Repetition effects in action planning reflect effector- but not hemisphere-specific coding

Action choices are influenced by future and recent past action states. For example, when performing two actions in succession, response times (RT) to initiate the second action are reduced when the same hand is used. These findings suggest the existence of effector-specific processing for action planning. However, given that each hand is primarily controlled by the contralateral hemisphere, the RT benefit might actually reflect effector-independent, hemisphere-specific rather than effector-specific repetition effects. Here, participants performed two consecutive movements, each with a hand or a foot, in one of two directions. Direction was specified in an egocentric reference frame (inward, outward) or in an allocentric reference frame (left, right). Successive actions were initiated faster when the same limb (e.g., left hand - left hand), but not when the other limb of the same body side (e.g., left foot - left hand) executed the second action. The same-limb advantage was evident even when the two movements involved different directions, whether specified egocentrically or allocentrically. Corroborating evidence from computational modeling lends support to the claim that repetition effects in action planning reflect persistent changes in baseline activity within neural populations that encode effector-specific action plans.

Introduction

This chapter sets out the topic and structure of the book. Metameleia is the ancient Greek term for ‘regret’ in the sense close to the modern notion of ‘agent regret’. It is a painful self-reflexive emotion based on a revised assessment of a past action. Understanding regret is important as a way of understanding the nature of virtue, ethical improvement, and the possibility of moral dilemmas. Modern accounts of agent regret, including for example the account offered by Bernard Williams, share some characteristics of the accounts of metameleia offered by Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. But there are also important differences which we should note and try to explain.

THE PROMULGATION OF LAW IN QIN AND WESTERN HAN CHINA

This article studies the promulgation of law in Qin and Western Han China (221 b.c.e.–9 c.e.) based primarily on excavated legal and administrative texts. It shows that a new law was handed down from the emperor to the relevant offices on the day of enactment. The article argues that, to an extent, the subject matter and function of a law determined for whom it was passed and promulgated. Depending upon the location, rank, and official duties of the offices, the laws known and used could be quite different. Although it was required that documents of imperial decisions be forwarded swiftly and safely by courier at the prescribed speed, delays in forwarding such documents to distant local offices were probably common in Qin and Western Han China. Evidence indicates that district- and prefecture-level officials publicized laws that needed to be made known by the common people, by reading them aloud in local gatherings, for example, or posting them in conspicuous places. The article further argues that a law came into effect in offices on the day it arrived at local courts or on the day it was enacted in the central court, depending on the existence of related extant laws. It concludes that a new law in Qin and Western Han China was ex post facto, as it reached backwards to a past action and retroactively attached liabilities to the action at the point when it was performed.

PLUPERFECT – ABSOLUTE, RELATIVE OR ABSOLUTE-RELATIVE TEMPORAL FORM?

