How people behave towards others relies, to a large extent, on the prior attitudes that they hold towards them. In Human–Robot Interactions, individual attitudes towards robots have mostly been ...investigated via explicit reports that can be biased by various conscious processes. In the present study, we introduce an implicit measure of attitudes towards robots. The task utilizes the measure of semantic priming to evaluate whether participants consider humans and robots as similar or different. Our results demonstrate a link between implicit semantic distance between humans and robots and explicit attitudes towards robots, explicit semantic distance between robots and humans, perceived robot anthropomorphism, and pro/anti-social behavior towards a robot in a real life, interactive scenario. Specifically, attenuated semantic distance between humans and robots in the implicit task predicted more positive explicit attitudes towards robots, attenuated explicit semantic distance between humans and robots, attribution of an anthropomorphic characteristic, and consequently a future prosocial behavior towards a robot. Crucially, the implicit measure of attitudes towards robots (implicit semantic distance) was a better predictor of a future behavior towards the robot than explicit measure of attitudes towards robots (self-reported attitudes). Cumulatively, the current results emphasize a new approach to measure implicit attitudes towards robots, and offer a starting point for further investigations of implicit processing of robots.
While attachment security is known to promote prosocial behaviour, a closer examination is needed to clarify the active mechanism in this relationship. We addressed this issue by examining the ...mediation effect of moral disengagement in two studies. Participants were assigned to the control priming group or the attachment security priming group. After the priming procedure, they completed the measurements of a sense of security, moral disengagement and prosocial behaviour. The results from both studies showed that compared with control priming, attachment security priming enhanced prosociality. Furthermore, mediation analysis showed that moral disengagement mediated the relationship between attachment security and prosociality. The present findings extend the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of attachment security and prosociality, and provide insights into the effectiveness of boosting attachment security in intervening in moral disengagement.
Microbial decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) can be accelerated or reduced by the combined effects of carbon (C) and nutrient inputs through a phenomenon known as ‘priming’. Tropical lowland ...and montane soils contain large stores of C and may undergo substantial future changes in C and nutrient inputs due to global change, yet how these inputs might interact to influence priming is poorly understood in these ecosystems. We addressed this question using soils from a 3400 m tropical elevation gradient which vary strongly in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability. To determine how existing nutrient availability in different tropical soils regulates microbial activity, and whether microbial demand for nutrients leads to priming, soils were amended with simple and more complex 13C-labelled substrates in combination with inorganic N, P and N + P. Isotopic partitioning (13C in CO2 and in phospholipid fatty acids; PLFA) was used to identify sources of C (substrate- or SOM-derived) in respiration and in microbial communities. Nutrient treatments did not influence the amount of substrate-respired C for any of the soils, but did affect the direction and magnitude of priming effects. For the upper montane forest and grassland soils, C addition had a relatively minor influence on the turnover of SOM, but N addition (with or without C) reduced SOM mineralisation (negative priming), suggesting reduced microbial N-mining from SOM when N was externally supplied. By contrast, in the lower montane and lowland forest soils, C addition increased SOM mineralisation (positive priming), but the response was unaffected by nutrient additions. The assimilation of 13C substrates into functionally active microorganisms revealed that C substrate complexity, but not added nutrients, strongly affected C-use within the microbial community: in both lowland and montane forest soils, fungi assimilated a greater proportion of the simple C substrate, while gram-positive bacteria assimilated a greater proportion of the more complex C substrate. Overall, our results have contrasting implications for the response of soil C cycling in tropical montane and lowland ecosystems under future global change.
•Tropical soils were amended with carbon substrates and inorganic nutrients.•Nutrient treatments did not influence the mineralisation of added C substrates.•Nitrogen addition reduced SOM mineralisation in higher elevation montane soils.•Neither nitrogen or phosphorus influenced SOM mineralisation in lowland soils.•C substrate complexity strongly affected C-use within the microbial community.
To be protected from biological threats, plants have evolved an immune system comprising constitutive and inducible defenses. For example, upon perception of certain stimuli, plants can develop a ...conditioned state of enhanced defensive capacity against upcoming pathogens and pests, resulting in a phenotype called ‘induced resistance’ (IR). To tackle the confusing lexicon currently used in the IR field, we propose a widely applicable code of practice concerning the terminology and description of IR phenotypes using two main phenotypical aspects: local versus systemic resistance, and direct versus primed defense responses. Our general framework aims to improve uniformity and consistency in future scientific communication, which should help to avoid further misinterpretations and facilitate the accessibility and impact of this research field.
