Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2023
Background: Bodily self-recognition requires the individual to be able to refer to himself throug... more Background: Bodily self-recognition requires the individual to be able to refer to himself through a reflexive representation, typically a schema or an image of one's own body. Body ownership results from an interplay between exteroception and interoception (i.e., the ability to perceive one's own body from the inside). It has been demonstrated that perceiving sensations inside the body could be associated with better regulation of emotions. Also, it has been reported that interoceptive awareness may be affected by gender. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to investigate gender differences in the interoceptive awareness among Italian people. Methods: 114 Italian volunteers (57 males and 57 females) completed the 32-item Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) questionnaire to measure the multiple dimensions of interoceptive awareness. Results: The findings showed higher scores among females than among males for the ability to notice interoceptive input and the awareness of the relationship between bodily sensations and emotional states. Conclusions: Results suggested that women could be more inclined to notice and focus on internal cues. Also, the gender differences could be related to physical and hormonal changes that women experience during development. Future research on the relationship between gender and physiological responses (e.g., heartbeat, skin conductance) for a specific ethnographic sample is recommended.
This contributed volume explores the achievements gained and the remaining puzzling questions by ... more This contributed volume explores the achievements gained and the remaining puzzling questions by applying dynamical systems theory to the linguistic inquiry. In particular, the book is divided into three parts, each one addressing one of the following topics: 1) Facing complexity in the right way: mathematics and complexity 2) Complexity and theory of language 3) From empirical observation to formal models: investigation of specific linguistic phenomena, like enunciation, deixis, or the meaning of the metaphorical phrases The application of complexity theory to describe cognitive phenomena is a recent and very promising trend in cognitive science. At the time when dynamical approaches triggered a paradigm shift in cognitive science some decade ago, the major topic of research were the challenges imposed by classical computational approaches dealing with the explanation of cognitive phenomena like consciousness, decision making and language. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field but the book may also be beneficial for graduate and post-graduate students who want to enter the field.
Recent advances in autonomous vehicles promise to revolutionize the transportation system. This p... more Recent advances in autonomous vehicles promise to revolutionize the transportation system. This perspective has led to new research on a number of open questions, such as how the self-driving system should behave in unavoidable crash situations. Our study aims to contribute to this investigation. In most ongoing research, this question is presented as a moral dilemma, drawing on established research on the trolley dilemma. However, more recent studies have shifted the focus from morality to risk analysis. We investigated the dual contribution of moral judgment and risk analysis in subjects facing dangerous situations. To this end, we use virtual reality to recreate a driving situation that allows subjects to immerse themselves in the road environment. Our results show a strong dissociation between quick decisions, when risk analysis seems to suggest the best choice, and conscious decisions, when proper moral judgment is at stake.
Advances in intelligent systems and computing, 2020
Our study aims at progressing the assessment of the moral behaviour of human drivers. It is a fel... more Our study aims at progressing the assessment of the moral behaviour of human drivers. It is a felicitous coincidence that psychological and philosophical research into human morality has been dominated by thought experiments, resembling vehicles facing emergency situations. These thought experiments involve a running trolley, and have been used to contrast different moral principles, especially deontology versus utilitarianism. We designed an ecologically valid trolley-like dilemma with the help of virtual reality, aimed to understand the moral behavior of human subjects when facing a car accident situation. We report and comment on early results of our first tests.
Over the last decades, cognitive science has gained tremendous prestige. Thanks to it, the way we... more Over the last decades, cognitive science has gained tremendous prestige. Thanks to it, the way we live our daily lives is changing once again. Jobs are changing as they are increasingly influenced by the ability to process digital information and are increasingly dependent on automation and robotics. Our psychological abilities are also becoming more powerful thanks to a number of new cognitive prostheses, including mobile phones and social media. Thanks to achievements in the field of autonomous driving, we can hope that traffic in our cities will one day be a completely safe experience. These are just a few of the areas where everyday life is changing at an accelerating pace due to the pressures of cognitive science. After the first turbulent decades, in which the initial leadership of computer science was gradually disputed by linguistics, philosophy and psychology, neuroscience prevailed in the end. Thus, to this day, it is the brain sciences that have taken the lead role for cognitive science. From the Decade of the Brain (1990–2000) to the major projects simulating brain function, such as the Brain Activity Map Project and Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN), the scientific community felt it could finally decipher the inside of the “black box” and thus simulate its functioning. The prospects for rehabilitation, for cognitive enhancement, and for artificial intelligence modelled on the neurocognitive architecture of the human brain sounded very promising. However, things did not turn out quite as expected. The neuroscience discoveries were undoubtedly very significant, but did not quite live up to expectations. In the meantime, artificial intelligence has experienced something of a new renaissance. Ironically, this renaissance has not come about—as one might have expected—through the implementation of human-like cognitive architectures, but thanks to the mathematical sophistication that has enabled the surprising results of Deep Learning techniques. The impressive development of these techniques was initially driven by engineering purposes, but their application to cognitive processes proved to be extremely productive. After a period of stagnation that lasted a couple of decades, machines have again begun to surpass the cognitive abilities of humans. Artificial intelligence is now back to reclaim its role as the hegemonic discipline in the conflicting landscape of contemporary cognitive science. Where will this lead? This book attempts to provide an answer to this question by summarising recent achievements from the various fields that make up cognitive science, with a particular focus on the challenges of the artificial mind. There are still many areas where there are more questions than answers, such as concerns about killer robots, sexbots, and the ethical algorithms in self-driving cars. Artificial intelligence promises to improve our capabilities and contribute to a more prosperous and fairer society. To achieve these goals, however, it is important to guess the trajectory the future of the artificial mind will take. This is precisely what the following path is about.:
Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2023
Background: Bodily self-recognition requires the individual to be able to refer to himself throug... more Background: Bodily self-recognition requires the individual to be able to refer to himself through a reflexive representation, typically a schema or an image of one's own body. Body ownership results from an interplay between exteroception and interoception (i.e., the ability to perceive one's own body from the inside). It has been demonstrated that perceiving sensations inside the body could be associated with better regulation of emotions. Also, it has been reported that interoceptive awareness may be affected by gender. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to investigate gender differences in the interoceptive awareness among Italian people. Methods: 114 Italian volunteers (57 males and 57 females) completed the 32-item Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) questionnaire to measure the multiple dimensions of interoceptive awareness. Results: The findings showed higher scores among females than among males for the ability to notice interoceptive input and the awareness of the relationship between bodily sensations and emotional states. Conclusions: Results suggested that women could be more inclined to notice and focus on internal cues. Also, the gender differences could be related to physical and hormonal changes that women experience during development. Future research on the relationship between gender and physiological responses (e.g., heartbeat, skin conductance) for a specific ethnographic sample is recommended.
