Direct-gaze signals are known to modulate human cognition, including self-awareness. In the present study, we specifically focused on ‘bodily’ self-awareness and examined whether direct gaze would ...modulate one’s interoceptive accuracy (IAcc)—the ability to accurately monitor internal bodily sensations. While viewing a photograph of a frontal face with a direct gaze, an averted face or a mere white cross as a baseline, participants were required to count their heartbeats without taking their pulse. The results showed higher IAcc in the direct-gaze condition than in the averted-face or baseline condition. This was particularly the case in participants with low IAcc at baseline, indicating that direct gaze enhanced the participants’ IAcc. Importantly, their heart rate was not different while viewing the direct gaze and averted face, suggesting that sensitivity to interoceptive signals, rather than physiological arousal, is heightened by direct gaze. These findings demonstrate the role of social signals in our bodily interoceptive processing and support the notion of the social nature of self-awareness.
Several honesty promotion techniques have been established for children living in Western cultures; however, limited research has examined the effectiveness of these techniques among non‐Western ...children. Recently, inducing self‐awareness (by looking at oneself in a mirror) was found to be effective in promoting young Western children's honesty. The present investigation compared the effectiveness of this self‐awareness technique to a novel other‐awareness technique (looking at a photograph of a peer) in promoting young Chinese children's honesty. Chinese children aged 3 and 4 years (N = 121) completed a modified temptation resistance paradigm where they were requested not to peek at a toy in the experimenter's absence. Children were randomly assigned to a Self‐Awareness, Peer (other‐awareness), or Control condition. When asked whether they peeked at the toy, children in the Self‐Awareness condition were significantly more likely to tell the truth compared to those in the Control condition. No significant differences in truth‐telling emerged between the Peer and Control conditions. The present results demonstrate the cross‐cultural application of self‐awareness as an honesty promoting technique with young children.
Statement of contribution
What is already known on this subject?
High rates of dishonesty persist across cultures.
Social and cultural values can shape lie‐telling behaviours.
Inducing self‐awareness promotes honesty in Western children.
What does this study add?
A tool for promoting honesty in non‐Western cultures.
Inducing self‐awareness promotes honesty in Chinese children.
Inducing other‐awareness was not effective in promoting honesty in Chinese children.
Conscious experience is fluid; it rarely remains on one topic for an extended period without deviation. Its dynamic nature is illustrated by the experience of mind wandering, in which attention ...switches from a current task to unrelated thoughts and feelings. Studies exploring the phenomenology of mind wandering highlight the importance of its content and relation to meta-cognition in determining its functional outcomes. Examination of the information-processing demands of the mind-wandering state suggests that it involves perceptual decoupling to escape the constraints of the moment, its content arises from episodic and affective processes, and its regulation relies on executive control. Mind wandering also involves a complex balance of costs and benefits: Its association with various kinds of error underlines its cost, whereas its relationship to creativity and future planning suggest its potential value. Although essential to the stream of consciousness, various strategies may minimize the downsides of mind wandering while maintaining its productive aspects.
Two models of mind blanking Kaufmann, Angelica; Parmigiani, Sara; Kawagoe, Toshikazu ...
The European journal of neuroscience,
March 2024, 2024-Mar, 2024-03-00, 20240301, Volume:
59, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Mind blanking is a mental state in which attention does not bring any perceptual input into conscious awareness. As this state is still largely unexplored, we suggest that a comprehensive ...understanding of mind blanking can be achieved through a multifaceted approach combining self‐assessment methods, neuroimaging and neuromodulation. In this article, we explain how electroencephalography and transcranial magnetic stimulation could be combined to help determine whether mind blanking is associated with a lack of mental content or a lack of linguistically or conceptually determinable mental content. We also question whether mind blanking occurs spontaneously or intentionally and whether these two forms are instantiated by the same or different neural correlates.
Objective
The goal of this systematic literature review is to investigate the relationship between indirect physiological measurements and direct measures of situation awareness (SA).
Background
...Across different environments and tasks, assessments of SA are often performed using techniques designed specifically to directly measure SA, such as SAGAT, SPAM, and/or SART. However, research suggests that indirect physiological sensing methods may also be capable of predicting SA. Currently, it is unclear which particular physiological approaches are sensitive to changes in SA.
Method
Seven databases were searched using the PRISMA reporting guidelines. Eligibility criteria included human-subject experiments that used at least one direct SA assessment technique, as well as at least one physiological measurement. Information extracted from each article was the physiological metric(s), the direct SA measurement(s), the correlation between these two metrics, and the experimental task(s). All studies underwent a quality assessment.
Results
Twenty-five articles were included in this review. Eye tracking techniques were the most commonly used physiological measures, and correlations between conscious aspects of eye movement measures and direct SA scores were observed. Evidence for cardiovascular predictors of SA were mixed. EEG studies were too few to form strong conclusions, but were consistently positive.
Conclusion
Further investigation is needed to methodically collect more relevant data and comprehensively model the relationships between a wider range of physiological measurements and direct assessments of SA.
Application
This review will guide researchers and practitioners in methods to indirectly assess SA with sensors and highlight opportunities for future research on wearables and SA.
The plasticity of well-being Dahl, Cortland J.; Wilson-Mendenhall, Christine D.; Davidson, Richard J.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
12/2020, Volume:
117, Issue:
51
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Research indicates that core dimensions of psychological well-being can be cultivated through intentional mental training. Despite growing research in this area and an increasing number of ...interventions designed to improve psychological well-being, the field lacks a unifying framework that clarifies the dimensions of human flourishing that can be cultivated. Here, we integrate evidence from well-being research, cognitive and affective neuroscience, and clinical psychology to highlight four core dimensions of well-being—awareness, connection, insight, and purpose. We discuss the importance of each dimension for psychological well-being, identify mechanisms that underlie their cultivation, and present evidence of their neural and psychological plasticity. This synthesis highlights key insights, as well as important gaps, in the scientific understanding of well-being and how it may be cultivated, thus highlighting future research directions.
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