The neural pathways mediating quiet-biting attack behavior from the hypothalamus in the cat: A functional autoradiographic study

Electrical stimulation of the region of the lateral hypothalamus produced a consistent form of quiet-biting attack behavior in cats. In one series of experiments, cats, implanted with electrodes from which attack had been elicited, were anesthetized and then were injected with a bolus of ¹⁴C-2-deoxyglucose at the same time as electrical stimulation was delivered through the attack electrodes. Brains prepared for X-ray autoradiography revealed that lateral hypothalamic stimulation activated the classical medial forebrain bundle pathway supplying the septal region, diagonal band, lateral preoptic area, and ventral tegmental region. Stimulation of quiet-attack sites in perifornical hypothalamus resulted in the activation of a much more extensive projection system which included the central and lateral tegmental fields of the midbrain and pons, and central gray region, as well as the structures described above. In a second series of experiments, ³H-leucine was placed into the region of the electrode tip from which attack was elicited in order to identify more precisely the pathways arising from that site. In general, tritiated amino acid radioautography replicated the ¹⁴C-2-deoxyglucose findings. In addition, the amino acid radioautographic data revealed the presence of extensive projections from perifornical hypothalamus to such pontine structures as the nucleus locus coeruleus, motor nucleus of NV , and the lateral pontine tegmental field. The functional connections between the lateral hypothalamic “attack region” and lateral preoptic zone were also confirmed by electrophysiological methods.     

Mr. Richie and the tourists

This paper tracks the affective intensity and emergent potential that is part of making contact with Richie, a local Creole villager from Walliceville, Belize. Tourists and expats are drawn to Richie and seduced by him, his colorful language and personality. My attention in this paper is directed to the spatialized force fields of contact between tourists, expats and local creole villagers, like Richie, by attending to the way these contact fields conjure forces of wild vitality that both agitate and fascinate social life in Belize. I focus on how Richie acts as a powerful representation of tropical “no worries” Creole life. But more than that, he carries a sensory charge, seducing tourists and expats into crazy moments of abandon, a “sensing beyond security” (Manning, 2007: 134–161), that exceeds the work of Caribbean tourist representations to become moments when forces are activated as impacts that provoke things, for better or for worse. I argue that such moments spawn worlds that build forms of attachment and become the vital fields of sensations that incite life as emergent forces coming into play in this postcolonial state of emergency taking shape as neo-liberal exception, on the edge of global empire, in Belize.     

Eye movements of monkey observers viewing vocalizing conspecifics

Primates, including humans, communicate using facial expressions, vocalizations and often a combination of the two modalities. For humans, such bimodal integration is best exemplified by speech-reading - humans readily use facial cues to enhance speech comprehension, particularly in noisy environments. Studies of the eye movement patterns of human speech-readers have revealed, unexpectedly, that they predominantly fixate on the eye region of the face as opposed to the mouth. Here, we tested the evolutionary basis for such a behavioral strategy by examining the eye movements of rhesus monkeys observers as they viewed vocalizing conspecifics. Under a variety of listening conditions, we found that rhesus monkeys predominantly focused on the eye region versus the mouth and that fixations on the mouth were tightly correlated with the onset of mouth movements. These eye movement patterns of rhesus monkeys are strikingly similar to those reported for humans observing the visual components of speech. The data therefore suggest that the sensorimotor strategies underlying bimodal speech perception may have a homologous counterpart in a closely related primate ancestor.     

Quantum mechanics, interference, and the brain

In this paper we discuss the use of quantum mechanics to model psychological experiments, starting by sharply contrasting the need of these models to use quantum mechanical nonlocality instead of contextuality. We argue that contextuality, in the form of quantum interference, is the only relevant quantum feature used. Nonlocality does not play a role in those models. Since contextuality is also present in classical models, we propose that classical systems be used to reproduce the quantum models used. We also discuss how classical interference in the brain may lead to contextual processes, and what neural mechanisms may account for it.     

