Interpretation without hermeneutics: A plea against ecumenism

I have been much helped by Axel Bühler writings on hermeneutics (in particular by his unpublished Conference sull'ermeneutica) and would like to thank him and Donald Davidson for comments.     

Bayes Factors Have Frequency Properties—This Should Not Be Ignored: A Rejoinder to Morey,Wagenmakers, and Rouder

Hoijtink, van Kooten, and Hulsker (2016 Hoijtink, H., van Kooten, P., &; Hulsker, K. (2016). Why Bayesian psychologists should change the way they used the Bayes factor. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 51, 1--9. doi: 10.1080/00273171.2014.969364.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) outline a research agenda for Bayesian psychologists: evaluate and use the frequency properties of Bayes factors. Morey, Wagenmakers, and Rouder (2016 Morey, R. D., Wagenmakers, E. -J., &; Rouder, J. N. (2016). Calibrated Bayes factors should not be used: A reply to Hoijtink, van Kooten, and Hulsker. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 51, 10--17. doi: 10.1080/00273171.2015.1052710.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) respond that Bayes factors calibrated using frequency properties should not be used. This paper contains the response of Hoijtink, van Kooten, and Hulsker to the criticism of Morey, Wagenmakers, and Rouder (2016 Morey, R. D., Wagenmakers, E. -J., &; Rouder, J. N. (2016). Calibrated Bayes factors should not be used: A reply to Hoijtink, van Kooten, and Hulsker. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 51, 10--17. doi: 10.1080/00273171.2015.1052710.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).     

Involvement of the hippocampal CA3-region in acquisition and in memory consolidation of spatial but not in object information in mice

This study investigates the implication of the hippocampal CA3-region in the different phases of learning and memory in spatial and non-spatial tasks. For that purpose, we performed focal injections of diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC) into the CA3-region of the dorsal hippocampus. The DDC chelates most of the heavy metals in the brain which blocks selectively and reversibly the synapses containing heavy metals, i.e., the mossy fibres synaptic buttons and synapses of the dendrites of pyramidal cells. The effects of temporal inactivation of the CA3-region was examined in a non-associative task, the spatial open-field, designed to estimate the ability of mice to react to spatial changes, and in the object recognition task, designed to estimate the ability of mice to identify a familiar object. The results show that DDC induced a specific impairment on learning and memory consolidation in the spatial open-field but had no effect on recall in this task. In the object recognition task, DDC did not induce any impairment in the different phases of learning and memory. These data demonstrate that the hippocampal CA3-region is specifically implicated in spatial information processing and seems to be involved not only in acquisition but also in consolidation of spatial information.     

Religious thought and behaviour as by-products of brain function

Religious concepts activate various functionally distinct mental systems, present also in non-religious contexts, and 'tweak' the usual inferences of these systems. They deal with detection and representation of animacy and agency, social exchange, moral intuitions, precaution against natural hazards and understanding of misfortune. Each of these activates distinct neural resources or families of networks. What makes notions of supernatural agency intuitively plausible? This article reviews evidence suggesting that it is the joint, coordinated activation of these diverse systems, a supposition that opens up the prospect of a cognitive neuroscience of religious beliefs.     

A two-dimensional model of social representations

This paper reports a series of four experiments conducted to gain insight into students' social representations of the firm. The results suggested a possible revision of the central core theory. They showed that the central elements of the representation were treated differently by the subjects. More specifically, the notion of Profit and Hierarchy, both central, did not play the same role in the representation. The subjects were found to grant evaluative power to the notion of Profit but not to the notion of Hierarchy. This differentiation by evaluative potential was also found for two peripheral elements. These differences suggest that independently of their central or peripheral nature, the various elements of a representation can be placed along an evaluative continuum. By combining the evaluative dimension and the central or peripheral dimension of the elements, we obtain a two-dimensional model of representations which divides discourse and cognition into four fields.     

