The Mind in 1500 Words
Glenn Carruthers
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What is the mind like? What is the evidence it's like that? Are we just guessing?
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May 6, 2021
New Papers in Consciousness Studies 3
Today I’m looking at:
Raccah, Block, & Fox (2021). Does the Prefrontal Cortex Play an Essential Role in Consciousness? Insights from Intracranial Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(10), 2076–2087.
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Apr 26, 2021
"Personality and birth order in large families."
Textbooks make claims like:
“Dixon [et al] studied 361 siblings belonging to large families and found that younger siblings were significantly more extraverted in terms of sociability compared to older siblings.”
Should we believe them? I look at:
Dixon, Reyes, Leppert, & Pappas (2008). Personality and birth order in large families. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(1), 119–128.
To see
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Feb 16, 2021
New Papers in Consciousness Studies 2
This week I check out:
Mormann, M., & Russo, J. E. (in press). Does Attention Increase the Value of Choice Alternatives? Trends in Cognitive Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.01.004
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Feb 1, 2021
"Pitch characteristics of infant-directed speech affect infants’ ability to discriminate vowels."
Textbooks make claims like:
“The use of [child directed speech] makes it easier for infants to make a number of important speech discriminations. The exaggerated intonation of [child directed speech] and longer pauses between words also facilitates speech segmentation and discrimination between vowel sounds.”
Should you believe them? We look at:
Trainor, L. J., & Desjardins, R. N. (2002). Pitch characteristics of infant-directed speech affect infants’ ability to discriminate vowels. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9(2), 335–340.
To find out
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Nov 18, 2020
New Papers in Consciousness Studies 1
Today we’re starting a new series, with a rather different focus. Everyday interesting, important, inc-or cool papers on consciousness are coming out, and it’s impossible to keep up with them all. In this series I’ll pick out papers that look exciting to me as they go to press, and give them a quick once over for us.
The first paper is:
Gallagher, Colzi, & Sedda (in press 2021). Dissociation of proprioceptive drift and feelings of ownership in the somatic rubber hand illusion. Acta Psychologica, 212, 103192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103192
In the show I mention Irvine’s eliminativism about consciousness which you can read about:
Irvine, E. (2012). Consciousness As a Scientific Concept: A Philosophy of Science Perspective. Springer Science & Business Media.
Irvine, E. (2017). Explaining What? Topoi, 36(1), 95–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-014-9273-4
For an introduction to conceptual and quality spaces:
Clark, A. (1993). Sensory Qualities. Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy.
Gärdenfors, P. (2000). Conceptual spaces: The geomentry of thought. The MIT Press.
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Oct 29, 2020
"Human-centeredness is Not a Universal Feature of Young Children’s Reasoning: Culture and Experience Matter When Reasoning About Biological Entities."
This week we continue our look at the development of cognition by considering the nature of children's concept of LIFE in different cultural settings in the US.
Medin, Waxman, Woodring, & Washinawatok (2010). Human-centeredness is Not a Universal Feature of Young Children’s Reasoning: Culture and Experience Matter When Reasoning About Biological Entities. Cognitive Development, 25(3), 197–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2010.02.001
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Sep 7, 2020
"No Compelling Evidence That Newborns Imitate Oral Gestures."
Do newborn babies imitate facial expressions of adults? Some say yes, but:
Anisfeld, Turkewitz, Rose, Rosenberg, Sheiber, Couturier‐Fagan, Ger, & Sommer, (2001). No Compelling Evidence That Newborns Imitate Oral Gestures. Infancy, 2(1), 111–122.
Didn’t find that they do.
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Aug 24, 2020
"Discrimination of Facial Expression by 5-Month-Old Infants of Nondepressed and Clinically Depressed Mothers."
Textbooks make claims like this:
“Babies whose mothers deliberately attract attention to themselves and then smile when their babies look towards them are more likely to show a general preference for smiling faces. On the other hand, the infants of mothers who are depressed (and who therefore are less likely to smile) are poorer in discriminating smiling from non-smiling faces than are infants of non-depressed mothers.”
Should you believe this? I examine
Bornstein, M. H., Arterberry, M., Mash, C., & Manian, N. (2011). Discrimination of Facial Expression by 5-Month-Old Infants of Nondepressed and Clinically Depressed Mothers. Infant Behavior & Development, 34(1), 100–106.
And a correction to it, to find out.
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Aug 17, 2020
"Accuracy and variability in the localisation of spatial targets at three age levels."
When talking about the perception of body movement (kinaesthesia) textbooks make claims like:
Studies using active tasks [i.e. where the subject moves by themselves, rather than letting an experimenter move it] confirm that development [of kinaesthesia] is slow in comparison with other senses, with competence by about six years (slightly earlier than indicated using passive tasks).
