Regulatory focus and the Michelangelo Phenomenon: How close partners promote one another's ideal selves

This work examines the consequences of regulatory focus in the context of the Michelangelo phenomenon, a process whereby interaction partners shape one another's goal pursuits. We advanced predictions regarding the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of target and partner promotion orientation using the concepts of target-goal congruence, partner-goal congruence, and interpersonal match. We used data from four complementary measurement methods—self-report questionnaires, daily diary records, partners' ratings of ideal-relevant interaction behaviors, and coders' ratings of interaction behaviors—and using both target- and partner-reports of model criteria. Consistent with predictions, (a) target promotion orientation is associated with the elicitation of partner affirmation, (b) partner promotion orientation is associated with the display of partner affirmation, and (c) partner affirmation partially mediates the associations of target and partner promotion orientation with target movement toward the ideal self. We also examine the motivational, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms that account for these associations.     

A Contraction-free and Cut-free Sequent Calculus for Propositional Dynamic Logic

In this paper we present a sequent calculus for propositional dynamic logic built using an enriched version of the tree-hypersequent method and including an infinitary rule for the iteration operator. We prove that this sequent calculus is theoremwise equivalent to the corresponding Hilbert-style system, and that it is contraction-free and cut-free. All results are proved in a purely syntactic way.     

Speed of processing explains the picture–word asymmetry in conditional naming

In this study, we investigated picture (Experiments 1 and 2) and word (Experiments 3 and 4) processing using different tasks. In Experiments 1 and 3, easy and difficult conditional naming tasks were compared to a free naming task. In Experiments 2 and 4, easy and difficult conditional naming tasks were compared to easy and difficult manual forced-choice semantic decision tasks. For pictures, we showed that a difficult semantic categorization determined a cost for the conditional naming with respect to the free naming (Experiment 1). Also, we found that the difference in RTs between the easy and difficult conditional naming tasks was much smaller than the difference between the easy and difficult forced-choice semantic decision tasks (Experiment 2). For words, results showed that free reading was faster than easy conditional reading, which in turn was faster than difficult conditional reading (Experiment 3). An analogous pattern of results was obtained when the easy and difficult conditional reading tasks were compared to the easy and difficult forced-choice semantic decision tasks (Experiment 4). Globally, the results showed that whether a cost is observed or not depends upon the relative timing of the classification and name retrieval processes. A theoretical framework has been proposed.     

Social signals: a framework in terms of goals and beliefs

The paper defines the notion of social signal, in terms of a cognitive model of mind and social interaction, as a communicative or informative signal or a cue that directly or indirectly provides information about "social facts": social interactions, social emotions, social attitudes, evaluations and stances, social relations, and social identities. This notion is compared with other connected notions in Semiotics, Ethology, and Psychology, several types of informative and communicative signals and cues are exemplified, and their process of production and interpretation is overviewed, while considering the role of context and previous knowledge in it. The implications of this model are outlined for the construction of systems for the analysis of social signals and their simulation in Virtual Agents.     

Penguins perceive variations of source- and filter-related vocal parameters of species-specific vocalisations

Animal Cognition - Animal vocalisations encode a wide range of biological information about the age, sex, body size, and social status of the emitter. Moreover, vocalisations play a significant...     

Remarriage Beliefs as Predictors of Marital Quality and Positive Interaction in Stepcouples: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

Using an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model, we examined remarriage beliefs as predictors of marital quality and positive interaction in a sample of 179 stepcouples. Three beliefs were measured using subscales from the Remarriage Belief Inventory (RMBI) including success is slim, children are the priority, and finances should be pooled. Several significant actor and partner effects were found for both wives' and husbands' beliefs. Wives' marital quality was positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Wives' reports of their own and spouses' positive interaction were both positively associated with their beliefs that finances should be pooled. Their reports of spouses' positive interaction were also negatively associated with husbands' beliefs that success is slim. Husbands' marital quality was positively associated with wives' beliefs that children are the priority, positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled, and negatively with success is slim. Positive interaction for husbands was positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Finally, husbands' reports of positive interaction for their spouses were positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled. Implications for future research utilizing dyadic data analysis with stepcouples are addressed.     

