Recently, some studies revealed that transcranial direct current stimulation reduces dual-task interference. Since there are countless combinations of dual-tasks, it remains unclear whether stable effects by tDCS can be observed on dual-task interference. An aim of the present study was to investigate whether the effects of tDCS on dual-task interference change depend on the dual-task content. We adopted two combinations of dual-tasks, i.e., a word task while performing a tandem task and a classic Stroop task while performing a tandem task. (...) We expected that the Stroop task would recruit the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and require involvement of executive function to greater extent than the word task. Subsequently, we hypothesized that anodal tDCS over the DLPFC would improve executive function and result in more effective reduction of dual-task interference in the Stroop-tandem dual-task than in the word-tandem dual-task. Anodal or cathodal tDCS was applied over the DLPFC or the supplementary motor area using a constant current of 2.0 mA for 20 min. According to our results, dual-task interference and the task performances of each task under the single-task condition were not changed after applying any settings of tDCS. However, anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC significantly improved the word task performance immediately after tDCS under the dual-task condition. Our findings suggested that the effect of anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC varies on the task performance under the dual-task condition was changed depending on the dual-task content. (shrink)

Mitsu Tanaka, activist and philosopher, thinks that a woman who has an abortion sways between two kinds of consciousness, that is, the consciousness that it is her right to determine whether to have an abortion or not, and the consciousness that she is going to be a fetus killer. Tanaka concludes that women should face this "confused self" swaying between these two kinds of consciousness, because this "confused self" should be the basis of the women's movement and the coming new (...) philosophy of life. (shrink)

Two major hermeneutical practices in the history of interpretation in premodern Japan are located. The first--a deconstructive practice followed by medieval thinkers (Dōgen) and poets (Fujiwara Shunzei and Fujiwara Teika)--interprets reality by deferring and dispersing it in its representations. The analogies of this methodology are highlighted with what the Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo has called "pensiero debole" (weak thought). The latter recuperates the centrality of the concept of presence whose disclosure becomes the major task of the interpreter. Examples of this (...) solidification of meaning are taken from works of the Nativist scholars Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801) and Fujitani Mitsue (1768-1822). (shrink)

This essay explores the ontological movement of poetry, its language and words, by establishing a dialogue with the thought of three Japanese thinkers, Ki no Tsurayuki, Motoori Norinaga and Fujitani Mitsue, and the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. The overall purpose, as we progress from one to the other, is to present, explore and disclose a horizon where poetry gradually becomes the locus of a philosophy of language that places it at the genesis of mutual understanding, ethics and, thus, of (...) community. (shrink)

La recepción y comprensión de la filosofía japonesa en el contexto académico hispanohablante todavía carece de una estructura coherente. Después de la nada intenta corregir algunos sesgos persistentes y subyacentes en los libros disponibles en español sobre filosofía japonesa: el nacionalismo metodológico, el criterio en la selección de los autores y la categorización de la transmisión del conocimiento de figuras, escuelas o textos de la contemporaneidad filosófica en Japón. De este modo, el valioso aporte de esta obra no es solo (...) sumarse a la tarea de proyectar globalmente la filosofía japonesa para hacerla más accesible al lector hispanohablante, sino también contribuir al esfuerzo de identificar los temas filosóficos contemporáneos que surgen en y desde Japón, recuperando autores poco estudiados como Tsuchida Kyōson, Miki Kiyoshi, Tosaka Jun, Maruyama Masao, Tanaka Mitsu, Karatani Kōjin o Nagasaki Hiroshi, entre otros. (shrink)

Late Tokugawa society and the crisis of community -- Before the Kojikiden : the divine age narrative in Tokugawa Japan -- Motoori Norinaga : discovering Japan -- Ueda Akinari : history and community -- Fujitani Mitsue : the poetics off community -- Tachibana Moribe : cosmology and community -- National literature, intellectual history, and the new Kokugaku -- Conclusion : imagined Japan(s).