Background: Joint attention (JA) is selectively and pervasively impaired in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and has been found to link to later outcomes in language, theory of mind, play and social development. This study investigated the effectiveness of a social interactive intervention to improve initiating JA skills in children with ASD. The intervention was based on the mirror neuron hypothesis, in that techniques used encouraged the children to take on their communication partners’ perspective through a process of embodied simulation. Method: Three participants diagnosed with ASD, under the age of 5, were recruited as well as 3 typically developing children for the setting of training criteria. A multiple-baseline design across participants was implemented. Results: All three participants displayed improvements in their ability to initiate JA. Skills generalized to other settings and communication partners. Improvements were observed by both trained and naïve observers. Conclusions: A social interactive model, based on the mirror neuron hypothesis, utilizing specific techniques which follow the child’s lead may be used to effectively improve initiating joint attention (IJA) in some children with ASD.

Os diálogos escritos por Leão Hebreu no século XVI evidenciam como o tema amor foi objeto de contemplação filosófica no período e trazem diversas reflexões, citações, referências e amplificações de autores da Antiguidade Clássica, tanto Ocidentais como Orientais. Sobressaem Platão e Aristóteles, pois Leão Hebreu frequentemente os insere nas discussões promovidas pelas personagens Fílon e Sofia, utilizando-os como base para a construção de suas argumentações a respeito de diversos temas adjacentes ao principal. Serão discutidos os papéis dos dois filósofos gregos nos Diálogos de Amor, e para tanto, deverá ser adicionado à leitura do texto de Hebreu um outro filósofo do mesmo período: Marsílio Ficino, que possivelmente influenciou os trabalhos do primeiro, mediante as traduções que fez de alguns diálogos platônicos, a partir do testemunho latino de tais obras, no século XV. Interessa também que sejam debatidas questões referentes às especificidades que o tema amor toma ao longo da obra, mostrando de que maneira os interlocutores acreditam ser o amor a motivação, a manutenção e o fim de todas as coisas. / The dialogues written by Leone Ebreo in the 16º century evidence how the theme love was an object of philosophical contemplation at the period, and take many from Classical Antiquity authors reflections, citations, references and amplifications, as well from Occident, as much from Orient. Protrude Plato and Aristotle, for Leone Ebreo often inserts them on the discussions promoted by the characters Filo and Sophia, and use their writes as a base for the argumentations about lots of themes adjoin to the main theme. The discussions on this work will be about this two Greek philosophers on the Dialogues of Love and for this much will be add to the reading of the Leo, The Hebrews works another philosopher from the same period: Marsilio Ficino, who possibly influenced Leos works, through translations he made of some platonic dialogues, from the Latin testimony of this works at the 15º century. It is interesting to this work to discuss questions about the specifications that the theme love takes during the Dialogues, and shows how the interlocutors believe that the love is the motivation, maintenance and the end of everything.

Os diálogos escritos por Leão Hebreu no século XVI evidenciam como o tema amor foi objeto de contemplação filosófica no período e trazem diversas reflexões, citações, referências e amplificações de autores da Antiguidade Clássica, tanto Ocidentais como Orientais. Sobressaem Platão e Aristóteles, pois Leão Hebreu frequentemente os insere nas discussões promovidas pelas personagens Fílon e Sofia, utilizando-os como base para a construção de suas argumentações a respeito de diversos temas adjacentes ao principal. Serão discutidos os papéis dos dois filósofos gregos nos Diálogos de Amor, e para tanto, deverá ser adicionado à leitura do texto de Hebreu um outro filósofo do mesmo período: Marsílio Ficino, que possivelmente influenciou os trabalhos do primeiro, mediante as traduções que fez de alguns diálogos platônicos, a partir do testemunho latino de tais obras, no século XV. Interessa também que sejam debatidas