Sequencing the ‘Dairy Mind’ Using Mind Genomics to Create an “MRI of Consumer Decisions”

We present the research methodology that generates an integrated database of the mind of a dairy consumer, regarding nine different dairy products. The set of studies deals with a variety of end products, presenting alternative messages about each product. Respondents rate combinations of messages, that is, vignettes, which are created using an advanced form of conjoint analysis. OLS (ordinary least-squares) regression is used to deconstruct the ratings at the level of the individual respondents, producing a coefficient value for each message that was tested. Cluster analyses revealed three distinct mind-sets around dairy products: a strong focus on flavor, a strong focus on health, and a strong focus on price. This chapter demonstrates how the science of Mind Genomics is further applied through a typing tool, known as PVI (personal viewpoint identifier). The PVI is able to identify the mind-set of any individual that provides a binary response to six short questions. The chapter concludes with a vision for the future of the Mind Genomics research methodology in the fields of science and business.

Investigating the science of mind: How does neuroscience fit into society and law?

This article interrogates the limits of integration of neuroscience and law. Brain studies offer substantial support to series of human experiences and behaviour. The intervention based on the understanding of the brain offered an explanation to the concept of mind, individual and group behaviour in society, and offering neurological explanations to the legal domain about the defendant. The brain studies offering technical explanations to the human mind and behaviour may further be used to attribute people from different social groups in a stereotypical way. Neuroscience is not limited to the laboratory and neuroimages but it has wider social implications. Discussing brain and law through the sociocultural and social identity perspective gives better understanding of mind, society and law. Keywords: Brain, common sense, image, social groups, behaviour, society, law

UNA LECTURA PERSPECTIVISTA DE LA NEUROFENOMENOLOGÍA: FRANCISCO VARELA Y RONALD GIERE

El autor realiza una lectura en clave perspectivista de la neurofenomenología, enfoque transdisciplinar y metodológico iniciado a mediados de los 90 por el neurobiólogo Francisco J. Varela desde el ámbito experimental de las ciencias de la mente. La originalidad del artículo reside en que estudia comparativamente el problemático entrecruce de la neurofenomenología de Varela con el perspectivismo científico de Ronald N. Giere, mostrándonos que la neurofenomenología no sólo lo antecedió cronológicamente, sino que fue mucho más radical al tener en cuenta la la dimensión fenomenológica y trascendental de la experiencia vivida humana y al aplicarla en los protocolos de las neurociencias cognitivas.The author makes a perspectivist reading of neurophenomenology, a transdisciplinary and methodological approach pioneered in the 90’s by the neurobiologist Francisco J. Varela, who worked in the experimental field of the science of mind. The originality of the article consists in studying with a comparative method the problematic intertwine of Varela’s neurophenomenology and the scientific perspectivism recently defended by Ronald N. Giere. In this way, the autor shows how neurophenomenology notonly came before Giere’s proposal but also how it was more radical in considering the phenomenological and transcendental human dimension and in trying an implementation in cognitive neuroscience protocols.

Fodor’s guide to the Humean mind

For Jerry Fodor, Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature is “the foundational document of cognitive science” whose significance transcends mere historical interest: it is a source of theoretical inspiration in cognitive psychology. Here I am going to argue that those reading Hume along Fodor’s lines rely on a problematic, albeit inspiring, construction of Hume’s science of mind. My strategy in this paper is to contrast Fodor’s understanding of the Humean mind (consonant with the widely received view of Hume in both cognitive science and much of Hume scholarship) with an alternative understanding that I propose. I thereby intend to show that the received view of Hume’s science of mind can be fruitfully revised while critically engaging with Fodor’s contemporary appropriation. Consequently, I use this occasion to put forward a rather unorthodox interpretation of Hume’s theory in dialogue with Fodor as my guide.

Curso de Psicologia aplicada à Educação Física

Physical Education and Psychology have been sister sciences from a long time. Although body and mind seem yet distant concepts, there is enough evidence that those two instances of human existence actually are complementary parts of a single unity: the human being. Professionals from either fields tend to collaborate in the effort to build strong bridges between the psychological and the physical knowledge, however, few books tried to develop a pedagogical strategy to teach Psychology for Physical Education students. This work is the sum of the effort of several Brazilian researchers in both areas who wanted to provide a novel, yet relevant, source of information and to create a stronger connection between the science of movement and the science of mind.

Computational Thinking in der Musikwissenschaft: Jupyter Notebook als Umgebung für Lehre und Forschung

We show that in connection with the digitalization of musicology a special kind of mathematical and logical thinking, i. e. computational thinking/literacy, is in need. Computational thinking is characterized by effective procedures whereas computational literacy includes the implementation of these procedures on machines, i.e. programming. Both are the core of formalization, model building and computer simulation. Furthermore, we point out that “computation” as a central concept for the sciences in the 21st century and its use in cognitive science and the computational sciences make it necessary to reassess the basic assumptions underlying musicological research as science of mind (Geisteswissenschaft). We propose a digital habitat to integrate computational thinking/literacy in musicology and to become acquainted with model building and computer simulation. Jupyter Notebook provides a basis for such a digital habitat. We describe our use of Jupyter Notebook as a teaching environment for computational thinking/literacy.

Communicating to Drive Sustainability-A Worked Example with Wind Power

We demonstrate the knowledge-development power of the emerging science of Mind Genomics, doing so by a study of appeals to fund a wind-power project in Texas. The paper focuses on the method, analyses, results, and application of the findings, showing what can be learned and implemented with the easy-to-do and affordable, iterated studies offered by Mind Genomics. Two groups of respondents evaluated 24 vignettes, comprising different combinations of 16 messages about wind power opportunities and benefits for the State of Texas. The first group of 51 respondents evaluated vignettes about wind-power, rating the vignettes on regarding whether they understood the messages and would recommend what they read. The second group of 50 respondents estimated the unit price of a share of stock based upon the messages in the vignette. The analysis linked the ratings to the presence/absence of each message. Two new-to-the-world mind-sets emerged, those focusing on the benefits to Texas, and those focusing on what specific actions must be taken. The mind-sets suggest different ways that people have of dealing with information in which appeals are embedded. Study 2 reaffirmed these two mind-sets when economic judgments were substituted for opinions. The paper incorporates the PVI, the personal viewpoint identifier, a technology to assign a new person to one of these two mind-sets, thus expanding the scope of the research from a study of a single population to the possible identification of the mind-sets in the general population around the United States or even around the world.