From Something Old to Something New: Functionalist Lessons for the Cognitive Science of Scientific Creativity

An intuitive view is that creativity involves bringing together what is already known and familiar in a way that produces something new. In cognitive science, this intuition is typically formalized in terms of computational processes that combine or associate internally represented information. From this computationalist perspective, it is hard to imagine how non-representational approaches in embodied cognitive science could shed light on creativity, especially when it comes to abstract conceptual reasoning of the kind scientists so often engage in. The present article offers an entry point to addressing this challenge. The scientific project of embodied cognitive science is a continuation of work in the functionalist tradition in psychology developed over a century ago by William James and John Dewey, among others. The focus here is on how functionalist views on the nature of mind, thought, and experience offer an alternative starting point for cognitive science in general, and for the cognitive science of scientific creativity in particular. The result may seem paradoxical. On the one hand, the article claims that the functionalist conceptual framework motivates rejecting mainstream cognitive views of creativity as the combination or association of ideas. On the other hand, however, the strategy adopted here—namely, revisiting ideas from functionalist psychology to inform current scientific theorizing—can itself be described as a process of arriving at new, creative ideas from combinations of old ones. As is shown here, a proper understanding of cognition in light of the functionalist tradition resolves the seeming tension between these two claims.

What makes a mental state feel like a memory: feelings of pastness and presence

The intuitive view that memories are characterized by a feeling of pastness, perceptions by a feeling of presence, while imagination lacks either faces challenges from two sides. Some researchers complain that the “feeling of pastness” is either unclear, irrelevant or isn’t a real feature. Others point out that there are cases of memory without the feeling of pastness, perception without presence, and other cross-cutting cases. Here we argue that the feeling of pastness is indeed a real, useful feature, and although this feeling does not define memory ontologically, it is a characteristic marker which helps us easily categorise a mental state first-personally. We outline several cognitive features that underlie this experience, including the feeling of past accessibility, ergonomic significance, immersion, objectivity and mental strength. Our account is distinctly phenomenal, rather than doxastic, although our web of beliefs may contribute to this experience.

Agnosticism as settled indecision

In this paper, I spell out a descriptive account of agnosticism that captures the intuitive view that a subject enters the mental state of agnosticism via an act or event called suspension. I will argue that agnosticism is a complex mental state, and that the formation of an attitude is the relevant act or event by which a subject commits to indecision regarding some matter. I will suggest a ‘two-component analysis’ that addresses two aspects that jointly account for the settled state of agnosticism: (1) the subject’s de facto indecision and (2) the subject’s commitment to her indecision. Unlike meta-cognitivist or sui generis accounts, I do not take the agnostic’s commitment to indecision as constitutive for her indecision but rather as an evaluation or qualification of the indecision that she already exhibits. Agnosticism, thus, is a settled form of indecision that marks the end of inquiry.

Reflectivity relates differently to pro sociality in naïve and strategic subjects

Is pro sociality a natural impulse or the result of a self-controlled behavior? We investigate this issue in a lab in the field experiment with participants from the general adult population in Italy. We find two key results: first, that there is a positive relationship between pro sociality and strategic reasoning. Second, that reflectivity relates to lower pro sociality but only among strategic subjects, indicating that the intuitive view of pro sociality is valid only among strategic individuals. Non-strategic individuals are instead intuitively selfish. We surmise that these results emerge due to a common cognitive root between strategizing and pro sociality, namely empathy.

Augmented reality navigation method for recontouring surgery of craniofacial fibrous dysplasia

The objective of this study is to introduce the application of augmented reality (AR) navigation system developed by the authors in recontouring surgery of craniofacial fibrous dysplasia. Five consecutive patients with craniofacial fibrous dysplasia were enrolled. Through three-dimensional (3D) simulation, a virtual plan was designed to reconstruct the normal anatomical contour of the deformed region. Surgical recontouring was achieved with the assistance of the AR navigation system. The accuracy of the surgical procedure was assessed by superimposing the post-operative 3D craniomaxillofacial model onto the virtual plan. The pre-operative preparation time and operation time were also counted. In all patients, AR navigation was performed successfully, with a mean ± SD of the errors of 1.442 ± 0.234 mm. The operative time of the patients ranged from 60 to 80 min. The pre-operative preparation time was 20 min for each patient. All the patients showed uneventful healing without any complications, in addition to satisfaction with the post-operative aesthetics. Using our AR navigation system in recontouring surgery can provide surgeons with a comprehensive and intuitive view of the recontouring border, as well as the depth, in real time. This method could improve the efficiency and safety of craniofacial fibrous dysplasia recontouring procedures.

