The Ecological Approach To Visual Perception
... Grounding perceptual and cognitive development in body and environment has been at the centre of Ecological Psychology and Enactivism. According to Ecological Psychology [16,17], perception can only be understood through the relationship between an organism and their environment and the opportunities for action-'affordances'-it provides. Enactivism conceives organisms as self-organizing systems that bring forth their own existence by interacting with their environment [18]. ...
... In these interactions, caregivers extend the zone of proximal development [82] by providing children with knowledge otherwise out of their reach. They provide a similar function to motor behaviours in exploring the environment [16]. These triadic interactions constitute instances of joint attention, where infant and caregiver not only attend to an object at the same time but they also attend together and provide the basis for the 'nine month social revolution' [8]. ...
... The Postnatal Dependency Hypothesis highlights the interaction between environment and organism in the development of species-specific behaviours [1,16]. Innate contributions play an important role in this relationship. ...
Humans have developed a sophisticated system of cultural transmission that allows for complex, non-genetically specified behaviours to be passed on from one generation to the next. This system relies on understanding others as social and communicative partners. Some theoretical accounts argue for the existence of domain-specific cognitive adaptations that prioritize social information, while others suggest that social learning is itself a product of cumulative cultural evolution based on domain-general learning mechanisms. The current paper explores the contribution of humans’ unique ontogenetic environment to the emergence of social learning in infancy. It suggests that the prolonged period of post-natal dependency experienced by human infants contributes to the development of social learning. Because of motor limitations, infants learn to interact with and act through caregivers, establishing social learning abilities and skills that continue to develop as children become less dependent. According to this perspective, at least some key aspects of social development can be attributed to a developmental trajectory guided by infants’ early motor development that radically alters how they experience the world.
... In what follows, singing is seen as an affordance for children's multiple situational experiences, interests, and emotions. The term affordance was originally proposed by Gibson (1977Gibson ( , 1979 to approach visual perception, "at a time in which the representational approach to perception was at odds with a more ecological approach" (Chong & Proctor, 2020, p. 122). For James J. Gibson (1979), affordances were "relationships that exist naturally that do not require preexisting knowledge or necessarily need to be perceived" (Chong & Proctor, 2020, p. 120): "affordances are perceived directly, which is to say without intervening images, mental representations, inferences, or other processes" (Wilkinson & Chemero, 2024, n.p., italics added). ...
... The term affordance was originally proposed by Gibson (1977Gibson ( , 1979 to approach visual perception, "at a time in which the representational approach to perception was at odds with a more ecological approach" (Chong & Proctor, 2020, p. 122). For James J. Gibson (1979), affordances were "relationships that exist naturally that do not require preexisting knowledge or necessarily need to be perceived" (Chong & Proctor, 2020, p. 120): "affordances are perceived directly, which is to say without intervening images, mental representations, inferences, or other processes" (Wilkinson & Chemero, 2024, n.p., italics added). Lately, researchers have applied the notion of affordance to inform "the nature of emotions and affectivity, agency, social cognition, neurodiversity, psychopathology, and…mental actions such as conscious thought and imagination" (Jorba & López-Silva, 2024, n.p.), thus also including affordances that are based on mental representations (Chong & Proctor, 2020) that are generated by our social and cultural environments. ...
... Children's singing spaces are, as described by the interviewed children, created more or less spontaneously, yet children are able to specify their function for themselves in diverse action situations and places. The empirical material of this study also indicates that affordances in and through children's singing are neither stable nor "naturally given entities", as Gibson (1977Gibson ( , 1979 tended to view, but rather emerge in "the realm of a socioculturally constituted and evolving world… in which humans may alter their environments, and themselves (again, for good or ill), so as to better function in them" (Pyysiäinen, 2021, p. 503). ...
Children’s singing has been extensively studied in music education over recent decades by emphasising effective vocal skill-development and vocal pedagogy, as well as by approaching children’s cultures through song repertoires. However, little is known about the meanings young children ascribe to singing and their experiences of singing in increasingly diversifying educational contexts, in times when global (e.g.UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child) and national policies (The Child Strategy in Finland) are urging societies to better take into account children’s perspectives on decision-making that concerns their own lives. The objective of this study is to develop a new, interdisciplinary understanding of young children’s singing, conceptualised as singing ecologies, and to highlight that singing in schools may have a much wider role than mere musical learning and vocal expression. The knowledge gap is addressed by asking: What meanings do children ascribe to singing within their ecologies?
The ecological framework for exploring children’s singing was constructed through four interconnected dimensions: 1) the ecology of children’s development and its constituent processes as an existential matter; 2) the child’s voice and the production of space and the power relationships as embedded in diverse spaces in children’s everyday lives; and 3) ecological agency and singing as affordances; and 4) social-ecological systems thinking, which allows considering the school as ‘a bridging organisation’ in a culturally diversifying society. The concept of children’s spaces, drawn from childhood studies, is used to conceptualize children’s singing spaces as the core for understanding singing ecologies and the potential of singing to become an affordance in school. The case study’s empirical material was generated in an ethnographic framework through semi-structured interviews with 6–7-year¬ old first-grade children (N=22) and their teachers (N=4) in one culturally diverse school in the capital area of Finland. In addition, the empirical material included researcher observations and a diary. Narrative analysis methods were combined with thematic analysis within an ecological framework.
The findings show that first-graders are already aware of how their singing relates to their social-ecological relationships and are able to reflect verbally on their experiences. They furthermore show how children navigate between public and private singing and produce spaces of trust and freedom through singing. They produce singing spaces for their own uses: to handle everyday life struggles, to create new ways of acting and participating, and to exercise their political voice by addressing their stance. The findings illustrate the importance of the qualities of the relationships that children experience in places of singing. Children also recognise the difference between singing in school and singing outside school, as well as the meanings of singing in school, in which singing appears as an adult-led activity that is sometimes resisted. For the children, feeling connected with and accepted by others in school is fundamental. Children varied in terms of how eager they were to share their cultural differences and home cultures through singing and music education in their school. Furthermore, the findings show that young children seek for opportunities to produce in-between spaces of singing in school, for example in the school yard or even in secret in the classroom.
The dissertation contributes to a more complex, spatial, and relational ecological understanding of children’s singing in school, as narrated by the children themselves. It challenges learning-centred teaching practices in music education in schools, teacher education, in-service teacher training, and research suggesting a new awareness of children’s singing ecologies in educational institutions. It advocates for an awareness of the existential qualities of singing, which cannot be reduced to learning the use of the singing voice. It concludes that more attention should be given to singing as a powerful activity and affordance that can bridge home and school experiences, and to the school’s ability to function as a bridging organization through a curriculum of caring that can help young children navigate their singing ecologies and lives in a meaningful way.
... While Katz et al. (1973) laid the groundwork for identifying basic social and psychological needs, and with media being one of the major sources for gratifying such needs, many subsequent scholars have discovered similar and distinct motivations for emerging media of the time, such as telephones, mobile phones, the internet, social media, and now chatbots. Some may view these technologies as eliciting new and different motivations that did not exist in previous times (or media), emerging mainly as responses to the unique characteristics of the latter media, while others may view them from the perspective of media affordances, defined as action possibilities and constraints perceived and/or actualized by media users based on their interactions with the media (Gibson, 1986;Norman, 1999). ...
