Logic and Aggregation

Paraconsistent logic is an area of philosophical logic that has yet to find acceptance from a wider audience. The area remains, in a word, disreputable. In this essay, we try to reassure potential consumers that it is not necessary to become a radical in order to use paraconsistent logic. According to the radicals, the problem is the absurd classical account of contradiction: Classically inconsistent sets explode only because bourgeois classical semantics holds, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that both A and A cannot simultaneously be true! We suggest (more modestly) that there is, at least sometimes, something else worth preserving, even in an inconsistent, unsatisfiable premise set. In this paper we present, in a new guise, a very general version of this preservationist approach to paraconsistency.     

Intersensory conflict between vision and touch: the response modality dominates when precise, attention-riveting judgments are required

In four experiments, reducing lenses were used to minify vision and generate intersensory size conflicts between vision and touch. Subjects made size judgments, using either visual matching or haptic matching. In visual matching, the subjects chose from a set of visible squares that progressively increased in size. In haptic matching, the subjects selected matches from an array of tangible wooden squares. In Experiment 1, it was found that neither sense dominated when subjects exposed to an intersensory discrepancy made their size estimates by using either visual matching or haptic matching. Size judgments were nearly indentical for conflict subjects making visual or haptic matches. Thus, matching modality did not matter in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, it was found that subjects were influenced by the sight of their hands, which led to increases in the magnitude of their size judgments. Sight of the hands produced more accurate judgments, with subjects being better able to compensate for the illusory effects of the reducing lens. In two additional experiments, it was found that when more precise judgments were required and subjects had to generate their own size estimates, the response modality dominated. Thus, vision dominated in Experiment 3, where size judgments derived from viewing a metric ruler, whereas touch dominated in Experiment 4, where subjects made size estimates with a pincers posture of their hands. It is suggested that matching procedures are inadequate for assessing intersensory dominance relations. These results qualify the position (Hershberger & Misceo, 1996) that the modality of size estimates influences the resolution of intersensory conflicts. Only when required to self-generate more precise judgments did subjects rely on one sense, either vision or touch. Thus, task and attentional requirements influence dominance relations, and vision does not invariably prevail over touch.     

Psychometric evaluation of the behavioral inhibition/behavioral activation scales in a large sample of outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders

The latent structure, reliability, and validity of the Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation Scales (BIS/BAS; C. L. Carver and T. L. White, 1994) were examined in a large sample of outpatients (N = 1,825) with anxiety and mood disorders. Four subsamples were used for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. In addition to generally upholding a latent structure found previously in nonclinical samples, results indicated measurement invariance of the BIS/BAS between genders and a higher order structure of the BAS scales. Convergent and discriminant validity of the BIS/BAS were supported by findings that the subscales correlated most strongly with measures of neighboring personality constructs (e.g., BIS with neuroticism, BAS with positive affect) than with measures of current anxiety and depression symptoms. Overall, the results support the psychometric properties of the BIS/BAS in this clinical sample.     

QMPE: Estimating Lognormal, Wald, and Weibull RT distributions with a parameter-dependent lower bound

We describe and test quantile maximum probability estimator (QMPE), an open-source ANSI Fortran 90 program for response time distribution estimation.¹ QMPE enables users to estimate parameters for the ex-Gaussian and Gumbel (1958) distributions, along with three “shifted” distributions (i.e., distributions with a parameter-dependent lower bound): the Lognormal, Wald, and Weibull distributions. Estimation can be performed using either the standard continuous maximum likelihood (CML) method or quantile maximum probability (QMP; Heathcote & Brown, in press). We review the properties of each distribution and the theoretical evidence showing that CML estimates fail for some cases with shifted distributions, whereas QMP estimates do not. In cases in which CML does not fail, a Monte Carlo investigation showed that QMP estimates were usually as good, and in some cases better, than CML estimates. However, the Monte Carlo study also uncovered problems that can occur with both CML and QMP estimates, particularly when samples are small and skew is low, highlighting the difficulties of estimating distributions with parameter-dependent lower bounds.     

Visual processing of stimulus compounds in newborn infants

An experiment is described in which newborn infants' processing of stimulus compounds was investigated. After familiarization to two alternately presented stimuli which differed in colour and orientation, the newborns showed significant preferences for a stimulus which had a novel colour/orientation combination: the novel stimulus was produced by recombining features of the stimuli used for familiarization. This finding argues against the view that infants initially process separate components, or parts, of visual stimuli and are only able to attend to the correlations between them after about 3 months of age. Rather, the ability to process and remember stimulus compounds is present at birth.     

Media influence on attitudes toward suicide.

This experiment investigated the effects of viewing films on suicide and violence on attitudes toward suicide. Non-suicidal university students were assigned to one of three groups: One group was shown a film about suicide, a second saw a film about violence, and the third saw a neutral film. Perceptions of the appropriateness of suicide and level of emotional arousal were measured by a questionnaire administered before and after the films were shown. Both the suicide and violent film groups showed increases in arousal scores after viewing the films. The results suggest that arousal became linked to cognitions specific to film content as a result of viewing the films dealing with suicide and violence. Other findings suggest that, for the suicide and violent film groups, perceived relations with parents were important predictors of film-induced changes in attitudes toward suicide.     

Social influence, marriage, and the heart: cardiovascular consequences of interpersonal control in husbands and wives.

Human and experimental animal research suggests that social stress in general--and chronic, effortful attempts to exert social control in particular--may contribute to cardiovascular disease. We examined the effects of exerting social influence or control on cardiovascular responses in married couples. Compared to husbands discussing a problem with their wives, husbands attempting to influence or persuade their wives displayed larger increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP) before and during the discussion. Furthermore, these physiological effects were accompanied by increases in anger and a more hostile and coldly assertive interpersonal style. Although wives who engaged in social influence attempts displayed generally similar behavior, they did not show the elevated SBP response or anger. We discuss the results in terms of the social context of cardiovascular reactivity and potential marital factors in cardiovascular health.