Cultural Psychology of Differences and EMS; a New Theoretical Framework for Understanding and Reconstructing Culture

In this paper I introduce the outlines of our new type of theoretical framework named ‘Cultural psychology of Differences’ for understanding cultural others and dialogically reconstructing interactions among cultural others. In order to understand cultural others, it is necessary for us to reconstruct a new concept which enables us to analyze dynamic generation processes of culture. We propose the concept of Expanded Mediational Structure, EMS, as an elementary unit for understanding human social interactions. EMS is composed of subjects who interacts each other using objects of some kind as mediators, and a normative mediator, NM, which mediates their interactions. It is necessary to generate, share and adjust a NM to keep social interactions stable, and culture will appear when interaction malfunction is attributed to a gaps of NMs. The concept of EMS helps us to understand how culture is functionally substantialized in the plane of collective (or communal) intersubjectivity and how cultural conflicts develop and intensify. Focusing on the generation process of culture through interactions provides us with another option to understand cultural others through dialogical interactions with them.     

Shyness in self-disclosure mediated by social skill

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Shyness and Social Skills on Self-disclosure. Three scales, the Trait Shyness Scale, the Scale of Social Skill, and the Self-disclosure Questionnaire were administered to 443 university students. Scores on Shyness were highly negatively correlated with those on Social Skills and moderately negatively correlated with Self-disclosure. Furthermore, Self-disclosure scores correlated positively with Social Skills. Separate factor analyses of the Shyness and Social Skills scales yielded four and two factors, respectively. Findings suggest that shy people may have low interpersonal skills and thus, they may hesitate to engage in self-disclosure.     

The missing fundamental phenomenon in temporal vision

Subjective flicker rates were measured for compound waveforms consisting of five harmonics without a fundamental component. It was found that observers perceived a rate at the fundamental frequency, although energy at this frequency was not included in the signals. In auditory pitch sensation this is called the missing fundamental phenomenon, and an analogous finding is known to occur in spatial vision. Moreover, observers perceived the flicker rates at the fundamental frequency even in the random-phase conditions, in which the period of the fundamental component is unclear in the real waveforms. The results indicate that the perceived flicker rates are not detected from the temporal waveforms per se. One possible mechanism for extracting such a periodicity in the signal is an autocorrelation function to the real temporal waveforms. Received: 18 October 1999 / Accepted: 28 January 2000     

Effects of delayed visual feedback on motor control performance

The effects of delay of visual feedback on two kinds of sensorimotor tasks were investigated. On the reciprocal tapping task, accuracy of performance decreased for 200, 500, and 767 msec. delay. The number of errors for the 1000-msec. delay is smaller than those for the other three conditions of delay. On the hand-writing task of both Kanji letters and English words, performance showed a large decrement with increasing delay. The most frequent kinds of error were the type of insertion of line elements or letter duplication. It was interesting that the size of written letters increased with lengthening delays of visual feedback.     

Progressive agraphia can be a harbinger of degenerative dementia

By investigating three patients with progressive agraphia, we explored the possibility that this entity is an early sign of degenerative dementia. Initially, these patients complained primarily of difficulties writing Kanji (Japanese morphograms) while other language and cognitive impairments were relatively milder. Impairments in writing Kana (Japanese syllabograms), verbal language, executive function, visuo- and visuospatial cognition and memory were identified by neuropsychological testing. The agraphia was compatible with a peripheral type, based on deficits at the interface between the central letter selection and the graphemic motor execution (Patient 1) or at the stage of central letter selection as well (Patients 2 and 3). Agraphia was generally more prominent, although not exclusive, for Kanji probably because of later acquisition and larger total number of Kanji letters leading to lower frequency of use and familiarity per letter. Concurrent or subsequent emergence of non-fluent aphasia, ideomotor apraxia, executive dysfunction and asymmetric akinetic-rigid syndrome in two patients suggested degenerative processes involving the parietal-occipital-temporal regions, basal ganglia and striato-frontal projections. We propose that progressive agraphia may be one of the early symptoms of degenerative dementia such as corticobasal degeneration.     

Development of eating behavior by Japanese toddlers in a nursery school: relation to independent walking

The eating behavior of 32 toddlers in a nursery school at 10, 12, and 14 months old was observed in relation to the age at onset of independent walking. With increasing age, the frequency at which the toddlers ate food given by a teacher decreased, and the frequency at which the toddlers ate by themselves increased. The toddlers who started walking earlier also advanced faster in the development of eating behavior. The time when the frequency of eating by oneself surpassed the frequency of passive eating coincided with the time when the toddlers started walking.     

Developing a scale of self-efficacy in personal relationships for adolescents

This study developed a scale of self-efficacy in personal relationships for adolescents and examined its reliability and the validity. The 40 items assessing tendencies theoretically linked to self-efficacy in personal relationships were administered to 344 junior and high school students. 207 high school students also were administered the Shimoda Personality Inventory. Three factors (Self-confidence in Personal Relationship, Trust in Friends, and Trust by Friends) were extracted by principal components analysis. The coefficient alpha reliabilities of these subscales were .90, .89. and .87. The validity was supported by correlations between the Total score of self-efficacy and the SPI subscales of Autistic trait -.53, Nervous Character trait -.13, Self-uncertain trait -.39, and Syntonic trait .57.     

Combined predisposed preferences for colour and biological motion make robust development of social attachment through imprinting

Animal Cognition - To study how predisposed preferences shape the formation of social attachment through imprinting, newly hatched domestic chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) were simultaneously...