Upon perception of certain stimuli, plants can develop a conditioned state of enhanced defensive capacity against upcoming pathogens and pests, resulting in a phenotype called ‘induced resistance’ (IR).Scientific communication in the IR research domain is flawed with inconsistent use of various conceptualizations and terms.Researchers working on non-model organisms and/or less-studied plant tissues – which often make use of distinct natural defense mechanisms – are struggling to choose the correct term for their observations.Different biological and chemical IR stimuli tend to induce resistance through various pathways and hence terminology can and should not be linked to underlying mechanisms.
Plant roots release recent photosynthates into the rhizosphere, accelerating decomposition of organic matter by saprotrophic soil microbes ("rhizosphere priming effect") which consequently increases ...nutrient availability for plants. However, about 90% of all higher plant species are mycorrhizal, transferring a significant fraction of their photosynthates directly to their fungal partners. Whether mycorrhizal fungi pass on plant-derived carbon (C) to bacteria in root-distant soil areas, i.e., incite a "hyphosphere priming effect," is not known. Experimental evidence for C transfer from mycorrhizal hyphae to soil bacteria is limited, especially for ectomycorrhizal systems. As ectomycorrhizal fungi possess enzymatic capabilities to degrade organic matter themselves, it remains unclear whether they cooperate with soil bacteria by providing photosynthates, or compete for available nutrients. To investigate a possible C transfer from ectomycorrhizal hyphae to soil bacteria, and its response to changing nutrient availability, we planted young beech trees (
) into "split-root" boxes, dividing their root systems into two disconnected soil compartments. Each of these compartments was separated from a litter compartment by a mesh penetrable for fungal hyphae, but not for roots. Plants were exposed to a
C-CO
-labeled atmosphere, while
N-labeled ammonium and amino acids were added to one side of the split-root system. We found a rapid transfer of recent photosynthates via ectomycorrhizal hyphae to bacteria in root-distant soil areas. Fungal and bacterial phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) biomarkers were significantly enriched in hyphae-exclusive compartments 24 h after
C-CO
-labeling. Isotope imaging with nanometer-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) allowed for the first time
visualization of plant-derived C and N taken up by an extraradical fungal hypha, and in microbial cells thriving on hyphal surfaces. When N was added to the litter compartments, bacterial biomass, and the amount of incorporated
C strongly declined. Interestingly, this effect was also observed in adjacent soil compartments where added N was only available for bacteria through hyphal transport, indicating that ectomycorrhizal fungi were acting on soil bacteria. Together, our results demonstrate that (i) ectomycorrhizal hyphae rapidly transfer plant-derived C to bacterial communities in root-distant areas, and (ii) this transfer promptly responds to changing soil nutrient conditions.
Verbs that are similar in meaning tend to occur in the same syntactic structures. For example, give and hand, which denote transfer of possession, both appear in the prepositional-object ...construction: “The child gave/handed the ball to the dog.” We can call the child a “giver” in one case and a “hander” in the other, or we can refer to her more generally as the agent, or doer of the action. Similarly, the dog can be called the recipient, and the ball, the theme. These generalized notions of agent, recipient, and theme are known as thematic roles. An important theoretical question for linguists and psycholinguists is what the set of thematic roles is. Are there a small number of very broad roles, perhaps with each one mapping onto a single canonical syntactic position? Or are there many distinct roles, several mapping to the same syntactic position but conveying subtly different meanings? We investigate this question across eleven structural priming experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk (total N = 2914), asking whether speakers treat the thematic roles recipient and destination (i.e., location or spatial goal) as interchangeable, suggesting the broad role of goal, or distinct, suggesting two separate roles. To do so, we look for priming between dative sentences (e.g., “The man gave the ball to the dog”), which have a recipient role (dog), and locative sentences (e.g., “The man loaded hay onto the wagon”), which instead have a destination role (wagon). Our pattern of findings confirms that thematic role mappings can be primed independent of syntactic structure, lexical content, and animacy. However, we find that this priming does not extend from destinations to recipients (or vice versa), providing evidence that these two roles are distinct.
Many pairs of words in Spanish, in particular many verbal forms, differ only in the syllable stressed, such as aNImo (I encourage) and aniMÓ (he encouraged). Consequently, word stress may acquire a ...lexical contrastive value that has been confirmed by Dupoux, Pallier, Sebastian, and Mehler (1997) for Spanish speakers though not for French speakers in auditory perception.
This study contrasts the priming effect produced by pairs of written words that differ only in their stress pattern with the priming effect in repetition priming, stress only priming (with no orthographic relation), and morphological priming, in visual word recognition.
The results, using short and masked prime presentation, showed facilitation for different stress (orthographically identical) pairs (rasGÓ/RASgo) compared to totally unrelated pairs (rasGÓ/RASgo) but no facilitation compared to orthographically unrelated (but stress related) pairs (PERsa/RASgo). However, identity pairs (RASgo-RASgo) produced facilitation compared to both orthographically unrelated conditions. At long SOA, orthographically related (stress unrelated) pairs produced significant facilitation, as occurred with morphologically related pairs (RASga/RASgo), on the orthographically unrelated words (PERsa/RASgo).
