Previous studies using the dot-perspective task postulated that people automatically take into account others' perspective even when it prevents them from achieving their own goals. This human ability may be of key importance for the ascription of mental states and social interactions. The cognitive and emotional determinants of automatic perspective taking is still matter of debate. To address this issue, we examined the performance in the Samson et al. APT task in 91 healthy adults who (...) underwent a detailed neuropsychological testing including assessment of their general intelligence, attention and impulsivity, alexithymia, and measures of affective empathy and explicit theory of mind. Univariate and multiple linear regression models were used to explore the association between mean reaction times in the APT task, and the CPT-II parameters, WAIS global score, TAS, and GeSoCS and mini-SEA scores. Only the CPT-II parameters were significantly associated with the mean reaction times. Increased omissions, commissions, and detectability as well as hit reaction time standard error in CPT-II were all related to worse performances both in Self and Other conditions. The mean number of errors was negatively associated with the GeSoCS score. Among the variables studied, only CPT-II parameters had a significant impact on egocentric and altercentric interference. Neither global intelligence nor alexithymia have an effect on dot-perspective task performance. The present findings suggest that people with lower attentional resources and increased impulsivity display worse performances in the APT task and are less responsive to both egocentric and altercentric interference. (shrink)

In recent years, there has been a heated debate about how to interpret findings that seem to show that humans rapidly and automatically calculate the visual perspectives of others. In the current study, we investigated the question of whether automatic interference effects found in the dot-perspective task (Samson, Apperly, Braithwaite, Andrews, & Bodley Scott, 2010) are the product of domain-specific perspective-taking processes or of domain-general “submentalizing” processes (Heyes, 2014). Previous attempts to address this question have done so (...) by implementing inanimate controls, such as arrows, as stimuli. The rationale for this is that submentalizing processes that respond to directionality should be engaged by such stimuli, whereas domain-specific perspective-taking mechanisms, if they exist, should not. These previous attempts have been limited, however, by the implied intentionality of the stimuli they have used (e.g. arrows), which may have invited participants to imbue them with perspectival agency. Drawing inspiration from “novel entity” paradigms from infant gaze-following research, we designed a version of the dot-perspective task that allowed us to precisely control whether a central stimulus was viewed as animate or inanimate. Across four experiments, we found no evidence that automatic “perspective-taking” effects in the dot-perspective task are modulated by beliefs about the animacy of the central stimulus. Our results also suggest that these effects may be due to the task-switching elements of the dot-perspective paradigm, rather than automatic directional orienting. Together, these results indicate that neither the perspective-taking nor the standard submentalizing interpretations of the dot-perspective task are fully correct. (shrink)

IntroductionOne in three adolescents frequently consume unhealthy snacks, which is associated with negative developmental outcomes. To date, it remains unclear how intrapersonal factors account for food choices in adolescents. Guided by the dual-pathway model, the current study aimed to: (1) examine the joint contribution of inhibitory control and attentional bias in predicting unhealthy food choices in adolescents, and (2) determine whether this mechanism is more pronounced in adolescents who experience loss of control over eating (LOC).Materials and MethodsA community sample of (...) 80 adolescents (65% female; 10–17 years old,Mage= 13.28,SD= 1.94) was recruited. Based on a self-report questionnaire, 28.7% of this sample reported at least one episode of LOC over the past month. Food choice was assessed using a computerized food choice task. Both inhibitory control and attentional bias were measured with behavioral tasks (go/no-go and dot probe task, respectively). Binary logistic regressions were conducted to address the research questions.ResultsInhibitory control and attentional bias did not significantly interact to predict unhealthy food choices. However, there was a significant three-way interaction between inhibitory control, attentional bias and LOC. For adolescents without LOC, the combination of poor inhibitory control and low attentional bias was significantly associated with unhealthy food choice. Surprisingly, for adolescents with LOC, there was no significant association between unhealthy food choice and inhibitory control or attentional bias.DiscussionDual-pathway processes do not seem to add to the explanation of food choice behavior for adolescents with LOC. For adolescents who do not experience LOC, those with poor inhibitory control combined with low attentional bias might be at particular risk for making unhealthy food choices. (shrink)

