Coming to our senses.Jessica E. Treisman -2004 -Bioessays 26 (8):825-828.detailsSensory organs are specialized to receive different kinds of input from the outside world. However, common features of their development suggest that they could have a shared evolutionary origin. In a recent paper, Niwa et al.1 show that three Drosophila adult sensory organs all rely on the spatial signals Decapentaplegic and Wingless to specify their position, and the temporal signal ecdysone to initiate their development. The proneural gene atonal is an important site for integration of these regulatory inputs. These results (...) suggest the existence of a primitive sensory organ precursor, which would differentiate according to the identity of its segment of origin. The authors argue that the eyeless gene controls eye disc identity, indirectly producing an eye from the sensory organ precursor within this disc. BioEssays 26:825–828, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)
How Does the Mind Render Streaming Experience as Events?Dare A. Baldwin &Jessica E. Kosie -2021 -Topics in Cognitive Science 13 (1):79-105.detailsEvents—the experiences we think we are having and recall having had—are constructed; they are not what actually occurs. What occurs is ongoing dynamic, multidimensional, sensory flow, which is somehow transformed via psychological processes into structured, describable, memorable units of experience. But what is the nature of the redescription processes that fluently render dynamic sensory streams as event representations? How do such processes cope with the ubiquitous novelty and variability that characterize sensory experience? How are event‐rendering skills acquired and how do (...) event representations change with development? This review considers emerging answers to these questions, beginning with evidence that an implicit tendency to monitor predictability structure via statistical learning is key to event rendering. That is, one way that the experience of bounded events (e.g., actions within behavior, words within speech) arises is with the detection of “troughs” in sensory predictability. Interestingly, such troughs in predictability are often predictable; these regions of predictable‐unpredictability provide articulation points to demarcate one event from another in representations derived from the actual streaming information. In our information‐optimization account, a fluent event‐processor predicts such troughs and selectively attends to them—while suppressing attention to other regions—as sensory streams unfold. In this way, usage of attentional resources is optimized for efficient sampling of the most relevant, information‐rich portions of the unfolding flow of sensation. Such findings point to the development of event‐processing fluency—whether in action, language, or other domains—depending crucially on rapid and continual cognitive reorganization. As knowledge of predictability grows, attention is adaptively redeployed. Accordingly, event experiences undergo continuous alteration. (shrink)
Psychophysical Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Same-Sex Couples’ Conflict: The Mediating Effect of Internalized Sexual Stigma.Jessica Pistella,Stefano Isolani,Salvatore Ioverno,Fiorenzo Laghi &Roberto Baiocco -2022 -Frontiers in Psychology 13.detailsResearch on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on same-sex relationships is limited. The present study aimed at analyzing the association between the psychophysical impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and same-sex couples’ conflict, also considering the potential mediating effect of internalized sexual stigma. For this purpose, psychophysical challenges and couples’ conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic, ISS, age, biological sex, sexual orientation, relationship duration, religiosity, involvement in lesbian, gay, and bisexual associations, sexual satisfaction, and interpersonal partner violence were assessed in an (...) Italian sample of 232 LGB people engaged in a same-sex relationship. The results indicated that the psychophysical impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly associated with couples’ conflict, and ISS mediated this relationship. Among the covariates considered, only sexual satisfaction was associated with couples’ conflict. The findings suggest that ISS, over and above the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychophysical health, triggered conflict within same-sex relationships. Studying the role of ISS in various relational and social contexts is important, as ISS may have an adverse effect on the mental health of sexual minority people. We recommend that more efforts be made to improve research on the LGB population during the public health response to the COVID-19 emergency, because the paucity of studies underlines the invisibility of this population in many domains, including the domain of romantic relationships. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. (shrink)
The “War on Drugs” Affects Children Too: Racial Inequities in Pediatric Populations.Aleksandra E. Olszewski,Tracy L. Seimears,Jessica E. McDade,Melissa Martos,Austin DeChalus,Anthony L. Bui,Emily Davis &Emily W. Kemper -2021 -American Journal of Bioethics 21 (4):49-51.detailsEarp, Lewis, and Hart write about the racism entrenched in policies criminalizing drug use and possession and describe the disparate impact that these policies have on certain racialized com...
