bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ISTITUZIONI E FONTI LA SOCIT D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE E IL VIAGGIO DI D'ENTRECASTEAUX ALLA RICERCA DI LA PROUSE: LE ISTRUZIONI SCIENTIFICHE PER I VIAGGIATORI
Authors: COLLINI SILVIA , VANNONI ANTONELLA
Published: November 2012

title SUMMARY /title After the publication of the scientific instructions of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Philippe Pinel, here we present other unpublished documents (by Louis-Claude-Marie Richard, Lezerme and Antoine-Franois Fourcroy). These documents relate to the expedition, in search of La Perouse, made by D'Entrecasteaux (1791), the scientific organization of which was under the direction of the Societe d'histoire naturelle of Paris.
MEN OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE. THE CASE OF XAVIER DE MAISTRE (1763-1852)
Authors: CIARDI MARCO
Published: November 2012

title RIASSUNTO /title Scienza e letteratura sono sempre state in stretto collegamento fra loro, seppur con modalit assai differenziate. Com' noto, infatti, la distinzione fra le cosiddette due culture un prodotto dell'et contemporanea. Per tale motivo non affatto sorprendente trovare celebrati scrittori o poeti attivamente impegnati nel settore della ricerca scientifica. Questo articolo prende in esame il caso di Xavier de Maistre, autore del famoso Voyage autour de ma chambre.
IL DISEGNO DEL TERRITORIO E LA DIFESA DELLO STATO
Authors: CAMEROTA FILIPPO
Published: November 2012

title SUMMARY /title The National Archive of Lucca holds an extensive collection of drawings that document a wide-ranging campaign of topographical surveys carried out between 1580 and 1583 for the purpose of tracing a detailed map of fortifications under the domain of the Republic of Lucca. The surveys lie chronologically between the map drawn by the military engineer Alessandro Resta in 1567 and the accurate chorography of the State of Lucca produced at the end of the same century by the Paduan cosmographer Giovanni Antonio Magini. Historical circumstances suggest that the surveys may be attributed to the military engineer Vincenzo Civitali, who had been hired during that period to superintend the State's fortifications along the border between the Duchy of Modena and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Apart from providing information on the Republic's cartographic and defense projects, these drawings provide firsthand documentation of the work of a 16th C. topographer, as well as revealing the strategy applied when locating measuring stations which often coincided with a signaling tower, the choice of measuring instruments most readily associated with the simple theodolite, and the adoption of a surveying methodology that consisted in measuring azimuths and distances according to the codified precepts of 16th C. treatise writers.
PETITS PROCESSUS CHIMIQUES DANS L'ITALIE PRE-UNITAIRE*
Authors: NICOLINI NICOLETTA
Published: November 2012

title RIASSUNTO /title Brevi cenni dedicati alla situazione manifatturiera chimica in Italia prima dell'Unit. Nel panorama generale socio-economico si mette l'accento sulle caratteristiche dell'industria chimica e sulla mancanza di una coscienza chimica necessaria ad un decollo adeguato.
PER UN ARCHIVIO DELLA CORRISPONDENZA DEGLI SCIENZIATI ITALIANI
Authors: ABBRI FERDINANDO
Published: November 2012

title SUMMARY /title In this paper Carl Peter Thunberg's letters to Giovanni Mariti are published. The present essay is a contribution to the history of the Italian-Swedish relationships at the end of the Eighteenth century and it is a sequel to a paper on the same topic published in 1992.
Kosovo after the ICJ Advisory Opinion: Towards a European Perspective?
Authors: Ingravallo Ivan
Published: November 2012

Abstract

The article deals with the advisory opinion given on 22 July 2010 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the accordance with international law of the declaration of independence from Serbia adopted by Kosovo authorities on 17 February 2008. The advisory opinion is critically examined in the light of international law and of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). The responsibilities of the European Union in Kosovo are also scrutinized, with regard to the mandate of EULEX Kosovo, the role of the EU as a facilitator of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and the European perspective for Kosovo and the Western Balkans.
Debating Arabic on Al-Jazeera: Endangerment and Identity in Divergent Discourses
Authors: Suleiman Camelia , Suleiman Camelia , Lucas Russell E.
Published: November 2012

Eight debates on Al-Jazeera specifically, on the Arabic language, highlight the divergent and convergent discourses about the status of the language and its use today in the Arab world. All address the issue of the weakness of the Arabic language, both internally between formal and dialect, and externally in the face of globalizing English. The participants also link the Arabic language to issues of identity and who the Arabs ‘are’ during this era of globalization. The article outlines the intellectual roots that many of the participants draw upon—that of the Arab nahda of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Finally, the article points out that there is a divergence between the general direction of scholarship produced in the West on the Arabic language and about the Al-Jazeera network and the broader intersection of language and nationalism addressed by the Al-Jazeera participants. Beyond noting the obvious linkage between language and nationalism, how actual participants deal with their intellectual legacies while attempting to prescribe and influence the present deserves greater analysis in the case of the Arabic language and its most noted vehicle today—the Al-Jazeera satellite television network.
Le journal de Mademoiselle Anne-Pauline Gilbert (1926-1927) : Genre, éducation protestante et colonisation à Tahiti pendant l’entre-deux-guerres
Authors: Malogne-Fer Gwendoline
Published: November 2012