questões referentes às especificidades que o tema amor toma ao longo da obra, mostrando de que maneira os interlocutores acreditam ser o amor a motivação, a manutenção e o fim de todas as coisas. / The dialogues written by Leone Ebreo in the 16º century evidence how the theme love was an object of philosophical contemplation at the period, and take many from Classical Antiquity authors reflections, citations, references and amplifications, as well from Occident, as much from Orient. Protrude Plato and Aristotle, for Leone Ebreo often inserts them on the discussions promoted by the characters Filo and Sophia, and use their writes as a base for the argumentations about lots of themes adjoin to the main theme. The discussions on this work will be about this two Greek philosophers on the Dialogues of Love and for this much will be add to the reading of the Leo, The Hebrews works another philosopher from the same period: Marsilio Ficino, who possibly influenced Leos works, through translations he made of some platonic dialogues, from the Latin testimony of this works at the 15º century. It is interesting to this work to discuss questions about the specifications that the theme love takes during the Dialogues, and shows how the interlocutors believe that the love is the motivation, maintenance and the end of everything.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:48:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ALEXANDRE DE SIQUEIRA CAMPOS COELHO.pdf: 2192441 bytes, checksum: 30931ddd49e5f9d65712b5e22d2884b0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-28 / This dissertation is concerned with what the substantial content that the expression heavenly citizenship brings within itself. To accomplish this, the study starts from the historical reconstitution of the Sitz im Leben (life setting) that the apostle Paul s letter to the Christians in the church which he founded (and of which he was so attached to) in Philippi and then explains in what circumstances this letter was written, so to understand the reason Paul used the term citizenship capturing the attention of his readers. The study then details the biblical text in its original greek and does an exegesis of the passage inserted into its original language, where this study focuses its main research citizenship of heaven and from this definition defines the margins that bound the interpretation based on Pauline hermeneutics. In the last chapter, without taking into consideration the informality of various colloquial expressions that mark Philippians, this study presents the interpretive variations of 3:20, so one can have a possible interpretation of the meaning heavenly citizenship . Careful examination infers that the expression was not used in the sense that the common greek world (active political participation) our roman world (quality of the subject) would have used it. The specific term seeks to reinforce the community (and not the enemies of the cross) starting from the archetype of Christ and later becoming the center of the Christian faith. / Este trabalho tem o fito de trazer à tona o conteúdo substancial que a expressão cidadania do céu carrega consigo. Para tanto, a partir da reconstituição histórica do sitz im leben (ambiente vital) da carta do apóstolo Paulo aos cristãos da igreja que ele mesmo fundara (e a qual tanto se afeiçoou) em Filipos, perpassa o debate a respeito das circunstâncias em que essa carta foi escrita, para, então, entender o porquê de Paulo ter se utilizado do termo cidadania para captar a atenção dos seus destinatários. Em seguida, minuciando o texto bíblico no seu original grego, procede à exegese da perícope em que inserida a expressão em torno da qual gira a pesquisa cidadania do céu para, dele extrair as amarras (limites) que margearão a interpretação baseada na hermenêutica paulina. No último capítulo, sem deixar de levar em conta a informalidade e as várias expressões coloquiais que marcam Filipenses, apresenta-se as correntes interpretativas de 3,20, a fim de cotejá-las com o possível sentido do significado de cidadania do céu . Conclui-se que a referida expressão não foi utilizada no sentido que lhe era comum nos mundos grego (ativa participação política) ou romano (qualidade de súdito). Ela busca, isso sim, reforçar a identidade da comunidade (e não a dos inimigos da cruz) a partir do arquétipo de Cristo, tornando-se o centro da fé cristã.

