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)

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 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)

Computational models of learning provide an alternative technique for identifying the number and type of chunks used by a subject in a specific task. Results from applying CHREST to chess expertise support the theoretical framework of Cowan and a limit in visual short-term memory capacity of 3–4 looms. An application to learning from diagrams illustrates different identifiable forms of chunk.

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)

We discuss the relation of the Theory of Event Coding (TEC) to a computational model of expert perception, CHREST, based on the chunking theory. TEC's status as a verbal theory leaves several questions unanswerable, such as the precise nature of internal representations used, or the degree of learning required to obtain a particular level of competence: CHREST may help answer such questions.

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)

L'envahissement de l'espace par la technique est un fait accompli. Non seulement l'espace physique et l'espace organisationnel, mais aussi l'espace du discours et celui de l'écriture sont déjà bien occupés. La technique est en effet devenue un sujet de conversation quotidien, remplit les colonnes de toutes sortes de journaux et de revues et fait l'objet d'un nombre considérable d'études monographiques. Alors pourquoi ce titre encore qui risque d'aggraver le resserrement des habitants des lieux et hâter leur étouffement?

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)

RésuméLe cas du dominicain allemand Eckhart montre que le mysticisme ne se con‐fond pas necessairement avec ľirrationalité. Sur trois exemples, on établit que les paradoxes mystiques du Maître appartiennent à la logique ?'un systéme et qu'il n'en va pas autrement de sa doctrine de l'analogie. Eckhart manifeste avec éclat son intention de rationalité dans le projet de ľOpus propositionum ‐réduction de toute sa doctrine aux propositions formées à l'aide de quatorze concepts et de leurs opposes – et dans sa volonté (...) de fonder sur trois prémisses seulement sa réponse à toutes les accusations dont il a été l'objet. On décrit ici cette compénétration du mystique et du rationnel en disant que le raisonnement met en lumière la structure du champ spéculatif engenderé par le choix mystique qui consiste à poser la dépendance radicale de tout existant fini par rapport à Dieu. Dans cette perspective, la question se pose de savoir si toute philosophic n'implique pas des presuppositions dont la fonction est analogue à celles ? Eckhart et que, pour cette raison, on peut les appeler mystiques en un sens large.SummaryThe case of the German dominican Eckhart shows that mysticism does not necessarly merge with irrationality. Taking three examples, the author shows that the mystical paradoxes of the Master belong to the logic of a system and it is the same for his doctrine of analogy. Eckhart clearly manifests his intention of rationality in the project of Opus propositionum– the reduction of all his doctrine to propositions formed with the assistance of fourteen concepts and their opposites – and in his wish to base, on three premises only, his response to all the accusations made against him. Attention is given to the interaction of the mystic and the rational, intimating that the reasoning enhances the structure of the speculative field generated from the mystic choice. This consists of placing the radical dependence of every finite being in relation to God. From this point of view, the question arises as to knowing whether all philosophy does not imply presuppositions, whose function is analoguous to those of Eckhart. For this reason, one can call these presuppositions mystic in its widest sense. (shrink)

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

La force de Socrate fut d'enseigner et de pratiquer un art de vivre que l'on a appelé philosophie : il y a avant et après Socrate. Une philosophie vivante et profondément humaine qui invite à découvrir pas à pas le bonheur en tirant les leçons de crises de l'existence, en apprenant l'art du dialogue intérieur, et en prenant possession de sa vie par une méthode de travail sur soi, toujours actuelle malgré les 2500 ans qui ont passé depuis.

Ce texte a paru initialement dans ANNALES ESC. Vol. 13, n° 4, oct.-déc. 1958, p. 725-753, puis a été réédité dans Écrits sur l'histoire, Paris, Flammarion, 1969. p. 44-83. Il est également disponible, mais dans une version assez fautive, ici. Il y a crise générale des sciences de l'homme : elles sont toutes accablées sous leurs propres progrès, ne serait-ce qu'en raison de l'accumulation des connaissances nouvelles et de la nécessité d'un travail collectif, dont l'organisation intelligente reste à mettre (...) (...) - Histoire – Nouvel article. (shrink)