Inattentional blindness is described as the failure to perceive a supra-threshold stimulus when attention is directed away from that stimulus. Based on performance on an explicit recognition memory test and concurrent functional imaging data Rees, Russell, Frith, and Driver [Rees, G., Russell, C., Frith, C. D., & Driver, J. . Inattentional blindness versus inattentional amnesia for fixated but ignored words. Science, 286, 2504–2507] reported inattentional blindness for word stimuli that were fixated but ignored. The present study examined both explicit and (...) implicit memory for fixated but ignored words using a selective-attention task in which overlapping picture/word stimuli were presented at fixation. No explicit awareness of the unattended words was apparent on a recognition memory test. Analysis of an implicit memory task, however, indicated that unattended words were perceived at a perceptual level. Thus, the selective-attention task did not result in perfect filtering as suggested by Rees et al. While there was no evidence of conscious perception, subjects were not blind to the implicit perceptual properties of fixated but ignored words. (shrink)

Hommel et al. emphasize that the Theory of Event Coding (TEC)'s utility is not its ability to be a new theory of cognition, but its ability to engender new thinking about new and old problems. In this commentary we use the TEC to re-examine a long-standing discrepancy in the attention literature.

For over a century, drawing from observation, at least at the introductory level, has been integral to many secondary and most post-secondary art school programs in Europe and North America. Its place in such programs is understood to develop an ability to see and interpret on a flat surface the real, three-dimensional world; this skill, in turn, provides support to related mental processes such as memory, visualization, and imagination. Where an artist looks when drawing from observation may not be arbitrary (...) and can be observed, quantified, and analyzed. Our interest in examining the first few minutes of the drawing process takes its lead from the novice’s question, "Where should I begin?" Attempting to understand these first few minutes led to a collaborative study between art educators and cognitive-perceptual psychologists: the former interested in implications for practical pedagogy, the latter in applying expertise in eye movement and scientific methodology in service of a specific real-world question. The stated purpose of the study notwithstanding, contrasting histories and practices in art and science provided contexts for discussion beyond the collection and interpretation of data. This article seeks to report upon and further that discussion. (shrink)

At the 1969 annual meeting of the American Association for the Ad vancement ofScience, held in Boston on December 27-29, a sequence of symposia on the philosophical foundations of science was organized jointly by Section L of the Association and the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science. Section L is devoted to the history, philos ophy, logic and sociology of science, with broad connotations extended both to 'science' and to 'philosophy'. With collaboration generously extended by other and more specialized (...) Sections of the AAAS, the Section L program took an unusually rich range of topics, and indeed the audiences were large, and the discussions lively. This book, regrettably delayed in publication, contains the major papers from those symposia of 1969. In addition, it contains the distin guished George Sarton Memorial Lecture of that meeting, 'Boltzmann, Monocycles and Mechanical Explanation' by Martin J. Klein. Some additions and omissions should be noted: In Part 1, dedicated to the 450th anniversary of the birth of Leonardo da Vinci, we have been una bie to include a contrihution by Elmer Belt who was prevented by storms from participating. In Part II, on physics and the explanation of life, we were unable to persuade Isaac Asimov to overcome his modesty about the historical remarks he made under the title 'Arrhenius Revisited'. (shrink)

This paper examines the issue of what the self is by reviewing neuropsychological research,which converges on the idea that the self may be more complex and differentiated than previous treatments of the topic have suggested. Although some aspects of self-knowledge such as episodic recollection may be compromised in individuals, other aspects—for instance, semantic trait summaries—appear largely intact. Taken together, these findings support the idea that the self is not a single, unified entity. Rather, it is a set of interrelated, functionally (...) independent systems. Implications for understanding the self in various areas of psychological research—e.g., neuroimaging, autism, amnesia, Alzheimer’s disease, and mirror self-recognition—are discussed in brief. (shrink)

The allegedly alternative theories of Phyletic Gradualism and Punctuated Equilibria are examined as regards the nature of their differences. The explanatory value of both models is determined by establishing their actual connection with reality. It is concluded that they are to be considered complementary rather than mutually exclusive at all levels of infraspecific, specific, and supraspecific evolution. So, in order to be described comprehensively, the pathways of evolution require at least two distinct models, each based on a discrete range of (...) real phenomena. [Phyletic Gradualism; Punctuated Equilibria; evolutionary theories; divergence models; additive speciation; microevolution; macroevolution; anagenesis.]. (shrink)

