In this commentary, we discuss an important pattern of results in the literature on the neural basis of expertise: decrease of cerebral activation at the beginning of acquisition of expertise and functional cerebral reorganization as a consequence of years of practice. We show how these two results can be integrated with the neural reuse framework.

The Einstellung effect occurs when the first idea that comes to mind, triggered by familiar features of a problem, prevents a better solution being found. It has been shown to affect both people facing novel problems and experts within their field of expertise. We show that it works by influencing mechanisms that determine what information is attended to. Having found one solution, expert chess players reported that they were looking for a better one. But their eye movements showed that they (...) continued to look at features of the problem related to the solution they had already thought of. The mechanism which allows the first schema activated by familiar aspects of a problem to control the subsequent direction of attention may contribute to a wide range of biases both in everyday and expert thought - from confirmation bias in hypothesis testing to the tendency of scientists to ignore results that do not fit their favoured theories. (shrink)

In this study, we apply MOSAIC (model of syntax acquisition in children) to the simulation of the developmental patterning of children's optional infinitive (OI) errors in 4 languages: English, Dutch, German, and Spanish. MOSAIC, which has already simulated this phenomenon in Dutch and English, now implements a learning mechanism that better reflects the theoretical assumptions underlying it, as well as a chunking mechanism that results in frequent phrases being treated as 1 unit. Using 1, identical model that learns from child‐directed (...) speech, we obtain a close quantitative fit to the data from all 4 languages despite there being considerable cross‐linguistic and developmental variation in the OI phenomenon. MOSAIC successfully simulates the difference between Spanish (a pro‐drop language in which OI errors are virtually absent) and obligatory subject languages that do display the OI phenomenon. It also highlights differences in the OI phenomenon across German and Dutch, 2 closely related languages whose grammar is virtually identical with respect to the relation between finiteness and verb placement. Taken together, these results suggest that (a) cross‐linguistic differences in the rates at which children produce OIs are graded, quantitative differences that closely reflect the statistical properties of the input they are exposed to and (b) theories of syntax acquisition need to consider more closely the role of input characteristics as determinants of quantitative differences in the cross‐linguistic patterning of phenomena in language acquisition. (shrink)

Expert chess players, specialized in different openings, recalled positions and solved problems within and outside their area of specialization. While their general expertise was at a similar level, players performed better with stimuli from their area of specialization. The effect of specialization on both recall and problem solving was strong enough to override general expertise—players remembering positions and solving problems from their area of specialization performed at around the level of players 1 standard deviation (SD) above them in general skill. (...) Their problem‐solving strategy also changed depending on whether the problem was within their area of specialization. When it was, they searched more in depth and less in breadth; with problems outside their area of specialization, the reverse. The knowledge that comes from familiarity with a problem area is more important than general purpose strategies in determining how an expert will tackle it. These results demonstrate the link in experts between problem solving and memory of specific experiences and indicate that the search for context‐independent general purpose problem‐solving strategies to teach to future experts is unlikely to be successful. (shrink)

In this study we use a computational model of language learning called model of syntax acquisition in children (MOSAIC) to investigate the extent to which the optional infinitive (OI) phenomenon in Dutch and English can be explained in terms of a resource-limited distributional analysis of Dutch and English child-directed speech. The results show that the same version of MOSAIC is able to simulate changes in the pattern of finiteness marking in 2 children learning Dutch and 2 children learning English as (...) the average length of their utterances increases. These results suggest that it is possible to explain the key features of the OI phenomenon in both Dutch and English in terms of the interaction between an utterance-final bias in learning and the distributional characteristics of child-directed speech in the 2 languages. They also show how computational modeling techniques can be used to investigate the extent to which cross-linguistic similarities in the developmental data can be explained in terms of common processing constraints as opposed to innate knowledge of universal grammar. (shrink)

This study examines the impact of a social desirability response bias as a personality characteristic (self-deception and impression management) and as an item characteristic (perceived desirability of the behavior) on self-reported ethical conduct. Findings from a sample of college students revealed that self-reported ethical conduct is associated with both personality and item characteristics, with perceived desirability of behavior having the greatest influence on self-reported conduct. Implications for research in business ethics are drawn, and suggestions are offered for reducing the effects (...) of a socially desirable response bias. (shrink)

Essays, written between 1920 and 1953, by an influential, modern painter on the purpose of art in modern life.

