Emotions triggered by live arthropods shed light on spider phobia

Spiders are mostly harmless, yet they often trigger high levels of both fear and disgust, and arachnophobia (the phobia of spiders) ranks among the most common specific animal phobias. To investigate this apparent paradox, we turned to the only close relatives of spiders that pose a real danger to humans: scorpions. We adopted a unique methodology in order to assess authentic emotions elicited by arthropods. Over 300 respondents were asked to rate live specimens of 62 arthropod species (including spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, and other insects) based on perceived fear, disgust, and beauty. We found that species’ scores on all three scales depended on the higher taxon as well as on body size. Spiders, scorpions, and other arachnids scored the highest in fear and disgust, while beetles and crabs scored the highest in beauty. Moreover, all chelicerates were perceived as one cohesive group, distinct from other arthropods, such as insects or crabs. Based on these results, we hypothesize that the fear of spiders might be triggered by a generalized fear of chelicerates, with scorpions being the original stimulus that signals danger.

Medzikultúrny dialóg v súčasnej slovenskej dráme a divadle

The study deals with the possible inspirations from the external environment being the part of works by Karol Horák which undergo a creative transformation and produce a new aesthetic quality on the level of text, as well as the on the level of new staging forms or genesis of a completely new autochthonic theatre form (authorʼs theatre, postmodern theatre, medial theatre, happenings, performances, site-specific, etc.) There was a continuous pulsation among Slovak national theatre culture, or rather metonymically understood Prešov´s regional student theatre, and American (Living Theatre of J. Becka and J. Malinova, Schumannʼs Bread and Puppet, etc.), Polish (Kantorʼs Cricot 2, Grotowskiʼs Theatre Laboratory, Raczakʼs Theatre of Eighth Day, Mądzikʼs Plastic scene, Słupczynskiʼs Theatre Studio of Těšín, the Theatre Academy of Movement, Cracowian KTO, etc.) and Czech provenance (Theatre Orpheus Prague, Theatre X Brno, Theatre under Drain Pipe Ostrava, Quite Small Theatre Litvinov, Theatre on the Periphery, Prague, Quidam Brno, etc.) They have the form of a rational as well as a spontaneous reaction to the external stimulus which often acquired a form with surprisingly authentic aesthetic value. This value usually represented the latent affinity with the original stimulus and it often created an authentic theatre artefact with respect to the recipient having the peculiar status within the national context (e.g. Džura [1968], Démon [1967], Fragmenty [1974], Živý nábytok [1975], Tip-top biotop [1976], Materstvo [2011], Človek etudový alebo Konšpirácia alebo Od skúšky k predstaveniu [2013] etc.) This was the way how one wing of Slovak theatre tried to balance falling short of the European or world context.

Representing hierarchies of visual regard in eye-tracking analysis

In the following study, the author developed a method for representing data from eye-tracking recordings. The study proposed a form of graphical analysis that illustrates hierarchical densities of visual regard without obscuring the original pictorial stimulus. Across three different case studies, subjects’ fixation patterns were used to propagate Voronoi generating points. Integrating both fixation locations and their respective dwell times, randomized Gaussian distribution provided a technique to augment Voronoi generating seeds and enhance graphical resolution. Color pixel values were then used to fill in resultant Voronoi cells, in relation to color values provided by the original stimulus. The study revealed a form of analysis that allowed for effective differentiation of viewing behaviors between different subjects, in which emphasis was placed on a subject's attentional distribution rather than on graphic icons.

The Oppel–Kundt Illusion and Its Relation to Horizontal-Vertical and Oblique Effects

The Oppel–Kundt illusion consists in the overestimation of the length of filled versus empty extents. Two experiments explored its relation to the horizontal-vertical illusion, which consists in the overestimation of the length of vertical versus horizontal extents, and to the oblique effect, which consists in poorer discriminative sensitivity for obliquely as opposed to horizontally or vertically oriented stimuli. For Experiment 1, Kundt’s (1863) original stimulus was rotated in steps of 45° full circle around 360°. For Experiment 2, one part of the stimulus remained at a horizontal or vertical orientation, whereas the other part was tilted 45° or 90°. The Oppel–Kundt illusion was at its maximum at a horizontal orientation of the stimulus. The illusion was strongly attenuated with L-type figures when the vertical part was empty, but not enhanced when this part was filled, suggesting that the horizontal-vertical illusion only acts on nontextured extents. There was no oblique effect.

Diabetes and Metabolic Drivers of Trained Immunity

Accumulating evidence shows how diverse physiological functions, such as metabolism, immunity, tissue homeostasis, and hematopoiesis, are intricately and profoundly intertwined at multiple levels. This brief review will present evidence from a rapidly expanding field of immunometabolism, highlighting how cells that are relevant to processes at play in determining vascular health and disease can be programmed by changes in their metabolic environment. It will focus on how such changes can be imprinted or trained, particularly through epigenetic modifications, such that adaptations driven by metabolic signals can cause persistent changes in cell function, even after the original stimulus has been corrected or removed. Recognition of these processes and elucidation of the mechanisms underlying them stand to have far-reaching implications for the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and related metabolic states.

