Tragic figures: Thoughts on the visual arts and anatomy

The illustrated anatomical works of Andreas Vesalius, now icons of medical history, exemplified Renaissance humanists' attitudes toward the human condition. Methods of teaching medical students gross anatomy have evolved from the attitudes and methods of Renaissance scientist-scholars. The work of Vesalius is crucial to understanding the revolution in early modern medicine, for not only is it devoted to minute observation and exploration of the human body, but also to translating new knowledge by means of art. In the process of illustration, the cadavers become ennobled, leading the viewer to contemplation of the nature of our common humanity. It is the thesis of this paper that the merging of art and science achieved in the great anatomical studies of the 16th and 17th centuries may still be useful in the education of medical students by allowing a balance between scientific detachment and compassion.     

Developmental dyslexia and animal studies: at the interface between cognition and neurology

Recent findings in autopsy studies, neuroimaging, and neurophysiology indicate that dyslexia is accompanied by fundamental changes in brain anatomy and physiology, involving several anatomical and physiological stages in the processing stream, which can be attributed to anomalous prenatal and immediately postnatal brain development. Epidemiological evidence in dyslexic families led to the discovery of animal models with immune disease, comparable anatomical changes and learning disorders, which have added needed detail about mechanisms of injury and plasticity to indicate that substantial changes in neural networks concerned with perception and cognition are present. It is suggested that the disorder of language, which is the cardinal finding in dyslexic subjects, results from early perceptual anomalies that interfere with the establishment of normal cognitive-linguistic structures, coupled with primarily disordered cognitive processing associated with developmental anomalies of cortical structure and brain asymmetry. This notion is supported by electrophysiological data and by findings of anatomical involvement in subcortical structures close to the input as well as cortical structures involved in language and other cognitive functions. It is not possible at present to determine where the initial insult lies, whether near the input or in high-order cortex, or at both sites simultaneously.     

Act-In: An integrated view of memory mechanisms

The present article proposes a new memory model called Act-In (Activation-Integration). Act-In extends the multiple trace memory models by placing them within the situated cognition perspective. Act-In considers that the activation and integration mechanisms play a key role in memory processes. These mechanisms are involved in both the construction of memory traces and the emergence of knowledge. The model is based on four main assumptions: (1) Memory traces reflect all the components of past experiences and, in particular, their sensory properties, actions performed on the objects in the environment and the emotional states of individuals. Memory traces are therefore distributed across multiple neuronal systems which code the multiple components of the experiences. (2) Knowledge is emergent and is the product of the coupling of the present experience with past experiences. (3) The brain is a categorisation system which develops by accumulating experiences and which, by default, produces categorical knowledge. (4) The emergence of specific knowledge (memories or episodic knowledge) requires very simple mechanisms which occur during learning and/or during retrieval. These assumptions are defended and discussed in the light of the work reported in the literature.     

The human genome project: A public forum. Report on a model conference for genetics professionals and consumers

This paper reports on the rationale, objectives, and outcome of a conference titled The Human Genome Project: A Public Forum. One of the distinguishing features of this conference was that it included both genetics professionals and consumers of genetics services in a dialogue about the potential ethical, legal, and social implications of learning more about one's genes. The conference was planned to yield two products: (1) a set of recommendations for planners of future educational, research, and public policy efforts related to the Human Genome Project; and (2) an assessment of participants' pre- and post-conference knowledge and opinions about the Human Genome Project.     

