Representation Of Intentions Research Articles

The mental representation of true and false intentions: a comparison of schema-consistent and schema-inconsistent tasks

True and false intentions (i.e., lies and truths about one’s future actions) is a relatively new research topic, despite the high societal value of being able to predict future criminal behavior (e.g., in the case of an alleged terrorist attack). The current study examined how true and false intentions are mentally represented - the knowledge of which can aid the development of new deception detection methods. Participants (N = 151) were asked either to form a true intention about a future task (i.e., retrieve objects from an office) or to form a false intention about the same task (i.e., prepare a cover story about retrieving objects from an office) to conceal their actual intention (i.e., leave a secret note in the office). The schema consistency of the task was manipulated by presenting participants with a list of office supplies (schema-consistent) or random objects (schema-inconsistent) to be retrieved from the office. The abstractness of mental construal was operationalized as the number of categories used by participants to organize the task-relevant objects into thematic groups. We predicted, based on construal level theory (CLT) and action identification theory, that participants would mentally represent true intentions more concretely (i.e., use a larger number of categories) than false intentions, particularly for schema-inconsistent (versus schema-consistent) future tasks. The results of the study lend no support for these predictions. Instead, a Bayesian analysis revealed strong evidence in favor of the null hypothesis. The findings indicate that predictions from CLT do not readily translate into deception contexts. The results are discussed in light of recent failed attempts to apply CLT to research on true and false intentions, and highlight the need for alternative approaches to the topic.

Artistic Concerns in Preservation


 The rise of new technologies in the twenty-first century is accompanied by challenges in arts preservation that underscore the need to constantly adapt to new ways of approaching preservation issues. This article investigates the problems in preserving digitally-born cultural heritage and explores the connections between digital cultural heritage and preservation of digitally-born artwork. At the core of this study is the question of how to deal with and preserve digital cultural heritage in the changing world of technology, following a case study model with an emphasis on practical research. The results suggest that while the importance of preventing damage is crucial, further investigations are needed in order to fully treat issues concerning the accurate representation of the artist's intention.

Social representations of climate change and pro-environmental behavior intentions in Taiwan

To explore how people attribute meanings to climate change in Taiwan, this study applied social representations theory (SRT) to develop a self-report semi-structured questionnaire that was used to collect data. To fill a research gap, structural equation modeling (SEM) was adopted to examine the determinants of social representation factors that may affect the public’s intentions to engage in pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). Exploratory factor analysis results obtained from 180 valid online responses indicated four factors for social representations of climate change, namely Emerging Climate Change Risk, Media Coverage and Influence, Psychological Distance, and Pro-environmental Behavior Intentions. The results of SEM analysis obtained from the total of 245 valid online and paper-and-pencil responses revealed that Emerging Climate Change Risk and Media Coverage and Influence helped explain the public’s PEBs intentions, but Psychological Distance did not. This exploratory study provides preliminary knowledge of public understanding of and response toward climate change in the Taiwanese society and demonstrates a novel application of SEM analysis to test the direct effects of social representations of climate change on PEB intentions.

Peacemakers and Rabble Rousers: Women Leaders as Activists in Higher Education

This qualitative study explores how women leaders work as activists for other women through their administrative positions within higher education. Overall, participants shared their complicated relationships with the words feminist and activist and described how they engage in social change for women and other underrepresented populations in individual, group, and community contexts. Suggestions to advance equity for women in higher education involve both short-term and long-term strategies—such as self-advocacy, intentional professional development programs, representation, and policy development.

