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L’effetto di compatibilità spaziale meta-risposta (M-R) è emerso in contesti sperimentali in cui la meta era la conseguenza visibile della risposta del partecipante o la conseguenza visibile del movimento di uno stimolo sul monitor. Questa ricerca estende lo studio della compatibilità spaziale M-R esaminando il ruolo dell’immaginazione nella manifestazione dell’effetto. È stato, condotto un esperimento in cui ai partecipanti è stata mostrata l’immagine statica di un’azione di attacco nel gioco della pallavolo ed è stato chiesto loro di immaginare il punto di arrivo del pallone al termine dell’azione. Nonostante la meta fosse la conseguenza immaginata di un’azione suggerita dallo stimolo, i risultati hanno mostrato un effetto di compatibilità spaziale M-R suggerendo nuove prospettive nello studio di questo effetto. Previous research showed a Spatial Response-Effect Compatibility effect when participants were presented with the actual consequence triggered by their response or with the one ensuing from the movement of a stimulus on the monitor. The present study extends these findings by examining the role of imagination in the occurrence of the effect. Participants were shown the image of a volleyball superimposed on a hand and were asked to press one of two lateralized keys according to the side (right or left) they assumed the ball would end up. Even if participants were instructed only to imagine the consequences of the depicted action, we found a Spatial Response-Effect Compatibility, suggesting new perspectives on this interesting effect.

Background: The Meeting Centres Support Programme (MCSP) offers a combined approach to providing practical, emotional and social support to people living with mild to moderately severe dementia and their family carers in the community. Methods: A mixed methods explanatory design was used. The evaluation took place within the framework of the international Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) – MEETINGDEM study in nine Meeting Centres in Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom. Eighty-seven people with dementia and 81 family carers completed a user evaluation survey after three months and 83 people with dementia and 84 carers after 6 months of participation in MCSP. Thirty-two people with dementia and 30 carers took part in focus groups after nine months. Results: The percentage of people with dementia who were very satisfied with the programme increased significantly over time (p = 0.05). The majority of carers reported that they felt less burdened after three months of participation in MCSP (48.1% much less; 35.4% a little less). After six months, this percentage increased significantly to 91% (p = 0.04, 57.7% much less; 33.3% little less). Focus group analysis showed that people with dementia and carers in all countries/centres improved their ability to maintain emotional balance. Conclusions: The MCSP is highly appreciated by people with dementia and carers in all countries and it confirms the results of previous research into MCSP in the Netherlands. Our findings indicate that MCSP is a model that can help its users to increase their capacity to deal with the challenges caused by dementia and can promote emotional balance.

Objectives: This is the first study to focus on the role and impact of a psychosocial intervention, the Meeting Centre Support Programme (MCSP), for people living with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) on the experience of stigmatisation across three different European countries. Method: A pre/post-test control group study design compared outcomes for 114 people with dementia (n=74) and MCI (n=40) in Italy, Poland and the UK who received either the MCSP or usual care (UC). The ‘Stigma Impact Scale, neurological disease’ (SIS) was administered at two points in time, 6 months apart. The Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) was used to assess the level of cognitive impairment. Results: Although statistical analysis did not show any significant differences between MCSP and UC at pre/post-test for the 3 countries combined, there were significant results for individual countries. In Italy, the level of SIS was significantly lower (p=0.02) in the MCSP group following the intervention. The level of Social Isolation increased significantly (p=0.05) in the UC group at follow-up in Poland. The level of Social Rejection was significantly higher (p=0.03) over time for UK participants receiving MCSP compared to UC. Conclusion: The experience of stigma by people living with dementia and MCI is complex and there may be different country specific contexts and mechanisms. The results do not enable us to confirm or disconfirm the impact of a social support programme, such as MCSP, on this experience. Difficulties in directly measuring the level of stigma in this group also requires further research.