Robôs sociáveis devem ser capazes de interagir, se comunicar, compreender e se relacionar com os seres humanos de uma maneira natural. Embora diversos robôs sociáveis tenham sido desenvolvidos com sucesso, ainda existem muitas limitações a serem superadas. São necessários importantes avanços no desenvolvimento de mecanismos que possibilitem interações mais realísticas, bem como regulem o relacionamento entre robôs e humanos. Um forma de tornar mais realísticas as interações é através de expressões faciais de emoção. Nesse contexto, este trabalho fornece capacidade de imitação de expressão facial de emoções a uma cabeça robótica virtual, com o objetivo de permitir interações mais realísticas e duradouras com o ser humano. Para isso, é incorporado à mesma aprendizado por imitação, no qual a cabeça robótica imita expressões faciais apresentadas por um usuário durante a interação social. O aprendizado por imitação foi realizado atráves de redes neurais artificiais. As expressões faciais consideradas neste trabalho são: neutra, alegria, raiva, surpresa e tristeza. Os resultados experimentais são apresentados, os quais mostram o bom desempenho do sistema de imitação proposto / Sociable robots must be able to interact, communicate, understand and relate to humans in a natural way. Although many social robots have been developed successfully, there are still many limitations to overcome. Important advances are needed in the development of mechanisms that allow more realistic interactions and that regulate the relationship between robots and humans. One way to make more realistic interactions is through facial expressions of emotion. In this context, this project provides ability for imitation of facial expressions of emotion to a virtual robotic head, in order to allow more realistic and lasting interactions with humans. For such, learning by imitation is used, in which the robotic head mimics facial expressions made by a user during social interaction. The imitation learning was performed by artificial neural networks. Facial expressions considered in this work are: neutral, happiness, anger, surprise and sadness. Experimental results are presented which show the good performance of the proposed system imitation

Em Lucíola, José de Alencar assume uma posição peculiar de autor real, na medida em que contrasta com o Sr. Paulo Silva, autor designado na ficção. Narrador de seus conflitos, o moço espelha um herói confessional, examinando o próprio passado em busca da imagem de uma mulher. Senhora GM é sua interlocutora. Lúcia se circunscreve como modelo, pessoa retratada, namorada e cortesã. Esta análise está mais interessada em como as coisas são ditas e menos no que é dito, de sorte que se dedica à investigação dos mecanismos da enunciação. O estudo não focaliza a personagem feminina, ao contrário está voltado para o amante; e muito embora não seja contra o homem, ambiciona, através do primeiros capítulos, confrontar sua autoimagem e a interpretação que ele oferece para a história. O quinto segmento desta leitura questiona os modos através dos quais palavras e imagens dão forma ao sexo na intimidade do texto. O conjunto seguinte explora a questão da imitação como um tema recorrente no livro e como um fio que costura forma e conteúdo, palavra e ideia. A última seção investiga os nomes das personagens enquanto uma escolha de palavras, um procedimento no domínio do artifício. / In Lucíola, José de Alencar is the real author whereas Mr. Paulo Silva is the fictional one. The narrator is also a confessional hero examining his own past searching for the image of a woman. Mrs. GM is his interlocutor. Lúcia is the sitter, the one that is being portrayed, girlfriend and courtesan. This analysis is more interested in how things are said than in what is said; therefore it contemplates the mechanisms of enunciation. The study is not focused in the female character but dedicated to her lover; even though it is not against the man, it aims, throughout the first chapters, to confront his self-image and the interpretation he offers to the story. The fifth segment interrogates how words and imagery give a form to sex as a matter of speech. The following portion explores imitation as a recurrent theme in the book and as a thread that sews form and meaning, words and ideas. The last section investigates the names of the characters as a choice of words, under the domain of artifice.

A superimitação é definida como uma tendência à cópia de todas as ações executadas por um modelo, mesmo as claramente irrelevantes. Os mecanismos motivacionais e a funcionalidade da superimitação ainda são pouco compreendidos, mas um possível sentido adaptativo estaria associado à opacidade causal de boa parte dos comportamentos socialmente aprendidos. Este fenômeno tem sido amplamente replicado em vários contextos e observado no comportamento de crianças de diversas faixas etárias e até mesmo de adultos. Apesar de sua aparente robustez, estudos têm relatado que a superimitação é sensível a algumas características do modelo. Estas evidências são compatíveis com a previsão de modelos teóricos de coevolução genes-cultura de que a aprendizagem social humana é influenciada por um conjunto de vieses cognitivos que permitem que a aquisição de informações ocorra de maneira seletiva, desfavorecendo a aprendizagem de comportamentos maladaptativos que podem estar disponíveis no contexto social. Este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar o efeito de informações relacionadas à competência ou incompetência de um modelo adulto sobre a fidelidade da cópia de ações relevantes e irrelevantes observadas por crianças de 5 anos de idade em uma tarefa. Foram testadas as influências de informações declaradas pelo próprio modelo e também por terceiros em uma conversa sobre o modelo. Adicionalmente, foram investigadas diferenças entre os sexos dos participantes quanto à fidelidade da cópia. Os resultados indicam um efeito fraco dos vieses de \"competência autodeclarada\" e de \"prestígio\" do modelo sobre a superimitação. Outras informações, potencialmente mais confiáveis (não manipuladas neste estudo), podem ter sido utilizadas pelas crianças para atribuição de competência ao modelo / Overimitation is defined by a tendency of copying all actions executed by a model, even the clearly irrelevants. The motivational mechanisms and functionality of overimitation still aren\'t well understood, but its possible