A Rich Landscape of Affordances Rietveld, Erik; Kiverstein, Julian
Ecological psychology,
10/2014, Letnik:
26, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
How broad is the class of affordances we can perceive? Affordances (
Gibson, 1979/1986
) are possibilities for action provided to an animal by the environment-by the substances, surfaces, objects, ...and other living creatures that surround it. A widespread assumption has been that affordances primarily relate to motor action-to locomotion and manual behaviors such as reaching and grasping. We propose an account of affordances according to which the concept of affordances has a much broader application than has hitherto been supposed. We argue that the affordances an environment offers to an animal are dependent on the skills the animal possesses. By virtue of our many abilities, the landscape of affordances we inhabit as humans is very rich and resourceful.
In the first half of the twentieth century, psychology was a discipline in search of scientific legitimacy. Debates raged over how much of human and animal behavior is instinctive and how much is ...learned, and how behavior could be quantified accurately. At the Johns Hopkins University's new Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Curt P. Richter stood aside from these heated theoretical arguments, choosing instead to apply his data-collection methods, innovative measurement techniques, playful sense of exploration, and consummate surgical skill to laboratory examinations of the biological basis of behavior. From identifying the biological clocks that govern behavior and physiology to observing the self-regulation of nutrient levels by the body, the cyclical nature of some mental illnesses, and the causes of hopelessness, Richter's wide-ranging discoveries not only influenced the burgeoning field of psychobiology and paved the way for later researchers but also often had implications for the treatment of patients in the clinic. At the time of his death in 1988, Richter left behind a massive collection of laboratory data. For this book, Jay Schulkin mined six decades of Richter's archived research data, personal documents, and interviews to flesh out an engaging portrait of a "laboratory artisan" in the context of his work.
Цель: проведение комплексного междисциплинарного правового исследования роли кинематографа в антикоррупционном просвещении граждан. Методы: структурно-функциональный подход к трактовке общества как ...связи подсистем, в рамках которого кинематограф выступает частью культурной подсистемы, а антикоррупционная политика относится одновременно к общественной подсистеме (просвещение) и государственной подсистеме (политика). Выбранный подход обуславливает набор конкретных методов исследования, таких как критический анализ теоретической литературы по вопросам коррупционного поведения и по взаимоотношению зрителя и продукта кинематографа в совокупности с эмпирическим исследованием различных кейсов в виде киноработ и кинопроектов, посвященных антикоррупционной тематике. Результаты: в ходе анализа механизмов выстраивания взаимоотношений зрителя и кино были определены возможности кино оказывать долгосрочное влияние на зрителя, обусловленное не только техническими возможностями кинематографа, но и благодаря психобиологическим механизмам человека. На примере конкретных проектов была доказана и обоснована целесообразность использования кинематографа в качестве инструмента антикоррупционного просвещения. В частности, если в сюжет художественного фильма заложить нужные посылы, то благодаря зеркальным нейронам и механизмам додумывания человека они могут служить образовательным целям и демонстрировать последствия коррупционного поведения. Важно не запугивать зрителей ужасами жизни с коррупцией, а показывать положительный выход и позитивные сценарии жизни без нее. Это может привести к повышению гражданской активности, росту интереса к обсуждаемой проблеме, а также к повышению рейтингов доверия к государству. Научная новизна: в статье доказывается нецелесообразность оценки кинематографа исключительно как формы развлечения, а также впервые разбираются примеры практического применения кинематографа для проведения именно антикоррупционной политики и просвещения в разрезе сравнения подходов в разных странах. Практическая значимость: основные выводы статьи могут быть использованы в научной, педагогической и практической деятельности при разработке долгосрочных стратегий и программ антикоррупционного просвещения, а также в рамках кинематографической деятельности для оценки долгосрочных последствий демонстрируемого кинонарратива.
Reinders AATS, Willemsen ATM, Vos HPJ, den Boer JA, Nijenhuis ERS (2012) Fact or Factitious? A Psychobiological Study of Authentic and Simulated Dissociative Identity States. PLoS ONE 7(6): e39279. ...doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039279 Citation: Simone Reinders AAT, Willemsen ATM, Vos HPJ, den Boer JA, Nijenhuis ERS (2012) Correction: Fact or Factitious? A Psychobiological Study of Authentic and Simulated Dissociative Identity States.
The cumulative science linking stress to negative health outcomes is vast. Stress can affect health directly, through autonomic and neuroendocrine responses, but also indirectly, through changes in ...health behaviors. In this review, we present a brief overview of (
a
) why we should be interested in stress in the context of health; (
b
) the stress response and allostatic load; (
c
) some of the key biological mechanisms through which stress impacts health, such as by influencing hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis regulation and cortisol dynamics, the autonomic nervous system, and gene expression; and (
d
) evidence of the clinical relevance of stress, exemplified through the risk of infectious diseases. The studies reviewed in this article confirm that stress has an impact on multiple biological systems. Future work ought to consider further the importance of early-life adversity and continue to explore how different biological systems interact in the context of stress and health processes.
