Dangerous liaisons

In this paper I take side on externalist incompatibilism. However, I intend to radicalize the position. First, based on my criticism of Burge's anaphoric proposal, I argue that there is no reasoning‐transparency: the reasoner is blind to the reasoning he is performing. Second, assuming a global form of content‐externalism, I argue that “in the head” are only logical and formal abilities. That is what I call “bite the bullet and swallow it too.”     

Short-term storage and mental speed account for the relationship between working memory and fluid intelligence

Here, we explore the role of short-term storage, mental speed, processing efficiency, and controlled attention to account for the relationship between working memory and fluid intelligence. Ninety-six secondary school students were assessed by several tests and tasks to tap these psychological constructs. Specifically, each construct was measured by two tests or tasks from different content domains (verbal-numerical and spatial). The findings show that short-term storage and, to a lesser degree, mental speed, account for the relationship between working memory and fluid intelligence. Further, processing efficiency and controlled attention do not play a significant role.     

The copycat solution to the shadow correspondence problem

Cast shadows (henceforth simply 'shadows') depicted in artworks can fulfil some of their perceptual roles, such as helping the retrieval of 3-D structure and of relative positions of objects, without having to be geometrically or physically accurate. The visual system displays a wide tolerance for shadows that are mostly inaccurate, at times making use of the scarce accurate but relevant information that can still be retrieved from them. However, the extent of the tolerable inaccuracy is at present still unexplored. I propose that inaccuracy can be not only totally acceptable but in some cases is even likely to be preferable to accuracy if the main perceptual role of shadows is to help locate in a scene the objects that cast them. I examined a small but effective historical corpus of pictorial endeavours, from which it appears that in some cases painters have used a copycat strategy for drawing the terminator of a shadow, ie they have produced a replica of the visible profile of the caster, which in the norm yields an impossible shadow. The copycat strategy is perceptually effective for solving the correspondence problem of associating a shadow with its caster; copycatting can be more effective than other solutions, including the depiction of the geometrically correct shadow, and is complementary to coarser solutions to the correspondence problem. These phenomena provide insight into the computations effectively used by the brain to deal with space perception. In particular, the brain is not relying on some sort of simplified physical model of the world, for the shadows produced by the copycat effect would correspond to a more complicated physical situation than the one encountered in real life.     

The role of attention in the occurrence of the affordance effect

It has been demonstrated that visual objects activate responses spatially corresponding to the orientation (left or right) of their graspable parts. To investigate the role of attention orienting in the generation of this effect, which we will refer to as affordance effect, we ran three experiments in which the target stimulus could either correspond or not with a dynamic event capturing attention. Participants were required to press a left or right key according to the vertical orientation (upward or inverted) of objects presented with their handles oriented to the right or to the left. In Experiments 1 and 2, the objects were located above or below fixation, while in Experiment 3, to assess the contemporary presence of the affordance and Simon effects, the objects were located to the left or right of fixation. The results showed that while the affordance effect, when evident, was always relative to the target object, irrespective of its attentional capturing properties, the Simon effect occurred relative to the event capturing attention. These findings suggest that automatic and controlled processes of visual attention may play a differential role in the occurrence of the two effects.     

Generalization of positive attitude as a function of subgroup and superordinate group identifications in intergroup contact

The role of category salience in mediating the effects of intergroup contact was examined. One theoretical model proposes that some psychological salience of subgroup categories is necessary to facilitate the generalization of attitude change beyond the immediate contact situation. Another argues that a re‐categorization of the subgroups into a new superordinate category is more beneficial, whilst a third suggests that de‐categorizing the situation entirely is optimal. An alternative view, which combines the first two models, proposes a Dual Identity strategy (simultaneous high superordinate and high subgroup categorization) as an important mediator of the relationship between contact variables and intergroup attitudes. In the study, participants (N = 114) undertook a cooperative intergroup task under four conditions of category salience: ‘subgroup’, ‘superordinate’, ‘superordinate and subgroup’, and ‘no group salience’. Evaluative ratings and symbolic reward allocations both for the groups encountered (contact) and those outside the situation (generalization) provided measures of intergroup bias. Bias within the contact situation was mainly eliminated in all conditions. However, on the more generalized bias measures, only the ‘superordinate’ and ‘superordinate and subgroup’ (Dual Identity strategy) conditions maintained this low level; in the other two conditions intergroup bias resurfaced. A combination of the first two models is proposed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of competitive status (winner/loser) on the behavior of male rats in three models of anxiety