We examined the costs and cost-effectiveness of the Meeting Centre Support Programme (MCSP) implemented and piloted in the UK, Poland and Italy, replicating the Dutch Meeting Centre model. Dutch Meeting Centres combine day services for people with dementia with carer support. Data were collected over 2015–2016 from MCSP and usual care (UC) participants (people with dementia-carer dyads) at baseline and 6 months. We examined participants’ health and social care (HSC), and societal costs, including Meeting Centre (MC) attendances. Costs and outcomes in MCSP and UC groups were compared. Primary outcomes: Persons with dementia: quality-adjusted life years (EQ-5D-5L-derived); QOL-AD. DQoL was examined as a secondary outcome. Carers: Short Sense of Competence Questionnaire (SSCQ). Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves were obtained by bootstrapping outcome and cost regression estimates. Eighty-three MCSP and 69 UC dyads were analysed. The 6-month cost of providing MCSP was €4,703; participants with dementia attended MC a mean of 45 times and carers 15 times. Including intervention costs, adjusted 6-month HSC costs were €5,941higher in MCSP than in UC. From the HSC perspective: in terms of QALY, the probability of cost-effectiveness was zero over willingness-to-pay (WTP) ranging from €0 to €350,000. On QOL-AD, the probability of cost-effectiveness of MCSP was 50% at WTP of €5,000 for a one-point increase. A one-point gain in the DQoL positive affect subscale had a probability of cost-effectiveness of 99% at WTP over €8,000. On SSCQ, no significant difference was found between MCSP and UC. Evidence for cost-effectiveness of MCSP was mixed but suggests that it may be cost-effective in relation to gains in dementia-specific quality of life measures. MCs offer effective tailored post-diagnostic support services to both people with dementia and carers in a context where few evidence-based alternatives to formal home-based social services may be available.

Enactive and embodied approaches to cognition are becoming increasingly interested in the affective dimension of human experience. Consistently, this issue has been addressed in empirical research, which is paying growing attention to the affective quality of social contexts by addressing motor simulations, joint actions, emotional disorders, and body psychotherapy. Still, while in the relationship between two or more agents the involvement of the affective variable, even when uninvestigated, is intrinsically evoked, in the case of the agent-object relationship the recognition of such engagement requires more specific care. In laboratory-based studies, when dealing with an object and an observer, the practical opportunities that she is able to perceive and use have been mainly operationalized referring to visual manipulable properties of the object, as shape and orientation, associated with its canonical use. Progressively empirical research introduced, and manipulated, also the physical context, and the required responses, distinguishing between functional and volumetric gestures. Are these ‘affordances’? Strictly speaking no, as these accounts clash with direct perception, but they are undoubtedly elegant approaches suitable for outlining answers (also) to most questions of ecological psychology. In light of the heated debate on affordances between philosophers and cognitive scientists, we propose to draw upon literature in both fields as our aim is twofold. (1) Exploring the great absentee of empirical investigations conducted so far: the affective dimension of perception-action coupling of our relationship with the physical context. To this end a clarification of the philosophical concept of ‘affective affordance’ would be essential. (2) Specifying some criteria of definition for this construct and suggesting an analysis of AAs in its application to the individual human agent’s practice – for our proposal to be not only theoretical, but suitable for experimental investigation, promoting a constructive dialogue between philosophy and empirical psychology.

Objectives: The MEETINGDEM research project aimed to implement the combined Dutch Meeting Centre Support Programme (MCSP) for community-dwelling people with dementia and caregivers within Italy, Poland and UK and to assess whether comparable benefits were found in these countries as in the Netherlands. Method: Nine pilot Meeting Centres (MCs) participated (Italy-5, Poland-2, UK-2). Effectiveness of MCSP was compared to usual care (UC) on caregiver outcomes measuring competence (SSCQ), mental health (GHQ-12), emotional distress (NPI-Q) and loneliness (UCLA) analysed by ANCOVAs in a 6-month pre-test/post-test controlled trial. Interviews using standardised measures were completed with caregivers. Results: Pre/post data were collected for 93 caregivers receiving MCSP and 74 receiving UC. No statistically significant differences on the outcome measures were found overall. At a country level MC caregivers in Italy showed significant better general mental health (p = 0.04, d = 0.55) and less caregiver distress (p = 0.02, d = 0.62) at post-test than the UC group. Caregiver satisfaction was rated on a sample at 3 months (n = 81) and 6 months (n = 84). The majority of caregivers reported feeling less burdened and more supported by participating in MCSP. Conclusion: The moderate positive effect on sense of competence and the greater mental health benefit for lonely caregivers using the MCSP compared to UC as found in the original Dutch studies were not replicated. However, subject to study limitations, caregivers in Italy using MCSP benefitted more regarding their mental health and emotional distress than caregivers using UC. Further evaluation of the benefits of MCSP within these countries in larger study samples is recommended.

