Adaptation of Neuromuscular Synergies During Intentional Constraints of Space-Time Relationships in Human Gait

Tight frequency-to-amplitude relationships are observed in spontaneous human steady gait. They can be modified, if required; that flexibility forms a fundamental basis of the intentional adaptive capabilities of locomotion. In the present experiments, the processes underlying that flexibility were investigated at both the level of joint kinematics and the level of neuromuscular synergies. Subjects (N = 4) walked at the same speed either with a preferred or a nonpreferred frequency-to-amplitude relationship (i.e., constrained, short steps at a high frequency [COS condition] or constrained, long steps at a low frequency [COL condition]); their swing and stance phases were separately analyzed. In the COS condition, increases in EMG activity were specifically required during the swing phase. In the COL condition, several muscles required increases in EMG activity during the stance phase, but decreases of the hamstring muscles were needed during the swing phase. Whereas, in preferred walking, modification of the frequency affects the EMG patterns globally (the gain increasing with the frequency in both the stance and swing phases), the present results show that changing the frequency in a constrained manner either affects the swing phase specifically or affects both phases, but in the opposite direction. That finding indicates mat a separate control is needed in both the swing and the stance phases.     

Pre´cis of Heidegger,Language, and World-disclosure

It is argued that Heidegger should be seen as something of a Kantian Idealist. Like Kant, Heidegger distinguishes two standpoints (transcendental and empirical) which we can occupy when we ask the question whether natural things depend on us. He agrees with Kant that from the empirical or human standpoint we are justified in saying that natural things do not depend on us. But in contrast with Kant, Heidegger argues that from the transcendental standpoint we can say neither that natural things do depend on us, nor that they do not. His reasons for saying this, however, represent an attempt to rework both Kant's temporal idealism and his temporal interpretation of the concept of an object (which shows up in Heidegger as a temporal interpretation of being). Heidegger suggests that Kant was led astray into a transcendental idealism about natural entities, because he did not understand the implications of transcendental idealism about being.     

The self‐choice effects on memory and individual differences in emotional intelligence

The present study examined the self‐choice effects on intentional memory and the relation between individual differences in emotional intelligence, and the size of the self‐choice effects. Word pairs were supplied to the participants in either a self‐choice or forced‐choice condition. In the self‐choice condition the participants were asked to choose one of the words that elicited more pleasant or more unpleasant episodes, and to remember the chosen word. In the forced‐choice condition one of the paired words was underlined to signify that it was the word to remember. For participants who chose a word that elicited more pleasant episodes, self‐choice effects were observed in pleasant‐pleasant and pleasant‐unpleasant word pairs. However, for participants who were asked to choose a word that elicited more unpleasant episodes, the effects were found in unpleasant‐unpleasant and pleasant‐unpleasant word pairs. The size of the self‐choice effects was determined by the level of emotional intelligence.     

On Behalf of J. S. Mill's ‘Assumption of Infallibility’ Argument

According to the Cambridge Platonist Henry More, individual ‘spirits’ – the souls of humans and non-human animals – are extended but cannot be physically divided. His contemporaries and recent commentators have charged that More has never given an explication of the grounds on which the indivisibility of spirits is based. In this article, I suggest that exploring the usage that More makes of the analogy between spirits and light could go some way towards providing such an explication. More compares the relation between spirit and matter to the relation that, according to Aristotelian theories of light, holds between ‘intentional species’ and matter. I will argue that the purpose of his comparison is to highlight that both intentional species and spirits are existentially independent from matter. The existential independence of intentional species from matter expresses itself in the fact that light is not moved through the motion of the illuminated body. The existential independence of spirits from matter expresses itself in the fact that when a body that is coextensive with a spirit is divided, the spirit is not thereby divided but rather contracts into the remaining living organism.     

两种范式下有意遗忘的实验研究

本文以英语词汇为材料,采用自由回忆和再认测验作为外显记忆测验,词干补笔测验作为内隐记忆测验,探讨小学五年级学生在单字范式与字表范式下的有意遗忘效应及其机制。结果发现:(1)单字范式下,三种测验中都存在有意遗忘效应;而字表范式下,只有词干补笔和自由回忆测验中存在有意遗忘效应;(2)三种测验中,单字范式下记忆项与遗忘项的差异显著高于字表范式下二者的差异。这表明,两种范式下有意遗忘效应产生的机制是不一致的,且相较于字表范式,单字范式下有意遗忘效应更显著。     

Emotional enhancement of immediate memory: Positive pictorial stimuli are better recognized than neutral or negative pictorial stimuli

We examined emotional memory enhancement (EEM) for negative and positive pictures while manipulating encoding and retrieval conditions. Two groups of 40 participants took part in this study. Both groups performed immediate implicit (categorization task) and explicit (recognition task) retrieval, but for one group the tasks were preceded by incidental encoding and for the other group by intentional encoding. As indicated by the sensitivity index (d'), after incidental encoding positive stimuli were easier to recognize than negative and neutral stimuli. Participants' response criterion was more liberal for negative stimuli than for both positive and neutral ones, independent of encoding condition. In the implicit retrieval task, participants were slower in categorizing positive than negative and neutral stimuli. However, the priming effect was larger for emotional than for neutral stimuli. These results are discussed in the context of the idea that the effect of emotion on immediate memory enhancement may depend on the intentionality to encode and retrieve information.     

Evolutionary autonomous agents and the naturalization of phenomenology

The phenomenological goal of grounding the content of conceptual thought in the background understanding of everyday, skillful coping was approached using evolutionary autonomous agent (EAA) methodology. The behavior of an EAA evolved to perform a specified motor task was identified with skillful coping. Changes in the dynamics of the EAA controller occurred when the EAA encountered an unexpected obstacle with loss of longer time scale components in its hierarchical temporal organization. These temporal changes are consistent with the phenomenological changes which we experience with breakdown during equipment use with our adoption of a more immediate, determinate stance. Since this latter experience is the basis of conceptual thought, the EAA paradigm goes some way in providing a naturalized explanation for the grounding of the content of conceptual thought in everyday, skillful coping in a manner that is physiologically plausible and phenomenologically accurate.