Model for a flexible motor memory based on a self-active recurrent neural network

Using recent recurrent network architecture based on the reservoir computing approach, we propose and numerically simulate a model that is focused on the aspects of a flexible motor memory for the storage of elementary movement patterns into the synaptic weights of a neural network, so that the patterns can be retrieved at any time by simple static commands. The resulting motor memory is flexible in that it is capable to continuously modulate the stored patterns. The modulation consists in an approximately linear inter- and extrapolation, generating a large space of possible movements that have not been learned before. A recurrent network of thousand neurons is trained in a manner that corresponds to a realistic exercising scenario, with experimentally measured muscular activations and with kinetic data representing proprioceptive feedback. The network is “self-active” in that it maintains recurrent flow of activation even in the absence of input, a feature that resembles the “resting-state activity” found in the human and animal brain. The model involves the concept of “neural outsourcing” which amounts to the permanent shifting of computational load from higher to lower-level neural structures, which might help to explain why humans are able to execute learned skills in a fluent and flexible manner without the need for attention to the details of the movement.     

Impaired visual perception of hurtful actions in patients with chronic low back pain

Visually presented biological motion stimuli activate regions in the brain that are also related to musculo-skeletal pain. We therefore hypothesized that chronic pain impairs the perception of visually presented actions that involve body parts that hurt. In the first experiment, chronic back pain (CLBP) patients and healthy controls judged the lifted weight from point-light biological motion displays. An actor either lifted an invisible container (5, 10, or 15 kg) from the floor, or lifted and manipulated it from the right to the left. The latter involved twisting of the lower back and would be very painful for CLBP patients. All participants recognized the displayed actions, but CLBP patients were impaired in judging the difference in handled weights, especially for the trunk rotation. The second experiment involved discrimination between forward and backward walking. Here the patients were just as good as the controls, showing that the main result of the first experiment was indeed specific to the sensory aspects of the task, and not to general impairments or attentional deficits. The results thus indicate that the judgment of sensorimotor aspects of a visually displayed movement is specifically affected by chronic low back pain.     

Enrichment and written messages with couples

Abstract

The field of paradoxical therapy has mushroomed in a variety of conceptual and methodological ways. One of the latest methods is the use of paradoxically worded letters that will be given to couples and families, usually at the outset of therapy. To check on the validity of this approach, 56 couples were evaluated before and after a course of six sessions of marital enrichment. One group received no enrichment. A second group received enrichment. A third group received linearly worded messages at the end of the fourth session of enrichment, while a fourth group received paradoxically worded messages. The effect of these messages on the outcome is analyzed and discussed.     

A Historically and Philosophically Informed Approach to Mathematical Metaphors

This article discusses the concept of mathematical metaphor as a tool for analyzing the formation of mathematical knowledge. It reflects on the work of Lakoff and Núñez as a reference point against which to rearticulate a richer notion of mathematical metaphor that can account for actual mathematical evolution. To reach its goal this article analyzes historical case studies, draws on cognitive research, and applies lessons from the history of metaphors in philosophy as analyzed by Derrida and de Man.     

A Brief Note on the Comparison of Two Grapho-Motor Techniques in Diagnosing Brain Damage

There were no differences between the Bender-Gestalt and two items from Reitan's Aphasia Screening Test in discriminating 50 organic and 50 non-organic psychiatric patients.     

Prediction of Recidivism among Juvenile Delinquents with the Hand Test

In a preliminary investigation of the predictive validity of the Hand Test, the AOS significantly differentiated delinquent recidivists from non-recidivists, correctly categorizing 66 per cent of the Ss. The AGG score also significantly differentiated the two groups.     

The Prediction of Achievement Motivation Using Performance and Attributional Variables

This study was designed to predict achievement motivation with attributions and performance in English course work among 346 ninth-grade boys and girls. Multiple regression analysis indicated that attribution of success to ability was the best predictor of achievement motivation. This finding diverges from previous work that supports the hypothesis that attribution of success to effort is a better predictor. The use of performance as an indicator variable showed that nonfailing students had higher levels of achievement motivation than did failing students.     

Editorial Political Cartoons in Australia: Social Representations & and the Visual Depiction of Essentialism

Six million migrants from over 170 countries have resettled in Australia since 1945 ensuring religious diversity is now a hallmark of Australia’s population. However, not all religious groups are perceived in the same way. In this paper, we explore how representational processes differentially essentialise religious groups, in particular how some groups are ascribed an underlying nature that irrevocably defines who they are and how they will behave, whilst other groups are conveyed merely as coherent entities with similarity in goals and structure. We elucidate this through an analysis of the depiction of religious markers in Australian Editorial political cartoons. We mirror the near-exclusive focus on the Muslim and Christian religions, in the religious cartoons we sampled, to present an analysis of 6 exemplar cartoons. Drawing from visual analysis techniques (van Leeuwen 2001) and social representations theory (Moscovici 1984) we highlight how essentialist perceptions of religious groups are unwittingly fostered in everyday media communications. We discuss the implications of our analysis for the transnationalisation of religion.     

The Phenomenology of erwin Straus: An overview and appraisal of its relevance for human studies

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the veridicality of nonconventional cognitions as they pertain to transpersonal psychological inquiry. It is argued that the validation and efficacy of transpersonal constructs are dependent upon the manner by which they are theoretically and empirically supported, namely, accurately conceptualized and operationalized, and not metaphysicalized. Salient impediments germane to the study of transpersonal phenomena are also reviewed with the concomitant assumption that their ontological and epistemological status should be consistent with objective, nomothetic, empiricism. In response to this scientific appropriation, one measurement instrument is discussed, the Self‐Expansiveness Level Form (SELF; Friedman, 1981; 1983), which is both reliable and valid in measuring transpersonal‐like phenomenon. Taking into consideration these notions, this paper closes with a discussion on the implications of this measurement scale to the field of transpersonal psychology as well as to conventional psychological research and clinical applications.