The aim of this study was to explore the neural correlates of the automatic activation of gender stereotypes by using the masked and unmasked priming technique. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants were presented with an Italian third-person singular pronoun (lui or lei) that were preceded by either a grammatically-marked (e.g., passeggeraFEM, pensionatoMASC) or stereotypically-associated (e.g., insegnanteFEM, conducenteMASC) role noun. Participants were required to judge the grammatical gender of the personal pronoun ignoring the preceding word. This word was presented in a masked or unmasked way. The results revealed slower reaction times and larger N400, in both the masked and unmasked conditions, when the pronouns were preceded by gender-incongruent than gender-congruent grammatical and stereotypical primes. A P300 effect also emerged in both masked and unmasked conditions for the grammatical gender mismatch between the antecedent and the pronoun. These results provide evidence that gender stereotypes can strongly influence our behavior even under unconscious conditions.

Background:In the MEETINGDEM project, the Meeting Centers Support Program (MCSP) was adaptively implemented and evaluated in three European countries: Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom. The aim of this study was to investigate overall and country-specific facilitators and barriers to the implementation of MCSP in these European countries.Methods:A qualitative multiple case study design was used. Based on the theoretical model of adaptive implementation, a checklist was composed of potential facilitators and barriers to the implementation of MCSP. This checklist was administered among stakeholders involved in the implementation of MCSP to trace the experienced facilitators and barriers. Twenty-eight checklists were completed.Results:Main similarities between countries were related to the presence of suitable staff, management, and a project manager, and the fact that the MCSP is attuned to needs and wishes of people with dementia and informal caregivers. Main differences between countries were related to: communication with potential referrers, setting up an inter-organizational collaboration network, receiving support of national organizations, having clear discharge criteria for the MCSP and continuous PR in the region.Conclusion:The results of this study provide insight into generic and country specific factors that can influence the implementation of MCSP in different European countries. This study informs further implementation and dissemination of MCSP in Europe and may also serve as an example for the dissemination and implementation of other effective psychosocial support interventions for people with dementia and their informal caregivers across and beyond Europe.

Objectives: MEETINGDEM investigated whether the Dutch Meeting Centres Support Programme (MCSP) could be implemented in Italy, Poland, and the UK with comparable benefits. This paper reports on the impact on people living with dementia attending pilot Meeting Centres in the 3 countries.\ud Methods: Nine pilot Meeting Centres (MCs) participated (Italy—5, Poland—2, UK—2). Effec- tiveness of MCSP was compared with Usual Care (UC) on outcomes measuring behavioural and psychological symptoms (NPI), depression (CSDD), and quality of life (DQoL, QOL‐AD), analysed by ANCOVAs in a 6‐month pre‐test/post‐test controlled trial.\ud Results: Pre/post data were collected for 85 people with dementia and 93 carers (MCSP) and 74 people with dementia /carer dyads' receiving UC. MCSP showed significant positive effects for DQoL [Self‐esteem (F = 4.8, P = 0.03); Positive Affect (F = 14.93, P < 0.00); Feelings of Belong- ing (F = 7.77, P = 0.01)] with medium and large effect sizes. Higher attendance levels correlated with greater neuropsychiatric symptom reduction (rho = 0.24, P = 0.03) and a greater increase in feelings of support (rho = 0.36, P = 0.001).\ud Conclusions: MCSPs showed significant wellbeing and health benefits compared with UC, building on the evidence of effectiveness from the Netherlands. In addition to the previously reported successful implementation of MCSP in Italy, Poland, and the UK, these findings suggest that further international dissemination of MCSP is recommended.

