Evaluating Three Models of Intimate Relationships

The purpose of this study was to evaluate three models of intimate relationships: attachment, elementary pragmatic, and selfhood. These models were evaluated with three instruments respectively constructed to evaluate the validity of each model. One convenience group of functioning individuals and three experimental groups of inpatients and outpatients were administered the three instruments. All three instruments showed relatively high internal consistency and discriminated among the four groups. Significant correlations were found among the measure of attachment with measures of the pragmatic elementary and selfhood models. These correlations indicate that all three instruments were measuring similar aspects of intimate relationships. Clinical and preventive implications and applications of these models are briefly discussed.     

The enduring scandal of deduction

Deductive inference is usually regarded as being “tautological” or “analytical”: the information conveyed by the conclusion is contained in the information conveyed by the premises. This idea, however, clashes with the undecidability of first-order logic and with the (likely) intractability of Boolean logic. In this article, we address the problem both from the semantic and the proof-theoretical point of view. We propose a hierarchy of propositional logics that are all tractable (i.e. decidable in polynomial time), although by means of growing computational resources, and converge towards classical propositional logic. The underlying claim is that this hierarchy can be used to represent increasing levels of “depth” or “informativeness” of Boolean reasoning. Special attention is paid to the most basic logic in this hierarchy, the pure “intelim logic”, which satisfies all the requirements of a natural deduction system (allowing both introduction and elimination rules for each logical operator) while admitting of a feasible (quadratic) decision procedure. We argue that this logic is “analytic” in a particularly strict sense, in that it rules out any use of “virtual information”, which is chiefly responsible for the combinatorial explosion of standard classical systems. As a result, analyticity and tractability are reconciled and growing degrees of computational complexity are associated with the depth at which the use of virtual information is allowed.     

Peek-a-boo, I See You: Watching Japanese Hard-core Animation

This essay proposes a phenomenological approach to the viewing of Japanese hard-core animation (widely known in the West as “hentai”), a type of erotica frequently characterized by detailed, unusual and fantastic depictions of sexual activity habitually intended for sexual arousal. Pertinent instances of Japanese traditions of erotica and visual representation, as well as Japanese animation and its industry are briefly reviewed. The main theoretical focus is on the experience of viewing such animated material and is mostly informed by Western notions of pornography and film viewing, particularly Vivian Sobchack’s work on the phenomenology of film.

The comparative psychology of same-different judgments by humans (Homo sapiens) and monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

The authors compared the performance of humans and monkeys in a Same-Different task. They evaluated the hypothesis that for humans the Same-Different concept is qualitative, categorical, and rule-based, so that humans distinguish 0-disparity pairs (i.e., same) from pairs with any discernible disparity (i.e., different); whereas for monkeys the Same-Different concept is quantitative, continuous, and similarity-based, so that monkeys distinguish small-disparity pairs (i.e., similar) from pairs with a large disparity (i.e., dissimilar). The results supported the hypothesis. Monkeys, more than humans, showed a gradual transition from same to different categories and an inclusive criterion for responding Same. The results have implications for comparing Same-Different performances across species--different species may not always construe or perform even identical tasks in the same way. In particular, humans may especially apply qualitative, rule-based frameworks to cognitive tasks like Same-Different.     

Depth stratification in illusory-contour figures on heterogeneous backgrounds is independent of contour clarity and brightness enhancement

Depth stratification in illusory-contour figures was studied by superimposing Kanizsa figures on heterogeneous backgrounds. Gaussian-noise textures were employed in two rating-scale experiments to explore observers' judgments of (i) illusory-contour clarity, (ii) brightness enhancement, and (iii) depth stratification. In experiment 1, depth stratification was found to be stronger in heterogeneous conditions. In experiment 2, texture coarseness was manipulated to determine how depth stratification is affected by linear elements of different sizes in the background, and to relate the variation to contour clarity and brightness enhancement. Results suggest that depth stratification is independent of contour clarity and brightness enhancement. Preliminary novel observations on illusory-contour formation are reported.