Perruchet & Vinter claim that with the additional capacity to determine whether two arbitrary stimuli are the same or different, their association-based PARSER model is sufficient to account for learning transfer. This claim overstates the generalization capacity of perceptual versus nonperceptual (symbolic) relational processes. An example shows why some types of learning transfer also require the capacity to bind arbitrary representations to nonperceptual relational symbols.

Analogy by priming learned transformations of (causally) related objects fails to explain an important class of inference involving abstract source-target relations. This class of analogical inference extends to ad hoc relationships, precluding the possibility of having learned them as object transformations. Rather, objects may be placed into momentarily corresponding, symbolic, source-target relationships just to complete an analogy.

In diesem Aufsatz wird der jeweils mögliche Beitrag verschiedener Experten, insbesondere von Fachphilosophen und Naturwissenschaftlern, zu einer allgemeinen Diskussion derjenigen ethischen und rechtlichen Fragen erörtert, die sich in Verbindung mit dem Genomprojekt stellen. Wir kommen zu dem Ergebnis, daß man die tatsächlich schon betriebene Forschung keinesfalls wird aufhalten können, sondern allenfalls bestimmte für bedenklich gehaltene Anwendungen der neuen Techniken verzögern oder verhindern kann. Wir stellen verschiedene Probleme vor, die die Wirksamkeit der philosophischen Reflexion in solchen Fragen zweifelhaft erscheinen läßt, die (...) mit der grundsätzlichen Unzulänglichkeit der traditionellen Verfahren angewandter Ethik, aber auch mit der Pluralität der Grundnormen in einer modernen Gesellschaft zu tun haben. So fällt der empirischen Wissenschaft eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Beurteilung der Angemessenheit bestimmter Verfahren im Hinblick auf die eine Norm zu, die allgemein vorausgesetzt werden darf, nämlich die über die Bedeutung des handgreiflichen Eigeninteresses, da dieses am ehesten in der Lage ist, die voraussichtlichen Möglichkeiten und Gefahren einer bestimmten Technik einzuschätzen. Wir behaupten, daß die bisherigen Erfahrungen mit anderen Organismen innerhalb und vor allem außerhalb von Laborato-rien auf eine Komplexität der Interaktionen der Gene untereinander und der genetischen Erbmasse mit der Umgebung hindeuten, die eine Vorhersage des Resultats beim Menschen als sehr ungewiß erscheinen läßt. Angesichts dieser Ungewißheit einerseits und des entgegengesetzten finanziellen Interesses seitens des Anbieters der neuen Techniken andererseits mag das amerikanische Zivilrecht vielleicht den stärksten Anreiz für den Anbieter darstellen, die Risiken realistisch einzuschätzen und bei der Anwendung mit der angemessenen Vorsicht zu Werke zu gehen. Noch wirksamer als jeglicher moralischer Appell mögen die finanziellen Gefahren für den überoptimistischen Anbieter sein, die Menschen als seine "Kunden" vor Schaden zu bewahren. Schließlich weisen wir auf die Schwierigkeit der Kommunikation der Ergebnisse philosophischer und wissenschaftlicher Überlegungen im Zeitalter der Massenmedien hin. Die Rationalität der Diskussion muß soweit wie möglich allererst hergestellt werden, statt daß man sie voraussetzen könnte. Dafür ist eine der größten Gefahren die Einbindung der modernen Naturwissenschaft gerade in die Industrien, deren Leistungen oder Risiken sie eigentlich beurteilen soll. (shrink)

Anhand des fiktiven Falles eines jungen Mannes, dessen Leben trotz der vermeintlichen Vorteile von verbesserten genetischen Anlagen nicht so gerät, wie es sich die Eltern vorgestellt haben, fragen wir nach dem Maßstab des Erfolgs von genetischen Interventionen am Menschen. Wir kommen zu dem Schluß, daß die bisherigen Erfahrungen, die wir an anderen, weniger komplizierten Organismen wie Algen schon gesammelt haben, darauf hindeuten, daß die Resultate von Genmanipulationen viel weniger vorhersagbar sind und damit die Risiken für die Menschen viel höher und (...) unüberschaubarer sein werden, als die Optimisten aus der Genforschung bisher anzunehmen scheinen. Außerdem stellen wir die Frage, ob diese Richtung der vermeintlichen Verbesserung des menschlichen Lebens wirklich geeignet ist, tatsächlich die Leben der einzelnen Menschen oder der Menschheit insgesamt besser zu machen, oder ob sie nicht vielmehr auf einem engen Begriff des Lebenserfolgs beruht, der von den eigentlich ethischen Fragen nach dem besseren Leben für die Menschen eher ablenkt. Wenn dies der Fall wäre, würde sich die Suche nach den entscheidenden Verbesserungen des menschlichen Lebens auf dem Wege der genetischen Intervention nicht nur aus technischen, sondern auch aus ethischen Gründen als bedenklich erweisen. (shrink)