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Thalamic amnesia and the hippocampus: Unresolved questions and an alternative candidate.Robert G. Mair,Joshua A. Burk,M. Christine Porter &Jessica E. Ley -1999 -Behavioral and Brain Sciences 22 (3):458-459.detailsAggleton & Brown have built a convincing case that hippocampus-related circuits may be involved in thalamic amnesia. It remains to be established, however, that their model represents a distinct neurological system, that the distinction between recall and familiarity captures the roles of these pathways in episodic memory, or that there are no other systems that contribute to the signs of amnesia associated with thalamic disease.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Targeting the Entire Motor Network Does Not Increase Corticospinal Excitability.Joris Van der Cruijsen,Zeb D. Jonker,Eleni-Rosalina Andrinopoulou,Jessica E. Wijngaarden,Ditte A. Tangkau,Joke H. M. Tulen,Maarten A. Frens,Gerard M. Ribbers &Ruud W. Selles -2022 -Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 16.detailsTranscranial direct current stimulation over the contralateral primary motor cortex of the target muscle has been described to enhance corticospinal excitability, as measured with transcranial magnetic stimulation. Recently, tDCS targeting the brain regions functionally connected to the contralateral primary motor cortex was reported to enhance corticospinal excitability more than conventional tDCS. We compared the effects of motor network tDCS, 2 mA conventional tDCS, and sham tDCS on corticospinal excitability in 21 healthy participants in a randomized, single-blind within-subject study design. We (...) applied tDCS for 12 min and measured corticospinal excitability with TMS before tDCS and at 0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 min after tDCS. Statistical analysis showed that neither motor network tDCS nor conventional tDCS significantly increased corticospinal excitability relative to sham stimulation. Furthermore, the results did not provide evidence for superiority of motor network tDCS over conventional tDCS. Motor network tDCS seems equally susceptible to the sources of intersubject and intrasubject variability previously observed in response to conventional tDCS. (shrink)
Historic and Contemporary Environmental Justice Issues among Native Americans in the Gulf Coast Region of the United States.Jessica L. Liddell,Catherine E. McKinley &Jennifer M. Lilly -2021 -Studies in Social Justice 15 (1):1-24.detailsSettler-colonialism is founded in environmental racism, and environmental justice is foundational to all forms of decolonialization. Native American groups located in the Gulf Coast Region of the United States are particularly vulnerable to environmental justice issues such as climate change and oil spills due to their geographic location and reliance on the coastal region for economic and social resources. This study used the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence to explore the historic and contemporary forms of environmental injustice experienced (...) by a Native American tribe in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. This critical ethnography analyzeda series of individual, family, and focus group semi-structured qualitative interviews with a total of 208 participants. Following the critical ethnographic method, data were interpreted through reconstructive analysis using NVivo. Findings of this study reveal the continuing impact of the BP oil spill and difficulty accessing resources following the spill, complicated by the tribe’s lack of federal recognition. Additional themes include the continuing impact of coastal erosion, historical and contemporary land loss, geographic marginalization, and concerns about a loss of tribal identity when tribal members are forced to relocate. Lack of federal tribal recognition has exacerbated all of these issues for this tribe. This study supports national findings that Native American groups experience extensive historic and contemporary environmental injustices and contextualizes these findings for a Native American tribe in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. Recognizing Native American sovereignty is key to addressing the environmental justice issues described. (shrink)
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Numerical abstraction: It ain't broke.Jessica F. Cantlon,Sara Cordes,Melissa E. Libertus &Elizabeth M. Brannon -2009 -Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32 (3-4):331-332.detailsThe dual-code proposal of number representation put forward by Cohen Kadosh & Walsh (CK&W) accounts for only a fraction of the many modes of numerical abstraction. Contrary to their proposal, robust data from human infants and nonhuman animals indicate that abstract numerical representations are psychologically primitive. Additionally, much of the behavioral and neural data cited to support CK&W's proposal is, in fact, neutral on the issue of numerical abstraction.