The article is devoted to the problem of grammatical status of pluperfect forms of German and Ukrainian languages. The study differentiates the views of scientists on pluperfect forms in terms of their relative or absolute interpretation. The definition of the pluperfect with the future temporal reference is given, confirmed by applied representations and analysis of the studied units in the sentence structure. From the point of view of traditional linguistic interpretation, pluperfect is a form that expresses either “precedence over another past action” or “distant past”. However, in this study, we look at new meanings of this grammar: “present” or “future”.The article raises the problem of the futural orientation of pluperfect forms, based on two positions: when pluperfect is used in the sense of “past” in relation to another past action. That is, when this gram is in opposition to its conventional meaning; when the plusquamperfect expresses the meaning of “counterfactual” with the future temporal reference, when the subject of the statement knows that in the real world certain actions cannot be realized because they contradict the objective laws of human existence. The use of the pluperfect forms in such constructions indicates that language not only does not limit us by means of expressing real knowledge about the world, but also provides such for the reproduction of hypothetical, unreal or counterfactual statements.It is concluded that from the point of view of temporality, the conjunctive forms of the pluperfect are timeless and can express the action that occurs at the time of speech, occurred (or could occur) before the moment of speech or will occur after the moment of speech, the temporal nature of the verbal form recedes into the background. It is proposed to consider plusquamperfect as an absolute-relative time form.Key words: pluperfect, absolute time, relative time, moment of speech, counterfactuality. Статтю присвячено актуальній проблемі граматичного статусу плюсквамперфектних форм німецької та української мов. У дослідженні диференційовано погляди науковців щодо плюсквамперфектних форм із боку їх відносної чи абсолютної інтерпретації. Подається визначення плюсквамперфекта з майбутньою часовою рефе-ренцією, підтверджене прикладними репрезентаціями й аналізом досліджуваних одиниць у структурі речення. З боку традиційного лінгвістичного трактування плюсквамперфект – це форма, яка виражає або «передування щодо іншої минулої дії», або «віддалене минуле». Однак у дослідженні звертаємо увагу на нові значення цієї гра-меми: «теперішнє» чи «майбутнє».У статті висувається проблема футуральної спрямованості плюсквамперфектних форм, виходячи з двох позицій: коли плюсквамперфект вживається в значенні «післяминуле» щодо іншої минулої дії, тобто коли ця грамема опозиціонує своєму загальноприйнятому значенню; коли плюсквамперфект виражає значення «контр-фактичність» із майбутньою часовою референцією – суб’єкт висловлення знає, що в реальному світі певні дії не можуть бути реалізовані, оскільки суперечать об’єктивним законам людського існування. Вживання плюсквам-перфектних форм у подібних конструкціях свідчить про те, що мова не лише не обмежує нас засобами вираження реальних знань про світ, а й надає такі для відтворення гіпотетичних, ірреальних чи контрфактичних висловлень.Зроблено висновок, що з позиції темпоральності форми плюсквамперфекта кон’юнктива є позачасовими й можуть виражати дію, що відбувається в момент мовлення, відбувалася (чи могла відбутися) раніше моменту мовлення або відбудеться після моменту мовлення, оскільки в зіставленні часу й способу переважає спосіб дієслова, а часовий характер вербальної форми відходить на другий план. Запропоновано розглядати плюсквампер-фект як абсолютно-відносну часову форму.Ключові слова: плюсквамперфект, абсолютний час, відносний час, момент мовлення, контрфактичність

History, Identity, and the Present

part 4 History, Identity, and the Present Part 4 considers the role of historical consciousness in shaping present-day identity. It is critical of prejudicial ‘Identity History’ while enjoining historians to embrace their roles in historical arguments pertaining to identity. The first section clarifies what falls outside the definition of ‘Identity History’, noting that much excellent scholarship pertains to identity and even serves identity goals without being prejudicial. The second section highlights where historians working on identity matters are likely to fall into conceptual difficulty. Is the relationship between past ‘them’ and present ‘us’ a matter of identity or difference or a bit of both? Identity History is inconsistent here, with different attitudes taken depending on whether that past behaviour was good or bad by present lights. There are consequences for the historian’s engagement with past rights and wrongs, harms and benefits, because claims on these matters constitute stakes in the identity game whose winner gets to decide what is desirable in the here and now. The third section develops such themes and distinguishes between more and less appropriate idioms for characterizing the relationship between contemporary polities and groups on one hand and the deeds of relevant ‘forebears’ on the other hand. It is a mistake to talk of contemporary guilt, or for that matter virtue, in light of what one’s predecessors did, but the language of shame or pride may be appropriate. The fourth section addresses the material legacies of past action, considering matters of compensation and redistribution. The concluding section returns to broader principles.

Forgoing earned incentives to signal pure motives

Policy makers, employers, and insurers often provide financial incentives to encourage citizens, employees, and customers to take actions that are good for them or for society (e.g., energy conservation, healthy living, safe driving). Although financial incentives are often effective at inducing good behavior, they’ve been shown to have self-image costs: Those who receive incentives view their actions less positively due to the perceived incompatibility between financial incentives and intrinsic motives. We test an intervention that allows organizations and individuals to resolve this tension: We use financial rewards to kick-start good behavior and then offer individuals the opportunity to give up some or all of their earned financial rewards in order to boost their self-image. Two preregistered studies—an incentivized online experiment (n= 763) on prosocial behavior and a large field experiment (n= 17,968) on exercise—provide evidence that emphasizing the intrinsic rewards of a past action leads individuals to forgo or donate earned financial rewards. Our intervention allows individuals to retroactively signal that they acted for the right reason, which we call “motivation laundering.” We discuss the implications of motivation laundering for the design of incentive systems and behavioral change.

