Looking for the GAP effect in manual responses and the role of contextual influences in reaction time experiments

When the offset of a visual stimulus (GAP condition) precedes the onset of a target, saccadic reaction times are reduced in relation to the condition with no offset (overlap condition) - the GAP effect. However, the existence of the GAP effect for manual responses is still controversial. In two experiments using both simple (Experiment 1, N = 18) and choice key-press procedures (Experiment 2, N = 12), we looked for the GAP effect in manual responses and investigated possible contextual influences on it. Participants were asked to respond to the imperative stimulus that would occur under different experimental contexts, created by varying the array of warning-stimulus intervals (0, 300 and 1000 ms) and conditions (GAP and overlap): i) intervals and conditions were randomized throughout the experiment; ii) conditions were run in different blocks and intervals were randomized; iii) intervals were run in different blocks and conditions were randomized. Our data showed that no GAP effect was obtained for any manipulation. The predictability of stimulus occurrence produced the strongest influence on response latencies. In Experiment 1, simple manual responses were shorter when the intervals were blocked (247 ms, P < 0.001) in relation to the other two contexts (274 and 279 ms). Despite the use of choice key-press procedures, Experiment 2 produced a similar pattern of results. A discussion addressing the critical conditions to obtain the GAP effect for distinct motor responses is presented. In short, our data stress the relevance of the temporal allocation of attention for behavioral performance.

The Banco Central do Brasil's institutional framework after ten years

The Banco Central do Brazil (BACEN) adopted inflation targeting in 1999. This monetary policy regime originates in institutional design which remains crucial today for the expectations management, and is in permanent evolution. After 10 years, the BACEN institutional framework is assessed, asking if there is still room for improvement. Various institutional procedures are analysed, and lessons are drawn from the international experience of a panel of sixteen countries. Some proposals for the BACEN institutional framework are made.

A framework to understand human action

This paper consists in an analysis of two explanatory models of human behaviour which play a prominent role in the contemporary literature on human action. The first model - the causalist - aims at explaining action in terms of causes and general laws. The second model - the intentionalist - explains human action in terms of intentions and practical syllogism. The difficulties of both models are presented and in the last part of the essay we propose one alternative model, based on the notion of retroduction.

Nietzsche como destino da filosofia e da humanidade? interpretação contextual do § 1 do capítulo "por que sou um destino", de ecce homo

The following translation is a reduced and revised version of the paper Schicksal Nietzsche? Zu Nietzsches Selbsteinschätzung als Schicksal der Philosophie und der Menschheit (Ecce Homo, Warum ich ein Schicksal bin §1)" - originally published in Nietzsche-Studien 37 (2008) - which was specially prepared to be presented in lecture organized by the Grupo de Pesquisa Spinoza & Nietzsche (Spinoza & Nietzsche research group - SpiN), in the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro's Federal University), on September 14, 2009. In the text, the autor employs his own philological-hermeneutical methodology, which is called contextual interpretation, in the purpose to clarify the concepts of the first aphorism from "Why I am a destiny", from Ecce Homo, in its own context, in the context of Ecce Homo and in the context of the entire work from Nietzsche.

Nietzsche como destino da filosofia e da humanidade? interpretação contextual do § 1 do capítulo "por que sou um destino", de ecce homo

A tradução que se segue é uma versão resumida e revisada do artigo "Schicksal Nietzsche? Zu Nietzsches Selbsteinschätzung als Schicksal der Philosophie und der Menschheit (Ecce Homo, Warum ich ein Schicksal bin §1)" - publicado originalmente em Nietzsche-Studien 37 (2008) - que foi especialmente preparada para ser apresentada em palestra organizada pelo Grupo de Pesquisa Spinoza & Nietzsche (SpiN), na Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, em 14/09/2009. No texto, o autor faz uso de sua própria metodologia filológico-hermenêutica, denominada interpretação contextual, com vistas a esclarecer os conceitos do primeiro aforismo de "por que sou um destino", de Ecce Homo no seu contexto próprio, no contexto de Ecce Homo e no contexto da obra de Nietzsche como um todo.