Enchanted nature,dissected nature: the case of Galen’s anatomical theology

Through the historical portrait of Galen, I argue that even an enchanted nature does not prevent the performance of violence against nature. Galen (129–c. 216 CE), the great physician-philosopher of antiquity, is best known for his systematization and innovation of the Hippocratic medical tradition, whose thought was the reigning medical orthodoxy from the medieval period into the Renaissance. His works on anatomy were the standard that Vesalius’ works on anatomy overturned. What is less known about Galen’s study of anatomy, however, is its philosophical and theological edge. In this paper, I show that it is precisely because nature is enchanted that Galen undertakes the grisly practices of anatomical dissection and vivisection, which entail violence against nature. First, I illustrate the violent character of Galen’s anatomical experiments. Second, I elucidate Galen’s anatomical methodology as a form of philosophizing and theologizing with a scalpel. Third, I explicate the importance of the demonstration of divine teleology that anatomical dissection reveals. Fourth, I sketch how anatomical dissection as a way of knowing nature and God becomes a kind of anatomical, liturgical theology. I conclude that, at least for Galen, an enchanted nature is not in itself exempt from violence.     

Sex differences in the naming of children's genitalia

Children's knowledge of human genital anatomy was examined retrospectively. Of the 223 adults who responded to a questionnaire on this subject, 39.8% of males and 29% of females learned correct anatomical names for male genitalia as children. In contrast, only 6.1% of females and 17.7% of males learned correct names for female genitalia. Most respondents learned either euphemisms or no names for female genitalia as children. Whereas male respondents acquired a complete vocabulary for male genitalia by a mean age of 11.5 years, female respondents did not complete their anatomical vocabulary for female genitalia until a mean age of 15.6 years. The importance of recognizing that children have erotic experiences and that they need a vocabulary for describing their feelings is discussed.     

Citizen Science,the Body of Christ,and Testimonial Epistemology

How does explicit theological knowledge emerge out of communal practices, who is involved in its production, and what are its procedures? These are neither neutral nor arbitrary methodological questions; they are themselves deeply theological. Digital innovations and the subsequent transformations of society and academia invite us to redefine the work of theology. Epistemologically drawing on a theology of the cross and centring the communal nature and vulnerable existence of the witnessing community, we develop a model of doing theology that is collaborative and exploratory within the medial transformations of the digital age. Taking cues from participatory research conceptions of “citizen science,” we propose going toward and beyond a “citizen theology.” We need the courage to conceive of a theology that is ultimately centreless. Therefore, we cannot aspire to testimonially responsible forms of doing theology without striving for epistemic justice and diaconal empowerment at a global level. The “distributed theology” we envision promotes global (catholic), decentral (apostolic), and communal (local) forms of knowledge production by the whole of the body of Christ in ever more distributed ways.     

后基因组时代的医学发展

1990年,美国正式启动“人类基因组计划”。随着这项工程成果的不断取得,人类即将进入利用、使用“人类基因组计划”成果的“后基因组时代”。在这个时代,基因芯片和基因工程技术将被广泛地使用在医学科学中,给医学科学的发展带来一场深刻的革命。同时医学科学也将面临着前所未有的冲突和抉择。充分认识这些问题,对寻求现实医学科学的发展途径具有重要的启示意义。     

Lightness constancy in the presence of specular highlights

Abstract— Visible surfaces in a natural environment often have multiple components of reflectance, including a diffuse component, by which light is scattered isotropically in all possible directions, and a specular component, by which light is reflected anisotropically within a limited range of directions. The research described in the present article was designed to investigate how these different components of reflectance influence the perception of lightness. Human observers were presented with shaded images of smoothly curved surfaces and asked to compare the relative lightness of different surface regions whose diffuse and specular components of luminance were independently manipulated. The results revealed that observers are able to discount the presence of specular highlights so that the relative lightness among different regions is determined almost entirely by the diffuse component of surface reflectance.     

