Neuropathic pain screening tools have shown promise in identifying common neuropathic pain charac... more Neuropathic pain screening tools have shown promise in identifying common neuropathic pain characteristics that derive from diverse etiologies (e.g., diabetic peripheral neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia). However, no prior studies have specifically assessed whether these tools are capable of discerning the underlying pain mechanisms in the vast, heterogeneous group of patients diagnosed with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).
Cognitive biases are often immune to introspective processes. This cognitive blindness has been i... more Cognitive biases are often immune to introspective processes. This cognitive blindness has been identified as an important factor in initiating and maintaining errors in cognitive decisions. Despite its importance, no formal model or mechanism is yet to be offered to explain its source or structure. Using the Halo Effect (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977) as an exemplar of cognitive biases, as well as a review of the relationship between introspection and cognitive biases (Pronin, Gilovich, & Ross, 2004), this review identifies introspective blindness as a central and underexplored component of cognitive biases. By applying existing models for the operation of perceptual-motor decision-making, a preliminary and novel synthesis is offered to explain the structure of cognitive biases as an extension of motor-perceptual biases. This proposed model is then illustrated to explain both the root of the blind-spot that accompanies cognitive biases in general, as well as how it may apply to the Halo Effect specifically.
The advent of the internet several decades ago marked a fundamental change in the way in which in... more The advent of the internet several decades ago marked a fundamental change in the way in which information is accessed and gathered. In today's largely networked world, there is almost no question that cannot be addressed, at least to some degree, via a quick search through a search engine, or by browsing through an online database. Along with this powerful change, the last decade saw the rise of another fundamental reshaping of our informational world through the emergence and popularization of online social media platforms. These platforms have both fundamentally increased social interconnectivity and enabled social interactions that would simply not be possible without them. We are able today, more than ever before, to find and select social environments that we find most desirable, in almost complete independence of physical constrains. In this way, social media is effectively reshaping our everyday social experience. While the effects of these two events on the psychological and psychosocial learning and information processing mechanisms, defined here as those in which information is obtained and maintained, have been largely acknowledged by academic research, limited attention has been given to the interaction between these two processes; it would appear that the question of how these changes in everyday social experience are reshaping our information processing remains largely unexplored. Thus, too understand the possible link between these two processes, it is important to first consider the existing theoretical framework on the aspects of sociallydependent information processes. Learning and the social context in which it occurs are not independent of each-other. Theoretical framework and empirical evidence have illustrated not only that learning and information processing can be a function of social context, but just as critically that the selection and maintenance of social context can itself be a function of information processing. Perhaps the most influential framework regarding this relationship was articulated by Albert , who suggested the then contentious notion that learning Victor Kogan 3 depends not only on intrapersonal needs, drives, and cognitions, but inherently also on exposure to others' behaviors and cognitions via observation and imitation. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, Bandura argues for the existence of reciprocity between one's environment and cognitive-behavioral goals. That is, the more a given social context produces some reinforcing behavior or cognition, the more likely it is that this social context will be selected and maintained in the future, if it is allowed, even at the cost of maladaptive long-term consequences: Far from being ruled by an imposed environment, people play an active role in constructing their own reinforcing contingencies through their characteristic modes of response… Detrimental reciprocal systems are often unknowingly created and mutually sustained… [Creating] the very conditional likely to perpetuate it.
One of the grounding components of the category-specificity model of semantic organization in the... more One of the grounding components of the category-specificity model of semantic organization in the human brain relies on the proposition that evolutionary pressures had played an active part in the way in which some semantic categories came to be expressed. Despite this proposal, the scope and limits of the extent and explicitness that such pressures actually allow has yet to be formally explored. This paper provides several lines of evidence that indicate the possibility that some aspects of the semantic organization in human knowledge can be reducible to explicit adaptive evolutionary pressures. In light of that evidence, it is hypothesized that a direct exploration on the nature of the relationship between adaptive constraints and semantic organization is possible. Two experiments are proposed, one which evaluates whether semantic organization is sensitive to adaptively-specified semantic categorization, and another which evaluates whether an adaptively-specified link between the perceptual and semantic systems exists. The implications of significant and null results are subsequently explored.
