Report on work in progress: “Towards a new science of the human”

A multidisciplinary and global study of the evolutionary process of the universe in general and mankind in particular is proposed, drawing from both modern science, approached by taking into consideration its various interdependent aspects; and the study of western and eastern ancient traditions, which prove to have a common foundation that is the comprehension and the control of the evolutionary process itself.

Such a study will lead to the compilation of a “Corpus Unus” of the new science of the human, a science which does not belong to a race, a culture or an age, but is specific to the human being as such.

Such a science will imply the exploration of mankind and of the evolutionary process, and applying the results in a pragmatic way to the betterment of human beings, society, and universe.     

Changes in ecological momentary assessment reported affect associated with episodes of nonsuicidal self-injury

Although emotion regulation deficits have been frequently implicated in the incidence of nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSI), no research to date has examined in vivo change of affect associated with real-world NSSI behavior. The present study employed Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to assess change in affect associated with episodes of experienced NSSI in a sample of 36 college students with a self-reported history of NSSI. Results indicated that individuals who reported NSSI behavior over the course of the study experienced increases in negative affect prior to an episode of NSSI that peaked during the episode and faded gradually in the hours following the episode, with affect change roughly approximating a quadratic curve. These changes in affect were detected only at times in which individuals engaged in NSSI and were absent for individuals who did not report NSSI over the course of the study. Moreover, changes in negative affect associated with NSSI were, on average, detectable hours prior to the NSSI event. These findings suggest that episodes of NSSI may be predicted through a careful examination of affect change long before actual NSSI behavior occurs.     

On Field’s Epistemological Argument Against Platonism

Hartry Field’s formulation of an epistemological argument against platonism requires knowledge to be causally constrained. Contrary to recent claims (e.g. in [6], [7]), it thus fails the very same criterion usually taken to discredit Benacerraf’s earlier version.     

Psychodrama: Rehearsal for Living

Abstract

The current study examined therapist characteristics that are related to the use of spiritual and religious interventions in group therapy and to perceived barriers to attending to spirituality in group therapy among a sample of experienced group therapists. Results demonstrated that greater therapist spirituality was associated with more frequent use of both spiritual and religious interventions, as well as lower perceived barriers to attending to spirituality in group therapy. Religious commitment was only uniquely related to perceived barriers, such that therapists with higher religious commitment actually perceived greater barriers. Training in religion and spirituality and comfort with spiritual discussions was also related to therapists’ use of religious and spiritual interventions and perceived barriers.     

Neophobia is negatively related to reversal learning ability in females of a generalist bird of prey,the Chimango Caracara, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Milvago chimango</Emphasis>

In an ever-changing environment, the ability to adapt choices to new conditions is essential for daily living and ultimately, for survival. Behavioural flexibility allows animals to maximise survival and reproduction in novel settings by adjusting their behaviour based on specific information and feedback acquired in their current environments. However, a growing body of evidence indicates that an individual’s personality type can limit the extent to which the individual might behave flexibly, by influencing the way an individual pays attention to novelty and how much information it collects and stores, which in turn affects the individual’s decision-making and learning process. In this study, the behavioural flexibility of a generalist predator, the Chimango Caracara, Milvago chimango, was analysed using the reversal learning paradigm, focusing on the comparison between age classes, and the relation of learning flexibility with a personality trait, the level of neophobia. Due to the low number of male individuals captured, this study was carried out only with female birds. The results showed that age had no significant effect either on the acquisition of a stimulus-reward association, or on the capacity of reversing this previously learned association. Reversal of the response was a harder task for these birds in comparison with the initial acquisition process. The individual’s performances in the learning tasks seemed to be uncorrelated with each other, suggesting that they involve different neural mechanisms. Contrary to the general pattern observed in the majority of previous work on personality and cognition in non-human animals, the level of neophobia did not correlate with the initial associative learning performance in both adults and juveniles, yet it showed a significant negative relationship with reversal learning ability, mainly in the regressive phase of this task, for the two age classes. Our results suggest that the predatory and generalist lifestyle of female individuals of M. chimango along with the selective pressures of the environment of the individuals studied might play a critical role in the degree and direction of the linkage between novelty response and learning flexibility observed in this study.     

Śaṅkara and the Authorship of the Īśopaniṣadbhāṣya and the Kaṭhopaniṣadbhāṣya

International Journal of Hindu Studies - This article investigates the authorship of the Īśopaniṣadbhāṣya and the Kaṭhopaniṣadbhāṣya, which are...     

Efficiently assessing negative cognition in depression: an item response theory analysis of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale

Despite a central role for dysfunctional attitudes in cognitive theories of depression and the widespread use of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, form A (DAS-A; A. Weissman, 1979), the psychometric development of the DAS-A has been relatively limited. The authors used nonparametric item response theory methods to examine the DAS-A items and develop a briefer version of the scale. Using DAS-A data obtained from depressed participants enrolled in 2 large depression treatment studies (N=367), the authors developed a 9-item DAS form (DAS-SF1). In addition, because 2 versions of the DAS are needed for certain study designs, they also developed a 2nd short version (DAS-SF2). These short forms were highly correlated with the original 40-item DAS-A (rs ranged from .91 to .93), exhibited change similar to that of the DAS-A over the course of treatment, were moderately correlated with related self-report assessments, predicted concurrent depression severity, and predicted change in depression from before to after treatment. Taken together, the authors believe the DAS-SF1 and DAS-SF2 provide an efficient and accurate assessment of dysfunctional attitudes among depressed individuals.     

Orienting attention to locations in mental representations

Many cognitive processes depend on our ability to hold information in mind, often well beyond the offset of the original sensory input. The capacity of this visual short-term memory (VSTM) is limited to around three to four items. Recent research has demonstrated that the content of VSTM can be modulated by top-down attentional biases. This has been demonstrated using retrodictive spatial cues, termed "retro-cues," which orient subjects' attention to spatial locations within VSTM. In the present article, we tested whether the use of these cues is modulated by memory load and cue delay. There are a number of important conclusions: (1) Top-down biases can operate on very brief iconic traces as well as on older VSTM representations (Exp. 1). (2) When operating within capacity, subjects use the cue to prioritise where they initiate their memory search, rather than to discard uncued items (Exps. 2 and 3). (3) When capacity is exceeded, there is little benefit to top-down biasing relative to a neutral condition; however, unattended items are lost, with there being a substantial cost of invalid spatial cueing (Exp. 3). (4) These costs and benefits of orienting spatial attention differ across iconic memory and VSTM representations when VSTM capacity is exceeded (Exp. 4).