Comparison and optimisation of fast array-based ultrasound testing

Phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) is now a widely used technique in industry for non-destructive testing. Arrays offer an intuitive view of the interior of a component from which geometric features and defects can be observed. Arrays also offer detailed information about the nature and extent of any defects. In recent years, full matrix capture (FMC) and the total focusing method (TFM) have attracted significant interest due to the high resolution of the images possible throughout an inspection volume. Due to the requirement of transmitting on each element separately, full matrix capture-based imaging techniques limit the maximum frame rate and scan speed achievable. Recently, to increase the speed of data acquisition, new techniques such as plane wave imaging (PWI) and virtual source aperture (VSA) have been introduced. They allow a significant reduction in the number of firings to be achieved without contributing to any major loss of image quality. In this paper, an in-depth comparison of these techniques using a hybrid linear system model and the analysis of experimental data is performed to assess the image quality of these emerging imaging algorithms and hence identify the optimal parameters for faster imaging.

Why states inform: Compliance with self-reporting obligations in universal treaty regimes

Why do some states largely comply with their self-reporting obligations in international institutions, while others fulfil them only irregularly? In this article, I conduct the first large- N analysis of self-reporting that comprises several important areas of international cooperation. This analysis relies on an original and large dataset that covers self-reporting within 25 universal arms control, environmental and human rights agreements. The empirical results find little evidence for an intuitive view that the support of states for the respective treaties and the conformity of state policies with the general goals of those treaties drive compliance with self-reporting obligations. Instead, the article reveals that this compliance is mainly influenced by the reporting behaviour of the country’s regional peers and by national economic and administrative capacities.

Bent Laue crystal anatomy: new insights into focusing and energy-dispersion properties

X-ray Laue-type monochromators are common and essential optical components at many high-power X-ray facilities, e.g. synchrotron facilities. The X-ray optics of bent Laue crystals is a well developed area. An incident X-ray beam penetrating a bent Laue crystal will result in a diffracted beam with different angles and energies. There is a need for a way of organizing the rays that allows one to sort out the energy and spatial properties of the diffracted beam. The present work introduces a new approach for describing the general behaviour of bent Laue crystals from a ray-tracing point of view. This quasi-monochromatic beam approach provides an intuitive view of bent-crystal diffraction and leads to deeper understanding. It explains the energy and spatial properties of common and special cases of bent Laue optics, predicts phenomena that can improve energy-dispersion-related X-ray imaging techniques and provides a theoretical framework that makes ray-tracing simulation easier to realize.

The Reality of Subjects

Pessoa often expresses hesitation in his ability to tell what is more real and what is less, the actual or the virtual, veridical experience or dream, fact or fiction. At other times Pessoa offers something like a criterion to distinguish the imaginary from the empirical. Imagined entities are ‘one-sided’ in a manner actual entities are not. Pessoa’s view seems to be that subjects of experience are grounded (and therefore are not Cartesian souls), and that the grounding of both actual and virtual subjects is the same. The intuitive view that unsimulated subjects ground simulated ones, that Shakespeare is ‘more real’ than Hamlet, is regarded as deeply suspicious if not rejected outright. What we need is a way to make sense of the idea that subjects of experience which are simulated in imagination are no ‘less real’ than the subjects of experience in everyday life. There have, indeed, been studies which suggest that there is a functional equivalence in the two cases, such as Tamar Gendler’s studies of imaginative contagion.

Other-Regarding Virtues and Their Place in Virtue Argumentation Theory

In this paper, I argue that, despite the progress made in recent years, virtue argumentation theory still lacks a more systematic acknowledgment of other-regarding virtues. A fuller recognition of such virtues not only enriches the field of research of virtue argumentation theory in significant ways, but also allows for a richer and more intuitive view of the virtuous arguer. A fully virtuous arguer, it is argued, should care to develop both self-regarding and other-regarding virtues. He should be concerned both with his own development as an arguer and with helping other arguers in that regard.