Facial movements of android robots should be designed carefully to achieve desired impressions. Therefore, it is essential to understand in detail which impressions each main movement component provides to humans. In this study, we adopted the design of experiments method to efficiently investigate the effect of each movement composing smiling expressions on the personality trait impressions. Ninety-three participants answered the impressions of different combinations of facial movements, and statistical tests were conducted to evaluate the main effects of each movement. Significant movement effects on three types of personality impressions are introduced, and the potential design policy of smiling facial expressions conveying desired personality impressions is discussed in this report.

Through longitudinal observation of feeding during the weaning period, we clarified the process by which children acquire the ability to manipulate tableware. Mealtime was conceptualized as an environment reflecting adult intentions (the field of promoted action). Children’s two-handed use of a spoon and other tableware was analyzed with respect to their independent participation, the coordination of the two tools, and the types of tools used. Our findings indicate that children’s hand shapes differed from those instructed by adults, with only the fingertips contacting the tableware, and hand configuration varied considerably. When interpreted using grasp classification, the hand shapes appeared to be optimized for precise movements. Therefore, when one hand was placed on a piece of tableware other than the spoon, it functioned in coordination with the spoon rather than to stabilize the tableware. The process of acquiring tableware manipulation cannot be explained solely by adult-directed canalization; rather, children appear to regulate their actions in response to the environmental context.

This study empirically examines the perceptual characteristics of theatrical improvisation from the perspective of multisensory integration through an online discrimination task. A total of 216 university students were tasked with distinguishing between improvisational and scripted theater under three sensory conditions: visual-auditory (VA), visual-only (VO), and auditory-only (AO). Binomial tests indicated that discrimination accuracy was significantly above the chance level (50%) in all conditions. Logistic regression analysis revealed no significant differences in accuracy among the three sensory conditions (𝑝 > .05), indicating that each modality alone provided sufficient information to perceive improvisation. Notably, accuracy in the AO condition (83.3%) was comparable to that in the VA condition (81.9%). Ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that confidence was significantly higher for correct responses than for incorrect ones, thereby validating participants’ metacognitive judgments. Specifically, in the VO condition, a dissociation phenomenon was observed: participants demonstrated significant accuracy (69.4%) but lower confidence compared to the VA condition. Conversely, the AO condition demonstrated both high accuracy and confidence levels, similar to the VA condition. These findings suggest that improvisation can be perceived through multiple sensory channels, with characteristic differences in perceptual and metacognitive processes across modalities.

This study investigated whether the use of demonstratives is influenced by the distance of the referent and/or its visibility from the perspective of the speaker or addressee. We examined these in two typologically different languages: Chinese, which has a two-demonstrative system and is sometimes observed as egocentric, and Japanese, which has a three-demonstrative system and is sometimes observed as sociocentric. The results show that distance affects both languages; however, in Japanese, the medium demonstrative sore is influenced by visibility when the referent is visible to the addressee, reflecting sociocentric sensitivity. Chinese demonstratives depend primarily on physical distance, with no significant visibility effect. Previous studies of demonstratives and perceptual visibility have not considered situations in which the speaker and addressee differ in what they can see. Our study shows for the first time that an important characteristic of three-term demonstrative systems is the extent to which speakers consider an addressee’s visual perspective.

The present study conducted a filed survey to investigate the relationships between metacognition in art appreciation and aesthetic experiences and characteristics of individuals with high levels of metacognition in art appreciation. After completing their art appreciation in a museum, participants (𝑁 = 100, 55 women and 43 men; mean age = 51.52 ± 16.23, range = 14–77) were asked to rate the extent to which they experience seven types of aesthetic experiences for six exhibited paintings, and then asked to compete questionnaires measuring metacognition in art appreciation, art interest, aesthetic responsiveness, and meaning in life. Multilevel analyses revealed that individuals with higher levels of metacognitive knowledge in art appreciation tended to understand and like artworks. Additionally, correlation analyses revealed that individuals with high levels of metacognitive knowledge in art appreciation reported high levels of art interest, aesthetic responsiveness, and presence of meaning in life, and that individuals with high levels of metacognitive experience in art appreciation reported high levels of aesthetic responsiveness and presence of meaning in life. Our results highlight the importance of metacognition in art appreciation. Our study provides findings that can extend previous psychological models of aesthetic experiences and contribute to develop educational programs for art appreciation from the perspective of metacognition.

This paper defines interactions among members achieving a common goal as coordinated group interaction, and offers a conceptual model based on a new perspective for understanding role-sharing. We assume familiar activities, such as team sports and outdoor cooking, and refer to findings from various research fields including cognitive science and sports science. To investigate the complex and dynamic behavior among three or more members, it is important to focus on top-down and bottom-up information processing; coordinated group interaction involves both types. Top-down processing refers to a feedforward mechanism that anticipates future situations and guides role-sharing to support efficient activities through a group mental model. It consists of structured internal knowledge-based representations that serve as a common ground and are strengthened by explicit instructions, within which information is shared and complemented among members. Bottom-up processing explains mutual adjustment through perception of the environment and others, enabling flexible reassignment of roles; this develops to update and expand the group mental model over time. However, few studies have proposed such an integrative group processing model based on both top-down and bottom-up mechanisms. We also introduce our field experiments in 3-on-3 basketball and barbecue cooking, and attempt to interpret the observed role-sharing and analysis results using the proposed model. Although further work is required, the novelty of these discussions lies in providing a crucial framework for understanding the process of coordinated group interaction in the real world.