Time's mysteries seem to resist comprehension and what remains, once the familiar metaphors are stripped away, can stretch even the most profound philosopher. In Of Time and Lamentation, Raymond Tallis rises to this challenge and explores the nature and meaning of time and how best to understand it. The culmination of some twenty years of thinking, writing and wondering about (and within) time, it is a bold, original, and thought-provoking work. With characteristic fearlessness, Tallis seeks to reclaim time from (...) the jaws of physics. For most of us, time is composed of mornings, afternoons, and evenings and expressed in hurry, hope, longing, waiting, enduring, planning, joyful expectation, and grief. Thinking about it is to meditate on our own mortality. Yet, physics has little or nothing to say about this time, the time as it is lived. The story told by caesium clocks, quantum theory, and Lorentz coordinates, Tallis argues, needs to be supplemented by one of moss on rocks, tears on faces, and the long narratives of our human journey. Our temporal lives deserve a richer attention than is afforded by the equations of mathematical physics.The first part of the book, "Killing Time" is a formidable critique of the spatialized and mathematized account of time arising from physical science. Part 2, "Human Time" examines tensed time, the reality of time as it is lived: what we mean by "now", how we make sense of past and future events, and the idea of eternity. (shrink)

The Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) program of the Human Genome Project stands as a model for how to organize bioethical inquiry for a rapidly changing field. Neuroscience has experienced significant growth in recent years and there is increasing interest in organizing critical reflection on this field, as evidenced by the creation of “neuroethics.” A nascent framework for reflection on the implications of neuroscience is emerging but significant work remains, given the pace and scope of neuroscientific developments. The adoption (...) of an ELSI program, modeled on that of the ELSI program of the Human Genome Project, promises a way for neuroscience to meet important organizational, educational, and policy objectives. Review of recent criticisms of the HGP ELSI program suggests that an ELSI program for neuroscience would face certain obstacles. Those interested in a neuroscience ELSI program will need to develop appropriate resources to overcome these obstacles. (shrink)

Several authors have recently argued that the content of pains (and bodily sensations more generally) is imperative rather than descriptive. I show that such an account can help resolve competing intuitions about phantom limb pain. As imperatives, phantom pains are neither true nor false. However, phantom limb pains presuppose falsehoods, in the same way that any imperative which demands something impossible presupposes a falsehood. Phantom pains, like many chronic pains, are thus commands that cannot be satisfied. I conclude by showing (...) that some of the negative psychological consequences of chronic pain are a direct consequence of their imperative nature. (shrink)

The trials of life can wear us down. Unexpected events force us to face a new reality and unanswered prayers lead us to a growing frustration about why God doesn't intervene. We wonder if anything good can come out of this painful, dark, winter season. Grace Wabuke Klein knows that there is purpose in our darkest days and seasons of waiting. In Flourish, Grace meets the reader in their heartache, disappointment, and pain and gives encouragement and a fresh perspective (...) on the winter seasons we all go through, as well as practical steps to not just survive but to find purpose in the unknown and unexpected. Drawing insight from her own winter seasons, Grace reveals the divine purpose in each season of our lives. She explains how: -Fall is a time of release-a necessary season of letting go of offenses, unhealthy relationships, hurts, bad habits, toxic friendships, pride, unforgiveness and other heart issues before we can ever move on to the next season -Winter is a time of unexpected challenges and unknown futures-yet lessons learned in life's storms are deep and full of growth to shape us and makes us stronger. -Spring is a time of new things that require us to be open to new experiences, people, ideas, and perspective-stepping out into the unknown and uncomfortable. -Summer is a time when everything is flourishing-we clearly see how each season cultivated a deeper level of faith and spiritual muscles, developing our character and perseverance. Grace discovered there is value and unseen gifts in each season, but only in the hard seasons and storms of life are vital spiritual disciplines developed. Flourish connects with the reader in the tension and storms of life to bring a word of hope. (shrink)

An entertaining series of logic problems and puzzles of increasing difficulty, and all relating important mathematical and logical concepts, includes mind-benders, paradoxes, metapuzzles, number exercises, and a mathematical novel.

This work subjects the fundamental ideas of Derrida, Lacan, Barthes and their followers to an examination and demonstrates the baselessness of post-Saussurean claims about the relations between language, reality and self.

Discussions about brain data and privacy, particularly those advocating for human rights frameworks, at times, have embodied problematic undercurrents of, if not overt appeals to, neuro-exceptional...