adaptive meaning would be related to causal opacity of a great part of the socially learned behaviors. This phenomenon has been widely replicated in several contexts and observed in behavior of children of different ages and even in adults. Despite the seeming robustness of overimitation, studies showed that it is sensitive to some characteristics of the model. These evidences are consistent with the prediction of theoretical models of gene-culture coevolution that human social learning is affected by a set of cognitive biases that allow a selective acquisition of information, disadvantaging the learning of maladaptive behaviors that can be socially available. Our work intended to investigate the effect of information about the competence or incompetence of an adult model on the copy fidelity of relevant and irrelevant actions by five-year-old children in a task. We tested the influence of self-declared information about the model and also the same kind of information given by third-parties in a conversation about the model. We also investigate sex differences in copy fidelity. Our results reveal a weak effect of \"self-declared competence\" or \"prestige\" model-based biases on overimitation. Other information, potentially more reliable but not manipulated by us, could be used by the children to assign competence to the model

The human brain is highly sensitive to social information and so is our language production system: people adjust not just what they say but also how they say it in response to the social context. For instance, we are sensitive to the presence of others, and our interactional expectations and goals affect how we individually choose to talk about and refer to things. This thesis is an investigation of the social factors that might lead speakers to adapt linguistically to others. The question of linguistic adaptation is conceived and addressed at two levels: as lexical convergence (i.e., interlocutors coordinating their lexical choices with each other), and as spatial perspective taking in language use (i.e., speakers abandoning their self perspective in favour of another's when verbally locating objects in space). What motivated my research was two-fold. First, I aimed to contribute to the understanding of the interplay between the automatic cognitive accounts and the strategic social accounts of linguistic convergence. At the same time, I wanted to explore new analytical tools for the investigation of interpersonal coordination in conversation (cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA)). Second, there are conflicting explanations as to why people often abandon their self spatial perspective when another person is present in the environment. I aimed to clarify this by bringing together insights from different research fields: spatial language production, spatial cognition, joint attention and joint action. A first set of experiments investigated the effects of speakers' deceptive goals on lexical convergence. Given the extensive evidence that one interlocutor's choices of words shapes another's during collaborative interaction, would we still observe this coordination of linguistic behaviour under conditions of no coordination of intents? In two novel interactive priming paradigms, half of the participants deceived their naïve partner in a detective game (Experiment 1) or a picture naming/matching task (Experiment 2-3) in order to jeopardise their partner's performance in resolving the crime or in a related memory task. Crucially, participants were primed by their partner with suitable-yet-unusual names for objects. I did not find any consistent evidence that deceiving led to a different degree of lexical convergence between deceivers and deceived than between truthful interlocutors. I then explored possibilities and challenges of the use of cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) (a new analytical tool borrowed from dynamical systems) for the study of lexical convergence in conversation. I applied CRQA in Experiment 4, where I focused on the strategic social accounts of linguistic convergence and investigated whether speakers' tendency to match their interlocutors' lexical choices depended on the social impression that they formed of each other in a previous interaction, and whether this tendency was further modulated by the interactional goal. I developed a novel two-stage paradigm: pairs of participants first experienced a collectivist or an individualistic co-player in an economic decision game (in reality, a pre-set computer programme) and then engaged in a discussion of a survival scenario (this time with the real other) divided in an open-ended vs. joint-goal driven part. I found no evidence that the social impression of their interlocutor affected speakers' degree of lexical convergence. Greater convergence was observed in the joint-goal dialogues, replicating previous findings at syntactic level. Experiments 5-7 left the interactive framework of the previous two sets of experiments and explored spatial perspective taking in a non-interactive language task. I investigated why the presence of a person in the environment can induce speakers to abandon their self perspective to locate objects: Do speakers adapt their spatial descriptions to the vantage point of the person out of intentionality-mediated simulation or of general attention-orienting mechanisms? In an online paradigm, participants located objects in photographs that sometimes contained a person or a plant in various positions with respect to the to-be-located object. Findings were consistent with the simulated intentional accounts and linked non-self spatial perspective in language to the apprehension of another person’s visual affordance. Experiments 8-9 investigated the role of shared experience on perspective taking in spatial language. Prior to any communicative and interactional demand, do speakers adapt their spatial descriptions to the presumed perspective of someone who is attending to the same environment at the same time as them? And is this tendency further affected by the number of co-attendees? I expanded the previous online paradigm and induced participants into thinking that someone else was doing the task at the same time as them. I found that shared experience reinforced self perspective (via shared perspective) rather than reinforcing non-self perspective (via unshared perspective). I did not find any crowd effect.