Several versions of the dot probe detection task are frequently used to assess maladaptive attentional processes associated with a broad range of psychopathology and health behavior, including eating behavior and weight. However, there are serious concerns about the reliability of the indices derived from the paradigm as measurement of attentional bias toward or away from salient stimuli. The present paper gives an overview of different attentional bias indices used in psychopathology research and scrutinizes three types of indices calculated from (...) a pictorial version of the dot probe task to assess food-related attentional biases in children and youngsters with and without obesity. Correlational analyses reveal that dynamic scores are dependent on general response speed. Reliability estimates are low for the traditional and probability indices. The higher reliability for the dynamic indices is at least partially explained by general response speed. No significant group differences between youth with and without obesity are found, and correlations with weight are also non-significant. Taken together, results cast doubt on the applicability of this specific task for both experimental and individual differences research on food-related attentional biases in youth. However, researchers are encouraged to make and test adaptations to the procedure or computational algorithm in an effort to increase psychometric quality of the task and to report psychometric characteristics of their version of the task for their specific sample. (shrink)

Research on automatic attention to emotional faces offers mixed results. Therefore we examined validity effects for facial expressions of different emotions with a dot-probe paradigm in seven studies. Systematic variations of type of emotion, CTI, task, cue size, and masking allow for a differentiated assessment of attentional capture by emotions and possible moderating factors. Results indicate a general absence of emotional validity effects as well as a lack of significant interactions with either of the manipulated factors, indicating that facial (...) expressions of emotions do not capture attention in a fully automatic fashion. These findings suggest that situational and contextual factors have to be taken into account when investigating attentional capture of emotional faces. (shrink)

The logical intuition hypothesis proposes a difference in the strength between logical and heuristic intuitions. The labels of logical and heuristic intuitions are exclusive to conventional reasoning research. This paper reports the result of testing intuition strength using the dot-probe methodology in a novel multiplication paradigm. Here, “logical intuition” and “heuristic intuition” were relabeled as “weaker intuition” (-1 × 5 = 5) and “stronger intuition” (1 × 5 = 5), respectively, to assess the assumptions about the difference in the strength (...) of “Chinese multiplication mnemonics” intuitions. The dot-probe paradigm was utilized in the following experiments to measure attentional bias. This was assessed by calculating the difference in reaction time between incongruent (the target location is opposite to the probe location) and congruent (the target location is the same as the probe location) conditions. Experiment 1 found attentional bias directed attention to the correct answer for both weaker and stronger intuitions. Experiment 2 replicated and extended Experiment 1 with a secondary task to manipulate high and low cognitive loads. Consequently, stronger intuitions were unaffected by cognitive load and participants were biased toward the correct answer, whereas attentional bias for weaker intuitions only occurred in low load conditions. These results revealed that although both intuitions can guide attention, stronger intuition may guide attention bias in a high-load situation due to its robust automation. Our findings extend the logical intuition hypothesis that proposes a difference in the automated strengths of intuitions to mathematical and analytic thinking. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, (semi-)autonomous ve- hicles, autoregulatory weapon systems, enhancement, reproductive technologies and human- oid robotics – these technologies (and many others) are no longer speculative visions of the future; they have already found their way into our lives or are on the verge of a breakthrough. These rapid technological developments awaken a need for orientation: what distinguishes hu- man from machine and human intelligence from artificial intelligence, how far should the body be allowed to (...) be changed and what are the dangers and opportunities presented by these technologies? Many of these questions are also addressed to theology. For example, questions about the image of humanity, the understanding of creation, the ethics of technological body interventions or the moral status of robots. What does theology have to say about these technological developments? It is the right time for theology to scientifically explore tech- nologization and AI and to formulate answers. As technology changes the various areas of human life, society and the world around us, the places and topics of theology are also undergoing transformation. Puzio, Anna: Theology Meets AI: Examining Perspectives, Tasks, and Theses on the Intersection of Technology and Religion. In: Puzio, Anna/Kunkel, Nicole/Klinge, Hendrik (Hg.): Alexa, How Do You Feel About Religion? Theological Approaches to Technology and Artificial Intelligence (Theology and AI 1). Darmstadt: wbg 2023, S. 29–41. DOI: 10.53186/1030373. (shrink)

