Subjective Sense Research Articles

Self-Continuity.

Self-continuity is the subjective sense of connection between one's past and present selves (past-present self-continuity), between one's present and future selves (present-future self-continuity), or among one's past, present, and future selves (global self-continuity). We consider the motivational character of the three forms of self-continuity, their regulatory properties, and the internal or external factors that consolidate them. We also review their consequences for attitudes and judgments or decisions, motivation, intentions and behavior, and psychological and physical health. We further detail the psychological and behavioral benefits of self-discontinuity (i.e., a sense of disconnect among temporal selves). We next turn to the brain regions that are activated synchronously with self-continuity. We consider developmental perspectives on self-continuity, discuss collective self-continuity (along with its consequences and regulatory properties), and elaborate on cultural differences in self-continuity. This inaugural Annual Reviews chapter demonstrates the breadth, excitement, and sense of synergy among self-continuity researchers and points to promising research directions.

Never run a changing system: Action-effect contingency shapes prospective agency

Human action control is highly sensitive to action-effect contingencies in the agent's environment. Here we show that the subjective sense of agency (SoA) contributes to this sensitivity as a subjective counterpart to instrumental action decisions. Participants (N = 556) experienced varying reward probabilities and were prompted to give summary evaluations of their SoA after a series of action-effect episodes. Results first revealed a quadratic relation of contingency and SoA, driven by a disproportionally strong impact of perfect action-effect contingencies. In addition to this strong situational determinant of SoA, we observed small but reliable interindividual differences as a function of gender, assertiveness, and neuroticism that applied especially at imperfect action-effect contingencies. Crucially, SoA not only reflected the reward structure of the environment but was also associated with the agent's future action decisions across situational and personal factors. These findings call for a paradigm shift in research on perceived agency, away from the retrospective assessment of single behavioral episodes and towards a prospective view that draws on statistical regularities of an agent's environment.

ПРО СПОСОБИ СУДОВОГО ЗАХИСТУ ПРАВ МІНОРИТАРНОГО АКЦІОНЕРА У ПРОЦЕДУРІ ПРИМУСОВОГО ВИКУПУ АКЦІЙ

Based on the relevant law enforcement practice of economic courts, the article studies the problem of choice of proper and effective remedy of a minority shareholder in the procedure of compulsory shares repurchase. It is emphasized that the resolution of this problem shall be based on: 1) the understanding of the mandatory nature of the alienation of shares by a minority shareholder (economically weaker subject), stipulated in Article 65-2 of the Law of Ukraine “On joint-stock companies”, as an atypical contract construction for modern civil and economic legislation; 2) the protection of rights of a minority shareholder in the mandatory shares repurchase should be considered not only in the context of protection of their title, but also in a more broader context — as protection of their subjective corporate right, since the legal consequence of such a sale is not only the termination of their title in a strict sense, but also the termination of their corporate right in the subjective sense as the right of an individual to be a shareholder of a company (legal person). Mandatory sale by a minority shareholder of all shares belonging to them leads not only to the termination of their title in a strict sense, but also to the termination of their corporate right in the subjective sense as the right of an individual to be a shareholder of a company (legal person). Therefore, a minority shareholder in the relations of squeeze-out is entitled not only to receiving some “purchase” price for the mandatory (in essence, compulsory) alienated shares, but also to a fair compensation of loss of their corporate right, which includes proprietary, as well as non-proprietary (organizational) rights, and thus — also the loss of legal possibility to satisfy their investment interest by way of shareholding in a particular joint-stock company. A minority shareholder may seek in court the recognition of not only the right to compensation as such, but the right to compensation at the highest (fair, in terminology of Directive 2004/25/EU) price of share in the specific amount determined by the court. It is argued that the recognition of the claimant’s right to receive fair compensation for shares sold under compulsion is a proper and effective remedy of rights and legitimate interests of a minority shareholder. The issuer of shares shall be the defendant in the lawsuit for recognition of right to receive compensation by a minority shareholder for shares alienated under mandatory sale in accordance with Article 65-2 of the Law of Ukraine “On joint-stock companies”.