concepts ("freedom") differ from concrete ones ("cat"), as they do not have a bounded, identifiable, and clearly perceivable referent. The way in which abstract concepts are represented has recently become a topic of intense debate, especially because of the spread of the embodied approach to cognition. Within this framework concepts derive their meaning from the same perception, motor, and emotional systems that are involved in online interaction with the world. Most of the evidence in favor of this view, however, has been gathered with regard to concrete concepts. Given the relevance of abstract concepts for higher-order cognition, we argue that being able to explain how they are represented is a crucial challenge that any theory of cognition needs to address. The aim of this article is to offer a critical review of the latest theories on abstract concepts, focusing on embodied ones. Starting with theories that question the distinction between abstract and concrete concepts, we review theories claiming that abstract concepts are grounded in metaphors, in situations and introspection, and in emotion. We then introduce multiple representation theories, according to which abstract concepts evoke both sensorimotor and linguistic information. We argue that the most promising approach is given by multiple representation views that combine an embodied perspective with the recognition of the importance of linguistic and social experience. We conclude by discussing whether or not a single theoretical framework might be able to explain all different varieties of abstract concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record

Choice reaction tasks are performed faster when stimulus location corresponds to response location (Simon effect). This spatial stimulus-response compatibility effect affects performance at the level of action planning and execution. However, when response selection is completed before movement initiation, the Simon effect arises only at the planning level. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether when a precocious response selection is requested, the Simon effect can be detected on the kinematics characterizing the online control phase of a non-ballistic movement. Participants were presented with red or green colored squares, which could appear on the right, left, above, or below a central cross. Depending on the square's color, participants had to release one of two buttons (right/left), then reach toward and press a corresponding lateral pad. We found evidence of the Simon effect on both action planning and on-line control. Moreover, the investigation of response conflict at the level of previous trials (i.e., n-1), a factor that might determine interference at the level of the current response, revealed a conflict adaptation process across trials. Results are discussed in terms of current theories concerned with the Simon effect and the distinction between action planning and control.

Knowing whether an object is owned and by whom is essential to avoid costly conflicts. We hypothesize that everyday interactions around objects are influenced by a minimal sense of object ownership grounded on respect of possession. In particular, we hypothesize that tracking object ownership can be influenced by any cue that predicts the establishment of individual physical control over objects. To test this hypothesis we used an indirect method to determine whether visual cues of physical control like spatial proximity to an object, temporal priority in seeing it, and touching it influence this minimal sense of object ownership. In Experiment 1 participants were shown a neutral object located on a table, in the reaching space of one of two characters. In Experiment 2 one character was the first to find the object then another character appeared and saw the object. In Experiments 3 and 4, spatial proximity, temporal priority, and touch are pitted against each other to assess their relative weight. After having seen the scenes, participants were required to judge the sensibility of sentences in which ownership of the object was ascribed to one of the two characters. Responses were faster when the objects were located in the reaching space of the character to whom ownership was ascribed in the sentence and when ownership was ascribed to the character who was the first to find the object. When contrasting the relevant cues, results indicate that touch is stronger than temporal priority in modulating the ascription of object ownership. However, all these effects were also influenced by contextual social cues like the gender of both characters and participants, the presence of a third-party observer, and the co-presence of characters. Consistently with our hypothesis, results indicate that many different cues of physical control influence the ascription of ownership in daily social contexts.

In five experiments participants were presented with pairs of nouns and verbs. They were asked to decide whether the combinations made sense or not. Half of the participants responded “yes” with the dominant hand, half with the left hand. When pairs referred to manual and mouth actions, participants responded faster with the dominant than with the left hand with sensible sentences. When pairs referred to manual and foot actions the result was opposite. Results suggest that language processing activates an action simulation that is sensitive to both the effector involved and the goal expressed by the sentence.

