What is matched in direct matching? Intention attribution modulates motor priming

Converging evidence has shown that action observation and execution are tightly linked. The observation of an action directly activates an equivalent internal motor representation in the observer (direct matching). However, whether direct matching is primarily driven by basic perceptual features of the observed movement or is influenced by more abstract interpretative processes is an open question. A series of behavioral experiments tested whether direct matching, as measured by motor priming, can be modulated by inferred action goals and attributed intentions. Experiment 1 tested whether observing an unsuccessful attempt to execute an action is sufficient to produce a motor-priming effect. Experiment 2 tested alternative perceptual explanations for the observed findings. Experiment 3 investigated whether the attribution of intention modulates motor priming by comparing motor-priming effects during observation of intended and unintended movements. Experiment 4 tested whether participants' interpretation of the movement as triggered by an external source or the actor's intention modulates the motor-priming effect by a pure instructional manipulation. Our findings support a model in which direct matching can be top-down modulated by the observer's interpretation of the observed movement as intended or not.     

Getting Even or Getting Equal? Retributive Desires and Transitional Justice

This article examines the effect that different policy interventions of transitional justice have on the desires of the victims of human rights violations for retribution. The retributive desires assessed in this article are conceptualized as individual, collective, and abstract demands for the imposition of a commensurate degree of suffering upon the offender. We suggest a plausible way of reducing victims' retributive desires. Instead of "getting even" in relation to the suffering, victims and perpetrators may "get equal" in relation to their respective statuses, which were affected by political crimes. The article hypothesizes that the three classes of transitional justice: (1) reparation that empowers victims by financial compensation, truth telling, and social acknowledgment; (2) retribution that inflicts punishment upon perpetrators; and (3) reconciliation that renews civic relationship between victims and perpetrators through personal contact, apology, and forgiveness; each contributes to restoring equality between victims and perpetrators, and in so doing decreases the desires that victims have for retribution. In order to test our hypotheses, we conducted a survey of former political prisoners in the Czech Republic. Results from the regression analysis reveal that financial compensation, social acknowledgement, punishment, and forgiveness are likely to reduce victims' retributive desires.     

Limits of Neural Computation in Humans and Machines

Science and Engineering Ethics - Aicardi et al. (Ethical and social aspects of neurorobotics, Science and Engineering Ethics, 2020) look to neuroscience to mitigate the limitations of current...     

Object categorization by wild-ranging birds in nest defence

Animal Cognition - Despite object categorization being an important ability for the survival of wild animals, the principles behind this ability have been only scarcely studied using wild-ranging,...     

Dispositional Anxiety and Frontal‐Midline Theta: On the Modulatory Influence of Sex and Situational Threat

In their adaptive control hypothesis, Cavanagh and Shackman (2015) recently claimed that dispositional anxiety is correlated with frontal‐midline theta (FMθ) as a generic “need for control” signal of the anterior midcingulate cortex. Here, we tested this assumption, also considering potential modulatory influences of anticipatory threat and individuals’ sex. In a nonclinical sample of 168 participants (84 women), electroencephalogram was recorded while individuals performed a simple two‐choice task. Half of the participants were assigned to a threat anticipation condition (anticipation of public speaking), whereas the other half was assigned to a control condition. State anxiety was monitored across the experiment. Dispositional anxiety was assessed by self‐report scales, which were completed before individuals came to the laboratory. Target stimuli in the two‐choice task induced a transient increase in FMθ power that was subject to an interaction of dispositional anxiety, sex, and experimental group. Only in women who anticipated public speaking did we observe a substantial positive relation between dispositional anxiety and general FMθ power. Our results indicate that the link between dispositional anxiety and FMθ is not universal but rather depends on complex interactions of individuals’ sex and situational threat.     

Imagery-induced negative affect,social touch and frontal EEG power band activity

Social touch seems to modulate emotions, but its brain correlates are poorly understood. Here, we investigated if frontal power band activity in the electroencephalogram (EEG) during aversive mental imagery is modulated by social touch from one’s romantic partner and a stranger. We observed the highest theta and beta power when imaging alone, next so when being touched by a stranger, with lowest theta and beta activity during holding hands with the loved one. Delta power was higher when being alone than with a stranger or a partner, with no difference between the two. Gamma power was highest during the stranger condition and lower both when being alone and with the partner, while alpha power did not change as a function of social touch. Theta power displayed a positive correlation with electrodermal activity supporting its relation to emotional arousal. Attachment style modulated the effect of touch on the EEG as only secure but not insecure partner bonding was associated with theta power reductions. Because theta power was sensitive to the experimental perturbations, mapped onto peripheral physiological arousal and reflected partner attachment style we suggest that frontal theta power might serve as an EEG derived bio-marker for social touch in emotionally significant dyads.     

内容和形式之本质的一般问题

我曾说过,"形式"和"内容"(质料)这两个词被人们在多种涵义上使用.这些涵义须加以区分并尽量界定得更准确.     

Hurry up! The role of supervisors’ time urgency and self‐perceived status for autocratic leadership and subordinates’ well‐being

This study examines the connections among supervisors’ time urgency, their leadership behavior, and subordinate outcomes. Integrating cognitive perspectives on time urgency with contemporary thinking on the psychological experience of status, we reason that supervisors’ time‐urgent personality relates positively with their autocratic leadership behavior, and we cast supervisors’ self‐perceived status as a moderator of this linkage. Moreover, we enrich this leader‐centric perspective with a complementary, more follower‐centric view, recognizing that the consequences of supervisors’ time urgency likely extend beyond their own behavior to indirectly affect their subordinates’ well‐being at work. We tested our hypotheses using a field sample of 60 supervisors and 277 of their subordinates. Results indicate that (a) supervisors with higher time urgency are more likely to exhibit autocratic leadership behavior when they also perceive themselves as having relatively high status among subordinates, but not when perceiving lower status, and (b) supervisors’ time urgency exhibits a conditional indirect effect (via autocratic leadership) on subordinates’ work stress and time pressure experiences. Hence, this study illustrates an important boundary condition for the consequences of supervisors’ time urgency, and it demonstrates that this personality characteristic not only shapes supervisors’ leadership behavior but also affects the subordinates they are charged with leading.