Probability and the subjective evidence condition

1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-419
Author(s):  
Steven I. Miller ◽  
Marcel Fredericks
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Evidence ◽  
Evidence Condition

scholarly journals From Abbott Thayer to the present day: what have we learned about the function of countershading?

2008 ◽  
Vol 364 (1516) ◽  
pp. 519-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah M Rowland
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Work ◽  
Quantitative Measure ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Colour Pattern ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
Empirical Testing ◽  
Background Matching ◽  
Visual Characteristics ◽  
Subjective Evidence ◽  
The Many

Of the many visual characteristics of animals, countershading (darker pigmentation on those surfaces exposed to the most lighting) is one of the most common, and paradoxically one of the least well understood. Countershading has been hypothesized to reduce the detectability of prey to visually hunting predators, and while the function of a countershaded colour pattern was proposed over 100 years ago, the field has progressed slowly; convincing evidence for the protective effects of countershading has only recently emerged. Several mechanisms have been invoked for the concealing function of countershading and are discussed in this review, but the actual mechanisms by which countershading functions to reduce attacks by predators lack firm empirical testing. While there is some subjective evidence that countershaded animals match the background on which they rest, no quantitative measure of background matching has been published for countershaded animals; I now present the first such results. Most studies also fail to consider plausible alternative explanations for the colour pattern, such as protection from UV or abrasion, and thermoregulation. This paper examines the evidence to support each of these possible explanations for countershading and discusses the need for future empirical work.

Baseball fans don’t like lumpy batters: Influence of domain knowledge on the access of subordinate meanings

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Wiley ◽  
Tim George ◽  
Keith Rayner
Keyword(s):  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Lexical Access ◽  
Domain Knowledge ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Ambiguous Words ◽  
Baseball Fans ◽  
Evidence Condition ◽  
Access Model

Two experiments investigated the effects of domain knowledge on the resolution of ambiguous words with dominant meanings related to baseball. When placed in a sentence context that strongly biased toward the non-baseball meaning (positive evidence), or excluded the baseball meaning (negative evidence), baseball experts had more difficulty than non-experts resolving the ambiguity. Sentence contexts containing positive evidence supported earlier resolution than did the negative evidence condition for both experts and non-experts. These experiments extend prior findings, and can be seen as support for the reordered access model of lexical access, where both prior knowledge and discourse context influence the availability of word meanings.

The Relationship Between Vigilance Deficits and Traffic Injuries Involving Children

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. B. Pless ◽  
H. G. Taylor ◽  
L. Arsenault
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Performance Task ◽  
Response Test ◽  
Objective Evidence ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Subjective Evidence

Objective. This study was designed to determine whether there is an increased frequency of deficits in impulse control, vigilance, or both, among child bicyclists or pedestrians who have been injured in traffic accidents, as assessed using objective measures and parent and teacher reports. Research design. This was a case-control study, in which cases were children injured as pedestrians or bicyclists (excluding those with severe head injuries) and controls were those injured as passengers or in some other manner in which the child's behavior was unlikely to be a factor. Setting. Children ages 5 to 15 years presenting to the emergency room of the Montreal Children's Hospital. Participants. For each of 286 cases, two controls were selected, making a total of 848 subjects Among the cases, 172 were injured as pedestrians and 114 as bicyclists. Measures. Children were assessed using the Continuous Performance Task and the Delayed Response Test, both parts of a computerized test battery. Parents and teachers completed the Conners Abbreviated Symptom Questionnaire to assess hyperactivity. Results. Cases and controls were similar on most sociodemographic and clinical measures but showed statistically significant differences in mean scores on the Continuous Performance Task measures of omissions and commissions, pointing to differences in vigilance, and on the Delayed Response Test measures of impulsivity. Mean Conners scale scores of both parent and teacher were significantly higher for cases than controls, and those of parents were higher than those of teachers. Conclusions. Among children whose behavior may have been a factor in the occurrence of an injury, there is subjective evidence of increased hyperactivity and objective evidence of deficits in vigilance and attention when compared with closely matched controls. These findings have important implications for prevention.

Visual event-related potential studies supporting the validity of VARK learning styles' visual and read/write learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarawin Thepsatitporn ◽  
Chailerd Pichitpornchai
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Objective Evidence ◽  
Subjective Evidence ◽  
The Right ◽  
Picture Superiority ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Test Result ◽  
P200 Amplitude

The validity of learning styles needs supports of additional objective evidence. The identification of learning styles using subjective evidence from VARK questionnaires (where V is visual, A is auditory, R is read/write, and K is kinesthetic) combined with objective evidence from visual event-related potential (vERP) studies has never been investigated. It is questionable whether picture superiority effects exist in V learners and R learners. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate whether vERP could show the relationship between vERP components and VARK learning styles and to identify the existence of picture superiority effects in V learners and R learners. Thirty medical students (15 V learners and 15 R learners) performed recognition tasks with vERP and an intermediate-term memory (ITM) test. The results of within-group comparisons showed that pictures elicited larger P200 amplitudes than words at the occipital 2 site ( P < 0.05) in V learners and at the occipital 1 and 2 sites ( P < 0.05) in R learners. The between-groups comparison showed that P200 amplitudes elicited by pictures in V learners were larger than those of R learners at the parietal 4 site ( P < 0.05). The ITM test result showed that a picture set showed distinctively more correct responses than that of a word set for both V learners ( P < 0.001) and R learners ( P < 0.01). In conclusion, the result indicated that the P200 amplitude at the parietal 4 site could be used to objectively distinguish V learners from R learners. A lateralization existed to the right brain (occipital 2 site) in V learners. The ITM test demonstrated the existence of picture superiority effects in both learners. The results revealed the first objective electrophysiological evidence partially supporting the validity of the subjective psychological VARK questionnaire study.

