A Contribution to the Problem of Perceptual Constancy

The problem of the psychological nature of perceptual constancy is, as we know, among the most pressing and as yet unresolved problems of modern psychology. Despite the fact that the past decade has seen large-scale experimental investigation of the problem, the study of the psychological mechanism of this phenomenon has hardly gone beyond the advancement of a number of theories hypothetical in nature.     

Basic Principles of a Psychological Analysis in the Theory of Activity

The general psychological theory of activity created by L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontev, A. R. Luria, and their disciples has entered a critical phase in its development. An external sign of the advent of this phase is the increased frequency of discussions of the role of the category of activity in building the conceptual apparatus of psychology. One hears ever more insistently the idea that the category of activity is threatening to become a kind of monster, ready to devour all other psychological concepts [4,14,37,45]A.n internal sign of the advent of this critical phase in the development of the theory of activity is the discrepancy between the tremendous amount of factual material accumulated in the various special areas of psychology in which the theory of activity plays a special role and the initial principles of this theory, formulated very early, when it was just being developed. As a result, a paradox has emerged: a theory engendered by the exigencies of practice is beginning to be perceived as a theory independent of practice. A critical phase in the development of any theory, like a crisis in the development of the life of a child, means the beginning of a new stage in its existence. For such a critical phase to occur, at least the following steps are, I think, necessary. The first step is enumerating the original principles of the theory of activity. The second involves an analysis, through the prism of these original principles, of all the factual material accumulated in the special areas of psychology and in general psychology. This analysis will overcome the discrepancy between the key principles of the theory of activity and the factual material, and will also help to refine and modify those principles. Finally, the third stage is the development of prospects for basic and applied research, i.e., defining the area for the most immediate development of a psychology built on the basis of a general psychological theory of activity.     

Psychological Manifestations of the Basic Properties of the Nervous System in Work

There can be no doubt that the individual psychological distinctions among human beings and, in particular, one area of these differences — the psychological manifestations of the intensity, lability, and equilibrium of nervous processes — are manifested in one form or another in work, that activity which most completely expresses the nature of man. Therefore, study of these peculiarities is a matter of pressing importance in labor psychology. "Investigation of the individual differences among men," writes B.M. Teplov, "is one of the most important tasks of psychology. The importance of this undertaking has become particularly obvious since psychology undertook to become a science of practical value (educational and child psychology, labor psychology, pathopsychology)." (19; p. 108)     

On Certain Aspects of Human Information Processing

Modern automated production processes have made it necessary for engineering psychology to deal with the problem of the capacity of the operator. The task of solving this problem has given rise to a special field of psychological research, called variously psychological information theory by Berlyne (8) and Infor mationspsychologie by Frank. (11)     

The Problem of Development in Psychology

1. The problem of development in psychology hinges on the problem of the subject matter of psychology. This dependency is discernible in the old psychology and in its contemporary trends as well. Accordingly, the definition of the subject matter of psychology expressed by the formula "man as an active agent in the environment" will lead to a specific understanding of psychological development.     

One Giant Leap for Categorizers: One Small Step for Categorization Theory

We explore humans’ rule-based category learning using analytic approaches that highlight their psychological transitions during learning. These approaches confirm that humans show qualitatively sudden psychological transitions during rule learning. These transitions contribute to the theoretical literature contrasting single vs. multiple category-learning systems, because they seem to reveal a distinctive learning process of explicit rule discovery. A complete psychology of categorization must describe this learning process, too. Yet extensive formal-modeling analyses confirm that a wide range of current (gradient-descent) models cannot reproduce these transitions, including influential rule-based models (e.g., COVIS) and exemplar models (e.g., ALCOVE). It is an important theoretical conclusion that existing models cannot explain humans’ rule-based category learning. The problem these models have is the incremental algorithm by which learning is simulated. Humans descend no gradient in rule-based tasks. Very different formal-modeling systems will be required to explain humans’ psychology in these tasks. An important next step will be to build a new generation of models that can do so.     

Psychological Tests

In the history of every science it occasionally happens that individual currents develop comparatively rapidly whereas others lag behind somewhat in their growth for some time. This sort of unevenness has been typical of psychology as a whole and of one of its specialized areas, namely, the theory and methods of psychological measurement.     

The Paths of Development of Mathematical Psychology

This article reviews current developments in Soviet mathematical psychology and relates them to the very extensive extant literature in the United States. Programmatic articles of this kind are frequent in Soviet journals. They serve the dual purpose of highlighting current areas of concern and pointing to probable future areas of growth. Mathematics in large doses is now a standard part of the Soviet psychologist's education, and can be counted on to be an important feature of future psychological research.     

Developmental Phases of Personality Formation in Childhood (I)

One of the problems that has contributed to a refinement of the "functional procedure of double stimulation" in experiments is the problem of concept formation in children. To form an idea of the significance of this experimental method for the study of children's concepts, it must be viewed against the background of other methods that have been used to deal with the same problem. The psychology of children's concepts not only is of tremendous theoretical interest but also undoubtedly has applied psychological importance since the accumulation of concepts, their nature, and the way they are used are unquestionably correlated with a child's level of intellectual development and are, to some extent, indicators of that level.     

