bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Space anisometry in unilateral neglect
Authors: Bisiach Edoardo , Neppi-Mòdona Marco , Ricci Raffaella
Published: April 2012

This chapter discusses a recent series of experiments that show neglect patients reproduced horizontal extents on either side of a perceived or remembered extent (the ‘model’) and comments on their results, except for those investigations in which the patients were only asked to generate contralesional extents. The results of the latter investigations have unquestionable points of interest, but their explanatory potential is less complete. In conclusion, what has been learned from recent research on horizontal extent reproduction in unilateral neglect urges reconsideration of former theories about a disorder that still remains largely elusive, despite the impressive increase of contributions following the publication of the remarkable volume edited by Weinstein and Friedland in 1977.
Perceptual and motor interaction in unilateral spatial neglect
Authors: Ishiai Sumio
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines perceptual and motor interaction and mental representation by studying movements of the eyes and the hand in unilateral spatial neglect in order to elucidate the mechanisms of left-side underestimation and over-extension. It specifically reports the cases of a 50-year-old right-handed man, who was tested five months after onset of a middle cerebral artery territory infarction, as well as a 68-year-old right-handed man, who was studied four months after onset of a middle cerebral artery territory infarction. Results generally suggest that patients with unilateral spatial neglect adopt different visuospatial processing for the line bisection and the symmetric positioning tasks. In the line bisection task, leftward searches are absent or are accomplished with marked restriction of size. It is unlikely that the whole extent to the left of the subjective midpoint is perceived but underestimated. The left extent seems to be inferred mainly from the attended right extent, which may be a completion-like phenomenon. In the symmetric positioning task, when a response is required into the contralesional space, the representational map for that space may be activated in the brain of patients with neglect.
The neural mechanisms of attentional control
Authors: Giesbrecht Barry , Mangun George R.
Published: April 2012

This chapter offers a snapshot of the current state of the burgeoning literature on the neural mechanisms of top-down attentional control. It starts by reviewing three neuroanatomical models of visuospatial attention. This review of these models is intended to provide an anatomical framework for understanding the empirical research presented in later sections. It then describes some of the current literature investigating the neural mechanisms of top-down control. These studies of the top-down control of visuospatial attention can be divided into two categories: those studies aimed at determining where control systems are located in cortex, and those that are aimed at determining how control is manifest in cortex. In addition, it reports some of the authors' work that is aimed at understanding the generality of spatial attentional control mechanisms. It concludes by proposing new lines of research that, when combined, will move towards a more complete understanding of top-down attentional control.
Reducing Spatial Neglect by Visual and Other Sensory Manipulations
Authors: Rossetti Yves , Rode Gilles
Published: April 2012

This chapter reports three main groups of physiological approaches to neglect modulation: passive physiological stimulation, active stimulation, and stimulation of sensorimotor plasticity. The main questions to be addressed concern the specificity of these methods with regard to the physiopathology of hemispatial neglect, and their possible outcome in terms of rehabilitation. Two main aims have been followed by most of the techniques proposed for relieving hemispatial neglect. The two strategies have now proved to be complementary. In addition, the sensory stimulations used to alleviate the clinical and neuropsychological manifestations of unilateral neglect have failed so far to fulfil their main objectives. First, they have not been very instructive about the fundamental basis of unilateral neglect. Second, the functional outcome of exposure to the forms of stimulation has not been sufficiently investigated and therefore they have not yet given rise to practical rehabilitation routines. Therefore, the currently frustrating overview of the status of sensory manipulations in the understanding and rehabilitation of unilateral neglect should be positively moderated by several promising approaches.
Frequency processing: a twenty-five year perspective
Authors: Zacks Rose T. , Hasher Lynn
Published: April 2012

It has been proposed that frequency of occurrence information is ‘automatically’ encoded in the context of a general theoretical framework relating attention and memory encoding. This chapter begins with a description of the origins of that framework, focusing on earlier evidence indicating that people of all ages and under a very broad range of circumstances reliably and unintentionally encode information about the relative frequencies of events. Notwithstanding challenges to the automatic encoding view, it is believed this empirical generalization remains valid today. Additionally, this chapter describes recent examples of findings from research on language processing and statistical reasoning that add to earlier evidence of the critical contribution of frequency knowledge to cognitive and social functioning.
Experiential and contextual heuristics in frequency judgement: ease of recall and response scales
Authors: Schwarzand Norbert , Wänke Michaela
Published: April 2012

