Stimulus control and associative learning.

Interest in operant research on stimulus control has declined at the same time that much interest has burgeoned in nonoperant areas. Several examples of this shift toward traditional learning theory are considered, all of which have sponsored theoretical approaches that attempt to characterize the underlying associative units. These theoretical approaches are defended on the grounds that they have generated a deeper understanding of a variety of often puzzling phenomena. My projection is that future research will be determined even more strongly by theories about the structure of associations. Particular issues for which such discussion will have major impact include (1) whether conditional stimulus control is qualitatively different than simpler forms of stimulus control, (2) whether stimulus control is organized hierarchically, and (3) the origin of categories of stimulus equivalence.     

The Haunting of the Human Spirit

Understanding the human spirit, the thinking, motivating, feeling aspect of a person, need not entail supernatural reference in any more than a boundary sense. Methodological naturalism accounts for many putatively supernatural experiences in terms of naturalistic and scientific research. Fairy tales have natural functions, naturalistic accounts of miracles can have moral and spiritual power, and neuropsychological research can have value in understanding experiences of ghosts, apparitions, and presences. Even beliefs in personal immortality, at odds with current neurobiology, may serve a range of psychological functions and may raise more moral questions than they answer. Naturalistic accounts can make spiritual explorations possible where supernatural answers provide epistemic barriers.     

大学生形成析取概念的假设检验策略研究

运用布鲁纳等人设计的用以研究合取概念的实验材料,研究了大学生形成合取、维度内析取、维度间析取等人工概念的假设检验策略。结果表明,大学生倾向于优先使用单维检验策略（包括单维变化策略和单维肯定策略）。这种策略有利于很快解决合取问题和维度内析取问题,却不利于维度间析取任务的完成,因此大学生解决维度间析取的成功率显著低于合取和维度内析取。     

The Biological Function Paradigm Applied to the Immunological Self-Non-Self Discrimination: Critique of Tauber's Phenomenological Analysis

Biological self reference idioms in brain-centered or nervous-system-centered self determination of the consious Self reveal an interesting contrast with biological self-determination by immunological self/non-self discrimination. This contrast is both biological and epistemological. In contrast to the consciousness conscious of itself, the immunological self-determination imposes a protective mechanism against self-recognition (Coutinho et al. 1984), which adds to a largely unconscious achievement of the biological Self (Popper 1977; Medawar 1959). The latter viewpoint is in contrast with the immunological Self-determination as an essentially cognitive process as expressed in the analysis of Tauber (1994). Comparison of the immune system in vertebrates and invertebrates, according to new biological insights, has contributed to a better understanding of the relative role of innate (or inherited) immunity versus immunity acquired during each individual life. Also in this respect, immunological self-achievement shows both a striking analogy and a fundamental discrepancy with the activity of the nervous system. The analysis of immunological Self/non-self discrimination versus brain-centered self-determination adds to the understanding of the function paradigm in biological self-reference idioms, especially when regarding the importance of the connectivity notion in both systems. Adopting functional explanatory schemes for understanding immunological self-non-self discrimination, as well as for the understanding of functional mapping of the brain at (conscious) activity (Friston et al. 1993; Frith et al. 1995), forwards the notion of effective/functional connectivity. Network connectivity not only is a primary question in solving the dimensionality question for immunological ‘idiotypic networks’ (Jerne 1974a, b; 1984), it may also have an important value in describing phase transitions in the development of both immune and nervous systems. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Overshadowing the Reminiscence Bump: Memories of a Struggle for Independence

We describe a study in which young and older groups of Bangladeshi participants recalled and dated autobiographical memories from across the lifespan. Memories were subsequently plotted in terms of the age of participants at time of encoding. As expected the reminiscence bump, preferential recall of memories from the period of 10 to 30 years of age, was observed. This was very marked in the younger group and but less so in the older group who also showed a second bump in the period 35 to 55 years of age. This second bump corresponded to the period of national conflict between Pakistan and the Bengalee people that resulted in the formation of an independent Bangladesh. It is proposed that both the reminiscence bump and later periods of unexpected rises in recall can be accounted for by the raised accessibility of sets of memories and this in turn is a product of the privileged encoding of highly self-relevant experiences.     

Wave of Memory

This article explores theories of selfhood by juxtaposing them against an individual's lived experience. As Ronald Manheimer reflects upon his friendship with Hildegard, a student from one of the classes that he taught at a senior center in Olympia, Washington, he compares this experience with that described by various theories of selfhood. Building on the linguistic self, the narrative self, and the relational self, Manheimer posits a self that exists through time within a network of relationships, not a fixed determined self, but a dynamic self, subject to revision and reimagining.     

Causality assessment in epidemiology

Epidemiology relies upon a broad interpretation of determinism. This paper discusses analogies with the evolution of the concept of cause in physics, and analyzes the classical nine criteria proposed by Sir Austin Bradford Hill for causal assessment. Such criteria fall into the categories of enumerative induction, eliminative induction, deduction and analogy. All of these four categories are necessary for causal assessment and there is no natural hierarchy among them, although a deductive analysis of the study design is preliminary to any assessment.     

Gasoline conservation: a procedure for measuring and reducing the driving of college students

The study sought to motivate college students to reduce the number of miles they drove each day and thus save gasoline. Students in two psychology classes were divided by class into two groups. The experimental group was offered various combinations of prizes such as cash, a tour of a mental-health facility, car servicing, and a university parking sticker for reducing driving. The value of the prize received was scaled in terms of per cent reduction in driving. The contrast group received no inducements. The condition in which the experimental group's mileage reduction was reinforced was counterbalanced by two baseline conditions. Several special recording procedures were used to reduce and detect the possibility of subjects altering their odometers, the source of the driving data. Experimental subjects reduced their average daily mileage by 20% relative to the initial baseline; the contrast group did not change. During the one-month reinforcement condition, the 12 experimental subjects saved some 170 gallons (worth $102) of gasoline.