Psychopathology and behavior problems in children and adolescents with Williams syndrome: Distinctive relationships with cognition

Several studies have documented the high prevalence of psychopathology and behavior problems in Williams syndrome (WS). However, the links between cognitive development and such symptoms need further clarification. Our study aims to expand current knowledge on levels of behavior problems and its links to cognition in a sample of Brazilian individuals with WS. A total of 25 children and adolescents with WS and their parents participated in this study. The participants’ IQs were assessed with the Wechsler Scales of Intelligence (for children or adults) and parental reports of psychopathology/behavior problems were collected using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The presence of clinically significant attention problems was a main feature in our sample of children and adolescents with WS. In the children, higher IQ scores were found to be significantly associated with less externalizing problems, while in the adolescents cognitive abilities were found to be associated with less internalizing symptoms. These results provide further insight into the links between psychopathology and behavior problems and cognitive abilities in WS, and suggest the need to take age into consideration when analyzing such relationships.     

Reasons and doubt in Dharmottara and his critics

This paper examines the role of doubt in the classification of inferential reasons in Dharmottara’s Nyāyabindu?īkā, and in the works of his Nyāya rivals Ke?avami?ra and Jayantabha??a. As deeply systematic thinkers, larger themes in these philosophers’ metaphysics directly determine the more local issues in epistemology and inferential theory, helping to explain, and show the significance of, the differences in their accounts of inferential reasons. For Ke?ava, an ontology which includes real universals allows for an externalist, reliabilist epistemology, on which the conditions for a genuine inferential reason can be stated in an absolute (as opposed to cogniser-relative) manner. For Dharmottara, on the other hand, an ontology in which mentally constructed universals are imposed upon real particulars leads to greater dependency on the cognising agent, such that the triple conditions for the inferential reason are formulated in a cogniser-relative way. These differences lead to a more restrictive list of acceptable reasons on Dharmottara’s part, which excludes cases involving doubt.     

语音意识、命名速度和语素意识在汉语阅读发展中的作用

以123名小学四、五年级汉语儿童为研究对象,采用回归分析、结构方程模型探讨语音意识、命名速度和语素意识在阅读能力不同方面（准确性、流畅性和理解）的作用。结果显示,语音意识、命名速度和语素意识都是影响阅读能力的重要认知因素,但对不同方面阅读能力的作用存在差异：（1）语音意识、命名速度和语素意识均直接影响阅读准确性,且语素意识的贡献相对较大;（2）命名速度除直接影响阅读流畅性外,还通过阅读准确性的部分中介作用影响阅读流畅性,而语音意识和语素意识则通过阅读准确性的完全中介作用影响阅读流畅性;（3）语音意识、命名速度和语素意识对阅读理解均无直接影响,分别通过阅读准确性和阅读流畅性间接影响阅读理解。     

Priors in perception: Top-down modulation,Bayesian perceptual learning rate,and prediction error minimization

I discuss top-down modulation of perception in terms of a variable Bayesian learning rate, revealing a wide range of prior hierarchical expectations that can modulate perception. I then switch to the prediction error minimization framework and seek to conceive cognitive penetration specifically as prediction error minimization deviations from a variable Bayesian learning rate. This approach retains cognitive penetration as a category somewhat distinct from other top-down effects, and carves a reasonable route between penetrability and impenetrability. It prevents rampant, relativistic cognitive penetration of perception and yet is consistent with the continuity of cognition and perception.     

有关条件推理中概率效应的实验研究

通过预备实验选取了四种不同条件概率的条件规则和四种不同前后件概率组合的条件规则作为实验材料,以大学生为被试,考察了两种概率因素(条件概率和前后件概率)对条件推理的演绎形式(MP、DA、AC、MT)以及变通形式(四卡问题)的影响。结果表明,两种概率因素对四种条件推理的影响都非常显著,研究进一步证实了人们对四种推理的认可程度主要与范畴前提的概率成正比的结论;但概率因素对四卡问题的解决影响不明显。     

Evaluation of an intervention program for the reduction of bullying and victimization in schools

The present study evaluates the effect of an intervention program on the reduction of bullying and victimization in schools with a sample of 239 students aged 10–16 years old in Rome, Italy. The program deals with bullying and violence. It consists of three videos and a booklet that help students to develop the social cognitive competence skills to understand the negative consequences of aggressive behavior. The intervention was evaluated using an experimental design with pre‐test and post‐test analyses. Students were randomly allocated to experimental or control classes. Students completed a self‐report questionnaire in which they were asked to indicate on a 5–point scale how often they were victimized or bullied others. Victimization and bullying were assessed by using questions about specific types of actions, a composite measure of victimization and bullying, and a single question about victimization and bullying in general. Results showed that the program worked best for older students, but not for younger ones who in some cases reported an increased level of victimization after the intervention. For older students there was a decrease in victimization according to the sum of types of behavior for the experimental group, but an increase for the control group. The same result was found for direct victimization, having belongings stolen, and being called nasty names. Therefore, the program seemed to be beneficial for older students but possibly damaging for younger students. It is suggested that the program could have worked better with older students because of the cognitive skills it required. Younger students could have reported higher levels of bullying after the intervention because they became more sensitized to the topic of bullying. Aggr. Behav. 30:1–15, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

论述理解中逻辑有效与逻辑无效条件推理的研究

句法理论和心理模型理论是解释论述理解中逻辑有效 (如MP)与逻辑无效 (如AC)条件推理机制的两种不同观点。本研究通过两项实验旨在对这两种理论加以检测。实验要求被试阅读遵循MP或AC形式的故事后对故事结论的正确性做出判断。结果表明 ,在论述理解中 ,条件前提的语义联系强度影响MP推理 ;深思熟虑对MP和AC推理均产生影响。研究结果支持心理模型理论。     

左右半球在语篇理解中的协同作用

通过2例一侧颞叶损伤患者研究了一侧颞叶损伤及两侧半球的协同作用对语篇理解的影响,并探讨了发生此种影响的可能机制。结果表明一侧颞叶的损伤将导致患者语篇水平的理解障碍及语言推理能力的下降;提示语篇理解需双侧半球的协同作用,而推理能力下降可能是引发语篇理解障碍的原因之一。     

"The End of all our Exploring" in Science and Theology

Abstract. The present malaise of religion—and of theology, its intellectual formulation—in Western society is analyzed, with some personal references, especially with respect to its history in the United Kingdom and the United States. The need for a more open theology that takes account of scientific perspectives is urged. An indication of the understandings of God and of God's relation to the world which result from an exploration starting from scientific perspectives is expounded together with their fruitful relation to some traditional themes. The implications of this for the future of theology are suggested, not least in relation to the new phase, beginning in 2003, of the development of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science. In a concluding reflection the hope is expressed that the shared global experience and perspectives generated by the sciences might form a more common and acceptable starting point than hitherto for the exploration towards God of the seekers of many religious traditions and of none.     

有关条件推理认知机制的概率理论

条件推理主要有两种研究范式：演绎形式(MP、DA、AC、MT)和变通形式(四卡问题)。已往研究主要探讨了内容因素、情境因素以及元认知因素等对条件推理的影响,形成了若干理论模型和观点。近来、Oaksford等人研究了概率因素对条件推理的影响．提出了条件概率模型。本文对这种新的研究取向作了详细的介绍和评价,并对未来研究进行了展望。