Characteristics and Behaviors of Anonymous Users of Dark Web Platforms Suspected of Child Sexual Offenses.Jessica Woodhams,Juliane A. Kloess,Brendan Jose &Catherine E. Hamilton-Giachritsis -2021 -Frontiers in Psychology 12:623668.detailsInternational law enforcement have noted a rise in the use of the Dark Web to facilitate and commit sexual offenses against children, both prior to and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study presented here therefore aimed to investigate the characteristics and behaviors of anonymous users of Dark Web platforms who were suspected of engaging in the sexual abuse of children. Naturally-occurring data on 53 anonymous suspects, who were active on the Dark Web and had come to police (...) attention in the United Kingdom (UK), were sampled. Analysis of the data yielded 462 features that could be coded reliably. Analysis of these features provided novel insights into suspects’ characteristics, their motivations for using the Dark Web, the nature of the offending behavior they reported engaging in, their technical and security precautions, sexual interests, and the content of their interactions with one another. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research. (shrink)
A semantic account of mirative evidentials.Jessica Rett &Sarah E. Murray -2013 - In Todd Snider,Proceedings From Semantics and Linguistic Theory (Salt) Xxiii. Clc Publications. pp. 453--472.detailsMany if not all evidential languages have a mirative evidential: an indirect evidential that can, in some contexts, mark mirativity (the expression of speaker surprise) instead of indirect evidence. We address several questions posed by this systematic polysemy: What is the affinity between indirect evidence and speaker surprise? What conditions the two interpretations? And how do mirative evidentials relate to other mirative markers? We propose a unified analysis of mirative evidentials where indirect evidentiality and mirativity involve a common epistemic component. (...) A mirative interpretation requires a close temporal proximity between the speech event and the event of the speaker's learning the at-issue content. (shrink)
Prolonged COVID 19 Outbreak and Psychological Response of Nurses in Italian Healthcare System: Cross-Sectional Study.Jessica Ranieri,Federica Guerra,E. Perilli,Domenico Passafiume,D. Maccarone,C. Ferri &Dina Di Giacomo -2021 -Frontiers in Psychology 12.detailsAim of the study was to analyze the posttraumatic stress disorder risk nurses, detecting the relationship between distress experience and personality dimensions in Italian COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-sectional study was conducted based on 2 data detection. Mental evaluation was carried out in Laboratory of Clinical Psychology on n.69 nurses in range age 22–64 years old. Measurement was focused on symptoms anxiety, personality traits, peritraumatic dissociation and post-traumatic stress for all participants. No online screening was applied. Comparisons within the various demographic (...) characteristics demonstrated few significant differences between groups on DASS-21, PDEQ, and ISE-R scores. Correlation analysis was performed among PDEQ, DASS-21, BFI-10 and IES-R and confirmed between anxiety and peritraumatic dissociation and post-traumatic stress; then anxiety is positively correlated to agreeableness variable of BFI-10 test. The emotional distress was protracted overtime but in long-term personality traits resulted mediator facing subjective stress. Our finding drew details for protective and predictive risk factors as well as mental health issues of nurses dealing with pandemic: healthcare workers faced the protracted challenge caring COVID-19 patients over and over again: in short time the impact was relevant, and the prolonged exposition to the stressor was tackled by personal resources such as personality traits. (shrink)
Atomic models higher up.Jessica Millar &Gerald E. Sacks -2008 -Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 155 (3):225-241.detailsThere exists a countable structure of Scott rank where and where the -theory of is not ω-categorical. The Scott rank of a model is the least ordinal β where the model is prime in its -theory. Most well-known models with unbounded atoms below also realize a non-principal -type; such a model that preserves the Σ1-admissibility of will have Scott rank . Makkai [M. Makkai, An example concerning Scott heights, J. Symbolic Logic 46 301–318. [4]] produces a hyperarithmetical model of Scott (...) rank whose -theory is ω-categorical. A computable variant of Makkai’s example is produced in [W. Calvert, S.S. Goncharov, J.F. Knight, J. Millar, Categoricity of computable infinitary theories, Arch. Math. Logic . [1]; J. Knight, J. Millar, Computable structures of rank J. Math. Logic . [2]]. (shrink)