Two recent articles [Gronchi et al., Citation2018. Automatic and controlled attentional orienting in the elderly: A dual-process view of the positivity effect. Acta Psychologica, 185, 229–234; Wirth & Wentura, Citation2020. It occurs after all: Attentional bias towards happy faces in the dot-probe task. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 82(5), 2463–2481] report attentional biases for happy facial expressions in the dot-probe paradigm, albeit in different directions. While Wirth and Wentura report a bias towards happy expressions, Gronchi et al. found a reversed (...) effect. A striking difference between the studies was the task performed by the participants. While in Wirth and Wentura, participants performed a discrimination task, they performed a location task in Gronchi et al. In Experiment 1, we directly compared the two versions of the dot-probe paradigm. With the discrimination task, the bias towards happy faces was replicated. However, the location task yielded a null effect. In Experiment 2, we found a cueing effect with an abrupt onset cue in both tasks. However, for the location task a congruence-sequence effect (a typical characteristic of response-priming processes) occurred. This result suggests that in the location task, attentional processes are confounded with response-priming processes. We recommend to generally use discrimination tasks. (shrink)

Are utopian visions viable in the 21st century? Utopia has been equated, for many, with totalitarianism. Such visions are not acceptable. The loss of utopian visions altogether is also unacceptable. This book argues that American Pragmatism and Feminist theory can combine to provide a process model of utopia that pushes to build a flexible future that helps us deal with change, conflict, and diversity without resorting to fixed ends.

A tension exists between those who do—e.g. Meyer (The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 71:959–985, 2020 ) and Chemero ( 2011 )—and those who do not—e.g. Kaplan and Craver (Philosophy of Science 78:601–627, 2011 ) Piccinini and Craver (Synthese 183:283–311, 2011 )—afford nonmechanistic explanations a role in cognitive science. Here, I argue that one’s perspective on this matter will cohere with one’s interpretation of the tasks of cognitive science; that is, of the actions for which cognitive scientists (...) are specially fitted. To make this point concrete, I consider two tasks of cognitive science—establishing causal claims and unifying—and show how these tasks are interpreted differently by mechanists and nonmechanists respectively. I then argue that, as a result of these different interpretations, we cannot expect to resolve the tension between mechanists and nonmechanists by appeal to cognitive scientific practice. I conclude that we should give up on the debate between mechanists and nonmechanists, and search for progress elsewhere. (shrink)

The present study investigated children’s understanding development of multiple graphics, here paired conventions commonly used in primary school textbooks. Paired graphics depicting everyday objects familiar to the children were used as the basis for an analogy task that tested their comprehension of five graphics conventions. This task required participants to compare pictures in a base pair in order to complete a target pair by choosing the correct picture from five alternative possibilities. Four groups of children aged 5, 6, (...) 8 and 10 years old respectively (total N = 105), completed 45 analogy task items built around nine conceptual domains. Results showed mainly an overall increase of comprehension performance with age for all the tested conventions. There were also differences between the five conventions and an interaction between age and convention type. Further, children's explanation of the conventions (justification of the choices in the analogy task) were also analyzed. This investigation showed the analogy task answers were a more reliable measure of the "actual" level of understanding of the conventions than the justification themselves. The findings show that younger students tried to actively compare the pictures of the pairs and to search for a relevant meaning of the pairs, however, the youngest children have a limited capacity to interpret paired graphic conventions and our results suggests that this aspect of graphic conventions develops slowly but effectively over the course of children’s schooling. Because "graphicacy" knowledge and skills are not typically taught in primary school classrooms (in contrast with literacy and numeracy), its development is likely acquired incidentally with increasing exposure to varied paired graphics during primary school education. Given the high reliance of today’s educational resources on graphics-based explanations, the results from this study may signal a need for (i) for more attention to learning graphics conventions (and more generally to graphics explanations) from teachers in primary school and (ii) for a better design of the graphics with their contextual accompanying texts and captions, from designers. (shrink)

