Empathic stories to address intergroup discrimination towards undocumented Latinx Immigrants: Stories when we cannot live experiences

A growing body of research in social psychology focuses on ameliorating intergroup discrimination. A substantial amount of this work originates from the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954). However, many indirect contact studies utilize stories as interventions or cite other studies that use stories. The work in narrative psychology shows that stories provide consumers the opportunity to rehearse intergroup interactions (Oatley, 1999), induce empathy that allows for understanding and feeling the experiences of others (Van Laer et al., 2014), and provide mental experiences felt as if truly occurring (i.e., transportation; Green & Brock, 2000, 2002). Two focal questions of the current research are whether stories and their processes are already effective in reducing intergroup discrimination and whether stories and indirect contact strategies might overlap. The current study explored the effectiveness of stories in reducing different aspects of discrimination (i.e., behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions) towards both undocumented Latinx immigrants (i.e., a group) and to an undocumented Latina immigrant (i.e., an individual), while testing transportation as a driver of the effect. This between subjects design compared three stories including A) a story with somatosensory cues (i.e., in-depth physiological descriptions of the experience of an undocumented Latina immigrant, non-DACA recipient), B) the same story without somatosensory cues, and C) positive statistics and facts about immigrant’s contributions to the US, as a comparison group. The hypotheses tested included: First, the effectiveness of stories in inducing transportation, influencing monetary donations to an immigrant fund, increasing ratings of warmth and competence, and inducing more positive attitudes, compared to the provision of supportive statistics. Second, the effectiveness of the enhanced stories, over statistics, in inducing transportation, donations, increasing ratings of warmth and competence, and in inducing more positive attitudes. Third, the effectiveness of the enhanced story, over the non-enhanced story, in inducing transportation, donations, increasing ratings of warmth and competence, and in inducing more positive attitudes to the character of the story. Finally, whether transportation would moderate the relationship between the clip condition and donations, ratings and warmth and competence, and attitudes to the central character’s membership group—undocumented Latinx immigrants. These hypotheses were tested on a sample of MTurk workers (N= 572) over the age of 18 found in states with an overall population of Latinx below five percent. The results confirmed that individuals in story conditions did undergo more transportation and had higher average donations, but these did not differ in ratings of warmth and competence, or attitudes to undocumented Latinx immigrants. Regarding the character, participants in the enhanced story condition rated her as more competent and less negatively than those in non-enhanced story condition, while also rating her low in warmth. Finally, one moderation analysis showed that respondents in story conditions reported more positive attitudes towards undocumented Latinx immigrants only if they were more transported. Together, these results, indicate that stories could be effective in increasing positive attitudes towards groups that are targets of vitriol, and more importantly that a story process such as transportation may play a role in this positive attitude induction

Perceptual Strategies and Neuronal Underpinnings underlying Pattern Recognition through Visual and Tactile Sensory Modalities in Rats

The aim of my PhD project was to investigate multisensory perception and multimodal recognition abilities in the rat, to better understand the underlying perceptual strategies and neuronal mechanisms. I have chosen to carry out this project on the laboratory rat, for two reasons. First, the rat is a flexible and highly accessible experimental model, where it is possible to combine state-of-the-art neurophysiological approaches (such as multi-electrode neuronal recordings) with behavioral investigation of perception and (more in general) cognition. Second, extensive research concerning multimodal integration has already been conducted in this species, both at the neurophysiological and behavioral level. My thesis work has been organized in two projects: a psychophysical assessment of object categorization abilities in rats, and a neurophysiological study of neuronal tuning in the primary visual cortex of anaesthetized rats. In both experiments, unisensory (visual and tactile) and multisensory (visuo-tactile) stimulation has been used for training and testing, depending on the task. The first project has required development of a new experimental rig for the study of object categorization in rat, using solid objects, so as to be able to assess their recognition abilities under different modalities: vision, touch and both together. The second project involved an electrophysiological study of rat primary visual cortex, during visual, tactile and visuo-tactile stimulation, with the aim of understanding whether any interaction between these modalities exists, in an area that is mainly deputed to one of them. The results of both of the studies are still preliminary, but they already offer some interesting insights on the defining features of these abilities

Barrels XXXII Meeting Report: Whiskers in the Windy City

The 32nd Annual Barrels meeting was hosted at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois on October 17th and 18th, 2019. The annual meeting brings together researchers who utilize the rodent whisker-to-barrel system as a means to understand cortical function and development. This year’s meeting focused on social behaviors, development and cerebellar functions within the barrel system and beyond

