Rubber hands feel the touch of light

Two experiments involving a total of 220 subjects are reported. The experiments document that "stroking" a false hand with the bright beam of light from a laser pointer can produce tactile and thermal sensations when the hand can be seen as one's own. Overall, 66% of subjects reported somatic sensations from the light. Felt hand location was recalibrated toward the location of the false hand for those subjects who felt the light. Moreover, the proprioceptive recalibration from the laser experience was comparable to that produced by actual coordinated brushing of the false hand and of the unseen real hand after 2 min of stimulation. The illusion may be experienced on one's real hand as well. The results are discussed in terms of multisensory integration.     

熟悉性对外群体同质性效应的影响

两个实验考查了年龄和性别群体中是否存在外群体同质性效应以及熟悉性对该种效应的影响。结果表明：1．年龄群体中存在明显的外群体同质性效应,这与青年群体和老年群体彼此不够熟悉有关;2．性别群体中不存在外群体同质性效应,这与青年男女群体彼此较为熟悉有关。     

Aging and the cross: Explorations in Deep Incarnation

Aging is theologically explored in both creation and the cross through the concept of Deep Incarnation. As a partial extension of Martin Luther's thought, Deep Incarnation affirms God to be intimately involved in the natural processes of all biological creation, including aging, bringing solace, companionship, and hope to the elderly. God conceived as being both in the creation and beyond it (panentheism) allows for divine grace to relate to all creatures from the cellular level on up, including through evolutionary development. Employing the concept of compound theodicy, evolutionary theodicy is also briefly explored.     

Robert Cummings Neville,Defining Religion: Essays in Philosophy of Religion

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Using a stimulus correlated with reprimands to suppress automatically maintained eye poking

A functional analysis indicated that chronic eye poking exhibited by a woman with profound mental retardation persisted in the absence of social contingencies. We initiated a procedure in which a therapist delivered a punisher (mild reprimand) contingent on eye poking in the presence, but not the absence, of a neutral stimulus (wristbands). Subsequently, eye poking was suppressed when the participant wore the wristbands in novel environments without the reprimand contingency.     

A Pilot Study of a Functional Contextual Treatment for Bulimia Nervosa

This paper describes the initial development of a treatment for bulimia nervosa using a functional contextual treatment approach. Seven women (6 with a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa and 1 with a diagnosis of eating disorder not otherwise specified) completed 12 sessions of functional contextual treatment. Participants were assessed with the Eating Disorders Examination at baseline and following treatment. The intervention produced significant reductions in binge eating, purgative behavior, dietary restraint, and eating concerns. A functional contextual treatment holds promise for the treatment of bulimia nervosa. However, the treatment needs to be refined further and will need to be tested in controlled clinical trials with long-term follow-up.     

The effect of accuracy motivation on anchoring and adjustment: do people adjust from provided anchors?

Increasing accuracy motivation (e.g., by providing monetary incentives for accuracy) often fails to increase adjustment away from provided anchors, a result that has led researchers to conclude that people do not effortfully adjust away from such anchors. We challenge this conclusion. First, we show that people are typically uncertain about which way to adjust from provided anchors and that this uncertainty often causes people to believe that they have initially adjusted too far away from such anchors (Studies 1a and 1b). Then, we show that although accuracy motivation fails to increase the gap between anchors and final estimates when people are uncertain about the direction of adjustment, accuracy motivation does increase anchor-estimate gaps when people are certain about the direction of adjustment, and that this is true regardless of whether the anchors are provided or self-generated (Studies 2, 3a, 3b, and 5). These results suggest that people do effortfully adjust away from provided anchors but that uncertainty about the direction of adjustment makes that adjustment harder to detect than previously assumed. This conclusion has important theoretical implications, suggesting that currently emphasized distinctions between anchor types (self-generated vs. provided) are not fundamental and that ostensibly competing theories of anchoring (selective accessibility and anchoring-and-adjustment) are complementary.