Publicidad subliminal

[ES] La publicidad subliminal es un tipo de publicidad que utiliza estímulos que no son percibidos conscientemente, pero que influyen en nuestra conducta con la finalidad de lograr determinados objetivos. Su primera alusión se hizo en el año 400 a.C. y se ha mantenido viva hasta la actualidad. Hay quienes defienden su existencia mientras que otros aseguran que no existe, por lo tanto es un tema que genera gran controversia. Está prohibida y penada por la ley, pero a pesar de ello se utiliza a diario. La podemos encontrar principalmente en los medios de comunicación, pero también en canciones de moda, cintas de autoayuda, centros comerciales o en el trabajo. Tenemos que precisar que lo que está prohibido es la publicidad subliminal, pero no las técnicas subliminales que se utilizan para resolver problemas psicológicos, para vencer la tartamudez, dejar de fumar… La publicidad subliminal pretende llamar la atención del consumidor para incitarle a que actué de una determinada manera. Esto lo consigue mediante la utilización de mensajes ocultos. En este trabajo vamos a ver si en realidad existe o no la publicidad subliminal, y en caso afirmativo, si de verdad provoca un incremento de las ventas. También veremos que en nuestra vida diaria nos encontramos con la presencia de mensajes subliminales y su posible uso para manipular nuestra conducta.

Modeling habits as self-sustaining patterns of sensorimotor behavior

In the recent history of psychology and cognitive neuroscience, the notion of habit has been reduced to a stimulus-triggered response probability correlation. In this paper we use a computational model to present an alternative theoretical view (with some philosophical implications), where habits are seen as self-maintaining patterns of behavior that share properties in common with self-maintaining biological processes, and that inhabit a complex ecological context, including the presence and influence of other habits. Far from mechanical automatisms, this organismic and self-organizing concept of habit can overcome the dominating atomistic and statistical conceptions, and the high temporal resolution effects of situatedness, embodiment and sensorimotor loops emerge as playing a more central, subtle and complex role in the organization of behavior. The model is based on a novel "iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM)," designed such that trajectories taken through sensorimotor-space increase the likelihood that in the future, similar trajectories will be taken. We couple the IDSM to sensors and motors of a simulated robot, and show that under certain conditions, the IDSM conditions, the IDSM forms self-maintaining patterns of activity that operate across the IDSM, the robot's body, and the environment. We present various environments and the resulting habits that form in them. The model acts as an abstraction of habits at a much needed sensorimotor "meso-scale" between microscopic neuron-based models and macroscopic descriptions of behavior. Finally, we discuss how this model and extensions of it can help us understand aspects of behavioral self-organization, historicity and autonomy that remain out of the scope of contemporary representationalist frameworks.

Self-Organized Criticality, Plasticity and Sensorimotor Coupling. Explorations with a Neurorobotic Model in a Behavioural Preference Task

During the last two decades, analysis of 1/f noise in cognitive science has led to a considerable progress in the way we understand the organization of our mental life. However, there is still a lack of specific models providing explanations of how 1/f noise is generated in coupled brain-body-environment systems, since existing models and experiments typically target either externally observable behaviour or isolated neuronal systems but do not address the interplay between neuronal mechanisms and sensorimotor dynamics. We present a conceptual model of a minimal neurorobotic agent solving a behavioural task that makes it possible to relate mechanistic (neurodynamic) and behavioural levels of description. The model consists of a simulated robot controlled by a network of Kuramoto oscillators with homeostatic plasticity and the ability to develop behavioural preferences mediated by sensorimotor patterns. With only three oscillators, this simple model displays self-organized criticality in the form of robust 1/f noise and a wide multifractal spectrum. We show that the emergence of self-organized criticality and 1/f noise in our model is the result of three simultaneous conditions: a) non-linear interaction dynamics capable of generating stable collective patterns, b) internal plastic mechanisms modulating the sensorimotor flows, and c) strong sensorimotor coupling with the environment that induces transient metastable neurodynamic regimes. We carry out a number of experiments to show that both synaptic plasticity and strong sensorimotor coupling play a necessary role, as constituents of self-organized criticality, in the generation of 1/f noise. The experiments also shown to be useful to test the robustness of 1/f scaling comparing the results of different techniques. We finally discuss the role of conceptual models as mediators between nomothetic and mechanistic models and how they can inform future experimental research where self-organized critically includes sensorimotor coupling among the essential interaction-dominant process giving rise to 1/f noise.

Mass spectrometry coupled to imaging techniques: The better the view the greater the challenge

These are definitively exciting times for membrane lipid researchers. Once considered just as the cell membrane building blocks, the important role these lipids play is steadily being acknowledged. The improvement occurred in mass spectrometry techniques (MS) allows the establishment of the precise lipid composition of biological extracts. However, to fully understand the biological function of each individual lipid species, we need to know its spatial distribution and dynamics. In the past 10 years, the field has experienced a profound revolution thanks to the development of MS-based techniques allowing lipid imaging (MSI). Images reveal and verify what many lipid researchers had already shown by different means, but none as convincing as an image: each cell type presents a specific lipid composition, which is highly sensitive to its physiological and pathological state. While these techniques will help to place membrane lipids in the position they deserve, they also open the black box containing all the unknown regulatory mechanisms accounting for such tailored lipid composition. Thus, these results urges to different disciplines to redefine their paradigm of study by including the complexity revealed by the MSI techniques.

Socioeconomic status, parental support, motivation and self-confidence in youth competitive sport

World Conference on Psychology and Sociology 2012

Response of the topological surface state to surface disorder in TlBiSe2

Through a combination of experimental techniques we show that the topmost layer of the topological insulator TlBiSe2 as prepared by cleavage is formed by irregularly shaped Tl islands at cryogenic temperatures and by mobile Tl atoms at room temperature. No trivial surface states are observed in photoemission at low temperatures, which suggests that these islands cannot be regarded as a clear surface termination. The topological surface state is, however, clearly resolved in photoemission experiments. This is interpreted as direct evidence of its topological self-protection and shows the robust nature of the Dirac cone-like surface state. Our results can also help explain the apparent mass acquisition in S-doped TlBiSe2.