The Value of Perception

This paper develops a form of transcendental naïve realism. According to naïve realism, veridical perceptual experiences are essentially relational. According to transcendental naïve realism, the naïve realist theory of perception is not just one theory of perception amongst others, to be established as an inference to the best explanation and assessed on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis that weighs performance along a number of different dimensions: for instance, fidelity to appearances, simplicity, systematicity, fit with scientific theories, and so on. Rather, naïve realism enjoys a special status in debates in the philosophy of perception because it represents part of the transcendental project of explaining how it is possible that perceptual experience has the distinctive characteristics it does. One of the potentially most interesting prospects of adopting a transcendental attitude towards naïve realism is that it promises to make the naïve realist theory of perception, in some sense, immune to falsification. This paper develops a modest form of transcendental naïve realism modelled loosely on the account of the reactive attitudes provided by Strawson in ‘Freedom and Resentment’, and suggests one way of understanding the claim that naïve realism is immune to falsification.     

Image-size disparity reduces difference detection in face matching

Face matching is the act of deciding whether two facial images depict the same person or different people. The real-world face-matching task of checking photo IDs typically occurs under conditions of image-size disparity: A small picture is compared with a life-size face. We examined the effect of image-size disparity on face-matching accuracy. In three experiments, subjects were presented with pairs of equivalently or disparately sized images that depicted the same person or different people. Subjects made same/different judgments and, in two experiments, also reported confidence. Difference detection was significantly poorer given disparate (versus equivalent) image size. Confidence was significantly higher when responses were correct versus incorrect. These findings held whether viewing and decision time was unlimited or limited. Our results raise the practical concern that image-size disparity may undermine difference detection in ID checking, while also indicating that people have some insight into the accuracy of their face-matching judgments.     

Infants' reasoning about opaque and transparent occluders in an individuation task

Two experiments document that conceptual knowledge influences 3-year-olds' extension of novel words. In Experiment 1, when objects were described as having conceptual properties typical of artifacts, children extended novel labels for these objects on the basis of shape alone. When the very same objects were described as having conceptual properties typical of animate kinds, children extended novel labels for these objects on the basis of both shape and texture. Moreover, providing a salient perceptual cue (Experiment 2) did not interfere with children's reliance on conceptual information in extending novel words: when an object with eyes was labeled with a novel word in the context of a story describing the object as an artifact, children extended the label on the basis of shape alone (i.e. as though the object were an artifact). These results, which challenge directly the position that 'dumb attentional mechanisms' can account for word learning, stand as evidence for the central role of conceptual information in mapping words to meaning.     

Waxing and waning in concert: dynamic comorbidity of conduct disorder with other disruptive and emotional problems over 7 years among clinic-referred boys

Six waves of structured diagnostic assessments were conducted of 168 clinic-referred 7- to 12-year-olds, over 7 years. Wave-to-wave changes in the number of conduct disorder (CD) behaviors were paralleled by correlated changes in the numbers of symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and anxiety. In addition, CD in Wave 1 predicted levels of ODD, ADHD, depression, and anxiety in later waves when initial levels of those symptoms were controlled, but only ODD in Wave 1 predicted CD in later waves when initial CD levels were controlled. These findings indicate a striking degree of dynamic comorbidity between CD and other types of psychopathology and provide an initial empirical framework for needed developmental models of comorbidity.     

Operant-contingency-based preparation of children for functional magnetic resonance imaging

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to study brain function during behavioral tasks. The participation of pediatric subjects is problematic because reliable task performance and control of head movement are simultaneously required. Differential reinforcement decreased head motion and improved vigilance task performance in 4 children (2 with behavioral disorders) undergoing simulated fMRI scans. Results show that behavior analysis techniques can improve child cooperation during fMRI procedures.     

Mechanisms of source confusion and discounting in short-term priming: 1. Effects of prime duration and prime recognition

Huber, Shriffrin, Lyle, and Ruys (2001) measured short-term repetition priming effects in perceptual identification with two-alternative forced-choice testing. There was a preference to choose repeated words following passive viewing of primes and a preference against choosing repeated words following active responding to primes. In this present study, we explored conditions of prime processing that produce this pattern of results. Experiment 1 revealed that increased prime duration under passive viewing instructions produces the active priming pattern. Experiment 2 assessed memory for primes: With poor recognition of primes, there was a strong preference for repeated words; however, with good recognition of primes, this preference was eliminated. These results are modeled by a computational theory of optimal decision making, responding optimally with unknown sources of evidence (ROUSE). In ROUSE, a preference for repeated words results from source confusion between primes and choice words. A reversal in the direction of preference arises from the discounting of words known to have also appeared as primes.     

Mechanisms of source confusion and discounting in short-term priming 2: effects of prime similarity and target duration

D. E. Huber, R. M. Shiffrin, K. B. Lyle, and K. I. Ruys (2001) tested two-alternative, forced-choice (2-AFC) perceptual identification in a short-term priming task. For repetition priming, passive viewing of primes resulted in a preference to choose repeated words, but actively responding to primes resulted in a preference against choosing repeated words. These results were explained with a computational model, responding optimally with unknown sources of evidence (ROUSE), using the offsetting mechanisms of source confusion and discounting. An analysis of ROUSE revealed conditions under which discounting efficacy should diminish, causing a preference for primed words even with active prime processing. Two new studies confirm 2 such conditions: very short target flash durations and very low similarity between primes and primed choice words. These a priori predictions contrast with the a posteriori data fits of a multinomial model developed by R. Ratcliff and G. McKoon (2001).     

Psychosocial Treatment Strategies in the MTA Study: Rationale, Methods, and Critical Issues in Design and Implementation

The Collaborative Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the MTA, is the first multisite, cooperative agreement treatment study of children, and the largest psychiatric/psychological treatment trial ever conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health. It examines the effectiveness of Medication vs. Psychosocial treatment vs. their combination for treatment of ADHD and compares these experimental arms to each other and to routine community care. In a parallel group design, 579 (male and female) ADHD children, aged 7–9 years, 11 months, were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental arms, and then received 14 months of prescribed treatment (or community care) with periodic reassessments. After delineating the theoretical and empirical rationales for Psychosocial treatment of ADHD, we describe the MTA's Psychosocial Treatment strategy applied to all children in two of the four experimental arms (Psychosocial treatment alone; Combined treatment). Psychosocial treatment consisted of three major components: a Parent Training component, a two-part School Intervention component, and a child treatment component anchored in an intensive Summer Treatment Program. Components were selected based on evidence of treatment efficacy and because they address comprehensive symptom targets, settings, comorbidities, and functional domains. We delineate key conceptual and logistical issues faced by clinical researchers in design and implementation of Psychosocial research with examples of how these issues were addressed in the MTA study.Deceased