Hey Little Sister,Who's the Only One? Modulating Informativeness in the Resolution of Privative Ambiguity

We present two eye‐tracking experiments on the interpretation of sentences like “The tall girl is (not) the only one that …,” which are ambiguous between the anaphoric (the only girl that …) and the exophoric interpretation (the only individual that …). These interpretations differ in informativeness: in a positive context, the exophoric (strong) reading entails the anaphoric (weak), while in a negative context the entailment pattern is reversed and the anaphoric reading is the strongest one. We tested whether adults rely on considerations about informativeness in solving the ambiguity. The results show that participants interpreted one exophorically in both positive and negative contexts. Given these findings, we cast doubts on the idea that Informativeness plays a role in ambiguity resolution and proposes a Principle of Maximal Exploitation: When a context is provided, adults extend their domain of evaluation to include the whole scenario, independently from truth‐conditional considerations about informativity and strength.     

Visual cues of motion that trigger animacy perception at birth: the case of self‐propulsion

Self‐propelled motion is a powerful cue that conveys information that an object is animate. In this case, animate refers to an entity's capacity to initiate motion without an applied external force. Sensitivity to this motion cue is present in infants that are a few months old, but whether this sensitivity is experience‐dependent or is already present at birth is unknown. Here, we tested newborns to examine whether predispositions to process self‐produced motion cues underlying animacy perception were present soon after birth. We systematically manipulated the onset of motion by self‐propulsion (Experiment 1) and the change in trajectory direction in the presence or absence of direct contact with an external object (Experiments 2 and 3) to investigate how these motion cues determine preference in newborns. Overall, data demonstrated that, at least at birth, the self‐propelled onset of motion is a crucial visual cue that allowed newborns to differentiate between self‐ and non‐self‐propelled objects (Experiment 1) because when this cue was removed, newborns did not manifest any visual preference (Experiment 2), even if they were able to discriminate between the stimuli (Experiment 3). To our knowledge, this is the first study aimed at identifying sensitivity in human newborns to the most basic and rudimentary motion cues that reliably trigger perceptions of animacy in adults. Our findings are compatible with the hypothesis of the existence of inborn predispositions to visual cues of motion that trigger animacy perception in adults.     

Intellectual and cognitive profiles in patients affected by schizophrenia

Intellectual abilities display high heterogeneity in patients with schizophrenia that might depend on the interaction among neurodevelopmental processes, environmental factors and neurocognitive decline. This study aimed to disentangle the interplay between intellectual level, cognitive status and each cognitive domain, with a focus on speed-related abilities, also including pre-morbid factors. In details, by means of cluster analysis, we identified both in global sample of 452 patients affected by schizophrenia and in a subsample with high pre-morbid functioning, different profiles based on current intellectual level and global cognitive status, analysing the distribution of deficits in each cognitive domains between groups. Then, through regression models, we analysed the contribution of speed-related domains and global cognitive profile to each other cognitive function. Considering the whole sample, results highlight three groups (high, medium and low cognitive level), while among patients with high pre-morbid level, the heterogeneity was best captured by two groups (high and medium level). Still, within each group, a small to high percentage of patients achieved normal score in neurocognitive abilities depending on the cluster they belong to. Speed of processing and psychomotor coordination resulted impaired in all clusters, even in patients with high pre-morbid functioning. The regression analyses revealed significant effects of both cognitive profile and speed-dependent domains on the other cognitive abilities. This study confirms, in a large sample, previous data about the heterogeneity of intellectual and neurocognitive functioning in schizophrenia and highlights the main role of speed-dependent neurocognitive functioning, also as an important target of rehabilitation.