Metaphysical Infinitism and the Regress of Being

This article offers a limited defense of metaphysical “infinitism,” the view that there are, or might be, infinite chains of ontological dependence. According to a widespread presupposition, there must be an ultimate ground of being—most likely, a plurality of fundamental atoms. Contrary to this view, this article shows that metaphysical infinitism is internally coherent. In particular, a parallel with the debate concerning infinitism about epistemic justification is suggested, and an “emergence model” of being is put forward. According to the emergence model, the being of any given entity gradually arises out of an infinite series of progressively less dependent entities—it is not wholly transmitted, as it were, from a basic, ungrounded level to all the dependent ones in a step‐by‐step fashion. Some objections are considered and rebutted.     

镜像神经在药物心理渴求中的作用及机制

心理渴求是物质依赖者希望重新感受神经活性药物效应的渴望,其神经机制的早期影像研究,主要集中在前额皮质和奖赏中枢.镜像神经是新近发现的位于动作脑区,能理解、分析所观察动作的目的和性质,并通过内隐模拟,产生直接映射式的情绪和认知的神经.最新的研究发现尼古丁成瘾者在相关线索的刺激下,其镜像神经也能被激活.本研究旨在探索镜像神经参与相关线索下心理渴求形成的机制,为发展更可靠的依赖行为的生物学标记提供另一个重要目标,帮助人们更好地理解药物渴求形成的神经生物学基础与过程.     

Examining the structure of emotional intelligence at the item level: New perspectives,new conclusions

Despite twenty years of research, many unknowns remain regarding the Mayer–Salovey (e.g., 1997) model of emotional intelligence (EI) and the validity of tests that have been designed to measure it. Evidence relevant to the internal structure of EI has come mainly from factor-analytic studies of the MSCEIT and the MEIS, utilising parcelled task scores rather than individual test items. This approach has several deficiencies: in addition to the loss of item-level information, it results in an insufficient number of observed variables per factor and an inability to separate structural sources of local item dependence (i.e., method variance) from construct-related variance. The present study (N=707) employed multidimensional item response modelling to investigate the dimensional structure of the MSCEIT, at the item level, for the first time. It is shown that item format and the specific choice of task explain far more of the variance in response patterns than does the hypothesised dimensional structure of EI, to the point that there is no empirical reason to prefer a higher-dimensional model of EI over a unidimensional model. It is argued that the advantage of an item-level perspective can be fundamental, rather than merely incremental.     

The Professor and the Saint

I review James E. Dittes' scholarship on St. Augustine through the perspective of my experiences as a student in his seminar on The `Theologies' of Freud and Jung, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Throughout this review, I emphasize Dittes' personal engagement with Augustine, and note his unabashed introspection as a mode of theological reflection.     

Psychometric and information processing properties of selected response time models

This paper discusses the compatibility of some response time (RT) models with psychometric and with information processing approaches to response times. First, three psychometrically desirable properties of probabilistic models for binary data, related to the principle of specific objectivity, are adapted to the domain of RT models. One of these is the separability of item and subject parameters, and another is double monotonicity. Next, the compatibility of these psychometric properties with one very popular information processing approach, the serial-additive model, is discussed. Finally, five RT models are analyzed with respect to their compatibility with the psychometric properties, with serial-additive processing and with some alternative types of processing. It is concluded that (a) current psychometric models each satisfy one or more of the psychometric properties, but are not (easily) compatible with serial-additive processing, (b) at least one serial-additive processing model satisfies separability of item and subject parameters, and (c) RT models will more easily satisfy double monotonicity than the other two psychometric properties.     

心理戒毒实验研究

1问题以往对毒品依赖者的临床治疗,偏重于躯体依赖的药物戒治,实践表明,克服戒断反应并不困难。然而,戒断反应消除了,毒瘾却并没戒除,表现是：复吸率非常高──达98％。如此之高的复吸率引起我们的注意：反复吸毒到底是一个生理问题还是一个心理问题？吸毒者在反复吸毒过程中追求的是什么？由此,导向另一个更深层次的问题：“戒毒要戒掉什么？”我们就此问题进行了调查,调查对象包括广州、探圳等戒毒所收治的150名吸毒者。结果显示：（1）开始吸毒时有非常强烈的情绪体验,这种情绪体验的强烈程度和愉快程度远远超过性交的体验。随…     

Drug effects on fixed-interval responding with pause requirements for food presentation.

In pigeons performing under a multiple schedule of food presentation, low key-pecking rates (0.18 to 0.29 responses per second) were maintained during 3-min fixed-interval components by requiring a 4-, 5-, or 6-sec pause preceding the food-delivery response (tandem DRL), while higher rates (0.70 to 1.37 responses per second) were maintained in alternative fixed-interval components by requiring a pause of no more than 40 msec preceding the food-delivery response (tandem DRH). Thus, reinforcement density was equal but overall response rates markedly different in the two schedule components. Pentobarbital (3, 10 mg/kg) had effects on overall rates of responding consistent with a rate-dependency interpretation (low rates were increased while higher rates were decreased), but d-amphetamine (0.03 to 3 mg/kg) either failed to increase low overall rates in the tandem DRL components or increased them only slightly. Effects of both drugs on local responding within the fixed-intervals were always related in an orderly way to control response rate, but the extent of rate increases produced by d-amphetamine was modifed in some birds by pause requirements such that the drug increased comparable rates less when these occurred in the tandem DRL component than when they occurred in the tandem DRH components. Control rate is an important determinant of drug effects, independent DRH components. Control rate is an important determinant of drug effects, independent of reinforcement density maintaining rates, and independent of environmental influences, such as response-spacing requirements for food presentation, that can modify the extent of some drug-produced rate changes.     

Double Depression in Men: Does It Exist?

Differences between male veterans diagnosed with major depression alone and male veterans diagnosed with both major depression and dysthymia (double depression) were investigated. Assessment instruments included the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R). Consistent with prior literature, it was hypothesized that male veterans diagnosed with both major depression and dysthymia display more severe depressive symptomatology and other forms of psychopathology than male veterans diagnosed with major depression alone. Results did not corroborate these hypotheses. Patients with double depression (n = 17) yielded BDI and SCL-90-R scores which did not differ significantly from those of patients with major depression alone (n = 14). Our results call into question the existence of double depression among men, a disorder whose existence has been demonstrated primarily among women.