Both motor prediction and conceptual congruency between preview and action-effect contribute to explicit judgment of agency

The sense of agency is the sense that one is causing an action. The inferential account of the sense of agency proposes that we experience the sense of agency when we infer that one’s own thoughts are the cause of an action. According to this account, the inference occurs when a thought appears in consciousness prior to an action, is consistent with the action, and is not accompanied by conspicuous other causes of the action. Alternatively, a predictive account of the sense of agency proposes that sensory prediction based on efferent (motor) information plays a critical role in generating the sense of agency. The present study investigated whether the sense of agency depended primarily on the conceptual congruence between preview information (i.e., to elicit a thought) and actual sensory feedback as suggested by the inferential account, or whether it depended primarily on the sensory-motor congruence between prediction and actual sensory feedback as suggested by the predictive account. The results indicated that both of these factors did contribute to the sense of agency, although sensory-motor congruence appears to have a more robust impact.     

Band-edge states in ultrasmall silicon quantum boxes: Calculations of electronic states and oscillator strengths

Band-edge states and oscillator strengths in four configurations of ultrasmall Si quantum boxes (QBs) with (100) planes saturated by H have been calculated using the extended Hückel-type non-orthogonal tight-binding method. It is found that, while the valence-band edge states are always bulk like, both bulk-like and surface-like states occur at the conduction-band (CB) edge, depending on the atom configuration of the QB studied. An analysis shows that the surface-like CB edge states are caused by an interhydride interaction between trihydride units on the hydrogenated QB surface and there is significant correlation of oscillator strength with the CB edge states.     

Action observation modulates auditory perception of the consequence of others' actions

We can easily discriminate self-produced from externally generated sensory signals. Recent studies suggest that the prediction of the sensory consequences of one’s own actions made by forward model can be used to attenuate the sensory effects of self-produced movements, thereby enabling a differentiation of the self-produced sensation from the externally generated one. The present study showed that attenuation of sensation occurred both when participants themselves performed a goal-directed action and when they observed experimenter performing the same action, although they clearly reported that the tones were produced by other during action observation and by themselves during their own action. These results suggest that sensory prediction of action modulates ongoing auditory processing irrespective of who produces the sounds and that the explicit judgment of agency does not necessarily rely on the same mechanisms on which implicit perceptual measures such as sensory attenuation rely.     

A Dialogic Vaccine to Bridge Opposing Cultural Viewpoints Based on Bakhtin’s Views on Dialogue and Estrangement

Today, we face global conflicts between opposing ideologies that may be described in terms of cultural viewpoints and value judgments. It is difficult for individuals to determine whether ideologies are right or wrong because each ideology has its own worldview and sense of justice. Psychologists have an urgent mission to defuse the likelihood of fatal clashes between opposing cultural perspectives (ideologies), and to propose paradigms for peaceful coexistence. This paper examines the series of papers (Oh, Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 51, 2017; Sakakibara, Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 51, 2017; Watanabe, Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 51, 2017) contributed to this volume that investigate the effects of high school and university educational programs promoting productive dialogue aimed at bridging, or transcending, conflicting perspectives among Japanese, Chinese, and Korean students. Here, I have evaluated the capacity of these educational programs to coordinate opposing cultural ideologies using the framework of Bakhtin’s theories of dialogue and estrangement. Bakhtin viewed discourse with others who had opposing viewpoints as an opportunity to learn to overcome the one-sidedness of ideology, which ensues from automatic value judgments made by each speaker according to their culture, and he affirmed the value of flexible attitudes toward opposing viewpoints. In this paper, I review Bakhtin’s theories relating to communication in a context of different cultural viewpoints, assess the general values of the educational practices mentioned above, and propose new concepts for applying these methods to other educational fields in the future using Bakhtin’s theoretical viewpoints.     

Conflicting pressures on romantic relationship commitment for anxiously attached individuals

Anxious attachment predicts strong desires for intimacy and stability in romantic relationships, yet the relation between anxious attachment and romantic commitment is unclear. We propose that extant literature has failed to find a consistent relation because anxiously attached individuals experience conflicting pressures on commitment. Data from Australia (N=137) show that relationship satisfaction and felt security each act as suppressors of a positive relation between anxious attachment and commitment. Data from Japan (N=159) replicate the suppression effect of felt security and also demonstrate that the residual positive relation between anxious attachment and commitment can be partly explained by dependence on the partner. These findings suggest that anxiously attached individuals may be ambivalent about commitment. Dissatisfaction and worries about negative evaluation appear to exert downward pressure on commitment, counteracting the upward pressure that is exerted by factors such as relational dependency.     