Mademoiselle Anne-Pauline Gilbert part à Tahiti en 1926 envoyée par la Société des missions évangéliques de Paris comme institutrice bénévole. Elle tient un journal, intitulé « Récit de voyage et de premières impressions d’une institutrice missionnaire à Tahiti » pendant les dix-huit premiers mois, qui est à mi-chemin entre le journal intime, le récit de voyage et le compte rendu missionnaire. La lecture de ce journal permet d’une part de mieux comprendre les motivations des femmes missionnaires occidentales. Il montre d’autre part la prégnance des stéréotypes culturels et sexués, la volonté et la difficulté de les dépasser ou de s’en accommoder. La position marginale et le regard décalé d’Anne-Pauline Gilbert permettent enfin de mieux comprendre l’imbrication des hiérarchies de sexe et de « race » constitutives des dynamiques missionnaires pendant l’entre-deux-guerres.
A Clash of Responsibilities: Engaging with Realist Critiques of the R2P
Authors: Gallagher Adrian M.
Published: November 2012

In a post-R2P world, policymakers are not only confronted by the real life challenge of mass atrocity crimes but are also faced with a variety of voices offering alternative ways for framing the problems involved. The dominance of realism in 20th century political discourse puts forward the view that states do not have a moral obligation to protect the citizens of other states. As a result, the R2P remains just another policy option, one that should only be opted for when national interests are at stake. From this perspective, the national responsibility that states have to their citizens clashes with the international responsibility to protect populations the world over from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. Accordingly, this clash of responsibilities exposes a series of complexities regarding morality, power, survival, security, sovereignty, and order to name just a few. With this in mind, this paper engages with realist critiques in order to create a constructive conversation to help show areas of agreement and disagreement which will provide us with a more informed understanding of the challenges that face R2P implementation.
Assessing Turbofolk Controversies: Popular Music between the Nation and the Balkans
Authors: Archer Rory
Published: November 2012

This article explores controversies provoked by the Serbian pop-folk musical style “turbofolk” which emerged in the 1990s. Turbofolk has been accused of being a lever of the Milošević regime – an inherently nationalist cultural phenomenon which developed due to the specific socio-political conditions of Serbia in the 1990s. In addition to criticism of turbofolk on the basis of nationalism and war-mongering, it is commonly claimed to be “trash,” “banal,” “pornographic,” “(semi-)rural,” “oriental” and “Balkan.” In order to better understand the socio-political dimensions of this phenomenon, I consider other Yugoslav musical styles which predate turbofolk and make reference to pop-folk musical controversies in other Balkan states to help inform upon the issues at stake with regard to turbofolk. I argue that rather than being understood as a singular phenomena specific to Serbia under Milošević, turbofolk can be understood as a Serbian manifestation of a Balkan-wide post-socialist trend. Balkan pop-folk styles can be understood as occupying a liminal space – an Ottoman cultural legacy – located between (and often in conflict with) the imagined political poles of liberal pro-European and conservative nationalist orientations. Understanding turbofolk as a value category imbued with symbolic meaning rather than a clear cut musical genre, I link discussions of it to the wider discourse of Balkanism. Turbofolk and other pop-folk styles are commonly imagined and articulated in terms of violence, eroticism, barbarity and otherness the Balkan stereotype promises. These pop-folk styles form a frame of reference often used as a discursive means of marginalisation or exclusion. An eastern “other” is represented locally by pop-folk performers due to oriental stylistics in their music and/or ethnic minority origins. For detractors, pop-folk styles pose a danger to the autochthonous national culture as well as the possibility of a “European” and cosmopolitan future. Correspondingly I demonstrate that such Balkan stereotypes are invoked and subverted by many turbofolk performers who positively mark alleged Balkan characteristics and negotiate and invert the meaning of “Balkan” in lyrical texts.
Combining fiber tracking and functional brain imaging for revealing brain networks involved in auditory–visual integration in humans
Authors: Beer Anton L. , Plank Tina , Symeonidou Evangelia-Regkina , Meyer Georg , Greenlee Mark W.
Published: November 2012

