A new method to evaluate order and accuracy of inaccurately and incompletely reproduced movement sequences

Studying imitation learning of long sequences requires the evaluation of inaccurately and incompletely reproduced movement sequences. In order to evaluate the movement reproduction, it has to be assigned to the original stimulus. We developed an assignment algorithm that considers the Spatial Neighborhood and Order of reproduction (SNOA). To evaluate the features of this analysis it was applied to human performance during learning of long pointing sequences under two conditions: stimulus-guided reproduction with high spatial accuracy and imitation learning with low spatial accuracy. The results were compared with a simple assignment considering Spatial Neighborhood only (SNA) and with a Manual Assignment (MA). In the stimulus-guided reproduction the error measures did not differ between the algorithms. In contrast, with imitation learning, SNOA and MA generated higher estimates of order and omission errors than SNA. The results show that SNOA can be used to automatically quantify the similarity of both movement structure and metric information between long target sequences and inaccurate and incomplete movement reproductions.     

“… the art of shaping a democratic reality and being directed by it …”—philososophy of science in turbulent times

This article has three objectives: First, it revises the history of the reception of Ludwik Fleck??s monograph Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache (1935, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact). Contrary to the established picture, Fleck??s book was largely discussed in the years before the outbreak of World War II. What becomes clear when reading these early reviews and especially Fleck??s comments to those written by representatives of Nazi Germany is, second, the political dimension of his epistemology. In this respect, Fleck??s emphasis on the genuinely democratic character of science will be discussed in some detail. And third, Fleck??s notion of ??Denkstil????thought-style??shall be examined more closely since, as we will claim, it can be understood as a notion indicating where the democratic dimension of science encounters its limits.     

Stottern

Stuttering is a fluency disorder with a point prevalence of approximately 1%. Stuttering begins in childhood and is characterized by frequently occurring breaks in the flow of speaking. These fluency breaks are repetitions of words and syllables, prolongations of sounds and pauses. Many people who stutter show avoidance behaviors, social anxiety, shame and social withdrawal. Empirical studies point to genetic origins of the disorder; however, distinct physical deficits causing stuttering are not yet known. While most children outgrow stuttering before adolescence those who do not typically continue to stutter throughout their life. The severity of stuttering as well as its impact on the quality of life can be reduced by a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and speech-language therapy.     

Anchor effects in decision making can be reduced by the interaction between goal monitoring and the level of the decision maker’s executive functions

Models of decision making postulate that interactions between contextual conditions and characteristics of the decision maker determine decision-making performance. We tested this assumption by using a possible positive contextual influence (goals) and a possible negative contextual influence (anchor) in a risky decision-making task (Game of Dice Task, GDT). In this task, making advantageous choices is well known to be closely related to a specific decision maker variable: the individual level of executive functions. One hundred subjects played the GDT in one of four conditions: with self-set goal for final balance (n?=?25), with presentation of an anchor (a fictitious Top 10 list, showing high gains of other participants; n?=?25), with anchor and goal definition (n?=?25), and with neither anchor nor goal setting (n?=?25). Subjects in the conditions with anchor made more risky decisions irrespective of the negative feedback, but this anchor effect was influenced by goal monitoring and moderated by the level of the subjects' executive functions. The findings imply that impacts of situational influences on decision making as they frequently occur in real life depend upon the individual's cognitive abilities. Anchor effects can be overcome by subjects with good cognitive abilities.     

Merging on mayday: subgroup and superordinate identification as joint moderators of threat effects in the context of European Union's expansion

Threat has been proposed as an important cause of prejudice with social identification moderating its effects. In the context of the expansion of the European Union, two studies (N = 216 students and N = 107 non‐students) examined how people with different levels of subgroup and superordinate identification respond to threats from an outgroup nested within the same superordinate category as the ingroup. Across experiments, a consistent finding was that participants who strongly identified with the subgroup (Germany) and the superordinate group (Europe) at the same time were most susceptible to a subtle manipulation of threat. Among these participants, threat increased prejudice (Studies 1 and 2) and ingroup projection (Study 2). Findings are discussed with regard to theoretical models of subgroup relations, especially the ingroup projection model, as well as the European integration process. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Re-Interpretation in Historiography: John Dewey and the Neo-Humanist Tradition

Did John Deweys new philosophy of education really try to dissolve the whole block of tradition or is his debt namely to educational core-concepts of neo-humanism deeper than he was prepared to acknowledge? After some general remarks on the process of reception as productive re-adaptation and its implication for historiography I will deal with Deweys own contexts that shape the interpretative grid through which he receives the tradition. Two case studies attempt to illustrate both continuity and discontinuity with a specific part of this tradition, namely two critical perspectives within German neo-humanism: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Johann Friedrich Herbart.     

The watching eyes phenomenon: The role of a sense of being seen and public self‐awareness

In recent years, a growing number of researchers have examined the watching eyes phenomenon (i.e., increased prosocial and decreased antisocial behavior when subtle watching eyes are present in the environment). Somewhat surprisingly, the questions of how and under what conditions subtle cues of being watched operate have been unanswered so far. The present contribution addresses this research gap. In two studies, we document that (a) subtle cues of being watched induce a sense of being seen and (b) chronic public self‐awareness moderates the watching eyes phenomenon in that specifically individuals with strong chronic public self‐awareness show more prosocial behavior under conditions of watching eyes. The applicability of subtle cues of being watched in research on social presence is discussed.     

The Paraphrase Argument Against Collective Actions

This paper is about the status of collective actions. According to one view, collective actions metaphysically reduce to individual actions because sentences about collective actions are merely a shorthand for sentences about individual actions. I reconstruct an argument for this view and show via counterexamples that it is not sound. The argument relies on a paraphrase procedure to unpack alleged shorthand sentences about collective actions into sentences about individual actions. I argue that the best paraphrase procedure that has been put forward so far fails to produce adequate results.     

Better to be optimistic,mindful, or both? The interaction between optimism,mindfulness, and task engagement

This paper investigates the relationships between optimism, mindfulness, and task engagement. Specifically, we hypothesized that optimism, mindfulness, and their interaction would facilitate individuals’ task engagement. We tested our research model in four studies: two surveys among gig workers and two experiments. The results of the two surveys among gig workers indicated that optimism predicted higher task engagement, but trait mindfulness did not, and that a multiplicative interaction existed between high optimism and high mindfulness in stimulating task engagement. Our two experiments confirmed a significant interaction between optimism and induced state mindfulness and showed that the most engaging situation is being high in both mindfulness and optimism. Although optimism predicted task engagement, the experiments indicated that the effect of the state mindfulness manipulation was above and beyond that of optimism. Finally, we discuss the nuances of the interaction between optimism and mindfulness in predicting task engagement.