Lateralization of egocentric and allocentric spatial processing after parietal brain lesions

The purpose of this paper was to verify whether left and right parietal brain lesions may selectively impair egocentric and allocentric processing of spatial information in near/far spaces. Two Right-Brain-Damaged (RBD), 2 Left-Brain-Damaged (LBD) patients (not affected by neglect or language disturbances) and eight normal controls were submitted to the Ego-Allo Task requiring distance judgments computed according to egocentric or allocentric frames of reference in near/far spaces. Subjects also completed a general neuropsychological assessment and the following visuospatial tasks: reproduction of the Rey-Osterreith figure, line length judgement, point position identification, mental rotation, mental construction, line length memory, line length inference, Corsi block-tapping task. LBD patients presented difficulties in both egocentric and allocentric processing, whereas RBD patients dropped in egocentric but not in allocentric judgements, and in near but not far space. Further, RBD patients dropped in perceptually comparing linear distances, whereas LBD patients failed in memory for distances. The overall pattern of results suggests that the right hemisphere is specialized in processing metric information according to egocentric frames of reference. The data are interpreted according to a theoretical model that highlights the close link between egocentric processing and perceptual control of action.     

Public Space

“Public space” is the space where individuals see and are seen by others as they engage in public affairs. Hannah Arendt links this space with “public freedom.” The being of such freedom, she asserts, depends on its appearing. It consists of “deeds and words which are meant to appear, whose very existence hinges on appearance.” Such appearance, however, requires the public space. Reflecting on Arendt’s remarks, a number of questions arise: What does the dependence of freedom on public space tell us about the nature of freedom? How does public freedom relate to the freedom of a private individual? Does the latter also depend on its appearing? Which is generatively prior: freedom or public space, i.e., the actions that publicly manifest freedom or the space required for their appearance? How does public power shape this space? In this article, I approach these questions through a phenomenological study of public space.     

3～6岁儿童空间非标准测量认知加工线索研究

本研究选取北京市3所幼儿园108名3~6岁儿童为被试,采用个别测查法对儿童进行非标准空间测量时所依据的认知加工线索进行研究,结果表明:1、3~6岁儿童在一维空间测量中从两个端点和端点之间的连续空间提取信息进行量的判断,当从端点和端点之间的连续空间提取的线索不一致时,多数儿童不能对其进行整合;2、3~6岁儿童二维空间测量主要遵循一维规则,并且一维规则适用于各种图形;3、儿童根据空间量中显著特征进行量的判断,儿童对作为判断依据的显著特征的选择受各维度对比度影响。     

儿童早期空间非标准测量能力发展研究进展

测量是数学的主题之一。空间非标准测量能力的发展对儿童数学认知能力的发展有重要作用,对儿童思维抽象性、逻辑性、创造性的培养,问题解决能力的提高有重要影响。文章通过对近四十年来儿童空间非标准测量能力发展研究的成果进行概括分析,发现研究者主要对儿童空间非标准测量的认知加工线索,长度测量策略与工具的使用,空间非标准测量知识的获得顺序以及相关的测量教学顺序,空间非标准测量能力与守恒和推理能力的关系等问题进行了研究。并在此基础上提出了儿童空间非标准测量能力发展研究需进一步探讨的问题。     

The countable homogeneous universal model of B 2

We give a detailed account of the Algebraically Closed and Existentially Closed members of the second Lee class B ₂ of distributive p-algebras, culminating in an explicit construction of the countable homogeneous universal model of B ₂. The axioms of Schmid [7], [8] for the AC and EC members of B ₂ are reduced to what we prove to be an irredundant set of axioms. The central tools used in this study are the strong duality of Clark and Davey [3] for B ₂ and the method of Clark [2] for constructing AC and EC algebras using a strong duality. Applied to B ₂, this method transfers the entire discussion into an equivalent dual category X ₂ of Boolean spaces which carry a pair of tightly interacting orderings. The doubly ordered spaces of X ₂ prove to be much more readily constructed and analyzed than the corresponding algebras in B ₂.     