This contributed volume explores the achievements gained and the remaining puzzling questions by ... more This contributed volume explores the achievements gained and the remaining puzzling questions by applying dynamical systems theory to the linguistic inquiry. In particular, the book is divided into three parts, each one addressing one of the following topics: 1) Facing complexity in the right way: mathematics and complexity 2) Complexity and theory of language 3) From empirical observation to formal models: investigation of specific linguistic phenomena, like enunciation, deixis, or the meaning of the metaphorical phrases The application of complexity theory to describe cognitive phenomena is a recent and very promising trend in cognitive science. At the time when dynamical approaches triggered a paradigm shift in cognitive science some decade ago, the major topic of research were the challenges imposed by classical computational approaches dealing with the explanation of cognitive phenomena like consciousness, decision making and language. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field but the book may also be beneficial for graduate and post-graduate students who want to enter the field.
Recent advances in autonomous vehicles promise to revolutionize the transportation system. This p... more Recent advances in autonomous vehicles promise to revolutionize the transportation system. This perspective has led to new research on a number of open questions, such as how the self-driving system should behave in unavoidable crash situations. Our study aims to contribute to this investigation. In most ongoing research, this question is presented as a moral dilemma, drawing on established research on the trolley dilemma. However, more recent studies have shifted the focus from morality to risk analysis. We investigated the dual contribution of moral judgment and risk analysis in subjects facing dangerous situations. To this end, we use virtual reality to recreate a driving situation that allows subjects to immerse themselves in the road environment. Our results show a strong dissociation between quick decisions, when risk analysis seems to suggest the best choice, and conscious decisions, when proper moral judgment is at stake.
Advances in intelligent systems and computing, 2020
Our study aims at progressing the assessment of the moral behaviour of human drivers. It is a fel... more Our study aims at progressing the assessment of the moral behaviour of human drivers. It is a felicitous coincidence that psychological and philosophical research into human morality has been dominated by thought experiments, resembling vehicles facing emergency situations. These thought experiments involve a running trolley, and have been used to contrast different moral principles, especially deontology versus utilitarianism. We designed an ecologically valid trolley-like dilemma with the help of virtual reality, aimed to understand the moral behavior of human subjects when facing a car accident situation. We report and comment on early results of our first tests.
Over the last decades, cognitive science has gained tremendous prestige. Thanks to it, the way we... more Over the last decades, cognitive science has gained tremendous prestige. Thanks to it, the way we live our daily lives is changing once again. Jobs are changing as they are increasingly influenced by the ability to process digital information and are increasingly dependent on automation and robotics. Our psychological abilities are also becoming more powerful thanks to a number of new cognitive prostheses, including mobile phones and social media. Thanks to achievements in the field of autonomous driving, we can hope that traffic in our cities will one day be a completely safe experience. These are just a few of the areas where everyday life is changing at an accelerating pace due to the pressures of cognitive science. After the first turbulent decades, in which the initial leadership of computer science was gradually disputed by linguistics, philosophy and psychology, neuroscience prevailed in the end. Thus, to this day, it is the brain sciences that have taken the lead role for cognitive science. From the Decade of the Brain (1990–2000) to the major projects simulating brain function, such as the Brain Activity Map Project and Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN), the scientific community felt it could finally decipher the inside of the “black box” and thus simulate its functioning. The prospects for rehabilitation, for cognitive enhancement, and for artificial intelligence modelled on the neurocognitive architecture of the human brain sounded very promising. However, things did not turn out quite as expected. The neuroscience discoveries were undoubtedly very significant, but did not quite live up to expectations. In the meantime, artificial intelligence has experienced something of a new renaissance. Ironically, this renaissance has not come about—as one might have expected—through the implementation of human-like cognitive architectures, but thanks to the mathematical sophistication that has enabled the surprising results of Deep Learning techniques. The impressive development of these techniques was initially driven by engineering purposes, but their application to cognitive processes proved to be extremely productive. After a period of stagnation that lasted a couple of decades, machines have again begun to surpass the cognitive abilities of humans. Artificial intelligence is now back to reclaim its role as the hegemonic discipline in the conflicting landscape of contemporary cognitive science. Where will this lead? This book attempts to provide an answer to this question by summarising recent achievements from the various fields that make up cognitive science, with a particular focus on the challenges of the artificial mind. There are still many areas where there are more questions than answers, such as concerns about killer robots, sexbots, and the ethical algorithms in self-driving cars. Artificial intelligence promises to improve our capabilities and contribute to a more prosperous and fairer society. To achieve these goals, however, it is important to guess the trajectory the future of the artificial mind will take. This is precisely what the following path is about.:
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