An Analysis of the Time Course of Lexical Processing During Reading

Reingold, Reichle, Glaholt, and Sheridan (2012) reported a gaze‐contingent eye‐movement experiment in which survival‐curve analyses were used to examine the effects of word frequency, the availability of parafoveal preview, and initial fixation location on the time course of lexical processing. The key results of these analyses suggest that lexical processing begins very rapidly (after approximately 120 ms) and is supported by substantial parafoveal processing (more than 100 ms). Because it is not immediately obvious that these results are congruent with the theoretical assumption that words are processed and identified in a strictly serial manner, we attempted to simulate the experiment using the E‐Z Reader model of eye‐movement control (Reichle, 2011). These simulations were largely consistent with the empirical results, suggesting that parafoveal processing does play an important functional role by allowing lexical processing to occur rapidly enough to mediate direct control over when the eyes move during reading.     

La fundamentación psicológica de una estética musical: la obra de Carl E. Seashore

Resumen

La figura del psicólogo sueco-norteamericano Carl Emil Seashore (1866–1949) no suele ser hoy demasiado recordada. Fue sin embargo un autor importante, de extensa y variada obra, que ejerció en vida una considerable influencia académica y social y cuyos puntos de vista resultan extraordinariamente representativos de una cierta manera de entender la psicología que no ha dejado de tener adeptos desde entonces. Sus propuestas estéticas, además, son todavía hoy dignas de conocerse y discutirse.

El propósito de este trabajo es recuperar estas propuestas como una invitación a reflexionar sobre las relaciones entre la psicología y la estética, unas relaciones que Seashore se esforzó notablemente por dotar de claridad y precisión. Para ello se trazan primero algunas de las coordenadas históricas y biográficas que enmarcan su obra y desde las cuales ésta cobra sentido. Se pasa después a dibujar los grandes rasgos de su investigación psicológica sobre la música, para terminar analizando la concepción estética que su autor aspira a fundar en ella. Unas breves consideraciones críticas vienen a poner el punto final a este estudio.     

In all questions, my interest is not in the individual people but in the analytic movement as a whole. It will be hard enough here in Europe in the times to come to keep it going. After all, we are just a handful of people who really have that in mind

The paper tries to deal with the difficult and at times contradictory decisions that the then leaders of the IPA, S. Freud, A. Freud, E. Jones etc. had to adopt as whether or not to clearly inform the readers of Die Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse and the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, the official scientific periodicals of the IPA, of the tragic events concerning first the German Psychoanalytic Society and then the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and the newborn Italian Psychoanalytic Society and other European psychoanalytic societies during the years 1933-1945. Because of the anti-Jewish persecution by the Nazi and fascist regimes the IPA had to face the extremely difficult task of helping its Continental Jewish members to emigrate to the USA, Great Britain and other countries in order to save their lives and to allow psychoanalysis to survive, with enormous radical consequences for the scientific and sociocultural future developments of the discipline.The following notes are dedicated to those non-Aryans and Aryans who could not find a proper rescue and whose graves became the wind which scattered the ashes of their bodies with the smoke coming out of the chimneys of the Nazi gas chambers.     

THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD AND THE WORLD: CHRISTIANITY'S REASONS FOR CONSIDERING PANENTHEISM A VIABLE OPTION

What reasons and resources can Christian theology find for developing a panentheist position that is also able to engage with contemporary science? By taking its point of departure in basic human experiences, Christian theology can, even in a Trinitarian fashion, be developed as a way to understand God's presence in the world as a presence where the actual occurrences point towards God's own work. This point is especially related to the experience of love. Furthermore, God's presence can be understood as sacramental in the Augustinian sense. Moreover, the contributions of the Danish philosopher of religion Knud E. Løgstrup on God's presence and transcendence, as well as Niels Henrik Gregersen's elaborations on deep incarnation. Prove to offer important reasons for considering panentheism a viable option for the articulation of Christian theology.     