Should you believe this? I look at:
Smothergill (1973). Accuracy and variability in the localisation of spatial targets at three age levels. Developmental Psychology, 8(1), 62–66.
To find out
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Aug 10, 2020
"Sources of human psychological differences: The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart."
Textbooks make claims like:
“The ultimate check of the strength of inhered factors would seem to be to compare identical twins who have been separated and brought up in different family environments. Bouchard et al located over 100 such twin pair adults who had been separated infancy and measured them on standard IQ tests. They found that the correlation between twin pairs was 0.76. While this is somewhat lower than that found for monozygotic twins reared together (r=.85), it was nevertheless higher than found for dizygotic twins reared together (r=.55). This provided strong evidence that heredity contributes substantially to IQ and that the more similar environments normally experienced by monozygotic twins cannot account for the higher correlation between identical twins than between fraternal twins.”
Should you believe this? I examine
Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, Segal, & Tellegen (1990). Sources of human psychological differences: The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. Science, 250(4978), 223–228
To find out
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Aug 3, 2020
"Defending the semantic conception of computation in cognitive science."
One popular response to the "chinese room" thought experiment is to offer a broader notion of computation, one that doesn't depend on rules manipulating syntax. What alternative is there, and what is the argument for it? I examine:
O’Brien (2011). Defending the semantic conception of computation in cognitive science. Journal of Cognitive Science, 12, 381–399.
to find out.
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This episode ties in with first year philosophy of mind content on the diversity of computational approaches to the mind
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Jul 27, 2020
"Minds, Brains, and Programs."
In introductions to philosophy you may come across the claim that computers can't genuinely understand things. What's the basis for this claim? I consider:
Searle (1980) Minds, Brains, and Programs. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 417–457.
to find out
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This episode ties in with first year philosophy content on challenges to the computational theory of mind
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Jul 20, 2020
"Computer science as empirical enquiry: Symbols and Search."
Is the mind a computer? I look at:
Newell & Simon (1976). Computer science as empirical enquiry: Symbols and Search. Communications of the ACM, 19(3).
to begin to answer this.
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This episode ties in with first year philosophy content on the computational theory of mind
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Jun 29, 2020
"Against direct Perception"
This week I look at arguments from:
Ullman (1980). Against Direct Perception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 373–415.
against the idea of direct perception and their use in arguing the mind involves representation.
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This episode ties in with first year philosophy content on the representational theory of mind
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Jun 22, 2020
"What is it like to be a bat?"
In this episode I consider the use of:
Nagel (1974). What is it Like to be a Bat? Philosophical Review, 83, 435–450
in arguments for property dualism, the claim that the mind is non-physical properties of the body.
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This episode ties into first year philosophy content on property dualism
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Jun 9, 2020
“Second Meditation: The nature of the human mind, and how it is better known than the body.”
Descartes “Second Meditation: The nature of the human mind, and how it is better known than the body.” Translated by John Cottingham (1996) in Meditations of First Philosophy with selections from the objections and replies. Published by Cambridge University Press.
The second meditation provides an argument for substance dualism. What is it? How does it work?
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This episode ties into first year philosophy content on substance dualism
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Jun 1, 2020
"The dark side of heterogeneous ingroup identities: National identification, perceived threat, and prejudice against immigrants"
Should we believe textbooks when they make claims like ” where people have a strong national identity, they may be more likely to have negative attitudes toward groups they perceive as different to themselves.”
Falomir-Pichastor, & Frederic (2013). The dark side of heterogeneous ingroup identities: National identification, perceived threat, and prejudice against immigrants. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(1), 72–79.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on cross cultural psychology
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May 25, 2020
"Harm to others outweighs harm to self in moral decision making."
Textbooks say things like: “the majority of participants sacrificed more money to reduce the stranger’s pain than their own pain.” Are they right?
Crockett, Kurth-Nelson, Siegel, Dayan, & Dolan (2014). Harm to others outweighs harm to self in moral decision making. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(48), 17320–17325.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on moral cognition
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May 18, 2020
"Effect of social-class belonging on the cognitive dissonance resulting from threat severity."
This week I look at evidence for the effect of class on cognitive dissonance from
Clémence (1990). Effect of social-class belonging on the cognitive dissonance resulting from threat severity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20(6), 525–529.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on attitude change
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May 11, 2020
"Response to Tricyclic Antidepressants: Independent of Gender?"
Textbooks make claims like: “Males and females may respond in about the same way to tricyclic antidepressants,” should we believe this?
Wohlfarth, Storosum, Elferink, van Zwieten,, Fouwels, & van den Brink, W. (2004). Response to Tricyclic Antidepressants: Independent of Gender? American Journal of Psychiatry, 161(2), 370–372.
