The picture-production process by the painter is not easily studied. By obtaining data about painters at work, this study explores the issues of how the acts of visual exploration and trace-making manipulation are organized into a coherent act, and how the organization evolves over time as the surface of the paper bears new meaning. On a blank sheet of paper, two painters were asked to draw a bronze figure of a foot. Both the picture on the paper and the movement of the painters were recorded by digital video camera and 3D motion capture system. Using RQA strategies, the dynamical properties of the movement of the painters were quantified. It was found that the movement of the head to shift gaze between the figure and the paper, and the movement of the hand holding a pencil was reciprocally coupled in such a way not to be dysfunctional to each other. Furthermore, as the surface of the paper progressively gets modified, the coordination between the head and hand movement evolved over time reflecting the functional demands of different phases of picture production process.

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In this article, I examined the creation process of movie shots by focusing the roles of plans. I collected data through participant observation in a course of a college of art. I analyzed ongoing movie shooting processes. I found two important features in the creation process. A) Plans did not determine the creation. They were only one resource of the creation. Plans were used only as “an initial value” in making the shooting location and were replaced by concrete things, which canalized filmmakers' practices. B) Because different members focused different aspects of a shot and one issue was connected to another issue, it repeatedly was called in question. Then, although one issue seemed resolved, the solution was only tentative and repeatedly challenged in the creating process. In these processes, the shot became convergent to a relative stabilized point and a creation was achieved. I discussed the limitation of this study and future research directions.

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When we talk, we gesture spontaneously. Spontaneous gestures that accompany speech are regarded widely as playing an important role in communication. Iverson and Goldin-Meadow (1997, 1998, 2001) showed that early blind children and adolescents, who had never seen spontaneous gestures, gestured like sighted speakers. Conversely, Sasaki (1993) suggested that spontaneous gestures were rarely observed in early blind adults. In this study, the oral responses to nine tasks by early blind speakers who were born blind, or those who had lost their sight before three years of age, including “problem solving” and “explaining a concept” tasks, were videotaped and analyzed. The results indicated that early blind speakers gestured spontaneously, but that the gestures were not as distinct as they were in sighted speakers. There were individual variations in the frequency of spontaneous gestures, as in sighted speakers. The appearance of spontaneous gestures was related to the quality of the task and the rhythm of the gestures, and was qualitatively similar to that of sighted speakers. However, “iconic gestures” (McNeill, 1987) were rarely observed in early blind speakers, and the shape and movement of their gestures differed from those of sighted speakers. These findings suggest that spontaneous gestures appear without visual experiences, but that further development of spontaneous gestures varies considerably, and depends on an individual's visual experience.

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A Noh mask carved of wood is known to express various emotions as a result of slight changes in the vertical inclination of the mask during traditional Japanese Noh performances. In Noh, a face that looks up expresses happiness, whereas a face that looks down expresses sadness. We investigated whether pictures of a downward tilted Noh mask and body postures in various inclinations could be recognized as expressing sadness. Picture-frames were extracted every two seconds from a movie playing the stylized sad act of Noh drama, known as Shiori. Results indicated that the participants recognized pictures of masks with small inclinations (i.e., the initial movements in the action) as being sad, whereas the evaluation of sadness diminished in response to pictures with larger inclinations. These results were similar to those obtained for pictures of the complete body posture with small inclinations, which were recognized as being sad, whereas those with larger inclinations were recognized as being happy. The evaluation was significantly altered between two successive postures in which the actor's hand made a large movement. In Experiment 2, the actor's hand was concealed by an object used on the Noh stage, but the results were similar to Experiment 1. As expected, participants identified the emotions expressed by identical pictures showing just the Noh mask that was used in Experiment 1, as expressing emotions similar to those identified in Experiment 1. Pictures of the complete body posture were recognized as sad when they had a small inclination, whereas those with a larger inclination were recognized as being happy. These results suggest that emotions expressed by complete body postures during Noh dramas produce larger effects than those expressed by the Noh mask alone. Moreover, the initial movements of a stylized action determine the emotional label of the action.

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In the rubber hand illusion (RHI), individuals misattribute the tactile sensations felt by their own hand, which is kept hidden from view, to a rubber prosthetic hand that they see being tactilely stimulated in synchrony. The phenomenon covers the multisensory integration between vision and touch, with body image as reference. The investigation of RHI has increased in recent years, and the interest has not been restricted to cognitive science. A large number of case studies associated with the RHI have been reported in psychiatric research. With advances in virtual reality, practical applications of RHI have witnessed rapid growth in the technological field. Furthermore, the RHI is closely related to body theory, including the self-other boundary. Indeed, the phenomenon is broadly relevant across a number of domains. This paper reviews the RHI phenomenon and focuses on its interdisciplinary perspective.

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