Phenomenal regression as a potential metric of veridical perception in virtual environments

It is known that limitations of the visual presentation and sense of presence in a virtual environment (VE) can result in deficits of spatial perception such as the documented depth compression phenomena. Investigating size and distance percepts in a VE is an active area of research, where different groups have measured the deficit by employing skill-based tasks such as walking, throwing or simply judging sizes and distances. A psychological trait called phenomenal regression (PR), first identified in the 1930s by Thouless, offers a measure that does not rely on either judgement or skill. PR describes a systematic error made by subjects when asked to match the perspective projections of two stimuli displayed at different distances. Thouless’ work found that this error is not mediated by a subject’s prior knowledge of its existence, nor can it be consciously manipulated, since it measures an individual’s innate reaction to visual stimuli. Furthermore he demonstrated that, in the real world, PR is affected by the depth cues available for viewing a scene. When applied in a VE, PR therefore potentially offers a direct measure of perceptual veracity that is independent of participants’ skill in judging size or distance. Experimental work has been conducted and a statistically significant correlation of individuals’ measured PR values (their ‘Thouless ratio’, or TR) between virtual and physical stimuli was found. A further experiment manipulated focal depth to mitigate the mismatch that occurs between accommodation and vergence cues in a VE. The resulting statistically significant effect on TR demonstrates that it is sensitive to changes in viewing conditions in a VE. Both experiments demonstrate key properties of PR that contribute to establishing it as a robust indicator of VE quality. The first property is that TR exhibits temporal stability during the period of testing and the second is that it differs between individuals. This is advantageous as it yields empirical values that can be investigated using regression analysis. This work contributes to VE domains in which it is desirable to replicate an accurate perception of space, such as training and telepresence, where PR would be a useful tool for comparing subjective experience between a VE and the real world, or between different VEs

The Aesthetics and Psychology Behind Horror Films

We usually define “fear” as a negative emotion, which is unpleasant. Normally, we desperately want to avoid this emotion because it causes distress and terror. However, the aesthetics and psychology behind horror films explain “fear” can be a pleasurable experience. “Fear” is an essential element in horror genre, which is why we consistently crave the adrenaline rush in scary films. Neuroscientists, psychologists, and filmmakers constantly study viewers’ fear responses to see which techniques can terrify audiences. This thesis demonstrates the different methods filmmakers create to attract the audience in enjoying horror films. As well as, including psychological and scientific studies to explain how scary films affect our brain and body

Philosofilm: towards a cinematic philosophy

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThis dissertation examines existing attempts to answer the question "Can film philosophize?" (the"CFP question") and offers an original, affirmative account of the possibility of philosophizing by means of film. Focusing OD. narrative fiction films, this dissertation shows how the practice of philosophy can be transformed, and its powers expanded, through its encounter with the realm of moving images. The first chapter presents the groundwork for such a discussion, laying bare the scope of the various theoretical bases through which film and philosophy have been thought to intersect. The chapter follows the threads of extant discussions, from (a) explicitly philosophical approaches to film ("philosophy of film") to (b) in-depth studies of film's thematic constructs ("film theory") and (c) proposals of the symmetry or even fusion of film and philosophy ("film-philosophy"). Each of the three subsequent chapters addresses one of three possible answers to the CFP question.Chapter two focuses on a conservative approach ("the exclusivist thesis") that negates the possibility of any meaningful philosophical capacity in film. Chapter three considers a more moderate view ("the inclusivist thesis") that acknowledges the cinematic capacity for philosophical argumentation, in a manner that is unique, but only partial. The fourth and last chapter introduces an innovative perspective ("the integralist thesis") that countenances a unique cinematic potential to philosophize by insisting on a radical conception of the practice of philosophy itself. To reach this ultimate conclusion, the dissertation elaborates two crucial features of film - the non-linguistic nature of its narrative and the role played by the audience in film - and shows that exclusivists and inclusivists fail to take these features into consideration (largely owing to the principles from which these theorists set out to answer the CFP question). Exclusivists and inclusivists argue that film cannot philosophize (at least not properly) because philosophizing is an essentially linguistic endeavor and film is not.If, however, those crucial features are taken into account, it becomes apparent that exclusivist and inclusivist approaches alike are fatally flawed. The dissertation concludes, in conversation with the integralists, with an affirmation of film's philosophical potential

SIMULATION OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASE

Simulation may be defined as a wilful, deliberate and fraudulent imitation or exaggeration of illness intended to deceive the observer for the purpose of gaining a consciously desired end. Simulation of a physical or mental illness is usually resorted to: (1) by persons who have sustained an injury, the disability resulting therefrom being compensable by benefits payable under the workmen\u27s compensation law or by damages in personal injury actions based on alleged negligence; (2) by persons who wish to obtain insurance benefits for disability in accordance with the provisions of health, accident and life insurance policies, and included in this group are persons who attribute to an accident which may never have occurred symptoms of disability which they know, or have reason to believe may arise from or be intimately connected with independent pre-existing natural disease; (3) by those who wish to evade conscription or, while in military service, to escape certain duties--simulation in the latter instance being popularly known as gold-bricking\u27\u27; (4) by persons who wish to avoid some legal or other responsibility