Frequency estimates can be based on a number of different heuristic strategies, of which this chapter addresses two. First, it revisits Tversky and Kahneman's (1973) availability heuristic. The reviewed findings indicate that individuals only rely on the subjective experience of ease of recall when its informational value is not called into question and their processing motivation is low. When the experience is not deemed informative, or processing motivation is high, individuals draw on recalled content. These diverging strategies result in markedly different frequency estimates and related judgements. This chapter also addresses what respondents learned from frequency scales provided by the researcher. The reviewed findings indicate that respondents extracted information about the assumed distribution and used this information in arriving at frequency estimates and related judgements. The consistency of these findings are highlighted with general models of human judgement.
Tversky and Kahneman's availability approach to frequency judgement: a critical analysis
Authors: Betsch Tilmann , Pohl Devika
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines the predictive power of Tversky and Kahneman's availability approach to frequency estimation. It is shown that the original formulation of the availability approach does not provide a falsifiable theory that would allow one to derive a priori predictions about the psychological mechanisms by which people arrive at frequency judgements. Rather, availability is one among other possibilities that people might rely on when being confronted with a frequency estimation task. A brief review of the empirical evidence reveals that the availability approach indeed describes one possible estimation strategy.
Frequency, contingency and the information processing theory of conditioning
Authors: Gallistel C. R.
Published: April 2012

The framework provided by Claude Shannon's (1948) theory of information leads to a far-reaching, more quantitatively oriented reconceptualization of the processes that mediate what is commonly called associative learning. The focus shifts from processes set in motion by individual events to processes sensitive to the information carried by the flow of events. The conception of what properties of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are important shifts from the tangible properties that excite sensory receptors to the abstract and intangible properties of number, duration, frequency, and contingency, which are the carriers of the information.
Frequency learning and order effects in belief updating
Authors: Baumann Martin , Krems Josef F.
Published: April 2012

Studies on frequency processing suggest that people can process frequency information automatically and can use this information in judgement task quite accurately. This chapter examines whether order effects in belief updating tasks will disappear if the meaning of the respective pieces of information relevant for the belief updating task is acquired through the processing of frequencies of co-occurrences of events in real event sequences. First it gives a short overview on studies addressing order effects in belief updating. Then the belief-adjustment model of Hogarth and Einhorn (1992) is described. This model is used to identify situations where order effects are to be expected. Some results of studies on frequency processing are then described and finally results from a series of experiments are summarized, testing the impact of learning of frequencies on order effects in belief updating tasks.
The psychophysics metaphor in calibration research
Authors: Kleiter Gernot D. , Doherty Michael E. , Brake Gregory L.
Published: April 2012

According to the standard paradigm of behavioural decision theory, calibration refers to how well subjective probability assessments match objective frequencies. This chapter argues that conception results from a misleading metaphor that relates subjective probabilities to objective frequencies in the same way as a psychophysical function relates subjective sensations to physical dimensions. The results of four calibration studies on experts' predictions of the outcomes of baseball games are reported. The results show good calibration and underconfidence. A Brunswikian Lens model was employed to analyse the relationships between the predictability of the baseball games and the subjects' cue utilization on one hand, and calibration on the other.
Frequency effects in consumer decision making
Authors: Alba Joseph W.
Published: April 2012

This chapter reviews research regarding the potential influence of frequency information in the competitive marketplace. Consistent with findings obtained in other contexts, consumer research demonstrates how misperception of true frequency can affect decision variables. Consumer research further demonstrates that frequency cues can be a determining influence on behaviour irrespective of accuracy of encoding, even when pitted against more diagnostic product cues. This research also suggests that the influence of frequency information varies as a function of a variety of factors internal and external to the consumer.
Song learning in birds: the relation between perception and production
Authors: NOTTEBOHM FERNANDO , ALVAREZ-BUYLLA ARTURO , CYNX JEFFREY , KIRN JOHN , LING CHANG-YING , NOTTEBOHM MARTA , SUTER ROBERT , TOLLES AMANDA , WILLIAMS HEATHER
Published: April 2012

The vocal control system of oscine songbirds has some perplexing properties — e.g. laterality, adult neurogenesis, neuronal replacement — that are not predicted by common views of how vocal learning takes place. Similarly, the relation between the direct pathway for the control of learned song and the recursive pathway necessary for song learning is not understood. Some of the paradoxes of the vocal system of birds may disappear once the relation between the perception and production of learned vocalizations is better understood. To some extent, perception and production may be two closely related states of the same system.
Neural mechanisms of classical conditioning in mammals
Authors: THOMPSON RICHARD F.
Published: April 2012

