Attentional localization prior to simpleand directed manual responses

The relationship between attention and the programming of motor responses was investigated, using a paradigm in which the onsets of targets for movements were preceded by peripheral attentional cues. Simple (button release) and reaching manual responses were compared under conditions in which the subjects either made saccades toward the target location or refrained from making eye movements. The timing of the movement onset was used as the dependent measure for both simple and reaching manual responses. Eye movement latencies were also measured. A follow-up experiment measured the effect of the same peripheral cuing procedure on purely visual processes, using signal detection mea-sures of visual sensitivity and response bias. The results of the first experiment showed that reaction time (RT) increased with the distance between the cued and the target locations. Stronger distance ef-fects were observed when goal-directed responses were required, which suggests enhanced attentional localization of target positions under these conditions. The requirement to generate an eye movement response was found to delay simple manual RTs. However, mean reaching RTs were unaffected by the eye movement condition. Distance gradients on eye movement latencies were relatively shallow, as compared with those on goal-directed manual responses. The second experiment showed that the peripheral cue had only a very small effect on visual detection sensitivity in the absence of directed motor responses. It is concluded that cue-target distance effects with peripheral cues are modulated by the motor-programming requirements of the task. The effect of the peripheral cue on eye movement latencies was qualitatively different from that observed on manual RTs, indicating the existence of separate neural representations underlying both response types. At the same time, the interactions be-tween response modalities are consistent with a supramodal representation of attentional space, within which different motor programs may interact.     

Philosophie Als Aufkl?rung

Summary It cannot be stated with certainty that the process of enlightenment (Aufklärung) is irreversible. In many systems the tendency to dogmatize the ideologies by means of which political systems define their identity, invariably dominates the emancipatory tendencies of the intelligentsia. In recent years it has become clear that one has to add to this the fact that in the context of the international student youth movement, part of the intelligentsia is unmistakably fascinated by what dogmatism has been able to achieve as far as integration and orientation are concerned; and thus actively ideological and political movements have been developed which are contrary to the process of enlightening clarification. It is obvious that philosophy plays an important part here.The present essay on the other hand stresses by way of compensation the traditional enlightening function of philosophy. The term enlightening clarification is understood here to mean that process in which the stock of assumptions in regard to reality about which one does not allow for discussion, and which thus, correspondingly, in its claim of validity, is morally and politically controlled and protected group-specifically, is reduced to a minimum. The process of clarification, thus, is a process by means of which our socially secured interestedness, namely that reality is in this way and not in any other way, gradually disintegrates. The institutional character of universally accepted truths as well as the hermeneutic and rhetorical technologies of man's enlightening clarification, whose function it is to dissolve this universal acceptance, are described in this essay in great detail.

---

---

This paper is a reprint from M. Riedel (ed.),Rehabilitierung der praktischen Philosophie. Geschichte — Probleme — Aufgaben. Freiburg: Verlag Rombach & Co., 1972.     

Logical probability,mathematical statistics,and the problem of induction

Summary In this paper I want to discuss some basic problems of inductive logic, i.e. of the attempt to solve the problem of induction by means of a calculus of logical probability. I shall try to throw some light upon these problems by contrasting inductive logic, based on logical probability, and working with undefined samples of observations, with mathematical statistics, based on statistical probability, and working with representative random samples.     

Stationäre Rehabilitation alkoholabhängiger Patienten

Systemic therapy concepts are widely used in therapy and rehabilitation of alcohol addictive patients. Although very useful in practice, evaluation studies are rare. Adequate evaluation strategies should be developed and implemented. This study was realized in a clinical rehabilitation centre (Hirtenstein, Allgäu/Germany), whose systemic concept is characterized by patient's wideranged possibilities of choice concerning therapy measures and therapy goals, the activation of social and personal resources, the development of an individually appropriate life-style, the training of desired competencies, and an offer for marital and family therapy. The evaluation is based on a repeated measures design without control group. The instruments and constructs of the evaluation are: F-SOZU (perceived social support), IIP (perceived interpersonal problems), MLDL (quality of life), SOC (sense of coherence), and an assessment sheet for personal resources (RI). Patients (n= 44) reported increased personal ressources as well as an increased level of quality of life. Perceived social support and the sense of coherence changed only moderately. Scaling of treatment satisfaction and goal attainment at the end of the rehabilitation program resulted in high positive scores. Patients reported only positive, no negative treatment side effects. The results indicate the usefulness of systemic and resource oriented concepts in the rehabilitation of alcohol addictive patients.     

Visual search for dimensionally redundant pop-out targets: Evidence for parallel-coactive processing of dimensions

In two visual search experiments, the detection of singleton feature targets redundantly defined on multiple dimensions was investigated. Targets differed from the distractors in orientation, color, or both (redundant targets). In Experiment 1, the various target types were presented either in separate blocks or in random order within blocks. Reaction times to redundant targets significantly violated therace model inequality (Miller, 1982), but only when there was constancy of the target-defining dimension(s) within trial blocks. In Experiment 2, there was dimensional variability within blocks. Consistent with Experiment 1, constancy of the target-defining dimension(s), but this time across successive trials (rather than within blocks), was critical for observing violations of the race model inequality. These results provide evidence for parallel-coactive processing of multiple dimensions, consistent with thedimension-weighting account of Müller, Heller, and Ziegler (1995).     