Frequency of Perceived Conflict between Families and Clinicians at Time of Clinical Ethics Consultation in Hospitalized Children.Aleksandra E. Olszewski,Chuan Zhou,Jiana Ugale,Jessica Ramos,Arika Patneaude &Douglas J. Opel -2024 -AJOB Empirical Bioethics 15 (1):60-65.detailsAs a well-established service offered at many hospitals internationally, clinical ethics consultation (CEC) is increasingly recognized as a tool to improve patient care quality (Fox et al. 2022; Ta...
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The Neural Correlates of Cued Reward Omission.Jessica A. Mollick,Luke J. Chang,Anjali Krishnan,Thomas E. Hazy,Kai A. Krueger,Guido K. W. Frank,Tor D. Wager &Randall C. O’Reilly -2021 -Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 15.detailsCompared to our understanding of positive prediction error signals occurring due to unexpected reward outcomes, less is known about the neural circuitry in humans that drives negative prediction errors during omission of expected rewards. While classical learning theories such as Rescorla–Wagner or temporal difference learning suggest that both types of prediction errors result from a simple subtraction, there has been recent evidence suggesting that different brain regions provide input to dopamine neurons which contributes to specific components of this prediction error (...) computation. Here, we focus on the brain regions responding to negative prediction error signals, which has been well-established in animal studies to involve a distinct pathway through the lateral habenula. We examine the activity of this pathway in humans, using a conditioned inhibition paradigm with high-resolution functional MRI. First, participants learned to associate a sensory stimulus with reward delivery. Then, reward delivery was omitted whenever this stimulus was presented simultaneously with a different sensory stimulus, the conditioned inhibitor. Both reward presentation and the reward-predictive cue activated midbrain dopamine regions, insula and orbitofrontal cortex. While we found significant activity at an uncorrected threshold for the CI in the habenula, consistent with our predictions, it did not survive correction for multiple comparisons and awaits further replication. Additionally, the pallidum and putamen regions of the basal ganglia showed modulations of activity for the inhibitor that did not survive the corrected threshold. (shrink)
What Drives Them to Drive?—Parents' Reasons for Choosing the Car to Take Their Children to School.Jessica Westman,Margareta Friman &Lars E. Olsson -2017 -Frontiers in Psychology 8:267963.detailsChildren’s school journeys have changed vastly during recent decades: More children are being driven to school in private cars instead of walking and cycling, with many who are entitled to a free school bus service still being driven. Earlier research into travel mode choice has often investigated how urban form impacts upon mode choice regarding school journeys – in particular how urban form hinders or enables the use of the active mode. This paper quantitatively explores parents’ stated reasons for choosing (...) the car and the relationship between these reasons and the decision to use the car to take their children to school. We additionally investigate the relationship between sociodemographic factors, distance, and both the stated reasons and the actual mode decision. A sample of 245 parents (194 women) of school children aged 10-15 in the County of Värmland in Sweden were included in the study. The results of PLS-SEM show that the factor Social convenience has a direct relationship with the frequency of car use indicating that the wish to accompany the child and the convenience of car impacts on car choice. If the child is not allowed to travel independently, the parents choose the car to take him/her to school. Sociodemographic factors had a direct relationship with the stated reasons, whereby parents with a higher level of education valued safety/security less. Quite surprisingly, distance (i.e. environmental factor) did not affect car use, indicating that parents drive their children to school regardless of distance. By isolating the particular reasons for choosing the car, this paper focuses on a potentially important missing piece as regards finding out what motivates the increasing car usage in children’s school journeys. An increased knowledge of what motivates the decision to take children by car is important for effective policies aimed at changing parents’ inclination towards choosing the car. (shrink)