... The findings of this study have theoretical implications for various communication and media theories, including uses and gratifications (Katz et al., 1973), the TAM (Davis, 1989), and media affordances (Gibson, 1986;Norman, 1999 the study guide and active interaction motives remained significant even after controlling for the effect of PEOU. These differences may reflect the distinct technological contexts between the two studies. ...
... Second, this study highlights how ChatGPT's affordances, such as providing quick responses and assisting with concept clarification, shape students' learning experiences. Media affordance theory suggests that technologies offer specific capabilities that influence their use (Gibson, 1986;Norman, 1999). In this case, ...
This study explored college students’ experiences and evaluations of using ChatGPT for class-related activities including essay writing, exam preparation, and homework. Students from two classes on the same subject were surveyed, and quantitative data on their motivations and usage of ChatGPT were collected (Class 1, n = 48; Class 2, n = 106; N = 154). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that using ChatGPT as a study guide and for active interaction were significant predictors of actual usage level, while its usage for entertainment and study guide was associated with higher trust in the tool. We further collected qualitative data through open-ended surveys (Class 1, n = 154; Class 2, n = 106). Responses were manually coded and thematically analyzed, with comparisons drawn between the two classes. Students’ perceptions varied, with many acknowledging the affordances of ChatGPT, such as helping to organize thoughts, clarifying concepts, and structuring essays. However, some participants raised concerns about the tool’s limitations—particularly its potential to inhibit critical and creative thinking—as well as issues related to the reliability, accuracy, and quality of information provided. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the uses and gratifications theory, the technology acceptance model, and the concept of media affordances.
... Learning reduces generalization, increases precision of discrimination among stimuli, and allows previously undetected (i.e., undifferentiated) patterns to be detected. Consequently, perception is not a process of enriching or adding features to stimuli, but of differentiating the information that is already available but initially not detected (Gibson & Gibson, 1955;Gibson, 1961Gibson, , 1963Gibson, , 1969Gibson, 1979). ...
... Gibson (1969) originally considered the information that guides perceptual learning to be distinctive features. However, Gibson (1979) later determined that the nature of perceptual information, and what makes it meaningful for an organism, is that it informs the organism about opportunities for action in its environment. Thus, Eleanor Gibson later expanded her theory of perceptual learning to include actions, aligning with James Gibson's (1979) concept of perception-action cycles, in which perceiving defines what is available for acting and acting defines what is available to perceive. ...
... However, Gibson (1979) later determined that the nature of perceptual information, and what makes it meaningful for an organism, is that it informs the organism about opportunities for action in its environment. Thus, Eleanor Gibson later expanded her theory of perceptual learning to include actions, aligning with James Gibson's (1979) concept of perception-action cycles, in which perceiving defines what is available for acting and acting defines what is available to perceive. Consequently, the definition of perceptual learning was updated to include the attainment of information that specifies the properties and affordances (i.e., possibilities for action) of an event, object, or layout, in pursuit of goal-oriented actions (Gibson & Pick, 2000;Gibson, 2003). ...
Perceptual learning is a process of developing the skill to differentiate previously undifferentiated information. In this study participants learned to identify novel objects (feelies). To test the role of visual exploration, objects were viewed from either a side or a top view and displayed as either static pictures or rotating about a vertical axis, with moving objects facilitating more visual exploration. In Experiment 1, a simple object discrimination task was used. Participants reached perfect accuracy sooner in static conditions than in motion conditions, regardless of viewpoint, suggesting that although movement may have promoted greater exploratory activity, the information provided by movement did not influence object shape discrimination. Experiment 2 investigated if a functionally relevant task would necessitate the use of greater exploratory activity for perceptual learning. Participants were required to either (1) think of potential uses for the feelies, (2) think of a predetermined use, or (3) describe the object's physical appearance. Visual exploration of objects benefited learning most in the condition in which observers generated potential uses for objects themselves. The affordance prime promoted functionally relevant learning. The most efficient pattern of learning was observed when participants generated uses for moving objects viewed from the side. These findings suggest that exploratory activity facilitates perceptual learning of affordances.
... The present study investigates how this purposefully designed mental health facility supports everyday care practices from the perspectives of the staff. Drawing on the theory of affordances (Gibson, 1979;Jiang et al., 2024), we aim to explore the meanings of the physical environment for inpatient care according to staff shortly after relocation to the new mental health facility. ...
... This study employed the theory of affordances (Gibson, 1979), a perspective within environmental psychology. The theory of affordances focuses on the interplay between individuals and their surroundings, aiming to understand how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of a person are influenced by their environment. ...
... Drawing on the theory of affordances (Gibson, 1979), we explored the possibilities that the staff noticed the new environment offered as a "place for care," both in the building itself and in the immediate surroundings. Kyttä (2004) differentiated between possible and actualized affordances, where a socalled potential affordance refers to a given opportunity within an environment or object. ...
Introduction
Patients in mental health care rely on staff for their well-being, security, and quality of treatment. However, staff’s perspective of the physical environment where care takes place remains underexplored. Their insights are crucial to understanding how the environment impacts the quality of care. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the meanings of the physical environment for inpatient care according to staff shortly after relocation to a new mental health facility.
Methods
The study employed a phenomenological approach and focus group interviews with 20 staff working in a newly built mental health facility. Data were analysed using van Manen’s existentials and guided by the theory of affordances.
Results
The primary findings were as follows: (a) attempting to provide a therapeutic atmosphere, (b) design as symbolism, (c) altering the physical environment means altering time, (d) offering spaces for connection and communication, and (e) embodying the new mental health facility.
Conclusion
The findings indicate that regardless of whether affordances are actualized, opportunities and obstacles in the hospital environment impact the staff’s ability to provide inpatient care according to their standards. Conflict arose due to obstacles inherent in the organization and structure of the new mental health facility that limited opportunities to utilize possible affordances.
... Situating the theory of a ordances in the context of the methodology Gibson (1979Gibson ( /2015, in his definition of affordances, suggests that "what we perceive when we look at objects are their affordances, not their qualities" (p. 3). ...
... 3). Therefore, as humans we are attracted to what an object affords us (Gibson, 1979(Gibson, /2015, and this is in turn exhibited through our behavioral response. He further argues that as an invariant combination of variables, "[t]hose features of a thing are noticed which distinguish it from other things that it is not-but not all the features that distinguish it from everything that it is not" (Gibson, 1966b, as cited in Gibson, 1979Gibson, /2015. ...
... Therefore, as humans we are attracted to what an object affords us (Gibson, 1979(Gibson, /2015, and this is in turn exhibited through our behavioral response. He further argues that as an invariant combination of variables, "[t]hose features of a thing are noticed which distinguish it from other things that it is not-but not all the features that distinguish it from everything that it is not" (Gibson, 1966b, as cited in Gibson, 1979Gibson, /2015. Therefore, an affordance is not all-encompassing and universal, and it is not quantifiable objectively. ...
