Transformations of the Concept of Reason

This outline of the transformations of the concept of reason is based on the idea that this can be presented/illustrated by means of a historical sketch of the criticism of reason, because all essential differentiations in that concept can be understood as consequences of critical arguments. In Kant's work, the Critique of Speculative Reason reaches its first conclusion; it was followed by a Critique of Critical Reason by Hegel and his followers, and Schopenhauer established a new type of critical argument: the Critique of Functional Reason which dominates the radical criticism of reason in our time. This radical criticism is the great challenge for the philosophy of reason today.     

Pattern recognition makes search possible: Comments on Holding (1992)

Chase and Simon's chunking theory of expert memory, which emphasizes the role of pattern recognition in problem solving, has attracted much attention in cognitive psychology. Holding advanced a series of criticisms that, taken together, purported to refute the theory. Two valid criticisms – that chunk size and LTM encoding were underestimated – are dealt with by a simple extension of the theory. The remainder of Holding's criticisms either are not empirically founded or are based on a misunderstanding of the chunking theory and its role in a comprehensive theory of skill. Holding's alternative SEEK theory, which emphasizes the role of search, lacks key mechanisms that could be implemented by the type of pattern recognition proposed by Chase and Simon. Received: 3 September 1997 / Accepted: 28 January 1998     

A simulation of memory for chess positions

This paper describes an information-processing model, MAPP, implemented as a computer program, that simulates the processes subjects use to remember and reproduce chess positions they have seen briefly. The model incorporates processes adapted from PERCEIVER, an information-processsing theory of eye movements in chess perception, and EPAM, a theory of rote verbal learning. The data from MAPP show good agreement with the performance of strong chess players in identical tasks.     

The design and operation of an improved olfactometer for behavioral and physiological investigation1

An improved olfactometer is described, and its range of application for the study of the olfaction in man is discussed. The apparatus is based on air dilution; an odorant is diluted in a constant-flowing stream of air. The odor-containing air flows to S, who is seated in an enclosed partition with his head in a Plexiglas hood. A visual signal system allows communication between E and S. Precision flowmeters, solenoid valves, one-way floats, and an automated control system permit E to select rapidly a large range of stimuli, stimulus concentrations, and trial lengths. The apparatus has been used in a variety of situations ranging from absolute threshold detection to adaptation and recovery.     

Magnitude estimations of the course of gustatory adaptation

Magnitude estimations of 15-sec intervals were obtained during 2-min and 5-min adaptation of suprathreshold solutions of NaCl. quinine sulfate (QSO₄, and sucrose. Expectorating and adding fresh adapting solution at the end ofeach minute produced higher estimations than those obtained with continuous adaptation because of salivary dilution. Separation of the adaptation determinations by 45-sec rest intervals rather than 5 min had no effect on the form or magnitude of the functions for NaCl or sucrose, although QSO₄. adaptations separated by the shorter rest intervals were of greater magnitude. The absence of complete adaptation was largely attributed to the effects of tongue movements.     

The roles of practice and correction in the categorization of sour and bitter taste qualities

Ten Ss were selected from a group of 40 screened to determine misnaming of stimuli usually called sour (hydrochloric and citric acid) and bitter (quinine sulfate). The 10 Ss were then given 16 trials in which they were asked to match the stimuli to standards, with or without verbal feedback for each stimulus. This was followed by 16 trials without feedback for all Ss and, several days later, by a 16-trial posttest. Final improved performance of the Ss was not affected by having received the feedback. It was concluded that experience with the stimuli leads to a reduction in the degree of misnaming, implying a nonphysiological basis for sour-bitter confusions.     

The common factors in fifty-two mental tests

An analysis by Thurstone's centroid method of the intercorrelations of fifty-two tests was carried to ten factors. Included were tests of social intelligence, Philip's attention tests, and Seashore's tests of musical ability. After rotation of axes, the most important factors appeared to pertain to operations conventionally alluded to by the following terms: verbal facility; spatial ability; numerical ability; attention; musical ability; and memory (or memory span). The social intelligence tests proved to be mainly tests of the verbal factor. A factorial sex difference was indicated by the superiority of men in tests of spatial ability.     

Testing the Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance Across Gender of the Big Five Inventory Through Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling

Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) typically fail to support the a priori 5-factor structure of Big Five self-report instruments, due in part to the overly restrictive CFA assumptions. We show that exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), an integration of CFA and exploratory factor analysis, overcomes these problems in relation to responses to the 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI) administered to a large Italian community sample. ESEM fitted the data better and resulted in less correlated factors than CFA, although ESEM and CFA factor scores correlated at near unity with observed raw scores. Tests of gender invariance with a 13-model taxonomy of full measurement invariance showed that the factor structure of the BFI is gender-invariant and that women score higher on Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness. Through ESEM one could address substantively important issues about BFI psychometric properties that could not be appropriately addressed through traditional approaches.