A genealogical map of the concept of habit

The notion of information processing has dominated the study of the mind for over six decades. However, before the advent of cognitivism, one of the most prominent theoretical ideas was that of Habit. This is a concept with a rich and complex history, which is again starting to awaken interest, following recent embodied, enactive critiques of computationalist frameworks. We offer here a very brief history of the concept of habit in the form of a genealogical network-map. This serves to provide an overview of the richness of this notion and as a guide for further re-appraisal. We identify 77 thinkers and their influences, and group them into seven schools of thought. Two major trends can be distinguished. One is the associationist trend, starting with the work of Locke and Hume, developed by Hartley, Bain, and Mill to be later absorbed into behaviorism through pioneering animal psychologists (Morgan and Thorndike). This tradition conceived of habits atomistically and as automatisms (a conception later debunked by cognitivism). Another historical trend we have called organicism inherits the legacy of Aristotle and develops along German idealism, French spiritualism, pragmatism, and phenomenology. It feeds into the work of continental psychologists in the early 20th century, influencing important figures such as Merleau-Ponty, Piaget, and Gibson. But it has not yet been taken up by mainstream cognitive neuroscience and psychology. Habits, in this tradition, are seen as ecological, self-organizing structures that relate to a web of predispositions and plastic dependencies both in the agent and in the environment. In addition, they are not conceptualized in opposition to rational, volitional processes, but as transversing a continuum from reflective to embodied intentionality. These are properties that make habit a particularly attractive idea for embodied, enactive perspectives, which can now re-evaluate it in light of dynamical systems theory and complexity research.

The New Keynesian Monetary Model: Does it Show the Comovement Between Output and Inflation in the U.S.?

Published as article in: Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control (2008), 32(May), pp. 1466-1488.

Option-Implied Preferences Adjustments and Risk-Neutral Density Forecasts

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the value of information contained in prices of options on the IBEX 35 index at the Spanish Stock Exchange Market. The forward looking information is extracted using implied risk-neutral density functions estimated by a mixture of two-lognormals and three alternative risk-adjustments: the classic power and exponential utility functions and a habit-based specification that allows for a counter-cyclical variation of risk aversion. Our results show that at four-week horizon we can reject the hypothesis that between October 1996 and March 2000 the risk-neutral densities provide accurate predictions of the distributions of future realisations of the IBEX 35 index at a four-week horizon. When forecasting through risk-adjusted densities the performance of this period is statistically improved and we no longer reject that hypothesis. All risk-adjusted densities generate similar forecasting statistics. Then, at least for a horizon of four-weeks, the actual risk adjustment does not seem to be the issue. By contrast, at the one-week horizon risk-adjusted densities do not improve the forecasting ability of the risk-neutral counterparts.

Erromaurreko Iberiar Penintsulako antzinaroari buruzko materialak : Iberiako hegoaldeko herri eta kulturak

Traducido por Iñaki Villoslada Fernández

Data Revisions in the Estimation of DSGE Models

Revisions of US macroeconomic data are not white-noise. They are persistent, correlated with real-time data, and with high variability (around 80% of volatility observed in US real-time data). Their business cycle effects are examined in an estimated DSGE model extended with both real-time and final data. After implementing a Bayesian estimation approach, the role of both habit formation and price indexation fall significantly in the extended model. The results show how revision shocks of both output and inflation are expansionary because they occur when real-time published data are too low and the Fed reacts by cutting interest rates. Consumption revisions, by contrast, are countercyclical as consumption habits mirror the observed reduction in real-time consumption. In turn, revisions of the three variables explain 9.3% of changes of output in its long-run variance decomposition.

Feminización del hábito lector

[ES] En este artículo se exponen los resultados obtenidos en una investigación descriptiva sobre la feminización del ámbito lector en la Literatura Infantil y Juvenil (LIJ) vasca. La tesis que desde el principio sostuvo esta investigación se fundamentó en que el progresivo aumento de la presencia de la mujer en el sistema literario vasco tendría que reflejarse también de alguna manera en el ámbito lector. Se utilizó el cuestionario como instrumento metodológico y se eligió una población escolar de 300 niños y niñas de edades comprendidas entre los 11 y 12 años en Vitoria. Se verificó la hipótesis preliminar; no obstante, se detectó una tendencia clara a una mayor presencia femenina en las lecturas de las niñas que en la de los niños. Las lectoras leen un mundo imaginario en un 21.6% más femenino que los lectores.

