Beyond the internalism/externalism debate: The constitution of the space of perception

This paper tackles the problem of the nature of the space of perception. Based both on philosophical arguments and on results obtained from original experimental situations, it attempts to show how space is constituted concretely, before any distinction between the “inner” and the “outer” can be made. It thus sheds light on the presuppositions of the well-known debate between internalism and externalism in the philosophy of mind; it argues in favor of the latter position, but with arguments that are foundationally antecedent to this debate. We call the position we defend enactive externalism. It is based on experimental settings which, in virtue of their minimalism, make it possible both to defend a sensori-motor/enactive theory of perception; and, especially, to inquire into the origin of the space of perception, showing how it is concretely enacted before the controversy between internalism and externalism can even take place.     

The relationship between parental involvement,self-regulated learning,and reading achievement of fifth graders: a path analysis using the ECLS-K database

This study examined the relationship between parental involvement, self-regulated learning (SRL), and reading achievement through analyzing the fifth grade data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K). The results identified six dimensions of parental involvement that are likely to foster SRL of fifth graders: School Involvement, TV Rules, Homework Help, Homework Frequency, Parental Education Expectations, and Extracurricular Activities. Of these three dimensions, Parental Education Expectations, School Involvement, and Homework Help, were found to have stronger effects on SRL; Parental Education Expectations was found to have the strongest beneficial effect on SRL. The results also suggest that SRL mediates the relationship between parental involvement and reading achievement. These results provide a framework for parents to help their children develop SRL skills and guide educators and school administrators as they intend to increase parental involvement and its effectiveness.     

Galin Tihanov,The Birth and Death of Literary Theory: Regimes of Relevance in Russia and Beyond. Stanford,CA: Stanford University Press, 2019. 258 pages. $60. Hardcover ISBN: 9,780,804,785,228

Studies in East European Thought - This review discusses an important recent book by Galin Tihanov, the George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of London.     

Markovian processes with identifiable states: General considerations and application to all-or-none learning

It often happens that a theory specifies some variables or states which cannot be identified completely in an experiment. When this happens, there are important questions as to whether the experiment is relevant to certain assumptions of the theory. Some of these questions are taken up in the present article, where a method is developed for describing the implications of a theory for an experiment. The method consists of constructing a second theory with all of its states identifiable in the outcome-space of the experiment. The method can be applied (i.e., an equivalent identifiable theory exists) whenever a theory specifies a probability function on the sample-space of possible outcomes of the experiment. An interesting relationship between lumpability of states and recurrent events plays an important role in the development of the identifiable theory. An identifiable theory of an experiment can be used to investigate relationships among different theories of the experiment. As an example, an identifiable theory of all-or-none learning is developed, and it is shown that a large class of all-or-none theories are equivalent for experiments in which a task is learned to a strict criterion.This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant GB-319.     

Another look at physicians' treatment of men and women with common complaints

A recent study of San Diego patients found that men received more extensive and appropriate diagnostic workups than women did for five common complaints (Armitage, K. J., Schneiderman, L. J., & Bass, R. A. Journal of the American Medical Association 1979, 241 2186–2187). This article is a broader analysis of medical care given to men and women for those complaints (fatigue, headache, vertigo/dizziness, chest pain, back pain), and it uses a national survey of ambulatory-care visits. We find that medical care is usually similar for men and women. When significant sex differences do appear, they often show that women receive more medical care during a visit. To some extent, differential care stems from different medical needs that men and women with a complaint have; when some medically relevant factors are controlled, half of the significant sex differences disappear. But half persist, and this suggests that psychosocial factors also underlie differential care for men and women. These may originate with patients (for example, their requests for particular services) or with physicians (for example stereotypes of men and women patients). In contrast to the San Diego study, the national data show that (1) women sometimes receive more diagnostic workups for the five complaints, and (2) when medical factors are controlled, sex differences in the extent and content of workups disappear. The only exception is that men with vertigo/dizziness receive more appropriate workups.     

The timing of shifts of head postures during conservation

The timing of shifts of head postures in relation to speech during conservation was investigated by continuously monitoring, with a polarised light goniometer, the head movement of four subjects engaged in conservation.Postural shifts (PSs), defined as wide, linear movements, were found to occur primarily towards the initiation of speech, be it between speaking turns, or between syntactic boundaries inside speaking turns. This suggested that PSs are involved in regulating turn taking and marking syntactic boundaries inside speaking turns.Also, PSs usually started prior to and continued till after speech onset. This suggested a possible involvement in speech production, probably in helping to regulate the complex motor processes of beginning to speak.It is suggested that interactive, linguistic and speech productive functions may combine together to create a movement pattern by mutually constraining head movement.