Stumpf's cognitive--evaluative theory of emotion.

As a historical contribution to the current cognition-emotion debate in psychology, this article seeks (a) to bring to the readers' attention the largely ignored tradition of cognitive emotion theory within introspective psychology by reviewing what is probably the most clearly formulated cognitive emotion theory of this period, that proposed by Carl Stumpf, and (b) to point out the relevance of Stumpf's contributions to the psychology of emotions for the contemporary cognition-emotion discussion. It is suggested that Stumpf's version of a cognitive-evaluative theory of emotion deserves the serious attention of contemporary investigators and that several of his objections to noncognitive theories of emotion retain their force against modern versions of these theories.     

The generation effect in primed word-fragment completion reexamined

Summary Two experiments were designed to test a claim made by Gardiner (1988) that there are generation effects in implicit memory as measured by word-fragment completion. Subjects either read words at study or generated the words from fragments. As in previous research, fragments were completed to a greater extent if they were identical at study and test than if they differed. In Experiment 1 it was found that subjects could recognize explicitly the exact form of fragments that had been used for self-generation and distinguish these from other forms of fragments. An analysis of the contingency relations between recognition of fragments and fragment completion showed a high degree of dependence between the two tests. In Experiment 2 it was found that the match of surface features between study and test was a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to produce enhancement of priming. The results are interpreted as supporting the claim that generation does involve a data-driven component in addition to semantic elaboration.This research was supported by a grant from the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences to Lars-Göran Nilsson.     

The effect of enactment on memory for order

The effect of enactment on memory for serial order was investigated in two experiments. In both experiments a reconstruction task was used to separate order from item information. In Experiment 1 enactment and test information was manipulated between groups. For subjects who had not been informed about the reconstruction test, performance of verbal and motor groups was similar with regard to both serial-position curves and overall performance. For subjects who knew beforehand that they would be tested for memory of the order of the action events, performance in the verbal condition was significantly better than in the motor condition. In Experiment 2, the reversed enactment effect for test-informed subjects was replicated with a within-subjects design. The results agree with Engelkamp and Zimmer's (1984, 1994) position that enactment serves exclusively to enhance item information, and indicate that subjects have less control over the encoding processes when they are enacting than during verbal encoding (cf. Cohen, 1981).     

Response force is sensitive to the temporal uncertainty of response stimuli

Three experiments examined whether temporal uncertainty about the delivery of a response stimulus affects response force in a simple reaction time (RT) situation. All experiments manipulated the foreperiod; that is, the interval between a warning signal and the response stimulus. In the constant condition, foreperiod length was kept constant over a block of trials but changed from block to block. In the variable condition, foreperiod length varied randomly from trial to trial. A visual warning and response stimulus were used in Experiment 1; response force decreased with foreperiod length in the variable condition, but increased in the constant condition. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that responses are less forceful when the temporal occurrence of the response stimulus is predictable. In a second experiment with an auditory warning signal and a response stimulus, response force was less sensitive to foreperiod manipulations. The third experiment manipulated both the modality and the intensity of the response signal and employed a tactile warning signal. This experiment indicated that neither the modality nor the intensity of the response signal affects the relation between response force and foreperiod length. An extension of Näätänen’s (1971) motor-readiness model accounts for the main results.     

Geometry, intuition and experience: From kant to husserl

I take this opportunity to thank my colleagues at ZiF for their very helpful comments and criticisms during the academic year. For the preparation of this paper, I am especially indepted to Michael Hallett, who not only improved my English but also saved me from a number of errors.     

jThe Birth of Difference

Although birth marks the entrance of a human being into the world and establishes the very possibility of experience the philosophical implications of this event have been largely ignored in the history of thought. This is particularly troubling in phenomenology in general and in the work of Martin Heidegger in particular. While Heidegger raises the issue of birth he drops it very quickly on the path to defining Dasein's existence as constituted from the standpoint of death, as being-towards-death. In this paper I argue, contra Heidegger, that intentional existence can only be understood from the standpoint of birth. I begin by showing that intentionality inheres in a double difference that is fundamentally dependent on birth insofar as birth is an original differentiating from prenatal existence. I conclude with the argument that only a philosophy that regards Dasein from the standpoint of birth, as being-from-birth, can give an adequate account of humans as beings who live with others and who can initiate sense constitution and action.     

Results of a study of glucocorticoid receptors in lymphocytes of patients with endogenous depression

Increased plasma cortisol levels are found not only in patients with Cushing disease but also in patients suffering from endogenous depression. Because patients with endogenous depression fail to show any clinical signs of Cushing disease, it is supposed that the cells of these patients are relatively resistant to increased glucocorticoid levels. To test this hypothesis 20 patients with endogenous depression and 20 healthy controls were examined for plasma cortisol level and modulation of mitogen induced lymphocyte transformation by glucocorticoids. Results point to a relative resistance of patient's T-lymphocyte transformation to the inhibitory effect of glucocorticoids when compared with controls.     

Space-time behavior of single and bimanual rhythmical movements: data and limit cycle model

How do space and time relate in rhythmical tasks that require the limbs to move singly or together in various modes of coordination? And what kind of minimal theoretical model could account for the observed data? Earlier findings for human cyclical movements were consistent with a nonlinear, limit cycle oscillator model (Kelso, Holt, Rubin, & Kugler, 1981) although no detailed modeling was performed at that time. In the present study, kinematic data were sampled at 200 samples/second, and a detailed analysis of movement amplitude, frequency, peak velocity, and relative phase (for the bimanual modes, in phase and antiphase) was performed. As frequency was scaled from 1 to 6 Hz (in steps of 1 Hz) using a pacing metronome, amplitude dropped inversely and peak velocity increased. Within a frequency condition, the movement's amplitude scaled directly with its peak velocity. These diverse kinematic behaviors were modeled explicitly in terms of low-dimensional (nonlinear) dissipative dynamics, with linear stiffness as the only control parameter. Data and model are shown to compare favorably. The abstract, dynamical model offers a unified treatment of a number of fundamental aspects of movement coordination and control.