Virtual-hand-illusion studies often use explicit and implicit measures of body ownership but no agreed-on implicit measure of agency exists. We investigated whether the Intentional Binding (IB)... Show moreVirtual-hand-illusion studies often use explicit and implicit measures of body ownership but no agreed-on implicit measure of agency exists. We investigated whether the Intentional Binding (IB) effect could serve as such a measure. A pilot study confirmed that current consistency increases both perceived agency and IB. In three experiments, current consistency was 50% but the previously experienced consistency was either 100% or 0%. When previous and present consistency experience were separated by a short break, both explicit judgments and IB showed a contrast effect. Eliminating the break reversed the effect in explicit agency but not in IB; and making the transition between previous and present consistency smoother replicated the effect for explicit agency but reversed the pattern for IB. Our findings suggest that explicit agency and IB rely on different sources of information, presumably including cross-sensory correlations, predictions of expected action-effects, and comparisons between present and previous consistency experiences. Show less
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) are assumed to play a key role in dopamine-related functions such as reward-related behaviour, motivation, addiction and... Show moreThe ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) are assumed to play a key role in dopamine-related functions such as reward-related behaviour, motivation, addiction and motor functioning. Although dopamine-producing midbrain structures are bordering, they show significant differences in structure and function that argue for a distinction when studying the functions of the dopaminergic midbrain, especially by means of neuroimaging. First, unlike the SNc, the VTA is not a nucleus, which makes it difficult to delineate the structure due to lack of clear anatomical borders. Second, there is no consensus in the literature about the anatomical nomenclature to describe the VTA. Third, these factors in combination with limitations in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) complicate VTA visualization. We suggest that developing an MRI-compatible probabilistic atlas of the VTA will help to overcome these issues. Such an atlas can be used to identify the individual VTA and serve as region-of-interest for functional MRI. Show less
Human beings are assumed to own a concept of their self, but it remains a mystery how they represent themselves and others. I shall develop a theoretical framework, inspired by the Theory of Event... Show moreHuman beings are assumed to own a concept of their self, but it remains a mystery how they represent themselves and others. I shall develop a theoretical framework, inspired by the Theory of Event Coding, of how people represent themselves and others, how and under which circumstances these two kinds of representations interact and what consequences this has. In a nutshell, I shall argue that self- and other-representations can overlap to the degree that they share features, that the shared features are particularly relevant or salient, and that the individual is under a particular metacontrol state. Then I shall argue that self-concepts emerge through active exploration of one’s physical and social environment during infancy and childhood, as well as through cultural learning, and that their main purpose is related to social communication but not online action control. Show less
To elucidate the working mechanism behind anthropomorphism, this study investigated whether human participants would anthropomorphize a robot more if they move synchronously versus non... Show moreTo elucidate the working mechanism behind anthropomorphism, this study investigated whether human participants would anthropomorphize a robot more if they move synchronously versus non-synchronously with it, and whether this is affected by which of the two initiates the movements. We tested two competing hypotheses. The feature-overlap hypothesis predicts that moving in synchrony would increase perceived self-other feature overlap, which in turn might spread activation to codes of features related to humans—which should increase anthropomorphization. In contrast, the autonomy hypothesis predicts that unpredictability increases anthropomorphization, and thus that whenever the robot initiates movements, or when the human initiates movements to which the robot moves non-synchronously, there is an increased perception of the robot as a more human-like, intentionally acting creature, which in turn should increase anthropomorphization. We performed a study with synchrony as within-subjects factor, and initiator (robot or human) as between-subjects factor. To study the impact of synchrony on self-other overlap and perception of human likeness, participants completed two tasks that served as implicit measures of state anthropomorphization, and two questionnaires that served as explicit measures of state anthropomorphization toward the robot. The two implicit measures were the joint Simon task and one-shot Dictator Game. Additionally, participants filled in a trait anthropomorphization questionnaire, to enable correction for baseline tendencies to anthropomorphize. The synchrony manipulation did not affect the joint Simon effect, although there was an effect on average reaction time (RT), where in the group in which the robot initiated the movement, RTs were slower when the human and robot moved non-synchronously. The Dictator Game offer and the state anthropomorphization questionnaires were not affected by the synchrony manipulation. There was, however, a positive correlation between current anthropomorphization of the robot and amount of money offered to it. Given that most measures were not systematically affected by our manipulation, it appears that either our design was suboptimal, or that synchronization does not affect the anthropomorphization of a robot. Show less
