This chapter contrasts the voluntary, endogenous influences on attention to the involuntary, exogenous influences on attention. The neural effects of top-down versus bottom-up attention are presented, including how these effects are observed at multiple levels of processing in the brain. Evidence from fMRI and ERP studies show the separate and interacting effects of endogenous and exogenous attention in multiple visual processing regions and on the C1, P1, N1, and P3 components. Inhibition of return (IOR), an attention process unique to reflexive attention is described, along with corresponding ERP evidence. The debate concerning reflexive orienting and contingent capture is discussed, and the effects of special classes of stimuli (e.g., new objects; faces; emotion-inducing stimuli) on the involuntary allocation of attention are introduced. ERP indices of attentional orienting in visual search (e.g., the N2pc component) versus the suppression of distractors (e.g., the PD components) are discussed. This chapter also describes how memory affects attentional allocation, both in the initial capture and the subsequent holding of attention. Finally, theories are introduced that propose that selection history and reward learning play significant roles in the involuntary biasing and allocation of attention.

The front door to addiction pathophysiology is through the nucleus accumbens (NAC) (aka, ventral striatum) – the brain’s primary neural network for representing, storing, and modifying motivational information. NAC motivational codes are informed and altered by converging axonal inputs from prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampal formation (HCF), and amygdala (AMY) that import cognitive and emotional information carried by glutamate (GLU) neurotransmission. Relaying motivational codes from NAC into the caudate-putamen (CA-PU; aka, dorsal striatum) influences the prioritization, sequencing, automaticity, and execution of complex, goal-directed motor programs. Four classes of stimuli increase dopamine (DA) neurotransmitter release into the NAC – events that are (1) rewarding, (2) unexpected, (3) stressful/painful, and (4) addictive drugs. The three classes of natural salient events promote DA discharge into the NAC to optimize flow of motivational information while operating as a learning signal for the creation and modification of new motivational codes and motor program sequences. In addiction pathogenesis, repeated drug delivery exploits the DA learning signal, causing abnormal changes in neuronal DNA expression, phenotypes, and axodendritic connections within the NAC network. This change in connectivity alters motivational codes managed and stored by the NAC network, so that motivated behavior driving drug use is involuntarily prioritized over other healthy motivations.

We begin with the theoretical and empirical foundations of happiness economics, in which the aim of economic policy is to maximize self-reported happiness of people in society. We also discuss the economic correlates of self-reported happiness. We outline some of the key insights from the literature on behavioral industrial organization, such as phishing for phools and the effects of limited attention on the pricing decisions of firms. When products have several attributes, we explain how some might be more salient than others. We also explain the effects of limited attention on economic outcomes. We introduce the basics of complexity economics. Here, people use simple rules of thumb and simple adaptive learning models in the presence of true uncertainty. We show that the aggregate systemwide outcomes are complex, characterized by chaotic dynamics, and the formation of emergent phenomena. The observed fluctuations in the system arise endogenously, rather than from stochastic exogenous shocks. We introduce two kinds of learning models – reinforcement learning and beliefs-based learning. Finally, we critically evaluate the literature on competitive double auction experiments.

Study abroad is typically viewed as a catalyst for pronunciation learning because it affords learners both massive amounts of L2 input and abundant opportunities for meaningful L2 use. Yet, even in such an environment, there is substantial variability in learning trajectories and outcomes. The nature of the target structure is also a powerful determinant of learning; some structures seem to develop effortlessly, whereas others do not improve much at all. Additionally, study abroad research brings to light the important issue of speaker identity, as learners often make decisions about how they want to sound and what pronunciation features they will adopt. This chapter examines developmental time frames, trajectories, and turning points in the phonetics and phonology of L2 learners in a study abroad context. We also describe how learners acquire the regional pronunciation variants of their host communities considering the phonetics of the target feature and learners’ attitudes and beliefs. We argue that study abroad should be situated within a dynamic, longitudinal, and context-dependent view of phonetic and phonological learning.

