Neurophysiological bases underlying the organization of intentional actions and the understanding of others’ intention

Philosophical and neuroscientific investigation on intentional actions focused on several different aspects, making difficult to define what should be meant with the concept of intention. Most of our everyday actions are constituted by complex and finely organized motor sequences, planned and executed in order to attain a desired final goal. In this paper, we will identify the final goal of the action as the motor intention of the acting individual. First, we will review the relative contribution of the vast neuroscientific literature on the role of different cortical areas in the organization of goal-directed movement. In particular, we will describe recent data on the cortical organization of natural action sequences, showing that this organization could be at the basis not only of our capacity of acting intentionally, but also of our ability to understand the motor intentions underlying others’ behaviour which is crucial during social interactions.     

A Multivariate Analysis of the Self-Determination of Adolescents

Self-determination is a general psychological construct within the organizing structure of theories of human agentic behavior. People who are self-determined act volitionally to serve as the causal agent in their lives. To provide a fuller understanding of the self-determination of adolescents, this study collected data on self-determination, quality of life, self-efficacy, and assertiveness for more than 1,400 Italian adolescents. We conducted a series of Multivariate Analyses of Variance to examine the relationships among, differences between, and associations with self-determination, including any differences as a function of age and gender as well as differences in quality of life, self-efficacy, and assertiveness as a function of level of selfdetermination. We also examined which quality of life factors were associated with enhanced self-determination and self-efficacy. Findings support the importance of self-determination to quality of life and enhanced self-efficacy.     

Learning about non-predators and safe places: the forgotten elements of risk assessment

A fundamental prerequisite for prey to avoid being captured is the ability to distinguish dangerous stimuli such as predators and risky habitats from non-dangerous stimuli such as non-predators and safe locations. Most research to date has focused on mechanisms allowing prey to learn to recognize risky stimuli. The paradox of learned predator recognition is that its remarkable efficiency leaves room for potentially costly mistakes if prey inadvertently learn to recognize non-predatory species as dangerous. Here, we pre-exposed embryonic woodfrogs, Rana sylvatica, to the odour of a tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, without risk reinforcement, and later try to teach the tadpoles to recognize the salamander, a red-bellied newt Cynops pyrrhogaster—a closely related amphibian, or a goldfish, Carassius auratus, as a predator. Tadpoles were then tested for their responses to salamander, newt or fish odour. Pre-exposure to salamander did not affect the ability of tadpoles to learn to recognize goldfish as a predator. However, the embryonic pre-exposure to salamanders inhibited the subsequent learning of salamanders as a potential predator, through a mechanism known as latent inhibition. The embryonic pre-exposure also prevented the learned recognition of novel newts, indicating complete generalization of non-predator recognition. This pattern does not match that of generalization of predator recognition, whereby species learning to recognize a novel predator do respond, but not as strongly, to novel species closely related to the known predator. The current paper discusses the costs of making recognition mistakes within the context of generalization of predators and dangerous habitats versus generalization of non-predators and safe habitats and highlights the asymmetry in which amphibians incorporate information related to safe versus risky cues in their decision-making. Mechanisms such as latent inhibition allow a variety of prey species to collect information about non-threatening stimuli, as early as during their embryonic development, and to use this information later in life to infer the danger level associated with the stimuli.     

A brief review on the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) for language imaging studies in human newborns and adults

Upon stimulation, real time maps of cortical hemodynamic responses can be obtained by non-invasive functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) which measures changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin after positioning multiple sources and detectors over the human scalp. The current commercially available transportable fNIRS systems have a time resolution of 1-10 Hz, a depth sensitivity of about 1.5 cm, and a spatial resolution of about 1 cm. The goal of this brief review is to report infants, children and adults fNIRS language studies. Since 1998, 60 studies have been published on cortical activation in the brain’s classic language areas in children/adults as well as newborns using fNIRS instrumentations of different complexity. In addition, the basic principles of fNIRS including features, strengths, advantages, and limitations are summarized in terms that can be understood even by non specialists. Future prospects of fNIRS in the field of language processing imaging are highlighted.     

A modified mark test for own-body recognition in pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina)

Classic mirror self-recognition mark tests involve familiarizing the subject with its mirror image, surreptitiously applying a mark on the subject’s eyebrow, nose, or ear, and measuring self-directed behaviors toward the mark. For many non-human primate species, however, direct gaze at the face constitutes an aggressive and threatening signal. It is therefore possible that monkeys fail the mark test because they do not closely inspect their faces in a mirror and hence they have no expectations about their physical appearance. In the current study, we prevented two pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) from seeing their own faces in a mirror, and we adopted a modified version of the classic mark test in which monkeys were marked on the chest, a body region to which they normally have direct visual access but that in the current study was visible only via a mirror. Neither monkey tried to touch the mark on its chest, possibly due to a failure to understand the mirror as a reflective surface. To further the monkeys’ understanding of the mirror image, we trained them to reach for food using the mirror as the only source of information. After both monkeys had learned mirror-mediated reaching, we replicated the mark test. In this latter phase of the study, only one monkey scratched the red dye on the chest once. The results are consistent with other findings suggesting that monkeys are not capable of passing a mark test and imply that face and body recognition rely on the same cognitive abilities.     

Transracial adoptees bridging heritage and national cultures: Parental socialisation,ethnic identity and self‐esteem

Transracial adoptees represent a specific group of immigrants who experience unique immigration processes that bring them face‐to‐face with two cultural backgrounds: that of their heritage culture on one hand and that of their national culture on the other hand. However, there is a scarcity of studies focused on the way these processes unfold within adoptive families. This study was aimed at exploring how transracial adoptees cope with the construction of their ethnic identity. Administering a self‐report questionnaire to 127 transracial adoptees and their mothers, for a total of 254 participants, we first investigated the association between mothers' cultural socialisation (enculturation and preparation for bias strategies) and adoptees' ethnic identity (i.e. ethnic identity exploration and ethnic identity affirmation dimensions). We then investigated whether ethnic identity affects self‐esteem by testing the hypothesis that national identity moderates the relationship between ethnic identity and self‐esteem. Results revealed that mothers' enculturation (but not their preparation for bias) supported adoptees' ethnic identity exploration, which in turn was positively associated with ethnic identity affirmation. Moreover, we confirmed the moderation effect: ethnic identity affirmation enhanced the level of self‐esteem, but only for those adoptees who perceived a higher degree of national identity affirmation.     

Man-Machine interaction in natural language: Computational models of dialogue

This article presents a state-of-the-art review of studies on computational modeling of dialogue. Particular attention is given to the treatment of ill-formed input, the prevention of the hearer’s misconceptions, the inference of the speaker’s plans, the generation of language, and the recognition of dialogue focus—particularly in terms of implications for linguistics. Specifications and initial results of some recent studies carried out by the author are provided. This article is a revised version of a lecture held at the Third Scientific Meeting “Computer Processing of Linguistic Data,” Bled, 1985.