Lateralization in haptic processing: An apparatus for analyzing manual strategies

We describe an apparatus for testing laterality in haptic processing in the discrimination of nonsense shapes in humans or monkeys. The system, which permits either mono- or dichhaptic discrimination, automatically provides data on the measurement of accuracy along with information on hand exploratory strategies.     

Comparison of textual analysis applied to two lectures written three years apart by one author: the language satellites

A comparative textual analysis was carried out on two essays "Thanatol" and "Double Talk," by F. Perrier, which were originally lectures given three years apart by the author, a psychoanalyst. This study involved the use of the ALCESTE software program, a computer-assisted method of discourse analysis. It consists of modelling the distribution of the main words occurring in speeches or texts with a view toward identifying the repetitive language patterns most frequently used by a speaker or writer. This method is described in the first part of the paper. Various types of discourse emerged from analysis along with specific topics. There were three types in the case of Thanatol and four in that of Double Talk. Upon comparing the separate results obtained on each corpus, a pool of significant words observed in the corpus Thanatol was also present in Double Talk. These words were organised into groups called "language satellites" which were dispatched in the various types of discourse. Considering the underlying language structure (the enunciation), they formed another discourse running between the lines of two lectures. This supplementary discourse was recurrent and could be said to label the author and his thoughts. The ALCESTE method brings to light in the textual production of an author a recurrent pattern of discourse which might hold some clues for the analysis of texts and speech and even about the author as evident in his own ideas and thoughts.     

Statistical Significance of the Contribution of Variables to the PCA solution: An Alternative Permutation Strategy

In this paper, the statistical significance of the contribution of variables to the principal components in principal components analysis (PCA) is assessed nonparametrically by the use of permutation tests. We compare a new strategy to a strategy used in previous research consisting of permuting the columns (variables) of a data matrix independently and concurrently, thus destroying the entire correlational structure of the data. This strategy is considered appropriate for assessing the significance of the PCA solution as a whole, but is not suitable for assessing the significance of the contribution of single variables. Alternatively, we propose a strategy involving permutation of one variable at a time, while keeping the other variables fixed. We compare the two approaches in a simulation study, considering proportions of Type I and Type II error. We use two corrections for multiple testing: the Bonferroni correction and controlling the False Discovery Rate (FDR). To assess the significance of the variance accounted for by the variables, permuting one variable at a time, combined with FDR correction, yields the most favorable results. This optimal strategy is applied to an empirical data set, and results are compared with bootstrap confidence intervals.     

Cognitive enhancement, human evolution and bioethics

The goal of this article are three-fold. The first is to explore the relations between the properties designated by the terms "human", "post-human," "Transhuman", and to clarify the corresponding "isms". The second is to scrutinize the current techniques for cognitive enhancement in order to assess their relations with the three categories just mentioned, and, with the specific ethical issues that they are raising. The third is to examine whether general ethical principles could be invoked either in favor of or against, the normative proposals of post- and trans-humanism, and to consider how compatible the types of enhancement presently developed are with respect to these principles.     

What Is Sexual Empowerment? A Multidimensional and Process-Oriented Approach to Adolescent Girls’ Sexual Empowerment

Theorists disagree about how to define the concept of empowerment. This disagreement extends to discussions of adolescent girls’ sexual empowerment. Feminists struggle with whether sexual empowerment should be conceptualized as a subjective internal feeling of power and agency or an objective measure of power and control. Defining sexual empowerment as a subjective state may mistakenly equate feelings of agency with cultural and institutional power. Yet, a subjective definition of sexual empowerment is advantageous in that it validates girls’ own experiences and perceptions. This commentary argues that sexual empowerment might best be conceptualized as a continuous and multidimensional construct. This would allow for the recognition of sexual empowerment as a developmental process, and it would allow for the acknowledgement of ambivalent empowerment.     

Detecting anticipatory events in handwriting movements

We investigated how visual processes exploit specific anticipatory movements observed in handwriting gestures. Previous research has shown that the kinematic information contained in the downstroke of an l is exploited to predict the identity of the forthcoming letter. Here, we determined the moment at which prediction takes place. Two between-letter effects were examined: changes in size (ll vs le) and changes in rotation direction (le vs ln). Results show that with only 75% of the l downstroke trajectory (or 60% of the downstroke time) subjects are already capable of predicting the identity of the letter following the l, that is well before the end of the downstroke. Analysis also reveals that identification takes place after the presentation of the movement acceleration phase. The visual perception of motor anticipation seems to involve the detection of motor events.