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) found various brain areas in the temporal and occipital lobe involved in integrating auditory and visual object information. Fiber tracking based on diffusion-weighted MRI suggested neuroanatomical connections between auditory cortex and sub-regions of the temporal and occipital lobe. However, the relationship between functional activity and white-matter tracks remained unclear. Here, we combined probabilistic tracking and functional MRI in order to reveal the structural connections related to auditory–visual object perception. Ten healthy people were examined by diffusion-weighted and functional MRI. During functional examinations they viewed either movies of lip or body movements, listened to corresponding sounds (phonological sounds or body action sounds), or a combination of both. We found that phonological sounds elicited stronger activity in the lateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) than body action sounds. Body movements elicited stronger activity in the lateral occipital cortex than lip movements. Functional activity in the phonological STG region and the lateral occipital body area were mutually modulated (sub-additive) by combined auditory–visual stimulation. Moreover, bimodal stimuli engaged a region in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS). Probabilistic tracking revealed white-matter tracks between the auditory cortex and sub-regions of the STS (anterior and posterior) and occipital cortex. The posterior STS region was also found to be relevant for auditory–visual object perception. The anterior STS region showed connections to the phonological STG area and to the lateral occipital body area. Our findings suggest that multisensory networks in the temporal lobe are best revealed by combining functional and structural measures.
Time and time again: Temporal influences of repeated stimuli
Authors: Di Luca Massimiliano
Published: November 2012

Temporal perception does not always correspond to objective time. Several factors contribute to distort perceived timing of stimuli. This work investigates the effect of repeated stimulus presentation (either a sound or a light) on perceived timing of a subsequent audiovisual pair. At the beginning of each trial, a series of sounds or lights is presented with a constant interval. One final stimulus is presented either rhythmically or with a temporal shift. In a psychophysical task, participants judged whether the last stimulus in the sequence is presented before or after a temporal probe in the other modality. Results indicate two types of effects. First, the last stimulus of the sequence appears to be delayed with respect to the probe in the other modality. Second, deviations from regular rhythm tend to be perceptually compensated. Overall, perceived stimulus timing is shown to be affected by the temporal context, and the effect is consistent with a change in perceptual latency. The change depends on the modality of the repeated stimulus and can be explained as a combined effect of an temporal adaptation (i.e., slowing down perception) plus a temporal expectation acting on the slightly arrhythmic stimuli.
Audiovisual stimulus-driven contributions to spatial orienting in ecologically valid situations: An fMRI study
Authors: Nardo Davide , Santangelo Valerio , Macaluso Emiliano
Published: November 2012

Mechanisms of audiovisual attention have been extensively investigated, yet little is known about their functioning in ecologically-valid situations. Here, we investigated brain activity associated with audiovisual stimulus-driven attention using naturalistic stimuli. We created 120 short videos (2.5 s) showing scenes of everyday life. Each video included a visual event comprising a lateralized (left/right) increase in visual saliency (e.g., an actor moving an object), plus a co-occurring sound either on the same or the opposite side of space. Subjects viewed the videos with/without the associated sounds, and either in covert (central fixation) or overt (eye-movements allowed) viewing conditions. For each stimulus, we used computational models (‘saliency maps’) to characterize auditory and visual stimulus-driven signals, and eye-movements (recorded in free viewing) as a measure of the efficacy of these signals for spatial orienting. Results showed that visual saliency modulated activity in the occipital cortex contralateral to the visual event; while auditory saliency modulated activity in the superior temporal gyrus bilaterally. In the posterior parietal cortex activity increased with increasing auditory saliency, but only when the auditory stimulus was on the same side as the visual event. The efficacy of the stimulus-driven signals modulated activity in the visual cortex. We conclude that: (1) audiovisual attention can be successfully investigated in real-like situations; (2) activity in sensory areas reflects a combination of stimulus-driven signals (saliency) and their efficacy for spatial orienting; (3) posterior parietal cortex processes auditory input as a function of its spatial relationship with the visual input.
The role of visual experience in spatial reference frame preference
Authors: Pasqualotto Achille
Published: November 2012

How do people remember the location of objects? Location is always relative, and thus depends on a reference frame. There are two types of reference frames: egocentric (or observer-based) and allocentric (or environmental-based). Here we investigated the reference frame people used to remember object locations in a large room. We also examined whether the choice of a given reference frame is dictated by visual experience. Thus we tested congenitally blind, late blind, and sighted blindfolded participants. Objects were organized in a structured configuration and then explored one-by-one with participants walking back and forth from a single point. After the exploration of the locations, a spatial memory test was conducted. The memory test required participants to imagine being inside the array of objects, being oriented along a given heading, and then pointing towards the required object. Crucially the headings were either aligned to the allocentric structure of the configuration, that is rows and columns, or aligned to the egocentric route walked during the exploration of the objects. The spatial representation used by the participants can be revealed by better performance when the imagined heading in the test matches the spatial representation used. We found that participants with visual experience, that is late blind and blindfolded sighted, were better with headings aligned to the allocentric structure of the configuration. On the contrary, congenitally blind were more accurate with headings aligned to the egocentric walked routes. This suggests that visual experience during early development determines a preference for an allocentric frame of reference.
Observing social stimuli influences detection of subtle somatic sensations differently for pain synaesthetes and controls
Authors: Vandenbroucke Sophie , Crombez Geert , Van Ryckeghem Dimitri , Harrar Vanessa , Goubert Liesbet , Spence Charles , Durnez Wouter , van Damme Stefaan
Published: November 2012

