Sequential task predictability in task switching

Many studies of task switching have found that a prolonged preparation time reduces switch costs. An alternative manipulation of task preparation is based on sequential task predictability, rather than preparation time. In Experiments 1 and 2 of the present study, participants performed explicitly instructed task sequences (i.e., AABB) and were then transferred to a random sequence. The observed benefit of predictability-based task preparation was not switch specific. In Experiment 3, the participants changed from random to predictable tasks. The observed predictability benefit again was not switch specific. The data thus suggest that task switching does not necessarily require a switch-specific reconfiguration process. Rather, task-specific control processes may be needed in both task switches and repetitions.     

The role of working memory in attentional capture

Much previous research has demonstrated that visual search is typically disrupted by the presence of a unique “singleton” distractor in the search display. Here we show that attentional capture by an irrelevant color singleton during shape search critically depends on availability of working memory to the search task: When working memory is loaded in a concurrent yet unrelated verbal short-term memory task, capture increases. These findings converge with previous demonstrations that increasing working memory load results in greater distractor interference in Stroop-like tasks (de Fockert, Rees, Frith, & Lavie, 2001; Lavie, Hirst, de Fockert, & Viding, 2004), which support the hypothesis that working memory provides goal-directed control of visual selective attention allowing to minimize interference by goal-irrelevant distractors.     

Validation of three dimensions of childhood psychopathology in young clinic-referred boys

Short measures of child inattention-overactivity (IO), aggression-defiance (AG), and anxiety-depression or emotionality (EM) derived through a double validation procedure are administered to mothers of 243 clinic-referred suburban New York boys between 6 and 10 years of age. Mother-rated IO is uniquely related to poor performance on cognitive and achievement tests; observed inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive behaviors in a restricted academic setting; less father education and lower family income; and most mother-reported impairments and treatment use. Mothers of high-IO boys describe themselves and their sons as having similar childhood symptoms. AG is uniquely related to child-reported disruptive behavior and sensation seeking, many measures of family conflict and negative parenting styles, and mother-reported symptom pervasiveness and number of treatments. EM is uniquely related only to poorer cognitive and achievement test performance, living with one parent, parents who considered themselves too busy, and fewer friends. Each dimension also is associated with parallel teacher-rated factors.     

Evaluation of a group cue-exposure treatment for opiate addicts

Twenty-four detoxified opiate addicts were randomized to an experimental group and a control group to evaluate efficacy of a group cue-exposure treatment to reduce or extinguish classically conditioned responses to drug-related stimuli. Assessment included psychophysiological responses (skin temperature, skin conductance level--SCL--, and heart rate) to a videotape and subjective measures (subjective craving, positive and negative affect) before and after the videotape. The experimental group received a group cue-exposure program to drug-related stimuli that comprised twelve treatment sessions administered three times weekly. The treatment program significantly reduced conditioned responses to drug-related stimuli, as measured by SCL and positive affect.     

The immoral gene: Does it really exist?

Over the last years several European patents were opposed for protecting technology violating the morality requirement under Article 53(a) EPC. Attempts have been made by the Appeal Boards of the European Patent Office (EPO), as well as by amendments introduced into the Implementing Regulations of the European Patent Convention (EPC), to address this sensitive patentability requirement more precisely. The most recent hot topic coming up in this context is the patentability of stem cells. It is to be expected that this discussion will still go on in the field of biotechnological inventions for the next several years. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “The Ethics of Intellectual Property Rights and Patents,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 23–24 April, 2004.     

Nanotechnology — A new field of ethical inquiry?

Parallel to the public discussion on the benefits and risks of nanotechnology, a debate on the ethics of nanotechnology has begun. It has been postulated that a new “nano-ethics” is necessary. In this debate, the — positive as well as negative — visionary and speculative innovations which are brought into connection with nanotechnology stand in the foreground. In this contribution, an attempt is made to discover new ethical aspects of nanotechnology in a more systematic manner than has been the case. It turns out that there are hardly any completely new ethical aspects raised by nanotechnology. It is much rather primarily a case of gradual shifts of emphasis and of relevance in questions which, in principle, are already known and which give reason for ethical discussions on nanotechnology. In a certain manner, structurally novel ethical aspects arise through the important role played by visions in the public discourse. New questions are also posed by the fact that previously separate lines of ethical reflection converge in the field of nanotechnology. The proposal of an independent “nano-ethics”, however, seems exaggerated.     

Welfare and Wealth, Poverty and Justice in Today’s World

This article argues that there is no sound basis for thinking that we have a general and strong duty to rectify disparities of wealth around the world, apart from the special case where some become wealthy by theft or fraud. The nearest thing we have to a rational morality for all has to be built on the interests of all, and they include substantial freedoms, but not substantial entitlements to others assistance. It is also pointed out that the situation of the worlds poor is not that of victims of disasters, but simply of less-developed technology, which can be repaired by full and free trade relations with others. The true savior of the worlds poor is the businessman, not the missionary. What we do need to do is strike down barriers to commerce, rather than requisition aid.     

On the function of weak phantasmata in perception: Phenomenological,psychological and neurological clues for the transcendental function of imagination in perception

Weak phantasmata have a decisive and specifically transcendental function in our everyday perception. This paper provides several different arguments for this claim based on evidence from both empirical psychology and phenomenology.I would like to express my gratitude to Bill McKenna for his help with the English text and his critical remarks. This paper was presented in the Cork Roundtable for Philosophy in March 2003, at University College, Cork, and I would like to thank Julia Jansen, Tony O’Connor and the other participants for their constructive critique.     

Automatic processing of dominance and submissiveness

We investigated whether people are able to detect in a relatively automatic manner the dominant or submissive status of persons engaged in social interactions. We used a nonaffective variant of the affective Simon paradigm of De Houwer and Eelen (1998) in which participants responded by saying either "dominant" or "submissive" depending on the right or left spatial position of a target person who was engaged as either the dominant or the submissive agent in a social interaction. We observed that responses were facilitated when the status connotation of the target person and the correct response corresponded. These results provide new information about the automatic nature of information related to emotion-antecedent appraisals.