Hernia Defect Closure With Barbed Suture: An Assessment of Patient-reported Outcomes in Extraperitoneal Robotic Ventral Hernia Repair.

Primary closure of a fascial defect during ventral hernia repair is associated with lower rates of recurrence and better patient satisfaction compared with bridging repairs. Robotic surgery offers enhanced ability to close these defects and this has likely been aided by the use of barbed suture. The goal of this study was to evaluate the perioperative safety and the long-term outcomes for the use of barbed suture for the primary closure of hernia defects during robotic ventral hernia repair (rVHR) with mesh. This is a retrospective study of adult patients who underwent rVHR with the use of a barbed suture for fascial defect closure from August 2018 to August 2020 in an academic center. All the patients included were queried by phone to complete a quality of life assessment to assess patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Subjective sense of a bulge and pain at the previous hernia site has been shown to correlate with hernia recurrence. These questions were used in conjunction with a Hernia-related Quality of Life Survey (HerQles) score to assess a patient's quality of life. A total of 81 patients with 102 hernias were analyzed. Sixty patients (74%) were successfully reached and completed the PRO form at median postoperative day 356 (range: 43 to 818). Eight patients (13% of patients with PRO data) claimed to have both a bulge and pain at their previous hernia site, concerning for possible recurrence. Median overall HerQLes score was 82 [Interquartile Range (IQR): 54 to 99]. Patients with a single hernia defect, when compared with those with multiple defects, had a lower rate of both a bulge (15% vs. 30%) and symptoms (33% vs. 48%), as well as a higher median HerQLes score (85 vs. 62) at the time of PRO follow-up. Patients with previous hernia repair had a lower median HerQLes score of 65 (IQR: 43 to 90) versus 88 (IQR: 62-100). These patients also had a higher rate of sensing a bulge (29% vs. 18%), whereas a sense of symptoms at the site was less (33% vs. 44%). Barbed suture for fascial defect closure in rVHR was found to be safe with an acceptable rate of possible recurrence by the use of PRO data. Patients with multiple hernias and previous repairs had a higher likelihood of recurrence and a lower quality of life after rVHR.

Giving (positive) meaning to downward and horizontal occupational mobility to maintain individual well-being

This study addresses some limitations related to knowledge of the circumstances that contribute to perceptions of downward or horizontal occupational mobility as a positive experience, increasing work satisfaction, labour market security, and maintaining subjective well-being. In pursuing this objective, seven working-life biographies are examined that demonstrate causes of occupational mobility, the investment needed for transition and stabilisation, as well as attitudes towards the destination occupation. Although a sense of meaningful work helps individuals accept a reduced income, interviewees treat it as a transitional period, seeing a possibility for at least some increase in salary. Maintaining one’s original social networks while accepting a less qualified occupation also contributes to preserving individual well-being. These aspects are more pronounced in women’s life stories. A more ambiguous attitude can be seen in the experience of men who encountered occupational and financial decline. While decision-making awareness, confidence in one’s choice, and control of the process helps to stabilize potential frustration caused by decline, some isolation from previous networks appears in the keeping of distance, reducing contact intensity, or staying abroad for longer periods. Perhaps to regain their subjective sense of well-being, the former implements the principle of ‘discrete stages’ in their social life, a notion that reflects the situation of their working life.

Mythology Presupposes Ethnic Group Life-The Tradition of Mother Goddess Worship and Paternal Social Formation

Myths, which are man-made fictions, are denoted by the term "mythology" by anthropologists. These myths, created by the imagination of the people, are the ones that convey the history and values of life to society. In this, religious myths are the lifeblood of a society and a language that expresses thought. Religious myths serve to strengthen the religious beliefs of a race and the social structure of that race. Civilization in social life. Although the culture has developed in many steps, information technology has reached its peak, and the objective changes, the majority of these stories about God, in the subjective sense, stop them at the point of origin of the stories. In Indian social culture, where myths are culturally valuable, each caste uses mythological stories to distinguish themselves from other castes. Based on this, the Devangar people also have their own myths. They live by considering the worship of the Mother Goddess as their cultural discipline. This article examines their social life from a sociological point of view, presenting their mythology and following the worship of the mother goddess and the paternal way of life in their social life.

