Variation of the Subjective Vertical on the parallel swing at different body positions

Summary Subjects on a horizontally moving parallel swing perceive a change of the position of the body and of the Subjective Vertical (SV). The magnitude of the SV-change was recorded at different body-positions on the swing. The SV-change was smaller when the vertex-base head-axis was oriented parallel or close to parallel to swing movement than when the vertex-base head axis was oriented perpendicular to this movement. Perpendicular orientation implies either head vertex-up or head vertex-down. The results are discussed with respect to other findings on the various sensory input systems.

---

Zusammenfassung Versuchspersonen auf einer horizontal schwingenden Parallel-Schaukel nehmen eine Änderung der Lage des eigenen Körpers und der Stellung der Subjektiven Vertikalen (SV) wahr. Die Größe der im Schwingrhythmus wechselnden SV-Änderung wurde bei verschiedenen Körperstellungen auf der Schaukel untersucht. Sie war kleiner, wenn die Scheitel-Basis-Achse des Kopfes in oder nahe der Schwingungsrichtung und größer, wenn sie senkrecht oder nahezu senkrecht dazu stand; die senkrechte Stellung konnte entweder Scheitel-aufwärts oder Scheitel-abwärts sein. Die Ergebnisse werden im Zusammenhang mit anderen Befunden über die beteiligten sensorischen Systeme diskutiert.

     

Inference-based Teacher Professionalism: How Professional Practitioners in Religious Education Reflect in Action

A theory of professional action is developed based on the 3 modes of inference: abduction, induction, and deduction. The theory explains how professionals reflect in action by combining a single case to their professional repertoire. With teachers in religious education (RE), the problem is focused on how they link students' new and individual religious semantics to traditional Christianity to make religious communication possible. Therefore, the professional teacher action in religious education starts with the religious change in a plural society. Next professionals react to this change by means of the modes of inference. As part of this idea, a theory of inference-based professionalism is created, which relates Schön's theory of reflection-in-action to the modes of inference. The theory is grounded or based on qualitative empirical research. Third, research design and its results are presented and, finally, an outlook on transformative professionalism concerning planning, carrying out, and evaluating religious education-lessons is discussed.     

Targeting a niche market of pet owners: consumer evaluation of a mobile veterinarian's service concept

The veterinary care service industry in the USA is projected to continue its growth during the next decade, primarily due to increasing numbers of pets and rising consumer expenditure for pet medical care. The increasing demand for pet care has spawned a proliferation of traditional and non‐traditional veterinary services. There is a need to examine the market potential for new veterinary services. A concept test among 150 target consumers is used here to provide an evaluation of a non‐traditional veterinary service—mobile veterinary care for small companion animals. Although using a vet who makes house calls would require a change in consumer behaviour, the findings indicate that the service concept is appealing to a niche market of pet owners who desire more service convenience and are willing to pay for it. Educating more consumers about the service benefits may broaden its appeal. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications Ltd.     

Necessity and Memory in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: A Reconstruction

This paper discusses two core concepts in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: necessity (Notwendigkeit) and memory (Erinnerung). The analysis is based on an investigation of the connotations and linguistic components of the two terms as they are used in the German language. Occurrences of the terms in decisive passages in the Phenomenology of Spirit are investigated and seen as a key to an understanding of Hegel’s overall project of constructing a “scientific” (wissenschaftlich) philosophy in the form of a conceptual system. The paper aims at showing that this project can in part be understood as an attempt to transform the contingency of all moments of the path of the self-cultivation, maturation, and growth (Bildung) of spirit (Geist)—understood both in terms of its personal dimension and as “world spirit”—into necessity. It is argued that memory plays a decisive role in this endeavor, not only in the sense of a recalling of the past, but also as a prerequisite for a future that opens up room for further cultivation, maturation, and growth.     

Effects of concurrent cognitive processing on the fluency of word repetition: comparison between persons who do and do not stutter

This study investigated how silent reading and word memorization may affect the fluency of concurrently repeated words. The words silently read or memorized were phonologically similar or dissimilar to the words of the repetition task. Fourteen adults who stutter and 16 who do not participated in the experiment. The two groups were matched for age, education, sex, forward and backward memory span and vocabulary. It was found that the disfluencies of persons who stutter significantly increased during word repetition when similar words were read or memorized concurrently. In contrast, the disfluencies of persons who do not stutter were not significantly affected by either secondary task. These results indicate that the speech of persons who stutter is more sensitive to interference from concurrently performed cognitive processing than that of nonstuttering persons. It is proposed that the phonological and articulatory systems of persons who stutter are protected less efficiently from interference by attention-demanding processing within the central executive system. Alternative interpretations are also discussed. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: Readers will learn how modern speech production theories and the concept of modularity can account for stuttering, and will be able to explain the greater vulnerability of stutterer's speech fluency to concurrent cognitive processing.     

Memory search instead of template matching? Representation-guided inference in same-different performance

Data from two experiments using transformationally related patterns forming rotation/reflection equivalence sets of different size's are presented. In a same-different experiment, two successively presented patterns were judged as same when they belonged to the same equivalence set, and different otherwise. Reaction times depended on the size of the equivalence set to which the patterns belong. This was the case, even when they were physically identical. Results are interpreted within a framework of memory-guided inference which assumes that participants perform a memory search within the equivalence sets activated by the compared patterns instead of comparing these directly. In Experiment 2, goodness ratings were required which are shown to reflect a second component of information processing.     

The temporal architecture of central information processing: Evidence for a tentative time-quantum model

Summary A new, elaborated version of a time-quantum model (TQM) is outlined and illustrated by applying it to different experimental paradigms. As a basic prerequisite TQM adopts the coexistence of different discrete time units or (perceptual) intermittencies as constituent elements of the temporal architecture of mental processes. Unlike similar other approaches, TQM assumes the existence of an absolute lower bound for intermittencies, the time-quantum T, as an (approximately) universal constant and which has a duration of approximately 4.5 ms. Intermittencies of TQM must be multiples T _k=k·T ^* within the interval T ^*T _kL·T ^*M·T ^* with T ^*=q·T and integer q, k, L, and M. Here M denotes an upper bound for multipliers characteristic of individuals, the so-called coherence length; q and L may depend on task, individual and other factors. A second constraint is that admissible intermittencies must be integer fractions of L, the operative upper bound. In addition, M is assumed to determine the number of elementary information units to be stored in short-term memory.