Sense of Agency, Affectivity and Social-Ecological Degradation: An Enactive and Phenomenological Approach.

In the last few years, there has been an interest in understanding the impact of environmental change and degradation on people's affective life. This issue has become particularly pressing for populations whose form of life is heavily dependent on ecosystem services and functions and whose opportunities for adaptation are limited. Based on our work with farmers from the Xochimilco urban wetland in the southwest of Mexico City, we begin to draw a theoretical approach to address and explain how environmental degradation impacts people's affective life and sense of agency. Farmers who were part of our project referred to a sense of despair and helplessness toward the loss of the ecosystem and their traditional farming-based form of life. From the perspective of phenomenology, enactivism and ecological psychology, we argue that the loss of this form of life in the area is related to the degradation of socio-ecological systems, limiting the opportunities for people to relate meaningfully to others and the environment. We posit that losing meaningful interaction with the environment generates a feeling of loss of control while leading farmers to feel frustrated, anxious and stressed. Such affective conditions have a direct impact on their sense of agency. In terms of adaptation, the negative interaction between degradation, affective states and a diminished sense of agency can create a downward spiral of vulnerability, including political vulnerability.

Social Perception Deficit as a Factor of Vulnerability to Psychosis: A Brief Proposal for a Definition.

Disturbances in social cognition are a core feature of schizophrenia. While most research in the field has focused on emotion perception, social knowledge, theory of mind, and attribution styles, the domain of social perception has received little specific attention. In this paper, we suggest that this issue can be explained by the lack of a precise and unitary definition of the concept, this leads to the existence of different competing uses of the concept and their conflation with other domains of social cognition. Relying on resources coming from the ecological approach to psychology and the phenomenological tradition in psychiatry, we propose that the concept of Social Perception should be used to refer to low-level pre-reflective processes underlying the awareness of interpersonal interactions with and between others. Clinical data suggests that people with schizophrenia have problems perceiving social situations as opportunities for social engagement, so, in order to fulfil this explanatory need, we propose that the term should be used to capture this important-yet neglected-domain of social cognition. We conclude with the discussion of some future directions for research derived from our proposal.

Conceptual Integration and Empirical Validation of a Unified Taxonomy: Quantitative Data Analysis for Virtual Learning Environments.

Specific classes of cyberspaces emphasize different types of digital transactions given the user's context, thus making it essential to take into account what these environments can afford. In this way, we can portray the niches of technological use as ecologies of particular possibilities and compare how they differ between distinct spheres of human life. The present research is focused on describing the conceptual integration of a taxonomic crossover between Virtual Learning Environments and Educational Affordances of Technology, while also performing empirical testing and determining the psychometric properties in a scale regarding the aforementioned taxonomy. The study sample consisted of 320 students in the departments of foreign languages from three different universities in Sonora (northwestern region of Mexico). Students were given a questionnaire of 21 items organized into four subscales with a Likert-type response option to measure the notions concerning their usage of Virtual Learning Environments. Internal consistency procedures and confirmatory factor analysis by means of Cronbach's alpha and Structural modeling support the derived factorial structure, which contains Cyber-Communications, Virtual Behavior Settings, Virtual Communities, and Availability and Access to Connectivity. This structure traces the environmental properties perceived by learners in a virtual environment. Results sustain the initial conceptual construction regarding the proposed taxonomy, conclude that the 'Virtual Learning Environments Questionnaire' demonstrates adequate psychometric properties, and validate it as a fitting measure to assess the perceived psychological experience of students in a digital educational setting.

The Poor "Wealth" of Brazilian Football: How Poverty May Shape Skill and Expertise of Players.