Introduction: There is preliminary evidence that viewing touch or pain can modulate the experience of tactile stimulation. The aim of this study was to develop an experimental paradigm to investigate whether the observation of needle pricks to another person’s hand facilitates the detection of subtle somatic sensations. Furthermore, differences between control persons and persons reporting synaesthesia for pain (i.e., experiencing observed pain as if it is their own pain) will be examined.

Method: Synaesthetes () and controls () were presented a series of videos showing left or right hands being pricked and control videos (e.g., a sponge being pricked), whilst receiving occasionally subtle threshold sensations themselves on the hand in the same spatial location (congruent trials) or in the opposite location (incongruent trials) as the visual stimuli. Participants were asked to detect the sensory stimulus. Signal detection theory was used to compare whether sensitivity was different for both groups and both categories of visual stimuli.

Results: Overall, perceptual sensitivity (d′) was significantly higher when the visual stimuli involved a painful situation (e.g., needle pricking another’s hand) compared to the control videos, and was significantly lower in synaesthetes compared to control participants. When no sensory stimulus was administered, participants reported significantly more illusory sensations when a painful situation was depicted compared to a non-painful situation.

Discussion: This study suggests that the detection of somatic sensations can be facilitated or inhibited by observing visual stimuli. Synaesthetes were generally less sensitive, suggesting that they experience more difficulties in disentangling somatic and visual stimuli.
Infant perception of audiovisual synchrony in fluent speech
Authors: Pons Ferran , Lewkowicz David J.
Published: November 2012

It is known that perception of audio–visual (A–V) temporal relations is affected by the type of stimulus used. This includes differences in A–V temporal processing of speech and non-speech events and of native vs. non-native speech. Similar differences have been found early in life, but no studies have investigated infant response to A–V temporal relations in fluent speech. Extant studies (Lewkowicz, 2010) investigating infant response to isolated syllables have found that infants can detect an A–V asynchrony (auditory leading visual) of 666 ms but not lower. Here, we investigated infant response to A–V asynchrony in fluent speech and whether linguistic experience plays a role in responsiveness. To do so, we tested 24 monolingual Spanish-learning and 24 monolingual Catalan-learning 8-month-old infants. First, we habituated the infants to an audiovisually synchronous video clip of a person speaking in Spanish and then tested them in separate test trials for detection of different degrees of A–V asynchrony (audio preceding video by 366, 500 or 666 ms). We found that infants detected A–V asynchronies of 666 and 500 ms and that they did so regardless of linguistic background. Thus, compared to previous results from infant studies with isolated audiovisual syllables, here we found that infants are more sensitive to A–V temporal relations inherent in fluent speech. Furthermore, given that responsiveness to non-native speech narrows during the first year of life, the absence of a language effect suggests that perceptual narrowing of A–V synchrony detection has not completed by 8 months of age.
Acquiring object affordances through touch, vision, and language
Authors: Vatakis Argiro , Pastra Katerina , Dimitrakis Panagiotis
Published: November 2012

We often use tactile-input in order to recognize familiar objects and to acquire information about unfamiliar ones. We also use our hands to manipulate objects and utilize them as tools. However, research on object affordances has mainly been focused on visual-input and, thus, limiting the level of detail one can get about object features and uses. In addition to the limited multisensory-input, data on object affordances has also been hindered by limited participant input (e.g., naming task). In order to address the above mention limitations, we aimed at identifying a new methodology for obtaining undirected, rich information regarding people’s perception of a given object and the uses it can afford without necessarily viewing the particular object. Specifically, 40 participants were video-recorded in a three-block experiment. During the experiment, participants were exposed to pictures of objects, pictures of someone holding the objects, and the actual objects and they were allowed to provide unconstrained verbal responses on the description and possible uses of the stimuli presented. The stimuli presented were lithic tools given the: novelty, man-made design, design for specific use/action, and absence of functional knowledge and movement associations. The experiment resulted in a large linguistic database, which was linguistically analyzed following a response-based specification. Analysis of the data revealed significant contribution of visual- and tactile-input in naming and definition of object-attributes (color/condition/shape/size/texture/weight), while no significant tactile-information was obtained for object-features of material, visual-pattern, and volume. Overall, this new approach highlights the importance of multisensory-input in the study of object affordances.
The influence of the feel of the container on the perception of food within
Authors: Piqueras-Fiszman Betina , Spence Charles
Published: November 2012