On Basic Knowledge and Justification

1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-628
Author(s):  
Bredo C. Johnsen
Keyword(s):  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Basic Belief ◽  
Evidence Condition ◽  
Do So

Robert F. Almeder believes he has discovered a ‘pressing problem': ‘stating the conditions under which we determine whether a person's basic belief is true without introducing an evidence condition for knowledge’. He believes further that this is ‘a problem needing resolution before any ultimately satisfying explication of basic knowledge can be offered’.My aim is to show that Almeder has failed to discover any problem at all, but I begin by asking: how could the question how we determine the (mere) truth of another's basic belief (regardless of how we do so) have any bearing on the correct explication of the concept of basic knowledge?

Internal Mapping and Its Impact on Measures of Absolute and Relative Metacognitive Accuracy

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip A. Higham ◽  
Katarzyna Zawadzka ◽  
Maciej Hanczakowski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Signal Detection ◽  
Calibration Data ◽  
Subjective Probabilities ◽  
Powerful Method ◽  
Evidence Mapping ◽  
Objective Performance ◽  
Subjective Evidence ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Metacognitive Accuracy

Research in decision making and metacognition has long investigated the calibration of subjective probabilities. To assess calibration, mean ratings on a percentage scale (e.g., subjective likelihood of recalling an item) are typically compared directly to performance percentages (e.g., actual likelihood of recall). Means that are similar versus discrepant are believed to indicate good versus poor calibration, respectively. This chapter argues that this process is incomplete: it examines only the mapping between the overt scale values and objective performance (mapping 2), while ignoring the process by which the overt scale values are first assigned to different levels of subjective evidence (mapping 1). The chapter demonstrates how ignoring mapping 1 can lead to conclusions about calibration that are misleading. It proposes a signal detection framework that not only provides a powerful method for analyzing calibration data, but also offers a variety of measures of relative metacognitive accuracy (resolution).

Exercise training and incidence of cerebrovascular lesions in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 1080-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Tipton ◽  
S. McMahon ◽  
J. R. Leininger ◽  
E. L. Pauli ◽  
C. Lauber
Keyword(s):  
Exercise Training ◽  
Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Moderate Exercise ◽  
Hypertensive Rats ◽  
Cerebrovascular Lesions ◽  
Spontaneously Hypertensive ◽  
Male And Female Rats ◽  
Blood Pressures ◽  
Subjective Evidence

To assess the effects of moderate exercise [40-70% maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max)] on resting blood pressures, the presence of cerebrovascular lesions, and the life spans of stroke-prone hypertensive rats, nontrained and trained male and female rats were assigned to two experimental groups. The first (n = 48) were exercise trained after 38 days of age, whereas the second (n = 44) initiated exercise training when the animals were 134 days of age. To facilitate cerebrovascular lesions, the sodium concentrations in the rat chow and in the drinking solutions were increased. Symptoms utilized to denote the presence of cerebrovascular lesions were irritability, hyperresponsiveness, ataxia, lethargy, unwillingness to run, and combinations thereof. All brains were removed immediately after death, fixed, and evaluated grossly and microscopically for lesions. In the study with the younger animals, training was associated with a 7-9% increase in VO2max that was statistically significant only in animals with no histological evidence of cerebrovascular lesions. For the older animals, a significant 5-8% increase in VO2max was noted for animals with or without lesions. After 42 days of training for both groups, resting blood pressures for the trained groups with histological lesions were significantly lower. However, this trend did not continue, and the older trained rats appeared to have strokes earlier and to die sooner than their nontrained controls. Although 83% of the older animals had subjective evidence for a stroke before they died, the percentage of animals with lesions ranged from 42 to 58%, with the trained groups having higher percentages.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

I. Factor Analysis of Ufo-Related Attitudes

1968 ◽  
Vol 27 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1207-1218 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Saunders
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Objective Evidence ◽  
I Factor ◽  
Subjective Evidence ◽  
Governmental Secrecy

Factor analysis of 41 items related to the topic of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in a sample of 267 college students yields 9 factors. These factors may be interpreted as: I, Belief in Extraterrestrial Visitation; II, Existence of Subjective Evidence; III, Existence of Objective Evidence; IV, Belief in Natural Explanations; V, Belief in Psychological Explanations; VI, Philosophy of Science; VII, Belief in Governmental Secrecy; VIII, Belief in Governmental Adequacy; and IX, Belief in UFO Respectability.

scholarly journals Subjective Causality and Counterfactuals in the Social Sciences: Toward an Ethnographic Causality?

2019 ◽  
pp. 004912411985237
Author(s):  
Peter Abell ◽  
Ofer Engel
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Statistical Inference ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Statistical Concept ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Subjective Evidence ◽  
Subsequent Comparison

The article explores the role that subjective evidence of causality and associated counterfactuals and counterpotentials might play in the social sciences where comparative cases are scarce. This scarcity rules out statistical inference based upon frequencies and usually invites in-depth ethnographic studies. Thus, if causality is to be preserved in such situations, a conception of ethnographic causal inference is required. Ethnographic causality inverts the standard statistical concept of causal explanation in observational studies, whereby comparison and generalization, across a sample of cases, are both necessary prerequisites for any causal inference. Ethnographic causality allows, in contrast, for causal explanation prior to any subsequent comparison or generalization.

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