Husserl’s Theory of Scientific Explanation: A Bolzanian Inspired Unificationist Account

Husserl Studies - Husserl’s early picture of explanation in the sciences has never been completely provided. This lack represents an oversight, which we here redress. In contrast to currently...     

Repetitive antisaccade execution does not increase the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost

An antisaccade is the execution of a saccade to the mirror-symmetrical location (i.e., same amplitude but opposite visual field) of a single and exogenously presented visual target. Such a response requires top-down decoupling of the normally direct spatial relations between stimulus and response and results in increased planning times and directional errors compared to their spatially compatible prosaccade counterparts. Moreover, antisaccades are associated with diffuse changes in cortical and subcortical saccade networks: a finding that has, in part, been attributed to pre-setting the oculomotor system to withhold a stimulus-driven prosaccade. Moreover, recent work has shown that a corollary cost of oculomotor pre-setting is that the planning time for a to-be-completed prosaccade is longer when preceded by an antisaccade (i.e., the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost). Notably, this result has been attributed to antisaccades imparting a residual inhibition of the oculomotor networks that support the planning of stimulus-driven prosaccades. In the current investigation, we sought to determine if the number of antisaccades preceding a prosaccade increases this residual inhibition and thus influences the magnitude of the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost. To that end, participants alternated between pro- and antisaccades after every second (i.e., AABB schedule) and every fourth (i.e., AAAABBBB schedule) trial. In addition, participants completed pro- and antisaccades in separate blocks of trials. Results demonstrated that task-switch prosaccades produced longer reaction times than their task-repetition and blocked condition counterparts, whereas antisaccade reaction times did not vary across task-repetition, task-switch and blocked condition trials. Most notably, the magnitude of the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost was not modulated across the different task-switching schedules. Thus, we propose that the top-down requirements of the antisaccade task do not produce additive inhibition of stimulus-driven saccade networks.     

Living with a pituitary tumour: A narrative analysis

This study aimed to synthesise the illness narratives of individuals living with a pituitary tumour. Eight adults with a pituitary tumour were recruited from an endocrinology service in the north-west of England. A narrative methodology was adopted which investigated elements of the individual narratives such as metaphor and structure but which also aimed to produce a joint account of experience in this particular illness context by extracting themes across the stories; these are presented as part of a chronological narrative. However, the resulting group story was also analysed in terms of different types of narrative plots. The group narrative started from the recognition of symptoms and then diagnosis though treatment to post-treatment and future plans. In terms of narrative plots, one notable element of the joint narrative was the flow between the culturally dominant restitution narrative, where participants focused on treatment and recovery and the chaos narrative when recovery did not seem possible. The findings contain many elements consistent with previous research; however, the use of a celebrity figure to communicate about the illness experience and a perception that objects or individuals should not be taken at face value emerged as more novel findings.     

Relationship Between Muscle Fiber Type and Reactive Balance: A Preliminary Study

The authors’ objective was to quantify the relationship between type II muscle fiber composition and recovery latency from controlled perturbations. Thirty healthy adults performed a Thorstensson test to indirectly determine muscle fiber composition of the knee extensors. On a subsequent day, reactive balance was measured by assessing latency time required to accommodate three controlled perturbations via computerized dynamic posturography. The proportion of type II fibers had a negative correlation with latency caused by a large backward perturbation (r = –.62, p = .001). These data may indicate a higher percentage of type II fibers in the knee extensors are associated with better reactive balance. Further investigation is warranted, in particular as it pertains to populations at risk for balance impairment.     

Intelligence,but not emotional intelligence,predicts Iowa Gambling Task performance

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a famous and frequently-used neuropsychological task that is thought to reflect real-world decision-making. There has been some debate, however, about the degree to which the IGT involves cold (cognitive) versus hot (emotional) processing. The present study incorporated 68 healthy individuals and used measures of cognitive intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EIQ) to predict IGT performance. Higher IQ scores significantly predicted better IGT performance, whereas no EIQ–IGT relationship was observed. The implications of this research on clinical and experimental use of the IGT are outlined.     

