The scourge: moral implications of natural embryo loss

It is often claimed that from the moment of conception embryos have the same moral status as adult humans. This claim plays a central role in many arguments against abortion, in vitro fertilization, and stem cell research. In what follows, I show that this claim leads directly to an unexpected and unwelcome conclusion: that natural embryo loss is one of the greatest problems of our time and that we must do almost everything in our power to prevent it. I examine the responses available to those who hold that embryos have full moral status and conclude that they cannot avoid the force of this argument without giving up this key claim.     

Did Descartes make a Diagonal Argument?

Journal of Philosophical Logic - This paper explores the idea that Descartes’ cogito is a kind of diagonal argument. Using tools from modal logic, it reviews some historical antecedents of...     

Work characteristics, musculoskeletal disorders, and the mediating role of psychological strain: a study of call center employees

The demands of the modern office are thought to contribute to the development of musculoskeletal disorders. For upper body and lower back disorders, these effects are hypothesized to be mediated by psychological strain. A study of 936 employees from 22 call centers supports this hypothesis. Using logistic regression and structural equation modeling, the authors found that the relationship of workload to upper body and lower back musculoskeletal disorders was largely accounted for by job-related strain. This mediating effect was less evident for arm disorders. Contrary to expectation, job autonomy had neither a direct nor a moderating effect on any musculoskeletal disorder.     

Effects of delay on color priming for natural objects

Using a standard study-test procedure, color priming was examined through effects of color transformation, from correctly colored to incorrectly colored and vice versa, for natural objects with pre-existing color-shape associations, e.g., yellow banana. More specifically these effects were examined at study-test delays of 0, 24, and 48 hr. When deciding whether an object was correctly colored, color transformation eliminated priming. Furthermore, there was evidence that for objects that were not transformed, priming was stronger for correctly as compared with incorrectly colored objects. In addition, the introduction of 24- and 48-hr. delays between the study and the test phase of the task reduced the effects of color transformation on priming. These findings are discussed in terms of the representations that mediate implicit memory performance.     

Testing models of the redundant-signals effect: A warning concerning the combination-rule regression analysis

The redundant-signals effect is the observed RT advantage for trials presenting two or more targets, as compared with trials with only one target Two general classes of parallel-processing model have been proposed to explain this effect race models (e.g., Raab, 1962) and coactivation models (e.g., Miller, 1982). Various distributional analyses have been used in work aimed at discriminating between these two model classes. The present study reexamined one of these tests—the combination-rule regression analysis based on variable-criterion theory (Grice, Canham, & Boroughs, 1984)—by applying it to the data from two sets of simulated experiments. One set of simulations assumed coactivation; the other set assumed an independent race on redundant-target trials. Nearly identical combination-rule values were observed in the two sets of simulations. This finding shows that the combination rule of variable-criterion theory does not discriminate between models capable of explaining the redundant-signals effect The implications of this finding are briefly discussed     

Categorizing chairs and naming pears: Category differences in object processing as a function of task and priming

Four experiments are reported examining the locus of structural similarity effects in picture recognition and naming with normal subjects. Subjects carried out superordinate categorization and naming tasks with picture and word forms of clothing, furniture, fruit, and vegetable exemplars. The main findings were as follows: (1) Responses to pictures of fruit and vegetables (\ldstructurally similar\rd objects) were slowed relative to pictures of clothing and furniture (\ldstructurally dissimilar\rd objects). This structural similarity difference was greater for picture naming than for superordinate categorization of pictures. (2) Structural similarity effects in picture naming were reduced by repetition priming. Repetition priming effects were equivalent from picture and word naming as prime tasks. (3) However, superordinate categorization of the prime did not produce the structural similarity effects on priming found for picture naming. Furthermore, such priming effects did not arise for picture or word categorization or for reading picture names as target tasks. It is proposed that structural similarity effects on priming object processing are located in processes mapping semantic representations of pictures to name representations required to select names for objects. Visually based competition between fruit and vegetables produces competition in name selection, which is reduced by priming the mappings between semantic and name representations.     

Comorbidity of ADHD and reading disability among clinic-referred children

Of a consecutive series of 115 boys diagnosed in a university outpatient clinic as ADHD, 39% also demonstrated a specific reading disability. Pure ADHD patients were compared with mixed ADHD + RD and normal controls on a battery of cognitive and attentional measures. The aim was to determine whether a distinct pattern of deficits would distinguish the groups. Both ADHD subgroups performed significantly worse than controls on measures of sequential memory and attentional tasks involving impulse control andplanful organization. Only ADHD+RD boys differed from controls on measures or rapid word naming and vocabulary. The reuslts are discussed within the framework of an automatic versus effortful information-processing model.