Evidence supports the view that ‘memory traces’ are formed in the hippocampus and in the cerebellum in classical conditioning of discrete behavioural responses. In the hippocampus learning results in long-lasting increases in excitability of pyramidal neurons that resemble the phenomenon of long-term potentiation. Although it plays a role in certain aspects of conditioning, the hippocampus is not necessary for learning and memory of the basic conditioned responses. The cerebellum and its associated brain-stem circuitry, on the other hand, does appear to be essential (necessary and sufficient) for learning and memory of the conditioned response.
Beyond perception: conceptual contributions to unconscious influences of memory
Authors: Toth Jeffrey P. , Reingold Eyal M.
Published: April 2012

This chapter discusses that conceptually driven processing and data-driven processing almost always transpire together, with each direction of processing contributing something to the total analysis. It attempts to answer the question: In what ways can a person be unconsciously influenced by the past? Its main purpose though, is to address the question of whether memory for prior meaning-based processing can unconsciously influence subsequent thought and behaviour, a question of conceptual priming. The chapter also describes how a conceptually driven or top-down process can play a role in all kinds of priming, including both perceptual and conceptual. This chapter points out the inadequacies of using indirect tests as measures of unconscious influence especially in regards to conceptual priming. It also identifies some conditions that are necessary for the transfer of meaning-based processing. In addition, it also points out an important missing factor in the contemporary theories of unconscious influences which is the subjects mind set or level of attunement for task processing. Finally, this chapter also reviews contemporary evidence for unconscious conceptual influences of memory. We simply perceive the meaning of events. These conscious memorial states are further subdivided into recollective experiences and feelings of familiarity.
How implicit is implicit learning?
Authors: Berry Dianne C.
Published: April 2012

This chapter discusses the early demonstrations of implicit learning, which includes artificial grammar learning, sequence learning, control of complex systems, and the acquisition of invariant characteristics. Subsequent changes and the distinct properties of storage and retrieval of implicitly acquired knowledge are also discussed in this chapter. This chapter states that the term ‘implicit learning’ has been used to characterize situations were we learn to recognize and produce grammatical utterances without ever being able to describe the underlying rules of the grammar and reviews and assesses the evidence in relation to the two main features of implicit learning that was proposed by Reber (1989). The first feature states that implicit learning gives rise to abstract knowledge; while the second states that it is an unconscious process. It is suggested that with the problem of assessing implicitly acquired knowledge and interpreting the results of the different knowledge measures, seeing whether such knowledge can be distinguished on other grounds will be a profitable approach. It also analyzes whether implicitly acquired knowledge is associated with properties of storage and retrieval. It is concluded that learning may be considered to be implicit in some senses, but not in others.
Using near retinoscopy to refract infants
Authors: Thorn Frank , Gwiazda Jane , Held Richard
Published: April 2012

Near retinoscopy has proven to be a powerful technique for measuring the optical focus of an infant's eyes. It can be used to measure easily and accurately astigmatism and anisometropia. It can be used readily to find the spherical equivalent refractive error of one infant relative to a large population of infants, similar to the use of photorefraction. It has the special advantage that it can be implemented to approximate refractive errors measured with traditional retinoscopy or to measure the optical focus of the attentive infant. The second of these possibilities has proven itself valuable in its ability to predict refractive errors years later during adolescence.
Dioptric blur, grating visual acuity, and stereoacuity in infants
Authors: Schmidt Paulette P. , Wood Ivan C. J. , Lewin Sarah , Davis Helen
Published: April 2012

In the assessment of visual function, visual and stereo acuity measurement play important roles in diagnosing vision problems and in monitoring the effects of clinical treatments. Grating-acuity measurement determined by preferential-looking methods is the most widely available tool for assessment of visual function in infants and toddlers. Visual acuity may be measured binocularly and monocularly but requires monocular measurements to determine the presence of unilateral blur. Stereo acuity is the perception of depth as a consequence of cortical recognition of horizontal retinal disparity between the two eyes. It is a form of hyper acuity and is measured binocularly. Stereopsis is the result of activating cortical binocular cells with identical but disparate images. Disrupted or discordant binocular vision during human infancy results in amblyopia and/or suppression thereby interrupting stereopsis. The development of stereopsis has important implications for both understanding human visual development and the clinical treatment of visual anomalies.
The organization of visual perception in early infancy
Authors: Slater Alan
Published: April 2012

