Metacognition and metarepresentation: is a self-directed theory of mind a precondition for metacognition?

Metacognition is often defined as thinking about thinking. It is exemplified in all the activities through which one tries to predict and evaluate one’s own mental dispositions, states and properties for their cognitive adequacy. This article discusses the view that metacognition has metarepresentational structure. Properties such as causal contiguity, epistemic transparency and procedural reflexivity are present in metacognition but missing in metarepresentation, while open-ended recursivity and inferential promiscuity only occur in metarepresentation. It is concluded that, although metarepresentations can redescribe metacognitive contents, metacognition and metarepresentation are functionally distinct.     

On the relationship between responsibility and guilt: antecedent appraisal or elaborated appraisal?

Three studies are reported in which we examined the relation between responsibility and guilt. Results from Study 1 suggested that responsibility increased as a function of guilt, but that the reverse relation did not emerge. In the second and third studies we primed either responsibility or guilt and examined how these primes influenced subsequent appraisals for novel events. We also used different manipulations of responsibility and guilt. In Study 2 guilt was operationalized as negative interpersonal consequences as evidenced by the reactions of others. Responsibility was varied by manipulating the controllability of negative outcomes. In Study 3 responsibility was manipulated in terms of the severity of negative consequences for oneself. Results of both studies showed that guilt primes gave rise to perceptions of responsibility but that responsibility primes did not affect perceptions of guilt. We conclude that responsibility is best regarded as an elaborated appraisal generated by guilt, rather than an antecedent of guilt. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

衡阳市农村邪教调研——邪教的文化学分析

世纪之交,邪教在我国一些农村地区活动猖獗。认识邪教的本质,分析其产生原因,寻求反邪教的有效措施,是无邪农村建设的关键。本文以文化学的方法,通过对衡阳市农村邪教的调研,指出邪教是危害农村社会发展的文化恶魔,其产生的原因在于农村主文化失范及其维持力量弱化,反农村邪教应注意加强主文化建设与对农民个体的教育及其利益、需要合理、正当地满足。     

The influence of action perception on object recognition: a developmental study

Two experiments explored the existence and the development of relations between action representations and object representations. A priming paradigm was used in which participants viewed an action pantomime followed by the picture of a tool, the tool being either associated or unassociated with the preceding action. Overall, we observed that the perception of an action pantomime can facilitate the recognition of a corresponding tool. Experiment 1 was based on a naming task and was conducted with 9- to 12-year-old children and a group of young adults. While substantial priming effects were obtained for all age groups, they were especially important for the youngest participants. Smaller priming effects were obtained in Experiment 2, using a categorization task and conducted on 5- to 11-year-old children and young adults, but again the results suggest that these action priming effects diminish with increasing age. Implications of these results for the organization and development of conceptual knowledge are discussed.     

The critique of pure phenomenology

The topic of this paper is phenomenology. How should we think of phenomenology – the discipline or activity of investigating experience itself – if phenomenology is to be a genuine source of knowledge? This is related to the question whether phenomenology can make a contribution to the empirical study of human or animal experience. My own view is that it can. But only if we make a fresh start in understanding what phenomenology is and can be.     

Joint Attention and Attachment in Toddlers with Autism

Joint attention is often referred to as a triadic relation between self, other and object. Young children with autism show deficiencies in the use of joint attention behaviors. Individual differences may be expected, and they may be determined by the children’s cognitive development or the characteristics of the relationship of the child with the caregiver. Although most joint attention skills develop under the age of three, most studies of joint attention in children with autism involved children older than 3 years of age, due to difficulties in diagnosing autism under this age. In this study we investigated joint attention behaviors of 78 young children (mean age 25.7 months, SD 6.1) with autism spectrum disorders (n = 20), other developmental delays (n = 18), and typically developing children (n = 40). Following the pertinent literature and confirmed by factor analysis, two types of joint attention behaviors were distinguished, Basic Joint Attention (BJA) and Associated Joint Attention (AJA). We found that cognitive delays and autistic symptoms—but not attachment insecurity or disorganization—were related to less joint attention. Already at the age of 2 years, children with more autistic symptoms show less joint attention, even after controlling for developmental level.     

