Representation for reciprocal agent–environment interaction

Declarative modelling approaches in principle assume a notion of representation or representational content for the modelling concepts. The notion of representational content as discussed in literature in cognitive science and philosophy of mind shows complications as soon as agent and environment have an intense reciprocal interaction. In such cases an internal agent state is affected by the way in which internal and external aspects are interwoven during (ongoing) interaction. In this paper it is shown that the classical correlational approach to representational content is not applicable, but the temporal-interactivist approach is. As this approach involves more complex temporal relationships, formalisation was used to define specifications of the representational content more precisely. These specifications have been validated by automatically checking them on traces generated by a simulation model. Moreover, by mathematical proof it was shown how these specifications are entailed by the basic local properties.     

Are needs to manage uncertainty and threat associated with political conservatism or ideological extremity?

Three studies are conducted to assess the uncertainty- threat model of political conservatism, which posits that psychological needs to manage uncertainty and threat are associated with political orientation. Results from structural equation models provide consistent support for the hypothesis that uncertainty avoidance (e.g., need for order, intolerance of ambiguity, and lack of openness to experience) and threat management (e.g., death anxiety, system threat, and perceptions of a dangerous world) each contributes independently to conservatism (vs. liberalism). No support is obtained for alternative models, which predict that uncertainty and threat management are associated with ideological extremism or extreme forms of conservatism only. Study 3 also reveals that resistance to change fully mediates the association between uncertainty avoidance and conservatism, whereas opposition to equality partially mediates the association between threat and conservatism. Implications for understanding the epistemic and existential bases of political orientation are discussed.     

Granulocyte activation in humans is modulated by psychological stress and relaxation

Our aim was to study the possible relationship between psychological stress and granulocyte activation primarily in healthy students during an examination period (n = 11) and also in chronically anxious patients (n = 15). We employed cell surface markers: lactoferrin, L-selectin, alphaMbeta2-integrin and CD15s and flow cytometry to detect changes in the activation state of granulocytes, with the start of the stressed state in students at the beginning of an examination period, which was associated with elevated blood plasma cortisol level, and following relaxation hypnosis in both students, during their examination term, and patients. The ratios of all four types of marker-carrier granulocytes increased at the start of the examination period in students; an especially dramatic (ca. 5-fold) enhancement was observed in the proportion of lactoferrin-bearing cells relatively to the pre-examination term value. After hypnosis, the percentage of lactoferrin-exposing granulocytes decreased considerably both in students and in patients, by about half; a similar decrease was observed in the ratio of CD15s-carrier cells in patients. No significant alteration was observed during the study in state or trait anxiety levels, and in total or differential leukocyte counts. Thus, granulocyte activation could be associated with stress, while relaxation may facilitate reducing activation of these cells. In both groups of subjects, granulocyte surface lactoferrin appeared to be a sensitive "stress indicator". This needs further evaluation.     

Sin and bioethics.

The essay starts out with defining the biblical concept of sin in the Old and the New Testaments. The literal knowledge of divine truth is distinguished from its truthful and spiritual interpretation. A further distinction should be made between the Creator of life (God) and the medium or "intermediary creator" (man) of life. I argue for the "single wholeness" of the human race and for the unity of human responsibility in bioethics. In delineating the teaching of the Church on abortion and family planning, I show that the healing of all human diseases, from traditional interventions to genetic ones, is a Christian duty and is in accordance with Christ's mission on earth as long as one has not been directly or indirectly involved in "reproducing" or "designing" one's descendants or destroying or damaging human life even at its very beginnings.     

Meaning in life goal pursuit moderates the effects of social influences on college student drinking

This study sought to examine whether life goal meaning serves as a protective factor against the effects of social influences on hazardous drinking. The sample consisted of 156 college drinkers who had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days. Results indicated that goal meaning moderated the relation between both injunctive norms and direct offers and heavy drinking episodes. Simple slopes' analyses showed that injunctive norms predicted heavy episodic drinking for students with low but not high levels of goal meaning. Direct offers predicted heavy episodic drinking, however, the strength of this association was reduced at high levels of goal meaning. Results suggest that higher levels of goal meaning may buffer the effects of social influences on college student hazardous drinking.     

Effects of depressed mood on drinking refusal self-efficacy: examining the specificity of drinking contexts

College students with elevated depressive symptoms are more likely to engage in risky drinking and experience alcohol-related negative consequences. Efforts to understand the association between depressed mood and alcohol use have begun to identify the role of cognitive-motivational processes. Drinking refusal self-efficacy is one such process that influences the decision to drink, but its relationship with depressed mood remains unclear. The current study sought to clarify the role of these processes using a depressed mood induction procedure in a sample of college student drinkers. Eighty-six students were randomized to a depressed or neutral mood induction and completed assessments of drinking refusal self-efficacy. Depressed mood significantly decreased self-efficacy in high-risk drinking contexts related to depression, whereas ratings of other high-risk contexts were unaffected. These findings suggest that the association between hazardous drinking and depressed mood may be due in part to the direct influence of mood state on one's self-efficacy to resist drinking in relevant contexts.     

A computational model based on Gross’ emotion regulation theory

Emotion regulation describes how a subject can use certain strategies to affect emotion response levels. Usually, models for emotion regulation assume mechanisms based on feedback loops that indicate how to change certain aspects of behavior or cognitive functioning in order to get a more satisfactory emotion response level. Adaptation of such feedback loops is usually left out of consideration. This paper introduces an adaptive computational model for emotion regulation by formalizing the model informally described by Gross (1998). The model has been constructed using a high-level modeling language, and integrates both quantitative aspects (such as levels of emotional response) and qualitative aspects (such as decisions to regulate one’s emotion). This model includes mechanisms for adaptivity of the degree of flexibility of the emotion regulation process. Also, the effects of events like traumas or therapies on emotion regulation can be simulated. Based on this computational model, a number of simulation experiments have been performed and evaluated.