The major characteristic of perception, which applies to all the sensory modalities, is that it is organized. With respect to visual perception, the world that we experience is immensely complex, consisting of many entities whose surfaces are a potentially bewildering array of overlapping textures, colours, contrasts and contours, undergoing constant change as their position relative to the observer changes. However, the brain does not perceive a world of fleeting, unconnected retinal images; rather, it perceives objects that move and change in an organized and coherent manner.
Introduction
Authors: Rolls Edmund T.
Published: April 2012

The introduction discusses the coverage of this book, which is about the computational neuroscience of vision. It introduces some of the background for understanding brain computation and discusses how some of the essential features of this can be captured by simple formalisms. The introduction also explores three neuronal network architectures, long-term potentiation and long-term depression, and the fine structure of the cerebral neocortex.
Can disabilities resulting from attentional impairments be treated effectively?
Authors: Sohlberg McKay Moore
Published: April 2012

The chronic, pervasive disabilities resulting from attention impairments have rendered this cognitive domain a rehabilitation priority. Individuals along the entire spectrum, from mild to severe brain injury, report long term dysfunction caused by persistent attention impairments. Subjective client complaints include reduced speed of processing, decreased ability to maintain attention, and distractibility, in addition to impairments in the working memory processes that are responsible for temporary maintenance and mental manipulation of information. This chapter examines the literature for evidence on the effectiveness of therapies for reducing the level of disability caused by such changes in attention.
Can speech and language therapy with aphasic people affect activity and participation levels?
Authors: Marshal Jane
Published: April 2012

This chapter briefly discusses how the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) applies to aphasia, and considers the relationships between the different components of the system. It argues that despite evidence of correlations, e.g. between impairment and activity measures, these relationships are complex. In particular, one cannot assume that change in one dimension will be accompanied by change in another. The chapter also argues that change at the level of activity and participation is the primary goal of rehabilitation, regardless of the approach taken. Therapy studies are then reviewed for evidence that this change can be achieved. In conclusion, the chapter suggests that speech and language therapy should be multidimensional and driven by the life goals of the individuals involved. Diverse methods of evaluation are also required, which can explore changes in the dimensions of impairment, activity, and participation.
Assessment of executive dysfunction
Authors: Crawford John R. , Henry Julie D.
Published: April 2012

This chapter focuses on the measurement properties of putative tests of executive dysfunction and on validity information. It reviews the tests ranging from long-standing clinical tests such as verbal fluency and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test to more recent tests that are more explicitly derived from theory, such as the Cognitive Estimation Task, the Brixton and Hayling Tests, dual task methods, and the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). It discusses the issue of the ecological validity of tests and the need to consider a patient's premorbid ability when assessing executive functioning. It also briefly reviews the rating scales and questionnaire methods of assessing executive problems and disability.
Can executive impairments be effectively treated?
Authors: Evans Jonathan J.
Published: April 2012

This chapter addresses the question of whether impairments of executive functioning can be effectively treated. The conclusion that is drawn from a review of the literature is cautiously positive, but there are many caveats. Executive functions are poorly defined and theoretical inconsistency makes evaluation of rehabilitation studies difficult and has probably limited the number of studies undertaken. There is some evidence that pharmacological approaches may have some value, but this is mostly anecdotal or from studies with very small numbers of participants. Attempts to train problem-solving or goal management skills have had some success, though it is not clear that such training can be considered to restore executive functioning to normal or act as a form of compensatory strategy for managing impulsivity. Meanwhile, some of the most convincing work addressing rehabilitation of executive functions has been undertaken with people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
For a theory of cognitive rehabilitation
Authors: Hillis Argye E.
Published: April 2012

A theory of cognitive rehabilitation should specify how change from a damaged state of cognitive processing can be modified into a normal, or more functional, state of cognitive processing. Such a theory should incorporate what is known about the cognitive representations and processes underlying normal cognition, how these are affected by brain damage, and how learning or modification of cognitive processing occurs. This chapter argues that development of a useful theory of cognitive rehabilitation requires integrating advances from cognitive neuropsychology, experimental psychology, computational neuroscience, and molecular biology of the brain, as well as empirical evidence from various branches of rehabilitation. It is likely that such a theory will specify how behavioral rehabilitation strategies can be augmented by pharmacological agents.
Introduction
Authors: Chambers Robert
Published: April 2012

In this chapter, a brief identification of resulting trust is first presented. Several definitions are given, these coming from several writers. Two situations where resulting trusts mostly arise as well as the distinction between presumed and automatic resulting trusts are illustrated. The importance of a proper classification of trusts is explored as well. The chapter contends that by recognizing that the resulting trust depends on the lack of intention to benefit the recipient should resolve the debate over whether it arises by operation of law or is created by the intention of the parties. Further, the chapter asserts that if the resulting trust has a greater role in the law of restitution than previously suspected, the interplay between these two subjects must be examined. The latter part of this chapter provides an outline of the plan of the book.
Mere Equities
Authors: Chambers Robert
Published: April 2012

