Simple heuristics exploit basic human abilities, such as recognition memory, to make decisions based on sparse information. Based on the relative speed of recognizing two objects, the fluency heuristic infers that the one recognized more quickly has the higher value with respect to the criterion of interest. Behavioral data show that reliance on retrieval fluency enables quick inferences. Our goal with the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to isolate fluency-heuristic-based judgments to map the use of fluency onto specific (...) brain areas that might give a better understanding of the heuristic’s underlying processes. Activation within the claustrum for fluency heuristic decisions was found. Given that claustrum activation is thought to reflect the integration of perceptual and memory elements into a conscious gestalt, we suggest this activation correlates with the experience of fluency. (shrink)

In international literature of the last decade, few genres have been as widely read or as intensely discussed as autofiction. Writers of autofiction use a variety of literary means to do what the novel has always done: to illuminate the private sphere. Yet, as this article argues, the idea of the private sphere underlying autofiction structurally differs from that of the fictional novel. Starting from a reading of Sheila Heti’s 2018 novel Motherhood and an analysis of its reception in various (...) YouTube formats, this article shows that the private sphere to which autofiction grants access is no longer framed as a refuge for the individual from the public. Instead, autofiction stages and reflects a model of privacy in which intense self-observation directly serves the creation of new social ties. Autofiction aesthetically reflects on interpersonal networking. Moreover, in dramatizing the crossing of boundaries between the fictional and non-fictional, and in breaking »the fourth wall,« it aesthetically recreates the forging of new network connections. The continued success of contemporary autofiction therefore needs to be understood against the backdrop of the structural transformation of the private sphere within the network society. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é relacionar o ready-made de Duchamp – uma obra de arte que é idêntica a um objeto comum – com a história da arte que o precedeu e entender de que modo sua ruptura radical já estava dentro dessa história. Inicio com uma introdução ao e interpretação do ready-made. Em seguida, me respaldando em Gombrich, Greenberg e outros, examino os três tipos de arte na história propostos por Peter Bürger, focando na questão da realidade/irrealidade da obra, (...) aos poucos me aproximando da relação da obra com seu caráter de objeto. Meu ponto principal é que a bidimensionalidade do quadro reforça a existência da tela e assim também a relação de sua experiência com o mundo concreto em que o quadro se encontra, em contraposição a ilusão dramática do quadro tridimensional. A seguir, examino os impressionistas, onde se inicia um movimento de encontro à realidade da tela, que se radicaliza depois em variadas vertentes do modernismo, onde se encontra Duchamp. Tendo feito este percurso, examino o conceito de vanguarda de Bürger e sua relação com o que ele chama de práxis vital, o mundo fora do quadro ilusionista, que explico através da ideia de distração de Walter Benjamin. Aqui, sugiro pensar o ready-made como uma proposta de transposição da arte e sua teoria ao mundo "não-artístico" das coisas comuns. (shrink)

Em Sobre o conceito de história, Walter Benjamin procura entender como foi possível a ascensão do fascismo durante toda a década de 1930 na Europa. Disputando com a socialdemocracia e o stalinismo o uso do “método” marxista de conhecimento do presente, o materialismo histórico, Benjamin procura uma filosofia da história que seja capaz de entendê-la para além da ideia burguesa de progresso, que teria sido responsável pela incompreensão sobre o fascismo. Nosso artigo procura esclarecer essa concepção estabelecendo uma relação entre (...) ela e as ideias de narração, experiência, memória e modernidade, presentes no ensaio O Narrador, de 1936, além de alguns pontos da teoria do conhecimento de Benjamin. O objetivo é compreender o fascismo não como mero oposto do progresso, mas fruto dele mesmo, parte da época denominada modernidade, em que o individualismo impossibilita experiências em comum e uma memória partilhada. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta um panorama científico da pandemia da COVID-19 no Brasil e discute questões bioéticas e avalia as possíveis soluções dos problemas morais no contexto atual. Primeiramente, apresentamos a literatura da comunidade médico-farmacológica sobre tratamentos eficientes contra a doença, levantando também dados do governo brasileiro sobre saúde pública. Então, investigamos as questões éticas sobre os fatos apresentados. Uma breve discussão dessas questões sob a perspectiva do enfoque dos quatro princípios foi realizada. Concluiu-se que as medidas de isolamento social tomadas (...) pelo governo brasileiro são moralmente justificadas. Considera-se também moralmente permissível o uso de seres humanos nos testes clínicos desses medicamentos, desde que a autonomia deles seja resguardada e a análise de riscos e benefícios mostrar-se positiva. Por fim, evidencia-se a relação entre ciência e filosofia no âmbito ético, político e biomédico. (shrink)

