Vestibular influence on auditory metrical interpretation

When we move to music we feel the beat, and this feeling can shape the sound we hear. Previous studies have shown that when people listen to a metrically ambiguous rhythm pattern, moving the body on a certain beat--adults, by actively bouncing themselves in synchrony with the experimenter, and babies, by being bounced passively in the experimenter's arms--can bias their auditory metrical representation so that they interpret the pattern in a corresponding metrical form [Phillips-Silver, J., & Trainor, L. J. (2005). Feeling the beat: Movement influences infant rhythm perception. Science, 308, 1430; Phillips-Silver, J., & Trainor, L. J. (2007). Hearing what the body feels: Auditory encoding of rhythmic movement. Cognition, 105, 533-546]. The present studies show that in adults, as well as in infants, metrical encoding of rhythm can be biased by passive motion. Furthermore, because movement of the head alone affected auditory encoding whereas movement of the legs alone did not, we propose that vestibular input may play a key role in the effect of movement on auditory rhythm processing. We discuss possible cortical and subcortical sites for the integration of auditory and vestibular inputs that may underlie the interaction between movement and auditory metrical rhythm perception.     

Exemplars, prototypes, similarities, and rules in category representation: an example of hierarchical bayesian analysis

This article demonstrates the potential of using hierarchical Bayesian methods to relate models and data in the cognitive sciences. This is done using a worked example that considers an existing model of category representation, the Varying Abstraction Model (VAM), which attempts to infer the representations people use from their behavior in category learning tasks. The VAM allows for a wide variety of category representations to be inferred, but this article shows how a hierarchical Bayesian analysis can provide a unifying explanation of the representational possibilities using 2 parameters. One parameter controls the emphasis on abstraction in category representations, and the other controls the emphasis on similarity. Using 30 previously published data sets, this work shows how inferences about these parameters, and about the category representations they generate, can be used to evaluate data in terms of the ongoing exemplar versus prototype and similarity versus rules debates in the literature. Using this concrete example, this article emphasizes the advantages of hierarchical Bayesian models in converting model selection problems to parameter estimation problems, and providing one way of specifying theoretically based priors for competing models.     

CONSCIOUSNESS AND QUANTUM MECHANICS: OPTING FROM ALTERNATIVES

We present a model of a fundamental property of consciousness as the capacity of a system to opt among presented alternatives. Any system possessing this capacity is “conscious” in some degree, whether or not it has the higher capacity of reflecting on its opting. We argue that quantum systems, composed of microphysical particles, as studied by quantum mechanics, possess this quality in a protomental form. That is, such particles display the capacity to opt among alternatives, even though they lack the ability to experience or communicate their experiences. Human consciousness stands at the opposite end of the hierarchy of conscious life forms as the most sophisticated system of which we have direct acquaintance. We contend that it shares the common characteristic of a system capable of opting among alternatives. Because the fundamental property of consciousness is shared by human beings and the constituents of elementary matter in the universe, our model of consciousness can be considered as a modified form of panpsychism.     

The Development of Aggression During Adolescence: Sex Differences in Trajectories of Physical and Social Aggression Among Youth in Rural Areas

To describe trajectories of aggressive behaviors for adolescents living in rural areas, we compared the patterns, timing and sex differences in development of physical and social aggression using five waves of data collected from youth in school surveys administered over 2.5 years. The sample (N = 5,151) was 50.0% female, 52.1% Caucasian and 38.2% African-American. Multilevel growth curve models showed that physical and social aggression followed curvilinear trajectories from ages 11 to 18, with increases in each type of aggression followed by subsequent declines. Physical aggression peaked around age 15; social aggression peaked around age 14. Boys consistently perpetrated more physical aggression than girls, but the trajectories were parallel. There were no sex differences in the perpetration of social aggression. Given the characteristics of the developmental trajectories observed, interventions with both boys and girls targeting physically and socially aggressive behaviors are needed in early adolescence to slow the development of aggression.     