It is quite impossible to consider human nature within an evolutionary perspective if we leapfrog over culture and establish some direct relation between cosmic and human evolution without taking culture into consideration. Culture holds a significant place within the structures of nature, as the “epic” of evolution portrays nature—cosmic, physical, and biological. Religion emerges within culture, and it plays a role in organizing the human consciousness and in generating the stories, rituals, and morality that constitute the organization of consciousness. (...) Since organization of consciousness determines how culture is conducted, and since we face a global crisis today because of the ways we are conducting our culture, religion's role is critical for the future of culture. Wherever it is attempted, whether in terms of traditional or posttraditional modes, the fashioning of adequate worldviews, rituals, and morality is an essentially religious activity. For both traditional and posttraditional modes, the task is to weave structures of meaning with the sciences of evolution so as to effect the most suitable organization of consciousness. (shrink)

In the course of history, the doctrine of just war has proven to be susceptible to political misuse. Furthermore, it features a number of conceptual deficiencies. In the leading perspective of ‘just peace’, peace ethics primarily emphasises the task of violence prevention, for which the realisation and protection of human rights gain central importance. Even the traditional term ‘common good’ can be reformulated in this context. The concept of ‘just peace’ critically confronts the discussion on the legitimacy of (...) pre-emptive wars. With regard to ‘humanitarian interventions’, it calls for a sophisticated catalogue of criteria that helps to define the presuppositions under which such interventions can be deemed legitimate. (shrink)

We investigated the impact of frequency of interruptions in a simulated medical visual search task. Participants performed the visual search task during which they were interrupted by a number-classification task in 25, 50, or 75% of all trials, respectively, reflecting the frequency conditions. Target presence and interruption were varied within-subjects, and interruption frequency was varied between-subjects. Globally, on a frequency condition level, participants in the low frequency condition had longer mean response times for the primary visual search (...) task than in the high condition, but there were no other performance differences between the three frequency conditions. Locally, on the level of specific interruption effects, accuracy decreased directly after interruptions for target present but not for target absent trials. Furthermore, interruptions caused significant interruption costs, reflected in slower overall RTs in interrupted than in uninterrupted trials. The combined findings show that especially for critical visual search tasks as in the medical field, interruptions—regardless of frequency—should be avoided. (shrink)

In February 2012, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission released an interim report that detailed its findings based on extensive testimony by former students of the nation's residential school system, a system designed to forcibly assimilate aboriginal peoples. The report concludes that the state must play an active role in the restoration of indigenous culture and knowledge. It is against this background that Christopher Martin analyzes the idea of aboriginal educational rights. The concern here is not so much with aboriginal persons' (...) right to a fair share of educational provision, but with the aboriginal person's right to reassert authority over his or her developmental interests, including an interest in culture and identity. The specific role of educational rights in such debates remains an important one, especially since such discussions impinge on difficult issues of state sovereignty and cultural rights. In this essay Martin examines various justifications of aboriginal educational rights and develops a Habermasian justification that remains consistent with individual rights. (shrink)