Telemetry Controlled Brain Machine Interface To Train Cortical Circuits

The goal of this dissertation is to document functional reorganization in rat primary somatosensory (SI) cortex. This work proposes to strengthen the interhemispheric connection between homotopic sites in forelimb barrel cortex (FBC) through intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) and induce functional reorganization whereby neurons in the FBC respond to new input from the ipsilateral forelimb. Furthermore, a wireless microstimulation and recording device was developed for producing enhancement and functional reorganization of cortical circuits in FBC. The goal of Experiment One was to test the hypothesis that layer V neurons projected to homotopic sites in contralateral layer V FBC. Retrograde or anterograde neuronal tracer injections were made to characterize the distribution of callosal projecting neurons in contralateral SI that terminate in layer VFBC and where layer V callosal projecting neurons terminate in contralateral SI. The results showed a differential pattern of interhemispheric connectivity between homotopic forelimb representations in layer V FBC. The goal of Experiment Two was to test the hypothesis that ICMS enhances the interhemispheric pathway and leads to functional reorganization. ICMS was delivered in vivo to the interhemispheric pathway between homotopic layer V barrel cortices and multiunit recordings were made to assess changes in firing rate. The results showed ICMS strengthens interhemispheric connectivity and leads to functional reorganization in rat FBC. The goal of Experiment Three was to develop an interactive telemetry-based neural interface device for the controlled delivery of ICMS and recording response activity in rodent. The device successfully delivered microstimulation to a single electrode in SIand recorded evoked responses from a separate electrode in contralateral SI. Its performance was shown to be comparable to commercial stimulating and recording systems. This system serves as a prototype of a wearable compact device. The data suggest that neurons in rat FBC can be induced to respond to new input from the ipsilateral forelimb by enhancing the interhemispheric pathway with ICMS. An interactive system for the controlled delivery of telemetry-based microstimulation and real-time recordings has been demonstrated in vivo. These studies provide the framework for subsequent studies of interhemispheric pathway enhancement and functional reorganization in freely moving rats

Augmented Reality in Kidney Cancer

Augmented reality(AR) is the concept of a digitally created perception that enhances components of the real-world to allow better engagement with it. Within healthcare, there has been a recent expansion of AR solutions, especially in the field of surgery. Traditional renal cancer surgery has been largely replaced by minimally invasive laparoscopic (or robotic) partial nephrectomies. This has meant loss of certain intra-operative experiences such as haptic feedback and AR can aid this replacement with enhanced visual and patient-specific feedback. The kidney is a dynamic organ and current AR development has revolved around specific surgical stages such as safe arterial clamping and perfecting tumour margins. This chapter discusses the current state of AR technology in these areas with key attention to the aspects of image registration, organ tracking, tissue deformation and live imaging. The chapter then discusses limitations of AR, such as intentional blindness and depth perception and provides potential future ideas and solutions. These include inventions such as AR headsets and 3D-printed renal models (with the possibility of remote surgical intervention). AR provides a very positive outcome for the future of truly minimally invasive renal surgery. However, current AR needs validation, cost evaluation and thorough planning before being safely integrated into everyday surgical practice

Nat Methods

Advances in techniques for recording large-scale brain activity contribute to both the elucidation of neurophysiological principles and the development of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs). Here we describe a neurophysiological paradigm for performing tethered and wireless large-scale recordings based on movable volumetric three-dimensional (3D) multielectrode implants. This approach allowed us to isolate up to 1,800 neurons (units) per animal and simultaneously record the extracellular activity of close to 500 cortical neurons, distributed across multiple cortical areas, in freely behaving rhesus monkeys. The method is expandable, in principle, to thousands of simultaneously recorded channels. It also allows increased recording longevity (5 consecutive years) and recording of a broad range of behaviors, such as social interactions, and BMI paradigms in freely moving primates. We propose that wireless large-scale recordings could have a profound impact on basic primate neurophysiology research while providing a framework for the development and testing of clinically relevant neuroprostheses.20142014-12-01T00:00:00ZT32 GM008441/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United StatesDP1MH099903/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United StatesR01NS073952/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United StatesDP1 MH099903/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United StatesUL1 TR001117/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United StatesR01 NS073952/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United StatesDP1 OD006798/OD/NIH HHS/United States24776634PMC416103

Assessment of chronic pain in companion animals : development and concurrent validation of neurophysiological methods