The environment in this study is presented primarily drawing on the theoretical definition of home, and its experience and meaning to the individual with dementia, with an interest in access to outdoors. Notions of perception, cognitive image and affordance are central to the sense of home, and in turn the sense of self that this may inform and support. This theoretical framework informs the multi-method phenomenological approach proposed, through themes of spatial legibility, cultural appropriateness, fascination, user-centredness and personalisation. The novelty of the methodological toolkit lies in the incorporation of methods that have been traditionally used in research with people with dementia as the basis of the framework, but which are supplemented by additional layers developed from conventional architectural tools to create a more visual representation of the environmental experience. Despite its apparent complexity, the methodology yields a very clear and precise image of the person's presence in her surroundings, at once providing a location in space and time, her mood and engagement, as well as a layering of the affordances that may have informed her behavior. This method was developed as part of this research, and remains unique to it. Its innovation lies in the progression of the DCM tool, the integration of the notion of affordances and architectural mapping techniques to propose a holistic depiction of the care experience of people with dementia.
... On the other hand, the framework built on developmental psychology highlights the importance of understanding object behaviour in the process of perceiving and delineating a visual environment: You see things as an object because they behave like an object. This theoretical framework that we present next is built on yet another assumption, i.e., that perception is for, and intertwined with, action [49]. And the core capability that fulfils this function is identification of affordances. ...
... The physical environment is rich with possibilities for (inter)action and agents are able to identify and act on these possibilities -these affordances. Affordances are action possibilities formed based on the relationship between the agent and the environment in which the agent is situated [49]. As information present in affordances entails information about the environment and the agent in concert, exteroception (perception of the external world) is inextricably linked with proprioception (perception of the movements of one's own body -note that the embodiment assumption holds here). ...
... As information present in affordances entails information about the environment and the agent in concert, exteroception (perception of the external world) is inextricably linked with proprioception (perception of the movements of one's own body -note that the embodiment assumption holds here). Thus, to perceive an object is, according to this account, to see its motoric value and to co-perceive one's own interactive potential with it [49,51,52]. This relational aspect is at the heart of Gibson's theory of affordances, and it predicts that different animals with different physical and perceptual characteristics will identify different affordances in the same object, and thus perceive the object differently. ...
One of the core components of our world models is 'intuitive physics' - an understanding of objects, space, and causality. This capability enables us to predict events, plan action and navigate environments, all of which rely on a composite sense of objecthood. Despite its importance, there is no single, unified account of objecthood, though multiple theoretical frameworks provide insights. In the first part of this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of the main theoretical frameworks in objecthood research - Gestalt psychology, enactive cognition, and developmental psychology - and identify the core capabilities each framework attributes to object understanding, as well as what functional roles they play in shaping world models in biological agents. Given the foundational role of objecthood in world modelling, understanding objecthood is also essential in AI. In the second part of the paper, we evaluate how current AI paradigms approach and test objecthood capabilities compared to those in cognitive science. We define an AI paradigm as a combination of how objecthood is conceptualised, the methods used for studying objecthood, the data utilised, and the evaluation techniques. We find that, whilst benchmarks can detect that AI systems model isolated aspects of objecthood, the benchmarks cannot detect when AI systems lack functional integration across these capabilities, not solving the objecthood challenge fully. Finally, we explore novel evaluation approaches that align with the integrated vision of objecthood outlined in this paper. These methods are promising candidates for advancing from isolated object capabilities toward general-purpose AI with genuine object understanding in real-world contexts.
... The paper introduces the concept of temporal affordances to explain how expectations are formed through active engagement with institutional environments. While the theory of affordances (Gibson, 1979) has been widely applied to action and perception, its temporal dimension remains underdeveloped. I argue that institutions are not only central for the enactment of the mind-extending cognitive processes but also play a constitutive role in shaping temporal cognition: they actively structure how individuals orient themselves toward the future. ...
... This representationalist view, in which perception and action are preceded by the internal cognitive processing, has been challenged by Gibson's (1979) theory of affordances. Gibson argued that perception is direct-meaning that perception and action are not mediated by inference but are entangled from the start. ...
This paper develops an enactivist theory of expectation formation by introducing the concept of temporal affordances: the institutionally structured possibilities for engaging with the future. Unlike standard economic accounts—which model expectations as internal beliefs shaped by information, and treat institutions as external constraints or coordination mechanisms—this paper argues that institutions actively co-constitute emerging expectations. It also challenges subjectivist approaches that locate expectations in individual imagination while treating institutions as heuristics. Drawing on the theory of affordances and the anthropology of time, the framework identifies four dimensions of temporal affordances through which institutions shape how actors orient toward the future: horizon (how far into the future institutional possibilities extend), openness (whether the future is flexible or determinate), grounding (the basis from which temporal orientation is formed), and valence (whether the future is coded as positive or negative). Rather than understanding expectations as internal mental representations, I argue that practical engagement with institutional temporal affordances gives rise to distinct modes of expectation—institutionally enacted ways of relating to the future. By showing how different combinations of affordances generate heterogeneity in these modes, the paper offers a conceptual tool for comparative institutional analysis of the varieties of temporal orientations across institutional environments.
... The urban environment allows for functional interaction through what is known as environmental affordance. This term refers to an awareness of the potential for physical action that the environment offers, as described by Heft (1997) and Gibson (1979). In this view, the design practice is tied to human cognitive systems by prioritizing the interconnection of the brain and the environment (Salingaros, 2024). ...
... For phenomenologist Merleau-Ponty, it means the unconscious ability of our bodies to grasp the environment in a holistic way through motor-perceptual routines (Hale, 2013). This interpretation of reality is closely related to Gibson's (1979) concept of ecological perception and Heft's (1997) interpretation of affordances theory, which explores the inherent relationship between action, perception and environment. In the same vein as functional affordances and perception are united in this concept, in our model, phenomenological cognition is inseparable from operational and basic levels. ...
Larger than similar settlements in other polar countries both in terms of climatic extremes and population size, the Russian Arctic city is a unique phenomenon - a product of the Soviet period of colonial urbanization. Its architectural environment does not provide a comfortable everyday interaction (physical and emotional) for citizens with the natural and artificial environment. At the same time, modernist utopian ideas, transformed under the influence of the urban mainstream, still largely determine the present and future of Arctic architecture in Russia. The current paper presents a theoretical model that conceptualizes the urban lived space as an object of architecture. The notion of lived space is based on Lefebvre's idea of space production and is seen as a phenomenological field in which architecture, context and individual perception are in empirical interaction. The proposed model attempts to integrate the key factors of Arctic urbanism into a coherent system, including aspects of the human-city nexus, such as year-round soft mobility and emotional perception; the challenge to the colonial view of the region and the potential of architecture to establish a strong human-city relationship.
... One could intuitively speculate that the best predictor of dribbling performance would be coordination with the dominant foot, given some of the world's best dribblers (e.g., Messi, Maradona) seem to rarely touch the ball with their non-dominant foot. However, high technical control with both feet may allow players to have more options available to them than players who are "one-footed, which is in line with Gibson's theory of affordances [30][31][32]. Thus, high technical control with both feet may allow one to react faster when small mistakes are made, or when rapid changes in direction are required. ...
