We investigated the relationship between attentional resources and pedaling cadence using electroencephalography to measure P300 amplitudes and latencies. Twenty-five healthy volunteers performed the oddball task while pedaling on a stationary bike or relaxing. We set them four conditions, namely, performing only the oddball task, performing the oddball task while pedaling at optimal cadence, performing the oddball task while pedaling faster than optimal cadence, and performing the oddball task while pedaling slower than optimal cadence. P300 amplitudes at Cz and Pz electrodes (...) under optimal, fast, and slow conditions were significantly lower than those under control conditions. P300 amplitudes at Pz under fast and slow conditions were significantly lower than those under the optimal condition. No significant changes in P300 latency at any electrode were observed under any condition. Our findings revealed that pedaling at non-optimal cadence results in less attention being paid to external stimuli compared with pedaling at optimal cadence. (shrink)

The societal integration of Cybernetic Avatars (CAs) presents a range of legal, ethical, and regulatory challenges. While CAs have the potential to enhance human capabilities and promote social inclusion, their implementation remains largely unregulated, particularly in Japan. This paper examines the legal complexities associated with CAs, focusing on the ambiguity of their legal status and the uncertainty surrounding liability attribution. It underscores the necessity of establishing a fundamental legal framework to address these issues. This study advocates for the creation of (...) a dedicated legal structure modeled after Japan’s Barrier-Free Act, emphasizing the importance of ensuring equitable access and responsible governance. Additionally, it explores the potential enactment of a Cybernetic Avatar Social Inclusion Promotion Act, proposing policies aimed at fostering inclusive participation and mitigating associated risks. Furthermore, the ethical dimensions of CA-mediated interactions, including identity authentication, algorithmic bias, and personal data protection, are analyzed. Establishing a foundational legal framework to address these regulatory gaps is essential for facilitating the ethical integration of CAs while balancing technological innovation with legal and societal safeguards. (shrink)

This manuscript presents the design and implementation of a chatbot integrated with moral foundations, to explore its influence on addressing divisions in democratic societies. The study uses generative AI to simulate conversations that embody specific moral viewpoints, categorized into Individualizing and Binding foundations from Moral Foundations Theory. These chatbots engage participants in discussions on an ideologically sensitive topic, nuclear abolition, to observe the impact on communication dynamics and opinion formation. The experiment, conducted with participants in Japan, shows that the chatbots (...) effectively conveyed their designed moral foundations and influenced how participants perceived and interacted with them. Only a limited number of participants were able to identify the partner as an AI. The Individualizing chatbot, which emphasizes individual rights and welfare, were associated with more positive interpersonal impressions than the Binding chatbot, which emphasizes group cohesion and social order. Furthermore, the study shows that discussions with these chatbots can significantly change participants’ opinions on the issues under discussion, demonstrating the potential for and cautions against AI-driven tools in ideological intervention and moral education. The findings argue for the careful development and use of AI in addressing societal divides, highlighting both the potential benefits and ethical challenges. (shrink)

Enhancers are short segments of regulatory DNA that control when and in which cell‐type genes should be turned on in response to a variety of extrinsic and intrinsic signals. At the molecular level, enhancers serve as a genomic scaffold that recruits sequence‐specific transcription factors and co‐activators to facilitate transcription from linked promoters. However, it remains largely unclear how enhancers communicate with appropriate target promoters in the context of higher‐order genome topology. In this review, we discuss recent progress in our understanding (...) of the functional interplay between enhancers, genome topology, and the molecular properties of transcription machineries in gene regulation. We suggest that the activities of transcription hubs are highly regulated through the dynamic rearrangement of enhancer‐promoter and promoter‐promoter connectivity during animal development. (shrink)

I suggest that layer 4 of the shared circuits model (SCM) should monitor the failure of performing an action, instead of output inhibition, to obtain actual/possible and self/other distinctions. The target article's assumption of selective inhibition leaves some questions unanswered, such as the criteria for the selection. Monitoring failure can answer these questions because failure does not require selection. It also provides a basis for more likely explanation for the phylogenetic and ontogenetic origin of both monitoring and output inhibition.

東アジアの近代知識人たちは、西洋思想史の不滅の古典であるカント哲学をどのように受容し、解釈し、批判してきたか。植民地統治と戦争・革命の歴史のなかで、日本・韓国・中国・台湾の思想界がカントを翻訳紹介して いった歴史的文脈とその政治的意味、さらには相互的な影響関係を、各国の第一線の研究者たちが跡づける国際共同研究の成果。.

