More qualia trouble for functionalism: The Smythies TV-hood analogy

It is the purpose of this article to explicate the logical implications of a television analogy for perception, first suggested by John R. Smythies (1956). It aims to show not only that one cannot escape the postulation of qualia that have an evolutionary purpose not accounted for within a strong functionalist theory, but also that it undermines other anti-representationalist arguments as well as some representationalist ones.I should like to thank John R. Smythies for his helpful comments and advice. This article was written at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, in Uppsala, Sweden.     

Difficulty and instrumentality of imminent behavior as determinants of goal attractiveness

Subjects were presented with an easy or moderately difficult memorization task and told they could earn either a very low or very high chance of obtaining a modest prize if they did well. A measure of goal attractiveness was taken during an interval immediately preceding the task performance period. As expected, anticipatory goal attractiveness ratings were higher in the moderately difficult condition than in the easy condition when the probability of goal attainment (given success) was high, but were low in both task conditions when the probability of goal attainment (given success) was low. Results are discussed in terms of Brehm's recent theory of motivation.     

Spirituality and creative leisure

The following article examines creation-centered spirituality and leisure approaches to a way of life which gives healing and wholeness to individuals. Rather than limiting spirituality to mystics and saints, a wholistic spirituality based on the goodness of creation affirms the creativity in every person. Creative leisure is viewed as a necessary component of a spirituality which provides the basis for wholeness in humans. Not only the necessity of creative leisure for a vital Christian life for both laity and clergy but also its importance, particularly for those called to be ministers, is emphasized in the following essay.Gwen Laurie Wright, Ed.D. is a consultant in Spiritual Development.     

A double-blind,sham-controlled,trial of home-administered rhythmic 10-Hz median nerve stimulation for the reduction of tics,and suppression of the urge-to-tic,in individuals with Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorder

Tourette syndrome (TS) and chronic tic disorder (CTD) are neurological disorders of childhood onset characterized by the occurrence of tics; repetitive, purposeless, movements or vocalizations of short duration which can occur many times throughout a day. Currently, effective treatment for tic disorders is an area of considerable unmet clinical need. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a home-administered neuromodulation treatment for tics involving the delivery of rhythmic pulse trains of median nerve stimulation (MNS) delivered via a wearable ‘watch-like’ device worn at the wrist. We conducted a UK-wide parallel double-blind sham-controlled trial for the reduction of tics in individuals with tic disorder. The device was programmed to deliver rhythmic (10 Hz) trains of low-intensity (1–19 mA) electrical stimulation to the median nerve for a pre-determined duration each day, and was intended to be used by each participant in their home once each day, 5 days each week, for a period of 4 weeks. Between 18th March 2022 and 26th September 2022, 135 participants (45 per group) were initially allocated, using stratified randomization, to one of the following groups; active stimulation; sham stimulation or to a waitlist (i.e. treatment as usual) control group. Recruited participants were individuals with confirmed or suspected TS/CTD aged 12 years of age or upward with moderate to severe tics. Researchers involved in the collection or processing of measurement outcomes and assessing the outcomes, as well as participants in the active and sham groups and their legal guardians were all blind to the group allocation. The primary outcome measure used to assess the ‘offline’ or treatment effect of stimulation was the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale–Total Tic Severity Score (YGTSS–TTSS) assessed at the conclusion of 4 weeks of stimulation. The primary outcome measure used to assess the ‘online’ effects of stimulation was tic frequency, measured as the number of tics per minute (TPM) observed, based upon blind analysis of daily video recordings obtained while stimulation was delivered. The results demonstrated that after 4-week stimulation, tic severity (YGTSS-TTSS) had reduced by 7.1 points (35 percentile reduction) for the active stimulation group compared to 2.13/2.11 points for the sham stimulation and waitlist control groups. The reduction in YGTSS–TTSS for the active stimulation group was substantially larger, clinically meaningful (effect size = .5) and statistically significant (p = .02) compared to both the sham stimulation and waitlist control groups, which did not differ from one another (effect size = −.03). Furthermore, blind analyses of video recordings demonstrated that tic frequency (tics per minute) reduced substantially (−15.6 TPM) during active stimulation compared to sham stimulation (−7.7 TPM). This difference represents a statistically significant (p < .03) and clinically meaningful reduction in tic frequency (>25 percentile reduction: effect size = .3). These findings indicate that home-administered rhythmic MNS delivered through a wearable wrist-worn device has the potential to be an effective community-based treatment for tic disorders.     

