Levels of Construction of Experience and the Methods of Psychological Science

In all probability, every consulting psychologist is familiar with the feeling of frustration that arises when one attempts to describe and explain the course of a specific consultative process with even a minimum of scientific rigor. Drawing on existing conceptions of personality, consciousness, and communications for this purpose resembles trying to draw water with a sieve. The problem lies not in the breadth or narrowness of our knowledge, but in the fact that no adequately formed method of thinking has been developed. This problem, which has steadily been more acutely perceived since publication of the brilliant methodological works of A.A. Puzyrei [17] and A.M. Etkind [25] revealing radical differences between the type of thinking evident in "natural science" and the type of thinking used in "psychotechnics," has crystallized into the concrete task of constructing psychotechnical concepts for different types of psychological practice.     

The philosophical "mind-body problem" and its relevance for the relationship between psychiatry and the neurosciences

Parallel to psychiatry, "philosophy of mind" investigates the relationship between mind (mental domain) and body/brain (physical domain). Unlike older forms of philosophy of mind, contemporary analytical philosophy is not exclusively based on introspection and conceptual analysis, but also draws upon the empirical methods and findings of the sciences. This article outlines the conceptual framework of the "mind-body problem" as formulated in contemporary analytical philosophy and argues that this philosophical debate has potentially far-reaching implications for psychiatry as a clinical-scientific discipline, especially for its own autonomy and its relationship to neurology/neuroscience. This point is illustrated by a conceptual analysis of the five principles formulated in Kandel's 1998 article "A New Intellectual Framework for Psychiatry." Kandel's position in the philosophical mind-body debate is ambiguous, ranging from reductive physicalism (psychophysical identity theory) to non-reductive physicalism (in which the mental "supervenes" on the physical) to epiphenomenalist dualism or even emergent dualism. We illustrate how these diverging interpretations result in radically different views on the identity of psychiatry and its relationship with the rapidly expanding domain of neurology/neuroscience.     

The Problem of the "Formative" Elements of Consciousness in the Activity Theory of the Mind

The problem of the structure and psychological mechanisms of consciousness has a rich history, to which M. M. Bakhtin, G. G. Shpet, L. S. Vygotsky, and, later, A. N. Leont'ev and S. L. Rubinshtein all made significant contributions. It is our purpose in the present article to discuss only one aspect of this problem: the structure of individual consciousness. Pursuing the line of research delineated by Vygotsky, Leont'ev (1977) posed some cardinal questions: Of what is consciousness composed? How does it arise? What are its components? He called the latter the "formative elements" of consciousness. According to Leont'ev, there are three such "forming" elements: the sensory fabric of perception (or of an image), meaning, and sense. The inclusion of the sensory fabric in the structure of consciousness along with ostensive meaning and sense was a definite step forward along the path toward the ontologization of conceptions of consciousness.¹ But I think that individual consciousness construed in this way is still insufficiently ontological. Leont'ev's three "formative elements" do not completely account for the connection between consciousness and being (see M. M. Bakhtin, for whom consciousness "participates" in being and is essential for life). One might even reproach Leont'ev for a certain inconsistency: activity, although it is the source of consciousness, is itself not one of its "formative elements." Of course, he could answer this reproach by saying that the "formative elements" are structural elements, constituents, not generative elements. However, it seems to me that the distinction between constitutive and generative is very, very relative in any analysis of living consciousness, which is continually in the process of being constructed.     

Genetic algorithm solution for double digest problem

The strongly NP-Hard Double Digest Problem, for reconstructing the physical map of DNA sequence, in now using for efficient genotyping. Most of the existing methods are inefficient in tackling large instances due to the large search space for the problem which grows as a factorial function (a!)(b!) of the numbers a and b of the DNA fragments generated by the two restriction enzymes. Also, none of the existing methods are able to handle the erroneous data. In this paper, we develop a novel method based on genetic algorithm for solving this problem and it is adapted to handle the erroneous data. Our genetic algorithm is implemented and compared with the other well-known existing algorithms. The obtained results show the efficiency (speedup) of our algorithm with respect to the other methods, specially for erroneous data.     

