Descartes’ Dog: a Clock with Passions?

Although much has been written on Descartes’ thought on animals, not so much has originated in, or has taken full account of, Descartes’ views on (human) emotions. I explore here the extent to which the latter can contribute to the debate on whether he embraced, and to which extent, the doctrine of the bête machine. I first try to show that Descartes’ views on emotions can help offer new support to the skeptical position without necessarily creating new tensions with other central aspects of his philosophy. And second, I sketch the type of theory of animal passions which Descartes could have accepted. The general conclusion I draw is not that Descartes did not hold the view of the bête machine but rather that we can find within his thought a solid stream of ideas, which became stronger towards the end of his life, that points in the opposite direction.     

An efficient coding approach to the debate on grounded cognition

The debate between the amodal and the grounded views of cognition seems to be stuck. Their only substantial disagreement is about the vehicle or format of concepts. Amodal theorists reject the grounded claim that concepts are couched in the same modality-specific format as representations in sensory systems. The problem is that there is no clear characterization of (modal or amodal) format or its neural correlate. In order to make the disagreement empirically meaningful and move forward in the discussion we need a neurocognitive criterion for representational format. I argue that efficient coding models in computational neuroscience can be used to characterize modal codes: These are codes which satisfy special informational demands imposed by sensory tasks. Additionally, I examine recent studies on neural coding and argue that although they do not provide conclusive evidence for either the grounded or the amodal views, they can be used to determine what predictions these approaches can make and what experimental and theoretical developments would be required to settle the debate.     

An immediate-shock freezing deficit with discrete cues: a possible role for unconditioned stimulus processing mechanisms.

Five experiments with C57BL/6 mice (Mus musculus) investigated whether failures in shock processing might contribute to deficits in freezing that occur after an animal receives a shock immediately on exposure to a conditioning context. Experiment 1 found that more contextual freezing resulted from delayed shocks than from immediate shocks across 4 shock intensities. Experiment 2 extended the immediate-shock freezing deficit to discrete stimuli. Experiment 3 found that preexposure to the to-be-conditioned cue did not facilitate immediate cued conditioning. Experiment 4 found that context preexposure enhanced context-evoked fear after an immediate shock. Experiment 5 found that context preexposure also enhanced immediate cued conditioning. These findings are problematic for current theories of the immediate-shock freezing deficit that focus exclusively on processing of the conditioned stimulus, and they suggest that failures in shock processing may contribute to the deficit.     

Facial resemblances between heterosexual, gay, and lesbian couples

Researchers have noted a physical resemblance (homophily) between human sex partners. To date, these studies and their related interpretations have been based on heterosexual couples. The present study compared physical resemblances between gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples, using 40 photographs of each from national newspapers, which were rated by 34 men and 56 women (M age = 53 yr., SD = 12.1). Half the photographs were of actual couples and half were randomly mixed within each group. Actual couples were rated as significantly more similar in appearance than random pairings of people. Ratings of similarity were significantly higher (indicating greater perceived homophily) for gay couples than heterosexual couples, while there was no statistically significant difference in similarity ratings between lesbian couples versus gay and heterosexual couples. The results were interpreted in terms of evolutionary and parental imprinting hypotheses.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting, delay, and sleep

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the finding that retrieval of a subset of previously studied material can cause forgetting of related unpractised material. Prior work on the role of delay between practice and test for RIF reported mixed results. Whereas some studies found RIF to be a relatively transient phenomenon, others found RIF to persist over time. We examined whether the persistence of RIF can depend on whether wakefulness or sleep follows retrieval practice. We employed a variant of the retrieval-practice paradigm with short (20 minutes) and long (12 hours) delay conditions. In all conditions participants studied a perceptually categorised list followed by retrieval practice on some of the items from some of the categories. Participants studied and practised the material in the morning or the evening. RIF was present in the short-delay conditions, and it was present in the long-delay condition if the delay included nocturnal sleep; if the long delay was filled with diurnal wakefulness, RIF was absent. Results show that whether delay eliminates RIF or not can depend on whether sleep or wake follows retrieval practice. Connections of the results to recent findings about the role of delay and sleep for RIF are discussed.     

The Role of Tentativeness in Perceiving Architecture and Art: A Far-from-Equilibrium Ecological Perspective

Two experiments examined performance in collision avoidance situations. In both experiments participants were asked to initiate a discrete maneuver to avoid a collision at the last possible moment. The affordances of the situations were varied as a function of vehicle dynamics and the functional consequences associated with responding too late or too early. The results were examined in the context of a 2-dimensional functional state space with dimensions associated with optical angle and optical expansion rate. The patterns of performance showed that the actions were consistent with decision rules that could be specified in terms of linear functions of the two optical variables. In most cases, performance at early stages of learning suggested that people were using an Expansion Rate Criterion. With practice, people would tune to a decision rule that was appropriate for the specific vehicle dynamics tested. The results are discussed in relation to the role of three factors in shaping ultimate performance: (a) tasks constraints (i.e., affordances), (b) information constraints (i.e., optical structure), and (c) experience (i.e., learning).     

A psychological predictor of elders' driving performance: social‐comparisons on the road

Older individuals often believe they can drive better than their contemporaries. This belief is an example of downward social‐comparisons; they can be self‐enhancing tools that lead to beneficial outcomes. As predicted, we found that drivers who engaged in downward social‐comparisons were significantly less likely to have adverse driving events over time, after controlling for relevant factors (p = .02). This effect was particularly strong among women, who tend to experience more negative driving stereotypes (p = .01). The study was based on 897 interviews of 117 elder drivers, aged 70–89 years, over 2 years. Our findings suggest that interventions to reduce adverse driving events among elders could benefit from including a psychological component.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting,delay, and sleep

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the finding that retrieval of a subset of previously studied material can cause forgetting of related unpractised material. Prior work on the role of delay between practice and test for RIF reported mixed results. Whereas some studies found RIF to be a relatively transient phenomenon, others found RIF to persist over time. We examined whether the persistence of RIF can depend on whether wakefulness or sleep follows retrieval practice. We employed a variant of the retrieval-practice paradigm with short (20 minutes) and long (12 hours) delay conditions. In all conditions participants studied a perceptually categorised list followed by retrieval practice on some of the items from some of the categories. Participants studied and practised the material in the morning or the evening. RIF was present in the short-delay conditions, and it was present in the long-delay condition if the delay included nocturnal sleep; if the long delay was filled with diurnal wakefulness, RIF was absent. Results show that whether delay eliminates RIF or not can depend on whether sleep or wake follows retrieval practice. Connections of the results to recent findings about the role of delay and sleep for RIF are discussed.     

Perceived Somatotype and Stereotypes of Physique Among Nigerian Schoolchildren

The influence of perceived somatotype on stereotypes of behavior associated with body build was investigated among 160 male and 140 female Nigerian children in secondary school. In both groups, the perception of subjects' own physiques and discrepancy between their perceived and preferred physiques significantly explained the variance in the character trait scores attributed to body types. In general, the subjects attributed positive character traits to their perceived somatotypes and undesirable traits to the physiques with which they were dissatisfied. Thus, the perception of somatotype and discrepancy between perceived and preferred physique could significantly differentiate the character traits attributed to body build among male and female children.