On the neural implausibility of the modular mind: Evidence for distributed construction dissolves boundaries between perception, cognition, and emotion.

Firestone & Scholl (F&S) rely on three problematic assumptions about the mind (modularity, reflexiveness, and context-insensitivity) to argue cognition does not fundamentally influence perception. We highlight evidence indicating that perception, cognition, and emotion are constructed through overlapping, distributed brain networks characterized by top-down activity and context-sensitivity. This evidence undermines F&S's ability to generalize from case studies to the nature of perception.

Responsibility amplifies empathic forecasts.

Inspired by theoretical and empirical work on emotion, psychological distance, moral psychology, and people's tendency to overgeneralize ecologically valid relationships, 3 studies explore whether, why, and for whom responsibility amplifies empathic forecasts (RAEF)-the perception that an intentional agent's social actions will produce stronger affective responses in others than if those same outcomes were to occur randomly or unintentionally. In Study 1, participants thought that pleasant or aversive videos would elicit stronger reactions when participants themselves (instead of the random determination of a computer) would select the video another would watch. This was explained by responsible agents' own stronger reactions to the stimuli. Study 2 identified what about agents' responsibility amplifies empathic forecasts: the combination of clearly causing and intending the other's outcome. Study 3 demonstrated that RAEF need not extend to all responsible agents equally. Participants considered how to divide (vs. how another participant would divide or how a computer would randomly split) $10 with a recipient. In this context, we found the weight of causal responsibility looms larger in the self's mind when the self is responsible for the recipient's fate than when another responsible agent is. Furthermore, the self thought that the recipient's emotional reaction would be more strongly influenced by the size of the self's own (compared to another's or a computer's) allocation decision. The Discussion focuses on how RAEF relates to other models connecting agency and experience, provides initial evidence that RAEF need not be egocentric, and identifies open questions that remain for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The vicarious construal effect: Seeing and experiencing the world through different eyes.

That 2 individuals can look at the same stimulus and experience it differently speaks to the power of construal. People's construals are shaped by their idiosyncratic attitudes, belief systems, and personal histories. Eleven studies provide support for and explain the origin of a vicarious construal effect: Considering perspectives one once had but seemingly lost, one ordinarily would have only with more experience, or one would not have had spontaneously, all exerted an assimilative pull on one's ongoing experiences. This means habituation can be slowed or stalled by considering another's fresh perspective (Studies 1-6), desensitization can be preemptively achieved by considering another's stale perspective (Study 5), and the experience of a performance can change by considering how fans or nonfans would see it (Study 7). Blind to the power of construal in defining their experiences, participants believed they were learning about a stimulus's properties or their own underlying preferences, not simply the experience-distorting effects of the perspective manipulations (Studies 6-7). These effects emerged in examinations of positive emotions, negative emotions, interest, and perceptions of humor. The final 2 pairs of studies used causal chain designs to elucidate an underlying mechanism. Trying to understand another's perspective encouraged participants to approach a stimulus by posing different questions or directional hypotheses to themselves (Studies 8a and 9a), which caused participants' own experiences of the stimulus to shift (Studies 8b and 9b). The implications of this account for when considering another's perspective should change one's own experience are detailed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

[Intrapericardial teratoma in the neonatal stage: diagnosis and evolution]. / Teratoma intrapericárdico en etapa neonatal: diagnóstico y evolución.

Intrapericardial teratomas in fetal and neonatal stages are rare. They invade the mediastinum compromising the venous return to the heart and leading to hydrops. We report a case of a neonate with fetal hydrops who required ventilatory support at birth and urgent surgical treatment due to severe respiratory failure. During surgery, a multicyst mass was resected in the anterior mediastinum, corresponding to an immature teratoma.