Philosophy of Education in a Poor Historical Moment: A Personal Account

Under the post-metaphysical sky “old” humanistic-oriented education is possible solely at the cost of its transformation into its negative, into a power that is determined to diminish human potentials for self-exaltation. Nothing less than total metamorphosis is needed to rescue the core of humanistic genesis: the quest for edifying Life and resistance to the call for “home-returning” into the total harmony that is promised to us within nothingness.     

Causal conditional reasoning and semantic memory retrieval: a test of the semantic memory framework

This study tested and refined a framework that proposes a mechanism for retrieving alternative causes and disabling conditions (Cummins, 1995) during reasoning. Experiment 1 examined the relation between different factors affecting retrieval. The test revealed high correlations between the number of possible alternative causes or disabling conditions and their strength of association and plausibility. Experiment 2 explored the hypothesis that due to a more extended search process, conditional inferences would last longer when many alternative causes or disabling conditions were available. Affirmation of the consequent (AC) and modus ponens (MP) latencies showed the hypothesized pattern. Denial of the antecedent (DA) and modus tollens (MT) inferences did not show latency effects. The experiment also identified an effect of the number of disabling conditions on AC and DA acceptance. Experiment 3 measured efficiency of disabler retrieval by a limited time, disabler generation task. As predicted, better disabler retrieval was related to lower acceptance of the MP and MT inferences.     

Action-based and vision-based selection of input: Two sources of control

In the first part of this paper we review evidence suggesting that there exists a mechanism that selects input on the basis of its similarity to the required action. This response-based input selection differs from the more established space- and object-based input selection in that it is not constrained by the structure of the input. Our evidence suggests that the two-choice Stroop effect is caused by this response-based selection mechanism. By contrast, it is known that the flanker effect is determined by the space- and object- based selection mechanisms. We explore whether the conflict resolution of the Stroop and flanker tasks is different as well by embedding these two tasks in a PRP (Psychological Refractory Period) paradigm. We show that the Stroop and the PRP effects are additive whereas the flanker and the PRP effects are underadditive, suggesting that the processes in charge of the conflict resolution in the Stroop and the flanker tasks are indeed different. We discuss possible reasons for this difference, and discuss possible ways in which the response-based mechanism can be implemented in information processing models.     

Physical,neural, and mental timing

The conclusions drawn by Benjamin Libet from his work with colleagues on the timing of somatosensorial conscious experiences has met with a lot of praise and criticism. In this issue we find three examples of the latter. Here I attempt to place the divide between the two opponent camps in a broader perspective by analyzing the question of the relation between physical timing, neural timing, and experiential (mental) timing. The nervous system does a sophisticated job of recombining and recoding messages from the sensorial surfaces and if these processes are slighted in a theory, it might become necessary to postulate weird operations, including subjective back-referral. Neuroscientifically inspired theories are of necessity still based on guesses, extrapolations, and philosophically dubious manners of speech. They often assume some neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) as a part of the nervous system that transforms neural activity in reportable experiences. The majority of neuroscientists appear to assume that the NCC can compare and bind activity patterns only if they arrive simultaneously at the NCC. This leads to a search for synchrony or to theories in terms of the compensation of differences in neural delays (latencies). This is the main dimension of the Libet discussion. Examples from vision research, such as "temporal-binding-by-synchrony" and the "flash-lag" effect, are then used to illustrate these reasoning patterns in more detail. Alternatively one could assume symbolic representations of time and space (symbolic "tags") that are not coded in their own dimension (not time in time and space in space). Unless such tags are multiplexed with the quality message (tickle, color, or motion), one gets a binding problem for tags. One of the hidden aspects of the discussion between Libet and opponents appears to be the following. Is the NCC smarter than the rest of the nervous system, so that it can solve the problems of local sign (e.g., "where is the event"?) and timing (e.g., "when did it occur?" and "how long did it last?") on its own, or are these pieces of information coded symbolically early on in the system? A supersmart NCC appears to be the assumption of Libet's camp (which includes Descartes, but also mystics). The wish to distribute the smartness evenly across all stages of processing in the nervous system (smart recodings) appears to motivate the opponents. I argue that there are reasons to side with the latter group.     

