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Biomedical subjects

A S Gilinsky

Publications and source records attributed to A S Gilinsky.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Working memory and bias in reasoning across the life span.

Age differences in syllogistic reasoning in relation to crystallized and fluid ability were studied in 278 adults from 19 to 96 years of age. Two reasoning tasks, the evaluation and the construction of conclusions for syllogisms of varying complexity and believability, a vocabulary test, and 3 tasks of working memory were administered. The magnitude of age-related variance on selected reasoning tasks was only partially reduced by statistically controlling measures of both working memory and vocabulary. Additional age-related effects on reasoning were found to be significantly associated with number of mental models and bias produced by conflict between belief and logic. A significant bias was also found toward acceptance of invalid syllogisms as valid, even when contents were abstract. These sources of error in logic are discussed in relation to Johnson-Laird's (1983) theory of mental models and Evan's (1989) account of bias in human reasoning.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Aging and serial list picture memory.

List memory of 6 young and 6 older human adults was tested with lists of four visual items (black and white patterns and colored abstract paintings). We investigated the effects of varying the length of the recognition interval on the serial-position function for picture recognition in the two age groups. Increases in the retention interval showed a consistent modification of the shape of the serial-position function from a monotonically increasing function at the shortest interval to a monotonically decreasing function at the longest interval. The time course of these changes was faster for older adults than for young adults. Age differences in the length of the interval required for a shift in the serial-position functions from recency to primacy effects were strikingly similar to those previously found between young people and nonhuman species.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Reorganization of perception: a Konorskian interpretation of the Innsbruck experiments.

This paper discusses the close fit of Konorski’s model to the data of Kohler’s Innsbruck experiments and also to more recent neurophysiological studies of environmental surgery or sensory disturbances. The dramatic Innsbruck research using special goggles or prismatic glasses that reversed or distorted the visual field confirmed and extended Stratton's earlier use of the substitution method. The subjects had at first insuperable difficulties in their locomotor behavior if it was guided by vision. After practice guided by certain rules, they were able to perform and eventually to "see" correctly in the strange environment. These studies demonstrate the plasticity of the nervous system, even in the adult. The problem for the field is to determine how these new associations, antagonistic to long established conditioned reflexes (CRs), become functional. The particular questions arise: what rules impede, what rules facilitate the transformation of CRs, and what physiological mechanism is responsible for the changed relations between the organism and the external world? Konorski’s remarkable theory is that no transformations of connections occurs in the reversal training. Instead, what actually happens is the formation of a connection between the original instrumental CR and non-reinforcement, and actualization of excitatory connections between the CS units and the kinesthetic units of the antagonistic movement. If correct, this motor act marks the termination of the eliciting drive and is reinforced. The original CR is readily re-established by restitution of its reinforcement.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1980

The paradoxical moon illusions.

An adaptation theory of visual space is developed and applied to the data of a variety of studies of visual space perception. By distinguishing between the perceived distance of an object and that of the background or sky, the theory resolves the paradox of the moon illusions and relates both perceived size and perceived distance of the moon to the absolute level of spatial adaptation. The theory assumes that visual space expands or contracts in adjustment to changes in the sensory indicators of depth and provides a measure, A, of this adaptation-level. Changes in A have two effects--one on perceived size, one on perceived distance. Since A varies systematically as a function of angle of regard, availability of cues, and the total space-value, A is a measure of the moon illusions, and a practical index of individual differences by pilots and astronauts in the perception of the size and distance of objects on the ground and in the air.

Distance Perception↗
PubMed1969

Interocular transfer of orientational effects.

Prolonged exposure of one eye to a diagonal line grating produces masking or decreased sensitivity for similar test gratings presented to the contralateral eye. These aftereffects are orientationally selective and suggest that narrow orientationally tuned channels found by electrophysiological methods in the visual cortex of the cat and the monkey may have neural correlates in the human brain.

Afterimage↗