Worldwide, 1.3 billion people live in Poverty, a socio-economic status that has been identified as a key determinant of a lack of sports participation. Still, numerous athletes around the world have grown up in underprivileged socio-economic conditions. This is the case in Brazil, a country with around 13.5 million impoverished citizens, yet, over decades, many of its best professional footballers have emerged from its favelas. In this article, we explore the role of the socio-cultural-economic constraints in shaping the development of skill and expertise of Brazilian professional football players. The methodological and epistemological assumptions of the "Contextualized Skill Acquisition Research" (CSAR) approach are used as an underpinning framework for organizing and analyzing data. Results suggested that, at the exosystemic level of Brazilian society, Poverty emerges as an influential constraint that can potentially enrich football development experiences of Brazilian players. Poverty, however, is not the direct causation of outstanding football skill development. Rather, from the perspective of ecological dynamics, Poverty creates specific contexts that can lead to the emergence of physical as well as socio-cultural environment constraints (e.g., Pelada, Malandragem) that can shape affordances (opportunities) for skill acquisition. These ideas suggest the need to ensure that environmental constraints can support people to amuse themselves cheaply, gain access to employment opportunities and maintain health and well-being through (unstructured and more structured) sport and physical activities in dense urban environments such as favelas, inner city areas, and banlieues. For this purpose, design of open play areas and even parkour installations can provide affordances landscapes for physical activity and sports participation in urban settings.

Scale Matters: Temporality in the Perception of Affordances.

In this paper I seek to unify enactive and ecological approaches to cognitive science by emphasizing the fact that both approaches view cognitive processes as being inherently temporally extended. My hypothesis is that characterizing the temporal scales in which perception of affordances occur, they can serve different purposes of explanation within the theories. Specifically, the paper brings together, on the one hand, Chemero's (2009) dynamicist understanding of affordances, which he called affordances 2.0, with, on the other hand, a distinction originally made by Varela (1999), and later taken up by Shaun Gallagher (2011, 2017b), between three different timescales for understanding cognition: the elementary, the integrative, and the narrative. Varela's three-fold distinction was originally intended as a way of identifying phenomenological events as being causally coupled to specific cellular events happening within the nervous system. The central claim of the present paper is that affordances, likewise, should be understood in terms of these three different timescales. I show that these temporal scales can be a useful toolkit for explaining the perception and learning of affordances and at the same time unifying enactivism and ecological psychology claiming that affordances serve a different explanatory role depending on which time scale you consider them at. If you are interested in explaining the embodied assemblies that form the always changing sensorimotor contingencies, then you see the elementary scale. If you're interested in explaining perception at the integrative scale, then affordances are solicitations that get actualized and bear an umwelt at that same scale. The perception of affordances as such is constituted by the integration of these first two scales, and the experience of it can be characterized by the husserlian structure of experience with its intrinsic temporality. Finally, if you are interested in explaining change in the animal-environment system over developmental time, that is, learning, then affordances are roughly what Chemero proposed and they operate at the narrative scale. But it is important to say that the three scales are always intertwined because learning and perception are ongoing processes that in many senses are impossible to separate. Finally, I discuss the importance of scales from the macro to micro levels for understanding behavior through affordances, considering them as synergies, where abilities and aspects of the environment are understood as constraints on the potential trajectories of such systems.

Las cualidades de los objetos influyen en el tiempo de reacción de las personas con Enfermedad de Parkinson / The qualities of objects influence the reaction time in people with Parkinson´s disease

