Different contexts change the impression of animacy

The aim of this research was to explore the effect of different spatiotemporal contexts on the perceptual saliency of animacy, and the extent of the relationship between animacy and other related properties such as emotions and intentionality. Paired-comparisons and ratings were used to compare the impressions of animacy elicited by a small square moving on the screen, either alone or in the context of a second square. The context element was either static or moving showing an animate-like or a physical-like trajectory, and the target object moved either toward it or away from it. The movement of the target could also include animacy cues (caterpillar-like expanding/contracting phases). To determine the effect of different contexts on the emergence of emotions and intentions, we also recorded and analysed the phenomenological reports of participants. The results show that the context significantly influences the perception of animacy, which is stronger in dynamic contexts than in static ones, and also when the target is moving away from the context element than when it is approaching it. The free reports reveal different proportions in emotional or intentional attributions in the different conditions: in particular, the "moving away" condition is related to negative emotions, while the "approaching" condition evokes positive emotions. Overall, the results suggest that animacy is a graded concept that can be articulated in more general characteristics, like simple aliveness, and more specific ones, like intentions or emotions, and that the spatiotemporal contingencies of the context play a crucial role in making them evident.     

Critique of modernity in the philosophy of Nishitani Keiji

This article analyses Nishitani Keiji’s persistent critique of modernity and how it intertwines with other issues—such as nihilism, science and religion—in his philosophy. While Nishitani gained some notoriety for his views on overcoming modernity during WWII, this article will look at his relationship with the issue more in the scope of his whole philosophical career. Pulling together various strands that weave through Nishitani’s treatment of modernity, its relation to nihilism and his views for overcoming both, we find that it motivates his themes of Heideggerian critique of technology and Nietzschean redemption of tradition that combine with a reverse-Hegelian search for an originary ground that is grasped via existential realisation revealed through religious praxis. However, Nishitani’s approach raises some problematic questions on the social level due to the way it conceptualises modernity through a Nietzschean lens that leaves little room for modernity as a social and political phenomenon.     

Visual attention shift to printed words during spoken word recognition in Chinese: The role of phonological information

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which phonological information mediates the visual attention shift to printed Chinese words in spoken word recognition by using an eye-movement technique with a printed-word paradigm. In this paradigm, participants are visually presented with four printed words on a computer screen, which include a target word, a phonological competitor, and two distractors. Participants are then required to select the target word using a computer mouse, and the eye movements are recorded. In Experiment 1, phonological information was manipulated at the full-phonological overlap; in Experiment 2, phonological information at the partial-phonological overlap was manipulated; and in Experiment 3, the phonological competitors were manipulated to share either fulloverlap or partial-overlap with targets directly. Results of the three experiments showed that the phonological competitor effects were observed at both the full-phonological overlap and partial-phonological overlap conditions. That is, phonological competitors attracted more fixations than distractors, which suggested that phonological information mediates the visual attention shift during spoken word recognition. More importantly, we found that the mediating role of phonological information varies as a function of the phonological similarity between target words and phonological competitors.     

Our Followers Are Lions,Theirs Are Sheep: How Social Identity Shapes Theories About Followership and Social Influence

Two studies examine how self‐categorization theory can be used to refine our understanding of people's implicit theories about followership and social influence. Results from Study 1 show that perceivers regard followers of a group they themselves identify strongly with (rather than not at all) to be more representative of the prototype of effective followers (displaying enthusiasm, industry, good citizenship) and to be less representative of the antiprototype of effective followers (displaying conformity, incompetence, and insubordination). Results are replicated in a second experiment in which we compare the views of those self‐categorizing as either Republican or Democrat responding to followers of the Republican and Democratic Party. Results of Study 2 replicate those of Study 1 and also reveal qualitative differences in the preferred influence strategy for dealing with followers. Specifically, respondents seek to engage in persuasion when trying to change the behavior of ingroup followers, while resorting to coercion when trying to change the behavior of outgroup followers. Our results are the first to provide evidence that perceivers' theories about what followers are like and how they are influenced most effectively are structured by perceivers' identification (and dis‐identification) with the particular groups that leaders are championing.     

On Having a Goal: Goals as Representations or Behavior

The Psychological Record - The present article discusses the concepts of having a goal and of goal-directed behavior from a behavior-analytic perspective. In clinical psychology as well as in the...     

Central load reduces peripheral processing: Evidence from incidental memory of background speech

Is there a trade‐off between central (working memory) load and peripheral (perceptual) processing? To address this question, participants were requested to undertake an n‐back task in one of two levels of central/cognitive load (i.e., 1‐back or 2‐back) in the presence of a to‐be‐ignored story presented via headphones. Participants were told to ignore the background story, but they were given a surprise memory test of what had been said in the background story, immediately after the n‐back task was completed. Memory was poorer in the high central load (2‐back) condition in comparison with the low central load (1‐back) condition. Hence, when people compensate for higher central load, by increasing attentional engagement, peripheral processing is constrained. Moreover, participants with high working memory capacity (WMC) – with a superior ability for attentional engagement – remembered less of the background story, but only in the low central load condition. Taken together, peripheral processing – as indexed by incidental memory of background speech – is constrained when task engagement is high.     

医务人员对医患共同决策辅助工具的态度研究

循证医学实践要求在临床决策中整合最佳临床研究证据、医者经验、患者自身价值取向与所处具体临床情境。使用决策辅助工具进行医患共同决策可作为一种实践模式,有必要了解来自临床一线医务人员的态度。采用多阶段分层抽样方法,于国内11省及3个直辖市共32个城市的51所二级和三级医院发放问卷,探究使用决策辅助工具促进共同决策实施的可能性。对1 212份问卷的分析显示,73.2%的医务人员认可患者是高质量临床决策的参与主体;支持患者获知诊疗决策依据、认同患者决策辅助工具的积极效果与高学历等正相关。     

诉讼实践视野下病历真实性的认定

在医疗损害纠纷诉讼实践中,经常发生由于医疗机构提供的病历存在真实性问题导致鉴定不能,最后被法院直接推定存在过错的情形。该文在诉讼实践视野下,通过分析病历出现真实性问题的原因,厘清病历瑕疵与真实性问题的区别,并建议从证据学角度进行严格审查或委托专业机构对病历真实性进行鉴定,但同时可能会增加诉讼的成本,耗费诉讼的时间,使医疗损害案件的审理更加复杂、漫长,甚至会继续激化医患矛盾。从长远看,就需要国家相关部门对医疗机构病历真实性制定统一的规范及认定标准,既做到专业、公平、合法,又能简化诉讼程序。     

干细胞研究中的多向立体思维方法

干细胞研究取得了里程碑式的进展,在临床疾病的预防和治疗中具有广阔的应用前景,这些研究成果凝聚了各国研究人员的集体智慧,多向立体思维方法得到了充分体现。