ХУДОЖНІЙ КОНФЛІКТ У ПОВІСТІ ВАСИЛЯ БИКОВА «СОТНИКОВ»

In the article the story of «Sotnikov» written by Vasyl Bykov is studied. The main humanistic problems, conflicts and the situations through which they are analyzed and determined. The author’s attention to serious moral issues and the analysis of human psychology is conducted by difficult conflicts of opposing views and opinions in a harsh life situation. The conflict in the work is related to not only the storyline, but is realized through the choice of the artistic strategy of the representation of feelings, intentions and psychology of the main characters, in which the moral conflict develops most acutely. The main conflict of the story is realized through a confrontation between the desire to survive at any cost and an attempt to save character`s moral qualities. The representatives of opposite ideas are two main characters, Sotnikov and Rybak, who in the difficult situation reveal their real human nature and ideas. The features of existentialism are manifested in a harsh situation where there is nothing to choose from. The confrontation between Sotnikov and Rybak is realized through short dialogues between the heroes. The story is value due to the disclosure of an epic conflict of a story, which reflects the timeless problems of honor, dignity, self-sacrifice, betrayal and feat.

Context-Dependence and Context-Invariance in the Neural Coding of Intentional Action.

Maintaining intentions over time is fundamental to goal-directed action, and previous research demonstrated that intentions are encoded and maintained in a fronto-parietal network including e.g., the dlPFC and IPS. Yet, intention maintenance is highly challenging in the constantly changing environments we experience every day. While we might have formed an intention under specific conditions, this context can change rapidly and unexpectedly. Some suggested that intentions representations in the fronto-parietal cortex change flexibly when external demands change (context-dependent coding). Others suggested that these representations are encoded in an abstract format that is not affected by changes in external demands (context-invariant coding). Here, I will first outline an analysis approach using multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data to comprehensively assess the context-dependence / invariance of intention representations in the fronto-parietal cortex. I will then highlight some research following the proposed analysis strategy. Results to date are mixed, showing context-dependence in some, but context-invariance in other cases. In an attempt to synthesize these somewhat divergent results, I will argue that depending on characteristics of the intentions as well as the environment, intentions can either be encoded in a context-dependent or a context-invariant format. This enables us to achieve both stability and flexibility of behavior under constantly changing external demands.

Impaired Right Temporoparietal Junction-Hippocampus Connectivity in Schizophrenia and Its Relevance for Generating Representations of Other Minds.

Schizophrenia is associated with impaired and exaggerated Theory of Mind processes, pointing on alterations in generating a representation of another person's mind. Despite recent work on healthy subjects suggesting that a coupling between the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) and the hippocampus is relevant for building representations of others' intentions, the neural basis of related dysfunctions in patients with schizophrenia remains unclear. Therefore, we used structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging together with a modified prisoner's dilemma game to test the hypotheses, that patients show dysfunctional social updating on behavioral level accompanied by altered rTPJ-hippocampus coupling on a functional and a structural level. During the task, 31 patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls interacted with 3 playing partners, who behaved according to stable strategies competitively, cooperatively, or randomly. Our data show that patients adapted their social behavior less flexibly to the playing partners than healthy controls, indicating differences in forming mental representations of the counterparts' intentions. Patients showed lower functional connectivity between the rTPJ and temporal lobe regions such as the hippocampus, the fusiform gyrus, and the middle temporal gyrus, indicating that in patients the rTPJ fails to integrate memory-informed processing streams during mental state inferences. Remarkably, the rTPJ-hippocampus coupling accounted for the participants' adaptive social behavior in the task, suggesting that a neural pathway relevant for updating social knowledge and forming forward predictions in social interactions is altered in schizophrenia.

Decoding intentions of self and others from fMRI activity patterns

Previous studies using multi-voxel pattern analysis have decoded the content of participants' delayed intentions from patterns of fMRI data. Here we investigate whether this technique can be used to decode not only participants' own intentions, but also their representation of the intentions held by other people. In other words: if Sam is thinking about Hoki, can we decode the content of Hoki's intention by scanning Sam's brain? We additionally distinguished two components of intentions: action-plans versus goals, and included novel control analyses that allowed us to distinguish intending an outcome from simply expecting it to occur or simulating its consequences. Regions of frontal, parietal, and occipital cortex contained patterns from which it was possible to decode intentions of both self and other. Furthermore, crossclasification between self and other was possible, suggesting overlap between the two. Control analyses suggested that these results reflected visuo-spatial processes by which intentions were generated in our paradigm, rather than anything special about intentions per se. There was no evidence for any representation of intentions as mental states distinct from visuospatial processes involved in generating their content and/or simulating their outcomes. These findings suggest that the brain activity patterns decoded in intention-decoding fMRI studies may reflect domain-general processes rather than being intention-specific.

