From attire to assault: clothing, objectification, and de-humanization - a possible prelude to sexual violence?

In the context of objectification and violence, little attention has been paid to the perception neuroscience of how the human brain perceives bodies and objectifies them. Various studies point to how external cues such as appearance and attire could play a key role in encouraging objectification, dehumanization and the denial of agency. Reviewing new experimental findings across several areas of research, it seems that common threads run through issues of clothing, sexual objectification, body perception, dehumanization, and assault. Collating findings from several different lines of research, this article reviews additional evidence from cognitive and neural dynamics of person perception (body and face perception processes) that predict downstream social behavior. Specifically, new findings demonstrate cognitive processing of sexualized female bodies as object-like, a crucial aspect of dehumanized percept devoid of agency and personhood. Sexual violence is a consequence of a dehumanized perception of female bodies that aggressors acquire through their exposure and interpretation of objectified body images. Integrating these findings and identifying triggers for sexual violence may help develop remedial measures and inform law enforcement processes and policy makers alike

Issues and perspectives in meditation research: in search for a definition

Despite the growing interest in the neurobiological correlates of meditation, most research has omitted to take into account the underlying philosophical aspects of meditation and its wider implications. This, in turn, is reflected in issues surrounding definition, study design, and outcomes. Here, I highlight the often ignored but important aspect of definition in the existing scholarship on neuroscience and meditation practice. For a satisfactory account of a neuroscience of meditation, we must aim to retrieve an operational definition that is inclusive of a traditional ontological description as well as the modern neurocognitive account of the phenomena. Moving beyond examining the effects of meditation practice, to take a potential step forward in the direction to establish how meditation works, it becomes crucial to appraise the philosophical positions that underlie the phenomenology of meditation in the originating traditions. This endeavor may challenge our intuitions and concepts in either directions, but issues pertaining to definition, design, and validity of response measures are extremely important for the evolution of the field and will provide a much-needed context and framework for meditation based interventions

Delineating the low and high spatial frequency inputs to face perception using transcranial random noise stimulation

This study used high frequency transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS) to examine how low and high spatial frequency filtered faces are processed. Response times were measured in a task where healthy young adults categorised spatially-filtered hybrid faces, presented at foveal and peripheral blocks, while sham and high frequency random noise was applied to lateral occipito- temporal location on their scalp. Both the Frequentist and Bayesian approaches show that in contrast to sham, active stimulation significantly reduced response times to peripherally presented low spatial frequency information. This finding points to a possible plasticity in targeted regions induced by non-invasive neuromodulation of spatial frequency information in rapid perception of faces

The shifting psychology of food safety: from sensory evaluation to a cognitive assessment

Understanding the psychological basis of food safety assessment in an era of food-borne infectious diseases becomes paramount. With globalised food supply chains, consumers have little information and oversight regarding the source of their food ingredients and are likely to feel concerned about the loss of control over food hygiene and safety issues. As a result of the modern food consumption patterns and international supply chains, there is a shift from sensory assessment to cognitive assessment of food safety. This short essay assesses the sensory versus cognitive evaluation of food safety. As a result of such a shift, a crucial aspect in food safety perception is the outstanding question of whether the public understands modern food safety systems. Despite an effort to reduce consumer uncertainty when buying routine and exotic food items, there has been a significant shift from a direct safety assessment to an indirect information processing paradigm. Moving away from sensory to cognitive assessment leads to higher information load that may not serve to ensure consumer confidence in food safety. Possible solutions for an effective approach to food safety communication need to account for several real-life cognitive and behavioural constraints

Does the food safety ranking system act as a nudge?

Public health safety is of concern to authorities across the globe and inspector’s food hygiene ranking system has been introduced in many countries. Mandatory disclosure of hygiene ranking information was introduced to empower consumers to make informed decisions regarding foodborne risks. Evaluating available research on public perception and attitude towards such rankings, it seems that the food safety rankings may prompt hygiene compliance by the food business operators and may act as a nudge for consumers to avoid outlets, though with certain caveats. Significant assessment of the scheme remains to be carried out for the ranking system to be an effective nudge for sustainable consumer protection. The public health authorities and organisations need to consider several real-world cognitive and behavioural constraints

Toward A Unifying Taxonomy and Definition for Meditation

One of the well-documented concerns confronting scholarly discourse about meditation is the plethora of semantic constructs and the lack of a unified definition and taxonomy. In recent years there have been several notable attempts to formulate new lexicons in order to define and categorize meditation methods. While these constructs have been useful and have encountered varying degrees of acceptance, they have also been subject to misinterpretation and debate, leaving the field devoid of a consensual paradigm. This paper attempts to influence this ongoing discussion by proposing two new models which hold the potential for enhanced scientific reliability and acceptance. Regarding the quest for a universally acceptable taxonomy, we suggest a paradigm shift away from the fabrication of categories based exclusively on first-person perspectives. As an alternative, we propose a new taxonomic system based on a third-person paradigm borrowed, in part, from the psychological and cognitive sciences. With regard to the elusive definitional problem, we propose a model of meditation as a dynamic process composed of several related but distinct stages. The overall goal is to provide researchers with a reliable nomenclature with which to categorize and classify diverse meditation methods, and a conceptual framework which can provide direction for their research and a theoretical basis for their findings

Examining the role of red background in magnocellular contribution to face perception

This study examines the role of the magnocellular system in the early stages of face perception, in particular sex categorization. Utilizing the specific property of magnocellular suppression in red light, we investigated visually guided reaching to low and high spatial frequency hybrid faces against red and grey backgrounds. The arm movement curvature measure shows that reduced response of the magnocellular pathway interferes with the low spatial frequency component of face perception. This finding provides behavioral evidence for magnocellular contribution to non-emotional aspect of face perception

Processing of low spatial frequency faces at periphery in choice reaching tasks

Various aspects of face processing have been associated with distinct ranges of spatial frequencies. Configural processing of faces depends chiefly on low spatial frequency (LSF) information whereas high spatial frequency (HSF) supports feature based processing. However, it has also been argued that face processing has a foveal-bias (HSF channels dominate the fovea). Here we used reach trajectories as a continuous behavioral measure to study perceptual processing of faces. Experimental stimuli were LSF-HSF hybrids of male and female faces superimposed and were presented peripherally and centrally. Subject reached out to touch a specified sex and their movements were recorded. The reaching trajectories reveal that there is less effect of (interference by) LSF faces at fovea as compared to periphery while reaching to HSF targets. These results demonstrate that peripherally presented LSF information, carried chiefly by magnocellular channels, enables efficient processing of faces, possibly via a retinotectal (subcortical) pathway.6 page(s