The clear and not so clear signatures of perceptual reality in the Bayesian brain

In a Bayesian brain, every perceptual decision will take into account internal priors as well as new incoming evidence. A reality monitoring system—eventually providing the agent us with a subjective sense of reality avoids us them being confused about whether our experience is perceptual or imagined. Yet not all confusions we experience mean that we wonder wonder whether we may be imagining: some confused experiences feel clearly perceptual but still feel not right. What happens in such confused perceptions, and can the Bayesian brain explain this kind of confusion? In this paper, we offer a characterisation of perceptual confusion and argue that it requires our subjective sense of reality to be a composite of several subjective markers, including a categorical one that can clearly identify an experience as perceptual and connecting us to reality. Our composite account makes new predictions regarding the robustness, the non-linear development and the possible breakdowns of the sense of reality in perception.

Role of positive mental health in reducing fears related to COVID-19 and general anxiety disorder in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

BackgroundThe outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has posed multiple challenges to healthcare systems. Evidence suggests that mental well-being is badly affected due to compliance with preventative measures in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore the role of positive mental health (subjective sense of wellbeing) to cope with fears related to COVID-19 and general anxiety disorder in the Pashtun community in Pakistan.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 501 respondents from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa participating in an online-based study. We performed correlational analysis, hierarchical linear regression and structural equational modeling (SEM) to analyze the role of mental health in reducing fears and general anxiety disorder.ResultsThe results of the SEM show that positive mental health has direct effects in reducing the fear related to COVID-19 (β = − 0.244, p < 0.001) and general anxiety (β = − 0.210, p < 0.001). Fears of COVID-19 has a direct effect on increasing general anxiety (β = 0.480). In addition, positive mental health also has an indirect effect (β = − 0.117, p < 0.001) on general anxiety (R2 = 0.32, p < 0.001) through reducing fear of coronavirus.ConclusionBased on these findings, there is a need to develop community health policies emphasizing on promotive and preventive mental health strategies for people practicing social/physical distancing.

The Sense of Safety and Active Leisure in Gated Enclaves: Evidence from Fuzhou University Campus

Scientific interest in how residential patterns affect both people’s subjective sense of safety and their behavior is increasing. The surge of gated communities in the world has changed the way we live to a great extent. Research on the gated development trend in postmodern cities is still limited; therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between residents’ attitudes toward gated enclaves and their sense of safety. At the same time, the relationship between a sense of security and active leisure behavior was also investigated. Using data collected from 350 college students in Fuzhou University Town, this study introduces a conceptual model to test the relationship between closed enclaves, campus security, and active leisure behavior while controlling population and community characteristics. The results of structural equation model analysis show that gated enclaves positively correlate with campus safety and positively correlate with active leisure behavior, and a safe campus positively correlates with active leisure behavior. The results of this study focus on the importance of gated enclaves as a living environment, and the discovery of functional characteristics of gated enclaves supports future interventions. In other words, when promoting active leisure behavior and increasing the sense of safety in the neighborhood environment, attention must be paid to the characteristics of these gated enclaves. In addition, the simultaneous measurement of these structures provides a dynamic observation of the existing environment, as well as information for future research and construction. Decision makers and urban planners can use these results to promote interaction and healthy behavior in the community under the multi-angle development of the existing access control, thereby improving residents’ sense of security, and increasing leisure participation.

