Analytic Calculi for Circular Concepts by Finite Revision

The paper introduces Hilbert– and Gentzen-style calculi which correspond to systems ${\mathsf{C}_{n}}$ from Gupta and Belnap [3]. Systems ${\mathsf{C}_{n}}$ were shown to be sound and complete with respect to the semantics of finite revision. Here, it is shown that Gentzen-style systems ${\mathsf{GC}_{n}}$ admit a syntactic proof of cut elimination. As a consequence, it follows that they are consistent.     

Word length and articulatory suppression affect short-term and long-term recall tasks

In six experiments, subjects were required to recall (either serially or freely) lists of short and long words either immediately or after a study-test filled delay ranging from 30 to 60 sec. In three of these experiments, we investigated the effect that articulatory suppression had in modulating the word length effect in both immediate and delayed free recall. The results suggested that the effects of word length and articulatory suppression were comparable in the immediate and delayed recall tasks. The theoretical relevance of these findings is discussed.     

Maternal attitudes and attachment styles in mothers of obese children

This study evaluated categories of attachment style and the maternal attitude toward educational role in a sample of 30 mothers of obese children and a control group of 80 mothers of children of normal weight. All mothers completed the 1994 Attachment Style Questionnaire and the 1958 Parental Attitude Research Instrument. 30 mothers (M age 37.4 yr., range 31 to 54 years; M yr. of education 11.6, range 5 to 18 years) of obese children (range 30 to 60% above normal weight) and a control group of 80 mothers (M age 37.1 yr., range 29 to 52 years; M yr. of schooling 11.4, range 5 to 18 years) of children with normal weight were contacted at the primary school attended by their children and joined the project voluntarily. Age and number of years of education were not significantly different between the two groups of women. There was a significant prevalence of the Insecure Attachment Style in the group of mothers with obese children (66.6%) as compared to the control group of mothers of children of normal weight (38.5%) and significantly higher scores on 6 subscales of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument of Obese compared to Nonobese children. These data indicate that obese children's mothers tend to make the family their exclusive centre of interest. They also tend to dedicate themselves to their children with possessiveness and hyperprotection. They seem to have an insistent requirement of idealisation of their own role as parent and reward expectations that confirm the efficiency of the care they provide their children. Consequently, these findings suggest that in addition to dietetic treatment, it may be important to include a psychological intervention, which involves the mother and aims to modify the relational dynamics between the mother and her obese child.     

Internationalization,multinationalization and globalization of R&D: Toward a new division of labor in science and technology?

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the current processes of internationalization, multinationalization, and globalization of R&D activities with the aim of identifying new forms, if any, of the global organization of science and technology. Special attention will be paid to interfirm behavior, the role of the state, and global scientific and technological cooperation. The main thesis is that current processes are characterized by

? a new phase of reconcentration and recentralization of R&D activities within the context of an increasingly conflicting interpenetration and integration at the technical and economic level among the most developed countries; and

? the growing influence and power of the private sector and, conversely, the relative decline of state influence over the definition of the priorities, content, and organization of R&D activities at national, international, and global levels.

     

Age differences in implicit memory: More apparent than real

Elderly subjects and a group of young subjects identified fragmented picture sequences under conditions of focused attention. Two other groups of young subjects carried out this task under divided-attention conditions. Implicit memory, as measured by item-specific savings, was found in all groups, but this effect was smaller in the elderly group. The young subjects, but not elderly subjects, performed better on new items. The divided-attention conditions equated recall and recognition by the young and the elderly, but only the young subjects showed greater savings for recalled items. The elderly subjects’ reduced implicit memory therefore stemmed from their inability to facilitate implicit memory with explicit memory. A second experiment, involving only young subjects tested after delay, produced findings similar to those for the young divided-attention subjects. Implicit memory, as measured by savings in picture completion, does not show an age-related change when the role of explicit memory is considered. Age does, however, reduce skill learning.     

