50,891 research outputs found
Extended Cognition, The New Mechanistsâ Mutual Manipulability Criterion, and The Challenge of Trivial Extendedness
Many authors have turned their attention to the notion of constitution to determine whether the hypothesis of extended cognition (EC) is true. One common strategy is to make sense of constitution in terms of the new mechanistsâ mutual manipulability account (MM). In this paper I will show that MM is insufficient. The Challenge of Trivial Extendedness arises due to the fact that mechanisms for cognitive behaviors are extended in a way that should not count as verifying EC. This challenge can be met by adding a necessary condition: cognitive constituents satisfy MM and they are what I call behavior unspecific
The Weirdest People in the World?
Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior in the worldâs top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchersâoften implicitlyâassume that either there is little variation across human populations, or that these âstandard subjectsâ are as representative of the species as any other population. Are these assumptions justified? Here, our review of the comparative database from across the behavioral sciences suggests both that there is substantial variability in experimental results across populations and that WEIRD subjects are particularly unusual compared with the rest of the speciesâfrequent outliers. The domains reviewed include visual perception, fairness, cooperation, spatial reasoning, categorization and inferential induction, moral reasoning, reasoning styles, selfconcepts and related motivations, and the heritability of IQ. The findings suggest that members of WEIRD societies, including young children, are among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans. Many of these findings involve domains that are associated with fundamental aspects of psychology, motivation, and behaviorâhence, there are no obvious a priori grounds for claiming that a particular behavioral phenomenon is universal based on sampling from a single subpopulation. Overall, these empirical patterns suggests that we need to be less cavalier in addressing questions of human nature on the basis of data drawn from this particularly thin, and rather unusual, slice of humanity. We close by proposing ways to structurally re-organize the behavioral sciences to best tackle these challenges.external validity, population variability, experiments, cross-cultural research, culture, human universals, generalizability, evolutionary psychology, cultural psychology, behavioral economics
Elephant cognition in primate perspective
On many of the staple measures of comparative psychology, elephants show no obvious differences from other mammals, such as primates: discrimination learning, memory, spontaneous tool use, etc. However, a range of more naturalistic measures have recently suggested that elephant cognition may be rather different. Wild elephants sub-categorize humans into groups, independently making this classification on the basis of scent or colour. In number discrimination, elephants show no effects of absolute magnitude or relative size disparity in making number judgements. In the social realm, elephants show empathy into the problems faced by others, and give hints of special abilities in cooperation, vocal imitation and perhaps teaching. Field data suggest that the elephantâs vaunted reputation for memory may have a factual basis, in two ways. Elephantsâ ability to remember large-scale space over long periods suggests good cognitive mapping skills. Elephantsâ skill in keeping track of the current locations of many family members implies that working memory may be unusually developed, consistent with the laboratory finding that their quantity judgements do not show the usual magnitude effects.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Animals and Objectivity
Starting from the assumption that Kant allows for the possible existence of
conscious sensory states in non-rational animals, I examine the textual and
philosophical grounds for his acceptance of the possibility that such states
are also 'objective'. I elucidate different senses of what might be meant in
crediting a cognitive state as objective. I then put forward and defend an
interpretation according to which the cognitive states of animals, though
extremely limited on Kant's view, are nevertheless minimally objective
Space, conversations and place: lessons and questions from organisational development
Physical workspace is distinguished from workplace. The latter embodies culture and should become the
greater concern of FM. In the field of individual and group development spaces can add an extra gear to
stimulate cognitive processes. We provide various examples and suggest modern workplaces, with their
emphasis on interaction need to also focus on environments and spaces for individual and collective
reflection
Do domestic dogs learn words based on humansâ referential behaviour?
Some domestic dogs learn to comprehend human words, although the nature and basis of this learning is unknown. In the studies presented here we investigated whether dogs learn words through an understanding of referential actions by humans rather than simple association. In three studies, each modelled on a study conducted with human infants, we confronted four word-experienced dogs with situations involving no spatial-temporal contiguity between the word and the referent; the only available cues were referential actions displaced in time from exposure to their referents. We found that no dogs were able to reliably link an object with a label based on social-pragmatic cues alone in all the tests. However, one dog did show skills in some tests, possibly indicating an ability to learn based on social-pragmatic cues
A Review of Verbal and Non-Verbal Human-Robot Interactive Communication
In this paper, an overview of human-robot interactive communication is
presented, covering verbal as well as non-verbal aspects of human-robot
interaction. Following a historical introduction, and motivation towards fluid
human-robot communication, ten desiderata are proposed, which provide an
organizational axis both of recent as well as of future research on human-robot
communication. Then, the ten desiderata are examined in detail, culminating to
a unifying discussion, and a forward-looking conclusion
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Geovisualization of dynamics, movement and change: key issues and developing approaches in visualization research
Wayfinding in Complex Multi-storey Buildings: A vision-simulation-augmented wayfinding protocol study
Wayfinding in complex multi-storey buildings often brings newcomers and even some frequent visitors uncertainty and stress. However, there is little understanding on wayfinding in 3D structure which contains inter-storey and inter-building travelling.
This paper presents the method of vision-simulation-augmented wayfinding protocol for the study of such 3D structure to find its application from investigating pedestriansâ wayfinding behaviour in general-purpose complex multi-storey buildings. Based on Passiniâs studies as a starting point, an exploratory quasi-experiment was developed during the study and then conducted in a daily wayfinding context, adopting wayfinding protocol method with augmentation by the real-time vision simulation. The purpose is to identify peopleâs natural wayfinding strategies in natural settings, for both frequent visitors and newcomers. It is envisioned that the findings of the study can inspire potential design solutions for supporting pedestrianâs wayfinding in 3D indoor spaces.
From the new method developed and new analytic framework, several findings were identified which differ from other wayfinding literature, such as (1) people seem to directly âmake senseâ of wayfinding settings, (2) people could translate recurring actions into unconscious operational behaviours, and (3) physical rotation and constrained views, instead of vertical travelling itself, should be problems for wayfinding process, etc.
Keywords:
Wayfinding Protocol; Real-time Vision Simulation; 3D Indoor Space; Activity Theory; Structure of Wayfinding process</p
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