Consistency,mechanicalness, and the logic of the mind

G. Priest's anti-consistency argument (Priest 1979, 1984, 1987) and J. R. Lucas's anti-mechanist argument (Lucas 1961, 1968, 1970, 1984) both appeal to Gödel incompleteness. By way of refuting them, this paper defends the thesis of quartet compatibility, viz., that the logic of the mind can simultaneously be Gödel incomplete, consistent, mechanical, and recursion complete (capable of all means of recursion). A representational approach is pursued, which owes its origin to works by, among others, J. Myhill (1964), P. Benacerraf (1967), J. Webb (1980, 1983) and M. Arbib (1987). It is shown that the fallacy shared by the two arguments under discussion lies in misidentifying two systems, the one for which the Gödel sentence is constructable and to be proved, and the other in which the Gödel sentence in question is indeed provable. It follows that the logic of the mind can surpass its own Gödelian limitation not by being inconsistent or non-mechanistic, but by being capable of representing stronger systems in itself; and so can a proper machine. The concepts of representational provability, representational maximality, formal system capacity, etc., are discussed.     

Free-range domestic chickens can distinguish between different alarm calls of Japanese tits

Animal Cognition - Heterospecific eavesdropping of alarm information is an anti-predator adaptation in the wild as it improves the monitoring of shared predators and hence provides opportunities to...     

Some new results on factor indeterminacy

Some relations between maximum likelihood factor analysis and factor indeterminacy are discussed. Bounds are derived for the minimum average correlation between equivalent sets of correlated factors which depend on the latent roots of the factor intercorrelation matrix . Empirical examples are presented to illustrate some of the theory and indicate the extent to which it can be expected to be relevant in practice.     

Group Commitment and Resource Conservation: Two Field Experiments on Promoting Recycling1

Two experiments evaluated the effect of commitment on paper recycling. Using an ABA design, Experiment 1 asked 24 individuals in a retirement home to sign a 4-week group commitment pledge to recycle paper. During this intervention, the subjects recycled 47% more paper than they had during baseline. They continued to recycle at this level during a 4-week follow-up period, when the group commitment was removed. Experiment 2 evaluated the relative effectiveness of group commitment, individual commitment, and token reinforcers on paper recycling in a college dormitory. The students in all three experimental conditions recycled from three to five times more paper than those in the control group during the 4-week intervention. However, in the 3-week follow-up period, when the treatments were removed, only the individually committed subjects continued to recycle significantly more paper than the controls.     

A human-centered approach for designing World-Wide Web browsers

Because the World-Wide Web has features that are not found in traditional information systems, it has some unique problems pertaining to human use, such as the difficulty of searching for specific information. This paper describes human cognitive limitations pertinent to the design of Web browsers and provides a conceptual model for human information processing on the Web. It also compares user strategies and use of browser functions for two tasks that differ in the specificity of the information that is to be retrieved. General principles and specific recommendations for the design of Web browsers are derived from these considerations.     

Set- and Element-Level Stimulus-Response Compatibility Effects for Different Manual Response Sets

In a previous study of two-choice reactions, pairings of spatial stimuli with bimanual presses made on a keyboard and verbal stimuli with unimanual aimed movements made on a display screen showed higher set-level compatibility than the opposite pairings; element-level compatibility (i.e., mapping) effects were also larger for the conditions with high set-level compatibility than for those whose set-level compatibility was low. In the 4 experiments described here, the relevant factors were isolated, allowing the determinants of those compatibility differences to be evaluated in more detail. Forty-eight students participated in Experiment 1, and 24 each in Experiments 2, 3, and 4. The primary determinant of the set-level compatibility variation was whether the response alternatives involved 1 or 2 effectors, but the differences in element-level compatibility effects were determined primarily by the distinction between responding on the screen as opposed to on the keyboard. Implications for models of stimulus-response compatibility are examined.     

Marriage and family therapy with people from China

On the basis of personal experience and understanding of the Chinese culture as a native of the People's Republic of China, the author gives some of the reasons why Chinese-Americans under-utilize mental health facilities and addresses issues that might arise in marriage and family therapy with people from China. Subcultural differences and variables such as the place of origin, intraracial or inter-racial marriage, that need to be considered in the assessment phase are stressed, along with treatment interventions that are or are not culturally compatible. Behavioral, structural, and brief therapy models are recommended. The experiential model should be used with caution with Chinese clients.     

Measuring and predicting the effects of alcohol consumption on contrast sensitivity for stationary and moving gratings

Contrast sensitivity was measured for 12 healthy young males while sober, after ingestion of an alcohol placebo, and after ingestion of alcohol (95% grain alcohol; mean estimated blood alcohol level = .088%). Observations were made for both stationary gratings and gratings that traveled through a circular path and required pursuit eye movements. The significant alcohol-related reduction in contrast sensitivity was 2.6 times greater for moving (.29-log-unit reduction) than for stationary gratings (.11-log-unit reduction). The loss in contrast sensitivity for the moving gratings of high spatial frequency (12 cpd) was particularly severe (.37 log unit). Estimated blood alcohol level was correlated with the loss in contrast sensitivity for moving gratings (r = .61), but not with the loss for stationary gratings. Estimated blood alcohol level was strongly correlated with the difference between the loss in contrast sensitivity to moving and stationary gratings (r = .75). These results are consistent with reports that alcohol consumption degrades the ability to make pursuit eye movements. Subjects’ perceived intoxication level was not a reliable predictor of any index of visual performance.     

Gender-role adoption and sex as academic and psychological risk factors

Five hundred and ten first-year junior high school students were administered a battery of psychological tests. On the basis of their scores from two gender-role adoption measures, three smaller groups were extracted within each biological sex: masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated individuals. Feminine students reported a greater amount of discomfort (vulnerability). A battery of tests administered toward the end of that school year revealed that females attained greater neuroticism and alienation scores than did their male peers. Possible explanations for this pubescent self-report of maladjustment are the more masculine orientation of the junior high school in comparison to the elementary school and the menarche.The authors wish to thank Ms. S. Chesterman, Regional Director of the Montreal Catholic School Commission, and Mr. K. Quinn, Principal of Sir Wilfred Laurier Junior High School, for granting us permission to disrupt school activities in order to test their students. We also wish to acknowledge the assistance of the following members of Sir Wilfred Laurier: Mr. O. Hruby, Vice-Principal; Sr. G. Larocque, Vice-Principal; Mr. S. Radeschi, key teacher; and members of the administrative and teaching staff.     

Prison pastoral care: The seer as a new paradigm

The purpose of this essay is twofold: to review two existing paradigms (the Priest and the Prophet) of pastoral care with prisoners; to propose a new paradigm (the Seer). The prison chaplain has been traditionally identified as a priest or a prophet. The change of pastoral setting from parish to prison is a drastic one that requires a paradigm shift. Incarceration is understood in terms of liminality which is a transitional period of a life re-ordering. To those in liminality, the Seer as a divine visionary of hope comes to reawaken a sense of God's presence and aims at renewing of covenant faith.This article is an edited version of an address presented by the author to the Chaplains of Tennessee Department of Corrections at their annual meeting in January 1990.