Neuropathic pain screening tools have shown promise in identifying common neuropathic pain charac... more Neuropathic pain screening tools have shown promise in identifying common neuropathic pain characteristics that derive from diverse etiologies (e.g., diabetic peripheral neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia). However, no prior studies have specifically assessed whether these tools are capable of discerning the underlying pain mechanisms in the vast, heterogeneous group of patients diagnosed with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).
Cognitive biases are often immune to introspective processes. This cognitive blindness has been i... more Cognitive biases are often immune to introspective processes. This cognitive blindness has been identified as an important factor in initiating and maintaining errors in cognitive decisions. Despite its importance, no formal model or mechanism is yet to be offered to explain its source or structure. Using the Halo Effect (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977) as an exemplar of cognitive biases, as well as a review of the relationship between introspection and cognitive biases (Pronin, Gilovich, & Ross, 2004), this review identifies introspective blindness as a central and underexplored component of cognitive biases. By applying existing models for the operation of perceptual-motor decision-making, a preliminary and novel synthesis is offered to explain the structure of cognitive biases as an extension of motor-perceptual biases. This proposed model is then illustrated to explain both the root of the blind-spot that accompanies cognitive biases in general, as well as how it may apply to the Halo Effect specifically.
The advent of the internet several decades ago marked a fundamental change in the way in which in... more The advent of the internet several decades ago marked a fundamental change in the way in which information is accessed and gathered. In today's largely networked world, there is almost no question that cannot be addressed, at least to some degree, via a quick search through a search engine, or by browsing through an online database. Along with this powerful change, the last decade saw the rise of another fundamental reshaping of our informational world through the emergence and popularization of online social media platforms. These platforms have both fundamentally increased social interconnectivity and enabled social interactions that would simply not be possible without them. We are able today, more than ever before, to find and select social environments that we find most desirable, in almost complete independence of physical constrains. In this way, social media is effectively reshaping our everyday social experience. While the effects of these two events on the psychological and psychosocial learning and information processing mechanisms, defined here as those in which information is obtained and maintained, have been largely acknowledged by academic research, limited attention has been given to the interaction between these two processes; it would appear that the question of how these changes in everyday social experience are reshaping our information processing remains largely unexplored. Thus, too understand the possible link between these two processes, it is important to first consider the existing theoretical framework on the aspects of sociallydependent information processes. Learning and the social context in which it occurs are not independent of each-other. Theoretical framework and empirical evidence have illustrated not only that learning and information processing can be a function of social context, but just as critically that the selection and maintenance of social context can itself be a function of information processing. Perhaps the most influential framework regarding this relationship was articulated by Albert , who suggested the then contentious notion that learning Victor Kogan 3 depends not only on intrapersonal needs, drives, and cognitions, but inherently also on exposure to others' behaviors and cognitions via observation and imitation. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, Bandura argues for the existence of reciprocity between one's environment and cognitive-behavioral goals. That is, the more a given social context produces some reinforcing behavior or cognition, the more likely it is that this social context will be selected and maintained in the future, if it is allowed, even at the cost of maladaptive long-term consequences: Far from being ruled by an imposed environment, people play an active role in constructing their own reinforcing contingencies through their characteristic modes of response… Detrimental reciprocal systems are often unknowingly created and mutually sustained… [Creating] the very conditional likely to perpetuate it.
One of the grounding components of the category-specificity model of semantic organization in the... more One of the grounding components of the category-specificity model of semantic organization in the human brain relies on the proposition that evolutionary pressures had played an active part in the way in which some semantic categories came to be expressed. Despite this proposal, the scope and limits of the extent and explicitness that such pressures actually allow has yet to be formally explored. This paper provides several lines of evidence that indicate the possibility that some aspects of the semantic organization in human knowledge can be reducible to explicit adaptive evolutionary pressures. In light of that evidence, it is hypothesized that a direct exploration on the nature of the relationship between adaptive constraints and semantic organization is possible. Two experiments are proposed, one which evaluates whether semantic organization is sensitive to adaptively-specified semantic categorization, and another which evaluates whether an adaptively-specified link between the perceptual and semantic systems exists. The implications of significant and null results are subsequently explored.
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