Insight in frontotemporal dementia: conceptual analysis and empirical evaluation of the consensus criterion "loss of insight" in frontotemporal dementia

The objective of this study was to suggest a new formulation of the core research diagnostic consensus criterion "loss of insight" in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Eight patients with FTD (diagnoses made by interviews, medical and neuropsychological examination, CT scan, and regional cerebral glucose metabolism measured by positron emission tomography (PET) participated in the study). The results indicated that insight was present in three out of eight patients, and that insight appears to be a heterogeneous concept. Two types of insight emerged: Emotional insight associated with frontotemporal functions, and cognitive insight, related to posterior cognitive functions. These results suggest that loss of insight should not serve as a core criterion on FTD, but serves well as a supportive criterion of the disease.     

A Stimulus-Oriented Approach to Memory

ABSTRACT— Our understanding of short-term recognition memory can be enhanced by careful choice and control of test materials. Theory-driven manipulation of memory test stimuli, including visual textures, human faces, and complex sounds, minimize individual differences and make it possible to predict recognition performance for specific combinations of stimulus items. This stimulus-oriented approach to memory reveals that stimulus similarity plays two different important roles in recognition memory. By exploiting tools used in psychophysics, it is possible to generate mnemometric functions—detailed "snapshots" that capture key features of subjects' memory strength.     

亨佩尔确证悖论及其解决方案探析

To solve the highly counterintuitive paradox of confirmation represented by the statement, “A pair of red shoes confirms that all ravens are black,” Hempel employed a strategy that retained the equivalence condition but abandoned Nicod’s irrelevance condition. However, his use of the equivalence condition is fairly ad hoc, raising doubts about its applicability to this problem. Furthermore, applying the irrelevance condition from Nicod’s criterion does not necessarily lead to paradoxes, nor does discarding it prevent the emergence of paradoxes. Hempel’s approach fails to adequately resolve the paradox. __________ Translated from Ziran Bianzhengfa Yanjiu 自然辩证法研究 (Studies in Dialectics of Nature), 2005, (8): 33–37     

哲学的困境和黑格尔的幽灵——关于"中国无哲学的反思"

When Western science was introduced to modern China, more translated words were used to express fundamental concepts and terms than borrowed words. The process of academic translation, commensuration, and communication between Western and Chinese philosophy is a process of comparative philosophical research. Nowadays, however, it seems that Chinese philosophy is evaluated by a Western Hegelian criterion. This leads to the debate over whether or not China has philosophy. But it is meaningless to argue about whether or not China has the name of philosophy. The key issue is whether or not China has the actuality of philosophy. Looking at the history of Western philosophy, it seems that the Hegelian definition of philosophy was the only one that existed in Europe. However, during the last 200 years after Hegel that the two main philosophical trends of positivism (scientism) and irrationalism developed from anti-Hegelianism or “Spurning Metaphysics.” As metaphysics is being reconstructed, the ghost of Hegel has reappeared. It is clear that in the future, philosophy will evolve from the development of human metaphysics or cultural philosophy. It is a process of the “negation of negation”: from traditional metaphysics to the spurning of metaphysics, and then to human metaphysics. Translated by Wu Bo from Wenshizhe 文史哲 (Journal of Literature, History and Philosophy), 2005, (3): 18–25     

读者的元理解监测为什么不精确？

精确的元理解监测对随后的元理解控制和阅读理解有重要作用,但是,通常情况下,读者的元理解监测并不精确。回顾20余年的元理解监测研究,发现元理解监测的精确性主要受制于阅读材料特征、监测线索与标准测验特征等因素。未来研究应注意元理解监测的判断形式、监测线索及评价标准对元理解监测精确性的交互关联影响。     

The criterion‐related validity of a short commensurate measure of personality‐based person‐organization fit

Our goal was to develop a commensurate measure of personality‐based person‐organization fit and examine its criterion‐related validity for two retention‐related attitudes: job satisfaction and intention to stay. At T0, 637 employees completed our questionnaire. Two years later, at T1, 171 of the original respondents completed our questionnaire again. Results showed that the organizational personality perceptions are relatively stable. Polynomial regression analyses and surface plots revealed that job satisfaction and intention to stay are higher when there is perfect fit between the person and the organization compared to when the person and the organization differ in traits. However, in most cases, we found the work attitudes to be maximized when both the person and the organization score high on the personality traits.     

The decision tree polytope and its application to sequential decision problems

This paper describes a new mathematical programming approach to sequential decision problems that have an underlying decision tree structure. The approach, based upon a characterization of strategies as extreme points of a 0–1 polytope called the ‘decision tree polytope’, is particularly suited to the direct examination of risk-return and other tradeoffs amongst strategies. However, it can also be used for conventional utility maximization if a utility function is available. Further, the approach requires no algorithmic development—it can be implemented using commercially available algebraic modeling software and can solve large problems. A related, and already known, approach can be used for some more general Markov decision problems. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

心理差异量对儿童青少年分类活动影响的研究

本研究选择自制的、被试从前未看过的墨渍图为实验材料,探讨心理差异量对分类活动的影响。以４０名１１－２０岁儿童青少年为被试,一方面使用速示仪测量墨渍图之间的心理差异量,一方面要求被试对墨渍图进行自由分类,并说明理由。结果发现：①心理差异量直接影响分类结果。②心理差异量在１１岁、１４岁与１７岁、２０岁之间存在着非常显著的差异（Ｐ〈０．０１）。③分类标准的选择的年龄差异主要表现在分类标准的复杂性方面。     

The Stanford Binet Profiles of Young Children with Autism

Twenty-four young children with autism were assessed with the Fourth Edition of the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale as part of the routine assessment procedure at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center. Inspection of the pattern of their responses yielded an distinctive profile with the subscale of Absurdities being consistently the lowest and Pattern Analysis the highest subtest. Comparisons of the profiles for the subjects with the highest and lowest overall IQs showed essentially the same profile patterns. These data are consistent with what we know about autism as a disorder and provide support for the notion that traditional psychometric assessment can be useful in evaluating children with autism.     

To What Extent Can Definitions Help our Understanding? What Plato Might Have Said in His Cups

This article argues that philosophical definitions are overrated as sources of understanding or wisdom. Socrates gives a standard argument in their favor which is often still proffered. Still, that Socrates's definitions never succeed invites an ironic reading of that argument. Plato also gives crucial arguments against treating definitions as important to understanding, and those objections have current versions. That raises an issue: What did we think definitions would do for us anyway? That question invites a reassessment of definitions that makes them less central and gives them a more humble, though still dangerous, role to play, one that requires they be integrated with surrounding examples and our own complex educations toward wisdom.