Aufgrund der Erfahrung mit der genetischen Manipulation von nicht-menschlichen Organismen, glauben wir, dass die Risiken einer gezielten Manipulation der menschlichen Erbinformation zum Zwecke der vermeintlichen Verbesserung des Menschen in absehbarer Zukunft zu hoch und die erhofften Vorteile einer solchen Manipulation zu ungewiß bleiben werden, um Eingriffe dieser Art zu rechtfertigen. In diesem Aufsatz erklären wir, warum wir meinen, dass gesetzliche Verbote solcher Experimente mit Menschen gegenwärtig gerechtfertigt wären, und warum wir gleichwohl meinen, dass solche Verbote nicht die wichtigsten Strategien zur (...) Steuerung dieser allmählich auch wirtschaftlich sehr signifikanten Forschungsrichtung darstellen. Wir argumentieren dafür, dass die Furcht vor zivilrechtlicher Haftung für die durchaus nicht auszuschließenden Schäden solcher Versuche und der bewußte Einsatz von staatlichen Forschungsgeldern nicht nur zur Entwicklung neuer genmanipulativer Techniken, sondern auch für die gründliche und unabhängige Beurteilung der Risiken solcher Techniken viel probatere und realistischere Reaktionen auf dieses neue Phänomen darstellen. (shrink)

Cowan's review shows that a short-term memory limit of four items is consistent with a wide range of phenomena in the field. However, he does not explain that limit, whereas an existing theory does offer an explanation for capacity limitations. Furthermore, processing capacity limits cannot be reduced to storage limits as Cowan claims.

We propose that the missing link from nonhuman to human cognition lies with our ability to form, modify, and re-form dynamic bindings between internal representations of world-states. This capacity goes beyond dynamic feature binding in perception and involves a new conception of working memory. We propose two tests for structured knowledge that might alleviate the impasse in empirical research in nonhuman animal cognition.

Minds are said to be systematic: the capacity to entertain certain thoughts confers to other related thoughts. Although an important property of human cognition, its implication for cognitive architecture has been less than clear. In part, the uncertainty is due to lack of precise accounts on the degree to which cognition is systematic. However, a recent study on learning transfer provides one clear example. This study is used here to compare transfer in humans and feedforward networks. Simulations and analysis show, (...) that while feedforward networks with shared weights are capable of exhibiting transfer, they cannot support the same degree of transfer as humans. One interpretation of these results is that common connectionist models lack explicit internal representations permitting rapid learning. (shrink)

Working memory limits are best defined in terms of the complexity of the relations that can be processed in parallel. Complexity is defined as the number of related dimensions or sources of variation. A unary relation has one argument and one source of variation; its argument can be instantiated in only one way at a time. A binary relation has two arguments, two sources of variation, and two instantiations, and so on. Dimensionality is related to the number of chunks, because (...) both attributes on dimensions and chunks are independent units of information of arbitrary size. Studies of working memory limits suggest that there is a soft limit corresponding to the parallel processing of one quaternary relation. More complex concepts are processed by or In segmentation, tasks are broken into components that do not exceed processing capacity and can be processed serially. In conceptual chunking, representations are to reduce their dimensionality and hence their processing load, but at the cost of making some relational information inaccessible. Neural net models of relational representations show that relations with more arguments have a higher computational cost that coincides with experimental findings on higher processing loads in humans. Relational complexity is related to processing load in reasoning and sentence comprehension and can distinguish between the capacities of higher species. The complexity of relations processed by children increases with age. Implications for neural net models and theories of cognition and cognitive development are discussed. (shrink)

The core issue of our target article concerns how relational complexity should be assessed. We propose that assessments must be based on actual cognitive processes used in performing each step of a task. Complexity comparisons are important for the orderly interpretation of research findings. The links between relational complexity theory and several other formulations, as well as its implications for neural functioning, connectionist models, the roles of knowledge, and individual and developmental differences, are considered.

