Dominating Manipulations in Voting with Partial Information

We consider manipulation problems when the manipulator only has partial information about the votes of the nonmanipulators. Such partial information is described by an information set, which is the set of profiles of the nonmanipulators that are indistinguishable to the manipulator. Given such an information set, a dominating manipulation is a non-truthful vote that the manipulator can cast which makes the winner at least as preferable (and sometimes more preferable) as the winner when the manipulator votes truthfully. When the manipulator has full information, computing whether or not there exists a dominating manipulation is in P for many common voting rules (by known results). We show that when the manipulator has no information, there is no dominating manipulation for many common voting rules. When the manipulator's information is represented by partial orders and only a small portion of the preferences are unknown, computing a dominating manipulation is NP-hard for many common voting rules. Our results thus throw light on whether we can prevent strategic behavior by limiting information about the votes of other voters.Comment: 7 pages by arxiv pdflatex, 1 figure. The 6-page version has the same content and will be published in Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-11

Universal Moral Grammar: An Ontological Grounding for Human Rights

In this article I connect the principles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights to the issue of global social justice, and ask the question: is there a genetically endowed Universal Moral Grammar common to all human beings comparable to the Universal Grammar for language acquisition demonstrated so convincingly by Noam Chomsky and others

Universal Moral Grammar: An Ontological Grounding for Human Rights

In this article I connect the principles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights to the issue of global social justice, and ask the question: is there a genetically endowed Universal Moral Grammar common to all human beings comparable to the Universal Grammar for language acquisition demonstrated so convincingly by Noam Chomsky and others

Human middle temporal cortex, perceptual bias, and perceptual memory for ambiguous three-dimensional motion

When faced with inconclusive or conflicting visual input human observers experience one of multiple possible perceptions. One factor that determines perception of such an ambiguous stimulus is how the same stimulus was perceived on previous occasions, a phenomenon called perceptual memory. We examined perceptual memory of an ambiguous motion stimulus while applying transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the motion-sensitive areas of the middle temporal cortex (hMT+). TMS increased the predominance of whichever perceptual interpretation was most commonly reported by a given observer at baseline, with reduced perception of the less favored interpretation. This increased incidence of the preferred percept indicates impaired long-term buildup of perceptual memory traces that normally act against individual percept biases. We observed no effect on short-term memory traces acting from one presentation to the next. Our results indicate that hMT+ is important for the long-term buildup of perceptual memory for ambiguous motion stimuli

Dissociable neuroanatomical correlates of subsecond and suprasecond time perception

The ability to estimate durations varies across individuals. Although previous studies have reported that individual differences in perceptual skills and cognitive capacities are reflected in brain structures, it remains unknown whether timing abilities are also reflected in the brain anatomy. Here, we show that individual differences in the ability to estimate subsecond and suprasecond durations correlate with gray matter (GM) volume in different parts of cortical and subcortical areas. Better ability to discriminate subsecond durations was associated with a larger GM volume in the bilateral anterior cerebellum, whereas better performance in estimating the suprasecond range was associated with a smaller GM volume in the inferior parietal lobule. These results indicate that regional GM volume is predictive of an individual's timing abilities. These morphological results support the notion that subsecond durations are processed in the motor system, whereas suprasecond durations are processed in the parietal cortex by utilizing the capacity of attention and working memory to keep track of time

Neuropsychology: music of the hemispheres

Music may be the food of love but it is also good fodder for cognitive scientists. Here we highlight a recent study of a neuropsychological patient who has lost her ability to read music, but not text, in the absence of any other musical deficit

Congenital amusia: all the songs sound the same

Recent evidence from individuals born with a profound musical impairment suggests that the ability to process pitch information is normally present from birth. This finding supports the idea that the perception and appreciation of music, both of which critically depend on pitch processing, have a biological basis in the brain

Probing the mind with magnetism

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a technique that can be used to interfere reversibly with cortical processing. It creates a ‘virtual lesion’, which is relatively focal in space and time and can therefore be used to address questions beyond the scope of other techniques. In this article we select a few recent experiments that highlight the added value that TMS brings to some of the core areas of cognitive neuroscience: imagery, crossmodal processing, language, plasticity, awareness and memory

Writing into Silence: Junot Diaz, Human Rights, and the Imperial Curse

Junot Diaz employs a variety of postmodernist literary strategies in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, such as conflating (and confusing) the role (and identity) of author and narrator, creating a parallel fictional (and semi-fictional) subtext in the form of numerous, often detailed footnotes, and incorporating a hybrid mixture of discourses throughout a self-referential, apparently self-undermining narrative. Yet by means of his persistent satirical tone, pervasive irony, occasional explicit commentary, and thematic inferences, Diaz simultaneously challenges the core tenets of postmodernist-poststructuralist theory. Diaz\u27s creative concerns interrogate the notion of constructed histories, reestablish distinctions within binaries, and defy the poststructuralist prohibition against grand narratives, while contesting the postmodernist tendency toward moral and cultural relativism. Diaz appears to be consciously inviting a poststructuralist reading, even as he simultaneously undermines any possibility for such a theoretical analysis ever succeeding in fully coming to terms with his work. In effect, Diaz redirects the lens of the postmodernist-poststructuralist perspective back on itself, questioning its basic assumptions. Diaz creates a unique, innovative literary language in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, borrowing tropes from Dominican folklore and popular superstition, mixing in idioms and memes from sci-fi, horror, fantasy, Japanese animes and North American movies, television serials, comic books, hip-hop, and urban diction, in order to tell a story that reawakens repressed memories of historical trauma, and enhances awareness of egregious contemporary injustice. Diaz focuses on the devastating trajectory of the imperialist enterprise in the Western hemisphere since 1492, highlighting the rapacious ideology that ruthlessly engenders this ongoing project of exploitation, domination, and oppression. In setting private aggrandizement above collective wellbeing, the imperial mentality causes incalculable, completely unnecessary suffering, beginning with genocide against the native population, and extending into the extreme social disparities of the neoliberal present; the predatory practices of this avaricious agenda have become so destructive that they now threaten the very survival of the human species. Ruthless greed is the curse that afflicts us; the only possible counter spell that can save us will be a courageous return to instinctive solidarity, with timely recourse to the healing power of human love