Whether team task conflict is beneficial or harmful to team innovation has long been controversial, and empirical studies on the team task conflict–team innovation relationship were inconsistent. Drawing on the contingency model of team innovation, the current study examined how team task conflict interacts with two types of team supportive climates, namely team support for innovation (TSFI) and team psychological safety (TPS), in predicting team innovation via team information elaboration. We tested our hypotheses using multi-source and lagged (...) data collected from 361 employees working in 98 research and development teams. As expected, team information elaboration mediated the interaction effects between team task conflict and team supportive climates on team innovation. In particular, team task conflict had a positive indirect effect on team innovation via team information elaboration when TSFI or TPS was high. However, such indirect effect was negative when TSFI was low and was not significant when TPS was low. Residualized relative weight analysis comparing the moderation effects further suggests that TFSI and TPS are equally important team climates in activating the beneficial effect of team task conflict. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

“What must we do to prevent a nuclear omnicide?” I want to answer this question from a Kantian perspective. For Kant a state of peace is not only the denial of a state of war but also a state of justice, in which right rules might. Kant’s concept of peace is normative. According to him, practical reason commands us to leave the state of nature, which is a state of war, and establish a state of peace, inasmuch as this (...) is a necessary condition for a state of justice. For Kant justice is an a priori concept “entirely derivable from the concept of freedom in the mutual relationships of human beings.” Accordingly, the pursuit of peace is a political duty dictated by practical reason, and the task of realizing peace is a moral task incumbent upon everyone engaged in the conduct of government. This paper has three parts. In the first two parts, we will explore Kant’s perspective of peace, focusing on his concept of peace and his view of the task of peace. In the third and concluding part, using Kant’s perspective as our vantage point, we will reflect upon the prevailing mode of peace-thinking in our time and then address our question: “What must we do to prevent a nuclear omnicide?”. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence is a cutting-edge technology that has been widely applied in tourism operations. To enhance tourists' experience, many tourism suppliers introduced AI devices to interact with tourists. Previous studies classified AI devices as task- and social- oriented based on their functions; however, current models that explain customers' intention to use AI devices did not reflect the discrepancy between the two different types. Therefore, this paper attempts to fill this gap by proposing a theoretical model for the use of (...) task-oriented AI devices. Based on the multi-stage appraisal framework and the Structural Equation Modeling analysis, this paper presents the following findings: utilitarian motivation, interaction convenience, and task-technology fit are the factors appraised in the first stage; perceived competence and flow experience are the factors appraised in the second stage; utilitarian motivation, interaction convenience, and task-technology fit are positively associated with perceived competence. Perceived competence positively influences flow experience, which further affects customers' switching intention from task-oriented AI devices to human service; the serial mediating effect of perceived competence and flow experience between the stimulus mentioned in the first appraisal stage and the switching intention is confirmed. This study reveals the underlying psychological mechanism when customers use task-oriented AI devices, and it provides a theoretical framework for task-oriented AI device adoption. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Global Healing and Reconciliation:The Gift and Task of Religion, a Buddhist-Christian PerspectivePeter C. Phan"No peace among nations without peace among the religions. No peace among the religions without dialogue between the religions. No dialogue between the religions without investigation of the foundation of the religions." Hans Küng's oft-quoted dictum proves even more apposite in the current international situation. Whether or not the September 11, 2001, tragedy and its (...) aftermath can be accounted for in religious terms, there has been a widespread perception that they were part of the conflict between Islam and the West and that this "clash of civilizations" has deep roots in different religious worldviews.Hindsight now shows us that "smart bombs" and armies do not and cannot resolve political problems in Afghanistan and Iraq or spread democracy in the world no matter how one judges the morality of these wars. The question then arises whether there are other ways and means to achieve world peace and reconciliation, to bring about healing among nations, and whether religions can be counted among these. More specifically, if religions can be harnessed to this task, which elements of the "foundation of the religions"—to use Hans Küng's words—need to be investigated in the dialogue among religions in order to bring about reconciliation among religions that in turns leads to reconciliation among nations?This essay explores how Buddhists and Christians can together serve the cause of peace and reconciliation among nations. I will first reflect on the nature, strategies, and spirituality of reconciliation. Next, I consider how the Buddha's and Jesus' teachings on justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation can contribute to global healing. To show the transformative power of these teachings, I conclude with some reflections on how the followers of the Buddha and Jesus can work together for world peace and global healing.Global Healing and Reconciliation: Strategies and SpiritualityAt first sight it seems preposterous and hypocritical to speak of global healing and reconciliation as the gift and task of religion. A brief glance at the history of global [End Page 89] warfare will persuade us of the sad fact that, in the words of Charles Kimball, "more wars have been waged, more people killed, and these days more evil perpetrated in the name of religion than by any other institutional force in human history."1 One is reminded of Jesus' injunction that we must first take the log out of our own eyes before attempting to take the speck out of our neighbor's (Matthew 7:5). Yet, religion is arguably the most powerful and effective institutional force for peace and reconciliation. To see how religion can bring this gift of peace to the world and achieve this task of global healing, a brief consideration of the nature and process of reconciliation is helpful.Etymologically, reconciliation means to cause two estranged persons or groups to meet each other again (re-, again + concilium, meeting). By extension, it means to resolve a dispute and to re-establish friendship and harmony, or, at a minimum, peaceful coexistence between opposed individuals or groups.2Reconciliation is both a process and a state of affairs. As process, it sets into motion a complex of agencies and strategies that cannot be used as a universally applicable recipe but requires appropriate tailoring to diverse contexts.3 The process includes certain intermediate stages as conditions of possibility for achieving the desired result. As a personal and sociopolitical state of affairs, reconciliation is an ever-fragile and elusive reality. Ultimately, because of human propensities toward violence and domination, total reconciliation and perfect peace is not achievable by human efforts but is hoped and prayed for as an eschatological gift bestowed by God or as a transcendent blessing beyond this world. This fact does not of course diminish our responsibility to bring about global healing by means of all the resources available, religious and otherwise.What Reconciliation Is NotIn our work for reconciliation it is essential to ascertain what it is not. In a helpful study on reconciliation Catholic theologian Robert Schreiter distinguishes three concepts that are allied to reconciliation but can distort its true sense. The first... (shrink)