While affordances have been intensively studied, the mechanisms according to how their activation is modulated by context are poorly understood. We investigated how the Agent[U+05F3]s reach-to-grasp movement towards a target-object (e.g. a can) is influenced by the other[U+05F3]s interaction with a second object (manipulative/functional) and by his/her eye-gaze communication. To manipulate physical context we showed participants two objects that could be linked by a spatial relation (e.g. can-knife, typically found in the same context), or by different functional relations. The functional relations could imply an action to perform with another person (functional-cooperative: e.g. can-glass), or on our own (functional-individual: e.g. can-straw). When objects were not related (e.g. can-toothbrush) participants had to refrain from responding. In order to respond, in the giving condition participants had to move the target object towards the other person, in the getting condition towards their own body.When participants (Agents) performed a reach-to-grasp movement to give the target object, in presence of eye-gaze communication they reached the wrist[U+05F3]s acceleration peak faster if the Other previously interacted with the second object in accordance with its conventional use. Consistently participants reached faster the MFA when the objects were related by a functional-individual than a functional-cooperative relation. The Agent[U+05F3]s getting response strongly affected the grasping component of the movement: in case of eye-gaze sharing, MFA was greater when the other previously performed a manipulative than a functional grip. Results reveal that humans have developed a sophisticated capability in detecting information from hand posture and eye-gaze, which are informative as to the Agent[U+05F3]s intention. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Embodied perspectives on concepts (e.g. Barsalou, 1999; Glenberg, 1997) emphasize that cognition is shaped by the physical properties of the world (i.e. “grounded”) in multiple ways (by simulations, or, occasionally, by bodily states); that our concepts are shaped by the physical constraints of our body (i.e. “embodied”); that cognitive processing strongly depends on current constraints and task demands (i.e. “situated”; see Pezzulo et al., 2013). Behavioral and brain-imaging studies collected in the last few years converge in indicating that seeing an object activates motor information1 (e.g. Tucker and Ellis, 1998; Ellis and Tucker, 2000; Grezes, Tucker, Armony, Ellis, and Passingham, 2003). Importantly the physical context, i.e. the actual possibility of reaching the object (Costantini, Ambrosini, Scorolli, and Borghi, 2011; Ambrosini, Scorolli, Borghi, and Costantini, 2012), and the social context, i.e. the presence of another agent (virtual avatar: Costantini, Committeri, and Sinigaglia, 2011; or other person: Gianelli, Scorolli, and Borghi, 2013), seem to modulate this information. Nevertheless not only the visual perception of an object, but also language processing elicits theinvolvement of the motor system. As words act as surrogates for more direct interactions with the environment (Glenberg, 1997), language processing recruits brain areas typically involved in perceiving objects and interacting with them. Across psychology, neuroscience and cognitive linguistics (see Bergen, 2005; Gibbs, 2003; Pecher and Zwaan, 2005), strong empirical evidence provides support for the view that language comprehension results in embodied representations2(Gallese and Goldman, 1998; Zwaan, 2004; Glenberg and Kaschak, 2002), that is in “simulations”. The notion of “simulation” is still a topic of debate, but there is general agreement in understanding it as the activation of the same sensorimotor neural correlates3 involved when we previously interacted with the referent of the word, i.e. the actual object (e.g. “apple”), or we executed the specific action described by the word (e.g. “grasping”) (Gallese 2008; Gallese and Sinigaglia, 2011).Much recent evidence suggests that the mental simulation we run when comprehending language is not grounded in previous sensorimotor experience of a generic sort, but instead invokes rather specific sensorimotor experiences.

none 5 si Evidence suggests that religious systems have specific effects on attentional and action control processes. The present study investigated whether religions also modulate choices that involve higher-order knowledge and the delay of gratification in particular. We tested Dutch Calvinists, Italian Catholics, and Atheists from both countries/cultures using an intertemporal choice task where participants could choose between a small immediate and a larger delayed monetary reward. Based on the Calvinist theory of predestination and the Catholic concept of a cycle of sin-confession-expiation, we predicted a reduced delay tolerance, i.e. higher discount rate (DR), for Italian Catholics than for Dutch Calvinists, and intermediate rates for the two atheist groups. Analyses of discount rates support our hypotheses. We also found a magnitude effect on temporal discounting and faster responses for large than for small rewards across religions and countries/cultures. We conclude that temporal discounting is specifically modulated by religious upbringing rather than by generic cultural differences. Paglieri F.; Borghi A.M.; Colzato L.S.; Hommel B.; Scorolli C. Paglieri F.; Borghi A.M.; Colzato L.S.; Hommel B.; Scorolli C.

