Symmetry perception in humans and macaques

The human ability to detect symmetry has been a topic of interest to psychologists and philosophers since the 19th century, yet surprisingly little is known about the neural basis of symmetry perception. In a recent fMRI study, Sasaki and colleagues begin to remedy this situation. By identifying the neural structures that respond to symmetry in both humans and macaques, the authors lay the groundwork for understanding the neural mechanisms underlying symmetry perception.     

Relationship between language skills and academic achievement in first grade

The ability of scores on the Early Prevention of School Failure battery to predict Stanford Achievement Test scores was examined. Participants included 280 first-grade students who were administered the battery at the beginning of kindergarten and the Stanford Achievement Test at the end of first grade. Principal factor analysis based on the oblique rotation exhibited simple structure between scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, the Preschool Language Scale, and the Stanford Achievement Test (verbal or language factor), with the Draw-A-Man test and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration-Revised loading on a separate factor (motor factor). Results suggest that language-based skills were highly associated with later academic performance in school-aged children.     

Association between just world beliefs and perceptions of counterproductive workplace behaviors

320 adults rated 48 counterproductive workplace behaviors (CWBs) on a 9-point scale, from petty to serious offense, and also completed the Just World Beliefs scale. Ratings of the seriousness of the CWBs indicated considerable variability in perceptions, with theft and physical violence rated most strongly. A factor analysis yielded five interpretable factors. Older participants were more likely to rate as more serious all counterproductive workplace behaviors.     

Flicker-light induced visual phenomena: frequency dependence and specificity of whole percepts and percept features

Flickering light induces visual hallucinations in human observers. Despite a long history of the phenomenon, little is known about the dependence of flicker-induced subjective impressions on the flicker frequency. We investigate this question using Ganzfeld stimulation and an experimental paradigm combining a continuous frequency scan (1–50 Hz) with a focus on re-occurring, whole percepts. On the single-subject level, we find a high degree of frequency stability of percepts. To generalize across subjects, we apply two rating systems, (1) a set of complex percept classes derived from subjects’ reports and (2) an enumeration of elementary percept features, and determine distributions of occurrences over flicker frequency. We observe a stronger frequency specificity for complex percept classes than elementary percept features. Comparing the similarity relations among percept categories to those among frequency profiles, we observe that though percepts are preferentially induced by particular frequencies, the frequency does not unambiguously determine the experienced percept.     

Prävention in der Arbeitswelt

In the new working world with its growing turbulences and increasing demands prevention is getting more difficult but at the same time increasingly necessary. New forms of working and of organization, the vanishing limits between work and private life and the promotion of patchwork patterns in both areas call for adequately differentiated prevention concepts. People have to be beside the enhancement of their qualification (performance enhancement) prepared for the future in their effectiveness and health (social competence, employability) as the individual aspect. The situation and the organization (structure) have to be preventively shaped in a way, that the desired interactions in the field of performance, health, security and life quality may be experienced. A blueprint for this purposes is presented here accompanied by practical instruments and propositions for prevention as for example bonification.     

Chronically Ill children: A psychologically and emotionally deviant population?

The study evaluated the psychosocial functioning levels of a group of chronically ill (diabetic, asthmatic, cystic fibrotic, and hearing-impaired) children across a battery of standardized personality instruments. The assessments were performed to provide a rigorous test of the popular hypothesis that chronically ill children are especially vulnerable to psychopathology. In contrast to this stereotype, results across measures demonstrated the normalcy rather than the deviance of these children. Although exceptions were noted, the children's functional strengths and coping abilities noticeably outweighed their weaknesses.Portions of this paper were presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Meetings, Denver, Colorado, April, 1975.This research was partially supported by NSF Grant # Gy 11537 and NIMH Grant # 1 RO3-MH26160-01. Their support is gratefully acknowledged.     

Independent effects of personality and sex on self-estimated intelligence: evidence from Austria

The effects of sex and personality traits on self-estimates of intelligence were examined in a sample of 302 Austrian adults (143 men, 159 women). Confirming previous research, men had higher self-estimates of logical and spatial abilities than did women, and these differences were partly explained in terms of women's higher Neuroticism scores. Neuroticism (negatively) and Openness (positively) accounted significantly for variances in self-estimates of spatial and logical intelligence. However, sex had stronger direct and indirect effects on self-estimates of intelligence. Sex and personality effects appear to be largely independent. Thus, being male, emotionally stable, and open to new experiences is likely to result in higher self-estimates of spatial and logical abilities.     

Cramer’s Transactional Interpretation and Causal Loop Problems

Tim Maudlin’s argument for the inconsistency of Cramer’s Transactional Interpretation (TI) of quantum theory has been considered in some detail by Joseph Berkovitz, who has provided a possible solution to this challenge at the cost of a significant empirical lacuna on the part of TI. The present paper proposes an alternative solution in which Maudlin’s charge of inconsistency is evaded but at no cost of empirical content on the part of TI. However, Maudlin’s argument is taken as ruling out Cramer’s heuristic “pseudotime” explanation of the realization of one transaction out of many.     

Community Reactions to Attempted and Completed Child Suicide1

In order to assess community reactions to attempted and completed child suicide, 180 shoppers were asked to read a short newspaper article about a 10-year-old who either (a) attempted suicide, (b) completed suicide, (c) completed suicide after having previously attempted, (d) was psychiatrically hospitalized, (e) died of a viral illness, or (f) died of an accident. Subjects then completed a 9-item Likert scale designed to assess their reactions. A2 × 6 (Gender of Victim × Type of Incident) multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant effect only for type of incident. Families of psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents received milder reactions than families of suicide attempters, in terms of (a) other's assessment of their psychological health, (b) how long they were expected to be sad and depressed after the incident, and (c) how tense respondents expected to feel while visiting them. Apparently, families of suicide attempters must face many of the same negative community reactions as families whose loved ones actually die by suicide, whereas families who have a loved one psychiatrically hospitalized face less problematic reactions from others in the community.     

Shutters,Boxes, but No Paradoxes: Time Symmetry Puzzles in Quantum Theory

The “N‐box experiment” is a much‐discussed thought experiment in quantum mechanics. It is claimed by some authors that a single particle prepared in a superposition of N+1 box locations and which is subject to a final “post‐selection” measurement corresponding to a different superposition can be said to have occupied “with certainty” N boxes during the intervening time. However, others have argued that under closer inspection, this surprising claim fails to hold. Aharonov and Vaidman have continued their advocacy of the claim in question by proposing a variation on the N‐box experiment, in which the boxes are replaced by shutters and the pre‐ and post‐selected particle is entangled with a photon. These authors argue that the resulting “N‐shutter experiment” strengthens their original claim regarding the N‐box experiment. It is argued in this article that the apparently surprising features of this variation are no more robust than those of the N‐box experiment and that it is not accurate to say that the particle is “with certainty” in all N shutters at any given time.

Shutters, Boxes, but No Paradoxes: Time Symmetry Puzzles in Quantum Theory

All authors

Ruth E. Kastner

https://doi.org/10.1080/02698590412331289279

Published online:

14 October 2010

Figure 1 Hilbert Space of the Shutter Particle.     

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