Contextualizing neuroticism in the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology

Neuroticism is the personality trait most consistently and strongly connected to psychopathology. The majority of research on the relationship between traits and mental illness has focused on neuroticism’s connection with broad psychopathology spectra or discrete disorders. However, both personality and psychopathology are hierarchically-organized domains that may be examined at multiple levels of fidelity and bandwidth from very specific thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (i.e., nuance traits or symptoms) to very broad patterns indexing many interrelated tendencies (i.e., general factors). The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is a recently proposed nosologic framework for psychopathology symptoms and domains that accounts for this tiered organization. Here, we illustrate how neuroticism-psychopathology relationships—both what is known and unknown—may be elucidated through the HiTOP system.     

Motion planning strategies in human control of non-rigid objects with internal degrees of freedom

The paper deals with modeling of human-like reaching movements in dynamic environments. A simple but not trivial example of reaching in a dynamic environment is the rest-to-rest manipulation of a multi-mass flexible object with the elimination of residual vibrations. Two approaches to the prediction of reaching movements are formulated in position and force actuation settings. In the first approach, either the position of the hand or the hand force is specified by the lowest order polynomial satisfying the boundary conditions of the reaching task. The second approach is based on the minimization of either the hand jerk or the hand force-change, with taking into account the dynamics of the flexible object. To verify the resulting four mathematical models, an experiment on the manipulation of a ten-masses flexible object of low stiffness is conducted. The experimental results show that the second approach gives a significantly better prediction of human movements, with the minimum hand force-change model having a slight but consistent edge over the minimum hand jerk one.     

Biased belief in the Bayesian brain: A deeper look at the evidence

A recent critique of hierarchical Bayesian models of delusion argues that, contrary to a key assumption of these models, belief formation in the healthy (i.e., neurotypical) mind is manifestly non-Bayesian. Here we provide a deeper examination of the empirical evidence underlying this critique. We argue that this evidence does not convincingly refute the assumption that belief formation in the neurotypical mind approximates Bayesian inference. Our argument rests on two key points. First, evidence that purports to reveal the most damning violation of Bayesian updating in human belief formation is counterweighted by substantial evidence that indicates such violations are the rare exception—not a common occurrence. Second, the remaining evidence does not demonstrate convincing violations of Bayesian inference in human belief updating; primarily because this evidence derives from study designs that produce results that are not obviously inconsistent with Bayesian principles.     

手机短信与大学生人格特征关系的研究

采用自编式手机短信（SMS）问卷及NEO—PI—R人格测试,以280名大学生为研究对象,该研究考察了SMS使用情况与大学生人格特征的关系。结果表明：（1）神经质与使用SMS的担心时间、幻觉经验、作息时间有显著负相关,与SMS对交往的影响呈显著的正相关;（2）外倾性与SMS使用数量和作息时间显著正相关;（3）宜人性与SMS使用时间有显著负相关,而与SMS比例呈显著正相关;（4）认真性与总费比例有显著负相关,与幻觉经验和作息时间存在显著正相关。     

习得无助理论模型的演变与争议

习得无助理论是由美国心理学家马丁．塞里格曼于上世纪60年代提出、而后在美国以至全世界引起广泛研究热潮的一种心理学理论,围绕着习得无助产生的机制及实验操作中的关键变量,形成了许多有价值的理论模型。该研究介绍了这些理论模型的起源、发展与演变．以及无助现象对人们的认知、情绪和动机造成的损害,为我们在临床上诊断和治疗抑郁提供了一个新的视角,同时为预测和矫治学生的习得无肋感提供了方法上的借鉴。     

A cognitive model in which representations are images

Interpretations of images of the brain are starting to reveal the conceptual tasks in which the person was engaged at the time of imaging. Existing mathematical models can explain the patterns of activity observed in such images in terms of the coherent activity of large populations of neurons, but not in terms of cognition. This paper is an early investigation into how such patterns might provide the internal representations for a cognitive system. Probes, working memories and memories are all represented as images. The accompanying process model describes how attention is set according to the contents of working memory, how attention determines what parts of the probe are memorised, how memories are activated according to similarity to the probe in areas in attention, and how working memory is managed. The model is demonstrated on re-creations of classic simulations of recognition memory and categorisation.     

Models for a paraconsistent set theory

In this paper the existence of natural models for a paraconsistent version of naive set theory is discussed. These stand apart from the previous attempts due to the presence of some non-monotonic ingredients in the comprehension scheme they fulfill. Particularly, it is proved here that allowing the equality relation in formulae defining sets, within an extensional universe, compels the use of non-monotonic operators. By reviewing the preceding attempts, we show how our models can naturally be obtained as fixed points of some functor acting on a suitable category (stressing the use of fixed-point arguments in obtaining such alternative semantics).     

An open measurement problem of interest

This open problem urges a seach for a nice “union” of algbraic measurement models having two or more operations and probabilistic choice models. The difficulty lies in arriving at probabilistic formulations of linking properties, such as distribution properties, between the two operations. The goal is a formulation that leads to a representation theorem in terms of a random variable representation and that reduces to a known algebraic representation when there is no noise.     

COMMENTS ON SANBORN BROWN'S “CAN PHYSICS CONTRIBUTE TO THEOLOGY?”

Abstract. Sanborn Brown raised in a preliminary form issues relating to science and religion that have been subjects for increasingly more sophisticated discussion over the intervening forty years.     

Models of Psychotherapy: Implications for Pastoral Care Practice

Pastoral care givers are called to provide care and counseling to parishioners that are suffering in many ways. A core question is what does a pastor rely on to provide this care? Pastors usually call on models of psychotherapy to inform their care giving. A framework of theological anthropology, cosmology, soteriology and harmatiology is developed for analyzing the worldviews inherent in models of psychotherapy. The specific models of Adler’s Individual Psychology, Narrative therapy, Horney’s personality theory, and Intersubjective theory are used to demonstrate the application of this framework. Several pastoral care implications are developed following the application of the framework.