On the differential nature of implicit and explicit memory

In this article, we report two experiments that provide further evidence concerning the differential nature of implicit and explicit memory. In Experiment 1, subjects first undertook a sentenceverification task. While carrying out this task, half of the subjects were also required to carry out a secondary processing task involving tone monitoring. Twenty-four hours later, the subjects’ memory for target items in the sentence-verification task was tested explicitly by means of a recognition task and implicitly by examining the extent to which the items primed fragment completion. Recognition performance was significantly impaired by the imposition of secondary processing demands during the original learning phase. In contrast, fragment completion was completely unaffected by this additional processing, even though substantial priming was observed. In Experiment 2, we examined whether priming in fragment completion is influenced by the nature of repetition during initial learning. Subjects studied a list of target items that were each repeated twice. Halfthe items were repeatedimmediately (lag 0) and halfwere repeated after six intervening items (lag 6). Memory for the itemswas assessed by recognition and by priming in fragment completion. Recognition was affected by lag, with lag 6 items being recognized better than lag 0 items. However, although significant priming was obtained, the extent of this priming was uninfluenced by lag. These data indicate two additional dimensions along which implicit and explicit memory differ and, furthermore, they support recent conceptualizations of processing differences underlying these two forms of memory.     

Consequences of violating the assumption of independence in the process dissociation procedure: A word fragment completion study

In three experiments that used levels of processing and study time manipulations as independent variables in a word fragment completion task, the validity of the assumption of independence between recollection and automatic influences of memory was assessed. This assumption underlies the use of the process dissociation procedure (Jacoby, 1991), a tool suggested for distinguishing the different contributions of recollection and automatic influences of memory. Overall, it appeared that semantic processing, as compared with physical processing at study, positively affected recollection but negatively affected automatic influences of memory in word fragment completion. This negative effect on the automatic influences was reduced when the available study time decreased. The incompatibility of these results with the assumption of independence between recollection and automatic influences of memory and their impact on the applicability of the process dissociation procedure are discussed.     

Investigating Conversational Dynamics: Interactive Alignment,Interpersonal Synergy,and Collective Task Performance

This study investigates interpersonal processes underlying dialog by comparing two approaches, interactive alignment and interpersonal synergy, and assesses how they predict collective performance in a joint task. While the interactive alignment approach highlights imitative patterns between interlocutors, the synergy approach points to structural organization at the level of the interaction—such as complementary patterns straddling speech turns and interlocutors. We develop a general, quantitative method to assess lexical, prosodic, and speech/pause patterns related to the two approaches and their impact on collective performance in a corpus of task‐oriented conversations. The results show statistical presence of patterns relevant for both approaches. However, synergetic aspects of dialog provide the best statistical predictors of collective performance and adding aspects of the alignment approach does not improve the model. This suggests that structural organization at the level of the interaction plays a crucial role in task‐oriented conversations, possibly constraining and integrating processes related to alignment.     

Cross-modal and intra-modal binding between identity and location in spatial working memory: The identity of objects does not help recalling their locations

In this study we tested incidental feature-to-location binding in a spatial task, both in unimodal and cross-modal conditions. In Experiment 1 we administered a computerised version of the Corsi Block-Tapping Task (CBTT) in three different conditions: the first one analogous to the original CBTT test; the second one in which locations were associated with unfamiliar images; the third one in which locations were associated with non-verbal sounds. Results showed no effect on performance by the addition of identity information. In Experiment 2, locations on the screen were associated with pitched sounds in two different conditions: one in which different pitches were randomly associated with locations and the other in which pitches were assigned to match the vertical position of the CBTT squares congruently with their frequencies. In Experiment 2 we found marginal evidence of a pitch facilitation effect in the spatial memory task. We ran a third experiment to test the same conditions of Experiment 2 with a within-subject design. Results of Experiment 3 did not confirm the pitch–location facilitation effect. We concluded that the identity of objects does not affect recalling their locations. We discuss our results within the framework of the debate about the mechanisms of “what” and “where” feature binding in working memory.