Bayesian modeling of perceived surface slant from actively-generated and passively-observed optic flow

We measured perceived depth from the optic flow (a) when showing a stationary physical or virtual object to observers who moved their head at a normal or slower speed, and (b) when simulating the same optic flow on a computer and presenting it to stationary observers. Our results show that perceived surface slant is systematically distorted, for both the active and the passive viewing of physical or virtual surfaces. These distortions are modulated by head translation speed, with perceived slant increasing directly with the local velocity gradient of the optic flow. This empirical result allows us to determine the relative merits of two alternative approaches aimed at explaining perceived surface slant in active vision: an "inverse optics" model that takes head motion information into account, and a probabilistic model that ignores extra-retinal signals. We compare these two approaches within the framework of the bayesian theory. The "inverse optics" bayesian model produces veridical slant estimates if the optic flow and the head translation velocity are measured with no error; because of the influence of a "prior" for flatness, the slant estimates become systematically biased as the measurement errors increase. The bayesian model, which ignores the observer's motion, always produces distorted estimates of surface slant. Interestingly, the predictions of this second model, not those of the first one, are consistent with our empirical findings. The present results suggest that (a) in active vision perceived surface slant may be the product of probabilistic processes which do not guarantee the correct solution, and (b) extra-retinal signals may be mainly used for a better measurement of retinal information.     

"The Key to Human Psychology"

This article investigates the notebook kept by Lev Vygotsky during the first half of 1926. In addition to discussing the notebook's structure, content, and time frame, the article analyzes its significance within the context of the development of Vygotsky's ideas. Among the notebook's content discussed here are: supplementary material to The Psychology of Art; a preliminary outline for "The Historical Meaning of the Crisis in Psychology"; the first propositions of cultural-historical theory associated with the idea of sign mediation; an outline for the unwritten monograph "Zoon politikon"; as well as thoughts on a general psychological theory of consciousness that assigns a key role to speech and communication in the genesis of consciousness. Particular attention is paid to Vygotsky's remarks on the ontological status of mental reality and the problem of the psychophysical.     

The problem with the species problem

When Charles Darwin convinced the scientific community that species evolve, the long-held essentialist view of each species as fixed was rejected and a clear conceptual understanding of the term was lost. For the next century, a real species problem existed that became culturally entrenched within the scientific community. Although largely solved decades ago, the species problem remains entrenched today due to a suite of factors. Most of the factors that help maintain its perceived intractability have been revealed and logically dismissed; yet this is not widely known so those factors continue to be influential. It is time to recognize this false foundation and relegate the species problem to history.     

On the inverse problem of binocular 3D motion perception

It is shown that existing processing schemes of 3D motion perception such as interocular velocity difference, changing disparity over time, as well as joint encoding of motion and disparity, do not offer a general solution to the inverse optics problem of local binocular 3D motion. Instead we suggest that local velocity constraints in combination with binocular disparity and other depth cues provide a more flexible framework for the solution of the inverse problem. In the context of the aperture problem we derive predictions from two plausible default strategies: (1) the vector normal prefers slow motion in 3D whereas (2) the cyclopean average is based on slow motion in 2D. Predicting perceived motion directions for ambiguous line motion provides an opportunity to distinguish between these strategies of 3D motion processing. Our theoretical results suggest that velocity constraints and disparity from feature tracking are needed to solve the inverse problem of 3D motion perception. It seems plausible that motion and disparity input is processed in parallel and integrated late in the visual processing hierarchy.     

Physical characterization of the "immunosignaturing effect"

Identifying new, effective biomarkers for diseases is proving to be a challenging problem. We have proposed that antibodies may offer a solution to this problem. The physical features and abundance of antibodies make them ideal biomarkers. Additionally, antibodies are often elicited early in the ontogeny of different chronic and infectious diseases. We previously reported that antibodies from patients with infectious disease and separately those with Alzheimer's disease display a characteristic and reproducible "immunosignature" on a microarray of 10,000 random sequence peptides. Here we investigate the physical and chemical parameters underlying how immunosignaturing works. We first show that a variety of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies raised against different classes of antigens produce distinct profiles on this microarray and the relative affinities are determined. A proposal for how antibodies bind the random sequences is tested. Sera from vaccinated mice and people suffering from a fugal infection are individually assayed to determine the complexity of signals that can be distinguished. Based on these results, we propose that this simple, general and inexpensive system could be optimized to generate a new class of antibody biomarkers for a wide variety of diseases.     