[Introduction to] Wim Wenders: Making Films That Matter

Wim Wenders: Making Films That Matter is the first book in 15 years to take a comprehensive look at Wim Wenders\u27s extensive filmography. In addition to offering new insights into his cult masterpieces, the 10 essays in this volume highlight the thematic and aesthetic continuities between his early films and his latest productions. Wenders\u27s films have much to contribute to current conversations on intermediality, whether it be through his adaptations of important literary works or his filmic reinventions of famous paintings by Edward Hopper or Andrew Wyeth. Wenders has also positioned himself as a decidedly transnational and translingual filmmaker taking on the challenge of representing peripheral spaces without falling into the trap of a neo-colonial gaze. Making Films That Matter argues that Wenders remains a true innovator in both his experiments in 3D filmmaking and his attempts to define a visual poetics of peace. Please download the Introduction from the link above. You may purchase this book directly from the publisher from the link below.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1380/thumbnail.jp

Spatial Displays and Spatial Instruments

The conference proceedings topics are divided into two main areas: (1) issues of spatial and picture perception raised by graphical electronic displays of spatial information; and (2) design questions raised by the practical experience of designers actually defining new spatial instruments for use in new aircraft and spacecraft. Each topic is considered from both a theoretical and an applied direction. Emphasis is placed on discussion of phenomena and determination of design principles

Duality in Bouazizi: Appraising the Contradiction

We know that Mohammed Bouazizi lived in Sidi Bouzid and that he was often the sole income for a poor family. We know that he sold fruit from a cart and that, while vending on December 17th, 2010, he had an altercation with the police, and later doused himself in flammable liquid in front of the municipal offices and struck a match. There are some who know more – childhood friends, neighbors, customers, cousins – who knew the man and interacted with him over the course of his relatively short life. But for us, the general public of the World, to move beyond these spare details is to move into the realm of things-we-are-told, of facts intuited or debatable, because we never met Mohammed Bouazizi, did not see the confrontation on the 17th and were generally unaware that he existed until perhaps the first days of January 2011

SIAH-MEDIATED UPS REGULATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VISUAL SYSTEM IN ZEBRAFISH (DANIO RERIO)

The eye is a complex organ responsible for vision that which formation depends on several intricate developmental steps. Vision for humans is responsible for the majority of its sensory interactions with the environment. Eye development can be divided into two critical stages: morphogenesis, which establishes the eye structure culminating with the fusion of the optic fissure, a transient cleft important for eye vascularization, and subsequently specification and differentiation of the retina to form every type of retinal neuronal cell, including photoreceptors, rods and cones. Developmental failure in either of these critical stages can lead to inherited congenital or age-related blinding disorders. Thus, understanding the proper mechanism for eye development is crucial to help avoid social and cognitive impairments commonly associated with visual loss, especially in the most economically challenged parts of the world. The regulation of morphogenesis and retinal formation has been vigorously investigated at the transcriptional level, but little effort has been placed on potential post-translational regulatory mechanisms. The ubiquitin mediated proteasome degradation system plays an important role in regulating protein function in many different developmental stages. The siah family of ubiquitin E3 ligases are homologues to Drosophila Seven In Absentia (SINA), and also known regulators of drosophila photoreceptor development. In order to determine whether Siah mediated ubiquitin-targeting plays a role in vertebrate eye morphogenesis and retinal differentiation, the zebrafish proteome was screened for siah degron motifs and identified 2 potential targets related to eye development, Nlz2 and Cdhr1a. The first is a zinc-finger transcription factor, responsible for negatively regulating Pax2 gene expression, a master regulator of the optic fissure closure. The second, is a photoreceptor’ specific cadherin, known to be associated with cone-rod dystrophies. My dissertation has focused on examining Siah-mediated regulation of these two targets during critical stages of eye development. In Chapter 3 I outline how modulation of Siah activity leads to failure of optic fissure fusion dependent on ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation of Nlz2, outlining a novel, UPS-mediated degradation regulatory pathway involved in optic fissure fusion. In Chapter 4 I provide the first evidence that Cdhr1a is involved in photoreceptor development and that Siah1 is responsible for regulating its protein stability via the UPS. My findings provide new avenues for investigation of the pathogenesis of inherited cone-rod dystrophies. Overall, my work outlines new pathways involved in posttranslational mechanisms of vertebrate retinal development and strengthens efforts to improve our understanding of the predisposition and pathogenesis of Coloboma and inherited cone-rod dystrophy

