A Third Principle of Justice

In this paper I argue that in order to secure the commitment of believers in reasonable comprehensive doctrines to political liberalism a third principle of justice needs to be adopted in the Original Position. Rawls acknowledges that neutral legislation by the liberal state may negatively affect some reasonable comprehensive doctrines, and I offer a third principle of justice to help alleviate this problem. This principle, which I believe is in keeping with the United States constitutional history especially where church-state relations are concerned, maintains that a constitutional regime should, insofar as possible, avoid adopting rules with harmful effects upon those comprehensive doctrines which satisfy the conditions of reasonable pluralism.     

Internalizing and externalizing characteristics of sexually and/or physically abused children

This study evaluates the behavioral consequences of childhood abuse (sexual, physical, or both), with particular focus on prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Three abuse type groups and nonabused controls were contrasted on behavioral rating scales and on structured psychiatric interview data. The participants (109 abused children and 16 normal control children) were recruited from Arkansas Children’s Hospital and local agencies for abused children. As expected, proportionately more females than males were sexually abused. Overall, males were rated as more disturbed than females. Type of abuse did not consistently influence behavioral ratings. Externalizing scores were significantly higher than internalizing scores in all abused groups. PTSD was diagnosed in 50% of the abused children, with a higher rate for boys who had been sexually abused as opposed to physically abused only (58% versus 13%). The most frequent comorbid condition with PTSD was Separation Anxiety. Sexually abused boys were hospitalized for psychiatric treatment at a higher rate than were other abused children.     

A multidimensional scaling analysis of vowel discrimination in humans and monkeys

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used to compare perceptual maps for 10 synthetic English vowels in humans and Old World monkeys (Macaca fuscata andCercopithecus albogularis). Subjects discriminated among the vowels using a repeating background procedure, and reaction times were submitted to an MDS analysis to derive measures of perceived similarity. The dimensions that emerged related to the frequencies of the first(F1), second(F2), and third(F3) formants. Human data indicated a good match to previous MDS studies using rating procedures or confusion matrices: The dominant dimension mapped onto vowelF2, the phonetically most important formant, and the second and third dimensions mapped ontoF1 andF3, respectively.For monkeys, equal weightings occurred forF1 andF2, andF3 was not clearly represented. Monkey sensitivity to the formants appeared to relate to formant amplitudes. If monkeys are giving an accurate representation of the psychoacoustic relations among the formants, then our human results suggest that species-specific mechanisms, reflecting the salience of the phonetic feature of advancement, may contribute to vowel coding in humans.     

Asymmetries and errors in perception of depth from disparity suggest a multicomponent model of disparity processing

In three experiments, asymmetries between the processing of crossed and uncrossed disparities were investigated. The target was a luminance-defined circle concentric to a fixation mark, viewed stereoscopically on a computer monitor for 105 msec. Fifteen disparities were presented according to the method of constant stimuli. Observers indicated the apparent direction of target depth relative to fixation. All experiments measured both the accuracy and latency of this response. Experiment 1 showed fewer errors and shorter reaction times for identifying crossed disparities. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated Experiment 1 and also showed that observers may often perceive a target in the direction opposite that prescribed by the disparity information. We propose that the asymmetries and reversals result from differences in computation of sign, not of magnitude. This notion is consistent with a scheme of continuous disparity tuning and accounts for such asymmetries and errors without positing disparity pooling mechanisms.     

Catching With Both Hands: An Evaluation of Neural Cross-Talk and Coordinative Structure Models of Bimanual Coordination

Kelso, Southard, and Goodman (1979) and Marteniuk and MacKenzie (1980) have each proposed a different theoretical model for bimanual coordination. In the model of Kelso et al., a close temporal relationship between the hands in a bimanual task is predicted, even when each hand is required to move different distances. In Marteniuk and MacKenzie's model, separate motor commands are issued so that each limb will arrive simultaneously at the specified movement endpoint, leading to low temporal associations between limbs. In most previous work on bimanual coordination, manual aiming tasks with differing constraints have been used by subjects in individual studies. In this study, the usefulness of existing models for predicting performance in a real-world catching task in which the required movement pattern was constrained by ball flight characteristics was examined. E1even university students caught tennis balls with both hands in the following 3 conditions: Condition 1. Ball projected to the right shoulder area (left hand moved a greater distance than the right); Condition 2. Ball projected to center of the chest area, (both hands moved same distance); and Condition 3. Ball projected to left shoulder area (right hand moved a greater distance). Kinematic data (time to peak velocity, movement initiation time) indicating significant cross-correlations between the left and right limbs in all 3 conditions concurred with the data of Kelso et al. (1979) on manual aiming. Timing appeared to be an essential variable coordinating bimanual interceptive actions. Although the limbs moved at different speeds when each was required to move different distances, times to peak velocity showed strong associations, suggesting the presence of a coordinative structure.     

Evidence Supporting the Importance of Peripheral Visual Information for the Directional Control of Aiming Movement

The focus of the present study was on determining whether the high level of directional accuracy found in aiming studies in which the subjects can see their hand in the visual periphery supports the existence of a kinetic visual channel or, rather, the advantage of binocular over monocular vision for movement directional control. The limits of this kinetic visual channel were also explored. The results of the 1st experiment indicated that seeing one's hand in the visual periphery is sufficient to ensure optimal directional aiming accuracy. Further, no differences in aiming accuracy were noted between monocular and binocular vision. These results supported the existence of a visual kinetic channel. In the 2nd experiment, whether this kinetic visual channel would operate with movements slower (55 degrees /s) than those usually used in studies that had proved its existence (over 110 degrees /s) was delineated. The results indicated that this visual kinetic channel was operative even at relatively slow movement velocities. Central vision of the hand seemed to be used for on-line directional control of relatively slow movements.     

Multiple Goals and Tactical Behaviors in Social Conflicts1

The hypotheses of a multiple goals theory of conflict were supported in a study in which 264 American students reported on a conflict that they had experienced. The results showed that 95% of subjects had more than 1 goal during the conflict; social goals were more strongly activated than resource goals; subjects' tactical behavior was determined by the social goals; and effects of personal and situational variables on tactical choice were mediated by activated goals. Factor analyses identified 6 goals and 4 types of tactics.     

Late Adolescents' Experiences With and Attitudes Toward Videogames1

A total of 229 late adolescents (a large majority 15 to 19 years of age) completed a questionnaire that assesses a broad range of videogame-relevant experiences, preferences, and attitudes. Videogame playing was found to be a more popular, and a more highly regarded, activity among males than females. Gender differences were also found in participants' ratings of their motivations for playing videogames, their evaluations of particular characteristics of videogames, and their selection of their “most favorite” videogame. The differences between frequent and infrequent videogame players appeared to be limited to differences in the extent to which videogame playing is pursued and evaluated as a positive leisure activity, rather than reflecting broad differences in interest or personality. Some relations were found between participants' self-reported personality characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, empathy, conscientiousness, and introversion) and their attitudes toward videogames.