This article adopts the combined perspectives of critical discourse studies and (critical) intersectionality studies to examine efforts at movement-building by Pink Dot SG, an LGBTQ group, which has developed within the illiberal geopolitical space of Singapore. The term ‘intersectionalisation’ is introduced to refer to a reflexive meta-discursive strategy which mobilizes the intersectionality of social identities (such as gender, sexuality, race, class, generation, and nationality) to advance particular sociopolitical objectives. The article illustrates three ways intersectionalisation operates in Pink Dot’s official videos: (...) (i) to create solidarities within the LGBTQ community; (ii) to advocate for the LGBTQ community by straight allies, and (iii) to forge alliances dialogically between queer and straight communities in Singapore. The analysis of the videos shows that interactions between various assemblages of intersectional identities of privilege and marginality are brought to the fore in building the social movement, and how its discourse navigates a terrain of complicated power dynamics. (shrink)

In biology proteins are uniquely important. They are not to be classed with polysaccharides, for example, which by comparison play a very minor role. Their nearest rivals are the nucleic acids....The main function of proteins is to act as enzymes....In the protein molecule Nature has devised a unique instrument in which an underlying simplicity is used to express great subtlety and versatility; it is impossible to see molecular biology in proper perspective until this peculiar combination of virtues has been (...) clearly grasped. (shrink)

Peano was one of the driving forces behind the development of the current mathematical formalism. In this paper, we study his particular approach to notational design and present some original features of his notations. To explain the motivations underlying Peano's approach, we first present his view of logic as a method of analysis and his desire for a rigorous and concise symbolism to represent mathematical ideas. On the basis of both his practice and his explicit reflections on notations, we discuss (...) the principles that guided Peano's introduction of new symbols, the choice of characters, and the layout of formulas. Finally, we take a closer look, from a systematic and historical perspective, at one of Peano's most striking innovations, his use of dots for the grouping of subformulas. (shrink)