The thermomagnetic force for small spheroidal particles is given in the Waldmann limit. In this limit the force is proportional to the surface area of the particle, and depends on the gas pressure p and on the magnetic field strength H only via H/p. For the gases HD, CH 4 , CO and N2 the ratio of the thermomagnetic and thermal forces is calculated from Senftleben-Beenakker effect data. It is po...

A complete understanding of the cognitive systems underwriting theory of mind (ToM) abilities requires articulating how mental state representations are generated and processed in everyday situations. Individuals rarely announce their intentions prior to acting, and actions are often consistent with multiple mental states. In order for ToM to operate effectively in such situations, mental state...

The conscious manipulation of mental representations is central to many creative and uniquely human abilities. How does the human brain mediate such flexible mental operations? Here, multivariate pattern analysis of functional MRI data reveals a widespread neural network that performs specific mental manipulations on the contents of visual imagery. Evolving patterns of neural activity within th...

We investigate whether the volatility risk premium is negative by examining the statistical properties of delta-hedged option portfolios (buy the option and hedge with stock). Within a stochastic volatility framework, we demonstrate a correspondence between the sign and magnitude of the volatility risk premium and the mean delta-hedged portfolio returns. Using a sample of S&P 500 index options,...

Although theories of mental simulations have used different formulations of the premises of ‘thought experiments’, they can be fitted under a minimalist hypothesis stating that mental simulations are run under situations of uncertainty to turn that uncertainty into approximate answers. Three basic assumptions of mental simulations were tested by using naturalistic data from engineering design. ...

Sex categorization is a critical process in social perception. While psychologists have long theorized that perceivers have distinct mental representations of men and women that help them to achieve efficient sex categorizations, researchers have only recently begun using reverse-correlation to visualize the content of these mental representations. The present research addresses two issues conc...

Constructing mental representations in the absence of sensory stimulation is a fundamental ability of the human mind and has been investigated in numerous brain imaging studies. However, it is still unclear how brain areas facilitating mental construction processes interact with brain regions related to specific sensory representations. In this fMRI study subjects formed mental representations ...

People frequently gesture when problem-solving, particularly on tasks that require spatial transformation. Gesture often facilitates task performance by interacting with internal mental representations, but how this works is poorly understood. We investigated this question by exploring the case of Mental Abacus (MA), a technique in which users imagine moving beads on an abacus to compute sums, ...

Although cognitive map is a popular metaphor for people's mental representations of environments, as it is typically conceived, it is often too restrictive. Two other metaphors for mental representations are proposed and supported, Cognitive collages are consistent with research demonstrating systematic errors in memory and judgment of environmental knowledge. Yet, for some simple or well-known...