La douleur est une expérience complexe impliquant des composantes sensorielles et de perception (émotionnelle, affective, cognitive). Elle est associée au stress, de la souffrance et une dégradation de la qualité de la vie. Les affections douloureuses chroniques telles que l'arthrose et le cancer des os touchent les chats et les chiens. La douleur dans ces conditions implique de nombreux mécanismes affectant les systèmes nerveux périphérique et central, qui génèrent et entretiennent une douleur pathologique. Les tests sensoriels quantitatifs (TSQ) sont des outils pour quantifier la composante sensorielle de la douleur, qui peuvent aussi être utilisés pour éluder les mécanismes de la douleur impliquée. Les travaux initiaux sur les chats et les chiens souffrant d'arthrose ont permis de développer et de valider certaines méthodes de TSQ; cependant, quelques questions sont restées sans réponse chez les chats souffrant de l'arthrose, et cette méthodologie n'a pas été encore explorée chez les chiens atteints d’ostéosarcome. Nos hypothèses de recherche étaient: 1) les chats arthrosiques sont affectés par des modifications neurophysiologiques caractéristiques de la sensibilisation centrale, pouvant être détectées par les TSQ et répondant à l'administration d'analgésiques à action centrale; et 2) l’ostéosarcome provoque une sensibilisation périphérique et centrale avec des mécanismes descendants d’inhibition de la douleur déficients chez le chien. Nos objectifs étaient : 1) chez les chats souffrant d'arthrose, de fournir des évidences sur la thérapie basée sur les mécanismes neurophysiologiques à l'aide de TSQ; et 2) de tester la capacité d'un protocole TSQ à démontrer la sensibilisation périphérique et centrale chez les chiens atteints de cancer des os, y compris un test de modulation de la douleur conditionnée, et de tester l’efficacité d’un protocole d’analgésique palliatif par paliers chez ces patients. En utilisant les TSQ statiques et dynamiques chez les chats arthrosiques, nous avons démontré que les analgésiques à action centrale tels que le tramadol peuvent renverser la sensibilisation centrale mesurée par la sommation temporelle de la douleur. Cet effet n’a pas été observé après l’administration d’analgésique à action périphérique tel que les antiinflammatoires non stéroïdiens comme le meloxicam. Ces résultats 3 soulignent l’importance d’une approche de traitement fondée sur les mécanismes de la douleur chronique. Le protocole TSQ développé pour les chiens a révélé que ceux atteints de cancer des os manifestaient de l'hyperalgésie primaire et secondaire et de l’allodynie dynamique au brossage par rapport aux chiens en bonne santé. Un test de modulation de la douleur conditionnée pouvant être facilement appliqué a été mis au point et a démontré la capacité de différencier les chiens sains des chiens cancéreux. En utilisant cette méthodologie, il s’est avéré que cette dernière population démontrait un système descendant d’inhibition de la douleur déficient. Ces études ont fourni des preuves des similitudes dans le profil sensoriel entre les malades humains et les animaux de compagnie affectés par l'arthrose, ainsi que les ostéosarcomiques. Les TSQ sont utiles dans la recherche vétérinaire sur la douleur et doivent être accompagnés des normes les plus strictes en matière de soins des animaux et de conception, de conduite et de compte-rendu des études.Pain is a complex experience involving sensory and perceptual components. It causes stress, suffering and decreased quality of life. Chronic painful conditions such as osteoarthritis (OA) and bone cancer affect cats and dogs. Pain in these conditions results from numerous mechanisms affecting the peripheral and central nervous systems which generate and maintain pathological pain in affected individuals. Quantitative sensory testing (QST) are means to quantify the sensory component of pain. In combination with observed analgesic efficacy, they can be used to study mechanisms of pain. Initial work on cats and dogs with OA has helped to develop and validate some QST methods; however, questions remained unanswered in cats with OA, and this methodology was not yet explored in dogs with bone cancer. Our main hypotheses were: 1) osteoarthritic cats are affected by neurophysiological changes characteristic of central sensitization which can be detected by QST and the concomitant administration of centrally-acting analgesics; and 2) bone cancer in dogs causes peripheral and central sensitization with deficient descending modulating mechanisms. Our main objectives were: 1) to provide evidence of mechanism-based therapy in cats with OA using QST; and 2) to test the ability of a QST protocol to provide evidence of peripheral and central sensitization in dogs with bone cancer including the development and validation of a conditioned pain modulation test, and to test the efficacy of a step-wise palliative analgesic protocol in these patients. Using static and dynamic QST in osteoarthritic cats, we demonstrated that centrally-acting analgesics such as tramadol can reverse central sensitization as measured by facilitated temporal summation of pain, while the same is not observed when a peripherally-acting analgesic such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, meloxicam, is administered. These findings highlight the importance of mechanism-based approach for the treatment of chronic pain. The QST protocol developed for use in dogs revealed that dogs with bone cancer are affected by primary and secondary hyperalgesia and brush allodynia when compared 5 with healthy dogs. A conditioned pain modulation test which can be easily applied into clinical practice was developed and demonstrated ability to differentiate between healthy and cancerous dogs. Using this methodology, the latter population was found to be affected by deficient descending modulating systems. These studies provided evidence of the similarities in sensory profile between people and companion animals affected by OA- and bone cancer-related pain. The use of QST is valuable in veterinary pain research and should be accompanied by the highest standards of animal care and study design, conduct and reporting

J Neurosci Methods

BackgroundSeveral species of the New World monkeys have been used as experimental models in biomedical and neurophysiological research. However, a method for controlled arm reaching tasks has not been developed for these species.New MethodWe have developed a fully automated, pneumatically driven, portable, and reconfigurable experimental apparatus for arm-reaching tasks suitable for these small primates.ResultsWe have utilized the apparatus to train two owl monkeys in a visually-cued arm-reaching task. Analysis of neural recordings demonstrates directional tuning of the M1 neurons.Comparison with Existing Method(s)Our apparatus allows automated control, freeing the experimenter from manual experiments.ConclusionThe presented apparatus provides a valuable tool for conducting neurophysiological research on New World monkeys.DP1 MH099903/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United StatesDP1MH099903/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States2016-11-01T00:00:00Z26928257PMC483917

Effects of exploring a novel environment on memory across the lifespan

Health and self-regulatio