PROJECTS

Description: ASSO aims to disclose the link between social interaction and abstract concepts processing and use. We consider differences within abstract concepts - emotional, social, philosophical, magnitude - to improve our understanding of conceptual organization; we employ novel interactive methods (joint-action and cooperation tasks) and data from conversations to capture real-time use of abstract concepts; we adopt a lifespan perspective to better understand individual and group differences in abstract concepts acquisition; we investigate differences in social interaction abilities, considering high-level social competence in adults, like politicians, and its disruption in autistic children, and despite less severe, in their parents. 

Involved people: Anna Borghi (PI) and Alessandro Gennaro (Sapienza),  Eleonora Catricalà (IUSS-Pavia),  (Jubin Abultalebi ) (San Raffaele, Milano), Valerio Sperati and Maddalena Fabbri-Destro (ISTC-CNR, Roma and CNR Parma). 

Description: Research project aimed to promote healthy aging. Involved people in Spoke 4 (Sapienza Unit): Fabio Lucidi (PI),  Guido Alessandri (co-pi), Roberto Baiocco (co-pi), Anna M. Borghi (co-pi). Research line led by BALLab: assessment of conceptual representation of nature and climate change and technological domains; studies to investigate whether contact with nature enhances spatial cognition and categorization and changes how to conceptualize the environment. People of BALLab directly involved: Anna M. Borghi (PI), Chiara Fini (RTDA). 

Description: Our project capitalizes on research on conceptual representation focusing on three conceptual domains increasingly relevant for everyday life but scarcely addressed in the literature, i.e., ecological, technological, and gender concepts. First, we are interested in understanding how people represent concepts belonging to these domains. To investigate the main dimensions characterizing concepts, we will perform rating studies, feature listing and interactive tasks, interviews, and create focus groups. Then,  we will seek to determine whether eco, techno, and gender concepts have a ¿hybrid nature,¿ being a mix of natural and artefactual aspects, neither concrete nor abstract. To this aim, we will use experimental paradigms like odd-one-out, mouse tracking, sorting, and paradigms typically used in mind-wandering studies. Finally, we are interested in how new concepts of these domains change previously established conceptual representations. For example, the new concept of ¿climate change¿ might modify the representation of the natural kind domain. Similarly, differently from younger people, older adults might tend to equate gender with sex. The distinction between ¿sex¿ and ¿gender¿ might lead to reconceptualizing the gender domain. To address how new concepts change established domains, we will adopt three strategies. First and crucially, we will compare how people of different ages conceptualize these domains. For example, when thinking of telephones, children and older adults might evoke different objects and ways to use them. Second, we will compare current rating results with ratings present in previously collected databases. Third, we will conduct experiments to test whether priming new concepts might change previous conceptions. The project has many implications for research on concepts and their flexibility and clinical studies on gender and family relationships. It contributes to promoting healthy aging and sensitivity to ecology and gender issues. 

Description: Exchange project on abstract concepts and words. Involved universities: Warsaw University (Poland) (coordinator: prof. Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi),  Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Manchester (United Kingdom). Crossdisciplinary project, spanning from semiotics to psychology and neuroscience to computational models and robotics. 

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Abstract: Concepts are the building blocks of our knowledge that link our past, present, and future. They can be distinguished into concrete (CCs) and abstract concepts (ACs). Recent research investigated differences among kinds of ACs (e.g., emotional, numerical, philosophical ACs); for each of them, specific dimensions (e.g., emotions, language) can assume relevance. Since ACs are more complex than CCs, they might generate higher uncertainty. Hence, metacognitive monitoring might be crucial: with ACs, we would inspect our knowledge longer, being aware of its limitations. This monitoring process might turn either to a continuous search for word meaning or to the (implicit or explicit) request of information to others. In both cases, inner speech might play an important role. The project consists of two parts. The first focuses on acquiring and using ACs and CCs and their kinds during social interaction, in line with the fresher developments in the field. We will analyze online and real conversations between children from age 5 and parents and between pairs of adults. The second assesses whether ACs and their kinds, more than CCs, induce forms of interaction with the self, in particular inner speech. We are interested in how metacognitive monitoring is mediated by inner speech during the use of ACs. We will use ratings and mouth tracking experiments to study uncertainty with ACs, articulatory suppression, EMG, and questionnaires to investigate inner speech. We will also address whether the lower confidence in our knowledge leads to higher cooperation with others because their input is particularly needed. Finally, we will focus on inner speech related to mind wandering and ACs. We will address whether and when ACs and CCs evoke more or less vivid involuntary memories. We will adopt novel, interactive methods investigating concepts and words during their use and various paradigms and techniques (mouse tracking, kinematics, EMG, sophisticated textual analysis techniques). 

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