Pushmi-pullyu Representations and Mindreading in Chimpanzees

Lurz and Krachun (2011) propose a new experimental protocol designed to discriminate genuine mindreading animals from mere behavior-readers and to give evidence in favor of the claim that chimpanzees are capable of attributing internal goals to others. They suggest that chimpanzees' variety of "internal goal attribution" consists in attributing to others basic intentional representations, baptized by Millikan as "pushmi-pullyu representations" (PPs). Now, Millikan (1996, 2004a, 2004b) distinguishes what I propose to call 'pure' PPs from more complex varieties of PPs, which allow their owners to respond more flexibly to their environments. But, what would happen if we tried to differentiate, analogously, between more or less sophisticated mind-readers in virtue of the sorts of PPs that they could attribute to others? What would attributing complex PPs consist in and how would such capacity increase the predictive powers of chimpanzee mind-readers? This paper offers an answer to these questions. Based on Millikan's work, I differentiate two varieties of complex PPs. Then, I examine what a basic mind-reader, only capable of attributing 'pure' PPs, would be able to do. After that, I distinguish two more sophisticated varieties of mindreading, each consisting in the attribution of one of the complex PPs previously presented, and I show how the ability to attribute complex PPs to others comes with more potent and flexible capacities to anticipate their behavior. Finally, I offer some reasons to think that attributing complex PPs is still simpler than full-blown mindreading and I briefly evaluate the prospects of extending this proposal to infant social cognition.

A Stable and Consistent Document Model Suitable for Asynchronous Cooperative Edition

Complex structured documents can be intentionally represented as a tree structure decorated with attributes. Ignoring attributes (these are related to semantic aspects that can be treated separately from purely structural aspects which interest us here), in the context of a cooperative edition, legal structures are characterized by a document model (an abstract grammar) and each intentional representation can be manipulated independently and eventually asynchronously by several co-authors through various editing tools that operate on its “partial replicas”. For unsynchronized edition of a partial replica, considered co-author must have a syntactic document local model that constraints him to ensure minimum consistency of local representation that handles with respect to the global model. This consistency is synonymous with the existence of one or more (global) intentional representations towards the global model, assuming the current local representation as her/their partial replica. The purpose of this paper is to present the grammatical structures which are grammars that permit not only to specify a (global) model for documents published in a cooperative manner, but also to derive automatically via a so call projection operation, consistent (local) models for each co-authors involved in the cooperative edition. We also show some properties that meet these grammatical structures.

Equitable Estoppel in 'Subject to Contract' Negotiations

Waltons Stores (Interstate) Ltd v Maher was a watershed in the development of promissory estoppel in Australian law, recognising its reach to a representation of future intention from one party to another without the need for a pre-existing legal relationship between them. However, the scope for an equitable estoppel to arise from pre-contractual negotiations which do not result in a formal contract being executed, as in that case, remains unclear in certain respects. In particular, it is not clear whether or not a plaintiff seeking to establish an estoppel needs to have held a belief that the defendant was already bound by, or bound to enter into, the contract. On another view, it may be sufficient for the plaintiff to demonstrate that he or she was induced to assume that the contract would eventuate and then relied to his or her detriment upon that assumption, even if the plaintiff knew that the defendant had a right to withdraw from the negotiations. This article explores this uncertainty in Australian law about the nature of the assumption required to found an estoppel arising from pre-contractual negotiations which are said to be `subject to contract.

Intention deactivation: effects of prospective memory task similarity on aftereffects of completed intentions.