"I'm worth more than that": trait positivity predicts increased rejection of unfair financial offers

Humans react strongly to unfairness, sometimes rejecting inequitable proposals even if this sacrifices personal financial gain. Here we explored whether emotional dispositions--trait tendencies to experience positive or negative feelings--shape the rejection of unfair financial offers. Participants played an Ultimatum Game, where the division of a sum of money is proposed and the player can accept or reject this offer. Individuals high in trait positivity and low in trait negativity rejected more unfair offers. These relationships could not be explained by existing accounts which argue that rejection behaviour results from a failure to regulate negative emotions, or serves to arbitrate social relationships and identity. Instead, the relationship between dispositional affect and rejection behaviour may be underpinned by perceived self worth, with those of a positive disposition believing that they are "worth more than that" and those of a negative disposition resigning themselves to "taking the crumbs from under the table".     

Cell migration into neural tube lumen provides evidence for the "fixed cortex" theory of cell motility

We present a model of cell motility based on emigration of neural crest cells into the neural tube lumen under in vitro conditions (10% fetal calf serum or YIGSR) that inhibit their normal emigration from the base of the neuroepithelium into surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). Ultrastructural observations reveal that cells lining the lumen are joined by zonulae adherentes (ZA), which are points of strong intercellular attachment, and thereby serve as markers for fixed regions of plasmalemma and cortical actin. Three major observations of the relationship of cells to the ZA support the "fixed cortex" model of mesenchymal cell migration. First, cells extend apical cell processes past the ZA into the lumen. To do this, they must make new apical plasmalemma and actin cortex that the endoplasm slides into. Second, elongated cells are observed in the lumen that are still attached via ZA to the neuroepithelium. This indicates that all of the endoplasm finally slides past the ZA. Third, numerous cytoplasmic pieces, often attached to each other and to the neuroepithelium via ZA, are found at the site where cells appear to have detached from the epithelium after entering the lumen. Since the ZA is fixed in location, the endoplasm must have slid past it into newly manufactured anterior cortex and plasmalemma, with the trailing end of the cell finally snapping off. The "fixed cortex" theory of cell migration agrees with existing data in that it predicts the polarized insertion of new plasmalemma and actin at the leading end of the cell, but it differs significantly from existing theories of mesenchymal cell migration in that it states that the cell surface remains firmly attached to the substratum while the myosin-rich endoplasm slides past it.     

Correlation between the stability of alpha-chymotrypsin at high temperatures and "salting in" of a strong solution]

A correlation was found between the thermal stability of alpha-chymotrypsin and the coefficient Ks of the Sechenov equation as a quantitative measure of the "salting-in" or "salting-out" capacity of solutes. At high temperatures, an increase in the concentration of "salting-in" agents (KSNC, GuHCl, urea, formamide) resulted in thermal stabilization of alpha-chymotrypsin. The maximal (about 100-fold) stabilizing effect in concentrated solutions of salting-in agents was comparable with those induced by covalent modification with hydrophilic reagents or immobilization. Conversely, an increase in the concentration of "salting-out" agents stabilized the enzyme only marginally at high temperatures. An additivity of solutes' action on the thermal stability of the protein has been demonstrated. The observed correlation was explained in terms of the solutes' action on the reversible conformational transition of the enzyme native form into a much more stable form existing at high temperatures.     