How should we give accounts of scientific modal relations? According to the Humean, we should do so by considering the role of such relations in our lives and scientific theorizing. For example, to give a Humean account of chance, we need to identity a non-modal relation that can play the ‘role’ of chance—typically that of guiding credences and scientifically explaining events. Defenders of Humean accounts claim to be uniquely well placed to meet this aim. Humean chances are objective, and so (...) suitable for explaining. Humean chances reduce to patterns in actual events in a way that limits the possible divergence between relative frequencies and chances. So, they argue, Humean chances can uniquely be shown to satisfy chance−credence principles. I’ll argue that Humeans have no special advantage. When used in scientific contexts, Humean chances must be allowed to diverge from the relative frequencies. So, when considering the scientific question of whether agents who align their credences to the chances will do well, it is merely probable that they will. This scientific use of chance undercuts the Humean’s claimed advantage over their rivals. This undercutting also points to a deeper tension in Humeanism: Humeans must either give up the aim of recovering scientific practice, or live with a disunity between science and metaphysics. While a focus on function is laudable, the motivation for being Humean must come from elsewhere. (shrink)

Eduardo Davi Oliveira, autor de livros como “Cosmovisão Africana no Brasil” e “Filosofia da Ancestralidade, é professor do Doutorado Multi-Institucional e Multidisciplinar em Difusão do Conhecimento. Ele nos concedeu a presente entrevista durante evento da Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia – UFSB, intitulado “Corpo, Poética e Ancestralidade”, o qual ocorreu de 11 a 17 de Março de 2019, na cidade de Porto Seguro, Bahia. Nossa conversa foi atravessada por temas como epistemologia negra, saberes milenares do povo Bakongo, mitologia dos (...) orixás, a relação do autor com a Universidade e seu processo de escrita poética no livro “Xirê”. Torcendo para que a simpatia, o conhecimento e o gingado com os quais o professor de Filosofia nos atendeu, possam se apresentar aqui, desejamos a todes, boa leitura! À Eduardo, Adupé! (shrink)

Gemma Frisius (1508–1555), who worked at the university of Louvain, heard about the Copernican system already around 1530 and afterwards was a careful reader of the Narratio prima and the De Revolutionibus. The article argues that his posthumous preface to the Ephemerides (1556) by his pupil Stadius expresses his ultimate opinion on the system of the world. Moreover, it is also the only text where he tackles the epistemological problems of the question. A careful analysis of this preface shows that (...) at the end of his life, on the ground of observations as well as philosophical demands, he admitted at least the first two movements ascribed to the earth by Copernicus. (shrink)

Understanding how look-ahead search and pattern recognition interact is one of the important research questions in the study of expert problem solving. This paper examines the implications of the template theory Gobet & Simon, 1996a , a recent theory of expert memory, on the theory of problem solving in chess. Templates are chunks Chase & Simon, 1973 that have evolved into more complex data structures and that possess slots allowing values to be encoded rapidly. Templates may facilitate search in three (...) ways: a by allowing information to be stored into LTM rapidly; b by allowing a search in the template space in addition to a search in the move space; and c by compensating loss in the minds eye due to interference and decay. A computer model implementing the main ideas of the theory is presented, and simulations of its search behaviour are discussed. The template theory accounts for the slight skill difference in average depth of search found in chess players, as well as for other empirical data. (shrink)