Effects of intergroup contact and relative gratification vs. deprivation on prejudice on both sides of the U.S./Mexico status divide

A study in the U.S.–Mexican intergroup context examined how collective relative gratification (RG) versus deprivation affects the relationship between intergroup contact and interpersonal closeness and subtle prejudice towards an out-group. Participants were Mexican university students in Mexico (N = 239) and non-Mexican students in California (N = 90). As predicted, Mexicans experienced less gratification/higher relative deprivation (RD), and low quality intergroup contact and expressed lower interpersonal closeness and higher subtle prejudice than U.S. Americans. Differences between countries were larger amongst participants reporting higher RD. Second-stage moderated mediation analysis showed that the mediating effects of contact between country and interpersonal closeness and subtle prejudice, respectively, were larger amongst participants who felt relatively gratified than those who felt relatively deprived. These findings underline the importance of recognizing the moderating effect of differences in the RG versus RD levels of minority and majority groups when anticipating the potential benefits of intergroup contact for prejudice reduction.     

The hippocampus and memory of verbal and pictorial material

Recognition of words and kaleidoscope pictures showed a double dissociation of left and right hippocampal activity using magnetic source imaging (MSI). MSI has advantages over alternative imaging techniques that measure hemodynamic changes for identifying regional changes in brain activity in real time and on an individual subject basis without the need for image subtraction. In this study, lists of words or kaleidoscope pictures were presented for memorization followed by tests of list items and foils during which brain activity was recorded. There was greater activation in the left than the right hippocampus with abstract nouns (e.g., relief) and greater activation in the right than the left hippocampus with kaleidoscope pictures. This dissociation was evident on a case by case basis. This study demonstrates the specialization of the two medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions, including the hippocampi, for mnemonic processing of verbal and pictorial items that are difficult to encode verbally.     

Reducing the saliency of intentional stimuli results in greater contextual-dependent performance

Wright and Shea (1991) described intentional stimuli as explicitly identified information necessary to successfully perform a task, whereas incidental stimuli are not explicitly identified as crucial to task performance but have the potential to become associated with particular responses because of their selective presence in the training environment. Shea and Wright (1995), using a speeded-choice RT task, indicated that manipulating the strength of association between incidental information and the responses, by changing the discriminability of incidental stimuli while fixing the strength of the association between the intentional stimuli and each response, had a significant impact on task performance. The present experiment further examined the role played by incidental stimuli when the strength of association between the intentional stimuli and the associated responses was reduced, by minimising stimulus-response compatibility. It was assumed that this latter manipulation would have a similar impact as increasing the strength of incidental stimuli-response relationships. That is, the relative contribution of the incidental stimuli would increase, resulting in an increase in context-dependent behaviour during tests in which the intentional and incidental stimuli activated different responses. The results were in agreement with this prediction and consistent with a model for contextual-dependent performance proposed by Shea and Wright (1995) as well as with the outshining hypothesis forwarded by Smith (1988, 1994).     

Motor programming during practice conditions high and low in contextual interference

Random practice has been reported to demand greater time for movement preparation during acquisition than blocked practice. The present study revealed that this could be attributed to a more complete engagement of the motor programming process during random practice. This cost, however, was localized to the motor programming subprocess that S. T. Klapp (1995) associated with organizing the internal structure of a movement chunk rather than an alternative subprocess responsible for organizing movement chunks into the correct serial order. The more thorough employment of motor programming during acquisition by random practice participants resulted in a more efficient use of this planning operation during retention, as well as more accurate movement reproduction. These data support the claim that practice conditions high in contextual interference support improvements in both movement preparation and memory strength.