Moxibustion May Be a Potentially Effective Treatment for Chronic Scrotal Content Pain? A Case Report

Background: Chronic scrotal content pain (CSCP) is a syndrome that seriously affects the quality of life in men. But in most men, there is no obvious structural abnormality and there may not be any identifiable pain on palpation, even medications and surgeries are not 100% effective and maybe cause other problems. In addition to medications and surgical treatment, any other effective method needs to be a therapeutic option, too. Objective: To discuss a 36-year-old patient with chronic scrotal content pain for 3 years, with a view to introduce a potentially effective treatment for Chronic scrotal content pain. Conclusions: Many pain syndromes can be treated with removal of the original stimulus. For the patients we treat, moxibustion is effective for the treatment of Chronic scrotal content pain caused by the cooling on the portion. Therefore, an effective conservative treatment may be a worthwhile option to try.

When Left Is One and Right Is Double: An Experimental Investigation of Visual Allesthesia after Right Parietal Damage

Illusory visual phenomena, such as palinopsia, polyopsia or allesthesia, are rare manifestations of posterior cortical damage. Symptoms are characterized by illusory perceptions, ranging from isolated stationary objects to scenes and moving persons. Such illusions may appear while the original object is still in view, or become manifest with a delay and last for minutes, hours or even days. Some authors have suggested a disinhibited cortical response underlying visual illusions, but experimental studies supporting this hypothesis are lacking. Here, we examined a rare patient who after focal right parietal injury consistently reported a second stimulus on the left when briefly shown a target in his right hemifield. The patient perceived the illusory stimulus as less intense, and therefore concluded that it must have a different shape than the original stimulus. A masking experiment revealed that the frequency of the illusion was inversely related to the visibility of the original stimulus, suggesting that it depended on early, feedforward visual processing. We propose that illusory perceptions reflect the interplay of two physiological processes: a fast and automatic activation of contralateral, homotopic visual cortex after unilateral stimulation, and the lack of top-down inhibition following damage to the posterior parietal cortex.

Learning to draw: Does the inversion technique work?

Several methods for teaching draftsmanship include exercises based on Edward?s ?inversion? technique, the practice of copying from upside-down originals. We tested the technique by asking 40 artistically untrained participants to copy either upright or upside-down drawings of a face or a car. Our results indicate that participants were faster when copying the car in comparison to the face, but not when copying upside-down in comparison to upright images. In addition, they were more accurate in capturing the global proportions of the image in comparison to the local proportions of its parts. However, neither the face nor the car were copied more accurately in the upside-down relative to the right-side up condition. These results provide no evidence that Edward?s inversion technique promotes greater resemblance to the original stimulus image. Implications for the cognitive psychology of drawing and for the pedagogy of the visual arts are discussed.

Developing Programmed Learning Material for Teaching Science of CBSE Class IX

We will begin by discussing the early history of programmed learning and showing how the interpretation of the term has evolved over the years. The origin of programmed learning had its roots in behavioural psychology- the new ‘scientific’ school of psychology that was pioneered by the American psychologist B F Skinner during the 1950’s. Behavioural psychology was based on what is generally referred to as the stimulus response (S-R) model of behaviour. One important feature of the original stimulus-response model of learning was the concept of successive reinforcement. Another feature is that a desired S-R bond would be firmly established if the learner was supplied with immediate feedback in the form of the correct answer immediately after attempting a particular learning task such as answering a question. Another feature of Skinner’s original theory was that each successive stimulus-response step should be small enough to ensure that the learner was nearly always correct in his or her response.

Pointing gesture in a bird- merely instrumental or a cognitively complex behavior?

Gestures, particularly pointing, are regarded as important pre-speech acts. Intentional and referential pointing has been shown previously in humans and apes but not in songbirds, although some avian species show cognitive abilities rivaling those of apes, and their brain structures and functions show putative preconditions for referential gestural signaling (i.e. mirror neurons, links of vocal learning nuclei to discrete brain areas active during limb and body movements). The results reported are based on trials testing predator detection and responses to a taxidermic model of a wedge-tailed eagle by Australian magpies Gymnorhina tibicen. Magpies were subjected to three conditions of finding this model in their territory (open, sheltered and hidden). In the sheltered and hidden conditions, the discoverer simultaneously engaged in alarm calls and beak pointing, a behavior that has not been described previously. Other group members at once assembled and, after watching the first bird, adopted the same posture by pointing to the location of the intruder. The question is whether beak and body movements orienting towards important stimuli or events are instances of arousal, imitation or intentional communication. The latter presupposes that onlookers interpret the signal and respond by altering their own behavior appropriate to the original stimulus and not merely by imitating the first signaler. Evidence presented here indicates that the act of pointing may well be a complex cognitive behavior, i.e., an intentional and referential signal, showing that pointing is not limited to having hands and arms.