The effect of angle between the oblique lines on the decrement of the Müller-Lyer illusion with extended practice

Early work on the Müller-Lyer illusion had indicated that it disappears with extended practice. The present experiment failed to confirm this finding. The magnitude of the illusion decreased for approximately 500 trials, but showed no further change over an additional 500 trials. The rate of the practice decrement was inversely related to the size of the angle formed by the oblique lines of the figure.     

Insights into spared memory capacity in amnestic MCI and Alzheimer's Disease via minimal interference

Impairment on standard tests of delayed recall is often already maximal in the aMCI stage of Alzheimer's Disease. Neuropathological work shows that the neural substrates of memory function continue to deteriorate throughout the progression of the disease, hinting that further changes in memory performance could be tracked by a more sensitive test of delayed recall. Recent work shows that retention in aMCI patients can be raised well above floor when the delay period is devoid of further material - 'Minimal Interference'. This memory enhancement is thought to be the result of improved memory consolidation. Here we used the minimal interference/interference paradigm (word list retention following 10 min of quiet resting vs. picture naming) in a group of 17 AD patients, 25 aMCI patients and 25 controls. We found (1) that retention can be improved significantly by minimal interference in patients with aMCI and patients with mild to moderate AD; (2) that the minimal interference paradigm is sensitive to decline in memory function with disease severity, even when performance on standard tests has reached floor; and (3) that this paradigm can differentiate well (80% sensitivity and 100% specificity) between aMCI patients who progress and do not progress to AD within 2 years. Our findings support the notion that the early memory dysfunction in AD is associated with an increased susceptibility to memory interference and are suggestive of a gradual decline in consolidation capacity with disease progression.     

Induction, overhypothesis, and the origin of abstract knowledge. Evidence from 9-month-old infants

Human cognition relies on the ability to extract generalizable knowledge from limited evidence. One type of inductive learning, overhypothesis formation, allows learners to make inferences that take them beyond the limits of direct experience, leading to the creation of abstract knowledge. The developmental roots of this ability have yet to be investigated. We report three experiments examining whether 9-month-old infants are capable of forming overhypotheses. Our results show that when given evidence about a few objects in some category, infants formed a second-order generalization about categories in general. These findings provide evidence that infants possess a powerful mechanism for inductive learning-a mechanism that may be applied to many domains and that can account for the development of many inductive biases later on.     

Do 9-month-old infants expect distinct words to refer to kinds?

In 3 experiments, 9-month-old infants' expectations for what distinct count noun labels refer to were investigated. In Experiment 1, a box was opened to reveal 2 objects inside during familiarization: either 2 identical objects or 2 different objects. Test trials followed the same procedure, except before the box was opened, the contents were described using 2 distinct labels ("I see a wug! I see a dak!") or the same label twice ("I see a zav! I see a zav!"). Infants who heard a label repeated twice looked longer at 2 different objects versus 2 identical objects, whereas infants who heard 2 distinct labels showed a different pattern of looking. Experiments 2 and 3 presented infants with object pairs that only differed in shape or color, and it was found that infants expected the different-shaped (but not the different-colored) objects to be labeled by distinct count nouns. Because the property of shape is a cue to kind membership and the property of color is not, these results suggest that even at the beginning of word learning, infants may expect distinct labels to refer to distinct kinds of objects.     

Adaptation to displaced vision: Variations on the “prismatic-shaping” technique

Adaptation to displaced vision was measured, using three variations on Howard’s (1968) “prismatic shaping technique.” Over a series of 40 trials, a lateral displacement of 11.3 deg was introduced either gradually or suddenly. Both the amount of adaptation (negative aftereffect) and the accuracy of target localization at the completion of 40 trials were found to be directly related to the “suddenness” with which the displacement was introduced.     

Cognitive functioning after medial frontal lobe damage including the anterior cingulate cortex: a preliminary investigation

Two patients with medial frontal lobe damage involving the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) performed a range of cognitive tasks, including tests of executive function and anterior attention. Both patients lesions extended beyond the ACC, therefore caution needs to be exerted in ascribing observed deficits to the ACC alone. Patient performance was compared with age and education matched healthy controls. Both patients showed intact intellectual, memory, and language abilities. No clear-cut abnormalities were noted in visuoperceptual functions. Speed of information processing was mildly reduced only in Patient 2 (bilateral ACC lesion). The patients demonstrated weak or impaired performance only on selective executive function tests. Performance on anterior attention tasks was satisfactory. We tentatively suggest that our findings are inconsistent with anterior attention theories of ACC function based on neuroimaging findings. We propose that the data may imply that the ACC does not have a central role in cognition. We speculate that our findings may be compatible with the view that the ACC integrates cognitive processing with autonomic functioning to guide behaviour.     

Adaptation to displaced vision: Amount of optical displacement and practice

The influence of two variables, length of exposure and amount of optical distortion, on adaptation to displaced vision was examined. The extent of adaptation was positively related to number of trials in a task involving spatial localization of a target displaced by a wedge prism. A substantial adaptation (38%) was produced after only two trials. The adaptation was also positively related to degree of optical displacement, except at the highest level used. The findings are discussed in terms of availability of information about the discrepancy between vision and task.     

Adaptation to displaced vision—the influence of distribution of practice on retention

Subjects pointed to a target viewed through a laterally displacing wedge prism that gradually varied in strength from 0 to 20 diopters over a series of 42 trials. Trials were administered under conditions of massed or distributed practice. The aftereffect that resulted was measured immediately after exposure to the prism and at intervals of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 15 min. Distributed practice led to a gradual decrease in the aftereffect following prism exposure, whereas the massed practice condition produced a rapid decrease followed by a slight increase in the aftereffect.     

Distribution of practice and the Müller-Lyer illusion1

Two experiments were conducted to determine the influence of distribution of practice on the decrement of the Muller-Lyer illusion. In the first experiment, Ss judged the illusion figure 100 times per session in five sessions separated by intervals of seven days. In the second, Ss judged the figure 200 limes in a single session. The data were compared with those from an earlier experiment (Dewar, 1967) in which Ss judged the figure 100 times per session in five sessions separated by 24 h. In all three experiments two configurations of the illusion were used-one with a 60° angle between the obI ique lines and one with a 120° ang Ie. The distribution of practice did not influence the decrement of the illusion for the 120° figure. The only effect of this variable was to produce a more rapid practice decrement for the 60° figure when sessions of 100 trials were separated by a 24-h intewal.     

La Bohume

This paper critically assesses whether quantum entanglement can be made compatible with Humean supervenience. After reviewing the prima facie tension between entanglement and Humeanism, I outline a recently-proposed Humean response, and argue that it is subject to two problems: one concerning the determinacy of quantities, and one concerning its relationship to scientific practice.