Crowdsourcing refers to the use of technologies to gather the collective effort and wisdom from an undefined group of online users for organizational innovation and/or problem solving. While the idea holds a lot of potential, its implementation can be thwarted by an ill design and management of the collaboration processes. Therefore, studies on crowdsourcing collaboration processes are importan...

The fear circuitry orchestrates defense mechanisms in response to environmental threats. This circuitry is evolutionarily crucial for survival, but its dysregulation is thought to play a major role in the pathophysiology of psychiatric conditions in humans. The amygdala is a key player in the processing of fear. This brain area is prominently modulated by the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydro...

Mental retardation is a group of cognitive disorders with a significant worldwide prevalence rate. This high rate, together with the considerable familial and societal burden resulting from these disorders, makes it an important focus for prevention and intervention. While the diseases associated with mental retardation are diverse, a significant number are linked with disruptions in epigenetic...

Visual mental images can be conceived of as mental models (in their Johnson-Lairdian sense, 1983) which involve both spatial and visual information (Kosslyn, 1980; 1994; Finke, 1989). Mental images are working memory constructions which are closely related to visual perception. The term is used to designate either imagery phenomena in the presence of actual visual perception, or those that are ...

Makes explicit a reconceptualization of the nature of emotion that over the past decade has fostered the study of emotion regulation. In the past, emotions were considered to be feeling states indexed by behavioral expressions; now, emotions are considered to be processes of establishing, maintaining, or disrupting the relation between the organism and the environment on matters of significance...

Although we can often infer the mental states of others by observing their actions, there are currently no computational models of this remarkable ability. Here we develop a computational model of mental state inference that builds upon a generic visuomanual feedback controller, and implements mental simulation and mental state inference functions using circuitry that subserves sensorimotor con...

The study of age at onset of mental health disorders is technically and conceptually difficult. It is important to consider these age distributions in order to understand causes and mechanisms of illness and to intervene at an appropriate juncture for primary and secondary prevention. This article reviews some of the approaches to studying age at onset, sets out the evidence to support the asse...

This paper introduces the active mental entities approach to the design of intelligent autonomous agents. In this approach, mental attitudes are conceived as active computational entities and the overall mental activity of an agent results from their independent operation and interaction. In order to provide a formal support to this approach, we propose argumentation theory as a basis for the d...