Hard collar immobilisation following elective surgery on the cervical spine: a cross-sectional survey of UK spinal surgeons

Introduction Although mostly used in the management of spinal trauma, hard collar immobilisation is also used as an adjunct to recovery after elective cervical spine surgery. Many surgeons believe that bracing reduces the risk of non-union and pain and provides a subjective sense of security for patients. There is little if any, evidence for this practice and immobilisation can be a direct cause of adverse events. The primary aim of this study was to provide an updated assessment of post-operative bracing practice in UK spinal surgeons, including the indications, rationale and perspectives on compliance and complications. Methods Neurosurgeons and spinal orthopaedic surgeons completed a web-based survey distributed by email to members of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons (SBNS) and the British Association of Spinal Surgeons (BASS). Professional information captured included level of experience and whether surgeons had a specialist interest in spinal surgery. Questions first focused on the frequency and duration of hard collar immobilisation for common decompressive procedures. Later questions captured surgeon rationale, perceptions of patient compliance, complications, and collar removal. Results A total of 86 surgeons completed the survey, of whom 83% were spinal specialists. In total, 33 (38%) surgeons recommend a hard collar following at least one of the elective procedures listed. Collars were most commonly recommended following cervical corpectomy (30%). The support of fusion and bone healing was the most common rationale (82%), with post-operative pain (45%) and limiting patient activity (39%) also considered. Most surgeons (69%) believed that their patients were compliant. All listed types of complications were reported, with impaired activities of daily living (41%) and impaired sleep (34%) the most frequently cited. Conclusions Current post-operative use of hard collars is much lower in the United Kingdom than previously reported in the United States. Surgeon decision-making is inconsistent and may benefit from greater standardisation. Future work is needed to help develop guidelines as a move away from arbitrary to evidence-based practice.

Evaluation of musculoskeletal workload of manual operating tasks using a hydraulic jack based on ergonomic postural analysis and electromyography: A case study of non-professional young male users.

BACKGROUND:Manual operations of the hydraulic jack device can become ergonomic stressors for the musculoskeletal system because of the required operational forces, muscle activities, or working postures. However, the usability of the hydraulic jack has not been fully explored for non-professional personnel.OBJECTIVES:To evaluate the musculoskeletal loads during manual operations of a hydraulic jack based on the ergonomic postural analysis and electromyographyMETHODS:Nine men operated the lever of a hydraulic jack with three positions: parallel to and near (P-N), parallel to and far from (P-F), and orthogonal to the jack lever (O). Postural loads were evaluated by Loading on the Upper Body Assessment (LUBA), an ergonomic observational method, and were classified into action categories. The surface electromyogram of eight muscles and the subjective sense of burden were also measured.RESULTS:The initial force for lever pushing reached 40–80 N and exceeded the recommended forces for the unusual postures. The overall assessment of LUBA showed that 31% of working postures observed in O position require immediate consideration and corrective action and the maximum holding time estimated was < 1 minute. The postural load increased due to the shoulder joint abduction in the P-F and O positions and due to the trunk rotation in O position.CONCLUSIONS:The results suggest that operating the hydraulic jack cause considerable postural loads and manual forces insufficient for several minutes of manual task. Therefore, improving working methods and tool designs are needed to improve usability and decrease the risk of musculoskeletal disorders during jack operations.

Subjective Distance Estimates and Sense of Agency in Robotic Wheelchair Control

Sense of agency (SoA) refers to an individual’s awareness of their own actions. SoA studies seek to find objective indicators for the feeling of agency. These indicators, being related to the feeling of control, have practical application in vehicle design. However, they have not been investigated for actions related to the agent’s body movement inherent to steering a vehicle. In our study, participants operated a robotic wheelchair under three conditions: active control by a participant, direct control by the experimenter and remote control by the experimenter. In each trial, a participant drove the wheelchair until a sound signal occurred, after which they stopped the wheelchair and estimated the travelled distance. The subjective estimates were significantly greater when participants operated the wheelchair by themselves. This result contrasts with observations under static settings in previous studies. In an additional study on the electroencephalographic response to a sound presented at a random time after movement onset, the observed latencies in the N1 component implied that participants might have a higher sense of control when they drove the wheelchair. The proposed methodology might become useful to indirectly assess the degree of operator control of a vehicle, primarily in the field of rehabilitation technologies.