Recent prospective memory (PM) studies indicate that intentions are not always directly deactivated after completion, but that they entail aftereffects in terms of slower ongoing-task performance and/or commission errors on repeated (no-longer relevant) PM trials. In four experiments, we investigated whether aftereffects depend on the similarity between completed and currently performed PM-tasks. Aftereffects were reduced when PM-cues differed between the two PM-tasks (symbols vs. words) compared to when PM-cues belonged to the same category (symbols vs. symbols). This could be explained by the new dissimilar PM-task shifting spatial attention away from repeated PM-cues and, thus, attenuating processing of these cues. Moreover, a switch of the PM-response (to or within the manual modality) did not result in erroneous retrieval of the no-more-relevant PM-response (i.e., commission errors) but in erroneous retrieval of the currently relevant PM-response (i.e., false alarms). In addition, aftereffects vanished in conditions, in which participants did not perform a new PM-task. This finding indicates that forming a new PM-task set might be a prerequisite for aftereffects when the ongoing task changes between the two subsequent PM-tasks. Finally, we did not find evidence that forming a new, dissimilar PM-task representation led to overwriting of the completed intention representation, and thus to a change of the content or destabilization of its activation level.

Metacognition of intentions in mindfulness and hypnosis.

In a famous series of experiments, Libet investigated the subjective timing of awareness of an intention to move, a task that can be considered a metacognitive judgement. The ability to strategically produce inaccurate metacognitions about intentions has been postulated to be central to the changes in judgements of agency common to all hypnotic responding. Therefore, differences in hypnotisability may be reflected in Libet’s measure. Specifically, the ability to sustain inaccurate judgements of agency displayed by highly hypnotisable people may result from their having coarser higher order representations of intentions. They, therefore, should report a delayed time of intention relative to less hypnotisable individuals. Conversely, mindfulness practice aims at accurate metacognition, including of intentions, and may lead to the development of finer grained higher order representations of intending. Thus, the long-term practice of mindfulness may produce an earlier judgement of the time of an intention. We tested these groups using Libet’s task, and found that, consistent with predictions, highly hypnotisable people reported a later time of intention than less hypnotisable people and meditators an earlier time than non-meditators. In a further two studies, we replicated the finding that hypnotisable people report later awareness of a motor intention and additionally found a negative relationship between trait mindfulness and this measure. Based on these findings, we argue that hypnotic response and meditation involve opposite processes.

Is children’s naming and drawing of pictures mediated by representational intentions? Evidence from typical development and autism

Research has debated whether shape or inferred referential intent directs children’s picture naming. Here we investigate whether typically developing (TD) children aged 2–5 years and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) comprehend pictures differently depending on whether they are intentional symbols. Participants were shown ambiguous line drawings and were informed that they were either intentional or accidental creations. Children were asked to name and draw each picture. TD children only evidenced a preference for shape-based naming when pictures were intentional representations, and were increasingly likely to create canonical drawings of symbolised referents when stimuli were intentional. Representational intentions did not influence the verbal or drawing responses of children with ASD, however, the nature of their drawings was related to their prior naming. Thus, the meaning that TD children derive from 2-D shapes is mediated by referential intent, while picture comprehension in autism may be comparatively egocentric.

Explicit 3D functional dimensioning to support design intent representation and robust model alteration

Design intent representation is a well-known issue in the MCAD domain, and is related to the readability, alterability, and usability of CAD models. The recent widespread introduction of functionality and commands in modern CAD systems, aimed at facilitating explicit modeling, introduces not only a new modeling paradigm supplementary to the feature-based approach, but also a new perspective on how the design intent can be captured and represented. Taking into account the traditional method of communicating design intent with functional dimensioning in mechanical drawings, in this paper a novel approach is presented, aimed at translating this traditional design intent representation from 2D into 3D. Objectives are directed towards the specification and implementation of dimensioning correspondence mapping and the identification as well as examination of shortcomings in current systems. This should help direct future improvements aimed at supporting 3D dimensioning within 3D explicit modeling systems.

Varieties of Representation

AbstractThe concept of representation has a vast and highly diverse extension. In this paper I distinguish four kinds of representation, viz. proxy, make-believe, and intentional representation, as well as representationsimpliciter. The bulk of the paper is devoted to intentional representation. I argue that the relation of intentional representation is non-reflexive, non-symmetrical, and non-transitive. I articulate a fundamental distinction between two aspects of the content of intentional representations, viz. subject and predicative content. Finally, I qualify and defend the distinction between iconic and symbolic intentional representation. Along the way, I also argue that psychological intentions play a constitutive role in representation.