... Furthermore, the metric of dribbling performance used in this test also predicts a player's ability to successfully dribble passed defenders in 1v1 gamelike situations [24], giving further support to the idea that players with greater proficiency with both feet may be at a competitive advantage than those with just high performance with their dominant foot. Better dribbling performances in players with high technical ability with both feet is consistent with Gibson's theory of affordances [30][31][32]. In this case, affordance theory predicts that players who can dribble effectively with both feet have more options available to them than players who are "one-footed". ...
Background/Objectives: Dribbling is a fundamental skill in soccer, but assessing the performance of youth players in this skill is complicated by the confounded effects of age and physical development. In this study, our aim was to quantify the interactive effects of age, height, and mass on the dribbling performance of 180 players between 10 and 21 years old from an elite Brazilian junior academy. Methods: For each player, we quantified their dribbling and sprinting speed along four different paths with varying curvature, and their ability to perform specific, directed dribbling drills using one or both feet. To characterise patterns of variation among player's age, height, and mass-and to control for their confounding effects-we used a principal component analysis (PCA) to create a multivariate index of age and size (ASI). Results: Dribbling, sprinting, and directed dribbling were all positively associated with ASI; however, age alone was a better predictor of performance than ASI. Using multi-model inference, we found that a player's overall dribbling was best predicted by models that included sprint speed and overall directed dribbling ability (p < 0.0001). When performing subsequent analyses that separate each of the directed dribbling drills into using dominant, non-dominant, or both feet, we found the best predictors of overall dribbling performance were sprinting and directed dribbling activities that use both feet. Conclusions: These results provide the first set of normative data for a detailed metric of dribbling performance and soccer-specific foot coordination that can allow players and coaches to compare and assess their performances relative to a single population of high-quality junior players
... Notably, the mental rotation of hand tools may activate the premotor cortex in the hemisphere opposite the dominant hand, influenced by the object's manipulability [28], which could similarly play a role in handling puzzle pieces. Affordances and Embodied Cognition: Gibson's affordance theory explains that the environment offers certain actions to actors [29], while embodied cognition examines how the body itself or the body's interaction with the environment shapes cognition [30]. Flusberg and Boroditsky [12] demonstrated the role of embodied cognition, showing that mental rotation slows under motor imagery following the physical experience of heavier objects, with similar effects reflected in mental navigation findings [31]. ...
This study investigated cognitive strategies in mental jigsaw puzzles, integrating mental rotation and translation with a focus on directionality and detour arguments. Unlike object mental rotation tasks, these puzzles introduced physical constraints, revealing systematic directional tendencies in both eye movements and subjective reports. Specifically, smaller protruding objects were consistently directed toward larger indented objects. This was accompanied by longer completion times and reduced linearity, paralleling strategies used in physical puzzle-solving. Behavioral asymmetries observed in the puzzles unexpectedly mirrored those found in object mental rotation tasks. While controlling for mental motion directions showed comparable completion times at 300° between tasks, the study did not fully clarify the role of detours, indicating the need for further research.
... Such features can enable information flow (e.g., by allowing individuals to send messages or access stored information) and constrain it (e.g., by restricting certain types of content or the set of individuals who can send or receive messages or access certain information). By affordances, we mean the opportunities and behaviors made possible by those structural features 21,22 , as well as the means of controlling those features. ...
... To understand the dual nature of AI companions, we can examine their affordances -action possibilities offered by IS artefacts to users in a given context (Anderson & Robey 2017;Gibson 1979;Leonardi 2011). Affordances are inherently ambiguous, offering multiple plausible interpretations that simultaneously enable and constrain behaviour . ...
A global loneliness crisis has driven millions to seek emulated empathy in AI companions like Replika, Character.AI, and Pi.AI. Many users form emotional bonds with AI despite knowing its empathy is emulated. Understanding this paradox is key for ethical AI design and governance, yet prior research, by separating benefits and risks, overlooks how users navigate this tension. This study examines how users experience and navigate emotional connections with AI companions through a dialectical analysis of 18 interviews, 93 survey responses, and 166 social media posts. We reveal a paradox: 50% of users see AI as friends, 31% as sexual partners, and 19% as counsellors-despite knowing they confide in non-human entities. While AI companions offer synthetic, personalised affection as a 24/7 service, users oscillate between companionship and alienation, struggling with suppressed awareness of AI's artificiality. Theoretically, we frame this as a Nietzschean existential irony-the craving for emulated empathy reflects humanity's struggle for meaning in a meaningless world. Practically, we call for ethical AI design and governance that enhance human relationships rather than replace them. Designers and regulators must act now to prevent AI companions from replicating and amplifying social media's harms. The future of companionship hinges on navigating this irreconcilable irony-prioritising human flourishing over engagement with a non-human technology that is rapidly becoming all too human.
... Humans and many other animals are sensitive to geometric and topological (GT) concepts. This may be because the environment has spatial structure (Gibson 1979;Shepard 2001) and navigating this structure is important for survival (Vallortigara 2017). Thus, evolutionary processes may have ensured that understanding of GT concepts is part of infants' "core knowledge" (Spelke and Kinzler 2007). ...
AI and ML are poised to provide new insights into mathematical cognition and development. Here, we focus on the domains of geometry and topology (GT). According to one prominent developmental perspective, infants possess core knowledge of GT concepts, presumably underwritten by dedicated neural circuitry. We use the alignment between human cognition and computer vision models to evaluate an alternate proposal: that these concepts are learned “for free” through experience with the visual world. Specifically, we measure the sensitivity of five convolutional neural network (CNN) models to 43 GT concepts that aggregate into seven classes. We focus on CNNs over other architectures (e.g., vision transformers) because their neural plausibility has been established through studies mapping their layers to areas of the brain’s ventral visual stream. We find evidence that the CNNs are sensitive to some classes (e.g., Euclidean Geometry) but not others (e.g., Geometric Transformations). The models’ sensitivity is generally lower at lower layers and maximal at the final fully-connected layer. Experiments with models from the ResNet family show that increasing model depth does not necessarily increase sensitivity to GT concepts. The models’ profiles of sensitivity to the seven classes roughly align with the profile shown by humans, with ResNet-18 corresponding best to Western adults and DenseNet to Western children ages 3-6 years. This case study shows how CNNs can provide sufficiency proofs for the learnability of mathematical concepts and thus inform theoretical debates in cognitive and developmental science. These findings set the stage for future experiments with other vision model architectures.
... It introduces an AI-native workflow for integrating diverse design concepts, moving beyond replication of computational processes, to uncover the unique affordances [8] offered by these novel AI models. The methodology is trifold (Fig. 1). ...