These results confirm the early and prelexical importance of word stress for lexical selection in Spanish, as is the case with orthographic and phonological features.
The fate of soil organic carbon (SOC) under warming is poorly understood, particularly across large extents and in the whole‐soil profile. Using a data‐model integration approach applied across the ...globe, we find that downward movement of SOC along the soil profile reduces SOC loss under warming. We predict that global SOC stocks (down to 2 m) will decline by 4% (~80 Pg) on average when SOC reaches the steady state under 2°C warming, assuming no changes in net primary productivity (NPP). To compensate such decline (i.e. maintain current SOC stocks), a 3% increase of NPP is required. Without the downward SOC movement, global SOC declines by 15%, while a 20% increase in NPP is needed to compensate that loss. This vital role of downward SOC movement in controlling whole‐soil profile SOC dynamics in response to warming is due to the protection afforded to downward‐moving SOC by depth, indicated by much longer residence times of SOC in deeper layers. Additionally, we find that this protection could not be counteracted by promoted decomposition due to the priming of downward‐moving new SOC from upper layers on native old SOC in deeper layers. This study provides the first estimation of whole‐soil SOC changes under warming and additional NPP required to compensate such changes across the globe, and reveals the vital role of downward movement of SOC in reducing SOC loss under global warming.
Combining a multi‐layer soil carbon model considering downward carbon movement (DM) and the priming effect with global observational datasets, we mapped the response of whole‐soil carbon (down to 2 m) to 2°C warming across the globe at 1 km resolution. We found that DM plays a vital role in regulating the fate of soil carbon under warming, overriding the priming of native old carbon in deeper layers by new carbon from upper soil layers. We also quantified the amount of additional plant net primary production required to compensate the soil carbon loss
Understanding how ecosystems store or release carbon is one of ecology's greatest challenges in the 21st century. Organic matter covers a large range of chemical structures and qualities, and it is ...classically represented by pools of different recalcitrance to degradation. The interaction effects of these pools on carbon cycling are still poorly understood and are most often ignored in global-change models. Soil scientists have shown that inputs of labile organic matter frequently tend to increase, and often double, the mineralization of the more recalcitrant organic matter. The recent revival of interest for this phenomenon, named the priming effect, did not cross the frontiers of the disciplines. In particular, the priming effect phenomenon has been almost totally ignored by the scientific communities studying marine and continental aquatic ecosystems. Here we gather several arguments, experimental results, and field observations that strongly support the hypothesis that the priming effect is a general phenomenon that occurs in various terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. For example, the increase in recalcitrant organic matter mineralization rate in the presence of labile organic matter ranged from 10% to 500% in six studies on organic matter degradation in aquatic ecosystems. Consequently, the recalcitrant organic matter mineralization rate may largely depend on labile organic matter availability, influencing the CO
2
emissions of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. We suggest that (1) recalcitrant organic matter may largely contribute to the CO
2
emissions of aquatic ecosystems through the priming effect, and (2) priming effect intensity may be modified by global changes, interacting with eutrophication processes and atmospheric CO
2
increases. Finally, we argue that the priming effect acts substantially in the carbon and nutrient cycles in all ecosystems. We outline exciting avenues for research, which could provide new insights on the responses of ecosystems to anthropogenic perturbations and their feedbacks to climatic changes.
•Peripheral subliminal stimuli are important to reduce interruptions on ongoing tasks occupying foveal vision.•Textual peripheral subliminal stimuli can be effective at influencing selection ...decisions.•Textual subliminal stimuli outperformed shape and image stimuli at certain peripheral angles.•The short presentation duration was not significantly different from the long duration in peripheral vision areas.
Subliminal techniques have been used to enhance and enrich the interaction efficiency between humans and computers. However, the extent to which they are effective when presented at the periphery of the visual field remains unexplored. In addition, it is still unclear which stimulus type is more effective at influencing decisions when presented in peripheral areas. In this work, we investigate the degree to which three types of subliminal stimuli (images, shapes, words) are effective at influencing selection decisions, and how their efficiency degrades when presented at different visual angles. In a controlled study, we examine the selection performance of subliminal stimuli that are presented at thirteen visual angles and tested using two presentation durations (33ms, 66ms). Our findings suggest that subliminal words can be effective at peripheral angles. Also, types comparison showed that the word stimulus outperformed other types at specific visual angles. These findings provide insights for understanding how peripheral subliminal techniques can be used to support users while performing primary tasks. We examine these findings, present potential use-case scenarios for peripheral subliminal techniques and discuss ethical considerations around their use in user interfaces.
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