Visual Imagery in Deductive Reasoning: Results from experiments with sighted, blindfolded, and congenitally totally blind persons

We report three experiments on visual mental imagery in de-ductive reasoning. Reasoning performance of sighted partici-pants was impeded if the materials were easy to envisage as visual mental images. Congenitally totally blind participants did not show this visual-impedance effect. Blindfolded par-ticipants with normal vision showed the same pattern of per-formance as the sighted. We conclude that irrelevant visual detail can be a nuisance in reasoning and impedes the process

The Illogicality of Stock-Brokers: Psychological Experiments on the Effects of Prior Knowledge and Belief Biases on Logical Reasoning in Stock Trading

BACKGROUND: Explanations for the current worldwide financial crisis are primarily provided by economists and politicians. However, in the present work we focus on the psychological-cognitive factors that most likely affect the thinking of people on the economic stage and thus might also have had an effect on the progression of the crises. One of these factors might be the effect of prior beliefs on reasoning and decision-making. So far, this question has been explored only to a limited extent. METHODS: We report two experiments on logical reasoning competences of nineteen stock-brokers with long-lasting vocational experiences at the stock market. The premises of reasoning problems concerned stock trading and the experiments varied whether or not their conclusions--a proposition which is reached after considering the premises--agreed with the brokers' prior beliefs. Half of the problems had a conclusion that was highly plausible for stock-brokers while the other half had a highly implausible conclusion. RESULTS: The data show a strong belief bias. Stock-brokers were strongly biased by their prior knowledge. Lowest performance was found for inferences in which the problems caused a conflict between logical validity and the experts' belief. In these cases, the stock-brokers tended to make logically invalid inferences rather than give up their existing beliefs. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the thesis that cognitive factors have an effect on the decision-making on the financial market. In the present study, stock-brokers were guided more by past experience and existing beliefs than by logical thinking and rational decision-making. They had difficulties to disengage themselves from vastly anchored thinking patterns. However, we believe, that it is wrong to accuse the brokers for their "malfunctions", because such hard-wired cognitive principles are difficult to suppress even if the person is aware of them

Tight-binding parameters and exchange integrals of Ba_2Cu_3O_4Cl_2

Band structure calculations for Ba_2Cu_3O_4Cl_2 within the local density approximation (LDA) are presented. The investigated compound is similar to the antiferromagnetic parent compounds of cuprate superconductors but contains additional Cu_B atoms in the planes. Within the LDA, metallic behavior is found with two bands crossing the Fermi surface (FS). These bands are built mainly from Cu 3d_{x^2-y^2} and O 2p_{x,y} orbitals, and a corresponding tight-binding (TB) model has been parameterized. All orbitals can be subdivided in two sets corresponding to the A- and B-subsystems, respectively, the coupling between which is found to be small. To describe the experimentally observed antiferromagnetic insulating state, we propose an extended Hubbard model with the derived TB parameters and local correlation terms characteristic for cuprates. Using the derived parameter set we calculate the exchange integrals for the Cu_3O_4 plane. The results are in quite reasonable agreement with the experimental values for the isostructural compound Sr_2Cu_3O_4Cl_2.Comment: 5 pages (2 tables included), 4 ps-figure

The relationship between anti-mullerian hormone in women receiving fertility assessments and age at menopause in subfertile women: evidence from large population studies

<p>Context: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentration reflects ovarian aging and is argued to be a useful predictor of age at menopause (AMP). It is hypothesized that AMH falling below a critical threshold corresponds to follicle depletion, which results in menopause. With this threshold, theoretical predictions of AMP can be made. Comparisons of such predictions with observed AMP from population studies support the role for AMH as a forecaster of menopause.</p> <p>Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate whether previous relationships between AMH and AMP are valid using a much larger data set.</p> <p>Setting: AMH was measured in 27 563 women attending fertility clinics.</p> <p>Study Design: From these data a model of age-related AMH change was constructed using a robust regression analysis. Data on AMP from subfertile women were obtained from the population-based Prospect-European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (Prospect-EPIC) cohort (n = 2249). By constructing a probability distribution of age at which AMH falls below a critical threshold and fitting this to Prospect-EPIC menopausal age data using maximum likelihood, such a threshold was estimated.</p> <p>Main Outcome: The main outcome was conformity between observed and predicted AMP.</p> <p>Results: To get a distribution of AMH-predicted AMP that fit the Prospect-EPIC data, we found the critical AMH threshold should vary among women in such a way that women with low age-specific AMH would have lower thresholds, whereas women with high age-specific AMH would have higher thresholds (mean 0.075 ng/mL; interquartile range 0.038–0.15 ng/mL). Such a varying AMH threshold for menopause is a novel and biologically plausible finding. AMH became undetectable (<0.2 ng/mL) approximately 5 years before the occurrence of menopause, in line with a previous report.</p> <p>Conclusions: The conformity of the observed and predicted distributions of AMP supports the hypothesis that declining population averages of AMH are associated with menopause, making AMH an excellent candidate biomarker for AMP prediction. Further research will help establish the accuracy of AMH levels to predict AMP within individuals.</p&gt

Cu-O network-dependent core-hole screening in low-dimensional cuprate systems: a high-resolution X-ray photoemission study

We present an experimental study of the dynamics of holes in the valence bands of zero-, one-, and two-dimensional undoped model cuprates, as expressed via the screening of a Cu 2p core hole. The response depends strongly upon the dimensionality and the details of the Cu-O-Cu network geometry and clearly goes beyond the present theoretical state-of-the-art description within the three-band d-p model

Extending Qualitative Spatial Theories with Emergent Spatial Concepts: An Automated Reasoning Approach

Qualitative Spatial Reasoning is an exciting research field of the Knowledge Representation and Reasoning paradigm whose application often requires the extension, refinement or combination of existent theories (as well as the associated calculus). This paper addresses the issue of the sound spatial interpretation of formal extensions of such theories; particularly the interpretation of the extension and the desired representational features. The paper shows how to interpret certain kinds of extensions of Region Connection Calculus (RCC) theory. We also show how to rebuild the qualitative calculus of these extensions.Junta de Andalucía TIC-606

Distinct Neurocognitive Strategies for Comprehensions of Human and Artificial Intelligence

Although humans have inevitably interacted with both human and artificial intelligence in real life situations, it is unknown whether the human brain engages homologous neurocognitive strategies to cope with both forms of intelligence. To investigate this, we scanned subjects, using functional MRI, while they inferred the reasoning processes conducted by human agents or by computers. We found that the inference of reasoning processes conducted by human agents but not by computers induced increased activity in the precuneus but decreased activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and enhanced functional connectivity between the two brain areas. The findings provide evidence for distinct neurocognitive strategies of taking others' perspective and inhibiting the process referenced to the self that are specific to the comprehension of human intelligence

Visual Ontology Cleaning: Cognitive Principles and Applicability

In this paper we connect two research areas, the Qualitative Spatial Reasoning and visual reasoning on ontologies. We discuss the logical limitations of the mereotopological approach to the visual ontology cleaning, from the point of view of its formal support. The analysis is based on three different spatial interpretations wich are based in turn on three different spatial interpretations of the concepts of an ontology.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2004-0388