Behavioral and Neural Sciences supports basic research and related activities in psychology, ethology, anthropology, linguistics, and the neurosciences. Research equipment and facilities can be provided either through a grant supporting a research project or through a separate grant. The scientific importance and soundness of the research to be conducted, as evaluated by reviewers from the research community, are the main criteria for support. Preparation of proposals is briefly discussed, and sources of further information are noted.