Understanding the psychology of geriatric edentulous patients

doi: 10.1111/j.1741‐2358.2011.00496.x Understanding the psychology of geriatric edentulous patients Objective: This article focuses on understanding our older patients who require complete prosthodontic care. By breaking down the patient psychology to its component parts, it is easier to obtain a clear picture of this special cohort of patients. Considering the increase in number of geriatric edentulous patients, this knowledge will help the dentist serve the geriatric population better. Background: The role of psychology and personality in complete denture treatment is well documented. The geriatric patient who needs complete dentures has a psychological aspect that needs consideration. Although significant, these aspects may sometimes be ignored or considered irrelevant. Materials and methods: A review of relevant literature was carried out to obtain data on the psychology and personality of geriatric, complete denture patients and their behavioural changes. The obtained data was filtered and condensed to provide a short but comprehensive look at the geriatric edentulous patient’s psychology. Conclusion: When handling geriatric edentulous patients, the dentist must be confident of addressing and managing the psychology of these patients. A thorough understanding of the geriatric mental state thus becomes important and significant for the clinician.     

Productive Perception

Many generations of psychologists have been concerned with the problem of how we see things as they are in reality. The science of vision has accumulated extensive material on this subject; and many more or less correct hypotheses have been proposed, formulated in the various conceptual terms of philosophy, art, psychology, physiology, biophysics, mathematics, and technology. Investigation into the working of the visual system has not developed equally in these fields. One instructive fact will not go unnoticed in the future history of the science of vision: in psychology, interest in image phenomena has fallen sharply, first because of behaviorism, then because of too broad an interpretation of the classic teachings on conditioned reflexes, and later because of cybernetic ideas. It has been maintained probably in a single area, psychiatry, in which investigative and medical material has not permitted image and hallucinatory phenomena to be ignored. In the early 1960s representatives of various psychological and physiological schools and disciplines returned anew to the long-for gotten topic of image phenomena. As Holt has aptly remarked (15), images are returning from exile. As generally happens in science, the rekindling of interest in a traditional topic occurred through the internal logic of studying the problems of perception in the light of the relatively new fields in science and technology. If we trace the development of only some of them — design theory, engineering psychology, and the theory of creative activity (as a separate subdivision of art, science, and the psychology of creativity) — it becomes clear that the return to image phenomena is due to the inability of behaviorism and associated physiological conditioning theories to explain complex forms of behavior and mental activity.     

Hypothesis testing in ecology: psychological aspects and the importance of theory maturation

Proper hypothesis testing is the subject of much debate in ecology. According to studies in cognitive psychology, confirmation bias (a tendency to seek confirming evidence) and theory tenacity (persistent belief in a theory in spite of contrary evidence) pervasively influence actual problem solving and hypothesis testing, often interfering with effective testing of alternative hypotheses. On the other hand, these psychological factors play a positive role in the process of theory maturation by helping to protect and nurture a new idea until it is suitable for critical evaluation. As a theory matures it increases in empirical content and its predictions become more distinct. Efficient hypothesis testing is often not possible when theories are in an immature state, as is the case in much of ecology. Problem areas in ecology are examined in light of these considerations, including failure to publish negative results, misuses of mathematical models, confusion resulting from ambiguous terms (such as "diversity" and "niche"), and biases against new ideas.     

Psychological Laws of the Social Development of the Personality in Ontogeny

Cultivation of the new man as an individual person is a requirement of developed socialist society. At the present stage of socialist construction, which entails a qualitatively new level of decision making [in confronting] socioeconomic and political problems, the role of the human factor in all spheres of the vital activity of society becomes especially urgent, and the importance of people's maintaining a responsible social position becomes greater. The achievements in public education, science, and culture have made it both possible and necessary to concentrate attention not only on instruction but, most importantly, on cultivating the new man, who is "not merely the bearer of a specific sum of knowledge but, first and foremost, a citizen of socialist society"[7. P. 391. The need to deal with this problem has had an impact on the main areas of reform of the general educational and vocational training school, a reform based on a new level of psychological and pedagogical knowledge, and defines the tasks of further scientific inquiry. One of the most important tasks of psychology is to intensify study of the development of the personality, to discover the psychological laws of its development, and the conditions and mechanisms for accelerating the process of personal self-determination.     

A Contribution to the Problem of the Role of Set and Attitude in Perceptual Processes

Different human beings perceive the same phenomena, events, and things in different ways. This fact, which we encounter at every step in our daily lives and in all spheres of our activity is one of the central problems in the psychology of perception. Observations and experiments have established, beyond question, that past experience is one of the circumstances involved. The first problem studied in this connection was the role of the personality factor in perception. After all, past experience is the property of the personality. The problem of the subjective factor also arose in connection with the fact that psychological activity is generally purposeful, and this is particularly true of the processes of thought and perception. As a matter of fact, it would be no exaggeration to state that the problem of the subjective factor faces all schools of perceptual psychology to one degree or another and in one form or another, no matter how widely their theoretical positions differ.     

