How can the existence of evil and suffering be reconciled with the existence of an all-powerful and benevolent deity? This question arises within the context of philosophy of religion and challenges the notions of the existence of a God who is both all-good and all-powerful.

Procedural details:

1. The continuous EEG of thirteen unique participants were recorded over 12 experimental sessions. One participant took part twice. All participants natively spoke a language that made the [tha] versus [da] distinction.
2. Stimuli were natural productions of [tha] and [da]. Stimuli were produced by a native female speaker of North American English.
3. There was only one experimental block. The aspirated [tha] was the repeated standard and unaspirated [da] was the infrequent deviant.
4. Data from Fp1, Fp2, Cz and Fz were recorded.
5. Two mastoid channels were recorded and linked in post-processing to create an average mastoid reference.
6. The participants heard 60 repetitions of the deviant [da] and approximately 420 repetitions of the standard [tha]. This was a ratio of approximately seven standards for every deviant that was presented to the participant.
7. Offline, the data was epoched, with 100 ms before the presentation of the stimulus and 800 ms after the presentation of the stimulus.

Questions:

1. Consult EEG and speech processing. What kind of experimental design is this? How do you know? 
2. Given the Procedural details above and course content, provide specific predictions for what you expect? Assume that the participants can contrast [tha] and [da].
1. Do you predict there to be differences? 
2. If so, at what time points? 
3. Which response do you anticipate to be more negative? 
4. What is the unit of Time measurement on the x-axis in a plot based on the experiment?
3. Now imagine that the participants were speakers of a language that did not contrast [tha] and [da], e.g., Spanish or Russian. State explicitly your predictions along the same lines as the answer to Question 2. 
4. According to the experiment/procedures, which predictions are met? Be specific. Make particular reference to the imaginary plot and identify any parts of the ERP responses that might be different between the two conditions.

1. Is this in the time window that you expect?  
2. Is it in the appropriate direction? That is, is the response that is expected to be more positive, indeed more positive and the response that is expected to be more negative, indeed more negative? Also, did you expect to observe a more pronounced peak to the standard or to the deviant? 

1. 1. Can you conclude that the particular design is tapping into phonetic or phonological representations? Make specific reference to the potential levels of sound representations (e.g., acoustic, phonetic, phonological). Explain why you can or cannot conclude that this design taps into a specific level of representation.  

Use references: 

1. Kazanina, N., Phillips, C., & Idsardi, W. (2006). The influence of meaning on the perception of speech sounds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(30), 11381-11386.
2. Phillips, et al. (2000). Auditory cortex accesses phonological categories: an MEG mismatch study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12(6), 1038-1055.

Topic 1

Milly and Peggy are neighbors. Peggy’s boy-friend Raymond died recently and Milly had not seen Peggy for weeks. One day, Milly met Peggy at the corridor and Peggy was taking a suitcase with her.

Milly said, “Hi, Peggy, how are you? Are you going to travel?”

Peggy looked peaceful and replied, “Hi, Milly. I am fine….I am…..”

Milly said, “I know that Raymond has….Well, anyway, are you going to travel? There is quarantine everywhere. Where are you going?

Peggy replied, “Korea.”

Milly asked, “What…? The pandemic there is still very severe. Do you have to go now?”

“Well…Milly. It’s not that…..simple. But I am really excited to go.” Peggy replied.

Milly said, “Not that simple….what do you mean? Don’t do anything stupid.”

Peggy said, “Stupid of not…I don’t know. But I deeply believe in it. Have you heard of the movie ‘There is another You in this world’ ”?

Milly said, “Yeah. It’s good. I watched it on Netflax”

Peggy said, “Master Seven told me that what the movie says is true. In this world, there is another you, me and Raymond etc. Usually we are not able to see the other self because we are in different channels.”

Milly asked, “Master Seven?”

Peggy said, “Yeah. The one that you can see on TV. She is a great fortune teller and Fung Shui Master. My mum is her good friend. Recently I have been depressed and my mum took me to see Master Seven. She treated me. She also told me about this multiple-self theory.”

Milly said, “This is….incredible. Do you really believe in it?

Peggy said, “Of course. Master loves you…and everyone. She also said that Raymond’s another self is in Korea now. He has the same appearance and character as my deceased boy-friend. If I go there to meet him, we can continue our relationship.”

Milly said, “Peggy, I understand that you must be sad right now. But you have to keep your mind clear.”   

Peggy showed Milly her mobile phone, on which there is an Instagram account of a Korean guy; and the guy looks exactly like Raymond!

Milly asked, “So you believe that this is Raymond’s another self’?”

Peggy said, “You got me. Master Seven has made friends with this Korean guy and found that there are a lot of similarities between him and Raymond. Their hobbies and living style are the same!”

Milly said, “So you are going to Korea now. Aren’t you? Peggy, the pandemic there is more severe than that in Hong Kong. Think twice. It’s too risky.”

Peggy said, “Master Seven has performed some religious ritual on me, and she gave me some magic water to drink. I will be fine.”

Milly asked, “But where do you meet this guy?”

Peggy said, “Master Seven gave me an address. She said when I arrive there the guy will be there waiting for me.”

Milly said, “Sorry. I can’t believe in this. This is too unnatural and there is no concrete evidence.”

Peggy said, “Milly, I know you are a supporter of the correspondence theory of truth. But I am a believer of the coherence theory of truth. There are lots of things which you don’t require evidence to believe, right? Just like you believe that Napoleon existed. I know that you don’t believe in Master Seven because you don’t know her. But I know her well, and I have his Instagram account here. See….”   

Milly asked, “When will your flight depart?”

Peggy replied, “Master Seven asked me to take the flight CCAH4016. It departs at midnight. Milly: “Do you mind spending a while with me and let me analyze the case with you?”

Peggy said, “Ok. There is still some time, so I think I can.”

Continue Milly and Peggy’s conversation. In the end, one side should be reasonably convinced by the other. (If Milly is convinced by Peggy, she will let Peggy go. If Peggy is convinced by Milly, she will stay in Hong Kong.)

Write the dialogue in 800 words.