Avoidance learning by Guinea pigs

Albino guinea pigs were trained in shuttle-boxes. Superior performances were achieved with longer CS-US (15 sec. against 5 sec.) and intertrial intervals (90 sec. against 30 sec.). There were no performance increments within sessions, but improvements in performance occurred between sessions. Consolidation mechanisms probably play an important part in avoidance learning by guinea pigs.     

Compactification Of L(Q)

In this paper we extend the usual notion of model (asa structure) to the more general notion of CauchySequence of Structures in a similar way as rationalsare extending to real numbers by means of Cauchysequences of rationals. We show that the structurespace St is dense in thecomplete space CSt of Cauchysequences of structures and that CSt is compact in the (topo)logicalsense.     

Perceptual Variation,Color Language,and Reference Fixing. An Objectivist Account

I offer a new objectivist theory of the contents of color language and color experience, intended especially as an account of what normal intersubjective variation in color perception and classification shows about those contents. First I explain an abstract account of the contents of (utterances of) color and other gradable adjectives; on the account, these contents are certain objective properties constituted in part by contextually intended standards of application, which are in turn values in the dimensions of variation associated with the adjectives. Then I propose an explanation of normal variations in linguistic color classification; these are postulated to be effects of differences in intended standards for the color adjectives appearing in the classifying predicates. Next, I consider a potential objection to this explanation, based on the suggestion that contextual content should be more accessible than the explanation predicts. In reply, I point out that contextual content is occasionally opaque to unsophisticated reflection. Finally, I present a companion account of the contents of color experiences on which these represent an object as lying on certain salient intervals in the chromatic dimensions, and I show how the account accommodates intersubjective variation in color perception.     

Recruiting and Assessing Recent Young Adult Latina Immigrants in Health Disparities Research

The authors interviewed 4 researchers to identify facilitators in recruiting and assessing Latina immigrants. The 4 researchers recruited 530 recent Latina immigrants (ages 18–23 years) for a study of social and cultural determinants of health. Consensual qualitative research methods revealed that respondent‐driven sampling was an effective recruitment method. Fear of deportation was a barrier. Stigma about sensitive topics (e.g., sex, drug use) did not affect participation. Findings can help counselors conduct health disparities research. Los autores entrevistaron a 4 investigadores para identificar facilitadores para el reclutamiento y evaluación de inmigrantes latinas. Los 4 investigadores reclutaron a 530 mujeres latinas que habían inmigrado recientemente (edades entre 18 y 23 años) para un estudio de los factores sociales y culturales determinantes de la salud. Los métodos de investigación cuantitativa consensuados revelaron que el muestreo dirigido por las encuestadas fue un método efectivo de reclutamiento. El miedo a la deportación fue un obstáculo. El estigma asociado a temas delicados (p. ej., el sexo, el uso de drogas) no afectó a la participación. Los hallazgos pueden ayudar a los consejeros a realizar estudios sobre disparidades en la salud.     

Metacognitive monitoring during category learning: how success affects future behaviour

The purpose of this study was to see how people perceive their own learning during a category learning task, and whether their perceptions matched their performance. In two experiments, participants were asked to learn natural categories, of both high and low variability, and make category learning judgements (CLJs). Variability was manipulated by varying the number of exemplars and the number of times each exemplar was presented within each category. Experiment 1 showed that participants were generally overconfident in their knowledge of low variability families, suggesting that they considered repetition to be more useful for learning than it actually was. Also, a correct trial, for a particular category, was more likely to occur if the previous trial was correct. CLJs had the largest increase when a trial was correct following an incorrect trial and the largest decrease when an incorrect trial followed a correct trial. Experiment 2 replicated these results, but also demonstrated that global CLJ ratings showed the same bias towards repetition. These results indicate that we generally identify success as being the biggest determinant of learning, but do not always recognise cues, such as variability, that enhance learning.     

Tragic Recognition: Revisiting Hegel’s Conception of Ethical Life

This paper interprets Hegel’s engagement with tragedy and especially tragic action as an interpretive model for understanding ethical life in complex societies in which independent value spheres collide. Tragic recognition, in contrast to the kind of recognition introduced in the master and slave dialectic, is not based on desire, but arises from the suffering deriving from clashing value spheres. As a coming to terms with one’s finitude, tragic recognition presents an important corrective to the account of mutual recognition that has been the reference point of contemporary interpretations of Hegel’s social and political philosophy. The paper concludes by pointing to some of the limits of tragedy as a universal interpretive framework for modern societies.     

A Note on Formality and Logical Consequence

Logic is formal in the sense that all arguments of the same form as logically valid arguments are also logically valid and hence truth-preserving. However, it is not known whether all arguments that are valid in the usual model-theoretic sense are truth-preserving. Tarski claimed that it could be proved that all arguments that are valid (in the sense of validity he contemplated in his 1936 paper on logical consequence) are truth-preserving. But he did not offer the proof. The question arises whether the usual model-theoretic sense of validity and Tarski's 1936 sense are the same. I argue in this paper that they probably are not, and that the proof Tarski had in mind, although unusable to prove that model-theoretically valid arguments are truth-preserving, can be used to prove that arguments valid in Tarski's 1936 sense are truth-preserving.     

Adult Attachment Style and Cognitive Reactions to Positive Affect: A Test of Mental Categorization and Creative Problem Solving

Three studies examined the moderating effect of attachment style on cognitive reactions to positive affect inductions. In Study 1 (N = 110), participants completed attachment style scales, were asked to retrieve a happy or a neutral memory, and, then, performed a categorization task. Study 2 (N = 120) used the same affect induction, while examining creative problem solving in the Remote Associates Test. Study 3 (N = 120) replicated Study 2, while using another affect induction (watching a comedy film) and controlling for trait anxiety scores. Overall, securely attached persons reacted to positive affect with broader categorization and better performance in creative problem-solving tasks. Anxious–ambivalent persons showed an opposite pattern of cognitive reactions to positive affect, and avoidant persons showed no difference in their cognitive reactions to positive and neutral affect inductions. The discussion emphasizes the role that attachment-related strategies of affect regulation may play in episodes of positive affect.     

The mental representation of numerical fractions: real or integer?

Numerical fractions are commonly used to express ratios and proportions (i.e., real numbers), but little is known about how they are mentally represented and processed by skilled adults. Four experiments employed comparison tasks to investigate the distance effect and the effect of the spatial numerical association of response codes (SNARC) for fractions. Results showed that fractions were processed componentially and that the real numerical value of the fraction was not accessed, indicating that processing the fraction's magnitude is not automatic. In contrast, responses were influenced by the numerical magnitude of the components and reflected the simple comparison between numerators, denominators, and reference, depending on the strategy adopted. Strategies were used even by highly skilled participants and were flexibly adapted to the specific experimental context. In line with results on the whole number bias in children, these findings suggest that the understanding of fractions is rooted in the ability to represent discrete numerosities (i.e., integers) rather than real numbers and that the well-known difficulties of children in mastering fractions are circumvented by skilled adults through a flexible use of strategies based on the integer components.