Examination of the relationship between the usual remedies for the recovery of property such as rectification and rescission and resulting trust is the main concern of this chapter. It argues that whenever a provider of property to another is entitled to rescind a transaction or rectify an instrument and thereby recover any portion of that property, the recipient holds the recoverable property on a resulting trust for the provider from the moment the right of rescission or rectification first arises. Also, this chapter aims to remove the objection derived from Phillips v. Phillips, which states that a person with a right to rescind or rectify a transaction has a mere equity and no equitable interest in the property involved. Equitable interests in recoverable property are illustrated including established principles and a comparison with constructive trusts. Latec Investments v. Hotel Terrigal and other cases related to the matter are explored.
Constitutional Functions of the WTO and Regional Trade Agreements
Authors: Cottier Thomas , Foltea Marina
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines the guiding principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with respect to regional trade agreements (RTA). It discusses the economic and political reasons behind RTA and describes the rules as applied in practice and in WTO jurisprudence. It attempts to clarify the WTO–RTA relationship in the context of the treaty law framework and provides recommendations for reform developed within the framework of the Doha Development Agenda.
TRIPS-Plus Provisions in FTAs: Recent Trends
Authors: Mercurio Bryan
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines the trend in TRIPS-Plus provisions or the standards of intellectual property (IP) protection that are higher than what is required in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). It analyses patents as a form of IP to show that a rotating cycle between bilateralism, regionalism, and multilateralism not only exists in free trade agreements (FTA) but also strengthens intellectual property rights (IPR) and the obligations of nations. It discusses the important areas that are being re-negotiated bilaterally with the introduction of every TRIPS-Plus provision.
The WTO and Regional Trade Agreements as Competing Fora for Constitutional Reforms: Trade and Human Rights
Authors: Petersmann Ernst-Ulrich
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines trade and human rights issues in relation to the view that regional trade agreements (RTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are competing fora for constitutional reforms. It examines the relevance of non-economic objectives and the human rights obligations of all WTO Members for RTA and WTO law. It concludes that WTO rules and RTA should be seen as competing fora not only for trade liberalization, also for constitutional reforms inside trading countries.
NAFTA Dispute Settlement: Creative Experiment or Confusion?
Authors: Mestral Armand De
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines the workings of the various dispute settlement systems which exist under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in order to determine whether NAFTA actually possesses the advantages and disadvantages attributed to it with respect to dispute settlement. The results reveal that there is a strong interrelationship between certain NAFTA procedures and the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). The findings also suggest that many existing NAFTA procedures have the capacity to overlap and interweave.
Dispute Settlement in European Union Free Trade Agreements: Lessons Learned?
Authors: Bercero Ignacio Garcia
Published: April 2012

This chapter explores the reasons for the increasing EU preference for a quasi-judicial model of adjudication as far as trade disputes are concerned. It describes the current network of EU free trade agreements (FTA) and the traditional diplomatic dispute settlement mechanism which used to characterize all EU FTA. It explains the key features of the quasi-judicial model of trade adjudication in the FTA with Mexico and Chile, and evaluates how these agreements attempted to address the issue concerning the relationship between bilateral and World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement.
Dispute Settlement in the Proposed East Asia Free Trad Agreement: Lessons Learned From the ASEAN, the NAFTA, and the EU
Authors: Luo Yan
Published: April 2012

This chapter discusses dispute settlement lessons from the experience of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the European Union (EU) that may be applicable in the proposed East Asia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). It analyses that regionalism in East Asia and the experience of existing dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) in other regions in order to determine the most appropriate DSM for the proposed East Asia FTA. It proposes a general DSM for East Asia FTA modelled on the World Trade Organization (WTO) that may be used for resolving interstate trade disputes.
Rational analyses, instrumentalism, and implementations
Authors: Danks David
Published: April 2012

The author provides an insightful critical reflection on the scope and usefulness of a ‘rational’ perspective on the cognitive system. He focuses on the nature of explanatory models of cognition which rational analyses provide. He argues for a shift in the practice of rational analysis to more widespread application, but with more careful consideration of their actual power. Rational analyses are important tools that should be used more widely, but with more care about what they actually yield.
Inference from absence in language and thought
Authors: Hahn Ulrike , Oaksford Mike
Published: April 2012