Trace administration of vitamin E can retrieve and prevent UV-irradiation- and metal exposure-induced memory deficits in nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Vitamin E (α-tocopherol), a lipid-soluble anti-oxidant, prevents the uncontrolled propagation of lipid peroxidation by free radicals. Nevertheless, there is weak or no evidence of a protective effect of previous vitamin E intake on cognitive function in humans. In the present study, we explored the thermosensation model to investigate the possible effects of vitamin E administration on memory behaviors in Caenorhabditis elegans. Administration of 100 and 200 μg/mL of vitamin E had no significant effects on the memory for different time intervals, whereas relatively high concentration (400 μg/mL) of vitamin E exposure shortened the extinction period of the association paradigm (food at 20 °C). Following the UV-irradiation, post-treatment with 200 μg/mL of vitamin E not only retrieved the UV-irradiation-induced memory deficits, but also enhanced the memory functions in UV-irradiating animals. Post-treatment with trace vitamin E could also ameliorate the memory deficits in metal (Al or Pb) exposed worms. In addition, pre-treatment with 200 μg/mL of vitamin E could effectively prevent the occurrence of memory deficits induced by metal exposure and UV-irradiation. Therefore, the close association may exist between trace dietary vitamin E intake and memory behaviors, and a specific response mechanism may be activated after the administration of vitamin E in stress-exposed animals. Moreover, treatment with 200 μg/mL of vitamin E could restore the memory deficits formed in the ncs-1 mutant worms, suggesting that exogenous treatment with trace vitamin E can largely mimic the function of NCS-1 in regulating the memory for thermosensation.     

HPV DNA整合、E2缺失与宫颈癌演变的关系

高危型人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）感染是宫颈癌发病的必要条件,而HPV DNA与宿主基因组的整合及由此导致的E2基因断裂可能是宫颈癌致癌机制的关键。本文将从HPV感染、病毒基因组与宿主染色体整合及宫颈癌的演变历程中以哲学视角思考HPV DNA整合、E2基因缺失及宫颈癌演变的辩证关系,以期更好地解读宫颈癌发病原理并最终应用于临床治疗。     

The (Old) New Realism: What Holt Has to Offer for Ecological Psychology

As Ecological Psychology pushes into new areas, success will be made easier by a rediscovery its theoretical history, in particular the “New Realism”, lead in part by E. B. Holt. Three New Realists tenants seem particularly relevant: (1) we experience reality, (2) relations are real, and (3) things are what you see when you see those things. Though the two groups differ in terms of their conception of perception, and what can be perceived, their conceptions are related in very insightful ways. Further, the comparison reemphasizes the extent of unique empirical claims ecological psychologists make, and grounds those claims within a larger framework for psychology as a whole. This makes obvious the need for further work on the mathematics of invariants, the physiological mechanisms of information extraction, and the behaviors of perception.

“P300” and memory: Individual differences in the von Restorff effect

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were elicited by words in a free recall paradigm that included a novel item. The P300 component of the ERP is elicited by novel, task-relevant events, and we tested the hypothesis that P300 is a manifestation of the cognitive processing invoked during “context updating.” If the degree to which current representations in working memory need revision is related to P300 amplitude, then the P300 elicited by a given item should be related to the ability to recall that item on a subsequent test. Forty lists were presented to 12 subjects in each of two sessions. The lists were 15 words long, and 1 word, in position 6 through 10, was “isolated” by changing its size. Most subjects recalled these isolated words more often than other words in the same positions (von Restorff effect), and these words also elicited larger P300s than other words. Analysis of variance on the component scores from a principal components analysis revealed that words recalled had a larger amplitude P300 (on initial presentation) than words not recalled. Striking individual differences emerged, and there were strong relationships between the von Restorff effect, overall recall performance, mnemonic strategies, and the association between components of the ERP and recall performance. The overall recall performance of subjects who reported simple (rote) mnemonic strategies was low, but they showed a high von Restorff effect. For these subjects the amplitude of the P300 elicited by words during initial presentation predicted later recall. In contrast, subjects who reported complex mnemonic strategies remembered a high percentage of words and did not show a von Restorff effect. For these subjects P300 did not predict later recall, although a later “slow wave” component of the ERP did. The initial response to isolated items was the same for all subjects (a large P300), and all subjects recognized the isolates faster than other words in a recognition test given at the end of each session. The subjects in whom P300 did not predict recall reported mnemonic strategies that involved organizing the material. These strategies continue long after the time period reflected by P300 (600 msec). Because they were so effective they may have overshadowed the relationship between P300 and recall, which is based on the initial encoding of an event. Our interpretations were further confirmed and clarified from data obtained in a final grand recall and in the recognition test.     

The occurrence of paraphasias in the spontaneous speech of children with an acquired aphasia

Two children with an acquired aphasia were observed during the recovery process. In the spontaneous speech, paraphasias belonging to different categories, such as neologisms, verbal paraphasias, and literal paraphasias, were found. Especially with regard to neologisms the time of investigation was very important. In addition, one child with a phonemic jargon aphasia and one child with a fluent aphasia and empty speech were observed. These observations implicate a modification of the current clinical picture of childhood aphasia. Some aspects are discussed in relation to adult aphasia.