Intersectional perspectives on family involvement in nursing home care: rethinking relatives' position as a betweenship.Jessica Holmgren,Azita Emami,Lars E. Eriksson &Henrik Eriksson -2014 -Nursing Inquiry 21 (3):227-237.detailsThis study seeks to understand, in the context of intersectional theory, the roles of family members in nursing home care. The unique social locus at which each person sits is the result of the intersection of gender, status, ethnicity and class; it is situational, shifting with the context of every encounter. A content analysis of 15 qualitative interviews with relatives of nursing home residents in Sweden was used to gain a perspective on the relationships between relatives and residents, relatives and (...) the nursing home as an institution, and relatives and the nursing home staff. We sought to understand these relationships in terms of gendered notions of the family and the residents, which are handed down from generation to generation and thus condition who and how relatives should be involved in care, and the ways in which relationships change as care moves from home to nursing home. It requires knowledge and awareness that the nursing home culture is based on intersectional power structures in order for relatives to be involved in nursing home care in alternative and individual ways. (shrink)
“We Live in a Very Toxic World”: Changing Environmental Landscapes and Indigenous Food Sovereignty.Jessica Liddell,Sarah Kington &Catherine E. McKinley -2022 -Studies in Social Justice 16 (3):571-590.detailsThe purpose of this article is to understand how historical oppression has undermined health through environmental injustices that have given rise to food insecurity. Specifically, the article examines ways in which settler colonialism has transformed and contaminated the land itself, impacting the availability and quality of food and the overall health of Indigenous peoples. Food security and environmental justice for Gulf Coast, state-recognized tribes has been infrequently explored. These tribes lack federal recognition and have limited access to recourse and supplemental (...) resources as a result. This research fills an important gap in the literature through exploring the intersection of environmental justice and food insecurity issues for this population. Partnering with a community-advisory board and using a qualitative descriptive methodology, 31 Gulf Coast Indigenous women participated in semi-structured interviews about their healthcare experiences and concerns. Through these interviews, participants expressed concerns about (a) the environmental impacts of pollution on the contamination of food and on the health of tribal members; and (b) the impact of these changes on the land, such as negatively impacting gardening practices. The authors of this study document how environmental changes have compounded these concerns and contribute to the overall pollution of food and water sources and unviability of subsistence practices, severely effecting tribal members’ health. In conclusion, we show how social and environmental justice issues such as pollution, industry exploitation, and climate change perpetuate the goals of settler colonialism through undermining cultural practices and the overall health of Indigenous peoples. (shrink)
The POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Paradigm to Improve End-of-Life Care: Potential State Legal Barriers to Implementation.Susan E. Hickman,Charles P. Sabatino,Alvin H. Moss &Jessica Wehrle Nester -2008 -Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 36 (1):119-140.detailsThe Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment Paradigm is designed to improve end-of-life care by converting patients’ treatment preferences into medical orders that are transferable throughout the health care system. It was initially developed in Oregon, but is now implemented in multiple states with many others considering its use. Accordingly, an observational study