Putting lexical constraints in context into the visual-world paradigm

Prior eye-tracking studies of spoken sentence comprehension have found that the presence of two potential referents, e.g., two frogs, can guide listeners toward a Modifier interpretation of Put the frog on the napkin… despite strong lexical biases associated with Put that support a Goal interpretation of the temporary ambiguity (Tanenhaus, M. K., Spivey-Knowlton, M. J., Eberhard, K. M. & Sedivy, J. C. (1995). Integration of visual and linguistic information in spoken language comprehension. Science, 268, 1632–1634; Trueswell, J. C., Sekerina, I., Hill, N. M. & Logrip, M. L. (1999). The kindergarten-path effect: Studying on-line sentence processing in young children. Cognition, 73, 89–134). This pattern is not expected under constraint-based parsing theories: cue conflict between the lexical evidence (which supports the Goal analysis) and the visuo-contextual evidence (which supports the Modifier analysis) should result in uncertainty about the intended analysis and partial consideration of the Goal analysis. We reexamined these put studies (Experiment 1) by introducing a response time-constraint and a spatial contrast between competing referents (a frog on a napkin vs. a frog in a bowl). If listeners immediately interpret on the… as the start of a restrictive modifier, then their eye movements should rapidly converge on the intended referent (the frog on something). However, listeners showed this pattern only when the phrase was unambiguously a Modifier (Put the frog that’s on the…). Syntactically ambiguous trials resulted in transient consideration of the Competitor animal (the frog in something). A reading study was also run on the same individuals (Experiment 2) and performance was compared between the two experiments. Those individuals who relied heavily on lexical biases to resolve a complement ambiguity in reading (The man heard/realized the story had been…) showed increased sensitivity to both lexical and contextual constraints in the put-task; i.e., increased consideration of the Goal analysis in 1-Referent Scenes, but also adeptness at using spatial constraints of prepositions (in vs. on) to restrict referential alternatives in 2-Referent Scenes. These findings cross-validate visual world and reading methods and support multiple-constraint theories of sentence processing in which individuals differ in their sensitivity to lexical contingencies.     

Attentional biases in social anxiety: an investigation using the inattentional blindness paradigm

One line of research has examined attentional bias as a potential maintenance factor in social anxiety using cognitive experiment paradigms. The present study sought to examine the utility of the inattentional blindness (IB) paradigm for assessing attentional bias in social anxiety. Unlike other existing paradigms such as the emotional Stroop or dot-probe tasks, the IB paradigm has the advantage of eliminating the individual's expectation and intention to search for social cues, which would reduce strategic or effortful responses. Two independent experiments were conducted using college students scoring high or low on the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. In both Experiments 1 and 2, participants were randomized to one of three IB experiment conditions, in which a positive face, a negative face, or a neutral item was unexpectedly presented, in the presence/absence of a bogus-speech threat. The overall pattern of our data suggests the presence of hypervigilant attentional processing in social anxiety. The IB paradigm appears to be a useful addition to existing experiment paradigms for investigating attentional bias in social anxiety and perhaps other psychopathology.     

Continual training of attentional bias in social anxiety

Using the dot-probe paradigm, it has been shown that high social anxiety is associated with an attentional bias toward negative information. In the present study, individuals with high social anxiety were divided into two groups randomly. One group was the attentional bias training group (Group T), and the other was the control group (Group C). For Group T, 7 days' continuous training of attentional bias was conducted using the dot-probe paradigm to make socially anxious individuals focus more on positive face pictures. The results showed that the training was effective in changing attentional bias in Group T. Scores of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) in Group T were reduced compared to Group C, while the scores of Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and scores of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNE) showed no difference between the two groups, which suggested a limited reduction of social anxiety.     

Philosophy of science in Hungary

The report gives a survey of the Hungarian philosophy of science after 1973. The report throws some light on the history of Hungarian philosophy in the context of the political circumstances of the late sixties and seventies. It starts with the not so well-known history of persecution of philosophers in 1973. Then it treats the emergence of the philosophy of science focussing on the most significant representatives of this branch of philosophy, which was up to that time almost unknown in Hungary. Due to the fact that the important results in Hungarian philosophy of science run parallel with the reception and translation of the significant products of Western philosophy, such as Wittgenstein's, Popper's, Kuhn's, or Polanyi's works, the report gives relatively significant room to treat these achievements. The last part of the report presents a survey of the younger generation of the philosophers of science, concentrating on the most important insights.It is the sad duty of the editor to inform readers that Dr. Gabriella Ujlaki died shortly after finishing this Report.     