La Enfermedad de Parkinson (EP) constituye un trastorno motor que presenta síntomas motores y no motores, incluyendo rigidez, bradiquinesia, alteración de reflejos posturales, temblor de reposo, trastornos del sueño, de la deglución y de la expresión oral, facial y corporal, con una presentación y severidad variable. En la EP el movimiento en sí está preservado y lo que resulta afectada es la modulación del mismo. Sin embargo, esta enfermedad presenta una característica particular que es la kinesia paradojal, una cualidad del sistema motor por la cual las personas pueden moverse de forma inesperada, considerando las limitaciones atribuidas a la enfermedad. Si bien esta característica paradojal es una propiedad del sistema motor perse, aparece de forma más notoria en los trastornos del movimiento que en el comportamiento motor sano y se asocia a los estímulos ambientales. Se presenta un estudio controlado de generalización limitada en el cual se utilizó una aplicación informática con el propósito de evaluar el efecto de las affordances (un recurso ambiental que provee al individuo una oportunidad de comportarse) sobre el tiempo de reacción en un grupo de personas con EP y un grupo control. Los resultados mostraron que los sujetos con EP presentaron un mayor tiempo de reacción que los controles, pero también mostraron aprendizaje a lo largo de la tarea y una mayor sensibilidad al efecto sensorial de compatibilidad. Los resultados obtenidos permiten formular hipótesis sobre los efectos paradójicos que el ambiente puede ejercer al combinarse con las potencialidades de personas con EP.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a movement disorder with motor and non-motor symptoms, including rigidity, bradykinesia, postural instability, resting tremor, sleep disorders, difficulty swallowing, vegetative symptoms, speech problems and body and facial expression disturbances. Symptoms and disease severity are variable across the patients. Besides, the motion is preserved but the problems of modulation hinder its expression. However, the disease has a particular characteristic called paradoxical kinesia, a quality of the motor system by which people is able to unexpectedly move, contrarily to what is commonly expected for people suffering the inabilities of the disease. Although this paradoxical property is a property of the motor system per se, it is more apparent in movement disorders than in healthy motor behavior and is associated with the environmental stimuli. Several scientific reports have proposed that instead of having movement and perception systems separately, they are integrated in a called action-perception system. Besides, researchers have shown that the environmental scenarios have action properties in relation to this actor action-perception system. For example, a ball in the air has the property of catchability in relation to the perception of the individual, which, in turn, is related to his/her movement. This is called affordance, an environmental resource which provides the individual an opportunity to behave. An affordance represents a relationship between the individual action-perception system with the environmental qualities or learning contexts. We develop a controlled study with limited generalization using a computational tool to evaluate the effect of affordances on reaction time in a group of people with PD and a control group. In each trial an arrow indicating a given direction (right or left) was superposed to a previously displayed image of a rying pan with a handle directed to the right or the left side of the screen. Participants were told to press a key of the side of the keyboard that matches with the arrow direction. It was supposed that the direction of the handle would play the role of an affordance to the perception of the individual; therefore participants could find a conflict between directions of the arrow and the handle. Trial conditions could be two: (a) Compatibility: the directions of the arrow and the handle matched and (b) Incompatibility: those directions did not match. Learning was defined by the decrease of reaction time along the trials. We used a Generalized Linear Model (GLM) to explore the relationship between variables and Generalized Linear Mixed Model with repeated measures (MGLM) to model the incidence of successive trials on reaction time. The complete sample included 1050 trials from 4 PD patients and 4 control subjects. Our results showed that (a) reaction times increased with the presence of PD and age of subjects, (b) there was a high incidence of repetition of trials on reaction times of PD and control subjects, and (c) the compatibility between the stimulus and the image affected reaction time on PD patients exclusively. These results indicate that PD patients were able to learn along trials and this learning was favored by an appropriated sensorial arrangement of the stimuli or compatibility effect. Our results let us hypothesize about the paradoxical effects that the environment can exert on people with PD by its combination with their potentialities. Compatibility trials in our study represent appropriate arrangement of stimuli that have been proven to be necessary for the occurrence of paradoxical kinesia. Given that possibility, we can generate learning contexts to help people with PD to develop these behavioral phenomena in order to improve their movement, their relation with their environment and also their quality of life.

Nível Socioeconômico e affordances do ambiente domiciliar: implicações para o desempenho motor infantil / Socioeconomic level and home environment affordances: implications for infant motor performance