The integration of Generative AI in architectural design offers unparalleled opportunities for design innovation, characterized by the creation of complex, nuanced semantic universes. This paper explores the convergence of AI with various design-based disciplines, aiming to reimagine the design process through a multi-layered strategy. It proposes a unique AI-native workflow for the seamless integration of diverse design concepts, with the primary goal of investigating the capabilities of Creative AI in architectural design and its potential to combine various design fields into a cohesive workflow that addresses the limitations of current generative AI models when applied in architectural design [1]. By employing a trifold methodology consisting of sequential city sections, semantic encoding, and crafting semantic universes, the project utilizes contextual 3D data from Chicago and conducts a comprehensive synthesis across nine design domains, thereby creating a rich ‘semantic universe’ that serves as the foundation for AI-driven design generation.
... For excellent introductions to dynamical systems and nonlinear dynamics, seeStrogatz (2015) (a mathematical introduction);Abraham & Shaw (1992) (a visual introduction); van Gelder (1998) (a perspective from the cognitive sciences);Kelso (1995) (coordination),(Haken, 1977) (synergetics);Gafos (2006) (phonology); and Tilsen (2019b) (an impressive application of dynamical theory to syntactic structures). For arguments against computational metaphors of mind seeGibson (1979);Carello, Turvey, Kugler et al. (1984);Spivey (2007);Chemero (2009);Barrett (2011). ...
A fundamental challenge in the cognitive sciences is discovering the dynamics that govern behaviour. Take the example of spoken language, which is characterised by a highly variable and complex set of physical movements that map onto the small set of cognitive units that comprise language. What are the fundamental dynamical principles behind the movements that structure speech production? In this study, we discover models in the form of symbolic equations that govern articulatory gestures during speech. A sparse symbolic regression algorithm is used to discover models from kinematic data on the tongue and lips. We explore these candidate models using analytical techniques and numerical simulations, and find that a second-order linear model achieves high levels of accuracy, but a nonlinear force is required to properly model articulatory dynamics in approximately one third of cases. This supports the proposal that an autonomous, nonlinear, second-order differential equation is a viable dynamical law for articulatory gestures in speech. We conclude by identifying future opportunities and obstacles in data-driven model discovery and outline prospects for discovering the dynamical principles that govern language, brain and behaviour.
... We can identify a third perspective on depression that treats it neither as a passive state of illness, nor as a judgment about the world, but rather as a strategy for engaging with the world under difficult circumstances. 3 Here, the focus is not on beliefs or judgments about the world, but on the way the depressed person perceives subjective possibilities for engaging with the world ("affordances" in the technical vocabulary of psychological theory (Gibson 2015))-or, crucially, the lack thereof. ...
Critical theorists, especially in the Frankfurt School tradition, claim that normative thought and critique arise from experiences of suffering and oppression. It seems intuitive that oppression sometimes makes people sad and angry in ways that motivate critique and resistance; yet, other times, it leads to debilitating experiences of depression, resignation, and self‐blame. Especially, in the context of our contemporary “mental health epidemic,” it is worth asking whether and how critique and resistance could possibly spring from such experiences. This paper therefore investigates the potential for experiences of depression to disclose social injustice. Drawing on phenomenological accounts of depression, I argue that it is best understood as consciousness of one's alienation from the social world—and under the right conditions, this consciousness can become politicized and lead to critique. Critical theory, here, can play a crucial role as a form of “political therapy” that supplies the hermeneutical tools for this politicization.
... These views typically conceive of a definitive single event, regardless of a state, which is reduced to a cognitive representation. By contrast, anti-representational views of consciousness propose that such a definitive representation does not exist (Koenderink, 2010;Gibson, 2014;Varela et al., 2017;Schlicht and Starzak, 2021). While the precise reasoning behind the latter views is not the same, the QQ hypothesis shares the same conclusion. ...
To arbitrate theories of consciousness, scientists need to understand mathematical structures of quality of consciousness, or qualia. The dominant view regards qualia as points in a dimensional space. This view implicitly assumes that qualia can be measured without any effect on them. This contrasts with intuitions and empirical findings to show that by means of internal attention qualia can change when they are measured. What is a proper mathematical structure for entities that are affected by the act of measurement? Here we propose the mathematical structure used in quantum theory, in which we consider qualia as “observables” (i.e., entities that can, in principle, be observed), sensory inputs and internal attention as “states” that specify the context that a measurement takes place, and “measurement outcomes” with probabilities that qualia observables take particular values. Based on this mathematical structure, the Quantum-like Qualia (QQ) hypothesis proposes that qualia observables interact with the world, as if through an interface of sensory inputs and internal attention. We argue that this qualia-interface-world scheme has the same mathematical structure as observables-states-environment in quantum theory. Moreover, within this structure, the concept of a “measurement instrument” in quantum theory can precisely model how measurements affect qualia observables and states. We argue that QQ naturally explains known properties of qualia and predicts that qualia are sometimes indeterminate. Such predictions can be empirically determined by the presence of order effects or violations of Bell inequalities. Confirmation of such predictions substantiates our overarching claim that the mathematical structure of QQ will offer novel insights into the nature of consciousness.
... In fact, this adaptive behavior may stem from players' intentions to dynamically explore the environment and create space, allowing more time for decision-making and action exploration. These findings align with ecological theory of perception (Gibson, 1986), which posits that exploratory movements are fundamental to perceiving affordances and adapting to the game environment. Furthermore, these results are consistent with previous research (Coutinho et al., 2018), which shows a relationship between improved SEI and creativity after a 10-week practice intervention. ...
Introduction
This study examined the effects of video-based priming interventions on youth football players’ performance prior to playing small-sided games (SSG).
Methods
Twenty-four U14 players (age: 13.8 ± 0.4 years, football experience of 7.5 ± 2.3 years) participated in three conditions: (i) CONTROL (no priming), (ii) OFFENSIVE priming (a 4-minute video on progressive possession style leading to goals), and (iii) CREATIVE priming (a 4-minute video emphasizing innovative passes, dribbles, and shots). Tactical and physical performance were assessed using GPS devices, individual tactical performance using the Game Performance Evaluation Tool (GPET), and performance creativity using the CREATIVE Behavior Assessment in Team Sports (CBATS). Data were compared using the non-parametric Friedman ANOVA test.
Results
The OFFENSIVE condition demonstrated reduced variability in distances to teammates (X² = 7.00, p = 0.030), and increased overall external load compared to the CONTROL condition. Superior decision-making (X² = 18.6, p < 0.001) and execution (X² = 13.2, p = 0.001) in passing actions compared to both the control and creative conditions were observed. The CREATIVE condition promoted increased spatial exploration (X² = 6.10, p = 0.047), and more frequent shooting attempts (X² = 7.05, p = 0.029) compared to the CONTROL and OFFENSIVE conditions, and greater variability in distances to opponents compared to the CONTROL condition (X² = 9.75, p = 0.008).
Discussion
These findings demonstrate that video-based priming can influence tactical, technical, and creative behaviors in SSG. Coaches can leverage offensive priming to improve structured passing and positioning, while creative priming may inspire exploratory movements and innovative shooting attempts.
... Furthermore, since a teacher's use of varying content representations can be understood in terms of the affordances of the environment (see, e.g., Gibson, 2015), we choose to view the interplay between teachers' knowledge and beliefs about technology education, content representations, and the materials as a part of teachers' personal PCK. ...