Win-shift and win-stay learning in the short-beaked echidna (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tachyglossus aculeatus</Emphasis>)

Numerous previous investigators have explained species differences in spatial memory performance in terms of differences in foraging ecology. In three experiments we attempted to extend these findings by examining the extent to which the spatial memory performance of echidnas (or "spiny anteaters") can be understood in terms of the spatio-temporal distribution of their prey (ants and termites). This is a species and a foraging situation that have not been examined in this way before. Echidnas were better able to learn to avoid a previously rewarding location (to "win-shift") than to learn to return to a previously rewarding location (to "win-stay"), at short retention intervals, but were unable to learn either of these strategies at retention intervals of 90 min. The short retention interval results support the ecological hypothesis, but the long retention interval results do not. Electronic Publication     

The Ontological Status of Human DNA: Is It Not First and Foremost a Biological ``File Self'?

This paper investigates which of the various legal notions proposed for human DNA is the most appropriate from an ontological viewpoint - unique legal status, private property, common property, person, or information. The focus is on the difficulties that private property, common property and person present. By using Harré's notion of "file-self" we argue that, ontologically, the most appropriate legal notion to be applied is information. This has consequences for storage, control and use of genetic information as well as identifiable human body material.     

Rorschach correlates of sexual abuse: trauma content and aggression indexes

This study compared Rorschach records of nondissociative outpatients with histories of (a) definite sexual abuse (n = 22), (b) suspected but unconfirmed sexual abuse (n = 13), or (c) no sexual abuse (n = 43) on selected variables hypothesized to be associated with sexual abuse. As predicted, clients with definite sexual abuse scored significantly higher than clients known not to be sexually abused on Armstrong and Loewenstein's (1990) Trauma Content index (TC/R), with an effect size greater than 1 SD. Contrary to prediction, there was no significant difference in the frequency of their Aggressive Past (AgPast; Gacono & Meloy, 1994) scores. AgPast scores, however, did positively correlate with sexual abuse that was violent or sadistic. As a test of discriminant validity, we hypothesized that 2 Rorschach variables (PER and Sc) would be unrelated to sexual abuse. This was supported by our data. Although TC/R was strongly associated with the presence and severity of sexual abuse, it could not discriminate sexually abused from nonsexually abused clients with great accuracy. The TC/R score is 1 factor among many that can be used to assess the validity of clients' claims of past sexual abuse.     

Effects of distraction and guided threat reappraisal on fear reduction during exposure-based treatments for specific fears

To test predictions derived from the emotional processing theory of fear reduction, claustrophobics (N=58) were randomized to one of four exposure conditions: (a) exposure with guided threat reappraisal, (b) exposure with a cognitive load distracter task, (c) exposure with both guided threat reappraisal and cognitive load distracter task and (d) exposure without guided threat reappraisal or cognitive load distracter task. We hypothesized that self-guided in vivo exposure would lead to less fear reduction if performed simultaneously with a cognitive load distracter task that severely taxes information processing resources. In contrast, we hypothesized that focusing on core threats during exposure would enhance fear reduction. The main findings were largely consistent with predictions. The cognitive load task (regardless of focus of available attention) had a detrimental effect on fear reduction, while guided threat reappraisal (regardless of cognitive load) had a facilitative effect. The greatest level of fear reduction and the lowest level of return of fear were observed in the exposure condition involving guided threat reappraisal without cognitive load. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Factor Structure of the Beavers Interactional Scales

Confirmatory factor analysis and regression analyses of the Beavers Interactional Scales did not appear to support the model offered by its developers, namely, several specified family attributes contributing respectively to two global factors of Family Competence and Family Style. Moreover, regression analysis indicated that only three of 12 items predicted raters' assessments of Global Family Health, and one of seven items predicted Global Family Style. Individuals interested in the family dynamic centripetal/centrifugal might best think of that as a unitary entity and rate it accordingly.