The Impact of Delayed Fatherhood on the Father-Child Relationship

There is little empirical research on the impact of delayed fatherhood on the father-child relationship. From a large, nationally representative sample of adults in the United States, a subsample was drawn of 47 men who were both fathers of minor children and had fathered their first child after their 35th birthday. Ordinary least-squares regression analysis was used to test four hypotheses. Late-time fathers were found to (a) spend more time in leisure activities with their children, (b) have higher expectations for their children's behavior, and (c) be more nurturant toward their children, but they (d) showed no difference in controlling behavior toward their children when compared with on-time fathers. Empirical support is presented for the establishment of age 35 as the criterion for delayed fatherhood in future studies. Recommendations for future research are offered.     

Exploring the Imagination to Establish Frameworks for Learning

This paper continues to explore the relationship between the imagination and learning. It has been claimed by Maxine Greene, amongst others, that imagination is the most important of the cognitive capacities for learning; the reason being that ‘it permits us to give credence to alternative realities’. However little work has been done on what constitutes this capacity for the imagination. This paper draws on Husserl and Wittgenstein to frame a model of imagination that derives from the perspective of the ‘transcendental phenomenology’ of Husserl. The claim is made that by learning to be in the world in certain ways we must be able to construct imagined worlds with their own logics and presentations. This claim is supported by a discussion of the parameters required for owning and accepting to the self sensory and cognitive perceptions and beliefs. Imagination is also a necessary condition for the understanding of empathy; of grasping what it is like be another person. In this sense imagination can be better grasped through the category of ontology rather than epistemology. It can also, on the basis of ontology, be argued that understanding and acknowledging other cultures is a matter of being, imaginatively, in the other world. Some implications for approaches to teaching and learning are outlined.     

Disseminating a Parenting Intervention in the Community: Experiences from a Multi-Site Evaluation

Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) is a widely used parenting intervention that is gaining popularity globally as it is currently being delivered across several continents. Despite the global uptake of COS-P, there is limited research on its effectiveness with considerable variability in its delivery. Here we present a multi-site evaluation of the group delivery of COS-P to under-resourced mothers (n?=?131 enrolled) in an urban community as facilitated by community-based providers (n?=?12) from community sites (n?=?6) that provide maternal and child services. The feasibility and acceptability of delivering COS-P in the community are highlighted as well as characteristics of sites and providers as they relate to implementation efforts, and pre and post-intervention data examining COS-P and maternal caregiving functioning (i.e., depressive symptoms, reflective functioning) are also included. Several service delivery barriers were encountered at agency, provider and participant levels that created obstacles for program dissemination, participant retention and evaluation. Nonetheless, COS-P was successfully delivered in the community when sites embedded the program within their existing infrastructure and had the internal capacity for delivery, participant recruitment, supervision, and community presence. Mothers who participated in COS-P also reported fewer depressive symptoms following the intervention (n?=?25). This multi-site implementation and evaluation study has important implications for the delivery of parenting services to under-resourced communities globally. Implications for future research and service delivery are discussed.     

Morality,convention and conventional morality

Among anthropologists and sociologists, it is widely believed that moral rules are best understood as a type of social norm. Moral philosophers, however, have largely been hostile to this suggestion. In recent years, the impulse to distinguish moral rules from others types of social norm has received what many take to be empirical support from the work of Elliot Turiel and his collaborators, who have argued that there are two distinct “domains” of social cognition, the “moral” and the “conventional.” Many philosophers have taken this as proof that moral rules are fundamentally different from “conventional” social norms. I argue that moral philosophers should not be relying upon Turiel’s view to defend the moral/conventional distinction. First, I show that Turiel is claiming much less than many have taken him to be claiming, because he puts a lot of what philosophers have traditionally thought of as “morality” on the side of convention, or else in the broad region between the two that he refers to as “multidimensional contexts.” Second, I argue that his concept of the “conventional” is so narrow that the overwhelming majority of social norms – such as the standard rules of etiquette – wind up falling into the “multidimensional” category. This stems from his failure to distinguish between genuine conventions and what I refer to as “norms with conventional elements.”