Why the Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever Cannot Be Solved in Less than Three Questions

Rabern and Rabern (Analysis 68:105–112 2) and Uzquiano (Analysis 70:39–44 4) have each presented increasingly harder versions of ‘the hardest logic puzzle ever’ (Boolos The Harvard Review of Philosophy 6:62–65 1), and each has provided a two-question solution to his predecessor’s puzzle. But Uzquiano’s puzzle is different from the original and different from Rabern and Rabern’s in at least one important respect: it cannot be solved in less than three questions. In this paper we solve Uzquiano’s puzzle in three questions and show why there is no solution in two. Finally, to cement a tradition, we introduce a puzzle of our own.     

Peripheral oxytocin administration buffers autonomic but not behavioral responses to environmental stressors in isolated prairie voles

Negative social experiences such as social stressors and isolation influence mental and physical illnesses, including affective disorders and heart disease. Studies focused on socially monogamous prairie voles can provide insight into neurobiological systems that underlie the consequences of negative social interactions. Female prairie voles were exposed to 28 days of social isolation or pairing with a female sibling (control). Voles were administered daily oxytocin [20 μg/50 μl, subcutaneous (sc)] or saline vehicle (50 μl, sc) for 14 days and exposed to two behavioral stressors [elevated plus maze (EPM) and resident-intruder test]. Brain tissue was collected for analysis of central peptide levels in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Isolation produced autonomic changes [increased heart rate (HR) and decreased HR variability) during both acute stressors and increased anxiety behaviors in the EPM. Oxytocin injection prevented the autonomic consequences of the acute stressors in isolated prairie voles, but did not affect the behaviors tested under the present conditions. Oxytocin had no effect on the behavioral or autonomic responsiveness in paired prairie voles. Oxytocin injection may exert a beneficial effect on autonomic responses to stressors in isolated animals through increasing the number of oxytocin-containing neurons and decreasing the number of corticotropin-releasing hormone-containing neurons in the PVN. Oxytocinergic mechanisms may serve to compensate for autonomic responses associated with chronic isolation and exposure to both social and non-social acute stressors.     

Identifying mediators of training effects on performance-related psychobiosocial states: A single-case observational study in an elite female triathlete

ObjectivesRelationships between training load, psychobiosocial (PBS) states and performance are dynamic and individual-specific. The nature of these relationships can be investigated using a combination of dynamic linear models (DLMs) and mediating variable analysis, potentially assisting applied sports psychologists in planning and monitoring of individual elite athletes’ intervention programmes.DesignWe illustrate this approach by examining the relationships of training loads with a performance-related state (‘self-efficacy’) and the role of potential mediating PBS variables (‘fatigue/lack of energy’ and ‘being in shape’) in explaining these relationships in an elite triathlete across time.MethodSelf-reports of PBS states (twice weekly) and training data were collected over 137 days. Using DLMs and mediating variable analysis, direct (unmediated) and indirect (mediated) short-term associations of training load with ‘self-efficacy’ were examined.ResultsIn this triathlete, we found evidence for positive effects of training on ‘self-efficacy’, which were partly explained by feelings of ‘being in shape’ and suppressed by feelings of ‘fatigue/lack of energy’. Changes in the relationship between lagged training load and ‘fatigue/lack of energy’ were observed across time and were particularly pronounced in temporal proximity of an injury.ConclusionStrengths of the presented approach are its dynamic nature enabling the observation of changes occurring over time, use of statistical inference rather than visual data interpretation, and quantification of mediating effects to identify potential pathways of intervention. Additionally, the DLM method can identify complex nonlinear associations by examining correspondence between changes in levels of predictors and changes in magnitude and direction of predictor-outcome associations.     