Reichenbach explains temporally asymmetric phenomena by appeal to entropy and ‘branch structure’. He explains why the entropic gradients of isolated subsystems are oriented towards the future and not the past, and why we have records of the past and not the future, by appeal to the fact that the universe is currently on a long entropic upgrade with subsystems that branch off and become quasi-isolated. Reichenbach’s approach has been criticised for relying too closely on entropy. The more popular approach nowadays (...) is to appeal instead to a particular low-entropy initial state—Albert’s ‘Past Hypothesis’. I’ll argue that this neglect of Reichenbach’s approach is unwarranted. A Reichenbachian account has important advantages over Albert’s: it correctly identifies the minimal temporally asymmetric posit needed to derive key temporally asymmetries and it offers a more adequate account of the record asymmetry. While a Reichenbachian account needs to be supplemented, it provides the right foundations for explaining temporally asymmetric phenomena and what we might ultimately mean by ‘the direction of time’. (shrink)

For many years, the game of chess has provided an invaluable task environment for research on cognition, in particular on the differences between novices and experts and the learning that removes these differences, and upon the structure of human memory and its paramaters. The template theory presented by Gobet and Simon based on the EPAM theory offers precise predictions on cognitive processes during the presentation and recall of chess positions. This article describes the behavior of CHREST, a computer implementation of (...) the template theory, in a memory task when the presentation time is varied from one second to sixty, on the recall of game and random positions, and compares the model to human data. Strong players are better than weak players in both types of positions, especially with long presentation times, but even after brief presentations. CHREST predicts the data, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Strong players' superiority with random positions is explained by the large number of chunks they hold in LTM. Their excellent recall with short presentation times is explained by templates, a special class of chunks. CHREST is compared to other theories of chess skill, which either cannot account for the superiority of Masters in random positions or predict too strong a performance of Masters in such positions. (shrink)

Bajo un signo común de preocupación por la unidad de las ciencias del hombre, Braudel examina los diversos y contrapuestos sentidos que los términos civilización y cultura tienen en diversos autores y ofrece sus propias soluciones; polemiza amistosamente con el estructuralismo de Lévi-Strauss y la sociología de Gurvitch; explica las tendencias de la nueva historia, ocupada en la problemática de la larga duración y de la vida material; y establece los principios para una fructífera colaboración entre historiadores, antropólogos, sociólogos, demógrafos, (...) geógrafos y economistas en pos de objetivos comunes. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta o resultado de uma pesquisa desenvolvida no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ensino de História da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (ProfHistória/UFU). Nos limites do texto o objetivo consistiu em apresentar o processo que culminou na elaboração do Curso intitulado “Por uma educação antirracista: o estudo da história da África, cultura afro-brasileira e relações étnico-raciais” produzido como resultado da pesquisa desenvolvida no mestrado profissional, tendo como base e público alvo estudantes jovens e adultos. O estudo está fundamentado em uma (...) pesquisa qualitativa, com revisão bibliográfica em livros e artigos acadêmicos tendo como principais referências autores que realizaram estudos sobre Educação de Jovens e adultos (EJA) e Educação e relações étnico-raciais. Analisamos documentos que regularizam a educação brasileira e as leis antirracistas dedicando atenção especial à Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação (LDB) 9.394/96 e à Lei 10.639/03, alterada posteriormente pela Lei 11.645/08 que estabelece a obrigatoriedade da temática História e cultura afro-brasileira e indígena. Recorreu também a um questionário diagnóstico aplicado aos jovens e adultos estudantes do Centro Estadual de Educação Continuada (CESEC Uberlândia). Conclui-se que para efetivar uma educação antirracista, o ensino de História da África e Cultura Afro-Brasileira não pode se limitar a ações pontuais. É necessário descolonizar os currículos. (shrink)

Este ensaio coloca em questão os “usos da diversidade” em uma perspectiva pós-estruturalista. Para tanto, faz surgir um discurso agonístico e ambivalente dos estudos antropológicos de Clifford Geertz. Ali, dá-se a ver um saber e uma clivagem abertos à Filosofia e à Ética comprometidas com o poder decolonial. Palavras-chave: Diversidade; Antropologia; Pós-estruturalismo.