was conducted in order to identify potential legal barriers to the implementation of a POLST Paradigm. Information was obtained from experts at state emergency medical services and long-term care (...) organizations/agencies in combination with a review of relevant state law. Legal analysis of survey responses and existing laws identified several potential state legal barriers to a POLST Paradigm implementation. The most potentially problematic barriers are detailed statutory specifications for out-of-hospital DNR protocols. Other potential barriers include limitations on the authority to consent to forgo life-sustaining treatments, medical preconditions, and witnessing requirements for out-of-hospital DNR protocols. (shrink)
Common genetic variants in the CLDN2 and PRSS1-PRSS2 loci alter risk for alcohol-related and sporadic pancreatitis.David C. Whitcomb,Jessica LaRusch,Alyssa M. Krasinskas,Lambertus Klei,Jill P. Smith,Randall E. Brand,John P. Neoptolemos,Markus M. Lerch,Matt Tector,Bimaljit S. Sandhu,Nalini M. Guda,Lidiya Orlichenko,Samer Alkaade,Stephen T. Amann,Michelle A. Anderson,John Baillie,Peter A. Banks,Darwin Conwell,Gregory A. Coté,Peter B. Cotton,James DiSario,Lindsay A. Farrer,Chris E. Forsmark,Marianne Johnstone,Timothy B. Gardner,Andres Gelrud,William Greenhalf,Jonathan L. Haines,Douglas J. Hartman,Robert A. Hawes,Christopher Lawrence,Michele Lewis,Julia Mayerle,Richard Mayeux,Nadine M. Melhem,Mary E. Money,Thiruvengadam Muniraj,Georgios I. Papachristou,Margaret A. Pericak-Vance,Joseph Romagnuolo,Gerard D. Schellenberg,Stuart Sherman,Peter Simon,Vijay P. Singh,Adam Slivka,Donna Stolz,Robert Sutton,Frank Ulrich Weiss,C. Mel Wilcox,Narcis Octavian Zarnescu,Stephen R. Wisniewski,Michael R. O'Connell,Michelle L. Kienholz,Kathryn Roeder &M. Micha Barmada -unknowndetailsPancreatitis is a complex, progressively destructive inflammatory disorder. Alcohol was long thought to be the primary causative agent, but genetic contributions have been of interest since the discovery that rare PRSS1, CFTR and SPINK1 variants were associated with pancreatitis risk. We now report two associations at genome-wide significance identified and replicated at PRSS1-PRSS2 and X-linked CLDN2 through a two-stage genome-wide study. The PRSS1 variant likely affects disease susceptibility by altering expression of the primary trypsinogen gene. The CLDN2 risk allele is (...) associated with atypical localization of claudin-2 in pancreatic acinar cells. The homozygous CLDN2 genotype confers the greatest risk, and its alleles interact with alcohol consumption to amplify risk. These results could partially explain the high frequency of alcohol-related pancreatitis in men. © 2012 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. (shrink)
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Reconceptualizing The Ethical Guidelines for Mental Health Apps: Values From Feminism, Disability Studies, and Intercultural Ethics.Matthew Dennis,Lily E. Frank,Arthur Bran Herbener,Michał Klincewicz,Malene Flensborg Damholdt,Anna Puzio,Katherine Bassil,Jessica Stone,Philip Schneidenbach,Shriya Das,Ella Thomas &Mat Rawsthorne -2024 -IEEE Xplore:1-33.detailsExisting ethical guidelines that aim to guide the development of mental health apps tend to overemphasize the role of Western conceptual frameworks. While such frameworks have proved to be a useful first step in introducing ethics to a previously unregulated industry, the rapid global uptake of mental health apps requires thinking more deeply about the diverse populations these apps seek to serve. One way to do this is to introduce more intercultural ethical perspectives into app design and the guidelines that (...) aim to encourage best practices. In addition to this, existing ethical guidelines can also benefit from the ethical scholarship from the feminist and disability traditions, both of which highlight specific ethical considerations for vulnerable users. Rethinking the ethical responsibilities of mental health app designers through the prisms of feminism, disability studies, and intercultural philosophy leads us to a more global and inclusive set of ethical considerations in app design. This white paper explores what existing guidelines for the regulation of mental health apps are missing. It also explores how these guidelines could be improved for users who inhabit an increasingly diverse and globalized world. (shrink)
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