Studies indicate that features such as prior stressful experience, strain, gender, and age can influence the behavior of rats in animal models of anxiety. In the present study, we examined the possible influence of competitive status (winner/loser) in three such models: the elevated plus‐maze, the open field, and the social interaction test. One hundred to 135‐day‐old male Wistar rats were conditioned to traverse a straight runway tube to obtain food. Subsequently, two rats were placed at the same time in the runway tube and, being unable to pass each other, one of them pushed the other to the opposite end‐box. The rats were categorized as winners or losers in this competition. One week after the straight runway tube test, the rats were submitted to the anxiety models, where it was observed that winner rats showed greater locomotor activity than the losers in the three models studied. Furthermore, winner rats showed less immobility and higher central and total locomotor activity in the open field and a greater duration of social interaction in the social interaction test. These results suggest that competitive status has an influence on the locomotor activity of rats in animal models of anxiety. However, whether competitive status influences anxiety as assessed in these models is unclear, and further investigations are warranted. Aggr. Behav. 28:164–171, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The Psychometric Properties of the Orthogonal Cultural Identification Scale in Asian Americans

Reliability (internal consistency and test‐retest) and validity (construct and factorial) of the Orthogonal Cultural Identification Scale (OCIS; E. R. Oetting & F. Beauvais, 1990–1991) were evaluated in a sample of Asian American university students. Ethnic identification, measured using the OCIS, and acculturation, measured using the Suinn‐Lew Asian Self‐Identity Acculturation Scale (R. M. Suinn, K. Rickard‐Fugueroa, S. Lew, & P. Vigil, 1987), are hypothesized to measure related but separate constructs. Análisis de fiabilidad (consistencia interna y estabilidad temporal), y de validez (conceptual y factorial) de la Escala Ortagonal de Identificación Cultural (OCIS; E. R. Oetting & F. Beauvais, 1990–1991) fueron evaluados en un grupo de estudiantes universitarios Asiáticos Americanos. La identificación étnica fue medida usando la OCIS, y la aculturación fue medida usando la Escala de Identidad de Ser y Aculturación Asiática de Suinn‐Lew (R. M. Suinn, K. Rickard‐Figueroa, S. Lew, & P. Vigil, 1987). Se presenta la hipótesis que la identificación étnica y la aculturación miden conceptos separados que estan relacionados.     

Cultivating the Senses and Giving in to the Sacred: Notes on Body and Experience among Pentecostal Women in Salvador,Brazil

The article deals with the religious experience of poor Pentecostal women from the city of Salvador, Northeast Brazil. In centering the discussion of this experience on bodily engagement in place—and on the body's attunement to place—this article seeks to capture the social and existential dimensions of the sensibilities which women develop as members of the religious community and thus to address the question of how the sense experiences, which are awakened and cultivated in this religious setting, help shape embodied forms of attention to oneself, to others, and to context. We contend that concrete embodied experience of divine power fostered in ritual favors training attention to context in search of signs of divine presence and helps give shape to a disposition which extends, to other people and places, the power that flows from Pentecostal women's bodies.     

Mirror writing in pre-school children: a pilot study

Mirror writing refers to the production of individual letters, whole words or sentences in reverse direction. Unintentional mirror writing has been observed in young children learning to write and interpreted as the manifestation of different cognitive impairments. We report on mirror writing instances in a sample of 108 pre-school children. Results showed MW to be age-related but independent from handedness and left-right discrimination abilities. We propose an account of mirror writing as reflecting dissociation between acquired motor programmes for letter shape composition and unspecified spatial direction of hand movements. Before learning to write, the child’s directional cognitive system is assumed to be dichotomous, thus inducing the production of randomly oriented asymmetrical letters.     

Perceiving one's nation: entitativity, agency and security in the international arena

The perception of groups as real entities rather than mere aggregates of individuals has important consequences on intergroup relations. Social psychological research, in fact, shows that it affects stereotyping, identification process, and intergroup bias. Previous research has also shown that group entitativity is not a positive or negative group attribute per se; rather, it depends on the context and the relationship between the perceiver and the group. While enhancing entitativity leads to worse expectations about the out‐group actions, high entitativity is a valued characteristic when associated with an ally or with the in‐group. Indeed, enhancing in‐group entitativity leads to stronger in‐group identification. The specific reasons for why this is the case, however, remain to be ascertained. What is good about in‐group entitativity? In the present contribution we propose that in‐group entitativity may lead to perceive the group as a real entity provided with intentions and capacity for planned actions, notably ensuring the safety of its members by protecting them against external threats. We report two correlational studies conducted with American citizens (Study 1) and Italian citizens (Study 2), showing that in‐group entitativity is associated with a higher level of identification, attribution of intentionality, and perceived security provided by the in‐group. These findings were replicated in a third study—conducted with a role‐play method on a fictitious scenario—in which entitativity was manipulated rather than measured. Study 3 also shows that artificially increasing the perception of in‐group entitativity enhances perceived safety in an international context and reduces the perception of threat from an out‐group. Findings are discussed in terms of possible implications for intergroup and international relations.