Most of the published research on the perception of food and drink has focused on what happens in-mouth during consumption. It is, however, important to note that people’s judgments are also profoundly influenced by other sensory cues, such as haptic input, be it their direct (oral-somatosensory) contact with the food itself, or their indirect contact with the product packaging, plateware, or cutlery as well. A series of experiments are reported which together demonstrate that people also evaluate the sensory characteristics, and even the quality and estimated price, of foods and beverages based on attributes, such as the weight or the texture, of the items we utilize during consumption (be it the cutlery, the tableware, or the product packaging). For instance, yoghurt samples were rated as being significantly more dense and more satiating when consumed from a heavy bowl than when exactly the same yoghurt was consumed from an identical bowl that was somewhat lighter. In another study, the texture of a yoghurt pot was shown to influence participants’ ratings of certain of the textural attributes of foods. We have also investigated the effect of the weight of the cutlery. These results suggest that the haptic cues associated with the consumption of food and drink can also influence our in-mouth perception of their textural properties. Given that the participants did not touch the food directly with their hands, the phenomenon observed might reflect an example of ‘sensation transference’ between what participants feel in their hands and what they perceive in their mouths.
A common scheme for cross-sensory correspondences across stimulus domains
Authors: Walker Laura , Walker Peter , Francis Brian
Published: November 2012

Following Karwoski et al. (1942), it is proposed that cross-sensory correspondences can arise from extensive, bidirectional cross-activation between dimensions of connotative meaning. If this account is correct, the same set of cross-sensory correspondences (e.g., smallness with brightness, brightness with high pitch, high pitch with sharpness) should emerge regardless of the sensory channel (visual, auditory or tactile) that is probed. To test this prediction, participants rated a range of visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli on a series of rating scales relating to different dimensions of connotative meaning. The same set of cross-sensory correspondences emerged from all types of stimulus variation. This supports the suggestion that cross-sensory correspondences can reflect reciprocal interactions between dimensions of connotative meaning, and indicates that Spence’s (2011) theoretical framework might be usefully extended to include semantically-based correspondences.
Multisensory interactions modulate response of V3A for depth-motion processing
Authors: Ogawa Akitoshi , Macaluso Emiliano
Published: November 2012

For the perception of an object moving in depth, stereoscopic signals provide us with an important spatial cue. However, other modalities can also contribute to the motion perception. For example, auditory signals generated by the moving object change according to the approaching/receding direction. Specifically, sound intensity increases/decreases, while sound frequency shifts to higher/lower frequencies (i.e., the Doppler effect). The integration of these unisensory cues may enhance the perception of motion direction by modulating activity within specific brain areas. This fMRI study assessed the interaction between auditory and visual depth-cues on the response of V3A. The task was to discriminate the direction of an auditory target that moved in depth without any azimuth shift. Orthogonally to the volume change, the sound frequency could either rise or fall, yielding to Doppler ‘matched vs. unmatched’ conditions. On two-thirds of the trials, the sound was synchronously coupled with a task-irrelevant visual stimulus moving either forward or backward (i.e., a ball expanding or contracting), thus leading to audio–visual ‘congruent vs. incongruent’ signals of motion. These conditions were presented either in ‘2D or 3D’ viewing. The behavioral data showed the best motion-direction discrimination performance was obtained in Doppler matched and audio–visual congruent condition. In V3A, we found the expected responses to stereoscopic cues and, most importantly, maximal activation was found for 3D trials comprising matched Doppler and congruent audio–visual signals. These results demonstrate that the perception of objects moving in depth entails the integration of multiple unisensory cues. These support that the integration can affect activity in brain regions traditionally considered as unimodal.
Multisensory interactions in the automatic control of postural sway
Authors: Meyer Georg , Clarke Emma , Robotham Tony
Published: November 2012

Visual motion signals are an important source of self-motion information that are used in postural control. Bronstein and Buckwell (Exp. Brain Res. 113, 243–248, 1997) showed that postural reactions to visual motion are not rigid responses to optokinetic stimulation but specific responses appropriate for stabilising posture in natural circumstances: body sway, for instance, was abolished when participants fixated a static object in front of a laterally moving background, which in itself induced sway. We test whether haptic and auditory as well as visual fixation points reduce body sway induced by a background that either moved left/right or forward/back on a large (3 × 7 m) 3D visual display. 10 participants were asked to respond when a fixation target, whichs was presented either on a background or foreground, changed colour. Body sway was measured using a VICON motion tracking system. We tested three conditions that replicated Bronstein and Buckwell’s original study and show that body sway, induced by lateral motion of the background is abolished when participant fixate on a (virtual) foreground object. We extended their study by showing that 3D motion (looming/receding background) has a similar effect to lateral motion and to show that body sway can be effectively reduced by providing either auditory (a loudspeaker emitting a white noise) and haptic (participants lightly touch a tripod with their index finger) cues. Our findings show that postural control draws auditory and haptic as well as visual cues. The findings are relevant to the design of virtual reality systems and provide a method for objective measures of presence in virtual environments.
Twelve-month-old infants learn crossmodal associations between visual objects and natural sounds in ecologically valid situations
Authors: Chen Yi-Chuan , Westermann Gert
Published: November 2012