none 3 no We investigated how the reach-to-grasp movement is influenced by the presence of another person (friend or non-friend), who was either invisible (behind) or located in different positions with respect to an object and to the Agent, and by the perspective conveyed by linguistic pronouns (“I”, “You”). The interaction between Social Relationship and Relative Position influenced the latency of both maximal fingers aperture and velocity peak, showing shorter latencies in presence of a non-friend than in presence of a friend. However, whereas the relative position of a non-friend did not affect the kinematics of the movement, the position of a friend mattered: latencies were significantly shorter with friends only in positions allowing them to easily reach for the object. Finally the investigation of the overall reaching movement time showed an interaction between the Speaker and the Pronoun: participants reached the object more quickly when the Other spoke, particularly if she used the “I” pronoun. This suggests that speaking, and particularly using the “I” pronoun, evokes a potential action. Implications of the results for embodied cognition are discussed. Gianelli C.; Scorolli C.; Borghi A.M. Gianelli C.; Scorolli C.; Borghi A.M.

Both evolutionary and developmental research indicate that humans are adapted to respecting property rights, independently (and possibly orthogonally) of considerations of fairness. We offer evidence from psychological experiments suggesting that enforcing one's rights and respecting others' possessions are basic cognitive mechanisms automatically activated and grounded in humans' sensory-motor system. This may entail an independent motivation that is more profound than considerations of fairness and impartiality.

The extended mind view and the embodied-grounded view of cognition and language are typically considered as rather independent perspectives. In this paper we propose a possible integration of the two views and support it proposing the idea of ''Words As social Tools' (WAT)'. In this respect, we will propose that words, also due to their social and public character, can be conceived as quasi-external devices that extend our cognition. Moreover, words function like tools in that they enlarge the bodily space of action thus modifying our sense of body. To support our proposal, we review the relevant literature on tool use and on words as tools and report recent evidence indicating that word use leads to an extension of space close to the body. In addition, we outline a model of the neural processes that may underpin bodily space extension via word use and may reflect possible effects on cognition of the use of words as external means. We also discuss how reconciling the two perspectives can help to overcome the limitations they encounter if considered independently.

An important challenge of embodied theories is to explain the comprehension of abstract sentences. The aim of the present study was to scrutinize the role of the motor cortex in this process. We developed a new paradigm to study the abstract-concrete dimension by combining concrete (i.e., action-related) and abstract (i.e., non-action-related) verbs with nouns of graspable and non-graspable objects. Using these verb-noun combinations we performed a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) on the left primary motor cortex while participants performed a sentence sensibility task. Single-TMS pulses were delivered 250ms after verb or noun presentation in each of four combinations of abstract and concrete verbs and nouns. To evaluate cortico-spinal excitability we registered the electromyographic activity of the right first dorsal interosseous muscle. As to verb-noun integration, analysis of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) after TMS pulse during noun presentation revealed greater peak-to-peak amplitude in phrases containing abstract rather than concrete verbs. Response times were also collected and showed that compatible (Concrete-Concrete and Abstract-Abstract) combinations were processed faster than mixed ones; moreover in combinations containing concrete verbs, participants were faster when the pulse was delivered on the first word (verb) than on the second one (noun). Results support previous findings showing early activation of hand-related areas after concrete verbs processing. The prolonged or delayed activation of the same areas by abstract verbs will be discussed in the framework of recent embodied theories based on multiple types of representation, particularly theories emphasizing the role of different acquisition mechanisms for concrete and abstract words (Borghi and Cimatti, 2009,2012).

The mental representation of one’s own body does not necessarily correspond to the physical body. For instance, a dissociation between perceived and actual reach‐ability has been shown, that is, individuals perceive that they can reach objects that are out of grasp. We presented participants with 3D pictures of objects located at four different distances, namely near‐reaching space, actual‐reaching space, perceived‐reaching space and non‐reaching space. Immediately after they were presented with function, manipulation, observation or pointing verbs and were required to judge if the verb was compatible with the object. Participants were faster with function and manipulation verbs than with observation and pointing verbs. Strikingly, with both function and manipulation verbs participants were faster when objects were presented in actual than the perceived reaching space. These findings suggest that our knowledge of the world is implicitly built online through behaviour, and is not necessarily reflected in explicit estimates or conscious representations.

