The Influence of Shared Visual Context on the Successful Emergence of Conventions in a Referential Communication Task

Human communication is thoroughly context bound. We present two experiments investigating the importance of the shared context, that is, the amount of knowledge two interlocutors have in common, for the successful emergence and use of novel conventions. Using a referential communication task where black‐and‐white pictorial symbols are used to convey colors, pairs of participants build shared conventions peculiar to their dyad without experimenter feedback, relying purely on ostensive‐inferential communication. Both experiments demonstrate that access to the visual context promotes more successful communication. Importantly, success improves cumulatively, supporting the view that pairs establish conventional ways of using the symbols to communicate. Furthermore, Experiment 2 suggests that dyads with access to the visual context successfully adapt the conventions built for one color space to another color space, unlike dyads lacking it. In linking experimental pragmatics with language evolution, the study illustrates the benefits of exploring the emergence of linguistic conventions using an ostensive‐inferential model of communication.     

Making Sense of Sorai: How to Deal with the Contradictions in Ogyū Sorai's Political Theory

To understand the political theory—and especially its alleged modernity—of Ogyū Sorai, one of the most important philosophers of Tokugawa Japan, we need to understand the pivotal role that heaven, gods and spirits play in this theory. This is no easy task. This article will start with an analysis of the reasons of this difficulty: the numerous tensions and contradictions found in Sorai's remarks on the subject. Refusing to ignore one side of the story, refusing also to reach too quickly a verdict of inconsistency, it also questions the rare attempt at a unified interpretation undertaken by Maruyama Masao. The article suggests that the solution is to understand that Sorai needs to speak from two different perspectives on the Way: the external perspective of the sages who grasp the relationships between the Way and the natural world as purveyor of the raw materials the Way is made of, and the internal perspective of commoners who must accept everything that is in a Way. This permits us to rescue the positivist interpretation of Sorai advanced by Maruyama and much criticized in recent years.     

The effect of a non-informative cueing signal in a three-choice reaction-time task

Summary Many studies have shown that in a simple reaction-time (RT) task a non-informative leading cue decreases RT to a subsequent target presented in the same region as the cue. This facilitation lasts about 150 ms; it is then replaced by a sustained inhibition. Experiment 1 tests the hypothesis that the initial facilitation is due to motor, rather than perceptual, processes by using choice RT. Facilitation is greater and lasts longer in choice than in simple tasks, thus supporting the hypothesis. Experiment 2 shows that facilitation occurs even when the subject actively orients his or her attention away from the cue.     

Concept learning,memory and transfer of dot pattern categories

In the first experiment, subjects rated the similarity of a sample of pairs of random dot patterns generated from 3 prototypes consisting of either 4, 6, or 9 dots. The results of the experiment tended to confirm the structure imposed on the patterns by the construction method. In the second experiment, subjects learned to classify random patterns generated from 2 prototypes with either short or long interprototype distance and consisting of either 4, 6, or 9 dots in a traditional concept identification task. After acquisition, memory for old and new distortions and the prototype, which was not presented during learning, was assessed. The tendency to call a pattern “new” increased with the distance between the pattern and its prototype. In a subsequent transfer test, all subjects saw patterns of either 4, 6, or 9 dots. Performance was above chance and the transfer from larger to smaller patterns tended to be greater than the transfer from smaller to larger patterns. This is consistent with a process of schema formation based on features common to most exemplars of the category. The results are discussed in relation to several theories of concept learning and schema abstraction.     

Value-based adoption of augmented reality: A study on the influence on online purchase intention in retail

