Ornamental Feathers without Mentalism: A Radical Enactive View on Neanderthal Body Adornment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duilio Garofoli
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Perception ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Symbolic Interpretation ◽  
Body Adornment ◽  
Term Maintenance ◽  
Representational Level ◽  
Direct Social Perception

Evidence of feather extraction from scavenging birds by late Neanderthal populations, supposedly for ornamental reasons, has been recently used to bolster the case for Neanderthal symbolism and cognitive equivalence with modern humans. This argument resonates with the idea that the production and long-term maintenance of body ornaments necessarily require a cluster of abilities defined here as the material symbolism package. This implies the construction of abstract meanings, which are then mentally imposed to artifacts and socially shared through full-blown mindreading, assisted by a meta-representational language. However, a set of radical enactive abilities, mainly direct social perception and situated concepts, is sufficient to explain the emergence of ornamental feathers without necessarily involving the material symbolism package. The embodied social structure created by body ornaments, augmented through behavioral-contextual narratives, suffices to explain even the long-term maintenance of this practice without mentalism. Costly neurocentric assumptions conceiving the material symbolism package as a homuncular adaptation are eschewed by applying a non-symbolic interpretation of feathers as cognitive scaffolds. It will be concluded that the presence of body adornment traditions in the Neanderthal archaeological record does not warrant the cognitive equivalence with modern humans, for it does not constrain a meta-representational level of meaning.

From Neural Synapses to Culture-Historical Boundaries: An Archaeological Comment on the Plastic Mind

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 415-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Løvschal
Keyword(s):  
Social Perception ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Historical Times ◽  
Cultural Incorporation ◽  
The Mind

This paper contributes with a study of how something that is initially introduced as a ‘technology of spatial distribution’ develops into a ‘technology of the mind’. Boundaries are a phenomenon deeply rooted in social perception and cognitive categorization, which also involves material processes that can sometimes be studied in an archaeological record. In later prehistory, the physical instantiation of this technology offered a solution to a wide range of economic and social problems, posed by an increasingly filled-in and more permanently settled landscape. Important aspects of its initial conceptual and cultural incorporation lasted more than a millennium. However, once this technology attached conceptually as well as culturally, it entailed a quantitative acceleration and became part of a long-term development, the social and juridical consequences of which can be traced far up in historical times. This case is used to discuss the importance of unfolding both the plastic aspects of human cognition and the slow, protracted and long-term aspects involved in cultural changes.

Efficacious long-term maintenance therapy with pantoprazole (PAN) in patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

2001 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. A613-A613
Author(s):  
P BORNMAN ◽  
K RADEBOLD ◽  
H DEBAERE ◽  
L VENTER ◽  
H HEINZE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Maintenance Therapy ◽  
Zollinger Ellison Syndrome ◽  
Term Maintenance

scholarly journals The Effect of Curcumin Supplementation on Anthropometric Measures among Overweight or Obese Adults

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 680
Author(s):  
Farah J. Alsharif ◽  
Yara A. Almuhtadi
Keyword(s):  
Primary Component ◽  
Obese Adults ◽  
Macronutrient Composition ◽  
Anthropometric Measures ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Prevalence Of Obesity ◽  
Dietary Spices ◽  
Multiple Health ◽  
Term Maintenance

Over the past decades, the worldwide prevalence of obesity has dramatically increased, thus posing a serious public health threat. Obesity is associated with the development of comorbid conditions and psychological disorders. Several lifestyle interventions have been proposed to tackle obesity; however, long-term maintenance of these interventions often proves challenging. In addition, among the different types of diets there is still a debate about the optimal macronutrient composition that will achieve the best results in weight loss. Recently, several commonly used spices such as pepper, ginger, and curcumin have been shown to play a beneficial role in obesity management. Therefore, exploring the effects of certain herbs or dietary spices on obesity may be promising. Among these spices, curcumin, which is the primary component of the spice turmeric, has gained great interest for its multiple health benefits. Several randomized controlled trials have investigated the potential favorable effects of curcumin supplementation on anthropometric measures. The aim of this review is to evaluate the effect of curcumin supplementation on the anthropometric indices among overweight or obese adults.

scholarly journals Potential for Farmers’ Cooperatives to Convert Coffee Husks into Biochar and Promote the Bioeconomy in the North Ecuadorian Amazon

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 4747
Author(s):  
Mario A. Heredia Salgado ◽  
Ina Säumel ◽  
Andrea Cianferoni ◽  
Luís A. C. Tarelho
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Agricultural Waste ◽  
The North ◽  
Income Sources ◽  
Ecuadorian Amazon ◽  
Specific Standard ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post Harvesting ◽  
Term Maintenance

Improving the livelihoods of communities living in fragile ecosystems, such as tropical forests, is among the main strategies to promote their conservation and preserve wildlife. In the Ecuadorian Amazon, farmers’ cooperatives are recognized as an important mechanism to improve the socioeconomic conditions of local communities. This study analyzes the integration of pyrolysis processes to convert agricultural waste into biochar as a way to implement the bioeconomy in these organizations. We found that post-harvesting processes in the studied farmers’ cooperatives are similar, and coffee husks are a potential feedstock to produce biochar. Although the environmental policies in Ecuador consider the valorization of agricultural waste, we did not find any specific standard to regulate the operation of pyrolysis facilities. Nonetheless, conversion of agricultural waste into biochar can contribute to (i) replacement of subsidized fossil fuels used in drying processes, (ii) prevention of environmental pollution caused by accumulation of waste, (iii) emergence of new income sources linked with the provision of carbon sequestration services, and (iv) the long-term maintenance of soil fertility. Currently, demonstration projects are needed to stimulate collaboration among farmers’ cooperatives, academia, the government, international cooperation agencies, and existing forest conservation initiatives.

Exploring the Effect of Virtual Robot Acceleration on Perceived Competitiveness/ Cooperativeness, Animacy, and Intelligence

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 1595-1599
Author(s):  
Jordan Sasser ◽  
Fernando Montalvo ◽  
Rhyse Bendell ◽  
P. A. Hancock ◽  
Daniel S. McConnell
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Perception ◽  
Social Perception ◽  
Virtual Human ◽  
Ecological Approach ◽  
Direct Process ◽  
Perceptual Judgments ◽  
Direct Social Perception

Prior research has indicated that perception of acceleration may be a direct process. This direct process may be conceptually linked to the ecological approach to visual perception and a further extension of direct social perception. The present study examines the effects of perception of acceleration in virtual reality on participants’ perceived attributes (perceived intelligence and animacy) of a virtual human-like robot agent and perceived agent competitive/cooperativeness. Perceptual judgments were collected after experiencing one of the five different conditions dependent on the participant’s acceleration: mirrored acceleration, faster acceleration, slowed acceleration, varied acceleration resulting in a win, and varied acceleration resulting in a loss. Participants experienced each condition twice in a counterbalanced fashion. The focus of the experiment was to determine whether different accelerations influenced perceptual judgments of the observers. Results suggest that faster acceleration was perceived as more competitive and slower acceleration was reported as low in animacy and perceived intelligence.

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