In the present study, we investigated, using language, which motor information is automatically activated by observing 3-D objects (i.e., manipulation vs. function) and whether this information is modulated by the objects' location in space. Participants were shown 3-D pictures of objects located in peripersonal versus extrapersonal space. Immediately after, they were presented with function, manipulation, or observation verbs (e.g., "to drink," "to grasp," "to look at") and were required to judge whether the verb was compatible with the presented object. We found that participants were slower with observation verbs than with manipulation and function verbs. With both function and manipulation verbs, participants were faster when objects were presented in reachable space. Interestingly, the fastest response times were recorded when participants read function verbs while objects were presented in the accessible space. Results suggest that artifacts are first conceived in terms of affordances linked to manipulation and use, and that affordances are differently activated, depending on context.

Previous findings suggest that religion has a specific impact on attentional processes. Here we show that religion also affects action control. Experiment 1 compared Dutch Calvinists and Dutch atheists, matched for age, sex, intelligence, education, and cultural and socioeconomic background, and Experiment 2 compared Italian Catholics with matched Italian seculars. As expected, Calvinists showed a smaller and Catholics a larger Simon effect than nonbelievers, while performance of the groups was comparable in the Stop-Signal task. This pattern suggests that religions emphasizing individualism or collectivism affects action control in specific ways, presumably by inducing chronic biases towards a more "exclusive" or "inclusive" style of decision-making. Interestingly, there was no evidence that religious practice affects inhibitory skills. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

According to theories referring to embodied and grounded cognition (Barsalou, 2008), language comprehension encompasses an embodied simulation of actions. The neural underpinnings of this simulation could be found in wide neural circuits that involve canonical and mirror neurons (Rizzolatti et al., 1996). In keeping with this view, we review behavioural and kinematic studies conducted in our lab which help characterize the relationship existing between language and the motor system. Overall, our results reveal that the simulation evoked during sentence comprehension is fine-grained, primarily in its sensitivity to the different effectors we employ to perform actions. In addition, they suggest that linguistic comprehension also relies on the representation of actions in terms of goals and of the chains of motor acts necessary to accomplish them. Finally, they indicate that these goals are modulated by both the object features the sentence refers to as well as by social aspects such as the characteristics of the agents implied by sentences. We will discuss the implications of these studies for embodied robotics.

In the present chapter we report experiments on the relationships between visual objects and action and between words and actions. Results show that seeing an object activates motor information and that language is also grounded in perceptual and motor systems. They are discussed within the framework of embodied cognitive science. We argue that models able to reproduce the experiments should be embodied organisms, whose brain is simulated with neural networks and whose body is as similar as possible to humans’ body. We also claim that embodied models are badly needed in cognitive psychology, as they could help to solve some open issues. Finally, we discuss potential implications of the use of embodied models for embodied theories of cognition.

none 3 Language comprehension requires a simulation process that taps perception and action systems. How speciWc is this simulation? To address this question, participants listened to sentences referring to the lifting of light or heavy objects (e.g., pillow or chest, respectively). Then they lifted one of two boxes that were visually identical, but one was light and the other heavy. We focused on the kinematics of the initial lift (rather than reaching) because it is mostly shaped by proprioceptive features derived from weight that cannot be visually determined. Participants were slower when the weight suggested by the sentence and the weight of the box corresponded. This eVect indicates that language can activate a simulation which is sensitive to intrinsic properties such as weight. Scorolli C.; Borghi A.M.; Glenberg A.M. Scorolli C.; Borghi A.M.; Glenberg A.M.

