Myths as Instructions from Ancestors: The Example of Oedipus

The growing interest in dual-inheritance models of human evolution has focused attention on culture as a means by which ancestors transmitted acquired phenotypic characteristics to their descendants. The ability of cultural behaviors to be repeatedly transmitted from ancestors to descendants enables individuals to influence their descendant-leaving success over many more generations than are usually coclusive fitness. This essay proposes that traditional stories, or myths, can be seen as a way in which ancestors influence their descendant-leaving success by influencing the behavior of many generations of their descendants. The myth of Oedipus is used as an example of a traditional story aimed at promoting proper behavior and cooperation among kin. This interpretation of the Oedipus myth is contrasted with Freudian and structuralist interpretations.     

Measuring the effect of multiple eye fixations on memory for visual attributes.

Because of limited peripheral vision, many visual tasks depend on multiple eye fixations. Good performance in such tasks demonstrates that some memory must survive from one fixation to the next. One factor that must influence performance is the degree to which multiple eye fixations interfere with the critical memories. In the present study, the amount of interference was measured by comparing visual discriminations based on multiple fixations to visual discriminations based on a single fixation. The procedure resembled partial report, but used a discrimination measure. In the prototype study, two lines were presented, followed by a single line and a cue. The cue pointed toward one of the positions of the first two lines. Observers were required to judge if the single line in the second display was longer or shorter than the cued line of the first display. These judgments were used to estimate a length threshold. The critical manipulation was to instruct observers either to maintain fixation between the lines of the first display or to fixate each line in sequence. The results showed an advantage for multiple fixations despite the intervening eye movements. In fact, thresholds for the multiple-fixation condition were nearly as good as those in a control condition where the lines were foveally viewed without eye movements. Thus, eye movements had little or no interfering effect in this task. Additional studies generalized the procedure and the stimuli. In conclusion, information about a variety of size and shape attributes was remembered with essentially no interference across eye fixations.     

Holistic processes in the perception and transformation of disoriented figures

Two experiments tested whether mental rotation of complex, hierarchical stimuli occurs holistically or separately at global and local levels of structure. Large (global) letters were constructed from spatial arrangements of small (local) letters. Reflection conditions (normal vs. reflected) were produced by varying the two levels independently. The task was structured so that subjects could rotate one level of the stimulus in some conditions but had to rotate both levels in other conditions. Experiment 1 showed that rotation rate was not affected by the number of levels that had to be rotated to make a reflection decision. This result implies that the rotation of global and local levels occurred together rather than sequentially. Experiment 2 showed that the rotation of the two levels was holistic as opposed to parallel and independent. The results also demonstrate that global information is processed faster than local information regardless of whether or not a rotation is performed. These findings are discussed in relation to theories of mental rotation and global precedence.     

Inability to wink an eye and eye dominance.

Data from 56 subjects in Grades 4 to 12 only able to wink one eye indicated that the non-winking eye was used as the dominant one in tests on monocular and binocular sighting.     

Boyle's corpuscular hypothesis and Locke's primary-secondary quality distinction

Locke denied that ideas of secondary qualities resemble their causes. It has been suggested that Locke denied this because he accepted a mechanical corpuscular hypothesis about the constitution of objects. This paper shows that this and other usual explanations of Locke's denial are mistaken. Further, it suggests an alternative relationship between the scientific account and Locke's philosophical views, and finally it provides Locke's real justification for his claim that ideas of secondary qualities do not resemble their causes.This paper was prepared with the assistance of a SUNY UAC/JAC Faculty Research Fellowship.     

Mapping musical thought to musical performance

Expressive timing methods are described that map pianists' musical thoughts to sounded performance. In Experiment 1, 6 pianists performed the same musical excerpt on a computer-monitored keyboard. Each performance contained 3 expressive timing patterns: chord asynchronies, rubato patterns, and overlaps (staccato and legato). Each pattern was strongest in experienced pianists' performances and decreased when pianists attempted to play unmusically. In Experiment 2 pianists performed another musical excerpt and notated their musical intentions on an unedited score. The notated interpretations correlated with the presence of the 3 methods: The notated melody preceded other events in chords (chord asynchrony); events notated as phase boundaries showed greatest tempo changes (rubato); and the notated melody showed most consistent amount of overlap between adjacent events (staccato and legato). These results suggest that the mapping of musical thought to musical action is rule-governed, and the same rules produce different interpretations.     

Parental perception and perceived locus of control in psychopathology

The intrusion of anxiety and disruption of ego functions seen in the more serious forms of psychopathology would seem incompatible with maintenance of an unimpaired sense of personal identity. The present study took the position that the psychiatric patient's fragile or poorly developed sense of his own identity would be reflected (a) in deficient or tenuous identifications with parental norms and values and (b) in the perception of less parental supportiveness and warmth, relative to nonpsychiatric patients, and (c) would lead the individual to perceive reinforcement as contingent primarily upon some external locus of control, rather than upon his own relatively enduring personal characteristics Support was obtained for (b) and (c), above, but not for (a).