A superimitação é definida como uma tendência à cópia de todas as ações executadas por um modelo, mesmo as claramente irrelevantes. Os mecanismos motivacionais e a funcionalidade da superimitação ainda são pouco compreendidos, mas um possível sentido adaptativo estaria associado à opacidade causal de boa parte dos comportamentos socialmente aprendidos. Este fenômeno tem sido amplamente replicado em vários contextos e observado no comportamento de crianças de diversas faixas etárias e até mesmo de adultos. Apesar de sua aparente robustez, estudos têm relatado que a superimitação é sensível a algumas características do modelo. Estas evidências são compatíveis com a previsão de modelos teóricos de coevolução genes-cultura de que a aprendizagem social humana é influenciada por um conjunto de vieses cognitivos que permitem que a aquisição de informações ocorra de maneira seletiva, desfavorecendo a aprendizagem de comportamentos maladaptativos que podem estar disponíveis no contexto social. Este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar o efeito de informações relacionadas à competência ou incompetência de um modelo adulto sobre a fidelidade da cópia de ações relevantes e irrelevantes observadas por crianças de 5 anos de idade em uma tarefa. Foram testadas as influências de informações declaradas pelo próprio modelo e também por terceiros em uma conversa sobre o modelo. Adicionalmente, foram investigadas diferenças entre os sexos dos participantes quanto à fidelidade da cópia. Os resultados indicam um efeito fraco dos vieses de \"competência autodeclarada\" e de \"prestígio\" do modelo sobre a superimitação. Outras informações, potencialmente mais confiáveis (não manipuladas neste estudo), podem ter sido utilizadas pelas crianças para atribuição de competência ao modelo / Overimitation is defined by a tendency of copying all actions executed by a model, even the clearly irrelevants. The motivational mechanisms and functionality of overimitation still aren\'t well understood, but its possible adaptive meaning would be related to causal opacity of a great part of the socially learned behaviors. This phenomenon has been widely replicated in several contexts and observed in behavior of children of different ages and even in adults. Despite the seeming robustness of overimitation, studies showed that it is sensitive to some characteristics of the model. These evidences are consistent with the prediction of theoretical models of gene-culture coevolution that human social learning is affected by a set of cognitive biases that allow a selective acquisition of information, disadvantaging the learning of maladaptive behaviors that can be socially available. Our work intended to investigate the effect of information about the competence or incompetence of an adult model on the copy fidelity of relevant and irrelevant actions by five-year-old children in a task. We tested the influence of self-declared information about the model and also the same kind of information given by third-parties in a conversation about the model. We also investigate sex differences in copy fidelity. Our results reveal a weak effect of \"self-declared competence\" or \"prestige\" model-based biases on overimitation. Other information, potentially more reliable but not manipulated by us, could be used by the children to assign competence to the model

The purpose of this qualitative ethnographic study was to explore citizen perceptions of the phenomenon of law enforcement shootings involving an imitation firearm. A secondary purpose was to document knowledge of current imitation firearm policies and thoughts on the effectiveness of said policies. Kingdon's multiple streams approach was used as the theoretical framework. This theory addressed the sources of power that influence policy decisions, the stakeholders involved in agenda setting, and factors that shape policy debates. Data were collected using a combination of secondary data analysis, field observations and semi structured, face-to-face interviews with 23 citizens. Sampling strategies included a combination of snowball, purposeful, and variation sampling to identify interviewees from four specific subject groups: law enforcement, parents of children aged 10-17-years-old, citizens with no law enforcement experience and no children aged 10-17-years-old, and leaders in the community. Results from domain and taxonomic coding revealed the themes of safety, responsibility, and accountability. Specifically, subjects wanted to ensure both law enforcement and citizens were safe in the community, they wanted to see parents take responsibility for their children, and they wanted to see legislation that held people accountable for their actions when using imitation firearms during the commission of a crime. Findings may be used for positive social change by enhancing imitation firearm policies, recognizing ways to improve data tracking, and identifying educational opportunities for both citizens and law enforcement. Enhanced firearm policies can also help mitigate unnecessary shootings and reduce community conflicts between citizens and police.