Semantic effects in the word\u2013word interference task: a comment on Roelofs, Piai, and Schriefers (2013)

Roelofs, Piai, and Schriefers (Language and Cognitive Processes) test both the WEAVER++ model of word production and the response-exclusion account of performance in Stroop-like tasks against data from the word-word interference (WWI) task, and conclude that whereas the WEAVER++ successfully accounts for those data, the response-exclusion hypothesis fails. Here we show that once recent data from the WWI task are considered, both models fail

End-state comfort effects in adults with intellectual disabilities: A pilot study

This study investigated the end-state comfort (ESC) effect in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). The ESC effect represents a tendency to maximize comfortable hand and arm postures at the end of an object manipulation task. Participants were 22 adults with non-specific ID. The ESC effect was assessed using a simple object manipulation task. Difficulties were found with manifestation of the ESC effect in adults with non-specific ID. Only four participants displayed the ESC effect. The participants' intellectual function was correlated with expression of the ESC effect. These results were assessed in terms of competition between a goal-directed system and habitual systems in adults with ID

HBIM AND THEMATIC MAPPING: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Geomatics' interest in Building Information Modelling (BIM) processes applied to Cultural Heritage is evolving in many directions. The traditional fields of Geomatics -data acquisition and processing- have been largely dealt with about HBIM (Historical Building Information Modelling) systems, but there are still some issues that need to be explored in more detail. In addition to modelling, it is essential to consider the information content of the model, how it is generated, recorded and managed. If the objective of the HBIM model is the conservation project, it becomes essential to understand what types of data can be inserted in the model, how to record them and, above all, what their purpose is. The HBIM approach did not start out as a simple data repository, but as an information tool with the aim of helping the designer at all stages of the construction process. Moving to the field of preservation, much information about the building is represented by thematic maps. They allow to have a graphical image of the state of conservation of a façade or to understand the structural situation of a building. This research, tested on the Arch of Augustus in Aosta, starts from the big amount of data acquired by the RAVA Laboratory of the Superintendency of Aosta during a long period. These data allowed to test different approaches to thematic mapping, according to the specific themes to be represented (previous restoration interventions, diagnostics, decay mapping, etc). Anyway, this experiment also required a theoretical reasoning that preceded the operational phases. Faced with a new system, in fact, it is always advisable to reason about the method applied, to avoid the error of simply translating a method that could instead be developed in new directions. The question, to which this article wants only to begin answering, concerns the role of thematic mappings in the preservation design made by a HBIM approach, their necessity and their implementation towards a truly three-dimensional data, which thus maintains all the information that is acquired directly in three dimensions and which instead, today, are reprojected in 2D or used as a placeholder in the 3D spac

The Role of Brief Global Cognitive Tests and Neuropsychological Expertise in the Detection and Differential Diagnosis of Dementia

Dementia is a global public health problem and its impact is bound to increase in the next decades, with a rapidly aging world population. Dementia is by no means an obligatory outcome of aging, although its incidence increases exponentially in old age, and its onset may be insidious. In the absence of unequivocal biomarkers, the accuracy of cognitive profiling plays a fundamental role in the diagnosis of this condition. In this Perspective article, we highlight the utility of brief global cognitive tests in the diagnostic process, from the initial detection stage for which they are designed, through the differential diagnosis of dementia. We also argue that neuropsychological training and expertise are critical in order for the information gathered from these omnibus cognitive tests to be used in an efficient and effective way, and thus, ultimately, for them to fulfill their potential

The measurement of left—right asymmetries in the Simon effect: A fine-grained analysis

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PARAMETRIC PARADIGMA: EXCEPTIONAL COFFERED CEILING ARCHITECTURE VS HBIM

The scientific community is confirming the advantages of using BIM in the processes of conservation, management, and intervention over architectural-historical heritage. However, many difficulties remain in the transcription process of elements of the built environment, especially when the objective of the model is to support decision-making processes in restoration operations. Even for apparently simple elements, the procedures are not trivial; the need to define the most adequate operational strategies remains. In the context of this study, a possible approach concerning the documentation of a coffered ceiling has been proposed, a case study which takes into consideration the need to discretize information (to make it effective, transmissible, and understandable) and the potential offered by the combined use of further software automatization

Inside the kaleidoscope: unravelling the “feeling different” experience of bicultural bilinguals

This article explores the phenomenon of “feeling different” experienced by bicultural bilingual individuals when they switch between their two different languages. Available data suggests that this experience is genuine and holds substantive value, not merely anecdotal. While on one hand, such a feeling may stem from the fact that the two languages were acquired at different times in individuals’ lives (with all that entails in terms of efficiency and empowerment in using the two languages), on the other hand, it seems to entail deeper differences linked to the differential activation of cultural values, behavioral patterns, and expectations when the two languages are used. Its manifestations seem to be influenced by a variety of factors beyond just language choice, including the context in which this choice is performed. Results of studies investigating the experience of feeling different also suggest that it can lead to a sense of exclusion, isolation or marginalization within one’s own community. However, this experience more often yields positive outcomes, with individuals perceiving it as enriching and contributing positively to both their personal development and the broader societal fabric. Amid contemporary challenges related to immigration, the study of biculturalism and related psychological phenomena, such as the “feeling different” experience, becomes imperative, as it may provide insights into how individuals navigate the complexities linked to their cultural identities

Does Perceptual Simulation Explain Spatial Effects in Word Categorization?

In three experiments we investigated the origin of the effects of the compatibility between the typical location of entities denoted by written words (e.g., “up” for eagle and “down” for carpet) and either the actual position of the words on the screen (e.g., upper vs. lower part of the screen), or the response position (e.g., upper- vs. lower- key presses) in binary categorization tasks. Contrary to predictions of the perceptual simulation account (Barsalou, 1999), conceptual spatial compatibility effects observed in the present study (faster RTs when the typical position of the stimulus referent in the real word was compatible with either the stimulus or response physical position) seem to be independent of whether there was an overlap between simulated processes possibly triggered by the presented stimulus and sensory-motor processes actually required by the task. Rather, they appear to depend critically on whether the involved stimulus and/or response dimensions had binary, variable (vs. fixed) values. Notably, no stimulus–stimulus compatibility effect was observed in Experiment 3, when the stimulus physical position was presented in a blocked design (i.e., it was kept constant within each block of trials). In contrast, in all three experiments, a compatibility effect between response position and another (non-spatial) conceptual dimension of the stimulus (i.e., its semantic category) was observed (i.e., an effect analogous to the MARC [linguistic markedness of response codes] effect, which is usually observed in the number domain; Nuerk et al., 2004). This pattern of results is fully accounted for by the polarity principle, according to which these effects originate from the alignment of the polarities of either different stimulus dimensions or stimulus and response dimensions