Biomedical subjects

L Anolli

Publications and source records attributed to L Anolli.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Accessing source information in analogical problem-solving.

Several studies showed that people presented with source information fail to apply it to an analogous target problem unless they are instructed to use the source. Seven experiments were carried out to assess whether such a lack of spontaneous transfer occurs because individuals do not activate the source during the target task or because they do not realize the source-target relationship. Experiment 1 compared a condition in which the source was activated with no cue about the source-target connection to conditions in which subjects were informed about this connection. Results suggested that the lack of spontaneous transfer does not depend on failure in activating source information. Experiments 2, 3, and 4 were devised to falsify this finding by activating the source closer and closer to the target and by focusing participants' attention toward the relevant aspects of the source. Experiments 5, 6, and 7 were aimed at stressing source-target correspondences by introducing surface similarities. All experiments showed that the mere activation of the source does not facilitate analogical transfer. Results suggested that two processes should be distinguished in the access phase of analogical problem-solving: Source retrieval and identification of the source-target connection.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

The VEPSY updated project: virtual reality in clinical psychology.

Many of us grew up with the naive assumption that couches are the best used therapeutic tools in psychotherapy. But tools for psychotherapy are evolving in a much more complex environment than a designer's chaise lounge. In particular, virtual reality (VR) devices have the potential for appearing soon in many consulting rooms. The use of VR in medicine is not a novelty. Applications of virtual environments for health care have been developed in the following areas: surgical procedures (remote surgery or telepresence, augmented or enhanced surgery, and planning and simulation of procedures before surgery); preventive medicine and patient education; medical education and training; visualization of massive medical databases; and architectural design for health care facilities. However, there is a growing recognition that VR can play an important role in clinical psychology, too. To exploit and understand this potential is the main goal of the Telemedicine and Portable Virtual Environment in Clinical Psychology--VEPSY Updated--a European Community-funded research project (IST-2000-25323, http://www.vepsy.com). The project will provide innovative tools-telemedicine and portable-for the treatment of patients, clinical trials to verify their viability, and action plans for dissemination of its results to an extended audience-potential users and influential groups. The project will also develop different personal computer (PC)-based virtual reality modules to be used in clinical assessment and treatment. In particular, the developed modules will address the following pathologies: anxiety disorders; male impotence and premature ejaculation; and obesity, bulimia, and binge-eating disorders.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Irony as a game of implicitness: acoustic profiles of ironic communication.

Irony, as "quotation" and "fencing game," consists of an interactive script, grounded on a focal event "trigger," in which the dialogic comment shows the ironist's intention through an antiphrastic process and syncoding to "hit" the victim of the irony (blame by praise or praise by blame). Through acoustic analysis of the suprasegmental profiles of standard phrases inserted into inductors expressly composed and read by 50 naive subjects, the presence and nature of significant differences between sarcastic and kind irony in low- and high-context utterances (contextualization effect--Experiments 1 and 2) have been verified. It has also been observed that, where more "specific weight" is given to the linguistic stream (corrective irony hypothesis), a markedness of suprasegmental features emerges (correctivity effect--Experiment 3). Finally, comparison between sarcastic irony and blame and between kind irony and praise shows that there exists a precise manner of contrastive syncoding, whereby the voices of irony do not coincide with those of direct blame or praise, but assume a specific caricature and emphatic profile (contrastivity effect--Experiment 4).

Acoustics↗