This chapter applies probabilistic techniques to reconsider the acceptability of different kinds of appealing, but supposedly logically fallacious arguments, arguing, for example, that circular arguments need not always be ‘vicious'. It reviews recent work on the classic fallacy of the ‘argument from ignorance’. This fallacy can be given a formal, Bayesian treatment, which suggests that there is nothing structurally amiss with arguments from ignorance, rather they are differentially strong or weak as a function of their specific content, that is, the specific probabilistic quantities involved. It re-examines the relative strength of such inferences and seeks to clarify the role of two widely cited mechanisms in language acquisition, pre-emption and entrenchment, from the viewpoint of probabilistic inference.
Bayesian brains and cognitive mechanisms:
Authors: Brighton Henry , Gigerenzer Gerd
Published: April 2012

The chapter considers the project of probabilistic rational analysis in relation to a particularly well-studied and simple heuristic, the Take the Best algorithm. The authors relate the tension between ‘rational’ and ‘algorithmic’ explanations of cognitive phenomena to the bias-variance dilemma in statistics. Where the cognitive system must make do with little data in relation to the complexity of the problem, they suggest that simple algorithmic models, rather than full-blown probabilistic calculations, may be the cognitive system's best strategy.
Thenaïveintuitive statistician
Authors: Hansson Patrik , Juslin Peter , Winman Anders
Published: April 2012

The authors assume that, roughly, the cognitive system is able to provide a good analysis of the data which it experiences — i.e. cognition can be seen as intuitive statistics (Gigerenzer & Murray, 1987). However, they suggest, the crucial blind-spot in this process is an inability to correct for sampling bias — so that, to the degree that the world is not sampled randomly, the cognitive system is liable to come to misleading conclusions. The mind should be viewed as a naïve intuitive statistician. The authors provide a compelling illustration of their approach, considering the conditions in which people do, and do not, exhibit overconfidence, in relation to sampling and the process of making confidence judgements.
Categorization as nonparametric Bayesian density estimation
Authors: Griffiths Thomas L. , Sanborn Adam N. , Canini Kevin R. , Navarro Daniel J.
Published: April 2012

The authors apply the state of the art techniques from machine learning and statistics to reconceptualize the problem of unsupervised category learning, and to relate it to previous psychologically motivated models, especially Anderson's rational analysis of categorization. The resulting analysis provides a deeper understanding of the motivations underlying the classic models of category representation, based on prototypes or exemplars, as well as shedding new light on the empirical data. Exemplar models assume that a category is represented by a set of stored exemplars, and categorizing new stimuli involves comparing these stimuli to the set of exemplars in each category. Prototype models assume that a category is associated with a single prototype and categorization involves comparing new stimuli to these prototypes. These approaches to category learning correspond to different strategies for density estimation used in statistics, being nonparametric and parametric density estimation respectively.
Compositionality in rational analysis:
Authors: Goodman Noah D. , Tenenbaum Joshua B. , Griffiths Thomas L. , Feldman Jacob
Published: April 2012

This chapter provides a range of conceptual and technical insights into how this project can be attempted — and goes some way to suggesting that probabilistic methods need not be viewed as inevitably unable to capture the richness and complexity of world knowledge. It argues that structured representations, generated by a formal grammar, can be appropriate units over which probabilistic information can be represented and learned. This topic is likely to be one of the main challenges for probabilistic research in cognitive science and artificial intelligence over the coming decades.
Causal learning in rats and humans:
Authors: Waldmann Michael R. , Cheng Patricia W. , Hagmayer York , Blaisdell Aaron P.
Published: April 2012

The authors bring together human and animal studies, with a particular focus on causal learning. Whereas the traditional associative approach to learning views learning contingencies as basic, and the learning of causality (if it is considered at all) to be secondary, they take the goal of the agent to infer the ‘causal powers’ of aspects of the world. Contingencies are primarily of interest to the degree that they provide evidence for such causal relationships. The degree to which the same rational model may be applied to learning, from rat to human, puts a new complexion on the behaviourist's project of building general principles of learning across species.
The Vision of the European Defence Community and a Common Defence for the European Union
Authors: Trybus Martin
Published: April 2012

This chapter investigates the relevance of the dawn of European integration for the present and the future. In the early 1950s the six founding Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) envisaged a supranational European Defense Community (EDC) in charge of a European defence policy which would even have included a European army. This chapter provides an overview of the Community envisaged in the EDC Treaty. It also discusses the supranational nature of the EDC as reflected in its institutional law, its defensive character, its principle of non-discrimination between Member States, and the connection to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and European Security Law
Authors: Odello Marco
Published: April 2012