The influence of social comparison with less fortunate others on task performance: The role of gender motivations or appropriate norms

French male and female children performed a cognitive-perceptual task while anticipating or not public comparisons of their score with probably less fortunate others at a time when concerns about fitting in to social expectations were maximized. As predicted, boys performed better and girls poorer when social comparison was anticipated than when it was not. This suggested that task performance can depend on the compatibility of the social context of cognition with gender motivations or appropriate norms.     

Indirect majority and minority influence: An exploratory study

In a 2 × 2 design, 85 subjects were asked to estimate the size of angles (direct influence) that were either 90 or 85°, after being confronted with incorrect judgements of a majority (88 per cent) or a minority (12 per cent) of people estimating the angles at 50°. Additionally, pre- and post-test measures were used to establish indirect influence on subjects' judgements pertaining to acute angles (i.e. on the estimation of the length of lines constituting the angles, and on the imaginary weight of figures represented by these angles). Overall, little direct influence is observed. This may partly be due to the introduction of a denial of the credibility of the source in all conditions. In fact, some evidence of direct influence is only found in the majority–85° angles condition. An instance of indirect influence (on the estimation of length of lines) appeared as the result of a majority stance when the angles in the experimental phase were 90°. When these angles were 85°, indirect minority influence (on the estimation of weight of figures) was observed. These effects had been predicted on the basis of the hypothesis stating that indirect majority influence would be possible when subjects expected consensus on the correct response (in the 90° angles condition), without being able to reach consensus at the manifest level (because of the denial and the restriction imposed by the clear shape of 90° angles). Indirect minority influence was hypothesized to be stronger in a situation that allows for diverse responses (i.e. for 85° angles).     

The critique of equilibrium theory in economic methodology: A constructive empiricist perspective

Kaldor, one of the leading figures of the post‐war ‘Cambridge School’, has produced a large volume of methodological writings since the mid‐1960s, which we will argue represents one of the major critiques of orthodox equilibrium economic theory produced this century. While Kaldor's position represents a fundamental and radical rejection of the methodological basis of equilibrium economics, he did not provide a systematically formulated alternative methodology for economics. Recent attempts at providing such a reconstruction has argued that scientific realism provides the most convincing philosophical interpretation of Kaldor's methodological contributions. In this paper we will argue that van Fraassen's constructive empiricism represent a more compelling alternative methodological framework to realism for systematizing Kaldor's important contributions. In particular it will be argued that this constructive empiricist reading of Kaldor has the capacity to critically undermine the methodological basis of orthodox equilibrium economics. In addition we explore the potential of this alternative framework to provide a novel and challenging reconstruction of economic methodology.     

Consolidation of Memory for Odor–Reward Association: β-Adrenergic Receptor Involvement in the Late Phase

Experimentally naive rats can learn rapidly to discriminate among three odors to obtain food reinforcement. After three massed trials, they show almost errorless performance. This task has proved to be useful in studying time-dependent postacquisition intracellular processes necessary for long-term memory. The present experiments evaluated the temporal dynamics of the role of β-noradrenergic receptors in long-term consolidation. Rats were implanted with intracerebroventricular cannulae and trained in a single session to find reinforcement in a hole in a sponge impregnated with a particular odor. Injections of the β-receptor antagonist timolol were made at 5 min, 1, 2, or 5 hr after training. Memory and relearning ability were evaluated 48 hr later. Rats treated with timolol 2 hr after training showed a memory deficit at the retention test, but were able to relearn the task normally. Injections at the earlier or later time points were ineffective. The results reinforce previous observations with systemic injections that β-noradrenergic receptors are involved in the late phase of memory consolidation and suggest a critical time window during which they are necessary. The time window is compatible with the current view that long-term memory depends on late involvement of the cAMP cascade leading to new protein synthesis necessary for synaptic reorganization.     

The history and future of the office of research integrity: Scientific misconduct and beyond

This paper looks at the issues and controversies that led to creation of the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and that dominated its agenda in the early years. The successes and failures of ORI are described and new problems identified. This paper then looks ahead to the future, considering what issues will dominate ORI’s agenda and affect the research institutions, individual scientists, and the scientific community in the next several years.