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This episode ties into first year psychollogy content on the treatment of psychopathologies
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May 4, 2020
"Sadder and less accurate? False memory for negative material in depression."
Today we look at evidence that people suffering major depressive disorder are more likely to create certain false memories.
Joormann, Teachman, & Gotlib, (2009). Sadder and less accurate? False memory for negative material in depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118(2), 412–417.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on psychopathology
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Apr 27, 2020
"Effects of appearance-based admonitions against sun exposure on tanning intentions in young adults."
Textbooks say that telling people about how tanning makes them less attractive reduces tanning and associated risks. Are they right?
Jones & Leary (1994). Effects of appearance-based admonitions against sun exposure on tanning intentions in young adults. Health Psychology, 13, 86–90.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on health psychology.
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Apr 21, 2020
"Self-awareness and other-awareness: Mirror self-recognition and synchronic imitation among unfamiliar peers."
Does awareness of oneself as a distinct entity tend to come with awareness of others as other people?
Asendorpf & Baudonnière (1993). Self-awareness and other-awareness: Mirror self-recognition and synchronic imitation among unfamiliar peers. Developmental Psychology, 29(1), 88-95
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on social development
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Apr 14, 2020
"The development of children’s knowledge about inner speech"
Textbooks claim: “preschoolers do not recognise the importance of ‘inner speech’ — using words inside one’s head — while performing tasks such as mental arithmetic." Should we believe them?
Flavell, Green, Flavell, & Grossman, (1997). The development of children’s knowledge about inner speech. Child Development, 68(1), 39–47.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on cognitive development
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Apr 6, 2020
"Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization."
Sorry about the recording quality, I'm too sick to fix it now.
Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., & Gosling, S. D. (2010). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization. Psychological Science, 21(3), 372–374.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on personality
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Mar 30, 2020
"Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5- to 8 year-old girls"
Does just looking at Barbie make girls feel they aren't skinny enough?
Emme the doll: https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=Emme+doll
Dittmar, Halliwell, & Ive. (2006). Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5- to 8 year-old girls. Developmental Psychology 42(2), 283–292.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on motivation and emotion
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Mar 20, 2020
"National differences in gender–science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement."
Nosek et al (2009). National differences in gender–science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement. PNAS, 106(26), 10593–10597
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on intelligence
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Mar 13, 2020
"Mirror self-recognition in the bottlenose dolphin: A case of cognitive convergence."
Can dolphins recognise themselves in mirrors?
Riess and Marino (2001) Mirror self-recognition in the bottlenose dolphin: A case of cognitive convergence. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 98, 5937-5942.
says yes.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on cognition and language
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Mar 5, 2020
"Eyewitness testimony: The influence of the wording of a question."
Loftus and Zanni (1975) Eyewitness testimony: The influence of the wording of a question. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 5: 86-88
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on memory
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Feb 29, 2020
"Verbal instruction abolishes fear conditioned to racial out-group faces."
A discussion of learning focused on
Mallan, Sax, & Lipp (2009). Verbal instruction abolishes fear conditioned to racial out-group faces. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 1303–1307
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on learning
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Feb 20, 2020
"Conscious and unconscious perception: Experiments on visual masking and word recognition"
Textbooks make claims like this: "studies have shown that participants subliminally primed with a word (e.g., ‘beach’) will more quickly recognise words semantically related to it (e.g., ‘sand’), even though they never consciously registered the prime." Why should you believe such a claim.
Marcel, A. J. (1983). Conscious and unconscious perception: Experiments on visual masking and word recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 15, 197–237.
See the Facebook for images referred to in the show.
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on consciousness
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Feb 19, 2020
"Wishful Seeing: More Desired Objects are Seen as Closer"
Textbooks make claims like this: "people tend to perceive desirable objects as being closer to them than less desirable ones" What's the evidence for this? A look at: Balcetis and Dunning (2010) Wishful Seeing: More Desired Objects are Seen as Closer Psychological Science 21: 147-152
https://www.facebook.com/The-Mind-in-1500-Words-107482607510237
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on sensation and perception
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Feb 19, 2020
“Neuroendocrine dysregulation following early social deprivation in children”
What evidence supports the claims made in textbook chapters on biopsychology? A Look at: “Neuroendocrine dysregulation following early social deprivation in children” by Alison B. Wismer Fries, Elizabeth A. Shirtcliff, and Seth D. Pollak. Published in Developmental Psychobiology 2008 50(6): 588–599.
https://www.facebook.com/The-Mind-in-1500-Words-107482607510237
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This episode ties into first year psychology content on biopsychology
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Feb 19, 2020
The Mind in 1500 Words: What are we doing?
A quick introduction to the aims and approach of "The Mind, in 1500 words"
https://www.facebook.com/The-Mind-in-1500-Words-107482607510237
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