Den Zusammenhang der Arbeit stellt die Dreigliedrigkeit Realität- Sprache-Denken dar; das Fehlen dieses Zusammenhangs bei Chomsky und Skinner wird aufgedeckt und damit der Mythos einer fetischisierten Sprache. Das geschieht primär durch die Analyse theoretischer Prämis- sen, die die Richtung der Arbeitsresultate festschreiben und relevante Fragestellungen aussparen. Die Arbeit zeigt, wie das konstruiert wurde und welche Konsequenzen das theoretisch und z.T. auch praktisch hat. Damit stehen nicht nur die theoretischen Interessen der beiden Autoren, sondern die der Linguistik zur Debatte, zumal als (...) einer Disziplin, die nicht autark ist, sondern Wissen über Welt voraussetzt und selbst ideologisch produziert. (shrink)

Long description: Nach der Dekonstruktion der Vorstellungen von Echtheit, Eigentlichkeit und Ursprünglichkeit unter dem Vorzeichen des Cultural Turn erfährt Authentizität eine neue Konjunktur - sowohl in der theoretischen Auseinandersetzung als auch in der kulturellen Praxis. Der Band widmet sich dieser neuen Sehnsucht nach dem Ursprünglichen und begreift sie als Herausforderung für die Kulturwissenschaften. Die Beiträge eröffnen den Dialog zwischen unterschiedlichen Authentizitäts-Konzepten und verbinden theoretische Positionsbestimmungen mit konkreten Anwendungsbereichen.

Besonnenes Denken und Handeln erweist sich heute als dringlicher denn je. Bennent-Vahle akzentuiert und entfaltet diese These nicht zuletzt mit Blick auf aktuelle Tendenzen politischer Radikalisierung und gesellschaftlicher Verrohung. Erlautert wird, wie bedeutsam Perspektiven umsichtiger Personlichkeitsbildung fur das Gelingen demokratischer Prozesse sind. Vor allem kommt es darauf an, der menschlichen Emotionalitat gerecht zu werden und eine Kultivierung der Mitgefuhle anzuregen. Hier bietet die philosophische Tradition wertvolle Anknupfungspunkte, die es auf der Basis vertiefter wissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse zum menschlichen Gefuhlsleben zeitgemass auszutarieren und (...) praxisbezogen zu erkunden gilt. (shrink)

Besonnenes Denken und Handeln erweist sich heute als dringlicher denn je. Bennent-Vahle akzentuiert und entfaltet diese These nicht zuletzt mit Blick auf aktuelle Tendenzen politischer Radikalisierung und gesellschaftlicher Verrohung. Erläutert wird, wie bedeutsam Perspektiven umsichtiger Persönlichkeitsbildung für das Gelingen demokratischer Prozesse sind. Vor allem kommt es darauf an, der menschlichen Emotionalität gerecht zu werden und eine Kultivierung der Mitgefühle anzuregen. Hier bietet die philosophische Tradition wertvolle Anknüpfungspunkte, die es auf der Basis vertiefter wissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse zum menschlichen Gefühlsleben zeitgemäß auszutarieren und (...) praxisbezogen zu erkunden gilt. (shrink)

In this paper, we put forward an interdisciplinary framework describing different levels of self-representations, namely non-conceptual, conceptual and propositional self-representations. We argue that these different levels of self-representation are differently affected by cultural upbringing: while propositional self-representations rely on “theoretical” concepts and are thus strongly influenced by cultural upbringing, non-conceptual self-representations are uniform across cultures and thus universal. This differentiation offers a theoretical specification of the distinction between an independent and interdependent self-construal put forward in cross-cultural psychology. Hence, this does (...) not only allow for a deeper understanding of different self-conceptions, but also for a formulation of new hypotheses regarding the cultural influence on self-representations. As one example, we will highlight the role of the proposed levels of self-representation for emotional experience and formulate some major implications of our interdisciplinary framework for future empirical research. (shrink)