Este estudo objetivou analisar o impacto do nível socioeconômico (NSE) sobre o desempenho motor mediado pelas affordances do ambiente domiciliar de crianças com idade média de 42 meses. Foram sujeitos 86 crianças (39 meninas e 47 meninos) matriculadas em 24 Centros Municipais de Educação Infantil. Como instrumentos de medida foram utilizados a Classificação da Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa (ABEP), a Affordances for Home Environment Motor Development (AHEMD-SR) e a Bateria de Avaliação do Movimento para Crianças (MABC-2). Na análise dos dados foram utilizados o teste de Kolmogorov-Smirnov, "U" de Mann-Whitney e Análise de equações estruturais (p<0,05). Os resultados evidenciaram que as crianças de classe média alta possuem mais affordances em comparação às crianças de classe média baixa, no entanto, não houve diferença significativa no desempenho motor entre os grupos. O nível socioeconômico mais elevado não implica positivamente sobre o desempenho motor, entretanto, quando mediado pelas affordances domiciliares (materiais de motricidade fina e estimulação do espaço interno) demonstra um efeito positivo embora fraco no desempenho motor das crianças. Concluiu-se que o alto nível socioeconômico familiar não é suficiente para estruturar um ambiente domiciliar que oportunize o aperfeiçoamento do desempenho motor infantil, além do que as affordances presentes nos ambientes domiciliares parecem não estimular adequadamente o desempenho motor das crianças.

This study aimed to analyze the impact of the socio economic level on motor performance mediated by the home environment affordances among kids with the age of 42 months. Subjects were 86 kids (39 girls and 47 boys) enrolled in 24 Childhood Education Center of the city of Maringá-PR. The instruments used were the Classification of the Brazilian Association of Research Companies/ABEP, the Affordances for Home Environment Motor Development (AHEMD-SR) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2/MABC-2. For data analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney and Structural Equation Analysis were conducted (p<0,05). The results showed that children from upper middle class have more affordances compared to children from lower middle class; however, there was no significant difference in motor performance between the groups. The higher socioeconomic status does not have a direct impact on the motor performance, however, when mediated by household affordances (fine motor materials and internal space stimulation) it shows a positive, although weak effect on kids' motor performance. It was concluded that high family socioeconomic status is not enough to support a home environment that provides the enhancement of infant motor performance; in addition, the affordances in the domestic environment does not seem to stimulate adequately the kids' motor performance.

Affordances em ambientes domésticos e desenvolvimento motor de pré­escolares / Affordances in the home environment and motor development in preschool children / Affordances en ámbitos domésticos e desarrollo motor de pré escolares

O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a correlação entre as oportunidades de estimulação motora no ambiente doméstico e o nível de desenvolvimento motor (DM) em 12 pré-­escolares de 36 a 42 meses de idade. Utilizou-­se o questionário Affordances in the Home Enviroment for Motor Development – AHEMD – 18­42 meses e a bateria de Teste de Desenvolvimento Motor Grosso ­ 2ª Edição (TDMG­2). Os resultados demonstram uma deficiência significativa na promoção de oportunidades para o DM das crianças no ambiente doméstico, sem, contudo influenciar negativamente o desenvolvimento motor das mesmas. Infere­se que o ritmo maturacional destas crianças e principalmente a ação de outros microssistemas podem estar suprindo as deficiências detectadas no ambiente doméstico.

The aim of this research was to verify the correlation between the opportunities of motor stimulation in the home environment and the level of motor development (MD) in 12 preschool children with 36 to 42 months old. The questionnaire Affordances in the home Environment For Motor Development­ AHEMD ­18­42 Months and the test of gross motor development 2° Edition (TGMD­2) were used. The results showed one significant deficiency in the promotion of opportunities for the MD of children in the home environment, without negatively influencing their motor development. It also demonstrates that these children’s maturational rhythm, and mainly the action of other Microsystems, can be supplying detected deficiencies in the home environment.

El propósito de esta investigación fue de comprobar la correlación entre las oportunidades de estimulación motora en el ámbito doméstico y el nível de desarrollo motor (DM) en 12 pre escolares de 36 a 42 meses de edad. Se utilizo cuestionario Affordances in the Home Enviroment for Motor Development – AHEMD – 18­42 Months y tambien el Teste de Desarrollo Motor Grueso – 2ª Edición (TDMG­2). Los resultados demuestran una deficiencia significativa en la promoción de oportunidades para el DM de los niños en el ámbito doméstico, sin embargo influir negativamente el desarrollo motor de las mismas. Se deduce que el ritmo maduracional de estos niño y principalmente la acción de otros microsistema pueden estar supliendolas deficiencias detectadas en el ámbito doméstico.