This paper is a survey article focusing on the impossibility theorem of unawareness, which has garnered attention in economics and renders discussions of unawareness trivial. By focusing on the impossibility theorem, the survey clarifies how subsequent research overcomes the impossibility of unawareness. Although this survey covers only a part of the research on unawareness, it provides key points that are essential for advancing this field of study.

This paper introduces an online experimental method, the Triple Task Technique, designed to elucidate the cognitive processes involved in text composition, and reports a study conducted using this method. Although the Triple Task Technique is an effective means of examining how writers allocate cognitive resources to planning, production, and revision during writing, it has not been applied in Japan. In this study, we conducted an online experiment employing the technique to investigate how providing an outline influences the writing process and the quality of narrative texts. The results showed no significant effect of the outline condition, but replicated the characteristic findings typically observed with the Triple Task Technique. These results suggest that the technique introduced in this paper can serve as a useful tool for investigating writing processes in Japan.

Previous studies on the association between numerical parity and gender have yielded conflicting results and discussions regarding its universality. Some research conducted in the United States suggested that individuals associate odd numbers with male and even numbers with female. In contrast, a study in the United Arab Emirates found that the pattern of association varied between male and female participants. Furthermore, earlier studies insisted that the association is a cross-cultural phenomenon, whereas later studies argued for its cultural specificity. However, the evidence remains inconclusive regarding both claims due to a lack of data from other cultural areas, including Japan and East Asia. Thus, the present study conducted the Implicit Association Test (IAT) with native Japanese participants to measure how they classify odd/even numbers and male/female face image stimuli. The results showed that neither male nor female participants associated numerical parity with gender, as indicated by the D-score. These findings are inconsistent with the claims of previous research. Methodological considerations and directions for future research are also discussed.

This study investigates how people evaluate probabilistic information when it is provided by AI versus human experts. Previous research on algorithm aversion (Dietvorst et al., 2015) and appreciation (Logg et al., 2019) has shown that the trust placed in algorithmic advice differs from that in human judgment, but little is known about how people value probability information depending on its source. Building on Keren and Teigen (2001) and Nakamura (2008), the study adopts an information-theoretic framework in which the perceived value of probability is interpreted through Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence, reflecting the gap between presented probabilities and participants’ prior beliefs. A total of 222 university students evaluated 23 probability phrases including numerical and verbal probability expressions concerning stock price increases, presented either by AI or an expert. Results showed that both conditions produced U-shaped evaluations, with extreme probabilities rated as more informative than moderate ones. Model-based estimation indicated that participants assumed lower prior probabilities of stock increases and assigned weaker KL-based weighting under the AI condition, suggesting a more conservative stance toward AI-provided information. These findings highlight that AI advice may reshape situational assumptions themselves, extending beyond trust differences emphasized in prior algorithm aversion research.

Art viewing research in psychology has undergone rapid development in the 21st century. Increasingly, art is being recognized not only as a form of leisure, but also as a potentially valuable non-pharmacological resource for supporting individuals and society. Drawing on research conducted by Empirical Visual Aesthetic Laboratories (EVA labs) at the University of Vienna, this article overviews recent theoretical and empirical advances in art viewing research, with a particular focus on spatial context, viewer diversity, and well-being outcomes. By tracking these developments, this article aims to examine whether and how art viewing can contribute to everyday life beyond traditional laboratory settings. Current limitations and directions for future research will be discussed.

The first half of this article explores how artworks can come to acquire “rich meaning” within individuals. While much previous research has focused on relating diversity in aesthetic responses to interindividual differences, this article introduces two emerging directions that extend this line of work, illustrated with recent empirical examples. One concerns understanding response diversity in a more expansive manner by adopting multi-dimensional indicators and process-based accounts, rather than reducing appreciation to a single evaluative dimension at a single point in time. The other focuses on intraindividual processes through which meanings accumulate and become layered over time, as artworks are repeatedly encountered under varying everyday contexts. The latter half turns to a different question: how experiences related to art may enrich everyday life itself. Drawing on John Dewey’s critique of dualisms that separate ends and means, and connecting this perspective with cognitive-scientific frameworks such as spontaneous thought and problem finding, the article proposes a view of “rich experience” as a process in which exploration supports the ongoing generation of aims. From this perspective, art is positioned as a particularly powerful resource for broadening exploratory activity and for fostering aim-generative ways of living.

Current science communication demands a comprehensive understanding of the concept of science and its impacts when applied. Achieving this requires interdisciplinary study of science alongside non-scientific contexts. The practice introduced in this paper involves learning about science and non-scientific contexts in a layered manner through the appreciation of contemporary art dealing with science. Through these practices, we explore the richness of experience and depth of thought that arise when art appreciation is integrated into science communication.