A verossimilhança da familiaridade do não familiar na ficção antiga e moderna

<p>O texto comenta os conceitos de <em>não familiar </em>ou <em>estranho </em>tratados por Freud em <em>Das Unheimliche </em>(1919), associando-os ao hábito e às rupturas do hábito para especificar a diferença da sua ocorrência na experiência individual, em que é significante de uma angústia, e na ficção, em que é figuração intencional. Distinguindo a figuração do não familiar na ficção antiga e na ficção moderna, propõe que na ficção antiga, como a de Luciano de Samósata, o não familiar é classificado platônica e aristotelicamente como fantástico, e na ficção moderna, como a de Beckett, como efeito da crítica e destruição dos regimes de verdade e verossimilhança que fundam a representação.</p>

Assessing the impact of geometric design intent annotations on parametric model alteration activities

The effective representation and communication of design intent plays a crucial role in CAD model alteration activities. In history-based parametric modeling systems, design intent information is usually expressed implicitly within the model. However, there is evidence that suggests that an explicit representation can increase productivity and quality and facilitate the transferring of design knowledge throughout the different stages of the product lifecycle. In this paper, we assess the effectiveness of 3D annotations as mechanisms for explicit design intent representation and examine their impact in model alteration processes that require a direct interaction with the model's geometry. We present the results of a series of studies aimed at measuring user performance and model quality in two scenarios. First, we hypothesized that annotations are valuable tools to provide design information when inadequate modeling assumptions can be made by designers. Second, we evaluated annotations as tools to communicate design decisions when multiple options are available. In both cases, results show statistically significant benefits of annotated models, suggesting the use of this technique as a valuable approach to improve design intent communication.

Reward-based decision signals in parietal cortex are partially embodied.

Recordings in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) reveal that parietal cortex encodes variables related to spatial decision-making, the selection of desirable targets in space. It has been unclear whether parietal cortex is involved in spatial decision-making in general, or whether specific parietal compartments subserve decisions made using specific actions. To test this, we engaged monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in a reward-based decision task in which they selected a target based on its desirability. The animals' choice behavior in this task followed the molar matching law, and in each trial was governed by the desirability of the choice targets. Critically, animals were instructed to make the choice using one of two actions: eye movements (saccades) and arm movements (reaches). We recorded the discharge activity of neurons in area LIP and the parietal reach region (PRR) of the parietal cortex. In line with previous studies, we found that both LIP and PRR encode a reward-based decision variable, the target desirability. Crucially, the target desirability was encoded in LIP at least twice as strongly when choices were made using saccades compared with reaches. In contrast, PRR encoded target desirability only for reaches and not for saccades. These data suggest that decisions can evolve in dedicated parietal circuits in the context of specific actions. This finding supports the hypothesis of an intentional representation of developing decisions in parietal cortex. Furthermore, the close link between the cognitive (decision-related) and bodily (action-related) processes presents a neural contribution to the theories of embodied cognition.

Correctness issues on MARTE/CCSL constraints

The UML Profile for Modeling and Analysis of Real-Time and Embedded systems promises a general modeling framework to design and analyze systems. Lots of works have been published on the modeling capabilities offered by MARTE, much less on available verification techniques. The Clock Constraint Specification Language (CCSL), first introduced as a companion language for MARTE, was devised to offer a formal support to conduct causal and temporal analysis on MARTE models.This work relies on a state-based semantics for CCSL to establish correctness properties on MARTE/CCSL specifications. We propose and compare two different techniques to build the state-space of a specification. One is an extension of some previous work and is based on extended finite state machines. It relies on integer linear programming to solve the constraints and reduce the state-space. The other one is based on an intentional representation and uses pure Boolean abstractions but offers no guarantee to terminate when the specification is not safe.The approach is illustrated on one simple example where the architecture plays an important role. We describe a process where the logical description of the application is progressively refined to take into account the execution platform through allocation.