Aesthetic Empathy: An Investigation in Phenomenological Psychology of Visual Art Experiences

Abstract Empathy is a psychologically significant phenomenon. It plays a key role in the development of the self, sociality, and prosocial behaviour. The term empathy originated in 19th-century aesthetics, where the concept was seen as an explanation for aesthetic experience. Despite renewed interest in the relation between empathy and aesthetic experiences, investigations into how empathy shapes experiences of art are still scarce. Given this situation, we ask the following three questions: What does one experience when experiencing a work of art empathetically? What is given during such moments? How is consciousness structured in aesthetic empathetic experience? To answer these questions, we analysed five different experiences with visual art using a phenomenological psychological methodology. We found that a complexity of psychologically significant meaning arises from the empathic experience of art. The core aspects of this meaning are captured in a structure incorporating experience of a foreign subjective sense, reliving and affective adherence, interiorisation, pleasure in sharing, and affective understanding. Based on this structure, we argue that aesthetic empathy features a sense of otherness to a degree not previously recognised and that aesthetic empathy is an inherently intersubjective experience in which the spectator is invited to participate and share feelings expressed in the work of art in moments of aesthetic presence.

Thriving in Residency: a Qualitative Study.

BackgroundWhile a great deal of research has brought attention to the issue of physician burnout in recent years, and resident physician burnout in particular, the topics of physician well-being, and by extension physician thriving, have been relatively understudied. Consequently, we propose a model of resident physician thriving.ObjectiveTo understand what factors contribute to a subjective sense of thriving among resident physicians.DesignIn this study, we conducted in-depth interviews from May 2020 through February 2021 with resident physicians to determine what factors have contributed to their sense of thriving in their careers as well as in their lives more generally. We used a snowball sampling technique to recruit participants. Validated instruments were used to quantify the participant’s subjective level of job and life satisfaction as well as their level of career burnout. To derive our conclusions, we employed thematic content analysis using a grounded theory-based approach.ParticipantsResident physicians in the internal medicine, pediatrics, and combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency programs at a single university-affiliated institution.ApproachWe interviewed those residents with high life, career, and residency satisfaction who did not meet criteria for burnout to explore those factors that contribute to their sense of thriving.Key ResultsThirty-seven screening interviews were conducted. Twenty-four participants met criteria for life, career, and residency satisfaction while also not meeting criteria for burnout. The six key themes contributing to resident thriving that we identified during the course of our analysis included program leadership, learning climate, connectedness, joy in medicine, life balance, and intrinsic factors.ConclusionsThis project proposes a model of resident thriving that can potentially inform program structure, culture, and values.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11606-022-07504-6.

The impact of group identity on the interaction between collective memory and collective future thinking negativity: Evidence from a Turkish sample.

Although several studies have addressed the relationship between memories and future projections regarding personal events, only a few studies exist on collective past and future events, almost all with North American samples. In two studies with Turkish samples, we investigated the relationship between sociopolitical identity and collective past and future representations. In Study 1, we compared the most important past and future collective events generated by voters of the ruling and the main opposition parties. Participants reported the two most important public events in the last 70 years and two in the next 70 years for Turkey, and rated events’ valence, centrality, and transitional impact. Past events were dominated by national political events whereas future events’ themes were more varied. Past events were also more negative than future events, with the negativity of future events decreasing as their temporal distance from the present increased. Opposition voters rated both the past and the future events more negatively than ruling party voters. In Study 2, we tested whether the negativity for future events may be due to perceived sociopolitical status of ruling party voters. Participants reported events from Turkey’s future and provided ratings of status and privilege. We replicated the reduced negativity of distant compared to near future projections, but subjective sense of privilege was not related to events’ valence. Overall, we demonstrated that in highly polarized societies, sociopolitical identity can impact the perceived valence of collective mental time travel outputs, diverging from findings of similar responses among Democrats and Republicans in the USA context.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13421-022-01326-x.