There is substantial interest in the possibility that cognitive skills can be improved by dedicated behavioral training. Yet despite the large amount of work being conducted in this domain, there... Show moreThere is substantial interest in the possibility that cognitive skills can be improved by dedicated behavioral training. Yet despite the large amount of work being conducted in this domain, there is not an explicit and widely agreed upon consensus around the best methodological practices. This document seeks to fill this gap. We start from the perspective that there are many types of studies that are important in this domain—e.g., feasibility, mechanistic, efficacy, and effectiveness. These studies have fundamentally different goals, and, as such, the best-practice methods to meet those goals will also differ. We thus make suggestions in topics ranging from the design and implementation of control groups, to reporting of results, to dissemination and communication, taking the perspective that the best practices are not necessarily uniform across all study types. We also explicitly recognize and discuss the fact that there are methodological issues around which we currently lack the theoretical and/or empirical foundation to determine best practices (e.g., as pertains to assessing participant expectations). For these, we suggest important routes forward, including greater interdisciplinary collaboration with individuals from domains that face related concerns. Our hope is that these recommendations will greatly increase the rate at which science in this domain advances. Show less
Creativity is a compelling but heterogeneous phenomenon. As opposed to big-C creativity, which is regarded as limited to the rare brilliant mind, little-c creativity is indispensable in adaptive... Show moreCreativity is a compelling but heterogeneous phenomenon. As opposed to big-C creativity, which is regarded as limited to the rare brilliant mind, little-c creativity is indispensable in adaptive everyday behavior, serving to adjust to changing circumstances and challenges. Computational approaches help demystify human creativity by offering insights into the underlying mechanisms and their characteristics. Recently proposed computational models to creative cognition often focus on either divergent or convergent problem-solving, but some start to integrate these processes into broader cognitive frameworks. We briefly review the state-of-the-art in the field and point out theoretical overlap. We extract basic principles that most existing models agree on and desiderata on the way towards a comprehensive model. Show less
We argue that stimulus uncertainty induces a cognitive state that can be linked to a concept that has been formerly described as ‘curiosity’ (Berlyne, 1949) – a state that motivates the agent to... Show moreWe argue that stimulus uncertainty induces a cognitive state that can be linked to a concept that has been formerly described as ‘curiosity’ (Berlyne, 1949) – a state that motivates the agent to reduce the uncertainty by exploring it. In two attention filtering tasks we varied response compatibility and stimulus congruency. In addition, we manipulated whether stimulus congruency was predictable or random. In conditions with random presentation the impact of congruency on compatibility was more pronounced suggesting that stimulus congruency was processed more strongly in a random environment. While this makes no sense from a short term strategic perspective in the laboratory, this allocation of attention to uncertain stimulus conditions makes perfect sense outside the laboratory. The impact of uncertainty on attentional control should not be considered a leakage but rather an investment into possible future opportunities. Show less
Cognitive control requires a balance between persistence and flexibility. We studied inter- and intraindividual differences in the metacontrol bias towards persistence or flexibility in cognitive... Show moreCognitive control requires a balance between persistence and flexibility. We studied inter- and intraindividual differences in the metacontrol bias towards persistence or flexibility in cognitive search tasks from various cognitive domains that require continuous switching between persistence and flexibility. For each task, clustering and switching scores were derived to assess persistence and flexibility, respectively, as well as a total performance score to reflect general performance. We compared two, not mutually exclusive accounts according to which the balance between clustering and switching scores is affected by (1) individual, trait-like metacontrol biases towards persistence or flexibility and/or (2) the metacontrol adaptivity to bias states according to changing situational demands. We found that clustering and switching scores failed to generalize across tasks. However, clustering and switching were inversely related and predicted the total performance scores in most of the tasks, which in turn partially generalized across tasks and task domains. We conclude that metacontrol-biases towards persistence or flexibility can be adapted easily to specific task demands and individual resources, possibly overwriting individual metacontrol trait biases. Moreover, we suggest that total performance scores might serve to measure metacontrol adaptivity in future studies if task-restrictions and resources are known and/or well balanced. Show less
Studies on joint task performance have proposed that co-acting individuals co-represent the shared task context, which implies that actors integrate their co-actor’s task components into their own... Show moreStudies on joint task performance have proposed that co-acting individuals co-represent the shared task context, which implies that actors integrate their co-actor’s task components into their own task representation as if they were all their own task. This proposal has been supported by results of joint tasks in which each actor is assigned a single response where selecting a response is equivalent to selecting an actor. The present study used joint task switching, which has previously shown switch costs on trials following the actor’s own trial (intrapersonal switch costs) but not on trials that followed the co-actor’s trial (interpersonal switch costs), suggesting that there is no task co-representation. We examined whether interpersonal switch costs can be obtained when action selection and actor selection are confounded as in previous joint task studies. The present results confirmed this prediction, demonstrating that switch costs can occur within a single actor as well as between co-actors when there is only a single response per actor, but not when there are two responses per actor. These results indicate that task co-representation is not necessarily implied even when effects occur across co-acting individuals and that how the task is divided between co-actors plays an important role in determining whether effects occur between co-actors. Show less
De Kleijn, R.; Van Es, L.; Kachergis, G.; Hommel, B. 2018