Following Foucault: Tall stories of mapping and inhabiting Pierre Rivière's landscapes as a 21st century inquiry

This paper documents the research methods adopted in a series of workshops on Pierre Rivière that took place at the University of Bristol. A group of scholars from Europe and Australia used philosophical, narrative, performative and artful approaches to re-examine the life of Pierre Rivière and family as documented by Michel Foucault (1975) and his team. They watched the film of the book (Allio, 1976) listened to emerging papers and wrote themselves into pivotal moments within the narratives they heard. They conducted narrative family therapy sessions with the ‘Rivière family’ and wrote themselves into the ensuing moments of evocation and connection. They made dolls, and wrote themselves into the voices of those dolls, and they gave presentations about how Pierre Rivière might be positioned within contemporary therapeutic, educational and media discourses. They wanted to find out if different kinds of knowledge might emerge from these ways of doing research differently. And yet it seemed that whatever form of inquiry they undertook, other subliminal, imaginary, fantasy and folk and fairy tale narratives seeped under efforts to produce rational, coherent academic texts. This paper explores this dual process of investigation in real time accompanied by eruptions into imaginary folklore and fairy story times, with segues into contemporary, fantastical stories of horror and murder. Each step the research team took became a doubled step, involving doubled listening and doubled knowing. To this end they have represented their research process (after Lather, 2007) as a doubled text and yet they have still not fully captured the emotional space of the workshops they inhabited. It was as if they were, for the short, intense period of time they were working together, collectively emotionally disassociated.     

‘Drinking is our modern way of bonding’: Young people’s beliefs about interventions to encourage moderate drinking

Efforts to discourage excessive alcohol use among young people can only be effective if the target audience is exposed to, attends to, and comprehends key messages. The aim of this study was to examine age and sex differences in drinking motives to better inform development of targeted interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm. Thirty individual interviews and 12 group interviews were conducted with English 13–25?year olds. Interviewees gave multiple motivations for drinking – especially those related to image and reputation, and played down the health implications of heavy drinking. Negative aspects of drinking – caring for drunk friends, being cared for when drunk and suffering through hangovers with friends – were considered to offer opportunities for closer interpersonal bonding than other social activities. Respondents distanced themselves from ‘problem’ drinkers, but disapproved of others’ problematic drinking or antisocial behaviour. Narrative messages demonstrating the social consequences of excessive consumption were preferred to single, static messages emphasising risk or harm. Interviewees noted that interventions must use an engaging tone or pitch: they considered many campaigns to be patronising or preaching. A lack of consensus between age and sex groups highlighted a need for multifaceted, multi-modal approaches that utilise mobile technologies and new media.     

The role of prior quitting experience in the prediction of smoking cessation

Aims: In the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), the preparation stage (as applied to smoking cessation) is defined as planning to quit in the next 30 days plus having quit for at least 24 h in the last year. This study examined the value of prior quitting experience as a stage classification criterion by investigating whether prediction of making a quit attempt differed as a function of prior quitting experience. Participants: One thousand and forty-six participants, all planning to quit in the next 30 days, in a randomised trial of the effectiveness of a telephone counselling and computer-generated tailored advice intervention were followed up at 3 months. Findings: A multivariate predictive model had markedly greater capacity to predict making a quit attempt among participants with prior quitting experience (as defined in several different ways), compared to analyses of the overall sample. A previous attempt of 24 h in the previous month was associated with the greatest difference in prediction. A quit attempt in the previous year (the TTM definition) did not discriminate. Conclusions: Recent prior quitting experience moderated the predictive capacity of some variables that influence smoking cessation. The findings provide some support for a stage model of smoking cessation but not its operationalisation by the TTM.     

Neuropsychological Profile of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

In this study, subjects with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) were matched for age, verbal intelligence, and depression with a group of healthy control subjects. Neuropsychological testing was conducted to assess complex attention, language fluency, receptive language, and visuospatial cognition using tests that would not be affected by impaired motor skill. The subjects with DMD demonstrated poorer functioning on tests of complex attention, verbal fluency, and nonverbal memory functions, suggesting that the cognitive deficits in the DMD population may be specific rather than global in nature. Methodological issues salient to the assessment of intellectual functioning among subjects with DMD and the implications of these data for the further study of cognitive deficits in DMD are discussed.