Biased extensive measurement: The homogeneous case

In the homogeneous case of one type of objects, we prove the existence of an additive scale unique up to a positive scaling transformation without transitivity of indifference and with a property of homothetic invariance weaker than monotonicity. The representation, which is a particular case of a semiorder representation, reveals a unique positive factor α?1 that biases extensive structures and explains departures from these standard axioms of extensive measurement (α=1). We interpret α as characterizing the qualitative influence of the underlying measurement process and we show that it induces a proportional indifference threshold.     

Translating CBM-I Into Real-World Settings: Augmenting a CBT-Based Psychiatric Hospital Program

Cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) is an appealing augmentation to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) because it targets cognitive bias efficiently via computerized training. Few studies have tested the combination of CBM-I and CBT, and none have translated lab-based CBM-I protocols to an acute psychiatric setting. The present study describes the development and implementation of CBM-I as an augmentation to a CBT-based partial hospital. We developed a transdiagnostic CBM-I based on the word–sentence association paradigm (WSAP), which reinforces individuals for endorsing benign interpretations and rejecting negative interpretations of ambiguous sentences. Over two iterations of development, we randomly assigned patients (N = 127; M age = 34.21; 58% female, 40% male, 2% nonbinary) to either CBM-I or a control group (Phase 1: neutral WSAP task; Phase 2: treatment as usual). CBM-I comprised daily sessions (10 minutes) completed during program hours, and number of sessions varied naturalistically according to patient length of stay. Primary outcomes included feasibility, acceptability, and target engagement (interpretation bias). CBM-I was feasible and acceptable to acute psychiatric patients, and successfully shifted interpretation for novel stimuli. Patient feedback suggested that participants viewed CBM-I as bolstering their primary CBT-based care. Exploratory analyses examining clinical benefit revealed a small between-group effect on anxiety severity (d = 0.378), but no group differences on depression outcomes (d = 0.008). Findings indicate that CBM-I is a feasible and acceptable augmentation to CBT-based partial hospital care. Future studies are warranted to determine who is most likely to benefit from this low-intensity approach.     

Predictive minds in Ouija board sessions

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - Ouija board sessions are illustrious examples of how subjective feelings of control – the Sense of Agency (SoA) - can be manipulated in real life...     

Self-organizing individual differences in brain development

Brain development is self-organizing in that the unique structure of each brain evolves in unpredictable ways through recursive modifications of synaptic networks. In this article, I review mechanisms of neural change in real time and over development, and I argue that change at each of these time scales embodies principles of self-organizing systems. I demonstrate how corticolimbic configurations that emerge within occasions lay down synaptic structure across occasions, giving rise to individual trajectories that become entrenched with age. Emotions have a powerful influence on this process.This is because the neural processes mediating emotion consolidate patterns of activation across the brain, through their enhancement of inter-regional coordination in real time and their contribution to synaptic shaping over development. The loss of corticolimbic plasticity with age is an unfortunate fact of development, but it is compensated in part by transitional phases and individual learning experiences through which habits are modified or replaced. I emphasize variations in inter-systemic coupling as a key mediator of developing individual differences, and I discuss the acquisition of anxious/depressive appraisals as an example.     

Another look inside the gap: ecological contributions to the transmission of attachment in a sample of adolescent mother-infant dyads

Ecological contributions to attachment transmission were studied in a sample of 64 adolescent mother-infant dyads. Maternal sensitivity was assessed when infants were 6 and 10 months old, and infant security was assessed at 15 and 18 months. Maternal attachment state of mind was measured with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) after the 1st assessment. Ecological variables considered were maternal education and depression, paternal support, and infant maternal grandmother support. Results indicated that when the contribution of ecological variables was statistically controlled for, sensitivity was a significant mediator and state of mind no longer contributed to infant security. Sensitivity also mediated an association between maternal education and infant attachment, suggesting that attachment transmission is embedded in a more global process of infant attachment development.     

A social-value analysis of postmaterialism

The author investigated the relationship between social values and R. Inglehart's (1971, 1981, 1990) Postmaterialism concept. In his theory, Materialism and Postmaterialism are basic value dimensions motivated by a person's need for security and short-term survival (on the one hand) and the desire to address needs that transcend material concerns (on the other). The aim of the present study was to attempt to locate Postmaterialism relative to politically nonspecific social values. Participants were 161 New Zealand university undergraduate men and women who completed P. R. Abramson and R. Inglehart's (1995) Postmaterialism scale and a 56-item Social Values Inventory (S. H. Schwartz, 1992). Analyses of Postmaterialism scale scores and aggregated scores reflecting the motivations underlying different groups of social values supported the hypothesis that Postmaterialism, as measured by this scale, is positively related to values associated with Self-Direction and Universalism motivations and negatively related to Security motivations. The results indicate that previous research had been limited to the application of values representing only a small part of the overall values space.     

laws and their stability

Many philosophers have believed that the laws of nature differ from the accidental truths in their invariance under counterfactual perturbations. Roughly speaking, the laws would still have held had q been the case, for any q that is consistent with the laws. (Trivially, no accident would still have held under every such counterfactual supposition.) The main problem with this slogan (even if it is true) is that it uses the laws themselves to delimit qs range. I present a means of distinguishing the laws (and their logical consequences) from the accidents, in terms of their range of invariance under counterfactual antecedents, that does not appeal to physical modalities (or any cognate notion) in delimiting the relevant range of counterfactual perturbations. I then argue that this approach explicates the sense in which the laws possess a kind of necessity.