从基因组学到蛋白质组学:科学的推动力

伴随着人类基因组计划的实施,基因组学与蛋白质组学相继产生,并且都在高速度发展。认识客体的复杂性与认识主体的局限性之间的矛盾是推动科学发展的基本动力,是内因。国际间的广泛协作,政府的支持,企业与公司的介入,生物信息学与因特网的发展,媒体的关注是外因。内因与外因构成了现代科学发展推动力的系统工程。     

Dorsal and ventral streams: a framework for understanding aspects of the functional anatomy of language

Despite intensive work on language-brain relations, and a fairly impressive accumulation of knowledge over the last several decades, there has been little progress in developing large-scale models of the functional anatomy of language that integrate neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and psycholinguistic data. Drawing on relatively recent developments in the cortical organization of vision, and on data from a variety of sources, we propose a new framework for understanding aspects of the functional anatomy of language which moves towards remedying this situation. The framework posits that early cortical stages of speech perception involve auditory fields in the superior temporal gyrus bilaterally (although asymmetrically). This cortical processing system then diverges into two broad processing streams, a ventral stream, which is involved in mapping sound onto meaning, and a dorsal stream, which is involved in mapping sound onto articulatory-based representations. The ventral stream projects ventro-laterally toward inferior posterior temporal cortex (posterior middle temporal gyrus) which serves as an interface between sound-based representations of speech in the superior temporal gyrus (again bilaterally) and widely distributed conceptual representations. The dorsal stream projects dorso-posteriorly involving a region in the posterior Sylvian fissure at the parietal-temporal boundary (area Spt), and ultimately projecting to frontal regions. This network provides a mechanism for the development and maintenance of "parity" between auditory and motor representations of speech. Although the proposed dorsal stream represents a very tight connection between processes involved in speech perception and speech production, it does not appear to be a critical component of the speech perception process under normal (ecologically natural) listening conditions, that is, when speech input is mapped onto a conceptual representation. We also propose some degree of bi-directionality in both the dorsal and ventral pathways. We discuss some recent empirical tests of this framework that utilize a range of methods. We also show how damage to different components of this framework can account for the major symptom clusters of the fluent aphasias, and discuss some recent evidence concerning how sentence-level processing might be integrated into the framework.     

Studies on the teleost brain morphology in search of the origin of cognition

Although it is frequently assumed that fish possess only simple brain functions, it is becoming increasingly clear that rather complex cognitive abilities are also found in fishes, in particular teleosts. Further studies in teleosts are thus expected to extend our knowledge of cognition from a comparative point of view. The anatomical substrates responsible for such cognitive abilities, however, remain almost entirely unknown in teleosts, offering little clues to understand the evolutionary history or origins of cognition based on neural grounds. Moreover, a firm conclusion on the homology of the teleostean forebrain, in particular the telencephalon, which is a candidate central structure involved in cognitive functions, still remains to be drawn. The present paper introduces an overview of teleost brain morphology as well as different interpretations on the forebrain homology. With the currently available knowledge, it remains possible that the telencephalon of teleosts includes a neocortical homologue. Further studies to determine the homological interrelationships of different brain structures in diverse animals are important for fruitful advancement of comparative cognitive studies.     

Merleau-Ponty,Trans Philosophy,and the Ambiguous Body

Human Studies - In this paper, I argue that Merleau-Ponty’s seminal book, Phenomenology of Perception, stands as a positive resource for articulating both trans experiences and trans...     

Integrating electrophysiology and neuroimaging in the study of human cognition

Noninvasive recordings of electrical and magnetic fields generated by neuronal activity have helped to characterize the temporal sequencing and mechanisms underlying human cognition. Progress is being made toward the goal of localizing the intracranial loci at which many important electromagnetic signals are generated through the use of new analytic techniques and of scalp recordings of electromagnetic activity in neurological patients and through related work in animals. Such methods alone, however, do not yet have the three-dimensional spatial resolution that is necessary in order to identify the intracranial anatomical structures that are involved in the generation of externally recorded activity and, thus, cannot yet inform us with precision about the anatomical substrates of neural events. In comparison, neuroimaging methods, such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging, can provide higher spatial resolution information about which brain structures are involved in perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes. However, these imaging methods do not yield much information about the time course of brain activity. One promising approach is to combine electromagnetic recordings and functional neuroimaging in order to gain knowledge about the spatiotemporal organization of human cognition. Here we review how electrophysiology and functional neuroimaging can be combined in the study of attention in normal humans.     