Does Conventional Implicit Association Test of Shyness Measure “Self‐Shyness” or “Others‐Shyness”?

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures implicit associations between attitude targets and attributes. Its structure and procedure facilitate investigation of the strength of associations between one target and attributes relative to that between the other target and the same attributes when two targets are contradictory (e.g., black/white and comfortable/uncomfortable). This structure can cause conceptual complexity about what the IAT measures, particularly when a counter category is not needed. Thus, using the Single‐Target Implicit Association Test (ST‐IAT), which allowed only one target category for pairing with attributes, this paper delineated the association measured in the conventional IAT for shyness: “self‐shy” or “others‐shy.” Seventy‐seven Japanese university students completed the self‐report shyness scale, the conventional IAT, and two ST‐IATs (i.e., self/others as target). Results showed that implicit shyness produced in the conventional IAT significantly and positively correlated with that in the self‐targeted ST‐IAT. Moreover, implicit shyness in the conventional IAT was significantly accounted for by those produced by the ST‐IAT with self as target and those calculated in the ST‐IAT with others as target in opposite directions.     

Offender and crime characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan

This study of Japanese female serial arsonists examined their crimes and background characteristics. The data were a sample from the national police register containing arson cases resulting in charges in Japan between 1982 and 2005. Serial arsonists were 6% of the arson offenders and 12% of these were female, resulting in 83 female serial arsonist data sets. The mean age was 37.6 years and 43% were unemployed. Nearly half were married. Only 28% had a documented history of mental problems and 22% had a prior arrest, usually for theft (19%). Female serial arsonists are characterised by going to a place near their home with a lighter and setting fire directly to combustible materials. Non‐metric multidimensional scaling was used to analyse 33 variables related to the offences. The arsons could be differentiated in terms of either expressive or instrumental sources of action. Expressive arsons were opportunistic and impulsive acts, motivated by emotional distress. The fires were mostly set close to home. Expressive arsons were characteristic of 66% of the females. Instrumental arsons were often motivated by revenge and involved planned and goal‐directed behaviours. They were committed by 13% of the females. Instrumental arsonists tended to travel further from home. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of gamma band oscillations and synchrony on rubber hand illusion and crossmodal integration

The rubber hand illusion represents an illusory experience during the mislocalization of own hand when correlated visuotactile stimuli are presented to the actual and fake hands. The visuotactile integration process appears to cause this illusion; the corresponding brain activity was revealed in many studies. In this study, we investigated the effect of the rubber hand illusion on the crossmodal integration process by measuring EEG. The participants who experienced less intensive illusion showed greater congruency effect on reaction time (RT), greater power increase at the parietal zero electrode (Pz) and smaller interelectrode synchrony of the gamma band activity. On the other hand, the participants who experienced more intense illusion showed greater interelectrode synchrony. The results suggested that the gamma band activity in the parietal area reflects the visuotactile integration process and that its synchrony causes the illusory intensity.     

Development of the Brief Personal Values Inventory for Sense of Values

The Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) is a widely used questionnaire for assessing sense of values; however, it is difficult to apply for children and adolescents. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a questionnaire for sense of values, called the Brief Personal Values Inventory (BPVI), consisting of simple questions and fewer items compared to the PVQ. We first created 12 items for the BPVI and then tested criterion-related validity with values in the PVQ-57 in 167 Japanese general population participants (81 males, mean age [SD], range: 23.4 [8.2], 15–57 years). Each of these items was correlated with one or more of the values in the PVQ-57 and covered all higher-order values in Schwartz's theory (openness to change, self-enhancement, conservation, and self-transcendence). In summary, the BPVI adequately corresponded with Schwartz's value theory, indicating an acceptable criterion-related validity. This questionnaire is applicable to a wide population, including adolescents, and will be a useful tool for researchers to elucidate the developmental pathway of personal sense of values.