In this survey study of 4735 US adults, respondents of all demographic and political affiliations agreed with prioritizing COVID-19 vaccine access for health care workers, adults of any age with serious comorbid conditions, frontline workers (eg, teachers and grocery workers), and Black, Hispanic, Native American, and other communities that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Older adult respondents were less likely than younger respondents to list healthy people older than 65 years as 1 of their top 4 priority groups. These (...) findings suggest that the US public agrees with the high-priority groups proposed by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine but appears to disagree with approaches advanced by others that prioritize older adults but not essential workers or disproportionately affected communities. (shrink)

The Strategic Studies Institute's XXI Annual Strategy Conference, held at Carlisle Barracks from April 6-8, 2010, addressed the topic of the meaning of war. While it did not seek to produce a definitive answer to questions about the nature and definition of war, it did highlight the crucial questions and their implications, including issues such as whether the cause of war is shifting, whether all forms of organized, politically focused violence constitute war, and the distinction between passive and active war. (...) In the report which follows, Steven Metz and Philip Cuccia of SSI have summarized the presentations and debates at the conference and placed them in their wider intellectual and strategic context. (shrink)

This commentary challenges the argument that the diathesis for hallucinations is equivalent to that for schizophrenia. Evidence against this comes from data on the prevalence of hallucinations in schizophrenia, their nonspecificity, and their relationships with moderating variables. We also highlight, however, the manner in which the Behrendt & Young (B&Y) hypothesis extends recent neuroscientific theories of schizophrenia, and its potential treatment applications.

The concept of locally specialized functions dominates research on higher brain function and its disorders. Locally specialized functions must be complemented by processes that coordinate those functions, however, and impairment of coordinating processes may be central to some psychotic conditions. Evidence for processes that coordinate activity is provided by neurobiological and psychological studies of contextual disambiguation and dynamic grouping. Mechanisms by which this important class of cognitive functions could be achieved include those long-range connections within and between cortical regions that (...) activate synaptic channels via NMDA-receptors, and which control gain through their voltage-dependent mode of operation. An impairment of these mechanisms is central to PCP-psychosis, and the cognitive capabilities that they could provide are impaired in some forms of schizophrenia. We conclude that impaired cognitive coordination due to reduced ion flow through NMDA-channels is involved in schizophrenia, and we suggest that it may also be involved in other disorders. This perspective suggests several ways in which further research could enhance our understanding of cognitive coordination, its neural basis, and its relevance to psychopathology. Key Words: attention; cerebral cortex; cognitive coordination; cognitive neuropsychiatry; cognitive neuropsychology; context disorganization; Gamma rhythms; Gestalt theory; glutamate; grouping; memory; NMDA-receptors; PCP-psychosis; perceptual organization; schizophrenia. (shrink)

Pierre Maquet1,2,6, Steven Laureys1,2, Philippe Peigneux1,2,3, Sonia Fuchs1, Christophe Petiau1, Christophe Phillips1,6, Joel Aerts1, Guy Del Fiore1, Christian Degueldre1, Thierry Meulemans3, André Luxen1, Georges Franck1,2, Martial Van Der Linden3, Carlyle Smith4 and Axel Cleeremans5.

In this discussion note, I examine scattered comments about evil from John Dewey’s works. After a brief consideration of what critics like Reinhold Niebuhr have said about the weaknesses of Dewey’s theodicy, I will offer my own critique. In short, I argue that Dewey subverts his own theory of inquiry when he comes to the problem of the origin and genesis of evil.

By Jerome Rothenberg. Contributions by Steven Clay, Rodney Phillips.

Studies of aging and autism as outlined by Bertone, Mottron, & Faubert (Bertone et al.) and by Faubert & Bertone suggest that disorders of cognitive coordination involving impairments of dynamic gestalt grouping and context-sensitivity may be common to several different disorders. We agree that such studies may shed light on these processes and their neuronal bases. However, we also emphasize that dynamic grouping and context-sensitivity can fail in various ways, and that, although the underlying pathophysiology may often involve NMDA-receptor malfunction, (...) many different malfunctions are possible, and each of these may result from any one of a number of different etiologies. (shrink)

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the first participatory budgeting experiment in the United States, in Chicago's 49th Ward. There are two avenues of inquiry: First, does participatory budgeting result in different budgetary priorities than standard practices? Second, do projects meet normative social justice outcomes? It is clear that allowing citizens to determine municipal budget projects results in very different outcomes than standard procedures. Importantly, citizens in the 49th Ward consistently choose projects that the research literature classifies as low (...) priority. The results are mixed, however, when it comes to social justice outcomes. While there is no clear pattern in which projects are located only in affluent sections of the ward, there is evidence of geographic clustering. Select areas are awarded projects like community gardens, dog parks, and playgrounds, while others are limited to street resurfacing, sidewalk repairs, bike racks, and bike lanes. Based on our findings, we offer suggestions for future programmatic changes. (shrink)