Journal

Volume 15, Issue 1 (March 31, 2014)

5 articles

• Three Ambiguities in the Knobe Effect
  by John Michael McGuire
  J. CS. 2014, 15(1), 1-26;
  Abstract The Knobe effect is widely regarded as one of the first and most important findings in the field of experimental philosophy. A good deal of research in this field over the past decade has been concerned with explaining the Knobe effect. However, much of this research has been vitiated by neglect for... [Read more].
  Abstract The Knobe effect is widely regarded as one of the first and most important findings in the field of experimental philosophy. A good deal of research in this field over the past decade has been concerned with explaining the Knobe effect. However, much of this research has been vitiated by neglect for the more fundamental matter of defining “the Knobe effect.” In this article I address the definitional question and argue that the Knobe effect is in fact plagued by three ambiguities which have received insufficient attention. In the first place, I show that the term has both a narrow and a broad interpretation. In its narrow sense, the term refers to an effect that moral considerations allegedly have on ascriptions of intentional action; in its broad sense, it refers to an effect that evaluative considerations allegedly have on all folk psychological ascriptions. Secondly, I show that the narrow reading of “the Knobe effect” is itself ambiguous between one interpretation on which the moral considerations in question refer to conscious moral judgments and another interpretation on which they refer to non-conscious reactions to norm violations. Thirdly, I argue that the Knobe effect can be interpreted either as a hypothesis concerning how people ordinarily use certain folk psychological concepts or as a hypothesis concerning how people use those concepts only in the context of hypothetical thought-experiments. While the vast majority of researchers have assumed the former view, recent experimental research supports the latter view, suggesting that the Knobe effect is in fact an experimental artifact. [Collapse]
• Object Location Memory and Sex Difference: Implications on Static vs. Dynamic Navigation Environments
  by Cigdem Uz & Arif Altun
  J. CS. 2014, 15(1), 27-56;
  Abstract In the present study, the effect of a two-type multimedia navigation environment (dynamic vs. static) was investigated on recall performances of learners with different object location memory (OLM) spans (low vs. high). The OLM spans of 34 male and female undergraduate students were determined by a ... [Read more].
  Abstract In the present study, the effect of a two-type multimedia navigation environment (dynamic vs. static) was investigated on recall performances of learners with different object location memory (OLM) spans (low vs. high). The OLM spans of 34 male and female undergraduate students were determined by a revised location memory test, and the students were separated into high and low groups. In a 2x2 nested ANOVA design, one group studied the static navigation environment, while the other explored the 3-D dynamic environment. While in the 3-D dynamic environment individuals navigated through the smooth display of view changes; in the static environment, 2-D representation of the 3-D real world, objects did not change with the movement of the observer. As participants finished the navigation task, they were given a spatial knowledge recall test. Findings indicated that learners showed higher recall performances in the static environment than the dynamic environment. Gender differences were also observed in terms of recalling spatial knowledge, with males earning the highest scores in the dynamic navigation environment. [Collapse]
• Mental Perspective in Multiple-Event Memory and Foresight
  by Kurt Stocker
  J. CS. 2014, 15(1), 57-96;
  Abstract This article investigates mental perspective in mental time travel along a sequence of two or more events. First, perspective in mental time travel along a sequence of two events is examined by cognitive-linguistically investigating the temporal cognition underlying the use of the pluperfect (as one... [Read more].
  Abstract This article investigates mental perspective in mental time travel along a sequence of two or more events. First, perspective in mental time travel along a sequence of two events is examined by cognitive-linguistically investigating the temporal cognition underlying the use of the pluperfect (as one possible window into two-event memory) and the future perfect (as one possible window into two-event foresight). Secondly, perspective in mental time travel along a sequence of more than two events is investigated by applying and extending the previous two-event analysis to these more complex memory structures. For mental time travel along a sequence of two events the following novel distinctions are offered: perspectival mental time travel into “anteriority in the past” versus perspectival mental time travel into “anteriority in the future”; perspectival mental time travel along a mental time line where past/future and anteriority/posteriority form two separate temporal reference frames versus perspectival mental time travel along a mental time line where past/future and anteriority/posteriority conglomerate to a single nondispersible temporal reference frame; single temporal direct viewings versus dual simultaneous temporal direct viewings; and looking into the future from the present moment versus looking into the future from the past. For mental time travel along a sequence of more than two events the following novel distinctions are offered: the combination of one direct temporal viewing with serial prospective temporal viewings versus all serial temporal direct viewings and episodic versus semantic perspectival multiple-event memory and foresight. The memory account developed in this article also extends recent work in memory theory which suggests that certain memory structures/ processes are “scale-independent,” which means that it is proposed that certain memory structures/processes feature in both long-term and short-term memory. The main contribution of this article to scale-independent memory theory is the cognitive-linguistically derived argument that such a scale-independent memory system consists of two temporal perspective points (up to now only one temporal perspective point has been assumed). Implications for cognitive modeling and for human versus animal cognition are discussed. [Collapse]
• Lexical Fillers Permit Real-Time Gap-Search inside Island Domains
  by Oliver Boxell
  J. CS. 2014, 15(1), 97-136;
  Abstract It has often been reported that lexical fillers (e.g. which house) improve the overall acceptability of many island constraint violations relative to bare fillers (e.g. what). The current study attempts to test for the first time whether lexical fillers reduce real-time sensitivity to wh-islands as ... [Read more].
  Abstract It has often been reported that lexical fillers (e.g. which house) improve the overall acceptability of many island constraint violations relative to bare fillers (e.g. what). The current study attempts to test for the first time whether lexical fillers reduce real-time sensitivity to wh-islands as well. Results from an eyetracking-while-reading study are reported that demonstrate native English speakers’ sensitivity to a plausibility manipulation between a fronted filler phrase and a downstream subcategorizing verb inside a wh-island domain. The effect is found as the verb was encountered in real-time, and only when the filler element contains lexical information, not when it is bare. This is taken to show that online sensitivity to the wh-island constraint is reduced when the filler preceding it is lexical. The strengths and weaknesses and overall compatibility of a range of grammatical and processing theories are considered in relation to this finding. [Collapse]
• Book Review: Gesture and Multimodal Development
  by Nadia Hamrouni
  J. CS. 2014, 15(1), 137-148;
  Abstract This paper gives a critical review of Jean-Mark Colletta, and Michèle Guidetti’s (Eds.) monograph entitled Gesture and Multimodal Development, published in 2012 by John Benjamins, Amsterdam. The monograph deals with central issues in gesture, multimodality and communicative development. It covers mu... [Read more].
  Abstract This paper gives a critical review of Jean-Mark Colletta, and Michèle Guidetti’s (Eds.) monograph entitled Gesture and Multimodal Development, published in 2012 by John Benjamins, Amsterdam. The monograph deals with central issues in gesture, multimodality and communicative development. It covers multiple aspects of gesture and focuses on different types of gestural behavior. The review starts with a detailed summary of the studies included in this volume then evaluates its merits and minor shortcomings. [Collapse]