Historical Theatre: The Task of the Translator

This article discusses ways in which the translator
may approach the plays of the Spanish Golden
Age in order to create translations free from the
philological deadness that characterises so many
versions to date. By thinking of translation both
as a writing practice that eschews locatedness,
and an ethical regime that is anxious to preserve
the rights of alterity, this article proposes a series
of translational strategies geared to the writing
of translations that give English-language
expression to these classical plays, while
simultaneously belonging to themselves

Perception of emotion: towards a realistic understanding of the task

A decade ago, perceiving emotion was generally equated with taking a sample (a still photograph or a few seconds of speech) that unquestionably signified an archetypal emotional state, and attaching the appropriate label. Computational research has shifted that paradigm in multiple ways. Concern with realism is key. Emotion generally colours ongoing action and interaction: describing that colouring is a different problem from categorizing brief episodes of relatively pure emotion. Multiple challenges flow from that. Describing emotional colouring is a challenge in itself. One approach is to use everyday categories describing states that are partly emotional and partly cognitive. Another approach is to use dimensions. Both approaches need ways to deal with gradual changes over time and mixed emotions. Attaching target descriptions to a sample poses problems of both procedure and validation. Cues are likely to be distributed both in time and across modalities, and key decisions may depend heavily on context. The usefulness of acted data is limited because it tends not to reproduce these features. By engaging with these challenging issues, research is not only achieving impressive results, but also offering a much deeper understanding of the problem.

Unilateral Forgiveness and the Task of Reconciliation

Although forgiveness is often taken to bear a close connection to the value
of reconciliation, there is a good deal of scepticism about its role in situations where there is no consensus on the moral complexion of the past and no admission of guilt on the part of the perpetrator. This scepticism is typically rooted in the claims that forgiveness without perpetrator acknowledgement (1) aggravates the risk of recidivism; (2) yields a substandard and morally compromised form of political accommodation; and (3) comes across as patronizing and offensive to the recipient, thereby causing further alienation. In this article, my aim is to show, firstly, that none of these arguments is decisive and, secondly, that forgiveness is a suitable object of political concern in the
absence of cross-community consensus on the rights and wrongs of a conflict. In this way, I aim to demonstrate that forgiveness deserves to be taken seriously as a means to civic reconciliation in a broader range of situations than many have allowed.

Network[ed] Listening – towards a de-centering of beings

In this paper, I question modes of listening in network music performance environments, and specifically draw on my experience as a performer listening in these scenarios. I situate network listening within the context of current music making, and refer to changes in compositional practices that draw specific attention to listening. I argue that some of these compositional developments play a determining role in articulating a new discourse of listening. Eric Satie's concept of Furniture Music, Schaeffer's ideas on reduced listening, Oliveros' deep listening practices as well as digital music platforms all serve to show a development towards a proliferation in listening experiences. I expand this narrative to listening practices in network performance environments, and identify a specific bodily fragility in listening in and to the network. This fragile state of listening and de-centered kind of performative being allow me to draw parallels to the Japanese art form Butoh and Elaine Scarry's metaphor of beauty. My own performance experiences, set within the context of several critical texts, allow me to see network[ed] listening as an ideal corporeal state, which offers a rethinking of linear conceptions of the other and a subject's own relation with her world. Ultimately, network[ed] listening posits listening as a corporeal and multi-dimensional experience that is continuously being re-shaped by technological, socio-political and cultural concerns.

Evocative Listening : Mediated Practices in Everyday Life

The history of sonic arts is charged with transgressive practices that seek to expose the social, aural and cultural thresholds across various listening experiences, posing new questions in terms of the dialogue between listener and place. Recent work in sonic art exposes the need for an experiential understanding of listening that foregrounds the use of new personal technologies, environmental philosophy and the subject–object relationship. This paper aims to create a vocabulary that better contextualises recent installations and performances produced within the context of everyday life, by researchers and artists at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen's University Belfast.

Task prioritization in aging: effects of sensory information on concurrent posture and memory performance

In older adults, cognitive resources play a key role in maintaining postural stability. In the present study, we evaluated whether increasing postural instability using sway referencing induces changes in resource allocation in dual-task performance leading older adults to prioritize the more age-salient posture task over a cognitive task. Young and older adults participated in the study which comprised two sessions. In the first session, three posture tasks (stable, sway reference visual, sway reference somatosensory) and a working memory task (n-back) were examined. In the second session, single- and dual-task performance of posture and memory were assessed. Postural stability improved with session. Participants were more unstable in the sway reference conditions, and pronounced age differences were observed in the somatosensory sway reference condition. In dual-task performance on the stable surface, older adults showed an almost 40% increase in instability compared to single-task. However, in the sway reference somatosensory condition, stability was the same in single- and dual-task performance, whereas pronounced (15%) costs emerged for cognition. These results show that during dual-tasking while standing on a stable surface, older adults have the flexibility to allow an increase in instability to accommodate cognitive task performance. However, when instability increases by means of compromising somatosensory information, levels of postural control are kept similar in single- and dual-task, by utilizing resources otherwise allocated to the cognitive task. This evidence emphasizes the flexible nature of resource allocation, developed over the life-span to compensate for age-related decline in sensorimotor and cognitive processing.

Working Memory and Postural Control: Adult Age Differences in Potential for Improvement, Task Priority, and Dual Tasking

We investigate dynamic posture control and working memory (NBack) retest practice in young and older adults, focusing on older adults' potential for improvement in the component tasks but more importantly in dual-task performance. Participants performed the 2 tasks in 11 sessions under single- and dual-task conditions. Posture improvement was observed with retest practice for both groups. Increase in cognitive load after initial practice led to greater dual-task costs in both tasks in older adults and higher costs in memory in young adults. With continued practice, costs were reduced by both groups; however, the 2 groups focused improvement on different tasks: Older adults focused on posture but young adults on cognition. These results emphasize older adults' potential for improvement in dual-task performance and their flexibility to utilize the practice gains in posture to optimize cognitive performance.

Perceiving and acting upon spaces in a VR rugby task: Expertise effects in affordance detection and task achievement

This study used a virtual simulated 3vs3 rugby task to investigate whether gaps opening in particular running channels promote different actions by the ball-carrier player and whether an effect of rugby expertise is verified. We manipulated emergent gaps in three different locations: gap1 in the participant’s own running channel, gap 2 in the 1st receiver's running channel, and gap3 in the 2nd receiver's running channel. Recreational, intermediate, professional and non-rugby players performed the task. They could i) run with the ball, ii) make a short pass, or iii) make a long pass. All actions were digitally recorded. Results revealed that the emergence of gaps in the defensive line with respect to the participant’s own position significantly influenced action selection. Namely, ‘run’ was most often the action performed in gap 1, ‘short pass’ in gap 2, and ‘long pass’ in gap 3 trials. Furthermore, a strong positive relationship between expertise and task achievement was found.