The principle of good continuation in space and time can guide visual search in absence of priming or contextual cueing

Previous research has shown that repetition of the same target features and/or spatial location over time can improve detection, discrimination, and identification. It has also been shown that repetition of the same distractor features or spatial layout can similarly improve search performance. Thus, it appears that target and distractor features and positions are stored in memory and used to guide visual processes such as object recognition and search. Here we introduce a new paradigm for manipulating the sequential structure of target position across trials independently of target features, position priming, and contextual configuration. Results show that facilitation or inhibition in visual search occurs when the target appears at an implicitly expected or unexpected location, respectively, according to the Gestalt's principle of good continuation of the target's successive positions across trials. These findings provide evidence that the simple rule of good continuation can act as a spatiotemporal cue and guide where to attend while searching for the target.     

Use of kind information for object individuation in young domestic chicks

In this paper, we studied the ability of newborn chicks to use kind information (sortal objects) provided by social and food attractors to determine the number of distinct objects present in an event (object individuation). Newly hatched chicks were reared with five imprinting objects and were fed mealworms. Chicks’ spontaneous tendency to approach the larger group of items was exploited. At test, on day 2 post-hatching, chicks observed two events in which objects, differing in kind, were each hidden behind one of two identical screens. Approaching either screen was considered a preferential choice. In Experiment 1, chicks presented with two social versus two food attractors did not exhibit any preference. In contrast, in Experiment 2, when chicks saw two different attractors (one social and one food) hidden behind a screen and one attractor hidden twice (i.e. moved back and forth two times) behind the other screen, they spontaneously approached the two different attractors rather than the single one seen twice. An explanation based on the preference for the more varied set was ruled out in Experiment 3: chicks did not preferentially choose between two different versus two identical objects when both groups were simultaneously presented. Results suggest for the first time that a non-human species uses kind information for individuating objects in a cross-basic-level contrast (i.e. food and social items) with minimal experience. As social and food stimuli differ in property as well as in kind information, the alternative explanation accounting for use of property information alone is also discussed.     

The Fortunes of the Relational Model in Italy: Notes on Publishing,Teaching, and Training

The beginning of the Italian “relational turn” dates back to the translation, in 1986, of Greenberg and Mitchell’s Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory. The authors illustrate how the Italian psychodynamic world received this book and the following contributions from the relational colleagues from the United States. In particular, they review the last three decades of Italian psychoanalytic publications (both journals and books) and training programs (both private and public schools), showing the increasing presence of relational elements and the specific ways in which they appear, sometime facing hostility and devaluation. Nowadays, thanks to the pioneering work of a determinate and passionate group of psychoanalysts and editorial consultants, we can say that the relational turn in Italy is a “matter of fact” and the relational approach one of the most influential voices in the Italian psychoanalytic and psychodynamic community.     

$$\mathrm {ZF}$$ ZF Between Classicality and Non-classicality

Studia Logica - We present a generalization of the algebra-valued models of $$\mathrm {ZF}$$ where the axioms of set theory are not necessarily mapped to the top element of an algebra, but may get...     

Virtual morality in the helping professions: Simulated action and resilience

Recent advances in virtual technologies have allowed the investigation of simulated moral actions in aversive moral dilemmas. Previous studies have employed diverse populations to explore these actions, with little research considering the significance of occupation on moral decision-making. For the first time, in this study we have investigated simulated moral actions in virtual reality made by professionally trained paramedics and fire service incident commanders who are frequently faced with and must respond to moral dilemmas. We found that specially trained individuals showed distinct empathic and related personality trait scores and that these declined with years of experience working in the profession. Supporting the theory that these professionals develop resilience in moral conflict, reduced emotional arousal was observed during virtual simulations of a distressing dilemma. Furthermore, trained professionals demonstrated less regret following the execution of a moral action in virtual reality when compared to untrained control populations. We showed that, contrary to previous research, trained individuals made the same moral judgements and moral actions as untrained individuals, though showing less arousal and regret. In the face of increasing concerns regarding empathy decline in health care professionals, we suggest that the nature of this decline is complex and likely reflects the development of a necessary emotional resilience to distressing events.     

