Yuxin Zhang

The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into academia presents profound ethical challenges to research integrity. Disciplinary norms likely shape engagement with this technology, yet a comparative analysis between medical and non-medical research cultures is lacking. This study examines how this critical divide influences the adoption of GenAI, the development of ethically sensitive behaviors, and perceptions of oversight in Chinese universities. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 5,731 active researchers (including postdoctoral fellows and doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students) from 48 universities, categorized as medical (n = 1,935) or non-medical researchers (n = 3,796). The instrument measured the frequency of GenAI adoption, integrity awareness, self-reported behaviors (including data fabrication/falsification), and ethical attitudes. Analyses used the chi-square test and independent-samples t-tests. Non-medical researchers reported higher GenAI adoption (57.0% vs. 45.6%, p

Language comprehension involves simulating event representations. However, previous research has primarily focused on discrete linguistic cues, paying little attention to how syntactic constructions influence experiential simulations. This study examines Mandarin Chinese ditransitive sentences that imply either of two transfer directions of entities: “giving” (transfer from the subject to the indirect object) and “receiving” (transfer from the indirect object to the subject). We engaged native Chinese participants in saccadic tasks in which they read ditransitive or static existential prime sentences (the preceding sentence), and then performed a target word (the following word) identification task. Experiments 1 and 2 investigated whether entity transfers in different directions are simulated. Results showed that participants responded faster when the transfer direction of the ditransitive prime sentences matched the location of the target object nouns, whereas no such difference was observed after static existential prime sentences. Experiment 3 replicated this pattern using pseudo-verb ditransitive constructions, indicating that simulation effects operate beyond specific verb semantics. These findings suggest that ditransitive constructions systematically trigger mental simulations with spatial specificity, activating implicit directional processing that facilitates identification processes for spatially congruent targets. Our study sheds light on how constructional meanings learned through usage activate embodied cognition in language comprehension.

This paper proposes Attention Agent Theory (AAT), a foundational framework aiming to provide a unified understanding of the constitution and dynamics of reality, including consciousness. AAT adopts a radical ontological stance: the fundamental basis of the universe is not matter or energy, but an intrinsic, universal "agency" or "propensity for selection" (Universal Agencies, UAs). In AAT's view, "selection" itself is the ontology, and the things/objects we perceive are dynamic "agents" constructed by UAs to achieve better selections. The core feature of UAs is their universal "attention" mechanism—a fundamental tendency and capacity to direct energy/resources towards specific states that confirm their "Existence" and maximize "Order" (Existence and Order). The hierarchical structure and complexity of reality, from basic physical interactions to life, consciousness, and social systems, are seen as self-organized "Agents" formed by UAs under this fundamental drive, embodying relative stability and functionality. These agents simultaneously exhibit structural stability (the basis for agency/representation) and an intrinsic drive (agency) to optimize their own existence and order. AAT specifically proposes that subjective experience (qualia) emerges in complex agents as an ontologically non-informational mechanism that efficiently processes attentional information. It is conceptualized as an "Attention Copy/Proxy with intrinsic Valence," where "Valence" is an intrinsic, non-informational, ontological assessment of the information's relevance to the agent's own "Existence and Order." This "feeling" itself is, ontologically, the very realization of its function as an efficient information assessment mechanism, thereby directly addressing the "hard problem" of consciousness. This paper details AAT's core assumptions, key concepts (UA, Attention, Agent, Existence and Order), crucial dynamic mechanisms (Attention Copy/Qualia/Proxy, Broadcasting, Feedback Learning), and its ontological (selection/process/information-based), epistemological (constructivist), and teleological implications. Comparisons with existing theories, explanatory potential, and future research directions are also discussed.

This paper delves into the long-standing problem of free will, employing the framework of Attention Agency Theory (AAT) – an emerging theoretical structure aimed at unifying the constitutive nature and dynamics of reality, including consciousness. AAT proposes that the fundamental constituents of the universe are "Universal Agencies" (UAs), possessing intrinsic "Universal Attention" mechanisms (a basic tendency for selection and guidance) and a fundamental goal of tending towards "Stability/Order". The hierarchical structure of reality is composed of "Agents" formed through the self-organization of UAs, pursuing dynamic stability. In complex agents, such as humans, subjective experience (qualia) emerges as a highly efficient "Attention Copy" mechanism, serving a crucial functional role; its "what-it's-like" character directly serves the evaluation of states and guidance of behavior. This paper argues that AAT offers a novel perspective transcending the traditional divisions between determinism, libertarianism, and compatibilism. Within this framework, free will is reinterpreted as an emergent capability of complex agents: guided by intrinsic stability goals (manifested as dynamic attractors), utilizing multi-level attention mechanisms (expressed as resource tilting), harnessing the inherent fluctuations of underlying systems (achieving guided randomness), navigating their possibility space, making adaptive choices based on functional subjective experience (attention copies/qualia), and even dynamically adjusting their own stability goals (attractors). This paper elaborates on the selection mechanisms, the causal role of consciousness, the sources of freedom (including guided randomness, hierarchical control, and goal plasticity) within the AAT framework, and discusses its potential implications for understanding moral responsibility, psychopathology, and artificial intelligence.