Author Index

Authors Index

Author Index     

The logical structure of Michael Williams's response to skepticism

This paper aims to reconstruct the overarching logical structure of Michael Williams's response to philosophical skepticism. One goal is to forestall overhasty dismissals of his position based on failures to understand the logical relations among his various anti-skeptical claims and arguments. In many places, Williams suggests that the strategy he calls “theoretical diagnosis” is sufficient to defuse the skeptical challenge and that, accordingly, his anti-skeptical strategy consists solely in developing theoretical diagnoses. According to the account developed here, this claim is misleading—in need of significant qualification, if not outright false. Even so, the paper concludes that, in its essentials, Williams's response is structurally sound, given his understanding of the problem posed by skepticism. The paper ends with a brief assessment of the merits of that response.     

How Mathematics Isn't Logic

If logical truth is necessitated by sheer syntax, mathematics is categorially unlike logic even if all mathematics derives from definitions and logical principles. This contrast gets obscured by the plausibility of the Synonym Substitution Principle implicit in conceptions of analyticity: synonym substitution cannot alter sentence sense. The Principle obviously fails with intercepting : nonuniform term substitution in logical sentences. 'Televisions are televisions' and 'TVs are televisions' neither sound alike nor are used interchangeably. Interception synonymy gets assumed because logical sentences and their synomic interceptions have identical factual content, which seems to exhaust semantic content. However, intercepting alters syntax by eliminating term recurrence, the sole strictly syntactic means of ensuring necessary term coextension, and thereby syntactically securing necessary truth. Interceptional necessity is lexical, a notational artifact. The denial of interception nonsynonymy and the disregard of term recurrence in logic link with many misconceptions about propositions, logical form, conventions, and metalanguages. Mathematics is distinct from logic: its truth is not syntactic; it is transmitted by synonym substitution; term recurrence has no essential role. The '=' of mathematics is an objectual relation between numbers; the '=' of logic marks a syntactic relation of coreferring terms.     

Effects of gender and topic on speech style

Male and female subjects described nine photographs that had been selected to be of interest to males, females, or both. The resulting speech samples were analyzed for the incidence of five features of word production and five features associated with a women's language (WL) speech style. Results showed that topic (photograph type) determined aspects of speech production. However, there were no gender differences in production or style. Correlations between dependent variables suggested that WL is a consistent set of features. Its use by both female and male speakers may reflect social uncertainty.The authors thank Janis Glenn and Cynthia Johnson for help in collecting and transcribing data.     

A microcomputer-controlled system for measuring reactivity in small animals

A microcomputer-controlled system has been designed for measuring reactivity in small laboratory animals. This system uses a microcomputer to trigger an acoustic signal, which is fed to a loudspeaker through an audio power amplifier. An animal’s acoustic startle response is recorded using a moving-coil loudspeaker as a movement transducer. The transducer output is coupled to a peak-hold circuit that records the maximum voltage generated by the animal’s response. After conversion to digital form, the data for each stimulus presentation are stored and then printed when all trials have been completed.     

ASYMMETRY IN MOUTH OPENING DURING DIFFERENT SPEECH TASKS

When a normal subject is speaking, the right side of the mouth typically opens more widely or moves over a greater total distance. This asymmetry is most consistent during purely verbal word list generation and verbal recall tasks, less consistent when emotional expression and/or visual imagery is involved, and reversed during smiling. Aphasic patients also show the right bias during word lists, repetition, and conversation, but not during serial speech, singing and smiling. Since observable mouth asymmetry is presumed to result from hemispheric asymmetry in motor control, these observations confirm the major role of a left hemisphere control system for pure verbal expression and provide evidence for involvement of the right hemisphere in mouth motor control during emotional and prosodic expression or visual imagery. Therapeutic possibilities are also suggested.     

The effect of apparent movement on mental rotation

Eleven subjects were timed as they judged whether a small bar perpendicular to one side of a clockhand would point left or right if the hand was pointing upward (i.e., at the "12 o'clock" position). The clockhand was shown in two successive orientations 30 degrees apart, so that it was perceived to jump from one to the other in either a clockwise or a counterclockwise direction. Reaction times were consistent with the interpretation that the subjects "mentally rotated" the clockhand from its perceived orientation back to the upright before making their decisions. The direction of the jump influenced perceived orientation but did not influence either the direction or rate of mental rotation itself.