This discourse aims to consider the relationship between culture and emotion in light of cultural philosophy by analyzing the sublime emotion,which is an emotional expression of human beings. Firstly,consideration will be given to the necessity of analyzing the sublime emotion in terms of the cultural,social and political aspects of present-day Japan. Secondly, the double-barreled characteristics of the sublime emotion, which have been lost amidst the globalizing trends of the day, will be clarified. In this regard, in particular, I would like (...) to shed light on the relationship between the sublime emotion and the critique of postcolonial reason. Thirdly, through these considerations, the fact that the sublime emotion has diverse functions in its historical and social contexts will be elucidated. I will first examine the negative meaning of the sublime emotion throught a critique of emotional reason, and then focus my attention to the positive meaning of the sublime emotion with the aim of considering the relationships between conditions of sublime potential and others. Fourthly, efforts will be made to pursure the method of reconciliation between the universalisitic, essentialist statements and the relativistic, constructivist statements, using the critique of emotional reason. In conclusion, I will elaborate on the sublime and critical functions based on emotional reason from a pluralistic standpoint. (shrink)

dai 1-hen. [Hōgen no honshitsu] -- dai 2-hen. Hōritsu ni okeru jisshōteki to risōteki -- dai 3-hen. Hōritsu no hattatsu ni okeru hanrei no shokunō -- dai 4. Shingisoku ni kansuru jakkan no kōsatsu -- dai 5. Keiyaku no honshitsu ni kansuru jakkan no kōsatsu.

「第1回法政ミュージアム企画展示」『和辻哲郎の書き込みを見よ!―和辻倫理学の今日的意義』(法政大学図書館主催)の『解説・図録』の増補・改訂版。生誕120周年を迎えた2009年に、「和辻哲郎の書き込み」 を手がかりにして、和辻思想の再検討・再評価とともに、彼の遺した「書き込み」の意義を明らかにした。.

Previous studies support the link of parental acculturation to their children’s academic achievement, identity, and family relations. Prior research also suggests that parental language proficiency is associated with children’s vocabulary knowledge. However, few studies have examined the links of parental acculturation to young children’s oral language abilities. As preschool oral language skills have been shown to predict future academic achievement, it is critical to understand the relations between parental acculturation and bilingual abilities with young immigrant children. Furthermore, few studies have (...) examined the links between parental acculturation and children’s bilingual ability among different immigrant groups who live in the same areas to understand possible similarities and differences. To address these gaps, this study examines these relations in two of the largest and fastest-growing immigrant populations in the United States, Chinese American and Mexican American families. A total of 119 dual language learners enrolled in Head Start programs in Northern California were recruited. DLLs were assessed on oral language measures in both their heritage language and English. Parental interviews were conducted to obtain parental acculturation and language proficiency. Results showed no significant group differences between Chinese American and Mexican American parents on the majority of their acculturation dimensions. Furthermore, there were no significant group differences in the bilingual abilities between Chinese American and Mexican American DLLs. Cluster analysis identified four groups of DLLs based on their bilingual ability: high language ability in both English and HL, low language ability in both, English-dominant, and HL-dominant. Results suggest that parental acculturation levels are more similar than different among the four groups. On average, parents in all four groups had stronger ties to their heritage culture and HL than to the American culture. Results also showed links between parental cultural identities and children’s language dominance. Parents of English-dominant children had significantly higher levels of American identity than the parents of children with high ability in both languages. Implications are discussed. (shrink)

Previous research found that application of eyeshadow on the upper eyelids induces overestimation of eye size. The present study examined whether this eyeshadow illusion is dependent on or independent of viewpoint. We created a three-dimensional model of a female face and manipulated the presence/absence of eyeshadow and face orientation around the axis of yaw (Experiment 1) or pitch (Experiment 2) rotation. Using the staircase method, we measured perceived eye size for each face stimulus. Results showed that the eyeshadow illusion occurred (...) regardless of face orientation around axes of both yaw and pitch rotations. Crucially, the illusion’s magnitude did not vary across face orientations; lack of interaction between the illusion’s magnitude and face orientation was confirmed by small values of Bayes factors. These findings ruled out the hypothesis that eyeshadow serves as a depth cue and leads to overestimation of eye size due to size-distance scaling. Alternatively, the present findings suggest that the eyeshadow illusion can be well explained by the assimilation between the eyes and eyeshadow, which also facilitates assimilation between the eyes and eyebrows. Practical implications and the present findings’ generalizability are also discussed. (shrink)