With robots playing an increasing role in our daily lives, our emotional responses to them have become an active subject of study. The process of anthropomorphization, ascribing human affordances... Show moreWith robots playing an increasing role in our daily lives, our emotional responses to them have become an active subject of study. The process of anthropomorphization, ascribing human affordances to non-human objects, is thought to play a large role in human-robot interaction. However, earlier studies have relied largely on experimenter’s manipulation of anthropomorphism, and the use of virtual robots. The aim of this study was to investigate peopleâs fairness preference and strategic and altruistic behavior toward different opponents (a human, a semi-humanoid and a spider-like robot, and a laptop) in two economic games. Anthropomorphization questionnaires and mood measures were also administered. Our findings suggest that fairness preference and strategic behavior are not predicted by the opponent’s physical appearance, but instead predicted by individual differences in the tendency to anthropomorphize others. Altruistic behavior, on the other hand, is affected by the opponent’s physical appearance. Show less
The nature of insight has been the interdisciplinary focus of scientific inquiry for over 100 years. Behavioral studies and biographical data suggest that insight, as a form of creative cognition,... Show moreThe nature of insight has been the interdisciplinary focus of scientific inquiry for over 100 years. Behavioral studies and biographical data suggest that insight, as a form of creative cognition, consists of at least four separate but intercorrelated stages as described by Wallas (1926). Yet no quantitative evidence was available for insight- or insight-stage-specific brain mechanisms that generalize across various insight tasks. The present work attempted, for one, to present an integrated and comprehensive description of the neural networks underlying insight and, for another, to identify dynamic brain mechanisms related to the four hypothetical stages of insight. To this end, we performed two quantitative meta-analyses: one for all available studies that used neuroimaging techniques to investigate insight, and the other for the phasic brain activation of insight drawn from task characteristics, using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) approach. One key finding was evidence of an integrated network of insight-activated regions, including the right medial frontal gyrus, the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left amygdala and the right hippocampus. Importantly, various brain areas were variably recruited during the four stages. Based on the ALE results, the general and stage-specific neural correlates of insight were determined and potential implications are discussed. Show less
Seeing another person’s face while that face and one’s own face are stroked synchronously or controlling a virtual face by moving one’s own induces the illusion that the other face has become a... Show moreSeeing another person’s face while that face and one’s own face are stroked synchronously or controlling a virtual face by moving one’s own induces the illusion that the other face has become a part of oneself—the enfacement effect. Here, we demonstrate that humans can enface even members of another species and that this enfacement promotes “feature migration” in terms of intelligence and emotional attribution from the representation of other to the representation of oneself, and vice versa. We presented participants with a virtual human face moving in or out of sync with their own face, and then morphed it into an ape face. Participants tended to perceive the ape face as their own in the sync condition, as indicated by body-ownership and inclusion-of-others-in-the-self ratings. More interestingly, synchrony also reduced performance in a fluid-intelligence task and increased the willingness to attribute emotions to apes. These observations, which fully replicated in another experiment, fit with the idea that self and other are represented in terms of feature codes, just like non-social events (as implied by the Theory of Event Coding), so that representational self–other overlap invites illusory conjunctions of features from one representation to the other. Show less
This chapter discusses dual-process models of (health) behaviors, regarding both their recent criticisms and implications for health interventions. It agrees with critics that impulsive and... Show moreThis chapter discusses dual-process models of (health) behaviors, regarding both their recent criticisms and implications for health interventions. It agrees with critics that impulsive and reflective processes should not be equated with specific brain processes, but that psychological processes are emergent properties of the dynamic unfolding interplay between different neural systems. It maintains that at a psychological level of description, these models can still be useful to understand challenges to health behaviors and possible interventions. Affective processes can influence impulsive decision-making in health, but also reflective processes, when they concern affectively relevant goals. Cognitive training methods, including cognitive bias modification and training of executive control, have shown some success in changing health behaviors, but a critical variable for long-term success appears to be motivation to change. Show less
The relationship between risk-taking and creativity is critical to understanding social harmony and innovation. Although some studies have assessed the link between risk-taking and divergent... Show moreThe relationship between risk-taking and creativity is critical to understanding social harmony and innovation. Although some studies have assessed the link between risk-taking and divergent thinking, the association between risk-taking and convergent thinking remains unclear. Two studies were conducted to systemically investigate whether risk-taking is linked to convergent thinking. In Study 1, a sample of 127 healthy participants performed a Chinese remote associate test (RAT) and completed a risk-taking questionnaire. As predicted, risk-taking was negatively correlated with RAT performance, implying that risk-taking has a negative association with convergent thinking. Study 2 was an online survey study that replicated Study 1 and extended the measures to include self-rated risk and a measure of divergent thinking (the alternate uses task). The findings were fully replicated, showing that low risk-taking goes with better convergent thinking and risk-taking was not significantly correlated with divergent thinking. Furthermore, the risk-taking/convergent-thinking relationship was best described by a linear regression model in both studies. Taken together, these results suggest that appropriate reductions in risk-taking can boost convergent thinking. Show less
Psychologists have long thought that an inability to suppress irrelevant information hinders our ability to solve problems. However, most studies have investigated analytical rather than creative...