Processing of biological motion point-light displays by baboons (Papio papio)

Humans apply complex conceptual judgments to point-light displays (PLDs) representing biological motion (BM), but how animals process this kind of display remains uncertain. Four baboons (Papio papio) were trained to discriminate BM from nonbiological motion PLDs using an operant computerized test system. Transfer tests were given after training with novel BM stimuli representing humans or baboons (Experiment 1), with inverted PLDs (Experiment 2), and with BM stimuli in which body parts had been spatially disorganized (Experiment 3). Very limited transfer was obtained with the novel and inverted displays in Experiments 1 and 2, but transfer was much higher after spatial disorganization in Experiment 3. It is suggested that the baboons did not retrieve and interpret the articulated shape of the human or monkey body from the BM PLD stimuli, but rather focused their attention on the configural properties of subparts of the stimuli. Limits in perceptual grouping and restricted abilities in picture-object equivalence might explain why the baboons did not map BM PLD displays onto what they represent.     

Interdependent sampling and social influence

Most explanations of social influence focus on why individuals might want to agree with the opinions or attitudes of others. The authors propose a different explanation that assumes the attitudes of others influence only the activities and objects individuals are exposed to. For example, individuals are likely to be exposed to activities that their friends enjoy. The authors demonstrate that such influence over sampling behavior is sufficient to produce a social influence effect when individuals form attitudes by learning from experience. Even if the experiences of 2 individuals, when they sample an object or event, are independent random variables, their attitudes will become positively correlated if their sampling processes are interdependent. Interdependent sampling of activities thus provides a different explanation of social influence with distinct empirical and theoretical implications.     

Positive schizotypal symptoms predict treatment outcome in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Previous research has suggested that the presence of schizotypal personality disorder may represent a risk factor for treatment failure in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Relying on a dimensional approach, the present study investigated whether the predictive importance of schizotypal personality is shared by all of its features to the same extent or whether it is confined to a subset of symptoms. Fifty-three patients underwent multi-modal cognitive-behavioral therapy with or without adjunctive antidepressive medication. Therapy response was defined as a 35% decline of the Y-BOCS total score. At baseline assessment, patients were asked to fill out the schizotypal personality questionnaire, the perceptual aberration scale and the Beck depression inventory. Stepwise regression analysis and group comparisons conducted with the schizotypal and depression scales revealed that elevated scores in the positive schizotypal scales, especially perceptual aberrations, were highly predictive for treatment failure. Responders to treatment and non-responders did not significantly differ on other variables or on scores in two scales which measured response biases. The study provides evidence that positive schizotypal symptoms are antecendents for treatment failure in OCD. It needs to be evaluated whether these at-risk individuals benefit from additional intervention, such as the adminstration of low-dose atypical neuroleptics and specifically tailored behavorial intervention.     

Are three-sample tasks less sensitive than two-sample tasks? Memory effects in the testing of taste discrimination

In order to provide insights into why discrimination protocols with three stimuli sometimes tend to be less sensitive than protocols with two stimuli, two experiments were conducted. In these experiments, the relative effects of memory decay and memory interference were investigated. Both experiments involved purified water and/or solutions of low NaCl concentration. In Experiment 1, three protocols were compared: the traditional same-different test (Protocol 1), the same protocol with a rinse between the two samples (Protocol 2), and Protocol 2 with an added time delay between the first sample and the intermediate rinse (Protocol 3.) The decrease in measured d' values as time delay increased indicated that memory decay might be a factor for tests with three stimuli, such as the triangle method, rendering it less sensitive than tests with two stimuli, such as the same-different method. In Experiment 2, four protocols were compared: the traditional same-different test, the two-rinse same-different test, the triangle test, and what will be called duo same-different test. The experimental design allowed the individual consideration of memory decay and interference effects. From this last experiment, the substantial effect of memory interference was uncovered. Further experimentation will be necessary to estimate the exact relative effects of memory interference and memory decay.