The aim of this study was to estimate the relative frequency of Fetishes in a large sample of individuals. Using the Internet as a data source, we examined 381 discussion groups. We estimate, very conservatively, that at least 5000 individuals were targeted. The relative frequency of each preference category was estimated considering (a) the number of groups devoted to the category, (b) the number of individuals participating in the groups and (c) the number of messages exchanged. The three measures agree both parametrically (Cronbach's alpha=0.91) and non-parametrically (Kendall's W=0.94, P0.01). Preferences for body parts or features and for objects usually associated with the body were most common (33 and 30%, respectively), followed by preferences for other people's behavior (18%), own behavior (7%), social behavior (7%) and objects unrelated to the body (5%). Feet and objects associated with feet were the most common target of preferences. These findings provide the first large database in an area, where the knowledge is particularly scarce.

While embodied approaches of cognition have proved to be successful in explaining concrete concepts and words, they have more difficulties in accounting for abstract concepts and words, and several proposals have been put forward. This work aims to test the Words As Tools proposal, according to which both abstract and concrete concepts are grounded in perception, action and emotional systems, but linguistic information is more important for abstract than for concrete concept representation, due to the different ways they are acquired: while for the acquisition of the latter linguistic information might play a role, for the acquisition of the former it is instead crucial. We investigated the acquisition of concrete and abstract concepts and words, and verified its impact on conceptual representation. In Experiment 1, participants explored and categorized novel concrete and abstract entities, and were taught a novel label for each category. Later they performed a categorical recognition task and an image-word matching task to verify a) whether and how the introduction of language changed the previously formed categories, b) whether language had a major weight for abstract than for concrete words representation, and c) whether this difference had consequences on bodily responses. The results confirm that, even though both concrete and abstract concepts are grounded, language facilitates the acquisition of the latter and plays a major role in their representation, resulting in faster responses with the mouth, typically associated with language production. Experiment 2 was a rating test aiming to verify whether the findings of Experiment 1 were simply due to heterogeneity, i.e. to the fact that the members of abstract categories were more heterogeneous than those of concrete categories. The results confirmed the effectiveness of our operationalization, showing that abstract concepts are more associated with the mouth and concrete ones with the hand, independently from heterogeneity.

The purpose of the paper is to study whether sentence comprehension modulates the motor system. Participants were presented with 24 pairs of nouns and verbs that could be referred to hand and mouth actions (e.g., to unwrap vs. to suck the sweet), in the first block, or, in the second block, to 24 hand and foot actions (e.g., to throw vs. kick the ball). An equal number of non sensible pairs were presented. Participants’ task consisted of deciding whether the combination made sense or not: 20 participants responded by saying yes loudly into a microphone, 20 by pressing a pedal. Results support embodied theories of language comprehension, as they suggest that sentence processing activates an action simulation. This simulation is quite detailed, as it is sensitive to the effector involved. Namely, it lead to a facilitation in responses to ‘mouth sentences’ and ‘foot sentences’ compared to ‘hand sentences’ in case of congruency between the effectors – mouth and foot – involved in the motor response and in the sentence.

We experience our life through the skin: from the first loving contact to the last painful separation. Therefore the skin “reminds” all the conflicts between the individual and the external environment. Nowadays there is a great agreement in identifying these conflicts as responsible for the majority of the psychopathologies. The present work aimed at investigating the psychosomatic features of scleroderma (i.e. the thickening and tightening of the skin) using the Analytic Psychodrama method. This method, through scenes, allows to make conscious different unconscious conflicts, as well as to interpret them. Method. We studied a group of five women (age: 35-70 years old) for one year. We collected the individual experiences reported by the patients, focusing on the ones that are crucial in the formation of psychosomatic symptoms: the specific relationship with the mother and with the father, the possible arrival of one or more younger siblings, the specific affection/dynamics of the primary and following milieu. We measured the relational structures between the participants - closeness vs. distance - before and after the group work. Results and conclusions. Collected data suggest that during the formation of their early personality patients experienced a mother affectively cold, needy or lacking of contact signals. As a result their skin was not trained to soften up, delighting in maternalwarmth and protection. Conversely the skin adapted to defense itself autonomously. The used method, the Analytic Psychodrama, allowed us to investigate different aspects of the psychic life of each participant. We identified important changes in participants’ body perception as well as in physical contact with the others. We observed these changes also in the family context. Resting on these results, we predict further long-term effects of our approach. According to the principles of psychosomatic medicine, it should affect also the specific clinical aspects of scleroderma.