The clinical high risk (CHR) paradigm has facilitated research into the underpinnings of help-seeking individuals at risk for developing psychosis, aiming at predicting and possibly preventing ...transition to the overt disorder. Statistical methods such as machine learning and Cox regression have provided the methodological basis for this research by enabling the construction of diagnostic models (i.e., distinguishing CHR individuals from healthy individuals) and prognostic models (i.e., predicting a future outcome) based on different data modalities, including clinical, neurocognitive, and neurobiological data. However, their translation to clinical practice is still hindered by the high heterogeneity of both CHR populations and methodologies applied.
We systematically reviewed the literature on diagnostic and prognostic models built on Cox regression and machine learning. Furthermore, we conducted a meta-analysis on prediction performances investigating heterogeneity of methodological approaches and data modality.
A total of 44 articles were included, covering 3707 individuals for prognostic studies and 1052 individuals for diagnostic studies (572 CHR patients and 480 healthy control subjects). CHR patients could be classified against healthy control subjects with 78% sensitivity and 77% specificity. Across prognostic models, sensitivity reached 67% and specificity reached 78%. Machine learning models outperformed those applying Cox regression by 10% sensitivity. There was a publication bias for prognostic studies yet no other moderator effects.
Our results may be driven by substantial clinical and methodological heterogeneity currently affecting several aspects of the CHR field and limiting the clinical implementability of the proposed models. We discuss conceptual and methodological harmonization strategies to facilitate more reliable and generalizable models for future clinical practice.
Gender, attachment patterns and mental representations of close relationships have not previously been used to predict trauma symptomatology in early adolescents. In this study, 109 eighth grade ...students ages 12-13 (44% female) were recruited from a private Manhattan middle school for academically advantaged, ethnically diverse students. The study took place over the course of four years, with each new group of participants providing data in September of their eighth grade year. Participants reported on trauma symptoms and the affective valence of their mental representations of self and parents, and school staff reported on participants’ attachment patterns. While boys reported more positive affective valence of their parental and self mental representations and were reported to have less secure attachment, gender differences were not found regarding childhood trauma symptoms. There were significant negative correlations between preoccupied attachment and affective valence of parental and self mental representations as well as significant positive correlations between incoherent/disorganized and preoccupied attachment, respectively, and childhood trauma symptoms. Overall, incoherent/disorganized attachment predicted avoidance symptoms and hyperarousal, and preoccupied attachment predicted re-experiencing symptoms. Considering girls only, incoherent/disorganized attachment and affective valence of self mental representations were both predictive of childhood trauma symptoms, and preoccupied attachment predicted re-experiencing symptoms. These results indicate that therapists must take into account both attachment quality and mental representations for middle schoolers when treating childhood trauma symptoms. Considerations regarding gender, attachment, and mental representations when treating early adolescents experiencing trauma symptoms are discussed.
Abstract
Introduction:
Anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance have been shown to affect biological health by dysregulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, immune system, and ...vasculature of the heart, which may worsen psychological health and medical issues. Previous research has shown that sleep may serve as a mediating factor between psychological and medical disease, suggesting that treatment for sleep may reverse or even prevent future adverse psychobiological health outcomes. This project is the first to investigate the neuroendocrine, immune, and cardiovascular benefits of sleep among an at-risk for depression adolescent sample within a longitudinal, randomized control trial investigating the effectiveness of a 7-week mindfulness-based sleep intervention.
Methods:
Participants (n = 144) were adolescents aged 12–18 who endorsed sleep and anxiety issues, known risk factors for depression onset. Participants were randomized into either a 7-week mindfulness-based sleep intervention or a 7-week study skills (active control) intervention. At both pre-intervention (T1) and two-year post-intervention follow-up (T2) time points (currently ongoing until January 2017), participants provided 6 saliva samples across two days to measure salivary biomarkers of stress and inflammation including cortisol and C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and were assessed via a cardiovascular health test measuring blood pressure, heart rate variance, and endothelial functioning, objective and subjective measures of sleep including Actigraphy and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) as well as other mood questionnaires, and a semi-structured diagnostic clinical diagnostic interview.
Results:
We expect a series of independent samples t-tests and ANOVA results will show an improvement among participants in the sleep intervention group from T1 to T2 in neuroendocrine, immune, and cardiovascular measures as compared to their baseline levels, as well as to participants in the control group, and that these improvements will be mediated by the degree of improvement across objective and subjective measures of sleep.
Conclusion:
This research will improve our understanding of the biologically protective nature of sleep, inform clinical treatment decisions, and serve as an accessible sleep treatment option for at-risk adolescents while simultaneously improving psychobiological health and possibly preventing future medical complications.
Support (If Any):
The project is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)-funded grant (APP1027076).
Psychobiotics were previously defined as live bacteria (probiotics) which, when ingested, confer mental health benefits through interactions with commensal gut bacteria. We expand this definition to ...encompass prebiotics, which enhance the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. We review probiotic and prebiotic effects on emotional, cognitive, systemic, and neural variables relevant to health and disease. We discuss gut–brain signalling mechanisms enabling psychobiotic effects, such as metabolite production. Overall, knowledge of how the microbiome responds to exogenous influence remains limited. We tabulate several important research questions and issues, exploration of which will generate both mechanistic insights and facilitate future psychobiotic development. We suggest the definition of psychobiotics be expanded beyond probiotics and prebiotics to include other means of influencing the microbiome.
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