There is consensus in psychology and cognitive science that the capacity to recognize a behavior as intentional is a central component of human social cognition; that this capacity has evolved for its adaptive value in social interaction; and that it develops rather rapidly in the early years of childhood (Malle et al. 2001; Zelazo et al. 1999). We also know that adults judge intentionality fas...

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the Agent-oriented paradigm to cope with the needs imposed by nowadays complex and networked systems. Developing Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) calls for addressing aspects such as interaction, autonomy, collaboration and pro-activeness. One way to cope with these needs is to have agency properties as well as intentionality in the center of the software...

Contrast and assimilation are two opposite perceptual phenomena deriving from the relationships among perceptual elements in a visual field. In contrast, perceptual differences are enhanced; while, in assimilation, they are decreased. Indeed, if contrast or assimilation occurs depends on various factors. Interestingly, Gestalt scientists explained both phenomena as the result of perceptual belo...

Since the publication of RuthMillikan’s Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories in 1984, a great deal of literature has discussed her so called teleosemantic or biosemantic solution to the problem of intentionality. Only recently, though, has much attention been paid to her co ordinated solution to the problem of productivity. This article, first, clearly describes the problems of in...

Conspiracist beliefs are widespread and potentially hazardous. A growing body of research suggests that cognitive biases may play a role in endorsement of conspiracy theories. The current research examines the novel hypothesis that individuals who are biased towards inferring intentional explanations for ambiguous actions are more likely to endorse conspiracy theories, which portray events as t...

It is proposed that the capacity of attention is a minimal criterion of intentionality in robots. An attentive system must be able to identify relevant objects in the scene; select one of the identified objects; direct its sensors towards the selected object; and maintain its focus on the selected object. We describe the robot R1 which exhibits behavior that seems intentional. However, when the...