The effect of reinforcement differences on choice and response distribution during stimulus compounding

In Experiments I and II, rats were trained to respond on one lever during light and another during tone. The absence of tone and light controlled response cessation. In the multiple schedule of Experiment I, all reinforcements were received for responding in tone or light; in the chain schedule of Experiment II, all reinforcements were received in no tone + no light for not responding. Experiment I subjects, for which tone and light were associated with response and reinforcement increase, responded significantly more to tone-plus-light than to tone or light alone (additive summation). Experiment II subjects, for which tone and light were associated with response increase and reinforcement decrease, responded comparably to tone, light, and tone + light. Thus, additive summation was observed when stimulus-response and stimulus-reinforcer associations in tone and light were both positive, but not when they were conflicting. All subjects in both experiments responded predominantly on the light-correlated lever during tone + light, even when light intensity was reduced in testing. Furthermore, when a light was presented to a subject engaged in tone-associated responding, all subjects immediately switched the locus of responding to the light-correlated lever. No change in locus occurred when a tone was presented to a subject engaged in light-associated responding, irrespective of the stimulus-reinforcer association conditioned to tone. The light-lever preference in tone + light indicates that the heightened responding observed in Experiment I was not the summation of tone-associated behavior with light-associated behavior. Rather, it appears to be the result of a facilitation of one operant (light-associated responding) by the reinforcement-associated cue for the other.     

Measures of response bias at minimum-detectable luminance levels in the pigeon

Using an operant analogue of the yes-no detection task, six pigeons were trained to detect luminance changes under two different reinforcement-scheduling procedures. In the first, an uncontrolled reinforcement-ratio procedure, the relative frequency of food reinforcers obtained for correct detections was free to vary with the birds' behavior as luminance levels were changed. In the second, a controlled reinforcement-ratio procedure, changes in preference could not alter the relative distribution of food reinforcers between the two response alternatives. Extreme response biases developed as luminance was decreased to threshold in the uncontrolled procedure. No progressive changes in response bias as a function of decreasing luminance were seen in the controlled procedure. Absolute thresholds for light intensity were lower in the controlled than in the uncontrolled procedure.     

明视条件下人眼对低频间断光的亮度感觉

本实验是以异色亮度匹配方法,探索视觉系统对在明视觉水平上的低频、不同时间调制的单色光和白光的亮度感觉特性。结果发现,闪光刺激在临界频率以上作用于视觉系统所产生的亮度感觉是遵循塔耳玻特-普拉托定律。而对在临界频率以下亮暗比为4/1的间断单色光刺激所需的周期平均亮度低于恒定单色光所需的亮度幅度,这表明塔耳玻特(Talbort)定律不适用于低频、高亮暗比的间断单色光。仅适用于间断单色光刺激的亮暗比低于1,波长为650纳米的间断单色光。     

Pluralism, scientific knowledge, and the fallacy of overriding values

The paper examines one implication of pluralism, the view that all values are conditional and none are overriding. This implication is that since scientific knowledge is one of the conditional values, there are circumstances in which the pursuit of even the most basic scientific knowledge is legitimately curtailed. These circumstances occur when the pursuit of scientific knowledge conflicts with moral and political values which, in that context, are more important than it. The argument focuses on the case for and against space exploration in search of intelligent extraterrestrial life. The widely held supposition that search for pure scientific knowledge cannot be reasonably curtailed is identified as the fallacy of overriding values.     

Begging what is at issue in the argument

This paper objects to treating begging the question as circular reasoning. It argues that what is at issue in the argument is not to be confused with the claim or position that the arguer is adopting, and that logicians from Aristotle on give the wrong definition and have difficulty making sense of the fallacy because they try to define it in terms of how an argument is defined by logical theory - as a sequence consisting of premises followed by a conclusion. That the problematic about begging the question depends on treating an argument as a context-less sequence of statements seems to be anticipated by the pragma-dialectical approach. The paper offers a critique of this dialogical approach, as exemplified by Douglas Walton in his recent book on begging the question, on the grounds that it raises more problems than it solves. It concludes with the suggestion that what is really at issue in discussions of begging the question is the need for a theory of fallacy.     

