Executive Resources and Item-Context Binding: Exploring the Influence of Concurrent Inhibition,Updating, and Shifting Tasks on Context Memory

Previous research has demonstrated that context memory performance decreases as a result of cognitive load. However, the role of specific executive resources availability has not been specified yet. In a dual-task experiment, participants performed three kinds of concurrent task engaging: inhibition, updating, or shifting operations. In comparison with a no-load single-task condition, a significant decrease in item and context memory was observed, regardless of the kind of executive task. When executive load conditions were compared with non-specific cognitive load conditions, a significant interference effect was observed in the case of the inhibition task. The inhibition process appears to be an aspect of executive control, which relies on the same resource as item-context binding does, especially when binding refers to associations retrieved from long-term memory.     

Asymptotic Densities in Logic and Type Theory

This paper presents a systematic approach for obtaining results from the area of quantitative investigations in logic and type theory. We investigate the proportion between tautologies (inhabited types) of a given length n against the number of all formulas (types) of length n. We investigate an asymptotic behavior of this fraction. Furthermore, we characterize the relation between number of premises of implicational formula (type) and the asymptotic probability of finding such formula among the all ones. We also deal with a distribution of these asymptotic probabilities. Using the same approach we also prove that the probability that randomly chosen fourth order type (or type of the order not greater than 4), which admits decidable lambda definability problem, is zero. Presented by Jacek Malinowski     

A formalisation of violation, error recovery, and enforcement in the bit transmission problem

The design of complex multi-agent systems is increasingly having to confront the possibility that agents may not behave as they are supposed to. In addition to analysing the properties that hold if protocols are followed correctly, it is also necessary to predict, test, and verify the properties that would hold if these protocols were to be violated. We illustrate how the formal machinery of deontic interpreted systems can be applied to the analysis of such problems by considering three variations of the bit transmission problem. The first, an example in which an agent may fail to do something it is supposed to do, shows how we deal with violations of protocols and specifications generally. The second, an example in which an agent may do something it is not supposed to do, shows how it is possible to specify and analyse remedial or error-recovery procedures. The third combines both kinds of faults and introduces a new component into the system, a controller, whose role is to enforce compliance with the protocol. In each case the formal analysis is used to test whether critical properties of the system are compromised, in this example, the reliable communication of information from one agent to the other.     

Statistics of Intuitionistic versus Classical Logics

For the given logical calculus we investigate the proportion of the number of true formulas of a certain length n to the number of all formulas of such length. We are especially interested in asymptotic behavior of this fraction when n tends to infinity. If the limit exists it is represented by a real number between 0 and 1 which we may call the density of truth for the investigated logic. In this paper we apply this approach to the intuitionistic logic of one variable with implication and negation. The result is obtained by reducing the problem to the same one of Dummett's intermediate linear logic of one variable (see [2]). Actually, this paper shows the exact density of intuitionistic logic and demonstrates that it covers a substantial part (more than 93%) of classical prepositional calculus. Despite using strictly mathematical means to solve all discussed problems, this paper in fact, may have a philosophical impact on understanding how much the phenomenon of truth is sporadic or frequent in random mathematics sentences.     

A Method of Generating Modal Logics Defining Jaśkowski’s Discussive Logic D<Subscript>2</Subscript>

Ja?kowski’s discussive logic D₂ was formulated with the help of the modal logic S5 as follows (see [7, 8]): \({A \in {D_{2}}}\) iff \({\ulcorner\diamond{{A}^{\bullet}}\urcorner \in {\rm S}5}\), where (–)^? is a translation of discussive formulae from For^d into the modal language. We say that a modal logic L defines D₂ iff \({{\rm D}_{2} = \{A \in {\rm For^{\rm d}} : \ulcorner\diamond{{A}^{\bullet}}\urcorner \in {\it L}\}}\). In [14] and [10] were respectively presented the weakest normal and the weakest regular logic which (?): have the same theses beginning with ‘\({\diamond}\)’ as S5. Of course, all logics fulfilling the above condition, define D₂. In [10] it was prowed that in the cases of logics closed under congruence the following holds: defining D₂ is equivalent to having the property (?). In this paper we show that this equivalence holds also for all modal logics which are closed under replacement of tautological equivalents (rte-logics).We give a general method which, for any class of modal logics determined by a set of joint axioms and rules, generates in the given class the weakest logic having the property (?). Thus, for the class of all modal logics we obtain the weakest modal logic which owns this property. On the other hand, applying the method to various classes of modal logics: rte-logics, congruential, monotonic, regular and normal, we obtain the weakest in a given class logic defining D₂.     

Negations and natural sampling in data selection: Ecological versus heuristic explanations of matching bias

Matching bias occurs when people ignore negations when testing a hypothesis--for example, if A, then not 2--and select possible data types that are named in the hypothesis (i.e., A and 2; Evans & Lynch, 1973). There are two explanations of this bias: the heuristic account and the contrast class account. The latter is part of Oaksford and Chater's (1994) ecological approach to data selection. On this account, a contrast set (i.e., birds that are not ravens) has a higher probability than the original set (i.e., birds that are ravens). This article reports two experiments in which these accounts make divergent predictions. The same materials were used as those in Yama (2001), who found more support for the heuristic approach. Experiment 1 replicated Yama with Western participants. Experiment 2 used a procedure introduced by Oaksford and Wakefield (2003). Rather than present participants with one of each of the four possible data types all at once, 50 were presented one at a time. The proportions of each data type reflected the relevant probabilities. The results supported the ecological approach, showing that people constructed contrast sets that strongly influenced their data selection behavior. The results were not consistent with the heuristic approach.     

Why do employees engage in counterproductive work behaviours? Cultural values and white-collar employees in China

This study examines the role of cultural values in influencing counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs). In particular, it focuses on the cultural values of power distance, long-term orientation and collectivism (both horizontal and vertical collectivism) as well as the Confucian values of guanxi and harmony. In line with recent approaches in moral psychology and sociology, we consider how Confucian values become moral triggers or inhibitors for employees to engage in CWB. In addition, we consider the moderating effects of guanxi and harmony on the relationships between the cultural values of power distance, long-term orientation, collectivism and CWB. The results from a survey of 489 white-collar employees in China confirmed the importance of cultural values in influencing CWB. Specifically, our findings indicate that guanxi moderates the relationship between cultural values and CWB and acts as a moral trigger for an employee to engage in CWB. With the exception of horizontal collectivism, we also found that harmony moderates the relationship between cultural values and CWB. Specifically, harmony acts as a moral inhibitor for an employee to engage in CWB. Lastly, we discuss the implications of the findings for theory and practice in the context of managing an increasingly global workplace and business environment.