Causes always seem to come prior to their effects. What might explain this asymmetry? Causation's temporal asymmetry isn't straightforwardly due to a temporal asymmetry in the laws of nature—the laws are, by and large, temporally symmetric. Nor does the asymmetry appear due to an asymmetry in time itself. This Element examines recent empirical attempts to explain the temporal asymmetry of causation: statistical mechanical accounts, agency accounts and fork asymmetry accounts. None of these accounts are complete yet and a full explanation (...) of the temporal asymmetry of causation will likely require contributions from all three programs. (shrink)

El presente artículo desea reflexionar, por un lado, sobre la necesidad de una formación integral de los agentes sanitarios, que contemple la dimensión espiritual; y, por otro lado, sobre la necesidad de una mejor preparación de los agentes religiosos que trabajan en hospitales y centros de salud, para que en sus intereses y preocupaciones por los enfermos, se eviten las dicotomías en nombre de la fe o en nombre de la razón. La promoción del diálogo entre razón y fe reduce (...) la distancia entre las ciencias y evita el divorcio entre la praxis de la fe y la praxis de la ciencia, revelando que, a pesar de ser distintas por sus grados de certeza, pueden estar próximas por el objeto: la búsqueda de la verdad que libera al ser humano de todas las formas de injusticia y opresión, generadoras de malestar y enfermedades sicosomáticas. This paper intends to reflect, on one hand, the need for an integral education of healthcare agents, that addresses the spiritual dimension; and, on the other hand, the need for a better preparation of religious agents that work in hopitals and health centers, so that, in the interest and concern for sick people, dichotomies in the name of faith or in the name of reason are prevented. The promotion of dialogue between reason and faith shortens the distance between sciences and avoids a divorce between praxis of faith and praxis of science, showing that, despite the different degrees of certainty, may be close by the object: the search for the truth that liberates human beings of all forms of injustice and oppression, disease generators and psychosomatic illnesses. (shrink)

A plausible thought is that we should evaluate counterfactuals in the actual world by holding the present ‘fixed’; the state of the counterfactual world at the time of the antecedent, outside the area of the antecedent, is required to match that of the actual world. When used to evaluate counterfactuals in the actual world, this requirement may produce reasonable results. However, the requirement is deeply problematic when used in the context of explaining causal asymmetry. The requirement plays a crucial role (...) in certain statistical mechanical explanations of the temporal asymmetry of causation. I will use a case of backwards time travel to show how the requirement enforces certain features of counterfactual structure a priori. For this reason, the requirement cannot be part of a completely general method of evaluating counterfactuals. More importantly, the way the requirement enforces features of counterfactual structure prevents counterfactual structure being derived from more fundamental physical structure—as explanations of causal asymmetry demand. Therefore, the requirement cannot be used when explaining causal asymmetry. To explain causal asymmetry, we need more temporally neutral methods for evaluating counterfactuals—those that produce the right results in cases involving backwards time travel, as well as in the actual world. (shrink)

Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo é apresentar reflexões teórico-metodológicas sobre o processo de letramentos bilíngues de estudantes surdos no ensino superior. Tomamos a enunciação verbo-visual como categoria bakhtiniana que direciona as hipóteses de leitura em português pelos estudantes surdos e ocupa centralidade na produção textual sinalizada em língua brasileira de sinais. Da obra do folclorista Câmara Cascudo foram selecionadas lendas brasileiras para análise textual de elementos coesivos que operam nas estratégias de referenciação no texto narrativo em língua brasileira de sinais (...) e na língua portuguesa. Como contribuições teórico-metodológicas, apresentamos a utilização da pedagogia visual e de um roteiro que orienta a leitura com destaque aos elementos intertextuais, paratextuais e textuais na produção dos sentidos do texto. O videorregistro de lendas brasileiras em libras contribui para a ampliação do repertório de gêneros textuais sinalizados, pesquisa e diversificação de léxico regional e composição de acervo de materiais e tecnologias em língua de sinais, para a constituição de uma cultura letrada. Palavras-chave: Letramento acadêmico; Libras; Português como segunda língua; Gêneros textuais; Ensino Superior. Bilingual literacies of deaf students in higher education: a study with Brazilian legends Abstract: The objective of this study is to present theoretical and methodological reflections on the process of bilingual literacies of deaf students in higher education. We understand that the verbovisual enunciation is the Bakhtinian category that mobilizes the hypotheses of reading in Portuguese by deaf students and occupies the centrality in the Brazilian sign language textual production. We selected Brazilian legends of the work of the folklorist Câmara Cascudo, for textual analysis of cohesive elements that influence the referencing strategies in the narrative text in Brazilian sign language and in the Portuguese. As theoretical-methodological contributions, we present the use of visual pedagogy and a script that guides reading, with emphasis on intertextual, paratextual and textual elements in the production of the meanings of the text. The recording of the Brazilian sign language in video of Brazilian legends contributes to the expansion of the repertoire of textual genres signaled in the Brazilian sign language, research and diversification of the regional lexicon and the composition of materials and technologies in sign language for the constitution of a literate culture. Key-words: Academic literacy; Brazilian sign language; Portuguese as a second language; Textual genres; Higher education. Letramentos bilingües de estudiantes sordos en la educación superior: un estudio con leyendas brasileñas Résumen : El objetivo de este estudio es presentar reflexiones teóricas y metodológicas sobre el proceso de letramento bilingüe de estudiantes sordos en la educación superior. Entendemos que la enunciación verbovisual es la categoría bakhtiniana que influye en las hipótesis de lectura en portugués de los estudiantes sordos y ocupa la centralidad en la producción textual señalada en lengua de señas brasileña. Seleccionamos leyendas brasileñas de la obra de la folclorista Câmara Cascudo, para el análisis textual de elementos cohesivos que influyen en las estrategias de referenciación en el texto narrativo en lengua de señas brasileña y en portugués. Como aportes teóricos y metodológicos, se presenta el uso de la pedagogía visual y un guión que orienta la lectura con énfasis en elementos intertextuales, paratextuales y textuales en la producción de los sentidos del texto. La producción de leyendas brasileñas en lengua de señas videograbada contribuye a la expansión del repertorio de géneros textuales señalados en la lengua de señas brasileña, la investigación y diversificación del léxico regional y la composición de materiales y tecnologías en lengua de signos para la constitución de una cultura letrada. Palabras clave: Letramento académico ; Libras ; Portugués como segunda lengua ; Géneros textuales ; Enseñanza superior. Data de registro: 15/04/2021 Data de aceite: 01/12/2021. (shrink)

The Poetic Structure of the World is a major reconsideration of a crucial turningpoint in Western thought and culture: the heliocentric revolution of Copernicus and Kepler. FernandHallyn treats the work of these two figures not simply in terms of the history of science orastronomy, but as events embedded in a wider field of images, symbols, texts, and practices. Thesenew representations of the universe, he insists, cannot be explained by recourse to explanations of"genius" or "intuition."Instead, Hallyn investigates the problem of how (...) new scientific hypothesesare actually formed and the complex way in which certain facts and not others are selected tosupport a particular theory. He contends that the scientific imagination is not fundamentallydifferent from a mythic or poetic imagination and that the work of Copernicus and Kepler must beexamined on the level of rhetorical structure. Hallyn shows the sun-centered universe to beinseparable from the aesthetic, epistemological, theological, and social imperatives of bothneoplatonism and mannerism in the sixteenth centuryFernand Hallyn is a Professor in the Departmentof French Literature at the University of Ghent. Distributed for Zone Books. (shrink)