This chapter studies the electoral repercussions of the refugee crisis, tentatively showing that in elections close to the epicenter of events, either the right or the radical right were the grand winners from this turbulence. First, we examine the politicization of the issue of migration generally in European party-systems, exploring whether the European crises made the issue of migration more salient, polarizing, or both. Additionally, we track the agents responsible for any shift in migration, the parties who might have augmented their focus on migration issues or shifted their positions considerably on it. Finally, the chapter aims to identify the links between these changes in the supply side, with some parties paying more attention to the migration issue, and the electoral response to it, as voters also became more attuned to it. Overall, we see that a rise in attention to migration seems to have led to a rise of the right across Europe, concluding that the refugee crisis had a lasting impact on political balance.

We learn about what matters from exemplars. But we learn more from exemplars than we can be taught, and we know more about them than we can say. The challenge of articulating that knowledge is what drives scholarly inquiry forward. Our epistemological mythology confuses those efforts to express that knowledge propositionally with the knowledge itself. Propositional representations of our knowledge are the currency of scholarly debate; there is no alternative. These representations attempt to distill clusters of salient features that we perceive an exemplar as exemplifying, features that seem to us to matter most for our understanding of the relevant phenomenon. The more precisely we can render these features, the more they stand out and demand our attention. As we endeavor to produce ever finer-grained articulations, we inadvertently exclude other features, features which themselves might eventually emerge as salient and which thus call for fundamental revisions in how we represent what we know.

In Chapter 5, we discuss the processing components that underlie the perspective-taking analogy that we articulated in Chapter 2. This analysis makes it clear that the retrieval of personal knowledge and experience is critical, and we review some of what is known about episodic retrieval and how it can be used in this context. In forming an analogy, one must be able to identify how elements of the story world are related to corresponding elements in one’s own experience. To understand this process, we discuss how readers must construct similarity relations. Finally, we discuss the mechanics of analogy formation per se and describe the notion of a structural mapping between the reader and the character that underlies the perspective-taking analogy. We close out Chapter 5 with a discussion of perspective-taking dynamics. This includes an illustration of how perspective taking can be driven by the events of the story world or evaluations of the character. As we make clear, perspective taking is an ongoing process that can unfold in a variety of ways over the course of reading a narrative.

Why people do or do not change their beliefs has been a long-standing puzzle. Sometimes people hold onto false beliefs despite ample contradictory evidence; sometimes they change their beliefs without sufficient reason. Here, I propose that the utility of a belief is derived from the potential outcomes of holding it. Outcomes can be internal (e.g., positive/negative feelings) or external (e.g., material gain/loss), and only some are dependent on belief accuracy. Belief change can then be understood as an economic transaction, in which the multidimensional utility of the old belief is compared against that of the new belief. Change will occur when potential outcomes alter across attributes, for example due to changing environments, or when certain outcomes are made more or less salient.

The chapter presents the socio-cognitive approach (SCA) to communication that serves as a theoretical frame for intercultural pragmatics. SCA was developed to explain the specific features of intercultural interactions and thus offers an alternative to the Gricean approaches that can be considered monolingual theories. There are two important claims that distinguish SCA from other pragmatic theories. First, SCA emphasizes that cooperation and egocentrism are not antagonistic features of communication. While (social) cooperation is an intention-directed practice that is governed by relevance, (individual) egocentrism is an attention-oriented trait dominated by salience that refers to the relative importance or prominence of information and signs. Second, SCA claims that pragmatic theories have tried to describe the relationship of the individual and social factors by putting too much emphasis on idealized language use, and focusing on cooperation, rapport, and politeness while paying less attention to the untidy, messy, poorly organized and impolite side of communication. SCA pays equal attention to both sides. The first part of the chapter explains the main tenets of SCA. The second part discusses how context, common ground and salience are intertwined in meaning creation and comprehension. The chapter closes with suggestions for future research.

The rapid development of robotics and intelligent systems raises the issue of how to adapt the legal framework to accidents arising from devices based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. In the light of the numerous legal studies published in recent years, it is clear that ‘tort law and AI’ has become one of the hot topics of legal scholarship both in national and comparative contexts.