THE ROLE OF FEEDBACK IN VOLUNTARY CONTROL OF BLOOD PRESSURE IN INSTRUCTED SUBJECTS1

Forty normal male volunteers were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions and instructed to raise and lower their systolic blood pressure. Subjects received either beat-to-beat feedback contingent on pressure changes, noncontingent beat-to-beat feedback, noncontingent feedback presented randomly with respect to the occurrence of each heart beat, or instructions alone. The order of increase and decrease trial blocks was counterbalanced across groups. Subjects receiving contingent feedback were monetarily rewarded for appropriate pressure changes. Subjects receiving noncontingent feedback received rewards and feedback equal to the mean received by the contingent group. Subjects in the instructions-only condition were also paid this bonus but were informed of their earnings only at the conclusion of the experiment. Results indicated that in the presence of instructions, feedback, whether contingent or noncontingent, added little to subjects' ability to control pressure during a single session. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

Memory monitoring and memory performance: Linked closely or loosely?

Summary An experimental test of the metamemory hypothesis claiming a substantive positive relationship between memory monitoring and memory performance is provided. Forty-eight university students learned a set of abstract nouns. They were either instructed to make use of monitoring activities (experimental group), simply to learn the words (control-1) or to use non-metacognitive learning strategies (control-2). Prior to recall, the subjects had to predict the number of items they expected to remember. The experimental predictions were derived on two levels. First, prediction accuracy should be best for the experimental group. This is a necessary prerequisite for a valid test of the second prediction, namely that memory performance, too, should be best for the experimental group. Whereas the first prediction was confirmed, the second, vital for the metamemory hypothesis, was not. Thus, this hypothesis did not stand up to an experimental test, but would have been confirmed if tested by the correlation between prediction accuracy and memory performance.     

Lifelong Education: From Conflict to Consensus?

The concept of lifelong education received wide criticism and rejection in many educational circles in the 1970s. Recent developments in educational research and the increasing influence of postmodernist thought, the paper argues, are major factors in the return to favour of lifelong education. While a postmodern society is one characterised more by conflict than by consensus, the paper suggests that consensus on the importance of lifelong education might be one precondition for such a society.     

Tom Burke,Dewey's New Logic: A Reply to Russell

Studies in Philosophy and Education -     

Are names ever mapped onto preexisting categories?

Support for Mervis's (1987) proposal that youngsters map new common nouns onto attribute cluster categories was obtained. In 3 studies, preschoolers interpreted a novel noun as if it designated a preexposed category. Experiment 3 included a group of adults who behaved similarly. Mapping was independent of the tendency to generalize according to shape. Neither age group mapped onto preexisting categories when making object similarity judgments, but preexposure did bias their naming of the objects' colors. Those who had examined sets containing 2 colors, both of which covaried with other bivalent dimensions, used more distinctive names for these hues than those preexposed to sets containing 6 colors, none of which covaried with bivalent dimensions.     

Prediction accuracy and memory performance: Correlational and experimental tests of a metamemory hypothesis

Summary In the performance prediction paradigm both a prediction of subjects' own memory performance (P) and their actual performance (A) are assessed. Prediction accuracy (PA) has been regarded as a measure of memory monitoring which in turn was assumed to be related positively to memory performance. A popular approach to test this metamemory hypothesis is based on correlations between measures of PA and of A. This approach is reexamined critically with regard to two classes of problems. The first is concerned with the definitions of at least six different PA measures represented in the literature. The second refers to statistical artifacts resulting from the part-whole character of the correlations between PA and A. Proceeding from the conclusion that a valid test of the metamemory hypothesis is not possible on the basis of correlations of PA and A, we propose an experimental procedure that properly permits the testing of the hypothesis that the utilization of monitoring activities during learning yields higher levels of memory performance.     

Design of a noninvasive face mask for ocular occlusion in rats and assessment in a visual discrimination paradigm

The rat visual system is structured such that the large (>90?%) majority of retinal ganglion axons reach the contralateral lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and visual cortex (V1). This anatomical design allows for the relatively selective activation of one cerebral hemisphere under monocular viewing conditions. Here, we describe the design of a harness and face mask allowing simple and noninvasive monocular occlusion in rats. The harness is constructed from synthetic fiber (shoelace-type material) and fits around the girth region and neck, allowing for easy adjustments to fit rats of various weights. The face mask consists of soft rubber material that is attached to the harness by Velcro strips. Eyeholes in the mask can be covered by additional Velcro patches to occlude either one or both eyes. Rats readily adapt to wearing the device, allowing behavioral testing under different types of viewing conditions. We show that rats successfully acquire a water-maze-based visual discrimination task under monocular viewing conditions. Following task acquisition, interocular transfer was assessed. Performance with the previously occluded, ??untrained?? eye was impaired, suggesting that training effects were partially confined to one cerebral hemisphere. The method described herein provides a simple and noninvasive means to restrict visual input for studies of visual processing and learning in various rodent species.     

From ‘Polytheists’ to ‘Partners in the Nation’: Islamist Attitudes Towards Coptic Egyptians in Post-revolutionary Egypt (2011–2013)

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Islamist and Salafi organizations, some of them with a violent past, emerged as political actors and displayed a consistent effort to appear as serious and inclusive political contenders. This article studies the attitudes of actors such as the Salafi Nur Party and al-Gamā?a al-Islāmiyya towards Coptic Egyptians in the post-revolutionary phase (2011–2013). It offers a perspective on how these actors navigated between the new political realities and their ideological positions. It argues that Islamist perceptions of the Copts have changed in response to the actions of the latter and that this is pivotal for understanding political attitudes, which seemed at times both moderate and dogmatic, volatile and contradictory. I therefore aim to go beyond the idea of ‘the Copts’ as a silent and homogenous minority and instead integrate the new form of Coptic activism which became visible and vocal after 2011. This approach helps towards a better understanding of how ‘the Copts’ appeared simultaneously in Salafi political discourses as useful political tools, infidels, enemies and equal citizens.