Bodily feeling in depersonalisation: a phenomenological account

publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePre-print - please cite published version at Sage web site: http://emr.sagepub.com/content/4/2/145.full.pdf+htmlThis paper addresses the phenomenology of bodily feeling in depersonalisation disorder. We argue that not all bodily feelings are intentional states that have the body or part of it as their object. We distinguish three broad categories of bodily feeling: noematic feeling, noetic feeling and existential feeling. Then we show how an appreciation of the differences between them can contribute to an understanding of the depersonalisation experience.ER

Incremental Robot Shaping

We propose a modular architecture for autonomous robots which allows for the implementation of basic behavioral modules by both programming and training, and accommodates for an evolutionary development of the interconnections among modules. This architecture can implement highly complex controllers and allows for incremental shaping of the robot behavior. Our proposal is exemplified and evaluated experimentally through a number of mobile robotic tasks involving exploration, battery recharging and object manipulation

Emotion and ethics: an inter-(en)active approach

The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comIn this paper we start exploring the affective and ethical dimension of what De Jaegher and Di Paolo (2007) have called ‘participatory sense-making’. In the first part, we distinguish various ways in which we are, and feel, affectively inter-connected in interpersonal encounters. In the second part, we discuss the ethical character of this affective interconnectedness, as well as the implications that taking an ‘inter-(en)active approach’ has for ethical theory itself

Improvement of the extraction method of faint signals in γ -activity measurements of meteorites

The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2017-11556-yAt the underground laboratory of Monte dei Cappuccini (OATo-INAF) in Torino (Italy) we set up selective HPGe-NaI(Tl) spectrometers for measurements of cosmogenic radioisotopes in meteorites in order to study centennial-scale modulation of solar activity. 44 Ti is a suitable proxy for this timescale, but its detection is difficult due to the strong interference by naturally occurring 214 Bi. In order to optimize the extraction of the 44 Ti signal, we have developed software procedures specifically designed to improve selectivity of the Ge-NaI detectors coincidence

The narrative self, distributed memory, and evocative objects

In this article, I outline various ways in which artifacts are interwoven with autobiographical memory systems and conceptualize what this implies for the self. I first sketch the narrative approach to the self, arguing that who we are as persons is essentially our (unfolding) life story, which, in turn, determines our present beliefs and desires, but also directs our future goals and actions. I then argue that our autobiographical memory is partly anchored in our embodied interactions with an ecology of artifacts in our environment. Lifelogs, photos, videos, journals, diaries, souvenirs, jewelry, books, works of art, and many other meaningful objects trigger and sometimes constitute emotionally-laden autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memory is thus distributed across embodied agents and various environmental structures. To defend this claim, I draw on and integrate distributed cognition theory and empirical research in human-technology interaction. Based on this, I conclude that the self is neither defined by psychological states realized by the brain nor by biological states realized by the organism, but should be seen as a distributed and relational construct