The feeling of error (FOE) is the subjective experience that something went wrong during a reasoning or calculation task. The main goal of the present study was to assess the accuracy of the FOE in the context of mental mathematical calculation. We used the number bisection task (NBT) to evoke this metacognitive feeling and assessed it by asking participants if they felt they have committed an error after solving the task. In the NBT participants have to determine whether the number (...) presented in the middle of a triplet corresponds to the arithmetic mean of the two outer numbers (e.g., 07_16_25) with a Yes/No answer. Our results show that FOE reports were strongly correlated with arithmetic errors and numerical properties of the NBT, suggesting that the FOE accurately represents the error. This finding indicates that even very fast metacognitive feelings are reliable when it comes to evaluating one’s own mental performance. Moreover, our results suggest that the occurrence of FOEs is determined by the fluency with which each triplet was solved and the post-decision evaluation processes that occurred after the NBT was solved. Additionally, we asked participants to report their confidence in the given answer for the cases where they did not report FOEs. Participants reported less confidence for the (objectively) incorrect answers than for the (objectively) correct ones, suggesting that in cases where they did not have a conscious FOE they still were able to implicitly detect their errors. Remarkably, confidence was also determined by the fluency of the NBT. (shrink)

Arguably the most influential models of human decision-making today are based on the assumption that two separable systems – intuition and deliberation – underlie the judgments that people make. Our recent work is among the first to present neural evidence contrary to the predictions of these dual-systems accounts. We measured brain activations using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants were specifically instructed to either intuitively or deliberately judge the authenticity of emotional facial expressions. Results from three different analyses revealed (...) both common brain networks of activation across decision mode and differential activations as a function of strategy adherence. We take our results to contradict popular dual-systems accounts that propose a clear-cut dichotomy of the processing systems, and to support rather a unified model. According to this, intuitive and deliberate judgment processes rely on the same rules, though only the former are thought to be characterized by non-conscious processing. (shrink)

Our ability to select relevant information from the environment is limited by the resolution of attention – i.e., the minimum size of the region that can be selected. Neural mechanisms that underlie this limit and its development are not yet understood. Functional MRI was performed during an object tracking task in 7- and 11-year-old children, and in young adults. Object tracking activated canonical fronto-parietal attention systems and motion-sensitive area MT in children as young as 7 years. Object tracking performance improved (...) with age, together with stronger recruitment of parietal attention areas and a shift from low-level to higher-level visual areas. Increasing the required resolution of spatial attention – which was implemented by varying the distance between target and distractors in the object tracking task – led to activation increases in fronto-insular cortex, medial frontal cortex including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and supplementary motor area, superior colliculi, and thalamus. This core circuitry for attentional precision was recruited by all age groups, but ACC showed an age-related activation reduction. Our results suggest that age-related improvements in selective visual attention and in the resolution of attention are characterized by an increased use of more functionally specialized brain regions during the course of development. (shrink)

BackgroundBiobanking biospecimens and consent are common practice in paediatric research. We need to explore children and young people’s (CYP) knowledge and perspectives around the use of and consent to biobanking. This will ensure meaningful informed consent can be obtained and improve current consent procedures.MethodsWe designed a survey, in co-production with CYP, collecting demographic data, views on biobanking, and consent using three scenarios: 1) prospective consent, 2) deferred consent, and 3) reconsent and assent at age of capacity. The survey was disseminated (...) via the Young Person’s Advisory Group North England (YPAGne) and participating CYP’s secondary schools. Data were analysed using a qualitative thematic approach by three independent reviewers (including CYP) to identify common themes. Data triangulation occurred independently by a fourth reviewer.ResultsOne hundred two CYP completed the survey. Most were between 16–18 years (63.7%, N = 65) and female (66.7%, N = 68). 72.3% had no prior knowledge of biobanking (N = 73).Acceptability of prospective consent for biobanking was high (91.2%, N = 93) with common themes: ‘altruism’, ‘potential benefits outweigh individual risk’, 'frugality', and ‘(in)convenience’.Deferred consent was also deemed acceptable in the large majority (84.3%, N = 86), with common themes: ‘altruism’, ‘body integrity’ and ‘sample frugality’. 76.5% preferred to reconsent when cognitively mature enough to give assent (N = 78), even if parental consent was previously in place. 79.2% wanted to be informed if their biobanked biospecimen is reused (N = 80).ConclusionProspective and deferred consent acceptability for biobanking is high among CYP in the UK. Altruism, frugality, body integrity, and privacy are the most important themes. Clear communication and justification are paramount to obtain consent. Any CYP with capacity should be part of the consenting procedure, if possible. (shrink)