Infants are able to learn novel associations between visual objects and auditory linguistic labels (such as a dog and the sound /dɔg/) by the end of their first year of life. Surprisingly, at this age they seem to fail to learn the associations between visual objects and natural sounds (such as a dog and its barking sound). Researchers have therefore suggested that linguistic learning is special (Fulkerson and Waxman, 2007) or that unfamiliar sounds overshadow visual object processing (Robinson and Sloutsky, 2010). However, in previous studies visual stimuli were paired with arbitrary sounds in contexts lacking ecological validity. In the present study, we create animations of two novel animals and two realistic animal calls to construct two audiovisual stimuli. In the training phase, each animal was presented in motions that mimicked animal behaviour in real life: in a short movie, the animal ran (or jumped) from the periphery to the center of the monitor, and it made calls while raising its head. In the test phase, static images of both animals were presented side-by-side and the sound for one of the animals was played. Infant looking times to each stimulus were recorded with an eye tracker. We found that following the sound, 12-month-old infants preferentially looked at the animal corresponding to the sound. These results show that 12-month-old infants are able to learn novel associations between visual objects and natural sounds in an ecologically valid situation, thereby challenging our current understanding of the development of crossmodal association learning.
The pleasant heat? A study of thermal-emotion associations
Authors: Ho Hsin-Ni , Bergman Penny , Koizumi Ai , Tajadura-Jiménez Ana , Kitagawa Norimichi
Published: November 2012

Recent studies demonstrated that the physical feeling of warmth could make people judge others more favorably, act more generously (Williams and Bargh, 2008) and induce greater social proximity (IJzerman and Semin, 2009). In the present study, we examined whether temperature is implicitly associated with positive or negative valence. In Experiment 1, subjects judged the valence of the emotion words and pictures with two response buttons, of which one is physically warm and the other is physically cold, and measured the reaction time. The response button assignment can be either congruent (warm-positive/cold-negative) or incongruent (warm-negative/cold-positive). We found that for emotion words, the warm-positive/cold-negative congruence holds. However, for emotion pictures, reverse results were obtained. To further examine the thermo-valence association, follow-up implicit association tests (IATs) were conducted with positive/negative words and warm/cold words in Experiment 2, and positive/negative pictures with warm/cold pads in Experiment 3. The results from Experiment 2 show a tendency towards warm-positive/cold-negative congruence. However, such tendency was not found in Experiment 3. In summary, our results indicate that when the valence is presented semantically, it is implicitly associated with both physical thermal experience (EXP 1) and abstract thermal concept (EXP 2), and the association follows the common expectation of warm-positive/cold-negative congruence. However, when the valence is presented visually, the association is not consistent (EXP 1 and EXP 3). These findings suggest that temperature might interact differently with valences being elicited by semantic and visual information.
The build-up and transfer of sensorimotor temporal recalibration measured via a synchronization task
Authors: Sugano Yoshimori , Keetels Mirjam , Vroomen Jean
Published: November 2012

The timing relation between a motor action and the sensory consequences of that action can be adapted by exposing participants to artificially delayed feedback (temporal recalibration; Heron et al., 2009; Keetels and Vroomen, 2012; Stekelenburg et al., 2011; Stetson et al., 2006; Sugano et al., 2010). Here, we demonstrate that a sensorimotor synchronization task (i.e., tapping the index finger in synchrony with a pacing signal) can be used as a measure of temporal recalibration. Participants were first exposed to a constant delay (∼150 ms) between a voluntary action (a finger tap) and an external feedback stimulus of that action (a visual flash or auditory tone). A subjective ‘no-delay’ condition (∼50 ms) served as baseline. After a short exposure phase to delayed feedback participants performed the tapping task in which they tapped their finger in synchrony with a flash or tone. Temporal recalibration manifested itself in that taps were given ∼20 ms earlier after exposure to 150 ms delays than 50 ms delays. This effect built up quickly (within 60 taps) and was bigger for auditory than visual adapters. In Experiment 2, we tested whether temporal recalibration would transfer across modalities by switching the modality of the adapter and pacing signal. Temporal recalibration transferred from visual adapters to auditory pacers, but not from auditory adapters to visual pacers. This asymmetric transfer suggests that sensory-specific effects are at play.
Age-related changes in temporal processing of vestibular stimuli
Authors: Malone Alex K. , Chang Nai-Yuan N. , Hullar Timothy E.
Published: November 2012

