Neuroimaging of emotion and personality: scientific evidence and ethical considerations

Affective neuroscience has seen an explosion of research efforts using modern neuroimaging approaches to uncover the neural basis of emotion and personality. The first section of this paper reviews studies from the domains of affective and forensic neuroimaging. These studies illustrate some of the topics likely to be the subject of future ethical debates. The second section relates limitations of the neuroimaging approach to ethical considerations in predicting future psychopathology on the basis of brain state analysis.     

Are Caribbean reef sharks,Carcharhinus perezi,able to perceive human body orientation?

The present study examines the potential capability of Caribbean reef sharks to perceive human body orientation, as well as discussing the sharks’ swimming patterns in a person’s vicinity. A standardized video method was used to record the scenario of single SCUBA divers kneeling in the sand and the approach patterns of sharks, combined with a control group of two divers kneeling back-to-back. When approaching a single test-subject, significantly more sharks preferred to swim outside the person’s field of vision. The results suggest that these sharks are able to identify human body orientation, but the mechanisms used and factors affecting nearest distance of approach remain unclear.     

Memory for between‐list and within‐list information in amnesic patients with temporal lobe and diencephalic lesions

Patients with medial temporal lobe damage and diencephalic damage were compared on two tests of verbal temporal order memory: between‐list discrimination and within‐list discrimination. Both patient groups were impaired relative to a group of healthy control participants. In addition, despite comparable levels of item recognition, the diencephalic group was impaired relative to the medial temporal lobe group on both within‐list and between‐list discrimination. Temporal order memory for between‐list information showed a significant correlation with a composite measure of recognition memory, and the results are discussed in terms of the patients' reliance on familiarity and distance‐based processes to make temporal order judgments.     

Time for temporal team mental models: Expanding beyond “what” and “how” to incorporate “when”

Although often ignored, establishing and maintaining congruence in team members’ temporal perceptions are consequential tasks that deserve research attention. Integrating research on team cognition and temporality, this study operationalized the notion of a temporal team mental model (TMM) at two points in time using two measurement methods. Ninety eight three-person teams participated in a computerized team simulation designed to mimic emergency crisis management situations in a distributed team environment. The results showed that temporal TMMs measured via concept maps and pairwise ratings each positively contributed uniquely to team performance beyond traditionally measured taskwork and teamwork content domains. In addition, temporal TMMs assessed later in teams’ development exerted stronger effects on team performance than those assessed earlier. The results provide support for the continued examination of temporal TMM similarity in future research.     

Motivating Operations Affect Stimulus Control: A Largely Overlooked Phenomenon in Discrimination Learning

Several recent studies have explored what Michael (e.g., 1982) termed the value-altering effect and the behavior-altering effect of motivating operations. One aspect of the behavior-altering effect that has garnered no recent attention involves changes in stimulus control produced by motivating operations. To call attention to this aspect of the behavior-altering effect, we herein review 11 studies that are concerned with the influence of varying levels of food or water deprivation on stimulus generalization. These studies suggest that motivating operations influence stimulus control (a) by changing the evocative strength of not just an established discriminative stimulus, but also of stimuli that are physically similar to it; (b) by changing the range of stimuli that evoke the operant in question; and (c) by exerting these effects in a graded fashion. These findings are potentially of conceptual and applied significance, and it appears that further research examining how motivating operations alter stimulus control, including some studies suggested herein, is warranted.     

ISLAMIC BIOETHICS IN THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY

Islamic bioethics is in good health, this article argues. During the twentieth century, academic researchers had to deal with a number of difficulties including the scarcity of available Islamic sources. However, the twenty‐first century witnessed significant breakthroughs in the field of Islamic bioethics. A growing number of normative works authored by Muslim religious scholars and studies conducted by academic researchers have been published. This nascent field also proved to be appealing for research‐funding institutions in the Muslim world and also in the West, such as the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). On the other hand, the article argues that contemporary Islamic bioethics is in need of addressing news issues and adopting new approaches for the sake of maintaining and improving this good health in the future.     

Role of Religion in Preventing Youth Sexual Activity in Malaysia: A Mixed Methods Study

One of the popular approaches of preventing youth sexual activity in Malaysia is using religion to promote premarital sexual abstinence. Despite this intervention, youth continue to practise premarital sex. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory mixed methods study was to understand the role of religion on sexual activity among college students in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire survey to determine the relationship between religiosity and youth sexual activity was carried out on 1026 students recruited from 12 randomly selected colleges. Concurrently, face-to-face interviews were conducted on 15 students to explore how religiosity had influenced their decision on sexual activity. The survey data were analysed using logistic regression, while the qualitative data from the interviews were examined using thematic analysis with separate analysis for each gender. Both quantitative and qualitative results were then compared and integrated. Religious activity significantly reduced the risk of continuing sexual activity among female students (AOR = 0.67, CI = 0.47, 0.95, p = 0.02) but not male students. There was no significant relationship of religious affiliation and intrinsic religiosity (inner faith) to sexual activity by gender. Having faith in religion and strong sexual desire were the main themes that explained participants’ sexual behaviour. Engaging in religious activity might be effective at preventing female students from being sexually active. However, when sexual urges and desires are beyond control, religiosity might not be effective.     

The Philosopher and the Revolutionary State: How Karl Popper’s Ideas Shaped the Views of Iranian Intellectuals

The present paper is an attempt to explore the impact of Karl Popper’s ideas on the views of a number of intellectual groups in post‐revolutionary Iran. Throughout the text, we have tried to make use of original sources and our own personal experiences. The upshot of the arguments of the paper is that the Viennese philosopher has made a long‐lasting impression on the intellectual scene of present‐day Iran in that even those socio‐political groups which are not in favour of his ideas, especially his model of critical rationalism, have felt the urgent need to make themselves familiar with them. Moreover, many of Popper’s ideas have directly or indirectly influenced the thinking of the decision‐makers in Iran since 1978.     

The political economy of poverty in Egypt (1975-2000): A sociological perspective

Studies of poverty in the 1990s have been very successful--more successful than the fight against the phenomenon itself. Had the efforts exerted to combat poverty equalled the concern given to the study of the problem, the poor would have enjoyed better conditions and the level of poverty would have diminished locally and worldwide. The current study identifies the relation between impoverishment, marginalization of particular groups in society and the nature of the political, economic and social policies adopted by the state in Egypt, in one of the important stages of social structure formation in the country--1975-2000. These policies play a direct role in creating the mechanisms of impoverishment and marginalization in Egyptian society, leading naturally to producing and reproducing poverty.