Was sind “ek-statische Maschinen”? (Gedanken aus und zu: M. K. Mamardašvili,Wissenschaft und Kultur)

Ohne ZusammenfassungM. K. Mamardavili, Nauka i kul'tura, inMetodologieskie problemy istorikonaunych issledovanij, M., Nauka, 1982, str. 38–58. Zitate aus diesem Aufsatz werden im Text mit der in Klammern gesetzten Seitenzahl ausgewiesen.     

Optic aphasia, optic apraxia, and loss of dreaming

A 47-year-old man with a left temporo-occipital infarct in the area of the posterior cerebral artery is presented. The neuropsychological examination did not reveal aphasia or gross mental deficits. The patient presented with alexia without agraphia, color agnosia, but few visual perceptual deficits. The main impairment was in confrontation naming; he was incapable of naming objects and pictures, not from lack of recognition (excluding visual agnosia) but from lack of access to the appropriate word (optic aphasia). The patient also exhibited a deficit in the evocation of gesture from the visual presentation of an object (optic apraxia) and a difficulty in "conjuring up" visual images of objects (impaired visual imagery) and loss of dreams. The fundamental deficit of this patient is tentatively explained in terms of visuoverbal and visuogestural disconnection and a deficit of mental imagery.     

Towards Transparency by Design for Artificial Intelligence

Science and Engineering Ethics - In this article, we develop the concept of Transparency by Design that serves as practical guidance in helping promote the beneficial functions of transparency...     

Cognitive function, physical activity, and aging: possible biological links and implications for multimodal interventions

Increasing evidence shows the positive effect of physical activity (PA) on maintaining cognitive function. Both processes seem intrinsically linked to each other. The most likely mechanism is a reciprocal stimulation of neuroplasticity. Based on extensive experimental work on animals and humans, the concept of an enriched environment, including PA and challenging cognitive tasks, has provided the basis to systematically assess possible interventions for successful aging. I will use recent findings on brain mechanisms associated with PA and its effects on higher cognitive function at a systems and molecular level to demonstrate the need to design effective interventions. Such interventions should be designed to take advantage of the presumed compensatory mechanisms of elderly individuals, thereby limiting functional decline in higher cognitive performance in aging people. My review of the most recent relevant publications concerning this topic supports the notion that it is a promising approach to provide cognitive training and PA in conjunction, since the combination may generate synergistic beneficial changes than either one individually. Multimodal training programs should therefore be tested. However, at present there is insufficient evidence to conclude that multimodal interventions are superior to isolated cognitive or physical exercise interventions, since major studies addressing this topic are lacking. These studies are needed to conclusively prove that both strategies will positively interact when used in combined interventions. Finally the use of modern technology for these interventions will be discussed.     

Set-Point Theory and Societal Collapse: The Case of Russia

Can a society’s overall level of happiness change? Until recently, it was widely held that happiness fluctuates around set-points, so that neither individuals nor societies can lastingly increase their happiness. However, data from surveys carried out in Russia from 1982 to 2011 show that happiness fell substantially following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and has begun to rise again only recently. Additional data sources, including suicide rates and indices of negative affect expression, confirm these shifts. Contrary to set-point theory, we find that the recent increase has been driven as much by generational replacement as by mean reversion among individuals. The collapse of communism led to a permanent drop in subjective wellbeing among mid-life cohorts that was subsequently never fully recovered. Happiness can be substantially and permanently impacted by life-events, including those affecting society as a whole, and societal-level happiness can rise or fall over time as a result.     

The priority heuristic: making choices without trade-offs

Bernoulli's framework of expected utility serves as a model for various psychological processes, including motivation, moral sense, attitudes, and decision making. To account for evidence at variance with expected utility, the authors generalize the framework of fast and frugal heuristics from inferences to preferences. The priority heuristic predicts (a) the Allais paradox, (b) risk aversion for gains if probabilities are high, (c) risk seeking for gains if probabilities are low (e.g., lottery tickets), (d) risk aversion for losses if probabilities are low (e.g., buying insurance), (e) risk seeking for losses if probabilities are high, (f) the certainty effect, (g) the possibility effect, and (h) intransitivities. The authors test how accurately the heuristic predicts people's choices, compared with previously proposed heuristics and 3 modifications of expected utility theory: security-potential/aspiration theory, transfer-of-attention-exchange model, and cumulative prospect theory.     

Hedonic Intensity of Disappointment and Elation

This research is an investigation of the hedonic intensities of elation and disappointment following the outcomes of risky gambles using two principles: disappointment aversion and the principle of limited emotion processing. Disappointment aversion implies a stronger impact of disappointment compared with elation; the principle of limited emotion processing predicts a smaller impact of elation if it occurs with a real gain, and a smaller impact of disappointment if it occurs with a real loss. Both principles support each other in the gain domain but operate against each other in the loss domain. It was predicted that disappointment would outweigh elation in the gain domain. For the loss domain, this question was left open to empirical scrutiny. Participants were provided with hypothetical gambles and were required to imagine having won, not won, lost, or not lost, money. Results supported the prediction for the gain domain; mixed results emerged for the loss domain. The model adds to the understanding of the cognitive and emotional processes following the outcomes of risky events.     

The Cognitive Processes Underlying Risky Choice

In this article, we tested two concepts of decision making: expected utility theory and heuristic choice. In Experiment 1, we applied think‐aloud protocols to investigate violations of expected utility theory. In Experiments 2 to 4, we introduced a new process‐tracing method—called predict‐aloud protocols—that has advantages over previously suggested research methods. Results show the following: (i) people examine information between rather than within gambles; (ii) the priority heuristic emerges as the most frequently used strategy when problems are difficult; and (iii) people check for similarity when problems are easy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A cognitive‐emotional account of the shape of the probability weighting function

Research has shown a tendency of decision makers to overweight small probabilities and to underweight moderate and large probabilities. In standard treatments this is graphically modeled by an inverse S‐shaped probability weighting function. We suggest that emotions play a significant role in the shaping of the probability weighting function. In particular, the weighting function is proposed to be some function of objective probability, expected elation, and expected disappointment. The overweighting of small probabilities results from the anticipated elation after having won, given that winning was very unlikely. The underweighting of large probabilities results from anticipated disappointment after having failed to win, given that winning was very likely. Hence, probability is assumed to influence utility. Three experiments investigate these hypotheses. Experiments 1 and 2 show that a convex function relates probability to surprise. Experiment 3 elicits choice data and further supports the proposed hypotheses. The model adds to the understanding of the cognitive and emotional processes underlying the shape of the probability weighting function. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stationäre oder teilstationäre Psychotherapie?

In a pilot study we compared two groups, one of inpatients and one of day clinic patients who were treated between January 1999 and December 2001 at the Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapeutic Medicine in Freiburg/Germany. Both settings offer a similar, multimodal and intensive psychotherapy program on a psychodynamic background. In a first explorative data analysis (sociodemographic data, SCL-90-R, IIP-C) we studied differences in severity of initial symptomatology and differences in outcome (prae/post). Patients with anorexia nervosa and a very low weight were preferentially treated in the inpatient setting. In addition the inpatient group of patients with a somatoform disorder showed higher degrees of somatization, as compared to patients with a somatoform disorder in the day clinic. Therapeutic change with respect to psychopathology however did not differ between the two settings: both groups showed a significant improvement during the course of therapy.