Although the dream narrative, of (bio)logical necessity, originates with the dreamer, s/he typically does not know this. For the dreamer, the dream world is the real world. In this article I argue that this nightly misattribution is best explained in terms of the concept of mental ownership (e.g., Albahari, 2006; Klein, 2015a; Lane, 2012). Specifically, the exogenous nature of the dream narrative is the result of an individual assuming perspectival, but not personal, ownership of content s/he authored (i.e., “The (...) content in my head is not mine. Therefore it must be peripherally perceived”). Situating explanation within a theoretical space designed to address questions pertaining to the experienced origins of conscious content has a number of salutatory consequences. For example, it promotes predictive fecundity by bringing to light empirical generalizations whose presence otherwise might have gone unnoticed (e.g., the severely limited role of mental time travel within the dream narrative). -/- . (shrink)

"Without any doubt" : Gersonides on method and knowledge -- The opinions that produce the aporias in The wars of the Lord -- The solutions of the aporias in The wars of the Lord -- Dialectic in Gersonides' commentary on Proverbs -- The Alexandrian prologue paradigm in Gersonides' writings -- The introductions to the Bible commentaries -- Gersonides as commentator on Averroes -- Determinism, contingency, free choice, and foreknowledge in Gersonides -- Gersonides on the mode of communicating knowledge of the (...) future to the dreamer and clairvoyant. (shrink)

"Without any doubt" : Gersonides on method and knowledge -- The opinions that produce the aporias in The wars of the Lord -- The solutions of the aporias in The wars of the Lord -- Dialectic in Gersonides' commentary on Proverbs -- The Alexandrian prologue paradigm in Gersonides' writings -- The introductions to the Bible commentaries -- Gersonides as commentator on Averroes -- Determinism, contingency, free choice, and foreknowledge in Gersonides -- Gersonides on the mode of communicating knowledge of the (...) future to the dreamer and clairvoyant. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage est l'hommage qu'une des deux filles de Jean Klein (1912-1998), Nita, comédienne et artiste, a décidé de rendre à son père, un des plus célèbres maîtres spirituels du XXe siècle, pour le centième anniversaire de sa naissance. Nita Klein a rassemblé ici de nombreux souvenirs de conversations avec Jean Klein, des inédits, des photographies autour de la question de l'art et de la spiritualité. Jean Klein a été philosophe et un maître spirituel remarquable auteur (...) d'une oeuvre essentielle qui a infuencé de nombreux enseignants contemporains comme Eric Baret, Jean-Bouchart D'Orval, Francis Lucille, Jean-Marc Mantel etc. Même si Jean Klein n'appartenait à aucune école, sa quête de la vérité a rencontré l'Advaïta Vedânta (Non-Dualité) dont il a dit lui-même que " ce n'est pas un système, une religion, une technique. Ce n'est même pas une philosophie, c'est simplement la vérité. " Mais Jean Klein était aussi violoniste (il pratiqua toute sa vie le violon) et s'intéressait à toutes les formes d'art : au théâtre, à la peinture (il était ami de Hans Hartung), à la danse (son autre fille, Malavika, est professeur de danse indienne). Il s'agit donc dans ce livre d'une rencontre entre l'intuition d'un artiste et la recherche indienne de la vérité, recherche plus orientée vers la perception globale de la Réalité que vers les certitudes offertes par le savoir. Nita Klein nous invite à découvrir comment la spiritualité authentique conduit à la création artistique ; comment, dans l'art du théâtre, l'interprétation d'un personnage, peut atteindre à la vérité, quand la personnalité du comédien consent à s'effacer. " En l'absence du "Moi", il y a seulement la vie. ", dit Jean Klein. Et pas seulement dans le théâtre, mais dans la peinture, le dessin, la danse. La Non-Dualité, avec Jean Klein, est une ouverture à la Beauté. (shrink)

The Effect: An Introduction to Research Design and Causality is about research design, specifically concerning research that uses observational data to make a causal inference. It is separated into two halves, each with different approaches to that subject. The first half goes through the concepts of causality, with very little in the way of estimation. It introduces the concept of identification thoroughly and clearly and discusses it as a process of trying to isolate variation that has a causal interpretation. Subjects (...) include heavy emphasis on data-generating processes and causal diagrams. Concepts are demonstrated with a heavy emphasis on graphical intuition and the question of what we do to data. When we "add a control variable" what does that actually do? (shrink)

L'incommensurable fait apparaître qu'il est des fêlures irréductibles dans notre expérience révélant de l'infini du sein même de cette expérience: entre le plaisir et la jouissance ou bien le rapport social et l'intime. L'inouï dit, non pas l'extraordinaire ou l'insolite, mais ce qui peut être au contraire le plus commun de notre expérience--mais que nous n'entendons pas parce que nous ne savons pas déborder les cadres figés de cette expérience. La vraie vie fait signe vers ce que, tout en étant (...) en vie, nous risquons de n'être toujours que dans une apparence de vie, ou pseudo-vie, sans accéder à vraiment vivre. Trois concepts proposés par François Jullien pour ne pas laisser rabattre notre vie, mais la porter à son déploiement. Contre les facilités du prêche et du marché du Bonheur, il faut penser ces concepts comme outils pour 'changer la vie.'"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)