Functional anatomy of speech perception and speech production: psycholinguistic implications

This paper presents evidence for a new model of the functional anatomy of speech/language (Hickok & Poeppel, 2000) which has, at its core, three central claims: (1) Neural systems supporting the perception of sublexical aspects of speech are essentially bilaterally organized in posterior superior temporal lobe regions; (2) neural systems supporting the production of phonemic aspects of speech comprise a network of predominately left hemisphere systems which includes not only frontal regions, but also superior temporal lobe regions; and (3) the neural systems supporting speech perception and production partially overlap in left superior temporal lobe. This model, which postulates nonidentical but partially overlapping systems involved in the perception and production of speech, explains why psycho- and neurolinguistic evidence is mixed regarding the question of whether input and output phonological systems involve a common network or distinct networks.     

人类基因组计划带给不同文化传统的伦理挑战

分析了人类基因组计划带给四种不同文化传统中的人们的伦理挑战,即南美、印度、西方传统和儒家传统。西方传统又分为天主教道德传统、英美传统和欧洲大陆传统三方面阐述,并指出不同的文化背景对HGP研究的不同导向。最后强调此领域中的跨文化研究有待进一步深入。     

The contents of long-term memory and the emergence of knowledge

Through a review of the literature, this paper proposes arguments in favour of a multimodal, dynamic, functional, and situational conception of memory. Memory is assumed to contain traces that reflect past experiences. The properties of these experiences are considered to be distributed across multiple neuronal systems, which are responsible, in particular, for sensorimotor and emotional processing. Memory is dynamic because knowledge emerges almost continuously from the activation and integration of these multimodal components. Memory is functional and situational because knowledge emerges from the subject's activity in a given situation, that is from a type of resonance between the properties of the past experiences that have shaped the neuronal networks and the properties of present experiences.     

Testing the redintegration hypothesis by a single probe recognition paradigm

The lexicality effect in verbal short-term memory (STM), in which word lists are better recalled than nonwords lists, is considered to reflect the influence of linguistic long-term memory (LTM) knowledge on verbal STM performance. The locus of this effect remains, however, a matter of debate. The redintegrative account considers that degrading phonological traces of memoranda are reconstructed at recall by selecting lexical LTM representations that match the phonological traces. According to a strong version of this account, redintegrative processes should be strongly reduced in recognition paradigms, leading to reduced LTM effects. We tested this prediction by contrasting word and nonword memoranda in a fast encoding probe recognition paradigm. We observed a very strong lexicality effect, with better and faster recognition performance for words as compared to nonwords. These results do not support a strong version of the redintegrative account of LTM effects in STM which considers that these LTM effects would be the exclusive product of reconstruction mechanisms. If redintegration processes intervene in STM recognition tasks, they must be very fast, which at the same time provides support for models considering direct activation of lexico-semantic knowledge during verbal STM tasks.     

Delinquents and drug use: a model program for community reintegration

Evidence indicates that serious and persistent delinquency and the frequent use of illicit drugs emerge from common etiological roots. This suggests that treatment efforts which target risk factors of adolescent drug use and crime may be effective in preventing subsequent antisocial behavior. This paper describes Project ADAPT, a treatment program for juvenile delinquents based on the Social Development Model, which integrates this knowledge of risk factors. Project ADAPT is a 3 1/2-year demonstration project which combines behavioral skill training, supportive network development, and involvement in prosocial activities to facilitate the community reentry of youths following placement in a Washington state correctional facility.     

From research to practice: The first tentative steps

This article traces the history of the Somerset Spirituality Project as it moved from the research findings of Foskett et al. (2003) and Macmin and Foskett (2003) to the application of their findings in practice. It summarizes the results of the research, the attempts to publicize these and to promote better practice within the mental health services and local religious groups. It records the developments already undertaken or planned, the resistance to these encountered along the way and the sacrifices made by those most intimately involved. This is set within a Christian Liberation Theology's analysis of social and political systems, its bias to the poor and their understanding of the human drive to health of mind and soul.