Many activities of daily living require that we physically interact with one or more objects. Object manipulation provides an intriguing domain in which the presence and extent of manual asymmetries can be studied on a motor planning and a motor execution level. In this literature review we present a state of the art for manual asymmetries at the level of motor planning during object manipulation. First, we introduce pioneering work on grasp posture planning. We then sketch the studies investigating the (...) impact of future task demands during unimanual and bimanual object manipulation tasks in healthy adult populations. In sum, in contrast to motor execution, there is little evidence for hand-based performance differences in grasp posture planning. We discuss potential reasons for the lack of manual asymmetries in motor planning and outline potential avenues of future research. (shrink)

The life sciences in the 20th century were guided to a large extent by a reductionist program seeking to explain biological phenomena in terms of physics and chemistry. Two scientists who figured prominently in the establishment and dissemination of this program were Jacques Loeb in biology and Ivan P. Pavlov in psychological behaviorism. While neither succeeded in accounting for higher mental functions in physical-chemical terms, both adopted positions that reduced the problem of consciousness to the level of reflexes and associations. (...) The intellectual origins of this view and the impediment to the study of consciousness as an object of inquiry in its own right that it may have imposed on peers, students, and those who followed is explored. (shrink)

Why was Ivan Pavlevich Pavlov so widely celebrated in the decades after 1900? As his story of the 'freedom reflex' illustrates, Pavlov often overstated his observations. By calling all innate behaviour a reflex and all learned behaviour a conditional reflex, he meant to eliminate consciousness and volition from science. Pavlov's universal reflex explanation became the prototype for behaviourism.

The competence of humans to create and apply constructs of reality far exceeds that of any other animal species. Their ability to consciously manipulate such models seems unique, but it remains unknown how these abilities were initially acquired and then developed. Most individuals hold strong, culturally-anchored beliefs that their particular reality is true, a viewpoint challenged by the observation that all such constructs are different. They reflect not reality, but each individual’s life experiences. Collectively they facilitated the development of hominins (...) to unprecedented cultural and cognitive complexity. However, it remains entirely unknown how the human brain manages to create a model of the external world from the signals provided by sensory equipment and proprioceptors. This paper examines the roles of exograms in this development, as they are considered to be the only tangible connection between the brain, the faculties of sentience and the external world. Competency in exogram use became a crucial natural selection factor for humans and even overcame the human brain atrophy of the final Pleistocene and the Holocene. Under favourable conditions, some forms of exograms are capable of surviving from the deep time of human evolution. The paper follows their trail back in time to gain some insights into the developments that gave rise to human awareness, self-consciousness and Theory of Mind as we understand them. Specific archaeological finds and notions about sentient capabilities of hominins are presented in a search for exogram use in the course of human evolution. It results in a model that explains with clarity not only the course of the human journey but also the underlying reasons for the human condition as such: why we are the way we are. (shrink)

The paper makes three points about the role of double dissociation in cognitive neuropsychology. First, arguments from double dissociation to separate modules work by inference to the best, not the only possible, explanation. Second, in the development of computational cognitive neuropsychology, the contribution of connectionist cognitive science has been to broaden the range of potential explanations of double dissociation. As a result, the competition between explanations, and the characteristic features of the assessment of theories against the criteria of probability and (...) explanatory value, are more visible. Third, cognitive neuropsychology is a division of cognitive psychology but the practice of cognitive neuropsychology proceeds on assumptions that go beyond the subject matter of cognitive psychology. Given such assumptions, neuroscientific findings about lesion location may enhance the value of double dissociation in shifting the balance of support between cognitive theories. (shrink)

The various behavioral disciplines model human behavior in distinct and incompatible ways. Yet, recent theoretical and empirical developments have created the conditions for rendering coherent the areas of overlap of the various behavioral disciplines. The analytical tools deployed in this task incorporate core principles from several behavioral disciplines. The proposed framework recognizes evolutionary theory, covering both genetic and cultural evolution, as the integrating principle of behavioral science. Moreover, if decision theory and game theory are broadened to encompass other-regarding preferences, they (...) become capable of modeling all aspects of decision making, including those normally considered “psychological,” “sociological,” or “anthropological.” The mind as a decision-making organ then becomes the organizing principle of psychology. (Published Online April 27 2007) Key Words: behavioral game theory; behavioral science; evolutionary theory; experimental psychology; gene-culture coevolution; rational actor model; socialization. (shrink)

Bestimmung des Begriffs „Person”. Vorkommen und Beispiele der Inkongruenz von morphologischer, physiologischer und psychischer Einheit . Person und Persönlichkeit. Begriff der übergeordneten psychischen Person und der in diese einbezognen psychischen Personen. Wechselbeziehungen zwischen beiderlei bei Tier und Mensch. Dem geläufigen Wissen entnommene Beispiele. Besonders instruktive Zustände und Vorkommnisse im tierischen Verhalten , welche die Existenz von Mehrfachpersonalität belegen, darunter mannigfache Wechselbeziehungen zwischen einer übergeordneten Person und einbezognen wie unter solchen, werden in diesem Sinn neu gedeutet. Sie betreffen Medusen, Actinien, Hydren, (...) Asteroideen, Crinoideen, Turbellarien, Poriferen, Protisten, nach Beobachtungen am naturgegebnen Verhalten, Experimenten, operativen Verfahren vonGoetsch, Diebschlag, Jennings, von Levetzow, W. Arndt. Aus der Humanpsychologie gehört in diesen Zusammenhang u.a. die Problematik um das uns „Unbewusste” und damit um das hier bevorzugte Wesen des Erinnerungsvorgangs. Mehrdeutigkeit von „bewusst, unbewusst, unterbewusst”, Ablehnung aller Schichtenvorstellungen über Psychisches, Ablösung durch meinen hier dargelegten Personalismus. Wahrhaft unbewusst sind uns die Triebdispositionen bezw. Instinktbereitschaften, nebstdem die Fertigkeiten und Reaktionsmechanismen und die uns erinnerlich entfallenen Bewustseinsinhalte. Erklärung dieses Unbewussten aus der Mitwirkung einbezogner psychischer Personen. Rolle dieser Bewahrer beim Erwerb, der Bewahrung, der Rückerstattung an das „Bewusstsein” u.a. Mangel jeder Initiative bei den einbezognenen Erinnernsbewahrern, somit auch jeder Art eines „tätigen Unbewussten” vom Typ des „Unterbewusstseins” des Psychanalytiker. Art der somatischen Repräsentation der Erinnernsbewahrer. Im Punkt des Verhältnisses der Bewahrer zu den durch sie bewahrten Inhalten erfordert der Standpunkt einer reinen Psychologie, jene sich als ihrer Inhalte bewusst vorzustellen. Kritik an einigen voraussichtlich gegen meine personale Auffassung vom Erinnerungsvorgang sich richtenden Bedenken. Vergleich meiner Theoretik hinsichtlich des Erinnernsvorgangs mit andern, die ihr verwandt sind oder verwandt erscheinen können: Ablehnung der materialisierenden Hypothetik in der „Physiologischen Psychologie”Theodor Ziehens, - Anerkennung beachtlicher Ansätze beiOswald Bumke, seine Annäherung in Wesentlichem, so in seiner Ablehnung eines tätigen Unbewussten , - ohne dass er zur Vorstellung der einbezognen Personen und einer damit ermöglichten Deutung dieser Vorgänge gelangte. Einwände gegen Einzelheiten bei ihm. (shrink)