Coalescent argumentation

Coalescent argumentation is a normative ideal that involves the joining together of two disparate claims through recognition and exploration of opposing positions. By uncovering the crucial connection between a claim and the attitudes, beliefs, feelings, values and needs to which it is connected dispute partners are able to identify points of agreement and disagreement. These points can then be utilized to effect coalescence, a joining or merging of divergent positions, by forming the basis for a mutual investigation of non-conflictual options that might otherwise have remained unconsidered. The essay proceeds by defining and discussing argument, position and understanding. These notions are then brought together to outline the concept of coalescent reasoning.     

Auditory temporal perception deficits in the reading-impaired: A critical review of the evidence

We assess evidence and arguments brought forward by Tallal (e.g., 1980) and by the target paper (Farmer & Klein, 1995) for a general deficit in auditory temporal perception as the source of phonological deficits in impaired readers. We argue that (1) errors in temporal order judgment of both syllables and tones reflect difficulty in identifying similar (and so readily confusable) stimuli rapidly, not in judging their temporal order; (2) difficulty in identifying similar syllables or tones rapidly stem from independent deficits in speech and nonspeech discriminative capacity, not from a general deficit in rate of auditory perception; and (3) the results of dichotic experiments and studies of aphasics purporting to demonstrate left-hemisphere specialization for nonspeech auditory temporal perception are inconclusive. The paper supports its arguments with data from a recent control study. We conclude that, on the available evidence, the phonological deficit of impaired readers cannot be traced to any co-occurring nonspeech deficits so far observed and is phonetic in origin, but that its full nature, origin, and extent remain to be determined.     

Brief report: Effects of informational feedback on aluminum can recycling

The impact of informational feedback on the depositing of aluminum cans in recycling receptacles at a medium-sized university was investigated. Informational signs were placed over 20-recycling receptacles in three academic buildings. Each informational sign was placed at eye level, with the number of aluminum cans deposited for recycling during the previous week displayed in red digits. A 65% increase in the number of aluminum cans deposited in recycling receptacles with the informational signs was observed. Furthermore, removal of the informational signs was observed to reliably decrease the number of aluminum cans deposited. These results are discussed in the context of employing feedback to increase environmental protection behaviors.     

Non-heart-beating organ donation: a reply to Campbell and Weber.

In the preceding commentary, Campbell and Weber raise two valid and important issues concerning non-heart-beating organ donation (NHBOD). First, because the procedure links withdrawal of life support and the potential for subsequent organ donation, the desire for organs may create a situation in which care of the dying individual has relatively less importance and the dying may receive suboptimal care. Second, even if concerns about care of the dying were dealt with adequately, there will not be enough non-heart-beating donors to significantly decrease the organ shortage that exists, making the procedure not worth the risk. We agree that attention to the important details of caring for the dying are, and must be, the primary concern of all health care workers caring for those individuals. Ensuring the patients' comfort, dignity, and autonomy, and providing for family and social support are the mainstays of this care. All policies for NHBOD should clearly support and mandate these concepts. Regarding the second concern, we agree that NHBOD is currently rare; however, evidence is increasing that this type of donation has great potential. Continued growth of the practice in this country will depend largely on public acceptance, which we believe will be directly influenced by whether the public perceives that care of the dying is not compromised by this procedure.     

An historical preface to engineering ethics

This article attempts to distinguish between science and technology, on the one hand, and engineering, on the other, offering a brief introduction to engineering values and engineering ethics. The method is (roughly) a philosophical examination of history. Engineering turns out to be a relatively recent enterprise, barely three hundred years old, to have distinctive commitments both technical and moral, and to have changed a good deal both technically and morally during that period. What motivates the paper is the belief that a too-easy equation of engineering with technology tends to obscure the special contribution of engineers to technology and to their own professional standards and so, to obscure as well both the origin and content of engineering ethics.     

Five points and a lament about Range and Cotton's "Reports of assent and permission in research with children: illustrations and suggestions

This comment responds to an article by Range and Cotton (1995) on reporting of parental permission and child assent procedures in published articles for 4 psychology journals. Issue is taken with the assumptions, methodology, interpretations, and implications of listing researchers in the Range and Cotton article. There is no evidence researchers failed in their ethical obligations or that children were put at risk. Reporting permission/assent in publications is not an ethical requirement. Listing researchers as "failing" to do something not part of an ethical code is lamentable. Too many unfortunate implications and problems can be derived from Range and Cotton's analysis and conclusions.     

Within-category discrimination of musical chords: Perceptual magnet or anchor?

Recent speech research has begun to evaluate the internal structure of categories. In one such study, Kuhl (1991) found that discrimination was poorer for vowel stimuli that were more representative of the category (prototype, or P, set) than it was for less representative stimuli (nonprototype, or NP, set). This finding was interpreted as indicating that a category prototype may function as a “perceptual magnet,” effectively decreasing perceptual distance, and thus discriminability, between stimuli. The present study examines the function of prototypes in a musical category—another natural, but nonspeech category. Paralleling the Kuhl study, representative (P) and less representative (NP) sets of major triad stimuli were constructed, based on equal temperament. Musically experienced subjects rated the stimuli in each set for goodness as a major triad, with the highest rated stimulus serving as a prototype standard for a subsequent discrimination task. Results from the discrimination task demonstrated better performance in the P context than in the NP context. The current nonspeech results indicate that a prototype functions as an anchor rather than a magnet. In addition to providing a natural, nonspeech standard for comparison with speech findings, the results provide some important insights into the nature of musical categories.