Rethinking Sikh Nationalism in the Twenty-First Century

This article seeks to draw attention to some of the core issues which beset the study of Sikh nationalism as a coherent phenomenon in an increasingly globalized and socially fragmented world. First, it highlights the importance of revisiting the debate about the community's religious boundaries, arguing that in contrast to the new conventional wisdom informed by poststructuralism, Sikh identity has exhibited a remarkable degree of continuity from the establishment of the Khalsa in comparison with other South Asian religio-political communities. The second key issue highlighted is the role of the Sikh diaspora in the development of Sikh nationalism and statehood. It critically examines the extent to which diaspora may be regarded as an instrument of ‘long-distance’ nationalism. Third, it argues that the existing literature on Sikh nationalism is remarkably community-centric and needs to engage with theories of nationalism. Finally, while acknowledging the cleavages which fragment the Sikh nation, it concludes that Sikh nationalism has been remarkably cohesive.     

Impairment of executive functions in boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

The main aim of the present study is to compare the efficiency of executive control processes in 24 boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 58 normal controls of similar age (between 8 and 11 years). Three reaction time (RT) paradigms were utilized: a dual task that requires coordination of two tasks responses, a shift task that makes it necessary to disengage attention from one task and engage into another one, and a stimulus-response spatial compatibility task that requires participants to inhibit a prepotent response. Another purpose of the study is to examine whether Barkley's (1997) executive dysfunction or Sergeant et al.'s (1999) resource allocation/arousal model best account for the behavioral deficits associated with ADHD. Examination of raw RT data showed significantly poorer performance in ADHD children with respect to age-matched controls on both the higher-level cognitive functions of executive control and on lower-level abilities (e.g., speed of processing) of all tasks of this study. However, using proportional transformations of raw RT data, we could demonstrate that, in addition to differences in processing speed, also executive control processes were significantly impaired in children with ADHD.     

A simple neural network model of the hippocampus suggesting its pathfinding role in episodic memory retrieval

The goal of this work is to extend the theoretical understanding of the relationship between hippocampal spatial and memory functions to the level of neurophysiological mechanisms underlying spatial navigation and episodic memory retrieval. The proposed unifying theory describes both phenomena within a unique framework, as based on one and the same pathfinding function of the hippocampus. We propose a mechanism of reconstruction of the context of experience involving a search for a nearly shortest path in the space of remembered contexts. To analyze this concept in detail, we define a simple connectionist model consistent with available rodent and human neurophysiological data. Numerical study of the model begins with the spatial domain as a simple analogy for more complex phenomena. It is demonstrated how a nearly shortest path is quickly found in a familiar environment. We prove numerically that associative learning during sharp waves can account for the necessary properties of hippocampal place cells. Computational study of the model is extended to other cognitive paradigms, with the main focus on episodic memory retrieval. We show that the ability to find a correct path may be vital for successful retrieval. The model robustly exhibits the pathfinding capacity within a wide range of several factors, including its memory load (up to 30,000 abstract contexts), the number of episodes that become associated with potential target contexts, and the level of dynamical noise. We offer several testable critical predictions in both spatial and memory domains to validate the theory. Our results suggest that (1) the pathfinding function of the hippocampus, in addition to its associative and memory indexing functions, may be vital for retrieval of certain episodic memories, and (2) the hippocampal spatial navigation function could be a precursor of its memory function.     

Reorientation by geometric and landmark information in environments of different size

It has been found that disoriented children could use geometric information in combination with landmark information to reorient themselves in large but not in small experimental spaces. We tested domestic chicks in the same task and found that they were able to conjoin geometric and nongeometric (landmark) information to reorient themselves in both the large and the small space used. Moreover, chicks reoriented immediately when displaced from a large to a small experimental space and vice versa, suggesting that they used the relative metrics of the environment. However, when tested with a transformation (affine transformation) that alters the geometric relations between the target and the shape of the environment, chicks tended to make more errors based on geometric information when tested in the small than in the large space. These findings suggest that the reliance of the use of geometric information on the spatial scale of the environment is not restricted to the human species.