腹腔镜手术治疗子宫内膜异位症的临床价值

子宫内膜异位症是妇科常见病、多发病之一,可引起痛经、慢性盆腔痛、性交痛和不孕等症状,严重影响育龄期妇女的身心健康和生活质量,日益受到人们的关注。以人为本,微创手术是当代医学的模式之一。本文从哲学的角度出发、以辩证的观点对腹腔镜手术治疗子宫内膜异位症的临床价值进行综述。     

网络成瘾者的大脑异于常人吗?

研究网络成瘾者的大脑是否异于常人的问题有助于对网络成瘾进行定性、诊断和治疗。近年来认知神经科学研究发现, 与正常人相比, 网络成瘾者的大脑主要存在四个方面的异常：①额叶和扣带回多部位存在结构性萎缩和功能退化, 导致其对上网行为的冲动控制出现障碍。②海马功能障碍, 导致其认知功能特别是工作记忆能力下降。③奖赏中枢功能代偿性增强, 可能与其多巴胺系统的功能异常有关。④内囊后肢的神经纤维结构较密、活性较高, 可能与其长时间兴奋性操作键盘、鼠标或游戏手柄有关。目前的研究结果至少说明：网络成瘾者的大脑存在一些功能性的、与物质成瘾者类似的异常, 但这些异常是否由网络成瘾导致, 以及这些异常是结构性的, 还是持久性的, 则还需要进一步的研究来证实。     

Spherical model of interests in Croatia

In order to analyze the validity of spherical model of interests in Croatia, three Croatian samples of primary school students (N = 437), secondary school students (N = 540) and university students (N = 630) were administered a translated version of the Personal Globe Inventory (PGI, [Tracey, T.J.G. (2002). Personal Globe Inventory: Measurement of the spherical model of interest and competence beliefs Monograph. Journal of Vocational Behavior 60, 113–172.]). Three aspects of model validity were analyzed: the three-dimensional underlying structure of interest items, spherical arrangement of interest scales and accurate gender mean differences in interests. Principal component analysis confirmed the existence of three substantial factors underlying interest items, whose orientation and meaning is moderately related to theoretical one. Randomization test firmly approved the spherical representation of interest scales and its structural stability across different age and gender groups. Gender differences in interest were close to previous findings and logical expectations. Results have shown firm evidences of validity and gender and age universality of spherical model in Croatian adolescent and young adult samples.     

Mental Models: An Alternative Evaluation of a Sensemaking Approach to Ethics Instruction

In spite of the wide variety of approaches to ethics training it is still debatable which approach has the highest potential to enhance professionals' integrity. The current effort assesses a novel curriculum that focuses on metacognitive reasoning strategies researchers use when making sense of day-to-day professional practices that have ethical implications. The evaluated trainings effectiveness was assessed by examining five key sensemaking processes, such as framing, emotion regulation, forecasting, self-reflection, and information integration that experts and novices apply in ethical decision-making. Mental models of trained and untrained graduate students, as well as faculty, working in the field of physical sciences were compared using a think-aloud protocol 6 months following the ethics training. Evaluation and comparison of the mental models of participants provided further validation evidence for sensemaking training. Specifically, it was found that trained students applied metacognitive reasoning strategies learned during training in their ethical decision-making that resulted in complex mental models focused on the objective assessment of the situation. Mental models of faculty and untrained students were externally-driven with a heavy focus on autobiographical processes. The study shows that sensemaking training has a potential to induce shifts in researchers' mental models by making them more cognitively complex via the use of metacognitive reasoning strategies. Furthermore, field experts may benefit from sensemaking training to improve their ethical decision-making framework in highly complex, novel, and ambiguous situations.     

Sequent Calculi for Some Strict Implication Logics

We introduce various sequent systems for propositional logicshaving strict implication, and prove the completeness theoremsand the finite model properties of these systems.The cut-eliminationtheorems or the (modified) subformula properties are provedsemantically.     

Social network analysis: A methodological introduction

Social network analysis is a large and growing body of research on the measurement and analysis of relational structure. Here, we review the fundamental concepts of network analysis, as well as a range of methods currently used in the field. Issues pertaining to data collection, analysis of single networks, network comparison, and analysis of individual-level covariates are discussed, and a number of suggestions are made for avoiding common pitfalls in the application of network methods to substantive questions.