Leyendo el género: Mariasun Landa

[ES] Este artículo aborda los resultados de un estudio sobre la obra de Mariasun Landa, llevado a cabo en la Escuela Universitaria de Vitoria-Gasteiz, con el objetivo de detectar la presencia del género en la obra de la autora vasca a través de los estudiantes de la asignatura de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura y profesores expertos en dicha autora. Nuestra investigación trata de determinar hasta qué punto se subsume en las lecturas realizadas por los estudiantes investigados, la presencia de la autora y su imaginario femenino.

Utilidad de la biblioteca escolar como recurso al servicio del proyecto educativo

RESUMEN: En este trabajo se plasma la transcendencia que tiene la lectura en el desarrollo integral de las personas. Del mismo modo, consideramos fundamental que se fomente la lectura en la escuela desde la etapa de infantil. El supuesto de nuestro trabajo es que la escuela cuenta con un espacio que contiene todo lo necesario para fomentar el hábito lector: la biblioteca escolar. Para nuestra investigación nos hemos acercado a un centro escolar de Amorebieta (Bizkaia) para conocer si el funcionamiento de las bibliotecas escolares se realiza siguiendo los patrones que se consideran adecuados desde la literatura especializada en el tema.

Modeling habits as self-sustaining patterns of sensorimotor behavior

In the recent history of psychology and cognitive neuroscience, the notion of habit has been reduced to a stimulus-triggered response probability correlation. In this paper we use a computational model to present an alternative theoretical view (with some philosophical implications), where habits are seen as self-maintaining patterns of behavior that share properties in common with self-maintaining biological processes, and that inhabit a complex ecological context, including the presence and influence of other habits. Far from mechanical automatisms, this organismic and self-organizing concept of habit can overcome the dominating atomistic and statistical conceptions, and the high temporal resolution effects of situatedness, embodiment and sensorimotor loops emerge as playing a more central, subtle and complex role in the organization of behavior. The model is based on a novel "iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM)," designed such that trajectories taken through sensorimotor-space increase the likelihood that in the future, similar trajectories will be taken. We couple the IDSM to sensors and motors of a simulated robot, and show that under certain conditions, the IDSM conditions, the IDSM forms self-maintaining patterns of activity that operate across the IDSM, the robot's body, and the environment. We present various environments and the resulting habits that form in them. The model acts as an abstraction of habits at a much needed sensorimotor "meso-scale" between microscopic neuron-based models and macroscopic descriptions of behavior. Finally, we discuss how this model and extensions of it can help us understand aspects of behavioral self-organization, historicity and autonomy that remain out of the scope of contemporary representationalist frameworks.

Nuevos monumentos funerarios de Belorado (Burgos)

[ES] En el siguiente trabajo se dan a conocer cuatro nuevas estelas funerarias de época romana de Belorado (Burgos). Como la inmensa mayoría de las estelas localizadas en este lugar, estas también guardan una serie de peculiaridades externas e internas comunes que han llevado a considerarlo un conjunto epigráfico específico del lugar. Es por ello que en las siguientes páginas presentaremos una descripción y análisis de las mismas a la vez que las contextualizamos dentro del conjunto y el lugar donde fueron localizadas.

Analysis of Body Composition and Food Habits of Spanish Celiac Women

The purpose of the present work was both to analyze composition of Spanish celiac women and to study the food habits and gluten-free diet of these celiac patients, in order to determine whether they achieve a balanced and healthy diet as well as to highlight nutritional qualitative and/or quantitative differences. 54 adult celiac women (34 +/- 13 years) took part in the six-month study. Height, weight and body composition were measured. An analysis of energy consumption and of the macronutrient distribution of their diet was carried out. Their fulfillment of micronutrient intake recommendations was verified. Participants showed a Body Mass Index of 21.6 +/- 2.4 kg/m(2). Energy Intake was slightly lower than the Dietary Reference Intakes. Excessive protein apart from over-consumption of fat was observed. More than three quarters of participants consumed meat in excess. Carbohydrate consumption along with that of fiber was below recommended levels. Vitamin D, iron, and iodine had a low percentage of recommendation compliance. In general, participants followed the recommendations of dairy products and fruit intake whereas vegetable consumption was not enough for the vast majority. We conclude that although the diet of celiac women does not differ much from the diet of general population, some considerations, such as reducing fat and protein consumption and increasing fiber intake, must be taken into account.

Familia en Xalapa, fines del siglo XVIII. Características sociales, económicas y culturales de los Grupos Domésticos

302 p.