Falls are one of the leading causes of disability in the elderly. Previous research has shown that falls may be related to changes in the temporal integration of multisensory stimuli. This study compared the temporal integration and processing of a vestibular and auditory stimulus in younger and older subjects. The vestibular stimulus consisted of a continuous sinusoidal rotational velocity delivered using a rotational chair and the auditory stimulus consisted of 5 ms of white noise presented dichotically through headphones (both at 0.5 Hz). Simultaneity was defined as perceiving the chair being at its furthest rightward or leftward trajectory at the same moment as the auditory stimulus was perceived in the contralateral ear. The temporal offset of the auditory stimulus was adjusted using a method of constant stimuli so that the auditory stimulus either led or lagged true simultaneity. 15 younger (ages 21–27) and 12 older (ages 63–89) healthy subjects were tested using a two alternative forced choice task to determine at what times they perceived the two stimuli as simultaneous. Younger subjects had a mean temporal binding window of 334 ± 37 ms (mean ± SEM) and a mean point of subjective simultaneity of 83 ± 15 ms. Older subjects had a mean TBW of 556 ± 36 ms and a mean point of subjective simultaneity of 158 ± 27. Both differences were significant indicating that older subjects have a wider temporal range over which they integrate vestibular and auditory stimuli than younger subjects. These findings were consistent upon retesting and were not due to differences in vestibular perception thresholds.
Redundancy gains in audio–visual search
Authors: Bouchara Tifanie , Katz Brian F. G.
Published: November 2012

This study concerns stimuli-driven perceptual processes involved in target search among concurrent distractors with a focus on comparing auditory, visual, and audio–visual search tasks. Previous works, concerning unimodal search tasks, highlighted different preattentive features that can enhance target saliency, making it ‘pop-out’, e.g., a visually sharp target among blurred distractors. A cue from another modality can also help direct attention towards the target. Our study investigates a new kind of search task, where stimuli consist of audio–visual objects presented using both audio and visual modalities simultaneously. Redundancy effects are evaluated, first from the combination of audio and visual modalities, second from the combination of each unimodal cue in such a bimodal search task. A perceptual experiment was performed where the task was to identify an audio–visual object from a set of six competing stimuli. We employed static visual blur and developed an auditory blur analogue to cue the search. Results show that both visual and auditory blurs render distractors less prominent and automatically attracts attention toward a sharp target. The combination of both unimodal blurs, i.e., audio–visual blur, also proved to be an efficient cue to facilitate bimodal search task. Results also showed that search tasks were performed faster in redundant bimodal conditions than in unimodal ones. That gain was due to redundant target effect only without any redundancy gain due to the cue combination, as solely cueing the visual component was sufficient, with no improvement found by the addition of the redundant audio cue in bimodal search tasks.
The effect of perceptual grouping on haptic numerosity perception
Authors: Overvliet Krista E. , Verlaers Kim , Krampe Ralf T. , Wagemans Johan
Published: November 2012

In order to investigate the effect of perceptual grouping on haptic numerosity perception, we asked participants to explore tangible dot patterns and report the number of dots present in the display. We hypothesized that when there are subsets of dots that can be grouped together, exploration time will be shorter as compared to a display where no grouping takes place. The base display consists of dots that are equally spaced on a straight line. We manipulated subset grouping by using both proximity and configurational cues. By placing subsets of dots closer together or placing them in a spatial configuration (e.g., in a triangular shape with three dots, or a rectangular shape with four dots), while keeping the total exploration distance constant, we expected to find shorter exploration times as compared to the base display. The results indeed show that both these cues yield faster exploration. We therefore conclude that both proximity and configurational information can influence haptic grouping for numerosity judgments.
The impact of imagery-evoking category labels on perceived variety
Authors: Ansons Tamara L. , Krishna Aradhna , Schwarz Norbert
Published: November 2012

Does sensory imagery influence consumers’ perception of variety for a set of products? We tested this possibility across two studies in which participants received one of three alternate coffee menus where all the coffees were the same but the category labels were varied on how imagery-evocative they were. The less evocative labels (i) were more generic in nature (e.g., ‘Sweet’ or ‘Category A’), whereas the more evocative ones related either (ii) to the sensory experience of coffee (e.g., ‘Sweet Chocolate Flavor’ or ‘Smokey-Sweet Charred Dark Roast’) or (iii) to imagery related to where the coffee was grown (e.g., ‘Rich Volcanic Soil’ or ‘Dark Rich Volcanic Soil’). The labels relating to where the coffee was grown was included as a second control to show that merely increasing imagery does not increase perceived variety; it is increasing the sensory imagery relating to the items that does so. As expected, only category labels that evoked sensory imagery increased consumers’ perception of variety, whereas imagining where the coffee was grown did not enhance perception of variety. This finding extends recent research that shows that the type of sensory information included in an ad alters the perceptions of a product (Elder and Krishna, 2010) by illustrating that the inclusion of sensory information can also alter the perceived variety of a set of products. Thus, the inclusion of sensory information can be used flexibly to alter perceptions of both a single product and a set of choice alternatives.
The Role of Nahuatl in the Formation of Mesoamerica as a Linguistic Area
Authors: Brown Cecil H.
Published: November 2012

