The role of rehearsals in self-generated prospective memory tasks

In order to inquire into the nature of retrieval in prospective memory in a naturalistic context, we investigated the number and circumstances of rehearsals of different kinds of intentions to be pursued during a single time period. Thirty-six students were given four minutes to generate a list of tasks they were planning to perform over the course of 10 days. During this retention interval, they were provided with pocket-size diaries in which they recorded the details of each occasion they thought about the tasks previously listed. As to the nature of any triggers or cues that prompted rehearsal, the participants were asked to choose one of three alternatives: (1) association with an internal or an external cue that accidently appeared in the surroundings (accidental rehearsals), (2) deliberate thinking, e.g. while planning (self-initiated rehearsals), (3) recollection that spontaneously popped into one's mind for no apparent reason (no-trigger rehearsals). The results showed that thoughts about intended actions appeared more often after accidental cues than for no apparent reason. However, the relative contribution of self-initiated triggers to the rehearsal process was substantial: Most importantly, it was the self-initiated rehearsal that differentiated between executed and unexecuted actions. In addition, the most activated intention resulted in a higher frequency of no-trigger and self-initiated rehearsals than the remaining intentions. Finally, perceived intention importance was positively related to both the number of rehearsals and the likelihood of successful task completion. The results are discussed with regard to which factors may be crucial for the successful performance of participants' own self-generated intentions in a natural setting. The role of deliberate rehearsal in specifying the details of the intended action and its designated retrieval context is highlighted.     

The effect of motivation on working memory: an fMRI and SEM study

This study investigated the effective connectivity between prefrontal regions of human brain supporting motivational influence on working memory. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to examine the interaction between the lateral orbitofrontal (OFC), medial OFC, and dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) regions in the left and right hemisphere during performance of the verbal 2-back working memory task under two reinforcement conditions. The "low-motivation" condition was not associated with monetary reinforcement, while the "high-motivation" condition involved the probability of winning a certain amount of money. In the "low-motivation" condition, the OFC regions in both hemispheres positively influenced the left DLPFC activity. In the "high-motivation" condition, the connectivity in the network including the right OFC regions and left DLPFC changed from positive to negative, whereas the positive connectivity in the network composed of the left OFC and left DLPFC became slightly enhanced compared with the "low-motivation" condition. However, only the connection between the right lateral OFC and left DLPFC showed a significant condition-dependent change in the strength of influence conveyed through the pathway. This change appears to be the functional correlate of motivational influence on verbal working memory.     

The Cognitive Relation in a Formal Setting

This paper proposes a formal framework for the cognitive relation understood as an ordered pair with the cognitive subject and object of cognition as its members. The cognitive subject is represented as consisting of a language, conequence relation and a stock of accepted theories, and the object as a model of those theories. This language allows a simple formulation of the realism/anti-realism controversy. In particular, Tarski’s undefinability theorem gives a philosophical argument for realism in epistemology. Special Issue Formal Epistemology II. Edited by Branden Fitelson     

Empty signifiers,education and politics

The paper assumes that education is part of the process of discursive construction of society. The theoretical framework on which this argument is based includes Ernesto Laclau’s theory of the “ontological impossibility and political necessity of society”, and the role discourse and empty signifiers play in the establishment of political identities. Laclau’s theory is supplemented here by ideas of Derrida, Lacan, Žižek and Marx, and by other traits in contemporary semiotics that relate to the notion of “the void” in semantic systems. My claim is that empty signifiers, crucial to the production of the totality of society, are discursively produced, among others, in pedagogical debates. This is illustrated by one historical example (Rouuseau), which gives ground for more contemporary analyses, and on the basis of the present economic discourse of educating and the idea of “knowledge society”. The main conclusion is that education, in contemporary discourse of learning, becomes a neurotic symptom of the lack of overt domination in social relations.

Against a Minimalist Reading of Bell's Theorem: Lessons from Fine

Since the validity of Bell's inequalities implies the existence of joint probabilities for non-commuting observables, there is no universal consensus as to what the violation of these inequalities signifies. While the majority view is that the violation teaches us an important lesson about the possibility of explanations, if not about metaphysical issues, there is also a minimalist position claiming that the violation is to be expected from simple facts about probability theory. This minimalist position is backed by theorems due to A. Fine and I. Pitowsky.Our paper shows that the minimalist position cannot be sustained. To this end,we give a formally rigorous interpretation of joint probabilities in thecombined modal and spatiotemporal framework of `stochastic outcomes inbranching space-time' (SOBST) (Kowalski and Placek, 1999; Placek, 2000). We show in this framework that the claim that there can be no joint probabilities fornon-commuting observables is incorrect. The lesson from Fine's theorem is notthat Bell's inequalities will be violated anyhow, but that an adequate modelfor the Bell/Aspect experiment must not define global joint probabilities. Thus we investigate the class of stochastic hidden variable models, whichprima facie do not define such joint probabilities. The reasonwhy these models fail supports the majority view: Bell's inequalities are notjust a mathematical artifact.     

Beyond Political Theology and its Liquidation: From Theopolitical Monotheism to Trinitarianism

One of the central theological challenges facing Erik Peterson was to help the mid‐twentieth century Catholic Church define its relationship with the wider world. He responded by advancing a distinctive understanding of the ‘polis.’ In this essay, I critically analyze Peterson's central and perhaps best known proposal about how the Church ought to negotiate the modern world — encapsulated in his expression, the ‘liquidation of political theology.’ I contend that Peterson's proposal is not congruent with a right understanding of patristic trinitarian monarchy, although a view that stands in sharp contrast to that of Carl Schmitt. Notwithstanding the effectiveness of Peterson's critique of Schmitt's political theology, I argue that Peterson nonetheless fails in his exposition of the thought of Gregory of Nazianzus and therefore in his interpretation of the role of the Church in what we have learned to call the ‘political’ and the ‘social.’ I conclude by outlining several ways that the Church today might take up the challenge of regaining a truly political thought, a new ekklesioteia, nourished by the monarchy of the triune God.