The influence of flavor preexposure and test interval on conditioned taste aversions in the rat

The effects of flavor preexposure and test interval on conditioned taste aversions were examined in four experiments. In the first three experiments, prior experience with a flavor different from that used as a conditioned-stimulus (CS) produced attenuated aversions when testing occurred after a 1-day interval but not after a 21-day interval. Preexposure to the same stimulus used as a CS produced attenuated aversions at both 1- and 21-day intervals. In Experiment 4, a delay interval between flavor preexposure and conditioning eliminated the attenuating effect of preexposure, but only when different stimuli were used for preexposure and conditioning. These data could not be easily accounted for by contemporary interpretations of preexposure as an event that interferes with subsequent acquisition of a conditioned aversion. An alternative retrieval interference hypothesis was outlined.     

乾卦六龙的天文科学含义新解

本文认为乾卦六爻爻辞所说的“六龙”各种状态是苍龙星在一个回归年中所运动的不同天象。这种天象的观测年代,过去的研究都根据秦汉“二月二,龙抬头”等记载认为是春秋秦汉的实际观测。我们认为,其观测年代至少应早于西周晚期以前的乾卦爻辞形成年代;并根据秦汉易学中“建子起乾龙”“九二当太簇之月”的文献记载、甲骨文中“正月见龙”的记载以及仰韶文化时期的“(恙)和御龙”蚌塑图有力地证实了六龙天象的观测年代当与五帝虞夏的年代相当。同时认为,六龙天象的观测是先民们创制“六龙季历”的天文基础．“六龙季历”则是在古老的易占系统中流传的“易以三百六十析为期”的、刨制于原始社会晚期的一种太阳历。     

On matters of mind and body: regarding Descartes

In this paper the author considers Descartes’ place in current thinking about the mind‐body dilemma. The premise here is that in the history of ideas, the questions posed can be as significant as the answers acquired. Descartes’ paramount question was ‘How do we determine certainty?’ and his pursuit of an answer led to cogito ergo sum. His discovery simultaneously raised the question whether mind is separate from or unified with the body. Some who currently hold that brain and subjectivity are unified contend that the philosopher ‘split’ mind from body and refer to ‘Descartes’ error’. This paper puts forward that Descartes’ detractors fail to recognise Descartes’ contribution to Western thought, which was to introduce the Enlightenment and to give a place to human subjectivity. Added to this, evidence from Descartes’ correspondence with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia supports the conclusion that Descartes did in fact believe in the unity of mind and body although he could not reconcile this rationally with the certainty from personal experience that they were separate substances. In this Descartes was engaged in just the same dilemma as that of current thinkers and researchers, a conflict which still is yet to be resolved.     

Reading disability: A problem in rule learning and word decoding

Traditional explanations of reading disability (e.g., perceptual, memory, and phonetic receding deficits) have encountered logical difficulties and substantial empirical disconfirmation. An alternative conceptualization of the nature of reading disability is proposed. Disabled readers are hypothesized to suffer a fundamental problem in acquiring word knowledge and word processing skills. Poor decoding skills prevent them from developing sophisticated reading comprehension skills. From this perspective, the cognitive deficits of disabled readers result from failure to acquire and generalize complex processing skills originally mastered through reading experience. Recent research of the author and of others relating to these issues is discussed.     

Ear asymmetry in recognition of unfamiliar voices

Female right-handed subjects were presented with a memory set consisting of five unfamiliar female voices. They were then tested with a recognition procedure in which samples of voice, memory set or novel, 2 or 4 sec in duration, were heard in one ear and a competing noise stimulus was heard in the other ear. There was an overall left-ear advantage in accuracy of recognition. This advantage held particularly for identifications of memory-set voices in the second half of trials. Internal analyses indicated that the left-ear advantage could not be attributed to greater retroactive interference during right-ear presentation. Congruent with studies of recognition of unfamiliar faces, the findings suggested right-hemisphere superiority in the recognition of unfamiliar voices.     

Processing the intensity of dichotic syllables

Subjects were required to match the intensity levels of the left- and right-ear members of dichotically presented nonsense syllables. When subjects matched the overall average intensities of a sequence of differing dichotic pairs no ear differences were observed. When repetitions of single dichotic pairs were matched right-ear syllables were judged louder than left-ear syllables. The results support a model predicting left-hemisphere superiority in a task permitting higher-level encoding of speech input.     

Morphologic asymmetries of the face: A review

It has been suggested that asymmetries in the morphological properties of the face contribute to or produce asymmetries in facial emotional expression. Over 50 years of research on hard tissue, soft tissue, and facial surface asymmetries is reviewed here. Generally, it appears that if consistent asymmetry characterizes facial morphology, it is extremely small in magnitude or characterizes regions yet to be examined. In contrast, marked homology and asymmetry in regional size and area has been noted often. At present, it does not appear that asymmetry in facial morphology is associated with facial expressive asymmetry, with the latter more likely to be an outcome of functional brain asymmetry.     

Temporality and the torments of time

Immersion in time gives birth to consciousness, as well as conflict and torment. When human beings developed a sense of future, they also gained the ability to anticipate threats from nature or their fellow beings. They thereby created cultures that are bastions of survival, as well as places of poetry, art and religion where they could band together and reflect upon their common plight. The practice of psychoanalysis is in many ways a temporal process, a process of remembering, for owning and elaborating a past that gives us substance, thereby providing a basis for reflective consciousness. Stimulated by Freud's early writings, Lacan, Laplanche and their successors in particular have focussed extensively on time and psychoanalysis, and their views are a central point of this discussion. A substantial case study is offered that provides concrete examples of these perspectives. A multi‐faceted view of temporality emerges, one that is more syncopated than linear or teleological. In conclusion, I will briefly discuss recent findings in the neuroscience of memory and ‘time travel’ that underpin contemporary psychoanalytic ideas in surprising ways. It is important to remember that acceptance of the contradictory nature of temporal experience can open space for increased freedom and playfulness.     

教师成就目标的测量及其与学校目标结构的关系

首先,依据Elliot关于成就目标的能力界定标准和能力效价的理论构想,提出教师成就目标的理论结构。浙江省内外十多所中小学523份有效调查数据的探索性和验证性因素分析的结果表明,教师成就目标由6个因素构成,即:绝对-回避目标、个人-回避目标、参照-回避目标、个人-接近目标、参照-接近目标、绝对-接近目标。然后,利用浙江省内外另外十多所中小学625份调查问卷的结果,采用结构方程模型技术对教师成就目标和学校目标结构之间的关系进行了分析。结果表明,掌握目标结构对绝对-接近目标、个人-接近目标具有显著正效应,对绝对-回避目标具有显著负效应;成绩目标结构对绝对-接近目标、参照-接近目标、个人-回避目标和参照-回避目标具有显著正效应。