Contexts of Begging the Question

In this paper a dialogical account of begging the question is applied to various contexts which are not obviously dialogues: - reading prose, working through a deductive system, presenting a legal case, and thinking to oneself. The account is then compared with that in chapter eight of D. Walton'sBegging the Question (New York; Greenwood, 1991).     

Roles of personal and environmental factors in the red light running propensity of pedestrian: Case study at the urban crosswalks

Pedestrian is vulnerable to mortality and severe injury in road crashes. Red light running violation of pedestrians is one of the leading causes to the crashes at signalized intersections, at which the crash involvement rates of pedestrians are high. Therefore, it is important to identify the factors that affect the propensity of red light running of pedestrian. In this study, effects of both personal factors (pedestrians’ demographics and behavior) and environmental factors (presence and behavior of other pedestrians, signal time, and traffic condition) on the individual decision of red light running violation are examined, using the video observation surveys at the signalized crossings that are prone to pedestrian-vehicle crashes and have moderate pedestrian and vehicular traffic volumes in the urban area. Crossing behaviors of 6320 pedestrians are captured. Results of a random parameter logit model indicate that pedestrian gender, age, number of lanes, presence of a companion, number of pedestrians around, presence of other violators in the same cycle, time to green, red time, traffic volume, and percentage of heavy vehicles all affect the propensity of red light running violation of pedestrians. Also, there are significant interaction effects by pedestrian’s gender and age, presence of other violators, with a companion, and traffic volume on the propensity. Findings are indicative to the development of effective engineering, enforcement and educational initiatives combating the red light running violation behavior of pedestrians. Therefore, pedestrian safety level at the signalized intersections can be enhanced.     

Pragma-dialectical Theory and Interpersonal Interaction Outcomes: Unproductive Interpersonal Behavior as Violations of Rules for Critical Discussion

The purpose of this research review is to examine the usefulness of reconstructing problematic interpersonal conflict behavior as violations of rules for critical discussions. Dialectical reconstruction of interpersonal conflict behavior sheds light on the ways in which dialectical fallacies influence not only the course of a critical discussion, but also the personal and relationship outcomes experienced by arguers. Conflict sequences such as cross complaining and demand/withdraw are shown to be problematic, in part, because they prevent parties from resolving their difference through rational dialogue. The paper concludes by presenting some implications of the pragma-dialectical reconstruction of interpersonal conflict behavior.     

Reductionism in Fallacy Theory

(1) The aim of the paper is to develop a reduction of fallacy theory, i.e. to 'deduce' fallacy theory from a positive theory of argumentation which provides exact criteria for valid and adequate argumentation. Such reductionism has several advantages compared to an unsystematic action, which is quite usual in current fallacy but which at least in part is due to the poor state of positive argumentation theory itself. (2) After defining 'fallacy' (3) some principle ideas and (4) the exact criteria for (argumentatively) valid and adequate arguments of the 'practical theory of argumentation' of the author are expounded. These criteria will be used as the positive basis for the following reduction. (5) In the main part of the paper a systematization, definition and explanation of the main types and many subforms of fallacies of argumentative validity and (6) adequacy is developed, following the list of positive conditions of validity and adequacy. In addition to many new types of fallacies, this systematization contains the most important of the traditionally known and named fallacies; these are explained and the criteria for some of them are corrected or put more precisely.     

Experience and self-consciousness

Does all conscious experience essentially involve self-consciousness? In his Subjectivity and Selfhood: Investigating the First-Person, Dan Zahavi answers “yes”. I criticize three core arguments offered in support of this answer—a well-known regress argument, what I call the “interview argument,” and a phenomenological argument. Drawing on Sartre, I introduce a phenomenological contrast between plain experience and self-conscious experience. The contrast challenges the thesis that conscious experience entails self-consciousness.