In active inference, the sensory surprisal (a log-probability of sensory data) of the prediction error between prediction and sensory input is modulated by action. The urge to move (groove) induced by syncopation, which provides metric prediction errors, can be considered a case of active inference in music perception. The present study investigated whether rhythmic prediction error is modulated by improving the precision of rhythm perception through tapping in sync with the rhythm. Thirty-five participants listened to a rhythmic sequence while tapping two beats (tapping condition) or holding a pillow (no-tapping condition), and electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. In both conditions, the timing of tone onset was rarely earlier (deviant: 20%) than the standard (80%). The timing deviant elicited mismatch negativity (MMN) in both the tapping and no-tapping conditions, reflecting a prediction error in timing. Moreover, the MMN response, weighted by precision, was larger in the tapping condition than in the no-tapping condition. Neural entrainment was measured by calculating intertrial phase coherence (ITPC), which reflects oscillatory activity synchronized to stimulus frequency, and ITPC differed between the two conditions at beat-related frequencies. These results suggest that tapping enhanced meter and beat information, and reduced the sensory surprisal of syncopation, resulting in a larger precision-weighted prediction error. These effects were not due to physiological arousal differences between conditions, as assessed by EEG power and heart rate variability. This study provides evidence for the modulation of sensory prediction error by bodily engagement within the active inference framework.

The word “kawaii” is ubiquitous in contemporary Japan and has spread to the rest of the world with the dissemination of Japanese pop culture. Although the word is conventionally translated in English as “cute,” its meaning is more nuanced than “cute,” and it is used for a wider variety of objects. The primary aim of this study was to determine if Spanish has an equivalent to the word “kawaii”; additionally, the similarities and differences across Japanese, English, and Spanish were explored. An internet survey was conducted in which respondents from Japan (n = 486), the United States (n = 365), and Argentina (n = 303) were presented with various photographic images that were often described as “kawaii” in Japanese and asked to write three adjectives to describe the images. They were also instructed to rate their affective states when looking at each image in the valence and arousal dimensions. The results showed that babyish objects (e.g., human, animal, and toy) were most frequently defined as “kawaii” in Japanese, “cute” in English, and “tierno” in Spanish. The average frequency at which these words were used as primary adjectives was higher for “kawaii” (57.5%) than for “cute” (26.8%) or “tierno” (22.4%). Other images for which “kawaii” was used, such as whimsical things and pastel-colored sweets, were less likely to be described as “cute” or “tierno,” although all of these images were associated with positive and moderately-aroused affective states similarly across all three countries. The present study demonstrates that the adjectives “kawaii,” “cute,” and “tierno” can be used almost equivalently for describing babies and pets, but that the Japanese adjective “kawaii” encompasses wider categories than the other twowords.

An online survey was conducted to clarify the semantic image of the cute and attitudes toward cuteness in three countries: Japan, the United States, and Israel (total N = 2,155). The results show a remarkable resemblance in respondents’ conceptions of the cute (kawaii in Japanese and hamud in Hebrew) across countries. Several common tendencies were found: (1) Cuteness is highly appreciated and believed to induce positive affective responses, (2) women tend to find things cute more frequently and strongly than men do, (3) animal babies are thought to be cuter than human babies, and (4) infants are found to be cuter when people get older, while older people generally show less positive attitudes toward cuteness. This study demonstrates that the concept of cuteness and the feelings connected to its perception are universal.