知觉场理论对面孔知觉年龄偏差效应的解释

使用融合面孔范式和倒置面孔范式来研究面孔知觉的年龄偏差效应,检验知觉场能否作为面孔整体加工的指标,并以此发展年龄偏差的整体加工解释。结果发现：（1）成人和儿童在加工正立面孔时的知觉场均大于加工倒置面孔时的知觉场;（2）在加工正立面孔时,成人加工本年龄面孔比加工他年龄面孔的知觉场更大。上述结果表明：（1）知觉场大小可以作为面孔整体加工的指标,且受面孔朝向的影响;（2）知觉场假设可以解释面孔的年龄偏差效应。     

Oneiric activity and the analytical process A semiotic perspective on Willy Baranger's theory of dreams1

This author reconsiders, from a semiotic perspective, the theoretical and technical ideas developed by Willy and Madeleine Baranger, especially W. Baranger's views on the function of dreams, the status of oneiric symbols and the further clinical‐technical use of dreams in the context of the intersubjective dynamic fi eld, together with the basic unconscious fantasy that emerges in the analytic situation. She attempts to relate the Barangers' ideas to others arising from Peirce's analytic semiotics that would support a triadic conceptualization of dreams. The need to incorporate a pragmatic view of communication and of the processes of production of sense as contributions to dream metapsychology and interpretation in the case of non‐neurotic patients is particularly emphasized. On the basis of the hypothesis of a described series of triads underlying the production and retelling of dreams, the acknowledgment of these produced/told dreams as intentional signs allows the presence of a continuous process of semiosis to be proposed. The author introduces clinical material to illustrate the communicative value of dreams through the textual analysis of the report and accompanying associations of three dreams. Such analysis takes a linguistic pragmatics approach that examines those aspects of meaning not accounted for by a restricted semantic theory.     

MICHAEL POLANYI'S DARING EPISTEMOLOGY AND THE HUNGER FOR TELEOLOGY

Abstract. The linking of Michael Polanyi's name with a center (now changed to another name) at Baylor University that espoused intelligent‐design theory calls for examination of Polanyi's teleology. This examination attempts to put Polanyi's epistemology in the perspective of his total philosophical work by looking at the clarification of teleology in philosophy of biology and in the framework of three major features of Polanyi's thought: open and truth‐oriented, purposive but open to truth, and transcendent yet intelligible. The conclusion is that Polanyi would not support intelligent design according to the nature of his own theory.     

Effects of background color on detecting spot stimuli in the upper and lower visual fields

Participants were required to detect spot stimuli briefly presented to the upper, central, or lower visual fields. The stimuli were presented either on a green or a red background. Results showed that reaction time (RT) was shorter for the lower visual field (LVF) compared to the upper visual field (UVF). Furthermore, this LVF advantage was significantly reduced in the red background condition compared to the green one. A red light is known to suppress activity of the magno-dominated stream. Therefore, the LVF advantage in RT can be explained as resulting from the biased representation of the magno-dominated stream in the LVF.     

Homotopy and heterotopy and the bilateral field advantage in the Dimond paradigm

Pairs of homotopic and heterotopic visual bilateral stimuli and pairs of unilateral visual stimuli were presented to 12 normal right-handed university students requiring a key press if they were of the same form. As predicted from the known histology of the corpus callosum (massive preponderance of homotopic fibers), homotopic presentations yielded significantly faster reaction times than heterotopic stimulations. Bilateral pairs of stimuli were also advantaged in comparison with unilateral trials, replicating Sereno and Kosslyn [Sereno, A. B., & Kosslyn, S. M. (1991). Discrimination within and between hemifields: a new constraint on theories of attention. Neuropsychologia, 29, 659-675]. Moreover, certain attentional processes have never been investigated in the Dimond paradigm and this study provides evidence to the effect that discriminative reaction times to stimulus pairs are strongly influenced by their proximity to the fixation point. In similar previous experiments, the homotopy/heterotopy observation and the bilateral field advantage may have been distorted by that particular confound, as well as several others.     

The bilateral effect: callosal inhibition or intrahemispheric competition?

