The relationship between underpredicted pain and escape

Escape and avoidance that are disproportional to the danger of the pertinent stimulus are important clinical problems that are often related to inaccurate (catastrophic) expectations. One possible source of such expectations is a prior, underestimated aversive experience. In the present experiment the hypotheses that underestimated pain leads to escape and that it leads to avoidance were tested. In order to control for the effect of the intensity of the pain stimulus, a control group that received 20 pain stimuli of high intensity was formed. Subjects in the experimental condition received 17 pain stimuli of low intensity and 3 of (unexpectedly) high intensity (experimentally induced underprediction). Underprediction of the high intensity stimulus was significantly related to escape, but not to avoidance. The results suggest that the way in which avoidance was operationalized accounts for this. The strong support of the hypothesized relationship between underpredicted pain and escape is an important finding, however.     

Bilingual language processing after a lesion in the left thalamic and temporal regions. A case report with early childhood onset.

This case study concerns an 18-year-old bilingual girl who suffered a radiation lesion in the left (dominant) thalamic and temporal region when she was 4 years old. Language and memory assessment revealed deficits in auditory short-term memory, auditory word comprehension, nonword repetition, syntactic processing, word fluency, and confrontation naming tasks. Both languages (English and Dutch) were found to be affected in a similar manner, despite the fact that one language (English) was acquired before and the other (Dutch) after the period of lesion onset. Most of the deficits appear to be related to verbal (short-term) memory dysfunction. Several hypotheses of subcortical involvement in memory processes are discussed with reference to existing theories in this area.     

Transparent layer constancy

Perceived transparency was studied as a constancy problem. In the episcotister (E-) model of scission, luminances are partitioned into layer and background components; four luminances determine values of two layer parameters that specify constancy of a transparent layer on different backgrounds. The E-model was tested in an experiment in which 12 Ss matched 24 pairs of four-luminance patterns by adjusting two luminances of the comparison pattern. Both the standard and the comparison were perceived as a transparent layer on a checkerboard. The E-model predicts matches when layer values are identical in the two patterns. One parameter was constant, constraining the adjustment along the second dimension. Obtained values corresponded well with E-predictions. Alternative models based on local luminance or average contrast ratios accounted for less variability. Results indicate that transparency models should utilize luminance, not reflectance, as the independent variable.     

Mini-Review; Stress Genes: An Introductory Overview

Molecular sequence data, made available in the last 15 years or so, have led to the classification of living cells into three phylogenetic domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eucarya. All the organisms that have been tested belonging to either domain were capable of mounting a stress response with essentially the same characteristics, regardless of the stressor. The protagonists in the cell's stress response are the stress genes and their protein products. Some of the latter are molecular chaperones. Under physiological conditions, these chaperones aid other cellular proteins to fold properly and achieve a native -functional- configuration, and to translocate from the place of synthesis to the cell's locale in which they will operate. In a stressed cell, the stress proteins that are chaperones protect other molecules from denaturation and help those partially damaged to regain a functional configuration. Thus, cell death is avoided and recovery is enhanced. The study of stress genes and proteins has progressed considerably in organisms belonging to the domains Bacteria and Eucarya. Less is known about the archaeal stress genes. Here, research with an organism from the Archaea is discussed, focusing on the stress genes of the hsp70 (dnaK) locus. Future perspectives for basic and applied research within the health sciences and biotechnology industries are presented.     

RALPH WENDELL BURHOE AND THE TWO CULTURES

Abstract. Ralph Burhoe developed his proposals for a social reformation at a time when the “two cultures” debate was still active. It is suggested here that Burhoe, sharing with his contemporaries an understanding of culture that was Western and normative in character, overlooked the distinction between the culture of the elites and popular culture, and consequently between religion as presented by theologians and church officials and popular religion. Therefore, his proposals for the revitalization of traditional religions, even if implemented, would not work. Some contradictions within his own program are pointed out, and the social role of the sciences after World War II, as well as the ambiguities of their presence in the so-called underdeveloped nations, is analyzed. As a positive conclusion, it is suggested that Burhoe's main contribution should be sought, not in his outline for a social reformation, but in his role as an organizer of the dialogue between religion and science.     

Measurement and the interpretation of quantum mechanics and relativity theory

The axiomatic approaches of quantum mechanics and relativity theory are compared with approaches in which the theories are thought to describe readings of certain measurement operations. The usual axioms are shown to correspond with classes of ideal measurements. The necessity is discussed of generalizing the formalisms of both quantum mechanics and relativity theory so as to encompass more realistic nonideal measurements. It is argued that this generalization favours an empiricist interpretation of the mathematical formalisms over a realist one.