A number of attributes widely shared by languages of the culture region known as Mesoamerica have been identified by Campbell, Kaufman, and Smith-Stark (1986) as diagnostic of a linguistic area. Distributions of shared traits, including some features not previously recognized, suggest that Mesoamerica's development as a linguistic area at least in part involved diffusion of traits from Nahuatl, a regional lingua franca, to other Mesoamerican languages. While this could have occurred at any time from the beginning of the Postclassic period (c. 900 ce) until well after the arrival of the Spanish (1519 ce), the few clues at hand suggest the major diffusional interval to have been late, either in post-contact times or, if earlier, in the immediately preceding Late Postclassic era.
The Creative Legacy of Konstantin Rausch von Traubenberg
Authors: Khmelnitskaya Ekaterina
Published: November 2012

Abstract

This article reassesses the art of sculptor Baron Konstantin Rausch von Traubenberg, one of many Russian émigré artists who fell into oblivion during the Soviet era. He worked in a variety of materials and genres, created portraits of his contemporaries, equestrian figurines, historical and genre groups, models for the firm of Fabergé & Co., and commissions for the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg. His multifaceted career, launched already before the revolution, constitutes a significant phenomenon when examined in conjunction with his subsequent work abroad.
From Greek Orthodoxy to Islam: Conversion in Contemporary Greek Society and Public Self-Representation
Authors: Sakellariou Alexandros
Published: November 2012

Abstract

This study focuses on the way people of Greek Orthodox origin, who have been converted to Islam, are self-presented via the media and the internet. The main goal is to study the reasons of their conversion, their social and religious background and the reaction of their family after their conversion. The research material is consisted of newspaper articles, television programs and internet sources. In that material people account of their conversion stories and try to present their new religious identity to the public. The method that is going to be applied is the classic thematic analysis of discourse.
Services and Investment in the EU - South Korea Free-Trade Area: Implications of a New Approach for GATS V Agreements and for Bilateral Investment Treaties
Authors: Mathis James , Laurenza Eugenia
Published: November 2012

This paper focuses on the services and investment features of the recently concluded free trade agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Korea, of the other part. This agreement is an early example of a new scheduling approach adopted by the European Union in its regional trade agreements. Rather than isolating services and investment into different sections for attention, the provisions for these factors are merged into a single and integrated approach for establishment and national treatment. After outlining the primary features of the agreement, we analyze the approach taken by the parties to services and investment liberalization. Finally, the implications of this approach are considered in light of the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services rules for economic integration agreements, and existing bilateral investment treaties operating between the parties.
Foreign Direct Investment in India’s Service Sector: A Case of Education Sector
Authors: Rawat Bhawana , Ahmad Shakeel
Published: November 2012

India, whose growth is explained with the major contribution of service sector in the past few years, had stressed upon quality education, and thus, started realizing the need of FDI in the sector. This is because of the reason that FDI, on the one hand, has equipped India with bunch of benefits, on the other, it has raised the need of skilled human resource to bring innovative, efficient and uninterrupted operations in distinct fields. However, the bitter part of the issue is that, even after being world-renowned in producing quality human resources, India had not been able to meet the demand-supply gap because of the obvious reason of shortage of higher education institutions. This has invoked the issue of opening the barriers of education sector for foreign players, not just to develop education facilities, but also, facilitation of quality education. The inception of idea had resulted in emergence of number of arguments in favour, as also, against this.

 Keeping this backdrop in mind, the paper attempts to highlight the issues associated to FDI scenario (in distinct ways) in service sector, focusing particularly on education sector; model reflecting association of quality education with distinct forms of environment, and resultant impact over economic growth. It further outlines various suggestive measures for allowing FDI in education sector and conclusions derived from the study.
A Comparative Analysis of the Patterns of Japanese and Korean Foreign Direct Investment in China
Authors: Mah Jai S. , Noh Sunyoung
Published: November 2012

The current paper compares the patterns of Japanese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in China with that of Korea. As a result of the opening up of the Chinese economy together with the accumulating foreign exchange reserves, their FDI in China has risen over the past decades. The share of Japanese FDI in China has remained less than 20 percent of Japanese OFDI as a whole, while Korean FDI in China reached two-fifths of its total OFDI. The gravity model appears to be suitable for explaining the pattern of Korean FDI in China. By industries, the manufacturing sector has accounted for as much as or over three quarters of Japanese and Korean FDI in China. The former appears to be focused more on value-added industries such as machinery contributing to transfer of advanced technologies, while the latter is relatively more concentrated on labor intensive industries contributing to employment generation.