Psychologists have long thought that an inability to suppress irrelevant information hinders our ability to solve problems. However, most studies have investigated analytical rather than creative problem solving. Here, we examine whether the way in which the brain processes task-irrelevant information affects its ability to solve complex and creative problems. Using well-established paradigms from the attentional-perceptual literature (the event-file bindingtask) and problem-solving literature (the RemoteAssociates Test and Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices), we found that greater attentional leakage, as manifest by strong perceptual distractor-responsebinding, might be beneficial for solving insight-based creative problems but not necessarily for problems that require pattern finding and logic. These results suggest a specific advantage for spreading attention more equally between relevant and irrelevant information in order to creatively ‘think outside of the box’. This delineates a beautiful mapping between the way our sensory systems interact with the external world and our brain’s formation of internal semantic networks that underlie our creative capacities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Voluntary action control is accomplished through anticipating that action’s perceptual outcomes. Some evidence suggests that this is only true when responses are intention-based rather than... Show moreVoluntary action control is accomplished through anticipating that action’s perceptual outcomes. Some evidence suggests that this is only true when responses are intention-based rather than stimulus-based and that this difference is evidence of different response modes. More recently, however, it has been shown that response-outcome retrieval effects can occur with stimulus-based responses, and that the retrieval depended on response selection efficiency as decreasing the response selection efficiency increased response-outcome retrieval (Gozli et al., J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform, 2016). We look to extend this finding by manipulating response selection difficulty within (Experiment 1) or between blocks (Experiment 2) and response preparation time (Experiment 1) within an experiment. Individuals completed a task in which they responded to onsets using the spatially corresponding finger. The onset was preceded by precues narrowing down the response possibilities from four to two. The response possibilities were either on the same hand or different hands, such that response selection was easy or hard. We also varied the amount of time between the cues and the targets to manipulate response preparation time. The results indicated that trial-by-trial manipulations of response selection difficulty did not influence response-outcome retrieval, but that the between groups manipulation of response preparation time did. With less time response preparation time, larger response-outcome compatibility effects were found. This study presents further evidence that response selection efficiency can influence response-outcome retrieval and that this difference can be accounted for in terms of how prepared the responses are at the time of target presentation. Show less
The aim of the study was to throw more light on the relationship between rumination and cognitive-control processes. Seventy-eight adults were assessed with respect to rumination tendencies by... Show moreThe aim of the study was to throw more light on the relationship between rumination and cognitive-control processes. Seventy-eight adults were assessed with respect to rumination tendencies by means of the LEIDS-r before performing a Stroop task, an event-file task assessing the automatic retrieval of irrelevant information, an attentional set-shifting task, and the Attentional Network Task, which provided scores for alerting, orienting, and executive control functioning. The size of the Stroop effect and irrelevant retrieval in the event-five task were positively correlated with the tendency to ruminate, while all other scores did not correlate with any rumination scale. Controlling for depressive tendencies eliminated the Stroop-related finding (an observation that may account for previous failures to replicate), but not the event-file finding. Taken altogether, our results suggest that rumination does not affect attention, executive control, or response selection in general, but rather selectively impairs the control of stimulus-induced retrieval of irrelevant information. Show less
Previous rubber/virtual hand illusion studies have established important constraints for the illusion that an artificial effector becomes part of one’s own body (perceived ownership), and that its... Show morePrevious rubber/virtual hand illusion studies have established important constraints for the illusion that an artificial effector becomes part of one’s own body (perceived ownership), and that its actions are being caused by oneself (perceived agency). We can take these observed constraints to establish two of three Wegner’s (Trends Cogn Sci 7:65–69; Wegner, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7:65–69, 2003) criteria for the perception of personal agency: priority and consistency, but not Wegner’s third criterion—exclusivity. In this study we tested with virtual hand illusion, whether exclusivity (participant is certain who was controlling the virtual effector) can also be established. We manipulated two factors: exclusivity and consistency. Our results show that on both ownership and agency judgments, consistency and exclusivity produced main effects, and the two effects interacted in an underadditive fashion. Taken together, these findings provide support for our suggestion to extend Wegner’s agency theory to explain perceived body ownership, which in turn provides an integrative framework for interpreting constraints on ownership and agency illusions. Show less
