The role of free choice in memory for past decisions

After choosing between different options, people tend to remember the features of the options in ways that favour the chosen alternative. The present experiment examined how limitations on freedom to choose between options affected this memory bias. Participants were given a series of two-option choices and were either allowed free choice between options or were assigned to an option. Participants assigned to an option were led to believe that either the selection was random or was made in their best interest based on their personality profile. Results indicated that the choice and best interest conditions demonstrated memory attributions that favoured their received options, whereas the assignment condition did not. These findings support the view that memory biases towards received options are not unique to free choice situations, but may stem from expectations and implicit theories about how and why the choice was made.     

Postpartum feeding attitudes, maternal depression, and breastfeeding in Barbados

Maternal feeding attitudes, maternal moods and infant feeding practices during the first 6 months postpartum were assessed in 226 healthy, well-nourished Barbadian mother-infant dyads. Factor analysis of the feeding attitudes questionnaire resulted in six independent factors. The belief that breastfeeding was better than bottle-feeding was associated with higher family income, more information seeking behavior and older maternal age at the time of her first pregnancy. Women who believed that breastfeeding was better at 7 weeks postpartum were also more likely to breastfeed at concurrent and later ages, up to 6 months postpartum. This belief was also associated with less maternal depression at 7 weeks and 6 months. The association between feeding attitudes and actual feeding practices was significant even after correcting for maternal moods and other background variables. Conversely, after controlling for feeding attitudes, maternal mood at 7 weeks was still significantly associated with infant feeding practices at 6 months. Thus, feeding attitudes and maternal moods were closely linked, but each contributed independently and uniquely to different aspects of breastfeeding, especially at 6 months. These findings suggest that early intervention addressing maternal feeding attitudes, may improve the extent of breastfeeding and the health of children in this setting.     

Bed-sharing, breastfeeding and maternal moods in Barbados

Bed-sharing among Barbadian mothers and infants was studied in relationship to maternal and infant characteristics. This prospective study followed 226 healthy, well-nourished mother–infant dyads at birth, 7 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postpartum. At each age, approximately half of the infants shared the same beds as their mothers. Bed-sharing was associated with demographic characteristics, especially fewer home conveniences, and also maternal characteristics, including less information seeking by the mother and younger maternal age at first pregnancy. Bed-sharing was also associated with lower infant birth weights. Maternal moods were significantly correlated with bed-sharing, such that mothers who reported having more despair and anxiety were also more likely to sleep with their infants. Bed-sharing was also significantly associated with increased breastfeeding at all infant ages, but this relationship was no longer significant once the effects of maternal moods were controlled. This study emphasizes the importance of assessing maternal moods in studies evaluating the risk and benefits of bed-sharing.     

Putnam's internal realism and von Balthasar's religious epistemology

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

The three arrows of Zeno

We explore the better known paradoxes of Zeno including modern variants based on infinite processes, from the point of view of standard, classical analysis, from which there is still much to learn (especially concerning the paradox of division), and then from the viewpoints of non-standard and non-classical analysis (the logic of the latter being intuitionist).The standard, classical or Cantorian notion of the continuum, modeled on the real number line, is well known, as is the definition of motion as the time derivative of distance (we are not concerned with position and motion in more than one dimension, since Zeno wasn't). The real number line consists of its points, the distance between distinct points being positive and finite. The standard, classical derivative relies on the classical notion of limit, which does not use infinitesimals.In non-standard analysis, the real line is again the set of its points, but infinitesimal distances between points are allowed, while the derivative is defined in terms of the ratio of infinitesimals. This has the surprising consequence that there is a function of time giving positions, which is not constant, but whose derivative is everywhere zero, so that a particle whose position is given by this function can move a finite distance in a finite time, while being at rest all along. Such a function, of course is external — it can't be defined in the formal language. More suprising still, a model of the non-standard real line can be found which is internally finite — that is there is an injection from an initial segment of non-negative integers to the non-standard interval [0,1) whose range includes all the standard real numbers, and the ratio of the number of points in the range in any subset S of the interval to the number of those in the entire interval differs by an infinitesimal from the Lebesgue measure of the set of standard points in S. Of course, the formalism can't tell the difference between standard and non-standard integers or points — that is an external concept. Still, this allows a discrete model of the line with points an infinitesimal distance apart, without sacrificing any of the results of standard analysis, including measure theory.Non-classical analysis is based on topos theory in an intuitionist setting. All curves are piecewise linear, or straight over infinitesimal distances, and the non-classical derivative is defined as the slope in such intervals. So whereas the direction of a non-standard smooth curve changes infinitesimally over infinitesimal distances, the direction of a non-classical curve (all of them are smooth), doesn't change at all over infitesimal distances. And while a standard or non-standard line can be identified with the set of its points, the points on a non-classical line might be said not to occupy all positions, and the line is an object which is not the set of its points.We explore the implications of all this for the various paradoxes of Zeno, and some modern variants.     

The neuropsychology of depression and its implications for cognitive therapy

The past few years have witnessed a growing interest in the specialty of neuropsychology as well as continued support for cognitive therapy of depression. The purpose of this paper is the examination of the neuropsychology of depression and its implications for A. T. Beck's cognitive theory and therapy of depression ([1963] Thinking and Depression: Idiosyncratic Content and Cognitive Distortions,Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 9, pp. 324–333; [1964] Thinking and Depression,Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 10, pp. 561–571; [1967]Depression: Clinical, Experimental, and Theoretical Aspects, New York: Harper & Row). Specifically, the neuropsychological and cognitive theory and therapy literatures related to depression are reviewed followed by an antegration of these areas. Neuropsychological evidence is presented that both supports cognitive theory and therapy of depression and helps explain why such therapy may prove ineffective in treating depression. Implications for clinical practice, including neuropsychological assessment of depressives, and potential future research directions are also provided.     

An apparatus for use in 2 by 2 game research

This article describes a solid state apparatus for use in 2 by 2 game research. There are two individual player’s boards and a control panel for E. Following E’s signal, each player chooses one of two responses. Their choices are immediately registered on E’s panel, but appear on each individual game board only after both have responded. Provisions are made for E to transmit false feedback.