Dimensional weighting of primary and secondary target-defining dimensions in visual search for singleton conjunction targets

Two experiments investigated dimension-based attentional processing in a complex singleton conjunction search task. In Experiment 1, observers had to discern the presence of a singleton target defined by a conjunction of size (fixed primary dimension) with either color or motion direction (secondary dimension). Similar to findings in singleton feature search, changes (vs. repetitions) of the secondary dimension across trials resulted in reaction time (RT) costs—which were, however, increased by a factor of 3–5 compared to singleton feature search. In Experiment 2, the coding of search-critical, dimensional saliency signals was investigated by additionally presenting targets redundantly defined in both secondary dimensions, with redundant-target signals being either spatially coincident or separate (i.e., one vs. two target items). Redundant-target RTs significantly violated Miller’s (Cognit Psychol 14:247–279, 1982) race model inequality only when redundant signals were spatially coincident (i.e., bound to a single object), indicating coactive processing of target information in the two secondary dimensions. These findings suggest that the coding and combining of signals from different visual dimensions operates in parallel. Increased change costs in singleton conjunction search are likely to reflect a reduced amount of weight available for processing the secondary target-defining dimensions, due to a large amount of weight being bound by the primary dimension.

---

Inhibitory and facilitatory location priming in patients with left-sided visual hemi-neglect

In visual search for pop-out targets, reaction times are facilitated when the target on the current trial appears at a previous target location, and inhibited when it appears at a previous distractor location, relative to when it appears at a previously empty (neutral) location (Maljkovic and Nakayama, Perception and Psychophysics 58:977–991, 1996). However, while normal subjects are able to positively/negatively tag selected target/rejected distractor locations to guide search on the next trial, patients with visual hemi-neglect may have a (uni- or bilateral) deficit in these functions that may contribute to their disturbed visual scanning behavior. To examine this, using a pop-out search task, the present study assessed cross-trial facilitatory and inhibitory priming in 14 patients with left-sided visual hemi-neglect and in 14 age-, education-, and IQ-matched control subjects. The group of neglect patients did show significant facilitatory and inhibitory priming. However, while control subjects exhibited balanced effects of facilitation and inhibition, inhibition was relatively reduced in magnitude in neglect patients. In particular, inhibition was virtually absent in two patients with lesions affecting superior regions of the frontal cortex, putatively encroaching on the frontal eye field of the right hemisphere. These findings provide neuropsychological evidence that facilitatory and inhibitory priming effects are based on dissociable mechanisms, consistent with Geyer et al. (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 33:788–797, 2007).     

Object-based selection operating on a spatial representation made salient by dimensional segmentation mechanisms: a re-investigation of Egly and Homa (1984)

Three experiments re-investigated selective attention in the ‘ring-cueing’ paradigm of Egly and Homa (J Exp Psychol: Human Percept Perform 10:778–793, 1984). Observers were cued to attend to one of three concentric rings of radius 1°, 2°, or 3°, and their signal detection accuracy for cued and uncued rings was measured. Experiment 1, which used a central color cue to indicate a like-colored ring, replicated ring-cueing effects along the lines of Egly and Homa. Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether these effects were produced by observers exploiting secondary-depth cues possibly inherent in the display layout. With color cues, the availability of secondary-depth information had no influence on the ring-cueing effects. However, making the rings monochrome and using central size cues significantly reduced the ring-cueing effects when the depth information was disrupted. The results suggest that selection was object-based, operating on a spatial ‘grouped-array’ representation of the cued ring made salient by color- or depth-based segmentation mechanisms.

---

The Relationship Between Premenstrual Distress and Anxiety Sensitivity: The Mediating Role of Rumination

Given that premenstrual distress is reported by large numbers of women, research has focused on the identification of biological and psychological factors that influence its severity. Previous research suggests that women who are high in anxiety sensitivity also report greater levels of premenstrual distress and negative affect. According to the menstrual reactivity hypothesis, women who have a tendency to self-focus and catastrophize about physical sensations are more likely to report greater levels of premenstrual distress. Cognitive schemas surrounding the menstrual cycle develop that are influenced by gender roles, cultural stereotypes, and expectations about bodily sensations. Another cognitive process, rumination, may also be linked to increased reports of premenstrual distress. Conceptually, the constructs of anxiety sensitivity and rumination share the tendency to self-focus on internal states. The goal of this study was to investigate how these two constructs relate to the prediction of premenstrual distress in a large sample of healthy undergraduate women (N = 478). Using mediational modeling, support was found for a mediational model; women who reported high levels of rumination and anxiety sensitivity reported the greatest premenstrual distress. These results are discussed within the framework of the menstrual reactivity hypothesis, a diathesis-stress model of premenstrual distress.     

Electrophysiological correlates of flicker-induced color hallucinations

In a recent study, Becker and Elliott [Becker, C., & Elliott, M. A. (2006). Flicker induced color and form: Interdependencies and relation to stimulation frequency and phase. Consciousness & Cognition, 15(1), 175-196] described the appearance of subjective experiences of color and form induced by stimulation with intermittent light. While there have been electroencephalographic studies of similar hallucinatory forms, brain activity accompanying the appearance of hallucinatory colors was never measured. Using a priming procedure where observers were required to indicate the presence of one of eight target colors we compared electrophysiological correlates of hallucinatory color with brain states associated with other visual phenomena. Different target colors were accompanied by different patterns of EEG activation. However, in general, we found that the appearance of hallucinatory colors is preceded by a power decrease in the lower alpha band alongside an increase in gamma band frequencies. We argue that decreasing activity in the lower alpha band acts as a gating mechanism, inducing a switch in perception between different colors. The increasing gamma activation may correlate with the formation of a coherent conscious percept.