Psychological verbs and the double-dependency hypothesis

The double-dependency hypothesis (DDH, Mauner et al., 1993) holds that where two dependencies of a certain kind are present, comprehension in Broca's aphasia will be random, but that where there is only one dependency, comprehension will be intact. We tested this hypothesis by examining the performance of Broca's aphasics on sentences with psychological verbs of two different classes. One class has an argument structure in which the Experiencer role is assigned to the subject. In the other class, the Experiencer role is assigned to the object. Subject-Experiencer verbs can form verbal passives which have two relevant dependencies, whereas object-Experiencer verbs can form adjectival passives and have only one relevant dependency. Thus these sentence types make contrasting predictions relevant to the DDH. Our results clearly demonstrate that patients understand the adjectival passive psychological verbs, as predicted by the DDH. On the verbal passive psychological verbs, patients perform at chance, again consistent with DDH predictions. These results firmly buttress the DDH account. They also contradict the results of an earlier study (of verbal passive psychological verbs only), a study which we argue is plagued with problems (namely, Grodzinsky, 1995b).     

Strategy choice for arithmetic verification: effects of numerical surface form

Canadian university students (n=48) solved simple addition problems in a true/false verification task with equations in digit format (3+4=8) or written English format (three+four=eight). Participants reported their solution strategy (e.g. retrieval or calculation) after each trial. Reported use of calculation strategies was much greater with word (41%) than digit stimuli (26%), and this difference was exaggerated for numerically larger problems. Word-format costs on reaction time (RT) were correspondingly greater for large than for small problems, but this Format×Size RT effect was bigger for true than for false equations. The results demonstrate that surface format affects central, rather than only peripheral, stages of cognitive arithmetic.     

Personality and affect characteristics of outpatients with depression

This investigation was designed to examine the relationship between depression severity and personality disorders measured by the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (Millon, 1987) and affectivity measured by the Positive Affectivity/Negative Affectivity Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Discriminant analyses were employed to identify the personality and affective dimensions that maximally discriminate between 4 different levels of depressive severity. Differences between the 4 levels of depressive severity are suggestive of unique patterns of personality characteristics. Discriminant analysis showed that 74.8% of the cases were correctly classified by a single linear discriminant function, and that 61% of the variance in depression severity was accounted for by selected personality and affect variables. Results extend current conceptualizations of comorbidity and are discussed with respect to depression severity.     

Is Connectedness Necessary to What Matters in Survival

The standard version of the psychological criterion or theory of personal identity takes it that psychological connectedness is not necessary for personal identity, or for what matters in survival. That is, a future person can be you, and/or have what matters in survival for you, even though there is no psychological connectedness between you and that future person. David Lewis, however, holds that psychological connectedness is necessary to both identity and what matters (which he takes to coincide). This entails, Lewis acknowledges, that if a human body were to live longer than connectedness lasts, then that body would 'embody' or 'constitute' a different person later on than it did to begin with. Moreover, Lewis accepts, a body may embody more than one person at any one time. Lewis claims that this can be reconciled to some degree with common sense if we count by person stages rather than by persons. I show, though, that Lewis' view cannot be salvaged in this way, and, moreover, that it leads to further absurdities. I conclude that as an account of identity and of what matters in survival, it is highly implausible, and most unsatisfactory.     

阶层、健康和正义

1　导言如果生命是用金钱可以买到的东西 ,富人应该活着 ,穷人应该死。ＢｌａｃｋＳｐｉｒｔｕａｌ,ＵＳ也许富人不能买健康。但证实健康的阶层不平等的研究表明 ,富人较穷人更长寿 ;而穷人更早于富人死亡 ,包括在所有的年龄段中。另外 ,穷人也比富人更易患病 (Ｋａｐｌａｎ及Ｌｙｎｃｈ 1997,Ｗｉｌｋｉｎｓｏｎ1996) ,健康的社会经济不平等甚至在最富裕的国家中也存在 ;这种不平等适用于可治及不可治的疾病 ,也包括损伤 ;他们甚至存在于对不同的危险行为进行考虑之中。这些健康的不平等作为更严重的不正义冲击着我们中的大多数人。医疗卫…     

The Impact of Group Work on Offender Adolescents

The impact of personal construct and psychodynamic group work on the psychosocial functioning of offender adolescents was evaluated. The repeated measures design involved 3 data collections. Data from 102 participants included measures of 5 pairs of maturational processes and 5 psychological states. Group work was effective immediately after terminating treatment in increasing helpful maturational processes and in reducing the less helpful maturational processes. The group work was also effective to some extent in reducing less helpful psychological states. The implications of this research for future interventions and its evaluation are discussed.     

The Truth Will Set You Free: Towards the Religious Study of Science

This article explores the notion that science can be viewed as a religion and that our understanding of science will be enhanced, if we study it in the same manner that we use to study any other religion. More specifically, it builds on concepts developed by Max Weber in his analysis of salvation religions to describe some ways in which science promises liberation and the institutional conditions under which that liberation will take place. While to a certain extent this exploration might be viewed as an effort to demythologize science, it is not an attack on science, as much as it is an attempt to demonstrate the potential benefits of opening up the scientific enterprise to more thorough and creative external examination.     

Is the link between forebrain size and feeding innovations caused by confounding variables? A study of Australian and North American birds

The short notes of ornithology journals feature new and unusual feeding behaviours, which, when systematically collated, could provide a quantitative estimate of behavioural flexibility in different bird groups. Previous studies suggest that taxonomic variation in the frequency of new behaviours (innovations) is correlated with variation in relative forebrain size. Recent work on primates shows, however, that observer bias can affect innovation frequency. We assess this possibility in birds via three estimates in North America and Australia: the number of full-length papers in academic journals, the frequency of photographs in birding magazines and a questionnaire on reporting bias given to ornithologists at a meeting. We also look at sampling effects due to single journal sources by doing a split-half analysis of our North American database (The Wilson Bulletin vs. six other journals) and adding three new Australian journals to the one we had used previously. In multiple regressions that also included species number per taxon, none of the potential biases could account for the correlation between forebrain size and innovation frequency. Species number was the best predictor of full-length paper frequency, which was the best predictor of photograph numbers. Ornithologists are not preferentially interested in innovative, large-brained taxa, suggesting that the correlation between innovations and neural substrate size is not a spurious effect of the biases examined here. Accepted after revision: 27 July 2001 Electronic Publication