Thesis (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (Dept. of Psychology) / Simon Fraser University. Includes bibliographical references :leaves 31-58. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-145). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (B. Psy. Sc.(Hons.))--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Nurs.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-128).

In the thesis, Fodor’s arguments against computationalism are defeated. His arguments appeal to syntactic constraints and intractability. We argue that arguments based on syntactic constraints are not satisfactory. We then argue that the argument via intractability is not satisfactory either. We also discuss various approaches to the problem of abduction in a computationalist setting. We argue that the social solution that human everyday cognitive activity is not isotropic and Quinean is correct. Secondly, we argue that the local solution is too preliminary a proposal. We give our objections concerning the calculation of the effect to effort ratio and the claim that memory organization leads one to relevant information. Thirdly, we argue that the natural language approach is circular. Fourthly, we arguedthat the web search approach provides a partial account of finding relevant information but leaves out the key problem of evaluating the search results. Fifthly, we argue that the global workspace approach relegates the most important part of the solution to consciousness. In the end, we give a framework sketching mechanisms that could solve the problem of abduction. / published_or_final_version / Philosophy / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Objective: To investigate the association of sleep duration with cognitive function in adults. Methods and Results: Relevant studies were searched through PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar using keywords of ((“cognitive” OR “cognition” OR “memory impairment”) AND (“sleep duration” OR “sleep hours” OR “sleep time”)). Studies on the association of sleep duration with cognitive function as measured by various cognitive assessment tools in adults aged 18+ years were included. The initiate search generates 415 articles, after excluding studies that were duplicates, not published in English journals and not conducted in adults, giving 10 to be included in this systematic review. These studies were conducted in 6 countries (US, China, France, Spain, England, and Finland) and most of them were cross-sectional studies (7 cross-sectional studies and 3 prospective studies). Most of the studies showed that participants with either long sleep duration (≥ 9 h per day) or short sleep duration (≤ 6 h per day) had higher risks of cognitive impairment than participants with sleep hours of about 7 hour per day. One study showed that short, but not long sleep duration was associated with poor cognitive function while four studies showed that only long sleep duration was associated with poor cognitive function. Some sleep-related factors such as sleep disorder breathing, excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep quality and sleep cycle may partly explain the association of sleep duration with cognitive functions. Conclusion: Most of the earlier studies consistently showed that both long (≥ 9 h per day) and short (≤ 6 h per day) sleep duration were associated with poor cognitive function. These findings provide evidence support for further intervention studies to examine the potential beneficial effect of normalizing sleep duration in preventing cognitive decline. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

This thesis is an exegetical and redactional study of the requirements for membership in the people of God stated in Acts 15: 1-29 primarily and other passages in Acts by way of reference. It argues that membership, i. e. salvation, for both Jews and Gentiles depends without distinction on a personal commitment to Jesus and a faithfulness to God expressed in terms of the Old Testament covenants. It posits as well, given the pericope's structural and theological centrality in Acts, that for Luke the people of God manifest, on the one hand, a continuity with the Israel established by the Old Testament covenants which is interpreted in terms of the disjunctive effect of God's salvation in Jesus and, on the other, a diversity of belief and practice which is governed by a unity expressed uncompromisingly in terms of faith in Jesus and faithfulness to God's covenants. The study is divided into six chapters, following the order of the events and speeches in Acts 15. In the Introduction the debate is related to the event initiating the council (Acts 15: 1-5), i. e. the Judaizers' demand that circumcision and keeping the law were necessary for salvation, and to the earliest apostolic proclamation (Acts 2-5). Peter's response (Acts 15: 7-1 l)--that faith in Jesus had determined the Gentiles' salvation just as faith, not the law, had brought the Jewish Christians the experience of salvation--is discussed, in Chapter I, in light of Cornelius's conversion (Acts 10: 1- 11: 18). Chapter II deals with Barnabas's and Paul's relation to the Hellenists and Paul's exhortation that justification is by faith (13: 38-39). It examines the purpose of the conciseness of Barnabas's and Paul's contribution to the debate (15: 12) and proposes that the comment serves not only to depict the missionaries' presence at the council but more importantly to highlight the Jerusalem apostles' approval of uncircumcised believers. James's speech (15: 13-21), Chapter III, argues from Amos 9: 11-12 that the inclusion of the Gentiles is related to God's act of re-establishing Israel but in no way signifies Israel's possession of the Gentiles; thereby is developed the somewhat paradoxical thesis of freedom from the law and responsibility to Judaism. Chapter IV concerns the consensus reached (15: 23-29)--the Gentiles' freedom from the law and the need for the four prohibitions--and it suggests, on the basis of the textual variant in 15: 20; 15: 29; and 21: 25, the legal background of the four injunctions, and Luke's description of the decree elsewhere (15: 31; 16: 4; 21: 25), that the four prohibitions are ecclesiastical halakhoth based on the Jewish law and are to be obeyed as law is to be obeyed. The study concludes with an examination of how, as the Pauline mission carried the gospel further away from Jerusalem, the church welcomed Jewi ;h and Gentiles converts. Particular attention is given to Paul's message of salvation and the stories in Acts 15: 36-41; 16: 1-3; 18: 24-19: 7; and 21: 17-26. There are also discussions of James's position in the Jerusalem church (Chapter III), of the relation between Acts 15 and Acts 11: 1-18 (Chapter IV), and of the significance cc Luke's use cc of ýoßoüýEVOL 1' 6e' ' and. of of1ß j- evoý Töv ()e' for the class of people. termert "Godfedrers" (Appendix).

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

The activation of a predictive inference relies largely on the amount of contextual support for the inference in the text (Cook, Limber, & O’Brien, 2001). However, few sources of individual differences in predictive inference activation have been isolated. An experiment designed to identify possible sources of individual differences was conducted. One hundred and one participants completed an inference task using a long-passage correct rejection paradigm that included passages with varying levels of contextual support occurring mid-passage. Participants also completed a reading span measure (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980) and a knowledge access measure (Potts & Peterson, 1985). Results from ANOVA and regression analyses suggest that readers with better knowledge access abilities are better able to correctly reject inference concepts and are less affected by a change in inference-facilitating contextual support. It is suggested that higher knowledge access readers are able to construct and maintain a more specific representation of the text.