The magnification of visual field asymmetry observed with bilateral compared to unilateral tachistoscopic presentation of homologous stimuli (bilateral effect) can be explained by two hypothetical processes: homologous activation with subsequent inhibition of callosal information transfer or intrahemispheric competition for processing resources. A lexical decision task with unilateral and bilateral stimulation and response with the right or left hand was used in an attempt to decide between these hypotheses. Analysis of response time data revealed a bilateral effect, superimposed on a right visual field advantage, and no interaction between visual field and response hand. Results are consistent with the hypothesis of intrahemispheric competition in the left hemisphere.     

Representation and misrepresentation: Tufte and the Morton Thiokol engineers on the Challenger

This paper examines the role of the Morton Thiokol engineers in the decisions surrounding the launch of the Challenger, particularly with reference to an analysis of this event by Edward Tufte. The engineers at Morton Thiokol recommended against the launch of Challenger because the projected launch temperature between 26°F to 29°F was far outside their field database of successful launches. The engineers had asked for, but not received, data necessary to determine the cause of massive blow-by on the launch the previous January, and they had informed their managers and NASA that continuing flights could be catastrophic if the cause of the problems with the launches was not discovered. The authors conclude that the engineers thus did what they were ethically as well as professionally obligated to do. This paper came about as a result of an experimental class called ‘The Challenger’ at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) which drew faculty from four different disciplines, teaching about various aspects of the Challenger disaster. Wade Robison was one of those professors, and David Hoeker and Stefan Young were members of the class in their freshman year as engineering students. We all owe thanks to the other professors in the class—Dominique LePoutre (Language and Interpreting Education, National Technical Institute for the Deaf), Erhan Mergen (College of Business), and Rose Marie Toscano (Liberal Arts Support, National Technical Institute for the Deaf). We also need to thank Stan McKenzie, Provost at RIT, and Kit Mayberry, Associate Provost, for their conceiving of the program that supported the class and for their financial and moral support. The paper has been presented at three conferences and circulated widely. We want to thank those who forced us to rework the paper because of their cogent queries, especially Michael Pritchard, David Suits, Steve Warshaw, and an anonymous reviewer.     

Dissociating prelexical and postlexical processing of affective information in the two hemispheres: effects of the stimulus presentation format

Using a lexical decision task, the authors investigated whether brain asymmetries in the detection of emotionally negative semantic associations arise only at a perceptually discriminative stage at which lexical analysis is accurate or can already be found at crude and incomplete levels of perceptual representation at which word-nonword discrimination is based solely on guessing. Emotionally negative and neutral items were presented near perceptual threshold in the left and right visual hemifields. Word-nonword discrimination performance as well as the bias to classify a stimulus as a "word" (whether or not it actually is a word) were assessed for a normal, horizontal stimulus presentation format (Experiment 1) and for an unusual, vertical presentation format (Experiment 2). Results show that while the two hemispheres are equally able to detect affective semantic associations at a prelexical processing stage (both experiments), the right hemisphere is superior at a postlexical, perceptually discriminative stage (Experiment 2). Moreover, the findings suggest that only an unusual, nonoverlearned stimulus presentation format allows adequate assessment of the right hemisphere's lexical-semantic skills.     

Opportunities of online analysis1

The question of whether tele-analysis is an acceptable way of conducting analysis has been discussed since it has become available. Merchant (2016) and others concluded that ‘the essentials of a genuine analytic process are not necessarily precluded’ (p. 1). In this paper, the author goes a step further and examines potential advantages of tele-analysis. There may be benefits for patients with a history of physical or sexual abuse who value the distance. The potential for a ‘safe place’ for work with erotic transference is also examined. In a further section the author is interested in allowing the analyst the freedom to practise in an authentic way, congruent with their personality. Also explored is the concept of the interactive field including the technological medium, which is subject to synchronistic events. Finally, the author gives examples of a deep connection between patient and analyst which came about despite the physical distance.     

THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN PANNENBERG'S THEOGICAL THINKING

Abstract. Employing categories derived from the philosopher of science Imre Lakatos, this essay analyzes the theological thought of Wolfhart Pannenberg, with the aim of showing that he is engaged in a research program that takes seriously the various sciences and their understanding of the world on the one hand and the traditions of Christian faith and theology on the other. The course of the argument demonstrates that Pannenberg's thought extends comprehensively to provide a conceptuality that centers on the phenomena of contingency and field and encompasses nearly every realm of science and the breadth of biblical and theological traditions.