Cultural nomadism and the representation of otherness in Santiago Gamboa’s El síndrome de Ulises (2005)

Fernando Aínsa maintains that contemporary Latin American narrative has been marked by the nomadic condition. In light of this observation, this article examines the figure of the cultural nomad in Colombian author Santiago Gamboa’s El síndrome de Ulises, to analyse the ways in which this subject negotiates and reconfigures their identity as a consequence of relocating to Paris. It argues that the traditional notions of nationality, origin, and personal history have been superseded by the concepts of work, relationships, and consumerism as key factors in the creation of identity and a sense of subjectivity. Moreover, it explores the culturally nomadic narrator’s engagement with current debates surrounding the ability of the ‘lettered’ intellectual to represent and encapsulate otherness in discourse, not only on an individual level but also in relation to the Europe-Latin America paradigm.

Cancer-Related Fatigue Outcome Measures in Integrative Oncology: Evidence for Practice and Research Recommendations.

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most common symptoms across the cancer continuum and is often underreported and undertreated. Defined as a distressing, persistent, subjective sense of tiredness or exhaustion related to cancer or its treatment, CRF includes physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual dimensions. Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures are the most widely used tool to screen for and assess fatigue and the associated negative impacts on quality of life. However, selecting subjective CRF measures can be complex. This has resulted in the availability of and inconsistent use of numerous PROs, limiting the ability to cross-compare outcomes clinically and within research. To address this, the PROs that are most widely reported in the literature are recommended to support the standardization of a core set of validated measures. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network single-item tool for clinical significance is recommended for quick use in clinical environments; the Brief Fatigue Inventory allows for fast, easy, helpful cutoffs on severity threshold for triage, and measures both severity and interference with daily functioning; while the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory allows for multisymptomatic assessment. In addition, a fundamental consideration for any PRO use is the administrative burden on the patient and clinician. In this review, we aim to summarize current, validated PROs specific to CRF to aid clinicians and researchers in patient care and in study design and implementation. We conclude with suggestions for future directions in CRF research that can increase the possibility for long-term impact on future guidelines of fatigue management.

Strong Ethnic Identity Buffers the Association of Heterosexism with Substance Use Among Black Sexual Minority Men.

Heterosexist stigma, including microaggressions experienced in their own racial/ethnic communities, may partially explain disproportionate levels of substance use involvement among Black sexual minority men (BSMM). A strong sense of ethnic identity may provide BSMM with a protective resource. The purpose of this study was to explore associations between ethnic identity and substance use in BSMM. Data were from Black sexual minority men (n = 390Mage = 25.28; SD = 2.81) in the PrEP and Substance Use National Survey collected from March 2020 to August 2020 that included self-reported cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamines, inhalants, hallucinogens, prescription drugs misuse, and overall substance use involvement. Using zero-inflated negative binomial regression, we assessed the association between heterosexist microaggressions within BSMM's racial/ethnic communities and substance use involvement, moderated by subjective sense of ethnic identity. More than half of participants reported past 3-month substance use. Heterosexist microaggressions were associated with higher relative risk of cannabis use involvement (RR = 1.76; 95% CI 1.13-2.73) and overall substance use involvement (RR = 2.23; 95% CI 1.39-3.56). Stronger ethnic identity buffered the association of heterosexism on substance use involvement (cannabis: RR = 0.82; 95% CI 0.72-0.95; overall: RR = 0.77; 95% CI 0.66-0.89). Nurturing ethnic identity development and reducing heterosexist stigma in Black communities may be a culturally responsive, two-pronged approach to reducing substance use involvement among BSMM. BSMM with strong ethnic identity demonstrated resilience to heterosexist stigma. Future research should examine the extent to which ethnic identity may be cultivated as a protective resource against substance use involvement.

