Experience and Theory

N. R. Hanson's discussion of experience is criticized. Experience, though necessary for knowing, is insufficient as a basis for understanding in either science or religion. Experience alone can be misleading. We may begin with experience, but we cannot claim to understand until experience has been mediated by theory. The article is excerpted from Metaphoric Process: The Creation of Scientific and Religious Understanding (Gerhart and Russell 1984), Chapter 2.     

Beyond illusion: Psychoanalysis and the question of religious truth1

In this paper the author critically examines the nature of the positive, reconciliatory attitude towards religion that has become increasingly prevalent within psychoanalytic thinking and writing over the past 20 years. She shows how this positive attitude rests on a change in the nature of the prototype of religion and its reassignment to the realm of illusion, thus making irrelevant an issue most central both to psychoanalysis and to traditional Judeo‐Christian belief ‐ the passionate search for truth. The author demonstrates how the concern with truth, and specifically with the truth of religious claims, lies at the basis of the opposition between psychoanalysis and religion but, paradoxically, also provides the common ground for dialogue between the two. She argues that, as Freud developed his ideas regarding the origin of conviction in religious claims in his Moses and monotheism (1939), the nature of this common ground was expanded and the dialogue became potentially more meaningful. The author concludes that meaningful dialogue emerges through recognition of fundamental differences rather than through harmonisation within a realm of illusion. In this light, the present study may also be seen as an attempt to recognise fundamental differences that have been evolving within psychoanalysis itself.     

高低自我监控者在不同互动情境中的被洞悉错觉

用Snyder的自我监控量表,从大学生中筛选出典型高低自我监控者。要求他们不动声色地喝下1杯醋和4杯水,而后,让观众根据他们的表现去辨别饮料的味道,并让被试预测可能猜中的人数。在实验1中,被试和观众以录像为媒介间接的互相推测;在实验2中,被试和观众现场直接的互相推测。两个实验都包括高低自我监控者各21名。实验结果表明,自我监控水平对被洞悉错觉有明显的影响,在直接和间接两种互动情境中,低自我监控者的被洞悉错觉都比高自我监控者强烈。互动情境对高自我监控者有明显的影响,在间接的互动中,高自我监控者出现了明显的被洞悉错觉;而在直接的互动情境中,低自我监控者的被洞悉错觉依然非常明显,高自我监控者则趋于消失     

利用反诱导消除McCollough效应

ＭｃＣｏｌｌｏｕｇｈ效应在完全黑暗和自然视觉条件下的消退过程很缓慢,而利用同频补色条栅来进行反诱导,能在十几分钟内消除显色效应。消除所用时间与反诱导条栅的亮度、颜色和栅条间距（空间频率）有关。进一步说明导致ＭｃＣｏｌｌｏｕｇｈ效应恢复平衡的主要因素跟网膜刺激方式有关。     

Life satisfaction and the ‘end of history illusion’: A reply to Quoidbach,Gilbert, and Wilson (2020)

Contrary to the ‘end of history illusion’, in a longitudinal sample of American adults Harris and Busseri (2019) found that most individuals were accurate or expected too much change in their future life satisfaction, rather than expecting too little change. Quoidbach, Gilbert, and Wilson (2020) suggested that the discrepancy in conclusions arose because we focused on mean-level trends rather than individual differences. Here we clarify that the discrepancy stems from the analysis of directional versus absolute change, with the latter preferred by Quoidbach et al. (2020). Both approaches are informative. Indeed, in addition to determining whether the altitude of an elevator in a skyscraper is changing over time, it matters very much whether the elevator is going up or down.     

内源性空间注意对声音诱发闪光错觉的影响

采用经典的声音诱发闪光错觉范式,通过操纵集中和分散的空间注意的方式,考察内源性空间注意和刺激出现视野位置的交互作用对多感觉整合中听觉主导效应的影响。结果发现：(1)当空间注意处于分散状态时,下视野的裂变错觉量显著大于上视野,而集中条件下则没有差异。(2)闪光出现的位置是否随机不会影响裂变错觉。研究说明了声音诱发闪光错觉中的裂变错觉只会受到内源性空间注意和视野位置交互作用的影响。     

注意分散对虚假再认的影响

采用DRM范式研究学习阶段不同的注意水平对关联性记忆错觉的影响。结果表明随着注意水平的降低,对学过项目的正确再认率显著下降。对关键诱饵的虚假再认率不易受注意分散的影响。正确再认和虚假再认的记得成分相似,但知道成分的变化趋势不同。虚假再认比正确再认的感知觉细节少。     

聚焦“缺失”对当下幸福体验的影响

人们的幸福体验与其关注的焦点密切相关。研究1采用图形聚焦范式,结果发现个体在情绪体验中出现聚焦缺失的聚焦错觉现象,聚焦缺失组个体的总体幸福体验低于非聚焦缺失组;研究2通过启动范式操纵被试的聚焦缺失程度,结果发现,高聚焦缺失个体的情绪幸福比低聚焦缺失的个体更低。2个研究结果发现:聚焦缺失是导致人们低幸福体验的根源,聚焦缺失使人们高估缺失所占整个生活比例,出现"缺失放大"现象。研究将聚焦错觉从"情感预测偏差"领域拓展至"当下幸福体验"领域,同时从聚焦"实物类匮乏"跨越到聚焦"抽象性缺失感",并初步揭示出"缺失放大"机制,未来或可进一步探讨聚焦缺失影响幸福体验的"缺失放大"机制。     

Discounting mechanism underlies extinction illusion

Humans can perceive a coherent visual scene despite a low spatial resolution in peripheral vision. How does the visual system determine whether an object exists in the periphery? We addressed this question by focusing on the extinction illusion in which a disk becomes subjectively invisible when presented at the intersection of grids. We hypothesized that the disk would go unnoticed when the stimuli with and without the disk produced the same strength of visual signals. The visual system would miss the disk by confounding the target signals with the intersection signals that should be discounted. Computational analysis revealed that the energy ratio between the stimuli with and without the disk decreased with stimulus eccentricity and such energy ratio could successfully explain the observer’s d’ to detect the disk. These results indicate that the discounting mechanism relying on stimulus energy determines the awareness toward a peripheral object.     

The rubber hand illusion in a mirror

In the rubber hand illusion (RHI) one’s hand is hidden, and a fake hand is visible. We explored the situation in which visual information was available indirectly in a mirror. In the mirror condition, compared to the standard condition (fake hand visible directly), we found no reduction of the RHI following synchronised stimulation, as measured by crossmanual pointing and by a questionnaire. We replicated the finding with a smaller mirror that prevented visibility of the face. The RHI was eliminated when a wooden block replaced the fake hand, or when the hand belonged to another person or mannequin. We conclude that awareness of the reflection is the critical variable, despite the distant visual localisation of the hand in a mirror and the third-person perspective. Stimuli seen in a mirror activate the same response as stimuli seen in peripersonal space, through knowledge that they are near one’s body.