Research has shown that even though technology educators promote hands-on work over theory, their premise for teaching the subject varies immensely. Scholars suggest that such differences may lead to students losing interest in the subject. Therefore, this study explores relationships between technology teachers’ education, their teaching strategies, and the material preconditions for teaching the subject. Based on a questionnaire (N = 54), the study shows that technology teachers use textbooks to support planning teaching and supplement practical work or learning activities for the students. Furthermore, the results indicate that teachers have access to either specialised classrooms and materials for teaching or classrooms and equipment that have been adapted to suit technology education. Moreover, the results show apparent differences between upper primary and secondary education. In all, the study concludes that inexperienced teachers can use textbooks to potentially compensate for lack of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and that the material preconditions for technology teaching are of great importance for how technology teachers may develop their PCK. Lastly, we argue that it is crucial for future research to explore classroom practice in terms of technology teachers’ potential PCK and how that is enacted in interaction with the environment – i.e., teachers’ contextual knowledge.
... The theory of affordances posits that human cognition and behavior are shaped by the affordances provided by objects, the environment, and social situations (Gibson, 1979). This implies a direct interaction and adaptability between humans and their surroundings, as well as the relationship between psychological cognitive mechanisms in human behavior and the environment. ...
Purpose
Nonaka’s SECI (Socialization-Externalization-Combination-Internalization) model and Ba theory have been dominant frameworks in knowledge management (KM) for decades, but less attention is given to their revolutionary changes in the era of human-intelligence interaction. Thus, this study aims to explore the profound impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on conventional SECI model and Ba theory.
Design/methodology/approach
This study integrates systematic literature review (LDA) and abductive reasoning as research design to analyze the existing literature (12,075 results from Web of Science Core Collection) to find research gap and potential clues for proceeding our study and future research direction.
Findings
This study reconstructs and reinterprets the AI-based SECI model and AI-enabled Ba. Specifically, it reimagines knowledge forms and functions, establishing a new paradigm for the AI-based SECI model through the dimensions of socialization, externalization, combination and internalization. Additionally, it examines knowledge-driven pathways via perceptual, cognitive and behavioral intelligence. It further develops AI-enabled Ba to conduct an in-depth analysis of knowledge sharing and creation, aligning these processes with an updated Ba framework. Notably, it replaces the traditional Dialoguing Ba with Interpretation Ba and the Systemizing Ba with Decision-making Ba. It introduces the concept of “AI-based knowledge force” and proposes a method for measuring its influence in the rising knowledge spiral. It also conceptualizes the basis and nature of human-intelligence symbiosis, emphasizing the shift from a human-centric to a human-intelligence relationship. The theory of affordances is employed to explore the relational dynamics in terms of the existence, perception, actualization and effects of affordances. Meanwhile, the doctrine of the mean is used to illuminate the nature of the relationship across technological and content dimensions.
Practical implications
The findings inspire managers and decision-makers to adopt various AI-based strategies to accelerate knowledge transformation, thereby enhancing the overall AI-based knowledge force in human decision-making. These strategies can help rationally manage and innovate knowledge to boost knowledge reserves, as well as promote the development of AI technologies related to knowledge creation.
Originality/value
This study leverages AI tool to reconstruct the conventional SECI model and Ba theory by establishing the AI-based SECI model and AI-enabled Ba, revealing the complete knowledge conversion process and its underlying mechanisms. It broadens the application of the theory of affordances and the doctrine of the mean in the knowledge creation literature, highlighting the relational basis and nature of human-intelligence symbiosis among humans, AI tools and the knowledge environment. As a result, our findings emphasize the need for synergistic collaboration between artificial agents and humans in KM.
Heritage Language (HL) has been used as an umbrella definition to cover different facets of non-official/dominant languages (i.e., non-English in North America) within communities. Overall heritage language proficiency is highly related to literacy and general cognitive development. In America’s Deep South statest like Alabama, the three largest heritage languages are Spanish, Chinese, and Gujarati. Despite some parental investment and little governmental support in HL programs and schooling, most K-16 heritage language learners have a disparity between oracy, literacy, and overall HL proficiency. To remedy this discrepancy, we explore how generative AI provides Chinese Heritage Language (CHL) learners with tailored real-time feedback and observe how their literacy level changes with different social entities. By examining the influences of social-cultural factors on HL learners, we aspire to augment our comprehension regarding the efficacy of pedagogical modalities in equipping them to acquire advanced literacy. Surveys will be administered to evaluate participants’ familial, educational, and communal backgrounds, level of proficiency in HL, and attitudes toward AI models. ChatGPT3.5-4o will generate reading materials, with Prompt Engineering Techniques (PET) and Prompt-engineered Leading Protocols (PLP) designed for CHL learners at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. To investigate the motivations to use AI and its impact on language learning, this study invites participants to engage in a six-month HL study by following pre-trained prompts and interacting with ChatGPT with the intensity, frequency, and duration specified by the learning protocol. Students’ and parents’ reports, periodic progress assessments, AI usage reports, and electrophysiological measurement (EEG) will be collected at the study’s initial, middle, and end times. This project will hold significant implications for AI tools’ role in bridging resource gaps in literacy and cognitive development in underserved communities.
While recent crises have given social psychologists a chance to reflect on the values embedded within the very structure of their discipline, few have sought to interrogate in any systematic fashion the basic assumptions that guide social psychological research and practice. It is here that Marxism is in a unique position to illuminate the complex relationship between the discipline of social psychology and the economic structure of modern society. Drawing on Marx’s analysis of commodity fetishism, it becomes possible to view social psychology not as a research program for disclosing universal features of social reality but rather as a manifestation of a historically specific organization of the social relations of production.
Sport coaching offers a unique setting that requires a particular artistry of understanding bodies, skills, and relations between time, space, and movement. Through employing a phenomenological attitude, this article tries to think through the fundamental, yet commonplace question of “What is it like?” in sport coaching. What follows, then, is our attempt to demonstrate how phenomenological thought can connect to practice-orientated research in the form of phenomenology for coaching (i.e., grasping the lived, embodied, sensory experiences of athletes) and phenomenology of coaching (i.e., understanding the experiences of standing, watching, influencing, and doing coaching). To do so, we take constraints-led approach and Foucauldian-inspired analysis as two examples to think through. The ambition is to show how coaches both implicitly and explicitly deal with bodily knowledge in their day-to-day coaching practice in a way that can enrich existing literature and understanding in coaching.
Les auteurs réfléchissent à l’essence de la guérison et considèrent les compétences relationnelles de soin et de traitement au cœur du processus de guérison. Elles se concentrent sur le praticien plutôt que sur le client et donnent comme illustration une supervision de groupe au cours de laquelle un exercice de pleine conscience entraîne un changement significatif de perspective et de position chez les praticiens.Les auteurs identifient des liens féconds entre la psychologie bouddhiste et les débuts de l’analyse transactionnelle, à l’époque où Éric Berne a souligné l’importance de l’intuition du thérapeute et de sa présence mentale. La question qui se pose au « Martien » est de savoir comment dire bonjour correctement. Les auteures se demandent si et comment une attitude de pleine conscience peut offrir une réponse possible. Elles décrivent ensuite une retraite de pleine conscience comme une occasion de cultiver la présence mentale, d’accueillir l’incertitude et de développer la compassion et l’attention à soi, car elles considèrent que ces capacités sont les plus appropriées pour favoriser la guérison. Elles étudient également des questions critiques concernant la pleine conscience et la psychothérapie.