The increasing use of digital technology-based retail services provides new opportunities for digital marketing. In this paper, we investigate how augmented reality (AR) technology can be leveraged as part of the firm's strategy. We explore the online purchase intention through AR smart glasses (ARSG), considering consumers' value assessment through a cost–benefit analysis and the influence of technical, experiential and social AR value drivers. We develop an augmented value-based adoption model addressing four main objectives: (1) Evaluate the effect of the perceived value of ARSG, (2) Evaluate the effect of immersion (experiential dimension), (3) Evaluate the effect of AR devices and technical complexity (technical dimension) and (4) Evaluate the importance of subjective norms (social dimension) on the online purchase intention through AR technology. Based on an ESIC Tech Lab experiment with two types of ARSG from market leaders and AR retail apps, the study uses survey data from 253 participants. The results suggest that the technical dimension has an ambiguous effect, with tech-complexity enhancing directly the perceived value of ARSG for online purchase while reducing the net value of consumers' economic cost–benefit analysis. We find strong evidence that the experiential and social AR dimensions (in the form of immersion and subjective norm) have a significant positive influence on consumers' purchase intention online, which are better predictors than the pure economic cost–benefit assessment (through usefulness and difficulty). Furthermore, the technical innovativeness of consumers is found to increase directly the online purchase intention through ARSG.     

Mental health in Christian life

Conclusion The influence of mental health upon the perception, assimilation, and expression of religious values is very apparent. As the precision of our knowledge increases, there is no lack of evidence for an affirmative answer to the question posed for the second part of this report.If the proper methods for studying the influence of religion on mental health have seemed to us to be full of ambiguity, it has also seemed to us that the future development of our scientific knowledge relative to the influence of mental health upon religion is entirely feasible and highly desirable.To work for better mental health is to permit believers (and this is equally valid for all religions and all faiths) to gain better understanding of the call of their religion in all its authenticity. The very perception of the religious message, in its richness and complexity, would be enhanced if one could raise the level of balance and of psychological maturity in a population. Mental health does not automatically make men more religious (we have no interest in an automatic, conditioned religion), but it prepares a better background in which the word of God may be heard, received, and more fully assimilated.It is in this perspective that we all must work together—doctors, psychologists, educators, priests—toward improvement of mental health. Let us, however, avoid unenlightened enthusiasm; let us keep ourselves from undertakings of which the practical applications would be directed toward illusory purposes. An effective program demands precise objects: these can be formulated only on the basis of methodically conducted research and scientifically established conclusions.     

Illusory conjunctions and the cerebral hemispheres

Two visual half-field experiments tested Moscovitch’s (1979) proposition that cerebral asymmetry does not concern the earliest perceptual stages but only later processing. Subjects were briefly shown displays that included one (Experiment 1) or two (Experiment 2) types of forms differing in size and which, according to previous evidence, might lead to opposite laterality effects. Laterality effects were assessed for correct detections and for illusory conjunctions, both in terms of raw detection scores and in terms of perceptual discriminability (dr scores). In Experiment 1, displays included either rectangles or triangles. In the first case, the target was a cross; in the second case, it was a Star of David. A hemifield x size interaction was observed both on correct detections and on associated discriminability. Yet, no such interaction was obtained for illusory conjunctions or for associated d’ scores. In Experiment 2, the two types of forms were presented simultaneously, with the small ones either inside or outside the large ones. No laterality effects were observed. Some implications of these data for both hemispheric asymmetry and feature integration issues are discussed. The results suggest that early preattentive processes of feature extraction are not lateralized, whereas some integrative mechanisms, such as Treisman’s (1988) focal attention, may operate differently in the two hemispheres.     

Medical expertise asa function of task difficulty

This paper is concerned with factors that disrupt the pattern of forward reasoning characteristic of experts with accurate performance. Two experiments are described. In the first, the performances of cardiologists, psychiatrists, and surgeons in diagnostic explanation of a clinical problem in cardiology were examined. In the second, the performances of cardiologists and endocrinologists in diagnostic explanation of clinical problems within and outside their domains of expertise were examined. The performances of researchers and practicing physicians are also compared. The results of Experiment 1 replicated earlier results regarding the relationship between forward reasoning and accurate diagnosis. There were no differences in recall as a function of expertise. Experts did not show any bias toward using specific knowledge from their own areas of expertise. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the breakdown of forward reasoning was related to the structure of the task. In particular, nonsalient cues induced some backward reasoning even in subjects with accurate diagnoses. Some differences were also found between the types of explanation used by researchers and practitioners. The practitioners referred more to clinical components in their explanations, whereas the researchers focused more on the biomedical components.