Physics and ontology - or The 'ontology-ladenness' of epistemology and the 'scientific realism'-debate

The question of what ontological insights can be gained from the knowledge of physics (keyword: ontic structural realism) cannot obviously be separated from the view of physics as a science from an epistemological perspective. This is also visible in the debate about 'scientific realism'. This debate makes it evident, in the form of the importance of perception as a criterion for the assertion of existence in relation to the 'theoretical entities' of physics, that epistemology itself is 'ontologically laden'. This is in the form of the assumption that things (or entities) in themselves exist as such and such determined ones (independent of cognition, autonomously). This ontological assumption is not only the basis of our naïve understanding of cognition, but also its indispensable premise, insofar as this understanding is a fundamentally passive, 'receptive' one. Accordingly, just as 'perception' is the foundation, ('objective') description is the aim of cognition, that which cognition is about. In this sense, our idea of cognition and our idea of the things are inseparably linked. Without the ontological premise mentioned we just would not know what cognition is, but it is basically just a kind of image that we have in our minds (an assumption that helps us understand 'cognition'). Epistemology not only shares this basic assumption (which it also shares with metaphysics), but it revolves (unlike metaphysics) entirely around it by making the idea and demand of 'certainty' a condition of 'real' knowledge. As 'certainty' is a subjective criterion this entails the 'remodelling' of the real, holistic cognitive situation (to which metaphysics adheres) into a linear subject-object-relation (which results in the strict 'transcendence' of the objects). And it also establishes, due to its 'expertise' in matters of cognition, the 'primacy of epistemology' over all other sciences. Now, on closer inspection, however, the expertise of epistemology seems not all that dependable, because it basically consists only of paradigms which, from the point of view of the holism of the real cognitive situation itself, are nothing more than relatively simplistic interpretations of this situation. However, we do not yet know what another conception of cognition might look like (which is not surprising given the high rank of the phenomenon of cognition in the hierarchy of phenomena according to their complexity). 'Certainty' as a criterion of cognition is thus excluded from the outset, and thus the linear relational model of cognition appears as what it is, a gross distortion of the real, holistic cognitive situation. The significance of this argumentation with regard to physics is that the linear epistemological model of cognition itself is a major obstacle to an adequate epistemological understanding of physics. This is because it is fixed 'a priori' to an object-related concept of cognition, and to 'description' as the only mode of ('real') cognition. But physics (without questioning our naïve notion of cognition on the level of epistemology) simply works past it and its basic assumptions. Its cognitive concept (alias heuristic) is fundamentally different from that of metaphysics. The acceptance of the real, holistic cognitive situation is, in my opinion, the condition for an adequate understanding of physics' heuristic access to objects, its transcendental, generalizing cognitive concept, as well as its ontological relevance and dimension of its own

Characterisation of the effects of dioxins on Ahr through its homologue in Drosophila: Spineless

Dioxins are extremely widespread, toxic and persistent pollutants, as well as a major concern for human health. The Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr) is the key component in the metabolic response to dioxins. Ahr is a cytoplasmic bHLH-PAS transcription factor that, upon binding with dioxin, translocates to the nucleus. There it forms a complex with the Ah receptor nuclear transloator (Arnt), another bHLH-PAS protein, and binds to the eight-nucleotide XRE motif to control gene expression. Previous work with Ahr knock-out mice revealed the existence of dioxin-independent activity for Ahr in development, but the relationship between the two activities of Ahr remains unclear. Our work uses Drosophila to clarify this question, which is central for therapies seeking inactivation of Ahr. The Drosophila Ahr homologue, spineless(ss), does not bind dioxins, however, it physically interacts with Tango (Tgo), Arnt’s fly homologue, and controls gene expression through the XRE motif during development. Here I show that, in the absence of dioxin, Ahr can still bind Tango and Arnt and rescues ss- phenotypes, indicating equivalent dioxin-independent activities. I next demonstrate that exposure to dioxin produces an in vivo hyperactivation of Ahr, which can also be achieved by increasing the dosage of either Tango or Arnt. Thus Ahr shows different levels of activity, from basal to toxic, depending on the presence of specific ligands and cofactors, and the toxic effects of dioxins represent an excess of the Ahr developmental function. I have also carried out a genetic screen in the search of genes that interact with ss. From this screen I have found that the genes that code for the Krüppel-type zinc-finger proteins Squeeze (Sqz) and Rotund (Rn) interact functionally with ss. I demonstrate that Rn and Ss interact physically in vivo. Ahr is also able to interact functionally with rn and sqz indicating that the interaction with zinc-finger proteins might be an ancestral feature of the dioxin receptor