Temporal integration differences between crossed and uncrossed stereoscopic mechanisms

In this study, we investigated temporal integration of disparity information for crossed and uncrossed stereopsis. Across three experiments, exposure duration thresholds were measured for stereoscopic stimuli created from dynamic random-dot stereograms. In Experiment 1, an investigation of disparity detection showed that detection thresholds were equal for the crossed and uncrossed directions. In Experiment 2, an examination of duration limits for depth perception showed that critical durations were lower, and depth more veridical, for crossed depth than for uncrossed depth. In Experiment 3, an investigation of depth discrimination revealed that discrimination thresholds were lower for crossed depth than for uncrossed depth. These results suggest that crossed and uncrossed mechanisms differ in terms of their temporal integration properties at processing levels involving the computation and discrimination of depth.     

USE OF COMPONENT ANALYSES TO IDENTIFY ACTIVE VARIABLES IN TREATMENT PACKAGES FOR CHILDREN WITH FEEDING DISORDERS

We evaluated the separate components in treatment packages for food refusal of 4 young children. First, treatment packages were implemented until food acceptance improved. Next, a component analysis was conducted within a multielement or reversal design to identify the active components that facilitated food acceptance. The results indicated that escape extinction was always identified as an active variable when assessed; however, other variables, including positive reinforcement and noncontingent play, were also identified as active variables for 2 of the children. The results suggest that the component analysis was useful for identifying variables that affected food acceptance.     

Variability in the timing of responses during repetitive tapping with alternate hands

Summary This paper addresses the question of whether a simple two-stage account of variability in timing developed for single-hand repetitive tapping is applicable to regular tapping with the hands in alternation. The task required key presses at a steady rate, previously set by a periodic auditory signal. On separate blocks of trials four subjects used the index finger of the left hand or of the right hand at intervals of 200, 400, and 800 ms or alternated between the hands at intervals of 100, 200, or 400 ms. For each subject the variability of the between-hand intervals in the 200- and 400-ms alternate-hand conditions was greater than the variability of the same interval in the single-hand conditions. In the 100-ms alternate-hand condition correlations between adjacent (between-hand) intervals were reliably less then –.5. These results are inconsistent with the simple two-stage model, and two variants are shown to provide a better qualitative fit to at least some aspects of the data.     

Comparability of Self‐Reported Conscientiousness Across 21 Countries

In cross‐national studies, mean levels of self‐reported phenomena are often not congruent with more objective criteria. One prominent explanation for such findings is that people make self‐report judgements in relation to culture‐specific standards (often called the reference group effect), thereby undermining the cross‐cultural comparability of the judgements. We employed a simple method called anchoring vignettes in order to test whether people from 21 different countries have varying standards for Conscientiousness, a Big Five personality trait that has repeatedly shown unexpected nation‐level relationships with external criteria. Participants rated their own Conscientiousness and that of 30 hypothetical persons portrayed in short vignettes. The latter type of ratings was expected to reveal individual differences in standards of Conscientiousness. The vignettes were rated relatively similarly in all countries, suggesting no substantial culture‐related differences in standards for Conscientiousness. Controlling for the small differences in standards did not substantially change the rankings of countries on mean self‐ratings or the predictive validities of these rankings for objective criteria. These findings are not consistent with mean self‐rated Conscientiousness scores being influenced by culture‐specific standards. The technique of anchoring vignettes can be used in various types of studies to assess the potentially confounding effects of reference levels. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cross-modal information integration in category learning

An influential theoretical perspective describes an implicit category-learning system that associates regions of perceptual space with response outputs by integrating information preattentionally and predecisionally across multiple stimulus dimensions. In this study, we tested whether this kind of implicit, information-integration category learning is possible across stimulus dimensions lying in different sensory modalities. Humans learned categories composed of conjoint visual–auditory category exemplars comprising a visual component (rectangles varying in the density of contained lit pixels) and an auditory component (in Exp. 1, auditory sequences varying in duration; in Exp. 2, pure tones varying in pitch). The categories had either a one-dimensional, rule-based solution or a two-dimensional, information-integration solution. Humans could solve the information-integration category tasks by integrating information across two stimulus modalities. The results demonstrated an important cross-modal form of sensory integration in the service of category learning, and they advance the field’s knowledge about the sensory organization of systems for categorization.     

Midlife Women's Negotiations of Barriers to and Facilitators of Physical Activity: Implications for Counselors

The authors investigated barriers to exercise and facilitators that enable midlife women to engage in an active lifestyle. Findings provide counselors with insight into the meanings that women ascribe to physical activity so they can better assist clients in making choices that enhance their overall health and wellness.     

On the function of a ‘break’ within the psychoanalytic double session

This article considers theoretical and clinical implications of the practice of ‘double sessions’ as defined by two consecutive sessions of psychotherapy divided by a 10-minute break. Limited existing literature of ‘double sessions’ is critiqued and the therapeutic significance of the 10-minute break provides the focus for this article with reference to the Lacanian practice of ‘scansion’. The author draws on relevant therapeutic experience and case material to elucidate the potential benefits of the introduction of double sessions with particular client groups. It is argued that the break provides the opportunity to access often hidden archaic defences as the effects of rupture and reconnection are worked through. Equally, the separation of the break allows the patient's immediate associations following the end of the first session to be brought immediately back into the work. The practice is problematised in relation to potential contraindications with particular patient groups and this, in turn, elucidates the conceptual differences between Freudian/Lacanian and object relations traditions.     

Getting ‘Lucky’ with Gettier

Abstract: In this paper I add credence to Linda Zagzebski's (1994) diagnosis of Gettier problems (and the current trend to abandon the standard analysis) by analyzing the nature of luck. It is widely accepted that the lesson to be learned from Gettier problems is that knowledge is incompatible with luck or at least a certain species thereof. As such, understanding the nature of luck is central to understanding the Gettier problem. Thanks by and large to Duncan Pritchard's seminal work, Epistemic Luck, a great deal of literature has been developed recently concerning the nature of luck and anti‐luck epistemology. The literature, however, has yet to explore the very intuitive idea that luck comes in degrees. I propose that once luck is recognized to admit degrees even the slightest non‐zero degree (of the relevant sort) precludes knowledge. Connecting this to Zagzebski's thesis, I propose that a given theory of warrant must guarantee truth in order to avoid Gettier counterexamples (or subsequently deny that warrant bears any relationship to the truth whatsoever), simply because a sufficient standard analysis of knowledge cannot allow for knowledge that is even marginally lucky.