On Finding Large Sets of Rewards in Two-Player ETP–ESP Games

Games with endogenous transition probabilities and endogenous stage payoffs (or ETP–ESP games for short) are stochastic games in which both the transition probabilities and the payoffs at any stage are continuous functions of the relative frequencies of all past action combinations chosen. We present methods to compute large sets of jointly-convergent pure-strategy rewards in two-player ETP–ESP games with communicating states under the limiting average reward criterion. Such sets are useful in determining feasible rewards in a game, and instrumental in obtaining the set of (Nash) equilibrium rewards.

Reframing Pathos

Child figures have traditionally been dismissed as simple objects of pathos, but the articulation of pity in tragedy is complex. Different mechanisms for the creation of emotional effects are explored, with attention to Aristotle’s views on ‘fear and pity’ in tragedy. Comparison is drawn with the use of children in legal cases to inspire pity, and the importance of future roles is discussed. The legal frameworks of past action/future obligations are considered as a backdrop to different plays. Supplication contexts are considered, and the role of Eurysakes in Sophocles’ Aias is examined as an example of pathetic effects combined with more threatening hints of the child as a danger. The chapter concludes by showing how potential is both a contributory and a mitigating factor in the tragic deployment of pathetic effects.

Prospektives versus retrospektives Argumentieren.

This study aims to investigate the linguistic differences between an argumentation referring to a potential future action (prospective argumentation) and one justifying a past action (retrospective argumentation) in the parliamentary arena. It is based on the analysis of German and French speeches taken from the protocols of the plenary sessions of the European Parliament. In a plenary session, parliamentary votes are preceded by a general debate. During this debate, speakers may give reasons supporting their own choice in an upcoming vote, but they may also try to persuade other Members of Parliament to vote the same way. This argumentation is prospective. After the vote, Members may give an oral or written explanation of vote designed to justify their decision. The argumentative orientation in this case is retrospective. In an exemplary approach, 50 speeches per language (German/French) and communication situation (prospective/retrospective) will be analyzed. The study argues that the macrostructure of the speeches is influenced by the orientation of the conclusion: In a prospective argumentation, speakers tend to first present their arguments before coming up with their conclusion, the conclusion being a declaration of one’s own intent to vote or a recommendation for other Members of Parliament. In a prototypical explanation of vote, the conclusion precedes the arguments. Special attention is given to the analysis of argument and conclusion markers. The study tries to show that conclusion markers are relatively more frequent in prospective argumentation, while retrospective argumentation makes broader use of argument markers.

Talk of Calling: Novice School Principals Narrating Destiny, Duty, and Fulfillment in Work

Purpose: School principals’ commitment and motivation have not been systematically investigated, but concerted research is needed as 25% of principals leave their jobs each year. This article investigates how new school principals make sense of their motivation to challenging work in a high pressure, high turnover field. Understanding principal motivation is important for recruiting and retaining talented educators. How principals understand their motivation may significantly affect their actions, practices, and persistence. Therefore, insight into principals’ motivation is important. Research Methods: Data come from interviews with 35 new principals in Chicago Public Schools. As initial phases of inductive analyses around principal’s career narratives were completed, this grounded theory inquiry focused on how principals use discourses of calling to make sense of their motivation. Data were analyzed through three iterations of coding: open, focused, and closed. Findings: School principals used themes of calling to make sense of their motivation in challenging contexts. Specifically, they described their destiny to work in education, duty to serve students, and fulfillment in work. Calling narratives explain past action and elevate the importance of the work, likely fueling continued motivation. Implications: This work adds a narrative component to research on principals’ motivation and transition, focusing on principals’ efforts to manage challenges. The results provide novel empirical data on principals’ sense-making, efforts to manage multiplying work demands, and on how professionals use calling to make sense of and bolster work motivation. Future work should determine whether calling narratives predict retention among principals.