顿悟与问题表征的转变

阐述了解决残缺棋盘问题的顿悟过程。该实验的结果证明,顿悟过程中需要发现一种正确的问题表征,即对等性问题空间,为了发现这一表征,被试必须使问题表征从“铺试问题空间”转变为“元水平的问题空间”．被试在这两个空间中进行搜索时,必须有很强的限制,使搜索成为有高度选择性的搜索,才能最终在元水平问题空间中发现正确的表征。本研究还发现,被试的搜索并不总是知觉驱动的,有时是概念驱动的,而且后者的迁移性更高。     

人体系统的非优性与疾病的时空特征

人体系统并非完美,生命抛物线是由生理年龄、社会年龄、人体熵三大要素在非线性作用下相干的结果,从而呈现一种复杂的网状“大Ｘ构架”。每一个交叉点都具有阶段性态变的意义和对生命质量的表征。疾病是人体系统非优的必然。熵压决定了熵的退行性运动,从而也决定了生命时间的有限性。疾病是熵增过程造成机体不同程度封闭的结果。每次疾病都是对熵的增压,造成机体的物质丢失、时间丢失与跳跃,出现熵运动方面的引力偏折,从而在局     

Some effects of response-correlated increases in reinforcer magnitude on human behavior

After training under short or long fixed-interval schedules, humans responded under a modified fixed-interval schedule in which magnitude of reinforcement (X or 2X) was minimally correlated with response frequency. Response frequencies that equaled or exceeded a minimum response criterion were followed by the larger reinforcer at the end of the interval; otherwise, the smaller reinforcer was delivered. The modified schedule alternated with the baseline schedule across conditions. In a control condition, the reinforcer magnitudes produced by control subjects were yoked to those of experimental subjects. Experimental subjects, but not control subjects, showed increased responding. In addition to the baseline and modified fixed-interval schedules used in Experiment 1, subjects in Experiment 2 also responded under a second modified fixed-interval contingency in which increases in reinforcer magnitude were more highly correlated with response frequency. Experimental subjects, but not control subjects, showed increased responding under both procedures. Direct comparison of these two procedures showed that the high-correlation procedure produced greater increases in responding than did the low-correlation procedure.     

Affordances after spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury can cause cognitive impairments even when no cerebral lesion is appreciable. As patients are forced to explore the environment in a non-canonical position (i.e., seated on a wheelchair), a modified relation with space can explain motor-related cognitive differences compared to non-injured individuals. Peripersonal space is encoded in motor terms, that is, in relation to the representation of action abilities and is strictly related to the affordance of reachability. In turn, affordances, the action possibilities suggested by relevant properties of the environment, are related to the perceiver's peripersonal space and motor abilities. One might suppose that these motor-related cognitive abilities are compromised when an individual loses the ability to move. We shed light on this issue in 10 patients with paraplegia and 20 matched controls. All have been administered an affordances-related reachability judgement task adapted from Costantini, Ambrosini, Tieri, Sinigaglia, and Committeri (2010, Experimental Brain Research, 207, 95) and neuropsychological tests. Our findings demonstrate that patients and controls show the same level of accuracy in estimating the location of their peripersonal space boundaries, but only controls show the typical overestimation of reaching range. Secondly, patients show a higher variability in their judgements than controls. Importantly, this finding is related to the patients’ ability to perform everyday tasks. Finally, patients are not faster in making their judgements on reachability in peripersonal space, while controls are. Our results suggest that not moving freely or as usual in the environment impact decoding of action-related properties even when the upper limbs are not compromised.     

Spaces of the Religious Economy: Negotiating the Regulation of Religious Space in Singapore

Over the past three decades, the theory of religious economy has been established, applied, debated, developed, and rejected. It has proven to be as divisive as any "general theory" of religion should be, and yet its core tenets continue to engage and unite scholars around the world. In response to broader shifts within the sociology of religion, this article reframes religious economy by advancing a spatial approach to its theorization. A spatial approach can help develop new perspectives on the regulation of religion, and the resistant agency of religious groups. With a focus on the "secular monopoly" of Singapore, it demonstrates how the restricted supply of land for religious purposes increases competition between religious groups. To overcome restrictions, religious groups pursue strategies of spatial and organizational boundary crossing. This has led to the closer regulation of space, and highlights the recursive interplay between the regulation and praxis of religion in Singapore.