UPGMA树的不惟一性问题及其解决方法

对于一组给定的DNA或蛋白质序列,UPGMA算法构建的二叉进化树可能是不惟一的,其具体拓扑结构与序列输入顺序相关,这一现象通常被称为"tied trees"。提出了UPGMA的一种改进算法——不加权算术平均组群方法(UMGMA),用以解决UPGMA树的不惟一问题。在UPGMA树惟一时,该方法产生的进化树与UPGMA树相同;而在UPGMA树不惟一时,该方法可以产生一棵惟一的、与序列输入顺序无关的多叉进化树,而且该算法还具有一个可调的容差参数,来控制生成进化树的主要分枝结构,这对于突出大规模进化树的总体脉络具有重要意义。     

Estimation of the size distribution of fibrillar centres in nucleoli--an example of the "Swiss cheese" problem in stereology.

The "Swiss cheese" problem in stereology is that variant of the classical corpuscle problem where the size distribution of randomly distributed spherical "holes" in an opaque medium is to be inferred from the size distribution of the circular holes observed in sections. In our electron microscopical studies of the neurons of the rat supraoptic nucleus, we encountered a Swiss cheese problem in connection with the size distribution of the fibrillar centres of the nucleoli. We found no practical examples in the literature, and attempts to obtain a Wicksell-type algorithm met with severe numerical instability problems. The present paper shows that the chi-distributions of Keiding, Jensen, and Ranek (1972, Biometrics 28, 813-829) may be used as the basis for a parametric maximum likelihood solution for the Swiss cheese problem. The concept of a capping angle (nonobservability of spheres cut at too acute an angle), also introduced by Keiding et al., carries over as well. The methods are illustrated on data from the mentioned experiment.     

Disuse and aging: same problem, different outcomes

Many of the changes that accompany physical inactivity coincide with those that occur during aging. These changes are generally grouped under the term of 'disuse' (or "lack of use" or "inappropriately modulated stimulation"). Studies of long-term space travel have revealed that weightlessness in space also induces changes resembling those of aging and physical inactivity. The relationship between disuse (due to bed rest, insufficient exercise, or lack of gravity) and aging has some definite practical implications. As life expectancy is lenghtened in all populations worldwide, the number of elderly with varying degrees of disability leading to reduced physical activity also increases. Changes induced by bed rest as a consequence of disease may also be superimposed on aging changes and further diminish physiologic reserves and accelerate pathology. Therefore, the study of disuse, irrespective of its etiology, may serve as a model for understanding not only some of the functional changes induced by lack of activity and/or gravity but also some of the disabilities of old age. Indeed, a better understanding of disuse phenomena will make it possible to establish programs of prevention and rehabilitation that will ameliorate both disuse and aging deficits.     

The Majority of the Migrant Factory Workers of the Light Industry in Shenzhen,China May Be Physically Inactive

Physical inactivity is a strong risk factor of non-communicable diseases (NCD). In China, there are 250 million migrant factory workers, who are susceptible to physical inactivity and hence NCD because of work nature and setting. With random stratified sampling, 807 such workers of the light industry were recruited in Shenzhen, China and completed a self-administered questionnaire with informed consent. The prevalence of inadequate physical activity (defined according to the World Health Organization’s recommendation on level of moderate/vigorous physical activity) was 95.4%. Of all participants, 69.1% showed “a very low level of physical activity” (VLLPA), defined as ≤30 minutes of weekly moderate/vigorous physical activity, which was significantly associated with female sex (Odds ratio [OR]=1.65), lower education level (OR=0.10 to 0.33, primary education as the reference group) and married status (OR=0.63, single status as the reference group). Adjusted for these factors, perceived social support (Adjusted OR=0.87) was negatively associated with VLLPA, while job stress due to workload, which was significant in the univariate analysis (OR=0.98), became non-significant (p=0.184). Significant interaction between perceived social support and perceived job stress onto VLLPA was found (p=0.044), implying that the negative association between job stress and VLLPA, which might reflect a potential response to cope with stress by performing exercises, was stronger among those with weaker social support. The extremely low level of physical activity rings an alarm, as it implies high risk of NCD, and as there are no existing programs promoting physical activity in this group. Interventions need to take into account social support, potential coping to job stress, and structural factors of the factory setting, while involving factories’ management.     

