Metaphysical Realism and Objectivity: Some Theoretical Reflections

In this paper we aim to show an intrinsic contradiction of contemporary Metaphysical Realism by focusing on the relation between the subject and the object. Metaphysical Realism considers facts and objects as being empirical, and therefore they are considered in relation to the subject, while at the same time facts are assumed to belong to an autonomous and independent reality. However, if a real object is considered to be independent from the subject, once it enters in a relation with the latter, a real object must undergo an intrinsic transformation. However, since an object cannot avoid this transformation then recovering the real or “absolute” object from the perceived object is not possible. In this way, the inherent contradiction of the “absolute” as being determined, i.e., defined by virtue of a limit, is revealed.     

“I'm Having a Little Struggle With This,Can You Help Me Out?”: Examining Impacts and Processes of a Social Capital Intervention for First‐Generation College Students

Social capital plays a key role in college and career success, and research indicates that a dearth of on‐campus connections contributes to challenges first‐generation college students face in effectively navigating the college environment. This study investigates a novel intervention that focuses on the development of skills and attitudes to empower first‐generation college students to cultivate social capital and on‐campus connections during the transition to college. A mixed methods, explanatory design was used to evaluate impacts and processes of the intervention among first‐generation college students (n = 164) in the context of an ethnically diverse, urban, public university in the Northeast. Results indicated that students who participated in the intervention demonstrated improved attitudes and behaviors around seeking support in college, closer relationships with instructors, and higher GPAs at the end of their first year in college. These results suggest the potential benefits of a relatively scalable approach to supporting the needs of first‐generation college students.     

Priming nouns and verbs: differential influences of semantic and grammatical cues in the two cerebral hemispheres

The current experiment investigated how sentential form-class expectancies influenced lexical-semantic priming within each hemisphere. Sentences were presented that led readers to expect a noun or a verb and the sentence-final target word was presented to one visual field/hemisphere for a lexical decision response. Noun and verb targets in the semantically related condition were compared to an unrelated prime condition, which also predicted part of speech but did not contain any lexical-semantic associates of the target word. The semantic priming effect was strongly modulated by form-class expectancy for RVF/LH targets, for both nouns and verbs. In the LVF/RH, semantic priming was obtained in all conditions, regardless of whether the form-class expectancy was violated. However, the nouns that were preceded by a noun-predicting sentence showed an extremely high priming value in the LVF/RH, suggesting that the RH may have some sensitivity to grammatical predictions for nouns. Comparisons of LVF/RH priming to calculations derived from the LSA model of language representation, which does not utilize word order, suggested that the RH might derive message-level meaning primarily from lexical-semantic relatedness.     

Evidence for a developmental shift in the motivation underlying helping in early childhood

We investigated children's positive emotions as an indicator of their underlying prosocial motivation. In Study 1, 2-, and 5-year-old children (N = 64) could either help an individual or watch as another person provided help. Following the helping event and using depth sensor imaging, we measured children's positive emotions through changes in postural elevation. For 2-year-olds, helping the individual and watching another person help was equally rewarding; 5-year-olds showed greater postural elevation after actively helping. In Study 2, 5-year-olds’ (N = 59) positive emotions following helping were greater when an audience was watching. Together, these results suggest that 2-year-old children have an intrinsic concern that individuals be helped whereas 5-year-old children have an additional, strategic motivation to improve their reputation by helping.     

Electrocortical Responses to ecologically relevant visual stimuli among professional drivers with and without cardiovascular disease

Electrocortical responses were assessed using two simulated aspects of visual signals encountered in traffic: the Glare Pressor Test (GPT) and Event-Related Potential Avoidance Task (ERPAT) among four groups of male professional drivers: 12 with ischemic heart disease (IHD), 12 hypertensives, 10 borderline hypertensives, 34 who were apparently healthy and 23 nonprofessional driver healthy control subjects. The blood pressure (BP) responses immediately after the ERPAT were also measured. There was a significant between groups effect for the amplitude of the target N2 component in the ERPAT (p=0.02), with the lowest means among the drivers with IHD and the highest among those with hypertension. Drivers with IHD also showed the highest diastolic BP reactivity to the ERPAT. Significantly more than the expected number of drivers with IHD failed to recover alpha activity after the first glare impulse of the GPT. Professional drivers who failed to recover baseline levels of alpha activity after the GPT showed a significantly smaller N2 amplitude compared to those who recovered (p=0.01). There was a positive correlation between abundance of alpha activity at rest with P300 amplitude (p=0.02). An inverse relation was found between number of work hours behind the wheel and the amplitude of the target P300 (p=0.04). Results are interpreted in light of recent advances concerning integrative mechanisms of defence versus vigilance response patterns. The findings in this study justify further applications of these psychophysiologic methods to assess the relationship between simulated signals of the work environment and mechanisms of cardiac risk in this occupational group.     

Reorganization of Equivalence Classes After Reversal of Baseline Relations

The Psychological Record - Pilgrim and Galizio (1995) reversed baseline conditional discriminations after the emergence of equivalence classes. College students’ performance was consistent...     

Making Reading More Difficult: A Degraded Text Microworld for Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies

We present an empirical study that investigated seventh-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade students’ understanding of the infinity of numbers in an interval. The participants (n = 549) were asked how many (i.e., a finite or infinite number of numbers) and what type of numbers (i.e., decimals, fractions, or any type) lie between two rational numbers. The results showed that the idea of discreteness (i.e., that fractions and decimals had “successors” like natural numbers) was robust in all age groups; that students tended to believe that the intermediate numbers must be of the same type as the interval endpoints (i.e., only decimals between decimals and fractions between fractions); and that the type of interval endpoints (natural numbers, decimals, or fractions) influenced students’ judgments of the number of intermediate numbers in those intervals. We interpret these findings within the framework theory approach to conceptual change.     

Alcohol Availability and Violence among Inner-City Adolescents: A Multi-Level Analysis of the Role of Alcohol Outlet Density

Researchers recognize that the connection between alcohol and peer violence may relate to community level ecological factors, such as the location of businesses that sell alcohol. Building on previous research among adults, this study examines the relationship between alcohol outlet density and violent behaviors among adolescents, taking into account demographic characteristics, individual alcohol use, and neighborhood level socioeconomic indicators. Data drawn from a diverse Emergency Department based sample of 1,050 urban adolescents, combined with tract level data from the state liquor control commission and U.S. Census, were analyzed. Results of multivariate multi-level regression analysis indicate that alcohol outlet density is significantly related to adolescents’ violent behaviors, controlling for demographic characteristics and individual alcohol use. Census tract level socioeconomic indicators were not significantly associated with youth violence. Findings suggest that alcohol outlet density regulation should be considered as part of broader violence prevention strategies for urban adolescents.