An empirically derived scoring system for intermale aggression in mice

Scoring systems used to assess intermale aggression have been characterized by arbitrary scales and wide variability in the behaviors selected for measurement. The use of such different systems severely limits the ability of investigators to make meaningful comparisons among studies and indicates that there is a need for a common, statistically derived evaluative system for intermale aggression. We measured the frequency and duration of five major components of agonistic behavior exhibited by intact males toward olfactory bulbectomized stimulus males and then analyzed the data using a number of univariate and multivariate procedures. The results were used to generate two statistically based scoring systems, one a short-form index and the other a composite index for more detailed studies of aggression. It is hoped that these statistically derived systems will be adopted by other investigators to increase methodological congruence in the field.     

Interpretation of Baladeva and Yamunā at Harivaṃśa 83

International Journal of Hindu Studies - In Harivaṃśa chapter 83, Kṛṣṇa’s brother Baladeva changes the course of the river Yamunā, using his plough. This...     

Elevation and reduction of plasma tryptophan and their effects on aggression and perceptual sensitivity in normal males

Data from experimental animals suggest that 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) may have an inhibitory effect on aggression, while clinical studies have found a correlation between pathological aggression and low brain 5HT. To investigate this relationship further we used amino acid mixtures designed to raise or lower the levels of the 5HT precursor, tryptophan. Normal male subjects were given tryptophan-depleted, balanced, or tryptophan-supplemented ammo acid mixtures and tested for aggression 5 hours later. The balanced amino acid mixture served as a control for the tryptophan depletion and supplementation. Testing for aggression was done using the Buss paradigm in which subjects deliver electric shocks to a (nonexistent) partner in response to stimulus tones. Duration and intensity of shock delivered were the measures of aggression, while responsivity to the stimulus tones was the measure of perceptual sensitivity. Neither tryptophan supplementation nor tryptophan depletion had any effect on these measures of aggression or perceptual sensitivity. We conclude that raising or lowering the synthesis of brain 5HT through alterations in tryptophan availability does not influence aggression in normal males as measured by the Buss task.     

The Informational Fallacy in the Philosophy of Consciousness

This article argues that theories which regard the mind as merely a form of information processing are guilty of a fallacious conflation of the informational contents of consciousness with consciousness itself, with the consciousness of those contents. Such theories lie behind the thought that a consciousness could be transferred or uploaded onto a substrate other than the brain it initially occurred in. It is argued here that the ontology of information is that of a formal structure that can be instantiated in physical reality innumerable times, whereas the ontology of consciousness is that of an irreducibly singular subjective experience of being alive.     

Pattern recognition makes search possible: Comments on Holding (1992)

Chase and Simon's chunking theory of expert memory, which emphasizes the role of pattern recognition in problem solving, has attracted much attention in cognitive psychology. Holding advanced a series of criticisms that, taken together, purported to refute the theory. Two valid criticisms – that chunk size and LTM encoding were underestimated – are dealt with by a simple extension of the theory. The remainder of Holding's criticisms either are not empirically founded or are based on a misunderstanding of the chunking theory and its role in a comprehensive theory of skill. Holding's alternative SEEK theory, which emphasizes the role of search, lacks key mechanisms that could be implemented by the type of pattern recognition proposed by Chase and Simon. Received: 3 September 1997 / Accepted: 28 January 1998