This chapter analyses the aims, purposes, and work of the organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and examines the legal aspects of institutional action in the area of security law. It evaluates whether the legal and institutional structures of OSCE either undermine its future role as the leading European organisation, or may represent an advantage compared to other, mainly European, organisations. It focuses on the potential role of the OSCE in developing a specific legal framework — a European Security Law — both in partnership with other European organisations and in relationship with the UN.
How many dual-process theories do we need? One, two, or many?
Authors: Evans Jonathan St. B. T.
Published: April 2012

Dual-process theories of cognition are to be found everywhere in psychology. This chapter addresses whether there is a need to have this great multiplicity of theories, or whether there is one grand unifying dual-process theory that can incorporate them all. It argues that such theories fall into two distinct groups from the viewpoint of the cognitive architecture they imply. There is also a third notion (cognitive styles) that can all too readily be confused with such two-process accounts. A minimal definition of the difference is that type 1 processes are fast, automatic, low effort, and have a high processing capacity; and that type 2 processes are slow, controlled, high effort, and have a high processing capacity.
Systems and levels: Dual-system theories and the personal—subpersonal distinction
Authors: Frankish Keith
Published: April 2012

This chapter argues that the distinction between System 1 and System 2 corresponds to that between subpersonal and personal reasoning. But even if the distinctions do not align in this way, a weaker claim still stands. The distinction between personal and subpersonal reasoning marks one broad binary division in human reasoning, and one that needs to be acknowledged in psychological theory. Indeed, it may be the only such division. Most dual-systems theorists accept that System 1 is actually a suite of systems, and several contributors suggest that System 2 may also fragment in various ways. Indeed, there could be hybrid systems at a subpersonal level, with some System 1 properties and some System 2 properties. Personal reasoning, on the other hand, constitutes a distinct level of mental activity, which can be clearly distinguished from the lower, subpersonal one.
Dual-process theories: A metacognitive perspective
Authors: Thompson Valerie A.
Published: April 2012

This chapter develops a framework for predicting S2 intervention that is based on metacognitive experiences associated with S1 processes. In particular, it develops the argument that the outcome of a given reasoning attempt is determined not only by the content of the information which is retrieved by S1 and analysed by S2, but also by a second-order judgement. This metacognitive judgement is largely based on the experience associated with the execution of S1 and S2 processes, and it is this judgement that determines whether, and how, S2 processes are engaged.
The Impact of Enlargement on the Constitution of the European Union
Authors: Witte Bruno De
Published: April 2012

This chapter considers three constitutional dimensions of EU enlargement. Other institutional or policy challenges posed by enlargement, such as the future budgetary arrangements or the reform of agricultural and structural policies, are not dealt with. This chapter deals, more narrowly, with the intersection between the two legal-political questions that have occupied the minds of the EU institutions and Member States in the past decades: anticipating the consequences of enlargement and proceeding with the overall constitutional reform of the EU.
How is the Public Interest Determined?
Authors: Feintuck Mike
Published: April 2012

This book seeks to understand how the concept of public interest is and might be used, and to consider whether it is possible and/or advisable to establish a meaningful construct of the public interest. It explores some of the competing claims put forward in the name of the public interest, and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to it. It presents case studies of how the concept of public interest is currently used in the regulation of certain industries, both in Britain and the United States, which appear to be central to individual and collective expectations of modern life. Particular attention is paid to regulation of the food supply industry and recent controversies over genetic modification of foodstuffs, in which concerns of public health and safety have the clear potential to be in direct competition with the profit-making objectives of food producers and retailers. The book also looks at how the media industries, especially broadcasting, are regulated, in pursuit of public interest standards that are found either implicitly or explicitly.
Administrative Law Theory and Administrative Doctrine
Authors: Stolleis Michael
Published: April 2012

Following the end of the war, an end to the revolution, and the creation of a constitution, the field of administrative law was able to pause and take stock for the first time. It had experienced demobilization and the enormous pressures from the problems of providing for the poor and the unemployed and running the housing administration. The question was whether the more recent developments would be ‘deliberately ignored’, which is what Otto Mayer was doing. He believed that ‘little is lost’ by taking this approach, because a careful sifting of the accumulated new material would presumably reveal in the end that it always contained the same, virtually supra-temporal elements. Otto Mayer, deeply convinced of the universality of his categories, and magnificent and one-sided reductionist that he was, was able simply to reject the phenomena that had become visible during the war.
The Principle of Human Dignity
Authors: Gearty Conor
Published: April 2012