When phonology fails: orthographic neighbourhood effects in dyslexia

Both cerebral hemispheres contain phonological, orthographic and semantic representations of words, however there are between-hemisphere differences in the relative engagement and specialization of the different representations. Taking orthographic processing for example, previous studies suggest that orthographic neighbourhood size (N) has facilitatory effects in the right but not the left hemispheres. To pursue the nature of this asymmetric N effect, in particular whether there are individual differences in such specialisation, we examined N in a case of developmental dyslexia, FM. We first describe the nature of his difficulties, which are mainly severe phonological deficits. Employing the divided visual field paradigm with FM revealed a greater sensitivity in the right than in the left hemisphere to orthographic variables, with a significant inhibitory N effect in the left, but not right hemisphere. Such inhibition, to a lesser degree, was found among a group of adults with dyslexia but not among age-matched normal readers. We argue that enhanced sensitivity to orthographic cues is developed in some cases of dyslexia when a normal, phonology-based left hemisphere word recognition processing is not achieved. The interpretation presented here is cast in terms of differences between people with dyslexia and typical readers that originate in the atypical way in which orthographic representations are initially set up.     

Remembering 1500 pictures: the right hemisphere remembers better than the left

We hypothesized that the right hemisphere would be superior to the left hemisphere in remembering having seen a specific picture before, given its superiority in perceptually encoding specific aspects of visual form. A large set of pictures (N=1500) of animals, human faces, artifacts, landscapes, and art paintings were shown for 2s in central vision, or tachistoscopically (for 100ms) in each half visual field, to normal participants who were then tested 1-6 days later for their recognition. Images that were presented initially to the right hemisphere were better recognized than those presented to the left hemisphere. These results, obtained with participants with intact brains, large number of stimuli, and long retention delays, are consistent with previously described hemispheric differences in the memory of split-brain patients.     

On the origin of worries about modern health hazards: Experimental evidence for a conjoint influence of media reports and personality traits

Objective: Worries about health threatening effects of potential health hazards of modern life (e.g. electric devices and pollution) represent a growing phenomenon in Western countries. Yet, little is known about the causes of this growing special case of affective risk perceptions termed Modern Health Worries (MHW). The purpose of this study is to examine a possible role of biased media reports in the formation of MHW.

Design: In two experiments, we investigated whether typical television reports affect MHW. In Study 1, 130 participants were randomly assigned to a film on idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) or a control film about cystic fibrosis. In Study 2, 82 participants were randomly assigned to either a film on the dangers of electromagnetic fields or a control condition.

Main outcome measures: Increases in MHW after sensational media reports.

Results: In Study 1, only participants high on the personality trait of absorption revealed increased MHW after watching the IEI film. In Study 2, specifically worries about radiation were found to be elevated after watching the film on the dangers of electromagnetic fields compared to the control film.

Conclusion: The results of both studies reveal a significant and specific influence of sensational short mass media reports on MHW. The influence of potential moderators such as absorption remains to be clarified.     

Stable singular or negative stiffness systems in the presence of energy flux

We report stable systems which exhibit quasistatic stiffness that can be negative or tend to infinity without external constraint. They are based on coupled fields in the non-equilibrium presence of energy flux that is modulated by force. They evade thermodynamic restrictions by relaxing a restrictive assumption: equilibrium. Negative values of physical properties, including compressibility and heat capacity, are considered forbidden in classical thermodynamics; such analyses provide bounds on the stiffness and other properties of multiphase materials. Stable negative and singular stiffness is demonstrated experimentally in a piezoelectric system and in a thermoelastic granular material. Coupled fields occur naturally under a wide range of conditions and form the basis for many forms of technology including sensors, actuators, and electric coolers. Because all materials exhibit at least one coupled field effect, the concept is broadly general and is applicable to attaining extreme values of any physical property e.g. stiffness, permittivity, piezoelectricity.