Psychological Problems Of Dialogue In Light Of The Ideas Of M. M. Bakhtin And A. A. Ukhtomskii

Comparative examination of the scientific and philosophical ideas of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin and Aleksei Alekseevich Ukhtomskii is of interest from the standpoint of both the psychological theory of communication and the practice of psychological counseling, psychotherapy, and upbringing. Development of the applied areas of psychology poses the tasks of understanding the particular person and his individual problems and offering psychological assistance in the process of communication. To deal with these questions it is not sufficient to have scientific psychological training, i.e., knowledge of the general laws of personality development and communication; a capacity for personal communication as an aid to resolving human life problems is also necessary.     

Which evolutionary model best explains the culture of honour?

The culture of honour hypothesis offers a compelling example of how human psychology differentially adapts to pastoral and horticultural environments. However, there is disagreement over whether this pattern is best explained by a memetic, evolutionary psychological, dual inheritance, or niche construction model. I argue that this disagreement stems from two shortcomings: lack of clarity about the theoretical commitments of these models and inadequate comparative data for testing them. To resolve the first problem, I offer a theoretical framework for deriving competing predictions from each of the four models. In particular, this involves a novel interpretation of the difference between dual inheritance theory and cultural niche construction. I then illustrate a strategy for testing their predictions using data from the Human Relations Area File. Empirical results suggest that the aggressive psychological phenotype typically associated with honour culture is more common among pastoral societies than among horticultural societies. Theoretical considerations suggest that this pattern is best explained as a case of cultural niche construction.     

A review of cell assemblies

Since the cell assembly (CA) was hypothesised, it has gained substantial support and is believed to be the neural basis of psychological concepts. A CA is a relatively small set of connected neurons, that through neural firing can sustain activation without stimulus from outside the CA, and is formed by learning. Extensive evidence from multiple single unit recording and other techniques provides support for the existence of CAs that have these properties, and that their neurons also spike with some degree of synchrony. Since the evidence is so broad and deep, the review concludes that CAs are all but certain. A model of CAs is introduced that is informal, but is broad enough to include, e.g. synfire chains, without including, e.g. holographic reduced representation. CAs are found in most cortical areas and in some sub-cortical areas, they are involved in psychological tasks including categorisation, short-term memory and long-term memory, and are central to other tasks including working memory. There is currently insufficient evidence to conclude that CAs are the neural basis of all concepts. A range of models have been used to simulate CA behaviour including associative memory and more process- oriented tasks such as natural language parsing. Questions involving CAs, e.g. memory persistence, CAs’ complex interactions with brain waves and learning, remain unanswered. CA research involves a wide range of disciplines including biology and psychology, and this paper reviews literature directly related to the CA, providing a basis of discussion for this interdisciplinary community on this important topic. Hopefully, this discussion will lead to more formal and accurate models of CAs that are better linked to neuropsychological data.     

雌激素对情绪的影响：心理、神经、内分泌研究

雌激素通过复杂的生理和心理学机制对中枢神经系统施加影响.生理学方面包括：雌激素在杏仁核、海马和前额叶等这些与情绪认知相关的重要脑区内影响神经递质的产生和效能;雌激素可以作用于下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴,改变情绪性行为;雌激素受体的基因转录也可以调节情绪性行为的变化.雌激素也通过神经心理学的因素影响情绪加工：雌激素可以提高情绪编码技能,提升表情识别的准确性;雌激素能够影响情绪的唤醒,改变个体情绪体验的强度.未来的研究要融合心理、神经和内分泌等各种因素,以解决女性情绪障碍这一难题.     

The Importance of Intentionality in Accurate and Complete Text Recall; (Comparative Study of Mentally Retarded and Normal Schoolchildren)

Viewed from the perspective of their standpoint on the significance of intention for memory and recall, theories of memory in bourgeois psychology may be divided into two groups. One group completely disregards the role of intention in memory and recall. For example, it follows necessarily from Ebbinghaus's associationist theory that memory and recall take place independently of the intention of the subject and depend exclusively on the multiple repetition of what is contained in consciousness.     

社会认知神经科学的取向与研究进展

社会认知神经科学是社会心理学和认知神经科学相结合的新兴多学科研究领域,其强调在社会、认知与脑神经等三个层面的交互作用上去理解心理现象。前几年主要是对刻板印象、态度与态度改变、他人知觉、自我认知以及情绪与认知交互作用等方面进行了深入研究,其主要范式是应用认知神经科学的方法来验证社会心理学在这些范围内上的各种不同的理论观点,当前的研究主要集中在知觉和再认的社会标记、社会判断和归因、评价调节知觉和经验以及社会交互作用等传统的社会心理学方面,并取得了突破性进展。展望未来的研究,其将在系统准则研究发展的基础上,把当今的社会认知研究与认知神经科学在理论和方法论上整合起来,为揭示人类高级社会心理现象的神经基础,开辟一条崭新的研究道路。