Considerations on the precedence of the scenes,the contact barrier and the separation of conscious and unconscious

In this essay the term ‘scene’ which has been developed in the German psychoanalytic discussion, is confronted with the terms ‘total situation’ and ‘psychoanalytic field’, showing common features as well as differences. Thereafter four child observations are presented, through which light is thrown onto the scenic structures which make the foundations of early experience. In the precedence of scenes those structures are omnipresent whereas subjectivity only gradually builds up. It is shown how the development of subjectivity and the differentiation of consciousness and unconscious go along with overcoming the precedence of scenes, by breaking them up and reorganizing them. Thus scenes can become metaphors, which are used for ‘translating’ experience and for building up the contact barrier.     

The consistency of inconsistency in serial homicide: patterns of behavioural change across series

Linkage analysis is a crucial part of the investigative process when faced with a possible series of related offences. Establishing behavioural consistency (i.e., offender's behaviours consistently present across the series) is at the core of linkage. Recent empirical studies have found little evidence of consistency looking at either individual or groups of behaviours in serial homicide. It is argued that behavioural changes are rooted in the changing cognitive strategies that offenders use to reach their ultimate goal (i.e. the commission of multiple homicides). Factors that could account for these changes include learning, situational factors, loss of control, and changes in the offender's fantasy. Patterns of behavioural change have been identified in serial crimes, such as rape. However, no empirical studies have looked at patterns of behavioural change in serial homicide. The present study examined patterns of consistency and change using a combination of thematic and behavioural subgroup approaches that use Multidimensional Scaling. Thematic differentiation indicative of behavioural manifestations of cognitive strategies was found in all three examined subgroups: planning, wounding, and offender–victim interaction, and patterns of change within these subgroups provided support for the above theories. Looking at behavioural patterns rather than individual behaviours, may be a more fruitful way of examining consistency in serial homicide, and could have significant implications for linkage analysis. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

场景知觉中物体加工的背景效应

在场景中加工物体信息时, 与物体相伴随的背景会影响对物体的加工。这种物体加工的背景效应在很多的研究中得到了证实。场景知觉中的背景效应有不同的表现, 对于场景中物体识别和背景的关系, 研究者从功能独立、相互作用和背景引导等理论角度给予了解释。其次, 自然场景材料和非自然场景材料所提供的背景信息不同, 研究者从不同的刺激水平探讨了这二者之间的背景效应存在的差异。同时, 随着技术的进步, 研究者也在探讨场景知觉过程中物体加工背景效应的生理机制, 并发现了一些与物体识别的背景效应有关的脑区定位。这些相关的研究为深入了解人是如何知觉和加工真实而复杂的环境提供了新的研究内容和视角。     

维特根斯坦的哲学观

该文介绍了后期维特根斯坦对哲学的看法。其要点是:哲学的核心工作是概念考察;所考察的是自然概念,用以考察的也是自然概念;因此,哲学工作和实证科学是在两个层面上展开的;哲学的目标不是建构理论;哲学的任务是治疗由误解哲学语法所造成的智性扭曲。文章最后粗略讨论了观念和概念的关系。     

场景对面孔情绪探测的影响：特质性焦虑的调节作用

本研究采用面孔情绪探测任务, 通过状态-特质焦虑问卷筛选出高、低特质性焦虑被试, 考察场景对不同情绪效价以及不同情绪强度的面部表情加工的影响, 并探讨特质性焦虑在其中所发挥的作用。结果发现：(1)对于不同情绪效价的面部表情, 场景对其情绪探测的影响存在差异：对于快乐面部表情, 在100%、80%和20%三个情绪层级上, 在场景与面孔情绪性一致情况下, 被试对面孔情绪探测的正确率显著高于不一致情况; 对于恐惧面部表情, 在80%、60%、40%和20%四个情绪层级上, 均发现一致条件比不一致条件有着更高的情绪探测正确率。(2)对于高特质性焦虑组, 一致条件和不一致条件中的面孔情绪探测正确率并没有显著差异, 即高特质性焦虑组并未表现出显著的场景效应; 而低特质性焦虑组则差异显著, 即出现显著的场景效应。该研究结果表明：(1)对于情绪强度较低的面部表情, 快乐与恐惧面孔情绪探测都更容易受到场景的影响。(2)相比于中等强度快乐面孔, 场景更容易影响中等强度恐惧面孔情绪的探测。(3)特质性焦虑的个体因素在场景对面孔情绪探测的影响中发挥调节作用, 高特质性焦虑者在情绪识别中较少受到场景信息的影响。     

飞行场景中表征动量的地标吸引效应和排斥效应

设置了安全和危险两种地标, 采用诱导运动范式考察了飞行场景中运动目标和关联地标的相对关系、目标运动方向及关联地标的意义特征和呈现时间对运动目标位置判断的影响。结果显示: (1)飞行场景中飞机的表征动量较强; (2) 趋近安全地标的表征动量大于远离安全地标的表征动量, 趋近危险地标的表征动量小于远离危险地标的表征动量, 安全地标呈现出地标吸引效应, 而危险地标呈现出地标排斥效应; (3) 高关联的安全和危险地标使飞机的表征动量不受运动方向影响; (4) 保持间隔期间呈现的安全和危险地标使飞机的表征动量增加。结论 :表征动量的地标效应受制于地标意义特征, 表征动量受到目标和地标之间的因果关系和情景意义的影响。     

The Presuppositions of Religious Pluralism and the Need for Natural Theology

In ‘The Presuppositions of Religious Pluralism and the Need for Natural Theology’ I argue that there are four important presuppositions behind John Hick’s form of religious pluralism that successfully support it against what I call fideistic exclusivism. These are i) the ought/can principle, ii) the universality of religious experience, iii) the universality of redemptive change, and iv) a view of how God (the Eternal) would do things. I then argue that if these are more fully developed they support a different kind of exclusivism, what I call rational exclusivism, and become defeaters for pluralism. In order to explain rational exclusivism and its dependence on these presuppositions I consider philosophers J.P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, and Alvin Plantinga, who offer arguments for their forms of exclusivism but I maintain that they continue to rely on fideism at important points. I then give an example of how knowledge of the Eternal can be achieved.

Ultra-rapid categorisation in non-human primates

The visual system of primates is remarkably efficient for analysing information about objects present in complex natural scenes. Recent work has demonstrated that they perform this at very high speeds. In a choice saccade task, human subjects can initiate a first reliable saccadic eye movement response to a target (the image containing an animal) in only 120 ms after image onset. Such fast responses impose severe time constraints if one considers neuronal responses latencies in high-level ventral areas of the macaque monkey. The question then arises: are non-human primates able to perform the task? Two rhesus macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were trained to perform the same forced-choice categorization task as the one used in humans. Both animals performed the task with a high accuracy and generalized to new stimuli that were introduced everyday: accuracy levels were comparable both with new and well-known images (84% vs. 94%). More importantly, reaction times were extremely fast (minimum reaction time 100 ms and median reaction time 152 ms). Given that typical single units onset times in Inferotemporal cortex (IT) are about as long as the shortest behavioural responses measured here, we conclude that visual processing involved in ultra rapid categorisations might be based on rather simple shape cue analysis that can be achieved in areas such as extrastriate cortical area V4. The present paper demonstrates for the first time, that rhesus macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta) are able to match human performance in a forced-choice saccadic categorisation task of animals in natural scenes.