Alterations in The States and Contents of Consciousness: Empirical and Theoretical Aspects

The main purpose of the present doctoral thesis is to investigate subjective experiences and cognitive processes in four different types of altered states of consciousness: naturally occurring dreaming, cognitively induced hypnosis, pharmacologically induced sedation, and pathological psychosis. Both empirical and theoretical research is carried out, resulting in four empirical and four theoretical studies. The thesis begins with a review of the main concepts used in consciousness research, the most influential philosophical and neurobiological theories of subjective experience, the classification of altered states of consciousness, and the main empirical methods used to study consciousness alterations. Next, findings of the original studies are discussed, as follows. Phenomenal consciousness is found to be dissociable from responsiveness, as subjective experiences do occur in unresponsive states, including anaesthetic-induced sedation and natural sleep, as demonstrated by post-awakening subjective reports. Two new tools for the content analysis of subjective experiences and dreams are presented, focusing on the diversity, complexity and dynamics of phenomenal consciousness. In addition, a new experimental paradigm of serial awakenings from non-rapid eye movement sleep is introduced, which enables more rapid sampling of dream reports than has been available in previous studies. It is also suggested that lucid dreaming can be studied using transcranial brain stimulation techniques and systematic analysis of pre-lucid dreaming. For blind judges, dreams of psychotic patients appear to be indistinguishable from waking mentation reports collected from the same patients, which indicates a close resemblance of these states of mind. However, despite phenomenological similarities, dreaming should not be treated as a uniform research model of psychotic or intact consciousness. Contrary to this, there seems to be a multiplicity of routes of how different states of consciousness can be associated. For instance, seemingly identical time perception distortions in different alterations of consciousness may have diverse underlying causes for these distortions. It is also shown that altered states do not necessarily exhibit impaired cognitive processing compared to a baseline waking state of consciousness: a case study of time perception in a hypnotic virtuoso indicates a more consistent perceptual timing under hypnosis than in a waking state. The thesis ends with a brief discussion of the most promising new perspectives for the study of alterations of consciousness.Siirretty Doriast

Operational protocols for the use of drones in marine animal research

The use of drones to study marine animals shows promise for the examination of numerous aspects of their ecology, behaviour, health and movement patterns. However, the responses of some marine phyla to the presence of drones varies broadly, as do the general operational protocols used to study them. Inconsistent methodological approaches could lead to difficulties comparing studies and can call into question the repeatability of research. This review draws on current literature and researchers with a wealth of practical experience to outline the idiosyncrasies of studying various marine taxa with drones. We also outline current best practice for drone operation in marine environments based on the literature and our practical experience in the field. The protocols outlined herein will be of use to researchers interested in incorporating drones as a tool into their research on marine animals and will help form consistent approaches for drone-based studies in the future

Is the treatment of behavioural addictions the same as the treatment of substance addictions.

According to the DSM-5 there is currently insufficient evidence to group all behavioural addictive disorders into the same category as substance use disorders (Potenza, 2014). However, a comparative analysis of the two highlights significant similarities that could impact treatment options

Using Misconceptions to Improve Engagement and Preventative Effects Within Gambling Education.

Gambling education programs typically focus on promoting gambling as a risky behaviour with harmful consequences. However, young people may not engage with this messaging as they cannot personally relate to the individuals described. Gambling-related misconceptions facilitate development and maintenance of problems and learning gambling mathematics concepts may reduce the likelihood of misconception development. Including gambling misconceptions in education may improve youth engagement by providing a developmental account of gambling problems which is more relevant. Pedagogical literature suggests misconceptions are important in learning complex new material like probabilities and statistics. This research aimed to test if educating young people about gaming machine misconceptions improved their engagement with educational content and understanding of gambling mathematics; and if it reduced existing misconceptions in adult gaming machine players. Three educational videos were developed: risk awareness, information only, and cognitive misconceptions. Results suggest the Misconceptions video was not more engaging than the other videos amongst young audiences, but resulted in significant improvements in misconceptions and understanding of gambling mathematics amongst adult gamblers. Young people who are not heavily involved in gambling may prefer reductive information about gaming machines, however, this type of information is the least likely to produce preventive effects. Gambling education is best delivered by stratifying complex information over time in line with people’s development and gambling experiences. Incorporating gambling education into the mathematics curriculum may ensure crucial information about game design is conveyed but may require a blended approach with multi-media and trained facilitators. Most adolescents in this research did not gamble and future studies should aim to develop a foundational understanding of gambling harm in this population

Study of natural scene categories in measurement of perceived image quality

One challenge facing image quality assessment (IQA) is that current models designed or trained on the basis of exiting databases are intrinsically suboptimal and cannot deal with the real-world complexity and diversity of natural scenes. IQA models and databases are heavily skewed toward the visibility of distortions. It is critical to understand the wider determinants of perceived quality and use the new understanding to improve the predictive power of IQA models. Human behavioral categorization performance is powerful and essential for visual tasks. However, little is known about the impact of natural scene categories (SCs) on perceived image quality. We hypothesize that different classes of natural scenes influence image quality perception—how image quality is perceived is not only affected by the lower level image statistics and image structures shared between different categories but also by the semantic distinctions between these categories. In this article, we first design and conduct a fully controlled psychovisual experiment to verify our hypothesis. Then, we propose a computational framework that integrates the natural SC-specific component into image quality prediction. Research demonstrates the importance and plausibility of considering natural SCs in future IQA databases and models

Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP): can so-called implicit rape-supportive beliefs be restructured and do they predict behaviour?

Research into rape-supportive cognition has been hampered by methodological problems such as social desirability. The study of so-called implicit cognition has been dominated by explanations that the effects produced on implicit/indirect measures are mediated by associations held in memory. The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP; Barnes-Holmes et al., 2006) offers an alternative perspective. Derived from Relational Frame Theory (RFT, Hayes, Barnes-Holmes & Roche, 2001), here it is applied for the first time to study the malleability of implicit rape-supportive cognition, following a cognitive-restructuring task in university males. The relationship between implicit (IRAP) and explicit measures (the Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression scale (AMMSA; Gerger, Kley, Bohner & Siebler, 2007), and behaviour was explored (measured by a forced-choice task and ratings of the researcher). IRAP scores did not change following the intervention. Behaviour on the forced-choice measure was predicted by IRAP scores but not by scores on the AMMSA. Additional analyses into the predictive ability of the AMMSA and IRAP measure on behavioural measures (charity-box overall giving score and Researcher Rating Scale) were conducted. Findings from hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that the AMMSA predicted none of the variance whereas the IRAP predicted 12.4% and 11.5% of the variance respectively

Is Trait Boredom About What You Feel or How You Want to Respond to Boring Situations?

If state boredom signals that ones cognitive resources are not engaged in a situation and pushes an individual to seek cognitive engagement, then this study tested the idea that trait boredom moderates the impact of a boring situation on individuals response motivations, as opposed to individuals experience of state boredom. Participants were randomly assigned to watch a boring or a non-boring video clip after completing the Short Boredom Proneness Scale (SBPS). All participants rated their state boredom experience and response motivations before and after watching their assigned video. The situation and SBPS independently predicted state boredom experience, however only the SBPS predicted certain response motivations (uncertainty of what to do, difficulties with amotivation/avolition, and lack of motivation to seek meaning or creativity). The SBPS also interacted with the situation in predicting participants motivation to seek relief and to be destructive. The implications of the findings and future directions are discussed