This paper explores physical affordances – features and practices supporting activity – and scrutinises their accessibility to promote principle-led equity in movement. By examining how being active underpins capabilities essential for living well, a holistic perspective on using ‘self-space’ and surrounding space is presented. In line with the World Health Organization’s (2021) mandate for fairness in physical activity programming, a justice-oriented leadership approach across health and education is emphasised. The application of JEDI principles (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) to physical movement highlights constructs of autonomy and agency, enabling individuals to make choices and act to invoke change (Virenque and Mossio, 2024). The concept of ‘constraints’ is extended from therapeutic roots (Taub et al., 1993) to adaptive movement facilitation (Newell, 1986). Constraints-informed pedagogies enhance embodied learning, fostering autonomy through interactive movement generation in physical education (Renshaw and Chow, 2018). Being well is understood as a composite of physical, cognitive, and emotional health. It is recognised as a complex yet integral construct (Spratt, 2016; Ryff, 2014). Physical activity is shown to significantly influence health behaviours, encompassing mental and physical wellbeing (Liu et al., 2024). This paper offers means to facilitate fair ways towards children's healthy active living.
War is often viewed through the lens of strategy, statecraft, and technological progress. However, both war and violence in general are deeply rooted in social and cultural frameworks.
From Mesolithic conflicts to Early Modern naval warfare, this interdisciplinary anthology explores the practice and perception of various forms of violence in past societies, revealing patterns that prompt reflection on modern assumptions about war. Blending insights from Conflict Archaeology and War Studies, the work underscores the critical value of material culture in understanding the complexities of warfare, both theoretically and methodologically.
For Conflict Archaeology and war scholars, this work advances a perspective that situates violence and warfare within broader social and cultural contexts, emphasizing that war is more than just tactics and technology – it is a social reality embedded in both human action and material culture.
Space shapes the people who inhabit it. Therefore, it follows that learning spaces affect the way we teach STEM in higher education. In this chapter, we argue that teachers’ use of the physical learning space in higher education settings may support active learning if they engage in a Creative Pragmatic process of reflecting and experimenting. The use of the physical space, however, requires the enactment of spatial competence focused on teaching and learning spaces; therefore, we describe what it means to be spatially competent in a teaching and learning situation. We then present cases where spatial competence is played out and provide examples of how a space can be manipulated to enhance active learning. Last, we give examples of how teachers can be helped to develop spatial competence by creating opportunities for dialogue on space in learning. As the cases and examples show, space, people and learning are intertwined and complex, but with this chapter we hope to inspire teachers to engage in Creative Pragmatics by planning, conducting and reflecting on how to use the classroom for teaching active learning in STEM.
This chapter bridges studies on artefact design, creative learning, and mathematics education by exploring a concrete case on a booklet design process adhering to the principles of Creative Pragmatics. The interpretation of the case is based on the first author’s autoethnographic account of her iterative, reflective, collaborative, and creative learning process surrounding the design. The three rounds of user tests gave insights into the further design of the booklet, and more broadly into the design of artefact-mediated creative learning environments in mathematics education and STEM education. Based on this, we recognize the affordance of an artefact as a complex phenomenon; we also reflect on the importance of artefacts in mediating creative learning environments associated with playful learning; and by discussing values of art, we bring inspiration to future mathematics and STEM education.
The burgeoning interest in Virtual Reality (VR) extends even to non-profit organizations, harnessing the immersive powers of VR for pro-social advocacy. VR User Experience (UX) offers unique affordances such as immersion, presence, and embodiment, engaging human senses more profoundly than conventional media channels. Empirical studies underscore VR's potential to heighten awareness, evoke empathy, and stimulate prosocial and parasocial thought-action tendencies in response to perspective-taking scenarios. In our systematic review, we examined 66 records from an initial screening of 7026 studies. Our research inquiries encompassed an exploration of the existing typology of prosocial outcomes studied in VR Perspective Taking (VRPT) literature, the identification of specific technology affordances acting as mediators, and studying how these distinct technological affordances interplay within the context of VRPT-mediated prosocial behaviors. Results indicate that VRPT empowers users to adopt diverse perspectives, from first-person immersion to third-person sympathetic engagement, with technology affordances playing a key role in mediating a positive UX. This review substantially advances our understanding of the intricate relationship between perspective-taking, technology affordances and prosocial user behaviors within the domain of VRPT research.
In Chapter 7, the reader is invited to understand that the capacity to see the world in three dimensions, that is, of perceiving depth, is based on the availability and contribution of several cues. The main cues for perceiving depth could be based on binocular viewing (e.g., retinal disparity), or monocular viewing (e.g., occlusion or perspective). A mechanism called perceptual constancy, by which almost everything seems to maintain basic characteristics, is then explained. An outstanding question is whether or not size constancy requires distance to be taken into account. An old experimental attempt for responding to the question, that reported by Holway and Boring, is described. The last part of the chapter is dedicated to special cases, optical illusions, where an observer is misled by the cues contained in a visual scene. Several illusions are described, emphasizing the case of the moon illusion and the interpretation of it proposed by Kaufman and Rock.
This paper starts out from a radical embodied analysis of German modals. The merit of this proposal is that it provides a framework for the conceptualization of these constructions as part of a broader continuity between perception, memory and consciousness. According to the interpretation and defense of this view offered here, I will argue that modal events in German are constructed as instances of the embodied information encoded by specific constructional attachment patterns. The results of the corpus study in the latter part of the paper reveal that syntactic content (rather than lexical information alone) is crucial for the reduction of both surprise and entropy, as it reflects cognitive processes associated with affordance mapping and the speakers' need to increase epistemic capital. This shows that humans make use of stored perceptual maps, the combination of which allows us to construct and manipulate complex event representations.
Translated by Pedro Vaz. Original paper published on INSAM – Journal of Contemporary Music, Art and Technology No. 4, Vol. I, July 2020, pp. 24-42. Será que algum dia as máquinas poderão tomar nosso lugar na criação de arte e, particularmente, de música? Os excelentes resultados de algumas Ias1 conhecidas (por exemplo, EMI2, Flow Machines3) podem nos fazer acreditar que sim. Entretanto, apesar dessas evidências, parece que as máquinas apresentam alguns limites intrínsecos, tanto em contextos criativos quanto não criativos (já destacados por John Searle e pelo debate sobre mecanismo). Os argumentos deste artigo estão centrados exatamente nessa crença: estamos convencidos de que as afirmações utópicas sobre a inteligência total das máquinas não são plausíveis e que nossa atenção deve ser direcionada para questões mais relevantes no campo da criatividade computacional. Em particular, concentramos nossa atenção no que chamamos de "questão do corpo", ou seja, o papel do corpo na experiência e na criação de música, que consideramos problemático para a ideia de uma máquina verdadeiramente criativa (mesmo se levarmos em consideração versões mais fracas da inteligência artificial). Nosso argumento baseia-se em descobertas contemporâneas da neurociência (especialmente sobre cognição incorporada) e nas teorias de Maurice Merleau-Ponty e Roland Barthes.