How to study consciousness scientifically.

The neurosciences have advanced to the point that we can now treat consciousness as a scientific problem like any other. The problem is to explain how brain processes cause consciousness and how consciousness is realized in the brain. Progress is impeded by a number of philosophical mistakes, and the aim of this paper is to remove nine of those mistakes: (i) consciousness cannot be defined; (ii) consciousness is subjective but science is objective; (iii) brain processes cannot explain consciousness; (iv) the problem of ''qualia'' should be set aside; (v) consciousness is epiphenomenal; (vi) consciousness has no evolutionary function; (vii) a causal account of consciousness is necessarily dualistic; (viii) science is reductionistic, so a scientific account of consciousness would show it reducible to something else; and (ix) an account of consciousness must be an information processing account.     

The graded and dichotomous nature of visual awareness

Is our visual experience of the world graded or dichotomous? Opposite pre-theoretical intuitions apply in different cases. For instance, when looking at a scene, one has a distinct sense that our experience has a graded character: one cannot say that there is no experience of contents that fall outside the focus of attention, but one cannot say that there is full awareness of such contents either. By contrast, when performing a visual detection task, our sense of having perceived the stimulus or not exhibits a more dichotomous character. Such issues have recently been the object of intense debate because different theoretical frameworks make different predictions about the graded versus dichotomous character of consciousness. Here, we review both relevant empirical findings as well as the associated theories (i.e. local recurrent processing versus global neural workspace theory). Next, we attempt to reconcile such contradictory theories by suggesting that level of processing is an often-ignored but highly relevant dimension through which we can cast a novel look at existing empirical findings. Thus, using a range of different stimuli, tasks and subjective scales, we show that processing low-level, non-semantic content results in graded visual experience, whereas processing high-level semantic content is experienced in a more dichotomous manner. We close by comparing our perspective with existing proposals, focusing in particular on the partial awareness hypothesis.     

Corroboration versus "Strongest Evidence"

Background knowledge comprises accepted (well-corroborated) theories and results. Such theories are taken to be true for the purpose of interpreting evidence when assessing the corroboration of a hypothesis currently in question. Accordingly, background knowledge does not properly include rejected theories, false assumptions, or null models. In particular, regarding a model of random character distribution as "background knowledge" would rule out corroboration of phylogenetic hypotheses, since it would make character data irrelevant to inferring phylogeny. The presence of homoplasy is not grounds for treating characters as if they were randomly distributed, since characters can show strong phylogenetic structure even when they show homoplasy. This means that clique (compatibility) analysis is unjustified, since that method depends crucially on the assumption that characters showing any homoplasy at all are unrelated to phylogeny. Although likelihood does not measure corroboration, corroboration is closely connected to likelihood: for given evidence and background, the most likely trees are also best corroborated. Most parsimonious trees are best corroborated; the apparent clash between parsimony and likelihood is an artifact of the use of unrealistic models in most "maximum likelihood" methods.     

August Weismann's theory of the germ-plasm and the problem of unconceived alternatives

I have argued elsewhere that scientific realism is most significantly challenged neither by traditional arguments from underdetermination of theories by the evidence, nor by the traditional pessimistic induction, but by a rather different historical pattern: our repeated failure to conceive of alternatives to extant scientific theories, even when those alternatives were both (1) well-confirmed by the evidence available at the time and (2) sufficiently scientifically serious as to be later embraced by actual scientific communities. Here I use August Weismann's defense of his influential germ-plasm theory of inheritance to support my claim that this pattern characterizes the history of theoretical scientific investigation generally. Weismann believed that the germ-plasm must become disintegrated into its constituent elements over the course of development, I argue, only because he failed to conceive of any possible alternative mechanism of ontogenetic differentiation. This and other features of the germ-plasm theory, I suggest, reflect a still more fundamental failure to imagine that the germ-plasm might be a productive rather than expendable resource for the cell. Weismann's case provides impressive support for the problem of unconceived alternatives while rendering its challenge to scientific realism deeper and sharper in a number of important ways.