Equivalence of human odometry by walk and run is indifferent to self-selected speed

Humans and other animals can measure distances nonvisually by legged locomotion. Experiments typically employ an outbound measure (M) and an inbound report (R) phase. Previous research has found distance reproduction to be maximally accurate, when gait symmetry and speed of M and R are of like kind: Successful human odometry manifests at the level of the M-R system. In the present work, M was an experimenter-set distance produced by a blindfolded participant using a primary gait (walk, run). R was always by walk. Fast and slow versions of walk and run were adopted by participants, such that when M was fast R was slow, and vice versa. Distance was underestimated when M was slower than R and overestimated when M was faster than R. However, the pattern of participant-adopted velocities indicated that it was the instructions, not the speed as such, that yielded the pattern of results. The results are interpretable through a dynamical perspective and indicate speed is an imperfection parameter acting on the attractors of the M-R system.     

Integration of Analytic Hierarchy Process with Regression Analysis to Identify Attractive Locations for Market Expansion

Selection of new geographies in which to expand is a key decision for businesses aspiring to go beyond the opportunities in the existing markets. The conventional approaches of market selection can only provide a set of systematic steps for problem solving without considering the relationships between the decision factors. Decision models based on statistical techniques are able to examine the relationship between decision factors but are unable to effectively assist decision makers in identifying the most promising market, particularly in terms of prioritizing across decision factors. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a commonly used approach for choosing alternatives by prioritizing across multiple decision factors. The typical AHP modelling requires knowledge of criteria and/or alternatives along with their relative weights, generally elicited from field experts. Quite often, firms encounter situations where decision makers are aware of only the overall objective and a set of earmarked geographies for setting up market locations while being relatively unaware of decision criteria and relative weights. This precludes using AHP to identify promising market locations. This paper conceptualizes a market selection decision model that integrates AHP with statistical modelling techniques to identify the attractive market locations for the purpose of expansion. The model first uses principal component analysis and multiple regression to determine significant decision criteria and their weights. Thereafter, it applies AHP to prioritize the market locations across the decision criteria. This integrative approach is illustrated for identifying the attractive locations in rural markets for a steel firm in India. The major advantage of this approach is that unlike the existing models, it works in situations when firms have not enough knowledge about factors for evaluating alternative market locations. Another key advantage of the proposed model is that of economizing resources for data collection on variables representing decision factors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding and Essence

Modal epistemology has been dominated by a focus on establishing an account either of how we have modal knowledge or how we have justified beliefs about modality. One component of this focus has been that necessity and possibility are basic access points for modal reasoning. For example, knowing that P is necessary plays a role in deducing that P is essential, and knowing that both P and ¬P are possible plays a role in knowing that P is accidental. Chalmers (2002) and Williamson (2007) provide two good examples of contrasting views in modal epistemology that focus on providing an account of modal knowledge where necessity and possibility are basic access points for modal knowledge, and Yablo (1993) provides a good account of how we have justified beliefs about modality. In contrast to this tradition I argue for and outline a modal epistemology based on objectual understanding and essence, rather than knowledge or justification and necessity and possibility. The account employs a non-modal conception of essence and takes objectual understanding of essence, rather than knowledge of essence to be basic in modal reasoning. I begin by articulating Kvanvig’s (2003) account of objectual understanding, on which objectual understanding of Φ is not equivalent to propositional knowledge of Φ. I then argue that an epistemology of essence that uses property variation-in-imagination is better construed as a model that delivers objectual understanding of essence rather than knowledge of essence. I argue that this is so, since the latter and not the former runs into a version of the Meno paradox. I show how this account can be applied to two issues in modal epistemology: the Benacerraf problem for modality, and the architecture of modal knowledge.     

Influence of executive functioning difficulties on verbal aggression in adolescents: Moderating effects of winning and losing and increasing and decreasing levels of provocation

We examined the extent to which executive functioning difficulties were related to verbal aggression under conditions of gradually increasing or decreasing provocation over both winning and losing trials. Sixty adolescent boys and girls completed a modified Taylor aggression paradigm in which verbally offensive remarks were sent and received. Results showed (a) that during increasing levels of provocation, verbal aggression increased on both winning and losing trials, (b) that verbal aggression decreased during decreasing levels of provocation but only on losing trials, and (c) that difficulties on two measures of executive functioning were related to verbal aggression, but only in the context of increasing verbal provocation. Individuals with executive functioning difficulties responded with more verbal aggression than did individuals with less severe executive functioning difficulties. Results have implications for the manner in which provocation is studied and for understanding the conditions in which executive functioning difficulties contribute to verbal aggression. Aggr. Behav. 29:475–488, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

A comparison of latent inhibition and learned irrelevance pre-exposure effects in rabbit and human eyeblink conditioning

The learning of an association between a CS and a US can be retarded by unreinforced presentations of the CS alone (termed latent inhibition or LI) or by un-correlated presentations of the CS and US (termed learned irrelevance or LIRR). In rabbit eyeblink conditioning, there have been some recent failures to replicate LI. LIRR has been hypothesized as producing a stronger retardation effect than LI based on both empirical studies and computational models. In the work presented here, we examined the relative strength of LI and LIRR in eyeblink conditioning in rabbits and humans. In both species, a number of pre-exposure trials sufficient to produce LIRR failed to produce LI (Experiments 1 & 3). Doubling the number of CS pre-exposures did produce LI in rabbits (Experiment 2), but not in humans (Experiment 4). LI was demonstrated in humans only after manipulations including an increased inter-trial interval or ITI (Experiment 5). Overall, it appears that LIRR is a more easily producible pre-exposure retardation effect than LI for eyeblink conditioning in both rabbits and humans. Several theoretical mechanisms for LI including the conditioned attention theory, stimulus compression, novelty, and the switching theory are discussed as possible explanations for the differences between LIRR and LI. Overall, future work involving testing the neural substrates of pre-exposure effects may benefit from the use of LIRR rather than LI.     

Beyond Protection Motivation: An Integrative Theory of Health Appeals

We develop an integrated theory of health communication by combining protection motivation theory (PMT; Rogers, 1983) with the stages of change described in the transtheoretical model (Prochaska & DClemente, 1982). Our study challenges the assumption implicit in PMT that perceptions of vulnerability, severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy are equally weighted across individuals. Rather, we propose that people at different stages of readiness to change are differentially affected by levels of these predictor variables. Results from our experiment confirm that vulnerability, severity, and efficacy (response and self) are the main motivators to change behavior during the precontemplation, contemplation, and action stages, respectively. Furthermore, we explore how specific categories of beliefs identified by the transtheoretical model are associated with perceptions of vulnerability, severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy.