Plans and resource-bounded practical reasoning

An architecture for a rational agent must allow for means-end reasoning, for the weighing of competing alternatives, and for interactions betwen these two forms of reasoning. Such an architecture must also address the problem of resource boundedness. We sketch a solution of the first problem that points the way to a solution of the second. In particular, we present a high-level specification of the practical-reasoning component of an architecture for a resource-bounded rational agent. In this architecture, a major role of the agent's plans is to constrain the amount of further practical reasoning she must perform.     

Review of Gestalt psychotherapy: Concepts and demonstrations in stress, relationships, hypnosis and addiction.

Reviews the book, Gestalt psychotherapy: Concepts and demonstrations in stress, relationships, hypnosis and addiction by Richard E. Hardy (1991). This work provides a basic explanation of the concepts of Gestalt psychotherapy. As an introductory work, the book provides clear explanations of key concepts, but errs in the direction of oversimplifying the complexities of Gestalt thinking. The author acknowledges these complexities without fully capturing them. It is obvious that Richard Hardy really knows Gestalt therapy, but if the reader is not well grounded in Gestalt theory and Gestalt psychotherapy, the depth of the concepts would easily be lost. A strength of Hardy's book is his presentation of ways in which Gestalt therapy can be utilized in areas not normally associated with Gestalt, such as hypnosis, pain management, intimate relationships, and addictions. An important criticism of Hardy's work is that he fails to follow the APA guidelines for the use of nonsexist language. Overall, the limitations of the book outweigh the strengths. Hardy appears to have difficulty choosing his audience. Beginning psychotherapists would need more basic information and case examples. Advanced psychotherapists would seek more depth and new information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

B. F. Skinner's legacy in human infant behavior and development.

B. F. Skinner's legacy to human behavioral research for the study of environment–infant interactions, and indeed for the conception of development itself, is described and exemplified. The legacy is largely the practicality, the efficiency, and the comparative advantage (relative to diverse other behavioral and nonbehavioral approaches) of using the operant-learning paradigm to organize and explain many of the sequential changes in behavior patterns conventionally thought to constitute infant development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of cavern development in mixing a yield stress fluid by rushton and intermig impellers

Intermig impellers have been postulated as very efficient for mixing highly viscous non-Newtonian fluids (such as xanthan and mycelial broths). However, no formal characterisation has been published and no fair comparisons have been made, based on accurate power drawn measurements and using equal number of impeller stages and equal diameter, if compared (for example) with the performance of Rushton turbines. Characterisation of the shape, size, and evolution of the well-mixed zones or “caverns” were correlated with power drawn, for single and dual Rushton turbines and for one- as well as two-stage Intermig unslotted impellers. Cavern evolution studies were carried out in a mixing tank (diameter=0.205 m, H/T=1.6) equipped with an accurate air bearing dynamometer. Carbopol 940 (0.25 wt.-%) was used as a model, transparent fluid. Impeller to tank diameter ratio was 0.53 for both impellers. Caverns were visualised by injecting methylene blue in the well-mixed zones. A single Rushton turbine developed larger caverns if compared with one-stage Intermig of the same diameter under power drawn below 1.5 kW m^?3. At higher power drawn, both impellers behaved very similarly, reaching a limit in cavern volume of about 40% of the total liquid volume, even at very high (20 kW m⁰³) power drawn. A similar trend characterised dual combinations: below 3 kW m^?3, dual Rushtons gave larger cavern volume if compared with the performance of two-stage Intermigs. In either case, power drawn higher than 3 kW m⁰³ was sufficient to mix more than 90% of the liquid volume. The presence or absence of the slot in the Intermig did not influence cavern development. Experiments with a smaller if compared with those obtained with the larger Intermig (D/T = 0.53).     

Sensitivity of MMPI-2 validity scales to underreporting of symptoms.

Standard and supplementary scales designed to detect underreporting of symptoms on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (S. R. Hathaway & J. C. McKinley, 1983) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989) were investigated in two groups of participants. Fifty individuals who completed the MMPI-2 under a fake-good instruction set were compared to 50 matched individuals who completed it under the standard instructions. Fake-good participants scored significantly higher than standard participants on all underreporting scales. Effect sizes showed that fake good participants differed from standard participants by nearly 2 SD on the average. Hierarchical regression and discriminant function analyses suggested that two supplementary underreporting scales, J. S. Wiggins's (1959) Social Desirability Scale and the Superlative Scale (J. N. Butcher & K. Han, 1993), have significant incremental validity over the traditional L and K scales in discriminating standard from underreported profiles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A unified account of cognitive impairments following frontal lobe damage: The role of working memory in complex, organized behavior.

A computer model is presented that performs 4 tasks sometimes impaired by frontal damage: motor sequencing, the Stroop task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and a context memory task. In each task, patterns of performance typical of frontal-damaged patients are shown to result from the same type of damage to the model, specifically, weakening of associations among elements in working memory. The simulation shows how a single underlying type of damage could result in impairments on a variety of seemingly distinct tasks. Furthermore, the hypothesized damage affects the processing components that carry out the task rather than a distinct central executive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual attention in infant monkeys: Effects of dietary fatty acids and age.

Effects of dietary essential fatty acids on visual attention were explored longitudinally in infant rhesus monkeys with a visual paired-comparison paradigm. Sets of primate faces and of patterns were presented at Weeks 2, 5, 9, and 13 to 9 infants deficient in ω-3 fatty acids and 8 fed a standard nursery diet. Familiarization to 1 member of each pair preceded simultaneous presentation of both stimuli. Infants fed the deficient diet showed longer individual looks in both immediate and 24-hr tests. Duration of looks decreased with age to familiar but not to novel stimuli. The proportion of time looking at the novel stimulus (% novel) increased with age but was not affected by diet. Look duration and % novel were differentially affected and may reflect different underlying processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of tools to research the Color-Your-Life technique.

Developed tools to quantify and examine the Color-Your-Life (CYL) technique. Two hurdles were overcome in researching the CYL: (1) standardizing administration and (2) quantifying the drawings. 173 ethnically diverse children, aged 6–13 yrs, were instructed to name various emotions until 8 different emotions were written on the blackboard. A piece of paper with the names of 8 standard crayon colors was handed to each S. Ss then paired an emotion from the board with the color they associated it with on the paper. Findings show some ethnic differences in the pairings. Based on the results the following color-affect pairings were selected: RED-mad, ORANGE-excited, YELLOW-happy, GREEN-lonely, BLUE-sad, BROWN-bored, BLACK-scared, and PURPLE-choice. Standard instructions for giving the CYL were developed and inter-rater reliability was found to be 99.5%. A quantification system was devised using computer graphics which allowed for the measurement of percent of color. A brief report on a pilot study of the use CYL in 80 normal Ss, aged 6–12 yrs, revealed age, gender, and ethnic group differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speed and coding effects in relation to age and ability level.

Studied 2 dimensions measured by the Digit Symbol subtest of the WAIS—speed and cognition—in relation to age. Data from 20–30 and 65–75 yr olds of average and high verbal ability are congruent with previous findings that both the speed and coding components are important factors contributing to a substantial age decline in Digit Symbol performance, but raise questions about the effects of Ss' educational experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)