This chapter discusses the principle of human dignity. This idea is less rooted than the previous two principles in the British legal tradition. However, it is the most human-rights-specific and reflects most clearly the insights that were forced upon the world in the aftermath of the Second World War. The notion that each person matters in his view of humanity is a core sentiment that lies behind the language deployed in the European Convention. The first section examines human dignity in the legal context. The second section discusses human dignity in relation to the British parliamentary tradition. The third section reviews the case law, looking at human dignity, the Human Rights Act, and the judges.
Movement analysis in pianists
Authors: Jabusch Hans-Christian
Published: April 2012

This chapter focuses on movement analysis in piano playing. There has been growing interest in the analysis of movements and performance in piano playing from different perspectives such as music psychology, piano pedagogy, neuroscience, and musicians' medicine. This chapter outlines the current developments in the fields of both movement analysis of the upper extremities and analysis of keyboard parameters indirectly describing the pianists' key movements or hammer movements.
The motor representation in pianists and string players
Authors: Jäncke Lutz
Published: April 2012

Performing music at a professional level is arguably among the most complex of human accomplishments. A pianist has to bimanually coordinate the production of up to 1800 notes per minute. Similar motor control demands are placed on violinists who additionally have to cope with unusual biomechanical constraints to hold the violin. This chapter discusses the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological peculiarities of musicians' brains. Because most musicians start their musical training very early in life and continue to practise throughout their entire life, the brain structures involved in the control of musical functions are constantly stimulated and thus shaped.
Brain activation during string playing
Authors: Nirkko Arto , Kristeva Rumyana
Published: April 2012

This chapter attempts to integrate data from both functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to elucidate the activation of the cortical areas in musical performance for both execution and imagination of music during string playing. In both fMRI and EEG experiments, playing the music was compared with imagining the music. This allowed separation of the areas mainly involved in motor execution from those involved in imagining, planning, and working memory, thus differentiating musical from purely motor areas.
The development of focal dystonia in musicians as a consequence of maladaptive plasticity: implications for intervention
Authors: Byl Nancy
N. , Priori Alberto
Published: April 2012

This chapter discusses evidence from animal and human studies suggesting that focal hand dystonia is due to multiple risk factors, one of which may be maladaptive plasticity. There is consistent evidence for somatosensory degradation as well an imbalance between inhibition and excitation at multiple levels of the central nervous system. Based on the hypothesis of aberrant learning, effective treatment must accomplish a reversal of the degradation of the central nervous system. One way to reverse learning-induced, negative behavioural changes underlying focal hand dystonia is for the patient to learn their way out of it by retraining the brain.
The attentional boost and the attentional blink
Authors: Olivers Christian N. L.
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines the relation between attentional blink and the so-called attentional boost. It discusses the results from research about attention and explains that attentional boost can be described as a rapid, automatic, and goal-driven attentional response. It argues that there is ample behavioural evidence that attention acts rapidly and often transiently in response to the detection of a relevant stimulus and that the location of a stimulus is more rapidly detected than its exact features.
Attention underlies subjective temporal expansion
Authors: Tse Peter Ulric
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines the findings of a study conducted by P. U. Tse and colleagues about temporal expansion in relation to more recent findings from time-perception literature. It explains that the perception of duration is rooted in the perceptual processing of events and an extensive literature provides evidence for the hypothesis that attention plays a role in the perception of duration. It mentions a proposed attentional allocation/distraction model which holds that attention can increase of decrease the perceived duration of a unit of objective time.
Temporal binding
Authors: Buehner Marc J.
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines temporal binding, the ability of the brain to group together separate events occurring at different time points into one coherent and meaningful event sequence. It evaluates the hypothesis that temporal binding is a two-way street that serves to resolve mutual ambiguities. It discusses the bi-directional relation between temporal contiguity and causality in temporal binding and suggests that subjective experience of time simultaneously shapes people's experience of the world.
On the locus of temporal preparation: enhancement of premotor processes?
Authors: Rolke Bettina , Ulrich Rolf
Published: April 2012

This chapter examines the effect of temporal preparation on premotor processes. It explains that temporal preparation is a ubiquitous and fundamental feature of human behaviour and it is linked to the ability to anticipate future events and to adjust behaviour accordingly in order to optimize performance. It also mentions the availability of ample evidence that that temporal preparation also operates on premotoric levels by speeding up the duration of these processes. This speeding many not only shorten reaction-time but also enable a more accurate analysis of incoming sensory information.