Negation in context: Evidence from the visual world paradigm

Literature assumes that negation is more difficult to understand than affirmation, but this might depend on the pragmatic context. The goal of this paper is to show that pragmatic knowledge modulates the unfolding processing of negation due to the previous activation of the negated situation. To test this, we used the visual world paradigm. In this task, we presented affirmative (e.g., her dad was rich) and negative sentences (e.g., her dad was not poor) while viewing two images of the affirmed and denied entities. The critical sentence in each item was preceded by one of three types of contexts: an inconsistent context (e.g., She supposed that her dad had little savings) that activates the negated situation (a poor man), a consistent context (e.g., She supposed that her dad had enough savings) that activates the actual situation (a rich man), or a neutral context (e.g., her dad lived on the other side of town) that activates neither of the two models previously suggested. The results corroborated our hypothesis. Pragmatics is implicated in the unfolding processing of negation. We found an increase in fixations on the target compared to the baseline for negative sentences at 800?ms in the neutral context, 600?ms in the inconsistent context, and 1450?ms in the consistent context. Thus, when the negated situation has been previously introduced via an inconsistent context, negation is facilitated.     

Multiple context mere exposure: Examining the limits of liking

Recent evidence suggests that increased liking of exposed stimuli—a phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect—is dependent on experiencing the stimuli in the same context at exposure and test. Three experiments extended this work by examining the effect of presenting target stimuli in single and multiple exposure contexts. Target face stimuli were repeatedly paired with nonsense words, which took the role of contexts, across exposure. On test, the mere exposure effect was found only when the target face stimuli were presented with nonsense word cues (contexts) with which they had been repeatedly paired. The mere exposure effect was eliminated when exposure to target face stimuli with the nonsense word cues (contexts) was minimal, despite the overall number of exposures to the target face being equated across single- and multiple-context exposure conditions. The results suggest that familiarity of the relationship between stimuli and their context, not simply familiarity of the stimuli themselves, leads to liking. The finding supports a broader framework, which suggests that liking is partly a function of the consistency between past and present experiences with a target stimulus.     

Pathologisches Glücksspiel und Delinquenz

Pathological gambling is characterized by excessive gambling behavior which influences the life and well-being of a person in a dysfunctional way. It often leads to severe consequences in social and family life, career and material matters. This can also include illegal acts. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) excessive gambling was classified under impulse-control disorders but was renamed as gambling disorder (GD) and reclassified under the category “substance-related and addictive disorders” in DSM-5, due to parallels to substance use disorders in the clinical characteristics as well as genetic and neurobiological factors. In Germany, approximately 0.5?% of the adult population suffer from GD. Especially gambling machines are associated with an increased risk of gambling-related problems. Common comorbidities are substance-related and affective disorders. The most important risk factors are young age, male gender, a history of migration, gambling-related problems in the family, unemployment, a low educational level and low household income. Delinquent behavior was not considered to be a sufficiently discriminative factor for GD, although there is a correlation between delinquency and gambling behavior. In addition, those GD subjects who show delinquent behavior also show a specific risk profile. Thus, mental health professionals should be aware of possible psychosocial consequences in GD, such as illegal acts, and this should be addressed in the effective treatment strategies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy. Moreover, it is necessary to improve the access routes for affected people into healthcare system in order to ensure early detection and treatment of the disease.     

学习困难儿童的问题解决特点研究

本研究选取学习困难儿童和正常儿童各 3 2名 ,设置河内塔问题解决的情境 ,采用临床观察法 ,对学习困难儿童在问题解决中的特点作了初步的探究。研究发现 :1与正常儿童相比 ,学习困难儿童在发现和有效运用策略方面明显不足 ,但当学习困难儿童对问题情境比较熟悉后 ,有明显的进步 ;2一定的提示并不能帮助学习困难儿童最有效地应用策略。     

Phenomenology in Mexico: A historical profile

The paper presents a journey along the history of phenomenology (Husserlian Phenomenology or phenomenology derived from Husserl) in Mexico, dealing mainly with its appropriation in the field of philosophy proper. The survey covers almost the whole century, leaving out only the last years and the present situation. Although all those philosophers who came in touch with phenomenology in a significant way in that period are mentioned here, particular attention is laid upon three figures and their meaning in Mexican philosophical culture: they are Antonio Caso, the first influential thinker and professor to dedicate a book to Husserl's philosophy; José Gaos, who enjoys a well-deserved fame as teacher and translator of phenomenological works, and Jorge Portilla, the author of a most valuable phenomenological essay: Phenomenology of Relajo. Thus, in these three cases, their contributions are explored in a somewhat more detailed way.     

Is schooling of migrants’ children more like that of their parents, their cousins, or their neighbours?

A natural way to look for signs of assimilation in migrants children is to compare their educational attainment to that of natives of the same age cohort (neighbours). However, background counts in these matters, so we look at the educational attainment of the previous generation (parents) as well as their social status. Using data for Portuguese in both France and Portugal together with data on the French, we show that the educational attainment of the second generation in France is much closer to that of the French than to that of those who stayed in Portugal (cousins). In this sense we can speak of assimilation.     

Software for recording observational files

We offer the new software Codex, written in Visual Basic 3.0. It is a tool adequate in observational methodology. Its fundamental objective is to record motor and verbal behavior using the data types proposed by Bakeman and Quera (1995, 1996), together with the field formats proposed by Hall (1963), Weick (1968), Hutt and Hutt (1974), and Anguera (1979). It is designed to allow for data interchange between specific programs in use in observational methodology (SDIS-GSEQ, The Observer, and Theme) and other general programs (spread sheets, statistics applications, word processing programs, sound cards, etc.).     

A Note on Graded Modal Logic

We introduce a notion of bisimulation for graded modal logic. Using this notion, the model theory of graded modal logic can be developed in a uniform manner. We illustrate this by establishing the finite model property and proving invariance and definability results.     

Interviewing a Therapist in the Presence of a Couple: A Description of the Therapeutic Process

A therapy research team interviewed a therapist in the presence of a couple. Following each of six consecutive sessions with a couple, an interviewer posed questions to the therapist and couple. While one question was standard to each interview, other questions were generated by team members who tracked the entire process via live observation. These questions were directed first at the therapist, then at the couple, and then focused on therapeutic process and outcome. Findings of this process for the therapy system included decreasing the hierarchy within the client/therapist relationship; increasing the client ownership and energy in the therapy process; discovering the presence of parallel processes between the systems; and informing the direction of future therapy sessions. Practical, clinical implications are discussed for a variety of therapy settings.     

Andrzej de Lazari et al. (eds.), Idei v Rossii/Idee w Rosji/Ideas in Russia; Leksykon rosyjsko-polsko-angielski

Studies in East European Thought -