Is Happy Facial Expression Identified by the Left or Right Hemisphere？

1IntroductionCorrectly identifying other people′s facial ex-pressions of emotions is important to human socialinteraction in all societies.Many studies suggestthat the identification of facial expressions in par-ticular and perceptual processing of emotional infor-mation is carried out mainly by the right hemi-sphere of the brain[1￣7].Damage to the righthemisphere generally produces more significant im-pairment in recognition of all facial expressions ofemotion than damage to the left hemisp…     

On the examination couch: the relationship between the egocentric perspective and the attentional focus

Determined by anatomical characteristics, the binocular visual field has an elliptical shape. Whereas the focus of attention – that area of the visual field in which objects can be consciously perceived – is significantly smaller, its shape is not necessarily dependent on the same factors. Indeed, it is yet unknown if the maximum extents of the attentional focus’ meridians are dimensionally stable or adapt to the egocentric perspective. In this study, we intended to measure the expansion up to which peripheral stimuli can still be perceived while participants were sitting and lying on the left and on the right body side. Results demonstrate that contrary to the visual field the maximum extents along the attentional focus’ meridians remain stable across different head positions with a greater horizontal than vertical alignment. This indicates that the expansion ratios of the meridians of the attentional focus are not dependent on the egocentric perspective. Rather, they appear stable in space and gravity-based. Findings are discussed in terms of our visual environment and current as well as alternative interpretations are weighed against each other.     

A predictive coding model of gaze shifts and the underlying neurophysiology

A comprehensive model of gaze control must account for a number of empirical observations at both the behavioural and neurophysiological levels. The computational model presented in this article can simulate the coordinated movements of the eye, head, and body required to perform horizontal gaze shifts. In doing so it reproduces the predictable relationships between the movements performed by these different degrees of freedom (DOFs) in the primate. The model also accounts for the saccadic undershoot that accompanies large gaze shifts in the biological visual system. It can also account for our perception of a stable external world despite frequent gaze shifts and the ability to perform accurate memory-guided and double-step saccades. The proposed model also simulates peri-saccadic compression: the mis-localization of a briefly presented visual stimulus towards the location that is the target for a saccade. At the neurophysiological level, the proposed model is consistent with the existence of cortical neurons tuned to the retinal, head-centred, body-centred, and world-centred locations of visual stimuli and cortical neurons that have gain-modulated responses to visual stimuli. Finally, the model also successfully accounts for peri-saccadic receptive field (RF) remapping which results in reduced responses to stimuli in the current RF location and an increased sensitivity to stimuli appearing at the location that will be occupied by the RF after the saccade. The proposed model thus offers a unified explanation for this seemingly diverse range of phenomena. Furthermore, as the proposed model is an implementation of the predictive coding theory, it offers a single computational explanation for these phenomena and relates gaze shifts to a wider framework for understanding cortical function.     

The hippocampus facilitates integration within a symbolic field

This paper attempts to elaborate a fundamental brain mechanism involved in the creation and maintenance of symbolic fields of thought. It will integrate theories of psychic spaces as explored by Donald Winnicott and Wilfred Bion with the neuroscientific examinations of those with bilateral hippocampal injury to show how evidence from both disciplines sheds important light on this aspect of mind. Possibly originating as a way of maintaining an oriented, first person psychic map, this capacity allows individuals a dynamic narrative access to a realm of layered elements and their connections. If the proposed hypothesis is correct, the hippocampus facilitates the integration of this symbolic field of mind, where narrative forms of thinking, creativity, memory, and dreaming are intertwined. Without the hippocampus, there is an inability to engage many typical forms of thought itself. Also, noting the ways these individuals are not impaired supports theories about other faculties of mind, providing insight into their possible roles within human thought. The evidence of different systems working in conjunction with the symbolic field provides tantalizing clues about these fundamental mechanisms of brain and mind that are normally seamlessly integrated, and hints at future areas of clinical and laboratory research, both within neuroscience and psychoanalysis.     

Stupidity in the analytic field: Vicissitudes of the detachment process in adolescence

This paper has the objective of broadening the understanding of technical aspects in working with adolescents who defend themselves against detachment from infantile aspects through defensive organizations. These organizations numb the adolescent toward both triangular reality and narcissistic defenses. The families of such young people may be part of the organization and the analyst can also be recruited to participate in it. But the analyst's perception can become blurry and this fact makes him appear stupid. Aspects of the myths of Narcissus and Oedipus are used here as models for studying stupidity. The analysis of a psychotic teenage girl who is symbiotic in relation to her family shows how the analytical field can be invaded by defensive configurations. Collusions of idealization and domination/submission involve the young person, her family and the analyst but the defensive organizations are only identified after their traumatic breakdown. The expansion of the symbolic network allows symbiotic transgenerational organizations to be identified, while models related to enactments prove helpful for understanding technical ups and downs. The paper ends with imaginative conjectures where Oedipus, as ‘patient’, is compared to the patient discussed here. These conjectures lead to reinterpretations of aspects of the Oedipus myth. The reinterpretations, together with the theoretical and clinical study, may serve as models for understanding the technical ups and downs in working with troubled teens.     

三维空间中不同视野深度位置上的返回抑制

通过虚拟现实构建虚拟三维场景,将二维平面视觉空间返回抑制范式应用到三维空间,通过两个实验操纵了目标深度、线索有效性以及视野位置三个变量,考察注意在三维空间不同视野深度位置上进行定向/重定向产生的返回抑制效应。结果发现,(1)二次线索化位于固定的中央视野时,不论目标出现在近处空间还是出现在远处空间,外周视野条件下的返回抑制大于中央视野条件下的返回抑制;(2)二次线索化位于非固定的中央视野时,近处空间和远处空间的返回抑制存在分离,表现为当目标出现在远处空间时,外周视野条件下的返回抑制效应减小。研究表明,三维空间中外周视野深度位置上的返回抑制与中央视野深度位置上的返回抑制存在差异。     

POLANYI ON TELEOLOGY: ARESPONSETO JOHN APCZYNSKI AND RICHARD GELWICK

Abstract. Michael Polanyi criticized the neo‐Darwinian synthesis on two grounds: that accidental hereditary changes bringing adaptive advantages cannot account for the rise of discontinuous new species, and that a Ideological ordering principle is needed to explain evolutionary advance. I commend the previous articles by John Apczynski and Richard Gelwick and also argue, more strongly than they, that Polanyi's critique of evolutionary theory is flawed. It relies on an inappropriate notion of progress and untenable analogies from the human process of scientific discovery and the fact that in physical systems minimal potential energy is most stable. Yet within a life of commitment to transcendent values humans can directly experience purpose and meaning, and in developing this notion Polanyi makes his greatest contribution to teleology.     

认知风格对不同类型几何问题解决的影响

通过镶嵌图形测验（EFT）,在初中学生中选了不同认知风格的被试,限时考查被试对不同类型几何问题的解决。结果表明：新问题与所学内容相似性会影响中学生几何问题解决的成绩;认知风格不同类型在几何问题解决中存在显著差异,在与所学内容相似性高的新问题解决中,场依存性学生的成绩显著地高于场独立性的学生。     

上古姜氏部族民俗遗存与春秋时期妇女从政关系

春秋时期姜姓妇女在各国积极从政,在政治舞台上占据一席之地。这与她们掌握当时最先进的卜筮知识,可以进行预测未来有一定联系,同时也是上古山川守文化精神在政治领域中的遗传和体现。