Game theory and partner representation in joint action: toward a computational theory of joint agency

The sense of agency – the subjective feeling of being in control of our own actions – is one central aspect of the phenomenology of action. Computational models provided important contributions toward unveiling the mechanisms underlying the sense of agency in individual action. In particular, the sense of agency is believed to be related to the match between the actual and predicted consequences of our own actions (comparator model). In the study of joint action, models are even more necessary to understand the mechanisms underlying the development of coordination strategies and how the subjective experiences of control emerge during the interaction. In a joint action, we not only need to predict the consequences of our own actions; we also need to predict the actions and intentions of our partner, and to integrate these predictions to infer their joint consequences. Understanding our partner and developing mutually satisfactory coordination strategies are key components of joint action and in the development of the sense of joint agency. Here we discuss a computational architecture which addresses the sense of agency during intentional, real-time joint action. We first reformulate previous accounts of the sense of agency in probabilistic terms, as the combination of prior beliefs about the action goals and constraints, and the likelihood of the predicted movement outcomes. To look at the sense of joint agency, we extend classical computational motor control concepts - optimal estimation and optimal control. Regarding estimation, we argue that in joint action the players not only need to predict the consequences of their own actions, but also need to predict partner’s actions and intentions (a ‘partner model’) and to integrate these predictions to infer their joint consequences. As regards action selection, we use differential game theory – in which actions develop in continuous space and time - to formulate the problem of establishing a stable form of coordination and as a natural extension of optimal control to joint action. The resulting model posits two concurrent observer-controller loops, accounting for ‘joint’ and ‘self’ action control. The two observers quantify the likelihoods of being in control alone or jointly. Combined with prior beliefs, they provide weighing signals which are used to modulate the ‘joint’ and ‘self’ motor commands. We argue that these signals can be interpreted as the subjective sense of joint and self agency. We demonstrate the model predictions by simulating a sensorimotor interactive task where two players are mechanically coupled and are instructed to perform planar movements to reach a shared final target by crossing two differently located intermediate targets. In particular, we explore the relation between self and joint agency and the information available to each player about their partner. The proposed model provides a coherent picture of the inter-relation of prediction, control, and the sense of agency in a broader range of joint actions.

Perceived importance of pandemic interventions for attending cultural events – findings from Germany

BackgroundDuring the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, many cultural and sporting events were held without spectators or had to be cancelled. Therefore, several containment strategies to provide requirements for safe events were developed and tested. Nonetheless, every second (50.7%) is afraid of becoming infected on an event. We therefore investigated which hygiene and containment measures are perceived to be important from the visitor’s point of view and thus might increase subjective sense of safety.MethodsThis online study was carried out in November 2020. A total of 1,004 persons, who regularly attended events before the pandemic, took part in the study. The importance of different hygiene and containment measures was evaluated using a 5-point Likert-scale (1 “unimportant” to 5 “extremely important”). Potential statistical differences in socio-demographical aspects (age, gender, net disposable income for leisure activities) and attendance on events were tested with analyses of variance.ResultsParticipants perceived the use of disinfectant (M = 4.10) as the most important element of containment strategies, followed by transparent information on the hygiene strategy (M = 4.00), reduced occupancy (M = 3.98), and optimized ventilation (M = 3.97). Body temperature measurement at the entrance (M = 3.27), a negative SARS-CoV-2 test (M = 3.11), completion of a health questionnaire (M = 3.05), and abandoning breaks and catering (M = 2.98) were considered as less important.Analyses of group differences in socio-demographical aspects found abandoning breaks and catering to be more important to men than to women. This strategy is also more important to people aged 66 and above than to younger age groups (e.g., age 20–40). For women, the use of disinfectant is considerably more important. No other significant differences exist.ConclusionCombining relevant measures appears to be important to provide a safe containment strategy. Measures aimed at positively influencing people’s sense of safety do not fully correspond to researched knowledge of effectiveness.There are also target group-specific differences in the rating of measures, which should be considered while preparing containment strategies. To describe the dynamic development of changes in subjective rating of containment strategies, continuing research is needed.