Mood and Information Processing: When Happy and Sad Look the Same

Two studies were conducted to demonstrate that sad and happy moods can cause individuals to be similarly sensitive to the valence of observed stimuli with regard to how effortfully such stimuli are processed. In Study 1, individuals in whom a sad or happy mood had been induced unitized a behavior sequence less finely when its contents were neutral as opposed to positive. Individuals in a neutral mood state maintained a comparable level of unitization regardless of the valence of the behavior sequence. In Study 2, individuals in whom a sad or a happy mood had been induced processed the arguments in a persuasive communication more extensively when its contents were affectively uplifting rather than depressing. Sad individuals showed this pattern only if no prior affective expectation was provided. Taken together, these studies may fit with the notion that under certain conditions sad and happy individuals similarly decrease the amount of information processed from a neutral (Study 1) or depressing (Study 2), relative to a positive, stimulus.     

The Image of God as Techno Sapiens

Suppose there comes a day when Homo sapiens has evolved into or been overtaken by techno sapiens. Will it then still make sense to speak of human beings as created in the image of God? What is the relevance of asking such a question today? I offer a sketch of the present state of development and discussion in artificial intelligence (AI) and artificial life (AL) and discuss some implications for the human condition. Taking into account both reality and fiction in AI and AL, I hold that, regardless of the degree of realization, issues related to technological evolution inform the cultural agenda—at least the European–American one. I comment on antireductionist arguments and on arguments from philosophy and (history of) culture. I argue in favor of a consonance between neurotechnology and the Christian gospel in terms of realizing the marks of messianic life. However, issues of justice, reason versus nature, and perfection and finitude versus imperfection and immortality call for further illumination. Even though no principal opposition seems to exist between technological evolution and possible interpretations of the concept of the image of God (imago dei), a number of significant dissimilarities need to be addressed, such as the differences between technical improvement and forgiveness or transformation and between immortality and resurrection. The role of irregularity, disturbance, and error for creative processes in nature and culture is an exciting topic in science and technology as well as in theology.     

Laboratory Ritual: Experimentation and the Advancement of Science

Technical achievement in laboratories requires millennia–old ritual formulations; the methodological expectations and presuppositions of scientists stem not only from investigations of the last three centuries but also from the ritual knowledge making that has governed human religion. Laboratory research is a form of human ritual open to interpretation in the manner of religious ritual. The experiments of the laboratory are fact–gathering ventures, but the integration of that knowledge into our general understanding of a universe of information networks is the process of knowledge making, and it is the highest achievement of all rituals, be they religious or scientific. Ritual theory offers insight into the nature of scientific experimentation.     

在推理加工能力上学困生与学优生的比较研究

本研究采用模糊集论和信息论的方法,探讨了中小学学困生与学优生在不同记忆负荷条件下的推理加工。结果表明,学优生与学困生在高低两种记忆负荷条件下,已知信息的利用率和推理加工的效率都受到了影响。其中学困生的已知信息的利用率不如学优生,学困生的推理加工效率也不如学优生。     

4-10岁儿童对结果与意图信息整合能力的研究

本研究采用情绪判断归因作业,考察了4—10岁儿童在中性动机情境中,对结果与意图信息的整合能力。结果表明：在结果与意图匹配情境中,儿童以积极的情绪判断为主;在结果与意图不匹配情境中,儿童以消极的情绪判断为主。而在对情绪判断进行归因时我国儿童采用了更多的标准,经统计分析表明,在中性动机情境中,4—10岁儿童都已具备了整合结果与意图信息的能力。     

Verbal Declarative Memory Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: From Clinical Assessment to Genetics and Brain Mechanisms

The recent literature on the neuropsychology of schizophrenia has emphasized memory deficits as a key area of impairment. Abnormalities in the medial temporal lobe, a brain region crucial for long-term memory formation, have also consistently been reported. We conducted a comprehensive review of verbal declarative memory (VDM) in schizophrenia with the aim of systematically addressing the nature of this impairment. We conclude that verbal declarative memory is significantly impaired in schizophrenia and is largely accounted for by deficits in the encoding stage. Subtle impairments in increased rates of forgetting are present, but are mild compared with those in amnestic disorders. Impairment in other cognitive domains studied thus far (e.g., attention), medication effects, or fluctuations in symptoms do not completely account for the deficit. VDM is among the most impaired neurocognitive domains in schizophrenia (along with attention and executive functions). Milder encoding deficits are present in high-risk subjects and non-psychotic relatives of individuals with schizophrenia suggesting that components of the deficit are associated with a genetic vulnerability to the illness, and are independent of the frank psychotic illness. Furthermore, VDM is observed in individuals experiencing their first-psychotic episode and it remains fairly consistent over time. Preliminary imaging studies and other work suggest abnormalities in prefrontal-hippocampal processing networks. Future work should emphasize delineating specific information processing components contributing to the deficit. This would allow imaging studies to determine which brain regions contribute to specific information processing deficits in schizophrenia.     

Bounds on variances of estimators for multinomial processing tree models

When there are order constraints among the parameters of a binary, multinomial processing tree (MPT) model, methods have been developed for reparameterizing the constrained MPT into an equivalent unconstrained MPT. This note provides a theorem that is useful in computing bounds on the estimator variances for the parameters of the constrained model in terms of estimator variances of the parameters of the unconstrained model. In particular, we show that if X and Y are random variables taking values in [0,1], then Var[XY]?2(Var[X]+Var[Y]).     

新发现西周筮数的研究

长安西仁村西周时期陶拍上的数字卦是西周存在《周易》经文的证明。西仁村采集:2上的数字卦由纵线顺箭头方向环读,共有四组筮数,转化为《周易》卦爻,依次为师、比、小畜、履四卦。而采集:1上亦纵刻筮数两行,转化为《周易》卦爻,自右迄左依次为既济、未济二卦。由师至履、既济至未济两处局部卦序,不难推想当时所用《周易》的卦序大同于今传本卦序,而且可以看出当时已存在六十四卦“非覆即变”错综关系的概念。文章还分别对陕西扶风齐家村出土的一片有字卜骨上的文字与筮数、对北京房山镇江营出土的一片卜骨上的筮数进行了识读,并对它们所采用的揲蓍法进行了推测。在对房山镇江营卜骨进行识读后,还通过对镇江营和周原西周甲骨文字刻写特点的比较,否定了字迹刻写微小者出现早、疏大者出现晚的说法,同时又指出,镇江营与周原西周甲骨文字刻写特点的相似是西周与诸侯国燕在文化上密切相关的明显证据。     

Intuitive physics and cognitive algebra: A review

IntroductionIntuitive physics explores how people without a formal instruction in physics intuitively understand physical phenomena. After a general overview of the topics of current research in intuitive physics and a discussion of current debates, this paper provides an introduction to Information Integration Theory (IIT).ObjectiveBy means of examples, it is shown how IIT can be used to directly compare the algebraic structure of physical laws and the algebraic structure of cognitive representations of these laws.MethodThe review considers about 40 years of research on the application of IIT in the field of intuitive physics. Occasionally, reference is also made to intuitive physics studies outside this theoretical framework.ResultsThe reviewed studies highlight four main factors that affect the degree of consistency between physical laws and cognitive algebraic laws: the participants’ age, their familiarity with the event under study, the type of task, and possible learning processes.ConclusionThe last part of the article discusses the implications of the results of the reviewed studies for the two main current hypotheses on the nature of intuitive physics, namely, that intuitive physics may be based on sub-optimal heuristics or may be based on the internalization of physical laws.