SEARCH FOR BELIEFS TO LIVE BY CONSISTENT WITH SCIENCE

Abstract. Instead of separating religion and science into "mutually incompatible realms," the new macromental paradigm of behavioral science permits integration of the two within a single consistent worldview. A new form of causal determinism combines conventional "bottom-up" with emergent "top-down" causation. Traditional materialist tenets are overturned, along with the science-values dichotomy, clearing the way for a science-based value/belief system. Intrinsic ethicomoral directives emerge in which a revised sense of the sacred would help protect the evolving quality of the biosphere, and the rights and welfare of future generations. Subsequent versions of today's changing worldview raise questions of which interpretation to believe. An analysis of "New Age" thinking is called for, and a brief attempt at such analysis is included.     

“Educating the Whole Body”: Addressing and Equipping the Imagination in Theological Education

This paper seeks to explore the relationship of the imagination to the processes of integration in theological education. It describes the way in which the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. addresses the imagination. It draws on those insights to summarise an understanding of imagination, particularly how imagination relates to conceptualisation and the naming of God. It then explores the way in which valuing the imagination effects pedagogy in pastoral theology. In conclusion, it names what might be involved in creating an environment in theological education that values and encourages the imagination.     

论主客同一的心理学研究范式

本文考察了主客同一研究范式的内涵、发展脉络及历史地位。作者认为,主客同一研究范式体现着心理学的人文科学定向,张扬的是人有别于自然物的“天使”形象,展示的是将人的心理、行为视作“生活”,试图从内部体验、直观以达成对人的独特本质洞察的“内观心理学”境界。它和主客二分研究范式均可在未来心理学中获得各自合理存在的空间。     

Is pain-related fear a predictor of somatosensory hypervigilance in chronic low back pain patients?

Pain-related fear has been found to be associated with increased disability and increased pain perception in patients with chronic low back pain. A possible mechanism by which pain-related fear could lead to increased pain perception is heightened attention to somatosensory sensations. In the present study, chronic pain patients reporting either a high or low level of pain related fear and control participants performed an auditory reaction time task, while occasionally non-painful electrical stimuli--accompanied by threatening instructions--were given to the arm or back. In the primary task condition, participants had to perform the auditory task while ignoring the electrical stimuli. Next, the task was presented under dual task conditions in which participants had to respond both to tones as well as to detection of electrical stimuli. It was hypothesized that for the primary task, high fearful patients would show greater disruption of performance on the auditory task than low fearful patients and controls when stimuli were presented to the back. For the dual task, slower reaction times for the auditory task, in combination with faster detection of electrical stimuli was expected. The hypotheses were not confirmed but patients scoring high on pain-related fear did show an overall increase in reaction time for all conditions of the primary task, with or without simultaneous stimulation. Regression analyses demonstrated that high pain-related fear was associated with increased reaction time to tones both in patients and healthy controls, and that within patients pain-related fear was a better predictor of reaction time to tones than present pain intensity. The findings may be interpreted as showing that patients with elevated levels of pain-related fear habitually attend to somatic sensations, giving less priority to other attention-demanding tasks.     

Influence of suggestion in the DRM paradigm: what state of consciousness is associated with false memory?

We assessed the effect of suggestion on the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm and associated it with the Remember–Know–Guess paradigm. Undergraduate students were given either lists of semantically related words or texts containing these words. After the recall task, if participants did not produce the critical lure, the experimenter suggested that the word had been present, using either a question (moderate suggestion) or an assertion (strong suggestion); these conditions were compared to a condition without suggestion. Afterwards, participants took a recognition test. The results showed that strong suggestions lead to more false recognitions than other conditions and the state of consciousness associated with false recognitions tends to be a feeling of knowing rather than remembering, regardless of the verbal version (list or text). Therefore moderate suggestions did not lead to more false recognitions compare to no suggestion. We discuss the impact of suggestion on consciousness associated with false memories.     

内隐记忆研究综述

近年来,内隐记忆逐渐成为心理学研究的热点。本文概述了内隐记忆研究中两种主要的实验研究范式;任务分离范式和加工分离范式。同时,归纳与评价了四种主要的内隐记忆模型：阈限说、激活扩散理论、多重记忆系统理论和迁移恰当加工理论最后提出了四点内隐记忆研究对于教学的启发。