With the development of urban construction, viaducts have become a key solution to traffic issues and an integral part of urban space. The large number of viaducts have created many under-bridge spaces whose landscapes have a great impact on the public’s psychology and behavior. Different travel modes offer varying perspectives, speeds, and spatial perceptions, influencing the public’s visual preference for under-bridge space landscapes. At present, most existing studies on landscape preference are conducted from the perspective of pedestrians, and quite little has been done about how the public’s landscape preference for the under-bridge space varies in terms of different travel modes. This study is the first to compare travel mode preferences in under-bridge spaces, with the landscape under the viaduct of six representative cities in China as the research object, this study set five landscape features, namely, plant coverage, number of plant species, plant vertical structure, number of plant colors, and vertical greening of bridge columns. Photo stimulation method was used to conduct experiments with the public in the three travel modes, namely, walking, cycling, and car driving. On this basis, this study explored the influence of the five landscape features on the visual preference assessment rendered by the public in different travel modes. The results show that the above five landscape features all exert an important impact on the public’s visual preference assessment. The landscape with high plant coverage, 3–4 plant species, moderate vertical structure of plants, 3–4 plant colors and bridge columns with vertical greening is more popular among the public. The public in different travel modes renders different visual preferences for the under-bridge space landscape. This study provides valuable help for the under-bridge space landscape design.
TikTok is rapidly establishing itself as an important platform for contemporary digital
journalism but explorations on its transnational journalistic usage thus far remain
limited in size and scope. Hence, this explorative study adopts a digital methods
approach to collect and assess 26,473 TikTok videos posted by 91 European news
outlets between 2019 and 2022. Rooted conceptually in affordance and hybridity
theory and methodologically in digital methods, the study theorizes digital production
trends by drawing on a proposed typology of visual, hashtags, and auditory affordances. News outlets studied adhere to visual and hashtag affordances, but much less so to auditory ones.
This paper investigates prelinguistic perception and its cognitive conditions by discussing four key concepts: Umwelt (Jakob von Uexküll), affordance (James J. Gibson), semiosis (Charles S. Peirce), and knowledge (Karl R. Popper). While these theoretical approaches all address the informational relationship between organism and environment, we argue for a reciprocally delimited understanding of their domains. We posit that these concepts describe distinct, potentially hierarchically nested, strata or levels of reality. Umwelt focuses on the subjective and species-specific world of an organism, emphasizing perceptual and behavioral capacities that can be described by physiological coding mechanisms. Affordances, conversely, highlight objective functional possibilities inherent in the environment for a particular organism. Semiosis encompasses noncoded (and therefore intraspecific) associations, which we link to psychological learning capacities. Knowledge is produced by trial-and-error processes that select between cognitive variations, whether physiological or psychological in nature. By extracting or restructuring the essential elements of these concepts, we aim to: (1) unpack their originality in comprehending nonlinguistic perception and cognition; (2) explore potential interactions and overlaps between the processes they describe; and (3) integrate these diverging concepts within the framework of learning and adaptative processes. This integrated info-semio-epistemic approach will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how organisms perceive, interpret, and adapt to their environments.
Purpose
Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is common in cirrhosis, leading to cognitive impairment and eye-hand coordination (EHC) alterations. Hyperammonemia plays a key role in MHE, contributing to motor and cognitive deficits. Elevated blood ammonia levels and impaired EHC correlate with neuropsychiatric dysfunction, yet their direct impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is complex. This study examines the associations between blood ammonia, EHC, and HRQoL, and the moderating influence of sex on these associations.
Methods
Eighty-seven cirrhotic patients (67 male) and 23 healthy volunteers (11 male), aged 44–80 years, performed the Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES) for MHE diagnosis, the Vienna Test System, bimanual and visuomotor tests, and completed the SF-36 questionnaire to measure HRQoL. Blood samples were taken to test ammonia levels.
Results
Results indicated a significant association between elevated blood ammonia and impaired EHC among cirrhotic patients. However, increased blood ammonia and EHC did not directly predict HRQoL. Moderated moderation analysis revealed that women with MHE showed greater sensitivity to hyperammonemia and EHC deficits in tasks requiring fine motor control and stability skills (aiming, tapping, and bimanual coordination), which were linked to lower HRQoL in both physical and mental domains. In women without MHE, alterations in linear tracking were linked to worse HRQoL. These effects were not observed in men.
Conclusions
The findings underscore the sex-specific impacts of MHE, with women disproportionately affected by ammonia-related motor impairments and their subsequent influence on HRQoL. These results could contribute to developing targeted strategies to improve outcomes in this vulnerable population.
According to UN-Habitat and the World Health Organization, it is estimated that
by 2050, 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, with 22% being
60 years of age or older. Neurourbanism, an interdisciplinary field, studies how
urban environments affect the brain and human behavior, integrating knowledge
from neuroscience, psychology, urbanism and architecture to understand the
interactions between the built environment and cognitive, emotional and social
functions. Following the method of integrative literature review on neurourbanism,
“aging-in-place” and sensory image, the aim is to investigate the main urban factors
that influence healthy aging, considering the sensory experiences of the elderly
population. The convergence of this knowledge seeks to assist in the development
of urban interventions responsive to healthy aging. As a result, although there is
growing recognition of the importance of sensory experiences mediated by urban
atmospheres, it is necessary to consider the active participation of elderly people
in the development of walkable, welcoming and safe city projects for the urban
population.
In this article, I provide an account that rejects the claim that there is a fundamental dichotomy between our subjective mental domain and the objective external world. I will work with the premise that both belong to a single cohering set of natural processes, following what I will call full naturalism. Full naturalism accepts that subjective mental phenomena are intrinsically natural phenomena. This includes any epistemological repercussions for naturalism itself, which becomes partly dependent on subjective points of view. The article will apply the notion of full naturalism to an influential view within the cognitive and neurosciences, which I call conceptual dualism. Though this view accepts naturalism, it maintains a conceptual separation between a mental and a natural domain. In contrast, I develop an interpretation where subjective points of view and their worlds become extended, intertwined configurations. Some relevant ideas can be derived from fields like phenomenology. However, to develop this more in the direction of full naturalism, I discuss an approach to early animal evolution that provides a way to understand such intertwining processes at a more basic level. In this way, having a subjective point of view can be cast as a specific, evolved biological phenomenon.
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Grounded in the theory of interactive media effects, this study conceptualizes consumer reactions to augmented reality (AR) advertising through the development of the AR Advertising Effects Framework. It theorizes that AR advertising, driven by its core and common affordances, impacts consumers via a dual-pathway mechanism of action and cue routes. The article further explores how these pathways affect consumer engagement and perception, while accounting for the moderating role of advertising creative strategy elements including advertising content, advertising consuming context, advertising targeting, and product attributes. The article concludes with a discussion on future research directions in AR advertising.
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